These historical mysteries have been put to rest. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most head-scratching questions in history that—after years of mystery—have largely been answered.
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00:00It's a story that's been told and retold by poets and actors for thousands of years.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo,
00:08and today we're counting down our picks for the most head-scratching questions in history
00:12that, after years of mystery, have largely been answered.
00:16As for their use after the drought,
00:18a scientist in the mid-1990s thinks he's figured it out.
00:23Number 30. The Paulding Light
00:25Since the 1960s, an unusual light has caught the attention of many people in and around
00:31Paulding, Michigan.
00:32It's black. It's pitch black. There's nothing there.
00:35Its inexplicable nature and seemingly nightly recurrence evoked a new chapter of folklore.
00:41People came up with paranormal and supernatural explanations, such as the ghost of a railway
00:45brakeman who was killed by a train.
00:47By a train, a train conductor, and it was his lantern that was swinging.
00:51In 2010, students at Michigan Tech University hit the road in an effort to find the truth
00:55about the Paulding Light.
00:57They located the light origin area along U.S. Highway 45.
01:01Using a telescope and scientific methods, they reached a non-supernatural conclusion
01:05about what the Paulding Light really is — car headlights.
01:08It turned out the strange visual phenomenon was an optical illusion caused by atmospheric
01:13conditions and terrain.
01:15A-plus!
01:16It's just like the twinkling of the stars, except, of course, you're dealing with something
01:19that's actually larger and closer to you.
01:21Number 29.
01:22The Atacama Skeleton
01:24The timeless question about the possible existence of extraterrestrial beings has come up countless
01:29times, often sparked by UFO sightings and natural human curiosity.
01:33In 2003, the discovery of an abnormal mini-skeleton in Chile's Atacama Desert brought the question
01:39back into the spotlight.
01:40And it has 10 ribs when humans are supposed to have 12 ribs.
01:45With an irregular head shape and rib count, this was a true anomaly.
01:50Many people couldn't help but jump to the conclusion that the skeleton might be of alien
01:54origin.
01:55In 2018, however, DNA analysis revealed that the skeleton was actually human — a human
02:01fetus.
02:02But they're definitely still in a human being.
02:05The small skeleton's extremely rare and atypical appearance was due to mutations associated
02:10with bone diseases.
02:12While the overarching question about alien life persisted after that analysis, the mystery
02:16of the Atacama Skeleton was solved.
02:19Number 28.
02:20Crop Circles in Wiltshire, England
02:22Massive, intricate patterns engraved in the ground naturally evoke questions.
02:27There are few places like Wiltshire, England, when it comes to the abundance of crop circles.
02:32But how did they get there?
02:33The mystifying figures started appearing in the area in the 1970s in wheat, barley, and
02:38cornfields.
02:39In the following decade, the mystery grew.
02:42In 1991, though, light was finally shed on the subject.
02:45When did you start making crop circles?
02:47Well, the late 70s, about 1978.
02:50Most of the crop circles in the area were not caused by UFO landings, as some had theorized.
02:55It's just a bit of fun, and I mean, it's flattened corn.
02:58They were the work of two men, who admitted to crafting the patterns with tools, debunking
03:03any otherworldly explanations — at least for these specific crop circles.
03:08We wanted to make the UFO society think that a UFO had landed, you see.
03:12Number 27.
03:13Crystal Skulls
03:14Indiana Jones embarks on a journey to find a magical crystal skull in the franchise's
03:18fourth film.
03:19Unbelievable.
03:23The object represents a fascinating cultural phenomenon that started in the 19th century.
03:28Crystal skulls surfaced in different parts of the world, raising questions about their
03:31origins.
03:32People claimed they dated back to ancient Mesoamerican civilizations.
03:37But today, mainstream scientists argue they are all modern creations.
03:42Some believed the skulls possessed mystical powers, as depicted in Indiana Jones and the
03:47Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
03:49Studies in the late 1990s and early 2000s made things crystal clear.
03:53These skulls are nowhere near as old as previously claimed.
03:57The ancient Mayan crystal skulls were, in fact, modern pieces.
04:02Research concluded they were crafted during the 19th century.
04:05They still belong in a museum, though.
04:07I'm really interested in them as the fakes that they are.
04:11Number 26.
04:12The Herculaneum Scrolls
04:14One might think the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE would have burned a set of ancient
04:19scrolls to a crisp.
