12 unexplained mysteries that continue to baffle the scientific community
Science is on a continual quest to explain the mysterious world in which we live. Most of the time, some form of explanation is found, but there are still a number of strange phenomena that continual to baffle researchers across the globe!
Here are 12 natural or behavioral phenomena that have left the scientific world scratching its head.
1. The Bimini Road
In 1930, an American psychic called Edgar Cayce predicted that in 1968 or 1969, the ruins of Atlantis would be discovered in Bimini. In September 1968, 700 limestone boulders were found clustered on the ocean floor not far from North Bimini in the Bahamas. Today this remarkable site is known as the Bimini Road.
The jury's still out, with some people believing it's the remains of Atlantis, whilst others claim it's a natural rather than man-made formation.
2. The Dancing Plague
In July 1518 in the town of Strasbourg, a woman called Madame Troffea suddenly started to dance and didn't stop! A week later 34 people had joined in this manic display, followed by hundreds more as time went on. For some strange reason none of them could stop and to date no logical explanation has been given. The upshot was that 400 people died from exhaustion, heart attacks or strokes!
Although no one can explain this phenomenon, it goes without saying that no one 'normal' could continually dance for so many days without collapsing!
3. The Mystery of Andrew Carlssin
In 2003, the FBI investigated Andrew Carlssin under the suspicion of insider trading, after he managed increase his financial portfolio from $800 to a staggering $350 million, despite only undertaking 126 stock exchange transactions.
When questioned he claimed that he got his information by traveling to the future using a time machine that took him to the year 2256! An unknown person paid his bail so that he could be released from prison and he was never seen again...
4. The Boiling River
Andrés Ruzo had always loved the stories that his grandad told him and one in particularly sparked his curiosity. It was a tale about river that would boil its enemies and Ruzo's dream was to locate this bubbling death trap.
This story was one of the reasons he became a geoscientist and in 2011, accompanied by a shaman, he managed to find this infamous river. Its water temperature was 186°F and yet the nearest volcano was over 400 miles away. To this day no one has been able to explain why this river is so hot!
5. The Yonaguni underwater ruins
In 1986, a group of professional divers found ruins off the coast of Yonaguni Island in Japan. The ruins comprise of a 5-storey rock formation and the team also uncovered a number of artefacts - proof that this site was once inhabited.
No one knows the origins of these monoliths, although if they were indeed carved by man, then it'll change our knowledge of history as they apparently date back to pre-glacial times.
6. The Mysterious Photo in Bralorne Museum
This photo was taken in 1941 at the inauguration of Gold Bridge in Canada. In the crowd you'll see a man wearing surprisingly modern clothes that don't look anything like 1940's fashion. Look closely and you'll see he's wearing a hoodie, a printed T-shirt and black sunglasses. He also appears to holding a modern camera.
There are plenty of theories floating around, the most intriguing one being that this man's a time traveler!
7. The Amazonian Geoglyphs
The Nazca Lines are not the only mysterious geoglyphs in the world - the Amazon Forest also has its fair share. They were discovered entirely by accident by a scientific research team who were studying the rain forest.
No less than 450 geoglyphes were found, stretching from Brazil to Bolivia and according to specialists, the oldest date back to between 3,000 and 5,000 years.
As with their Peruvian cousins, it's thought they were either constructions or marks made during rituals or gatherings.
8. Earthquake Lights
Strange lights sometimes appear during earthquakes - a phenomenon that was first observed in 1600. At least 65 cases have been reported and all describe the same thing - weird lights that appear in the sky during earthquakes. So, whilst earthquakes are common, these lights only appear 0.5% of the time.
Currently no one's managed to explain why these lights appear.
9. The Ice Woman
On the 20th December 1980, Jean Hilliard was heading home to Lengby in Minnesota, when her car suddenly skidded off the road. She decided to walk to a friend's nearby house, but the freezing -22°C weather got the better of her and she collapsed from hypothermia. She spent 6 hours in the snow before she was found.
She was rushed to hospital, but showed no signs of life. Her body was frozen solid and hospital staff couldn't even get a drip into her. Jean was declared dead, but as she started to thaw, nurses noticed that she began to move. Over the course of 3 days, she continued to move her limbs and 6 weeks later she'd fully recovered from her ordeal!
10. The Carroll A. Deering Ghost Ship
Carroll A. Deering was an American commercial schooner that became the most famous ghost ship of all time. In 1921 it was found at sea without a single crew member on board! Food was found on the ship, but the ship's log, personal belongings, the lifeboats and navigation equipment were gone. Rescuers also discovered that the ship's helm had been damaged.
The investigation was closed in 1922 without any findings on the incident.
11. The Rain Man
Don Decker's grandfather died in 1983 in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. After the funeral he began to feel ill, developed a fever and fell into a trance-like state. At the same time, water began to drip from the ceiling and run down the walls of his living room. The weird thing was that there was no plumbing in this part of the house and no feasible explanation could be given for this 'flood'.
A family friend called the cops and they told him to take the young man to a nearby pizza restaurant. The same thing happened in the pizza restaurant, but once Don Decker and his friend left, everything returned to normal.
This paranormal incident was classed as an unsolved mystery on February 10th 1993.
12. The Underground Ocean
In 2014, scientists found a vast 660 km deep reservoir of water in the bowels of the Earth. Estimates claim it's 2.7 billion years old and its volume is larger than any of the Earth's oceans!
This discovery changed our understanding of our planet, the current theory being that surface oceans may emanate from these gigantic underground reservoirs.
By Straker Julia
Writer
Passionate about writing, I write articles on the subjects that I love. Creativity and Animals themes are my favorites!
