MYSTERY

The Quest to Break America’s Most Mysterious Code—And Find $60 Million in Buried Treasure

For the past century, the quest to break the Beale Ciphers has attracted the military, computer scientists, and conspiracy theorists. All have failed.

L-8: The ‘Ghost Blimp’ Whose Crew Disappeared During World War II

A submarine patrol blimp departed with a two-man crew in the morning. It landed with no one on board.

Amelia Earhart, Ambrose Bierce, and Jimmy Hoffa.

7 Historical Figures Who Disappeared Without a Trace

First they made history, then they vanished from it.

The Phony Disease That Helped Researchers Identify Bach’s (Purported) Body

Johann Sebastian Bach was buried in an unmarked grave in 1750. Nearly two centuries later, a doctor identified the composer’s bones from skeletal evidence of “organist’s disease.”

Robert Kennicott, pictured against Alaska’s Kennicott Glacier, was a key figure in the Smithsonian’s formative years.

Death of a Scientist: The Mysterious Demise of Smithsonian Pioneer Robert Kennicott

In 1866, Kennicott was found dead near the Yukon River. It would be 150 years before anyone knew why.

Ancestral Puebloan ruins in Chaco Canyon National Historical Park.

How Pack Rats Solved a Chaco Canyon Mystery

Chaco Canyon was once the vibrant religious center of a Native American culture whose collapse long remained a mystery—until pack rat middens revealed an important clue.

The Translation Mystery Behind Imagery of Moses With Horns

Here's why medieval artists loved putting horns on Moses.

This isn't Australia's first tussle with mystery beach blobs. A similar incident happened in 2024.

Mystery ‘Grease Balls’ Washing Ashore in Australia Are Prompting Beach Closures

The tiny little tar blobs could be nothing—or they could be dangerous.

Some big-money donations are being given to the Salvation Army in the form of rare coins.

Mystery Donors Are Dropping Rare Coins Worth Thousands Into Salvation Army Kettles

The red buckets are getting more than loose change.

The Zavaritskii Caldera on Simushir Island, the site of a climate-altering 1831 volcanic eruption, as seen from the International Space Station.

Solved: The 200-Old Mystery Behind a Colossal Volcanic Eruption

Scientists have long suspected that a gigantic eruption was behind the strange atmospheric phenomena of 1831. Scientists have finally figured out which volcano blew its top.

‘Searching for Franklin,’ ‘The Indifferent Stars Above,’ and ‘Cannibalism.’

8 Books About Historical Cannibalism

You might want to skip dinner after reading these.

The Creepy Cryptids from Appalachia You Probably Haven’t Heard Of

You don’t want to run into these creatures in the woods after dark—or ever.

Who Exactly Was D.B. Cooper?

The man going by D.B. Cooper hijacked a plane in 1971 and got away (almost) without a trace. Now, new evidence has been uncovered that might point to his identity.

An obscure song has stumped internet detectives for years.

The Origins of the Internet’s Most Mysterious Song Have Been Revealed

An obscure German new wave song has stumped internet sleuths for years. One of them finally cracked the case.

Mel Wiley, the Ohio Police Chief Who May Have Authored His Own Demise

In 1985, Chief Wiley went for a swim and was never seen or heard from again. What he left behind shocked his community.

Get a better sense of how illnesses have shaped history in these gripping reads.

12 Fascinating Books on History’s Most Notorious Diseases

Get a better sense of how illnesses have shaped history with these gripping reads about history’s most notorious diseases.

The beaches of Newfoundland are covered with gooey white blobs.

Weird White Blobs Are Taking Over Some Canadian Beaches

The beaches of Newfoundland are a little less pleasant since white blobs have appeared everywhere.

‘Alchemist in His Workshop’ by David Teniers the Younger, 17th century.

8 Fascinating Facts about Alchemy

There’s more to this spooky pseudo-science than simply turning lead into gold.

Found: Remains of Andrew “Sandy” Irvine, Who Vanished Summiting Mount Everest in 1924

What happened during George Mallory and Sandy Irvine's fatal Everest summit attempt? We're much closer to answering that question.

Crystal balls were all the rage among spiritualists a century ago.

A Brief History of the Crystal Ball

Crystal balls aren’t just a prop in your Halloween décor—they represent our ancient desire for otherworldly knowledge.

George Joseph Smith was very unlucky in marriage.

The ‘Brides in the Bath’ Murders That Shocked Edwardian London

George Joseph Smith was widower three times over. His wives had a nasty habit of drowning in the bathtub.

Washington Irving, the Knicks' biggest fan.

The Disappearance of Diedrich Knickerbocker: How Washington Irving’s Clever Hoax Named the New York Knicks

‘Knickerbocker’ has many meanings. Without Washington Irving, it would likely only have one.

Who pulled off these heists has never officially been determined.

6 Infamous Unsolved Bank Robberies

Whether they were tunneling into vaults or blowing their way into them through church walls, these thieves were brazen—and in each case, whodunit remains a mystery.

New Fossils Add to Mystery Surrounding the “Hobbit,” Our Smallest Human Ancestor

A fragment of an arm bone found on Flores, Indonesia, suggests that some of our human ancestors were even smaller than we thought.