04:21And well, it kinda did, but not exactly.
04:24The Greek philosophical texts known as the Herculaneum Papyri were uncovered in the 18th
04:29century, and unsurprisingly, were in poor condition.
04:32Entombed in volcanic ash for hundreds of years, these papyrus scrolls were carbonized, but
04:38intact.
04:39Deciphering these surviving scrolls is challenging, as unrolling them could destroy them.
04:44Despite their charred and fragile state, hope wasn't lost.
04:47A historic breakthrough came in 2023, when University of Nebraska computer science student
04:53Luke Ferreter used artificial intelligence to detect the first word from these ancient
04:57scrolls during an organized Vesuvius challenge.
05:0015 columns of text in ancient Greek, seen for the first time in almost 2,000 years.
05:06Since then, AI has aided researchers in deciphering several passages from these damaged, but not
05:11destroyed, texts.
05:12The new technology will now help to decipher hundreds of scrolls.
05:16Number 25.
05:17The Lost City of Heliki
05:19There's been considerable speculation about the locations and reasons behind historical
05:23lost cities.
05:24The ancient Greek city of Heliki is an extraordinary example of one such city with answers to those
05:29questions.
05:30In 373 BCE, it disappeared overnight.
05:34The cause, we now know, was that an earthquake and tsunami destroyed and submerged the city.
05:40According to ancient texts, Heliki and all of its people were swept to the bottom of
05:44the sea, never to be seen again.
05:47For over 2,370 years, Heliki's exact whereabouts remained unknown.
05:53However, in 2001, the lost city was rediscovered beneath a lagoon.
05:58Excavations and analysis unveiled alignments with historical accounts of the city's demise.
06:03This glaze is typical of the time when Heliki disappeared.
06:06Evidence supporting the identification of this site as Heliki became even more convincing
06:10about 11 years later, when archaeologists unearthed ancient artifacts.
06:15Dora and Stephen had done it.
06:17The papers said it all.
06:19Number 24.
06:20The Downfall of the Nazca Civilization
06:22The driving force behind the end of the ancient Nazca society is just one of the many mysteries
06:27surrounding the civilization that resided in modern-day Peru.
06:31Strong evidence exists about Nazca people's methods in creating the Nazca Lines, but plenty
06:36of mystery remains when it comes to their meaning and purpose.
06:39The lines and shapes cover an area that stretches for hundreds of square miles.
06:43The water irrigation purposes of pukios, which are ancient underground aqueducts, is another
06:48Nazca mystery that was unraveled.
06:51Perhaps an even bigger question associated with this ancient civilization is what led
06:55to its decline.
06:56Studies during the 2000s determined that deforestation was the principal cause.
07:00Forests had been cut down by the Nazca.
07:03Cutting down trees, likely for agricultural purposes, ended up being detrimental to the
07:07ecosystem, and eventually the Nazca people.
07:11For the Nazca, it marked the beginning of the end.
07:14Number 23.
07:15Martin Bormann's Whereabouts
07:17Hitler's private secretary Martin Bormann was sentenced to death in absentia for war
07:21crimes and crimes against humanity after the collapse of the Third Reich in 1945.
07:26Bormann was the project go-between, making sure the Führer's name remained clean.
07:31But he was nowhere to be found.
07:34For decades to follow, his whereabouts remained a mystery, and caused plenty of speculation.
07:39Multiple reported sightings and rumors elicited a theory that Bormann had fled abroad.
07:44Some claimed that they had escaped justice by crossing the Atlantic in submarines.
07:49Other early reports suggested he was dead.
07:52The true answer was a mystery.
07:54Years later, organizations such as the CIA and the West German government conducted searches
07:58for Bormann, but to no avail.
08:01His buried body was finally discovered in 1972, and forensic analysis corroborated the
08:06initial reports of his death in 1945.
08:10In 1973, the case of Martin Bormann was officially closed.
08:14Number 22.
08:15Ötzi the Iceman
08:16Tourists in the Ötztal Alps on the Austrian-Italian border opened the door to a new historical
08:21mystery when they found a frozen body in 1991.
08:24They have no idea the importance of what they've stumbled upon.
08:29Subsequent scientific analyses determined that the Iceman, called Ötzi, has been preserved
08:33in the ice for around 5,300 years.
