Mental Floss

MYSTERY











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In 'The Great Detective,' author Zach Dundas reveals that the frenzy surrounding Sherlock Holmes isn’t strictly a Benedict Cumberbatch-related phenomenon. The master of Baker Street has always inspired fanatical devotion and feverish anticipation.

David W Brown


iStock/BahadirTanriover

Was that mysterious "bloop" in the ocean made by a whale? Or by something much more mysterious? Investigators still don't know.

Caitlin Schneider


Wikimedia Commons

Kryptos, a set of huge copper plates with enciphered text carved into them, is an encrypted sculpture installed at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Although the sculpture was installed in 1990, it took until 1999 for someone to actually decrypt part

Chris Higgins


Insomnia Cured Here, Flickr // CC BY SA 2.0

There’s actually a whole group of people who enjoy the theory that Sherlock Holmes – or at least sidekick John Watson -- was real. The truth? Well that's elementary, my dear Watson.

Jason Plautz
iStock/teerawut111

If you've ever mistakenly grabbed the Phillips head screwdriver when you needed a flat head, you've probably asked yourself why there are different types of screws.

Matt Soniak
iStock / SchulteProductions

Subliminal messages affect the subconscious mind. Here's some pleasant (and not so pleasant) messages hiding in plain sight.

David K. Israel






iStock/Marccophoto

Up in the winter sky, water vapor in a cloud condenses into a droplet and freezes into a tiny bit of ice, with the water molecules bonding together as a hexagonal crystalline lattice with a six-fold symmetry.

Matt Soniak