08:36Researchers, of course, had loads of questions, and were able to answer many, including his
08:41gender, age, clothing, belongings, the circumstances of his death, and even his last meal.
08:47He had wild ibex meat in his stomach, so he was clearly hunting for part of his sustenance.
08:53They also theorized about how he looked.
08:56In 2023, new DNA analysis revealed a more accurate picture of Ötzi's physical appearance,
09:01concluding that he had darker skin and less hair than previously thought.
09:05Thanks to extensive research, Ötzi is considered one of the most well-studied ancient mummies
09:10of all time.
09:11His death on the mountain would ultimately take him much farther than he could ever have imagined.
09:1721. Roman Concrete
09:20At the origin of their success, innovation, with the creation of a revolutionary new material, concrete.
09:27How ancient Roman buildings could stand for so long remained a puzzle for a long time.
09:32We're talking about concrete structures that have withstood the test of time,
09:35thousands of years worth of time.
09:37Studies starting in the 2010s began to tackle the mystery behind this impressive architectural
09:42and engineering feat.
09:43Scientists concluded that lime clasts were a crucial ingredient in ancient concrete mix.
09:48Roman concrete is a mixture of lime, sand, water, of course aggregates.
09:54Basically, it's modern concrete.
09:56These white chunks were previously misunderstood.
09:58They functioned as self-healing mechanisms, preventing cracks in the concrete from worsening over time.
10:04Not only did this reveal the secret behind the remarkable durability of Roman constructions
10:09like the Pantheon, it also provided deeper insight into advanced materials and techniques
10:14used by early Roman engineers.
10:16Concrete definitely represents a revolution in Roman construction.
10:1920. King Tut's Tomb
10:22This simple tomb is unlike any other royal tomb in the valley.
10:27A young man named Tutankhamen ruled ancient Egypt between 1332 and 1323 BC.
10:33You may have heard of him.
10:34By the early 20th century, experts theorized that Tutankhamen was buried in the Valley
10:39of the Kings alongside other pharaohs, but the location of his tomb remained elusive.
10:44By 1912, it was believed that every tomb had been accounted for, except for King Tut's.
10:50So where the heck was it?
10:52Enter Howard Carter, who hit the jackpot in 1922.
10:56Over 5,000 priceless artifacts, including golden statues.
11:02In the burial chamber, the pharaoh's mummy, wearing a golden death mask, was placed inside
11:09a coffin made of more than 200 pounds of solid gold.
11:14Unlike other royal graves, which had been cut into the valley slopes,
11:17Tut's was dug into the ground and hidden by debris.
11:20Carter's work unveiled not only the location of King Tut's tomb,
11:24but also why no one else had been able to find it.
11:2819. The Connecticut Vampire
11:31The greater New England area suffered a vampire panic back in the 19th century,
11:35and this was exemplified through the burial of JB-55.
11:39This codename was spelled out in brass tacks on the man's coffin,
11:43and his skull and femurs were placed in the shape of a traditional skull and crossbones.
11:48Decapitating a body and arranging its bones in such a way was a historic method of burying
11:53suspected vampires.
11:54So did we have a real, genuine one on our hands?
11:58Of course not.
11:59There were a set of circumstances that were interpreted as vampire attacks,
12:04and people acted on the belief that these were vampire attacks.
12:08The vampire never existed.
12:10A DNA test done in 2019 identified this vampire as John Barber,
12:15aged 55, hence JB-55.
12:19Barber had most likely died of tuberculosis,
12:22which gives people vampiric symptoms like pale skin, red eyes, and a bloody mouth.
12:27You better hold on tight, spider monkey.
12:29Number 18. Blood Falls
12:32Antarctica contains a startling image.
12:35Blood Falls is a bit of an obsession for a lot of people.
12:39I mean, there's nothing else like this on Earth.
12:41Well, the whole continent is pretty darn startling,
12:43but we're talking specifically about Blood Falls.
12:46Found in southern Antarctica in the Taylor Glacier is a small cascade of what looks like
12:51deep red blood.
12:52This was discovered by the glacier's namesake,
12:55Thomas Griffith Taylor, in 1911.
12:57Of course, no one genuinely believed it was blood,
13:00yet no one knew what it actually was.
13:03For a long time, the leading theory was that red algae was responsible for the distinct color.
13:08The red color is similar to, uh, in the Grand Canyon.
13:11If you've been to the Grand Canyon,
13:13you'll notice that a lot of the rocks are dyed a dark red color,
13:16and that's because there's iron in those rocks, and that iron oxidizes, or rusts.
13:20However, recent analysis has proven that the bold red comes
13:24from the presence of iron oxide.
13:26The iron salts inside the subglacial water oxidize when they reach the surface,
13:30changing the liquid from clear to red.
13:33Number 17. Ancient Viking Code
13:36There's a lot to find fascinating about Vikings, including their system of writing.
13:41Like many ancient texts, the Jotunvidler, a rare Norse code,
13:46which dates back to the 12th or 13th century, left experts puzzled for years.
13:51It wasn't until 2014 that K. Jonas Nordby at the University of Oslo figured it out.
13:56The Jotunvidler had popped up on many rune sticks,
13:59but the one from which Nordby was able to decipher it,
14:02which he calls his Rosetta Stone, was located at Bergen Wharf, Norway.
14:07What made these runes so hard to crack was that they were coded,
14:11likely owing to their use as an educational tool.
14:14There's nothing juicy in the writings, but cracking an ancient code is still incredibly exciting.
14:19Number 16. The Starchild Skull
14:22During all my years of researching UFOs,
14:25the one artifact that keeps coming up is the Starchild Skull.
14:29I've never held the Starchild Skull in my hand,
14:32but I know that it was found in the 1930s in a cave in northern Mexico by a teenage girl.
14:38It's amazing how often conditions and diseases are misattributed to the supernatural.
14:43We've seen it with the Connecticut Vampire, and we see it again with the so-called Starchild.
14:48The distinct skull of the Starchild was obtained by paranormal author Lloyd Pye,
14:52who asserted that it belonged to a human-alien hybrid.
14:56This news captured our collective imaginations,
14:59but it's really an unfortunate labeling of a tragic reality.
15:03Tests done in the late 90s and early 2000s proved that the skull belonged to a young human male.
15:08Sorry believers, no aliens here.
15:11Furthermore, Yale neurologist Stephen Novella attributed the cranial deformations to hydrocephalus,
15:17a condition in which cerebrospinal fluid accumulates in the brain and enlarges the head.
15:22Number 15. The Lost Army of Cambyses
15:26Serving as the second king of kings of the Achaemenid Empire,
15:30Cambyses II ruled from 530 to 522 BC.
15:34Legend has it that in 524,
15:37Cambyses sent a massive army against the Oracle of Amun in the Siwa Oasis.
15:41However, the army was accosted by a devastating sandstorm and all 50,000 men were lost.
15:47For a long time, the veracity of this tale was questioned,
15:51as its primary source was the Greek historian Herodotus,
15:54who has been known to, shall we say, dramatize certain events.
15:58For the Persians, this must have been a huge burden.
16:02The logistics make it virtually certain that Cambyses' army could not have been as vast as Herodotus said.
16:08But in 2009, archaeologists Angelo and Alfredo Castiglione found human remains
16:13and Persian belongings near the Siwa Oasis, finally lending credence to the story.
16:18Many have searched for this army, but all have searched along the oasis route,
16:23the oasis of Dakhla, Farafra, Aindala, then across the desert up to Siwa.
16:28We worked on a different hypothesis, since these oasis were under the Egyptian rule.
16:33However, it is important to note that some experts doubt the findings of the Castigliones.
16:42You've probably heard of the Flying Dutchman,
16:44as it's been featured extensively in art, television and film,
16:47including the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
16:53She doesn't look like much.
16:57This is an alleged ghost ship that inspired many a tall tale,
17:00with the legend dating back to the 18th century.
17:03It's said that the Flying Dutchman floats above the water,
17:06and contains a crew of cursed and undead sailors.
17:10Reports of the ship even stretched into the 20th century,
17:13and that's because optical illusions are timeless.
17:17Yup, the Flying Dutchman is not one ship,
17:20but the result of an optical illusion called Faramorgana.
17:23Essentially, some ships on the distant horizon look like they're floating,
17:27owing to how light travels through different layers of air.
17:46And speaking of legends, it doesn't get much bigger than the Trojan War.
17:50A favorite subject of ancient Greek literature,
17:52the Trojan War details the invasion of Troy by the Achaeans.
17:56Many scholars debate the history of the war itself,
17:59and for a long time, they debated the location of Troy as well.
18:03Most thought it was merely a place of legend,
18:06but that viewpoint changed thanks to Heinrich Schliemann and Frank Calvert.
18:10In 1871, the archaeologists began excavations in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey,
18:15and discovered not one city, but nine.
18:20With his interest in Homer was not the first in this area.
18:23Frank Calvert, a British expatriate, had been living in the area from 1845 onward.
18:30He grew up in this area and gradually amassed
18:34a tremendous amount of textual evidence for where Troy lay.
18:41Each city was built on the ruins of the last,
18:43resulting in numerous distinct layers labeled by Roman numerals.
18:48It's now widely believed that Troy VI is the one depicted in the Greek myth.
19:1012. The Easter Island Heads
19:13The Moai, as they're properly known,
19:15are some of the most recognizable monuments in the world.
19:18Populating Easter Island in Polynesia,
19:20the Moai were carved in a volcanic crater called Rano Raraku.
19:45They were then transported to the outer perimeter of the island,
19:56where they rested on platforms called ahu.
19:59We don't really know how the natives moved the statues,
20:02and for a long time, we didn't know why they chose the sites they did.
20:06Well, that particular question was solved in 2019 by researchers at Binghamton University.
20:12They discovered that the ahu were placed near sources of fresh drinking water,
20:16because that's where communities were inclined to settle.
20:19It's not dramatic, but it sure is practical.
20:3411. The Classic Maya Collapse
20:37In the span of human history, the Maya Collapse wasn't all that long ago,
20:41with the last city falling to Spanish settlers in 1697.
20:45But another major collapse occurred earlier,
20:48with most of the major Maya cities being abandoned between the 7th and 9th centuries.
20:53The reason for this is one of history's greatest unanswered questions.
20:57Well, it was until 2012.
20:59Turns out, a number of factors went into the collapse, as it so often does.
21:12By doing so, they were basically cutting off their own food supply.
21:16They weren't able to farm the best lands.
21:18They were then obliged to cut down the forest on the slopes.
21:22In doing so, that caused erosion, as they had to cut back even higher up.
21:26The Maya greatly deforested the surrounding area,
21:29which exacerbated an ongoing drought and killed all agriculture in the region.
21:34Furthermore, trade routes had changed from land to sea,
21:37impacting local economies and forcing a relocation
21:40from the southern lowlands to the northern Yucatan.
21:46Captain Sir John Franklin's Arctic Exploration Expedition
21:49was lost after leaving England in 1845.
21:52Franklin was searching for a shortcut from Europe to Asia through the Northwest Passage.
21:56His ships were caught in the crushing Arctic ice and abandoned off King William Island.
22:01Over the years, many other ships set out to see
22:03if they could find out what happened to the doomed crew.
22:05The top part of a human skull.
22:08And I think it's one of Franklin's men.
22:13Like, it's related to Franklin's men.
22:17So part of the skull is broken, but just the top part.
22:21While some clues were found, including gravesites of some of the men who had been aboard,
22:25it was only at the end of the 20th century that we began to get answers
22:29about what had caused Franklin and his team so much trouble.
22:32Unfortunately, we discovered that many of the crew members did not die quickly,
22:35but rather succumbed to diseases like scurvy and even lead poisoning after becoming icebound.
22:40And sadly, the rumors of cannibalism were also proved to be true.
22:44The previous actions of the British crew had been erratic, even dangerous.
22:49After all, they had been eating each other.
22:55Homer's epic Greek poem, The Odyssey,
22:57has become known as one of the most important pieces in the history of literature.
23:01While there are many things that we still don't know about the story's creation,
23:05an extra layer of mystery was added when a copy was found with unintelligible notes in the margin.
23:10The copy belonged to the University of Chicago Library and was a Venetian edition from 1504.
23:16The library created a contest to see if anyone could crack the code,
23:19and Italian computer engineer Daniele Metilli figured it out with help from colleague Giulia
23:24Acetta. Turns out the notes were written in a French shorthand and dated from the 19th century.
23:32While his legacy is lived on through Shakespeare,
23:34King Richard III of England was the final English king to perish in battle.
23:38In fact, his death during the Battle of Bosworth Field is often used to mark the end of the Middle
23:42Ages. But his remains were lost, and only uncovered in 2012 during an archaeological
24:01excavation of Leicester. The following year, the body was identified as belonging to Richard III.
24:32He had suffered 11 wounds, most of which were on his skull,
24:35which suggests that he lost his helmet in battle, leading to his demise.
24:42Known as sailing stones or moving rocks, observers have long noticed the enigmatic
24:46phenomenon of these objects that seemingly move on their own, leaving trails in their wake.
24:51The most famous example is found at Racetrack Playa in California's Death Valley National Park.
24:55Many experiments have been undertaken in an attempt to understand how these large objects
24:59move, and we now seem to have an answer. On cold nights, thin sheets of ice develop
25:18under them and then float, and are able to be moved by the wind, which propels the rocks as
25:23fast as 5 meters per minute. Between the Uranus Crater and the Bamberg Crater in the Cydonia
25:36region of Mars, spacecraft Viking 1 captured an image in 1976 that has fueled speculation
25:42for decades. That's because it looked, for all intents and purposes, like there was a face on
25:47the Red Planet. While people wanted to use this as evidence of an alien civilization,
25:51the actual explanation is a banal one. Scientists have agreed that the face is
26:05essentially an optical illusion, and that it's only present based on the angle from which you
26:09view it and how well-lit it is. The sinking of the USS Indianapolis
26:17is among the greatest tragedies that the American Navy has ever experienced.
26:31Torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in 1945 during a mission to deliver parts of the
26:36nuclear weapon Little Boy, there were only 316 survivors from a crew of 1,195.
26:48The wreck remained unfound, despite several expeditions to locate it. But in 2016,
26:55new information was revealed that gave us a better clue of where it might be. And in 2017,
27:01a team funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen finally found the well-preserved remains of the
27:07New images both haunting and revealing show the devastation caused by two Japanese torpedoes
27:16that hammered the USS Indianapolis on July 30, 1945, while en route to the Philippines.
27:25The Egyptian pyramids are one of Earth's most widely recognizable landmarks. Many secrets
27:30about these magnificent structures remain. Built to withstand eternity, they seem in no
27:36hurry to reveal them. But for many years, people wondered how they were possibly built without
27:41modern technology. Was it aliens? Well, probably not. It had already been known that the Egyptians
27:48likely used wooden sleds to drag large objects across the sand, but researchers at the University
27:53of Amsterdam added a probable solution to make this even easier. They established that by wetting
27:58sand only slightly, it would create the perfect amount of friction to carry very heavy objects
28:03easily. Wetting it with the right amount of water makes it remarkably slick. A team of 10 workers
28:08can easily pull a one-ton sled. But people always seem to forget that Egyptians had animals like
28:13donkeys and cattle around to help too. Another ancient Egyptian mystery that has a more clear-cut
28:18answer is the hieroglyphs that seemingly depict modern helicopters. Turns out these are a product
28:23of the stone being reused for more than one image. Number three. What caused the Tunguska event?
28:29In a remote area of Russia in 1908, a massive explosion took place that flattened tens of
28:34millions of trees and produced an estimated 185 times more energy than the atomic bomb dropped
28:40on Hiroshima. Millions of pine trees, larches, and birches are destroyed by the pressure wave and the
28:45fires. A shock wave circles the world, leaving its mark on seismographs everywhere. But no one can
28:54understand where it has come from. It inevitably left many wondering what had caused it. For decades
28:59people have speculated that it might have been an asteroid, a comet, a clash of matter and antimatter,
29:04or even an alien spaceship landing. The night sky was illuminated for weeks after and people were
29:11able to read their newspapers in the middle of the night from London to Asia. But in 2013 it was
29:17essentially confirmed that it was in fact a meteor when a team from the National Academy of Sciences
29:22of Ukraine analyzed rock samples of meteoric origin from the site. Researchers studied microscopic
29:28fragments of decayed vegetation dating back to the time of the event and discovered mineral
29:32combinations perfectly consistent with other meteorite impact sites, like the 50,000-year-old
29:36Meteor Crater in Arizona.
29:40While some of the other mysteries on our list may not be commonly known to the general public,
29:45nearly everyone's heard of the Bermuda Triangle. For many years people have wondered about the
29:49evils at work here that seemingly make boats sink and planes fall from the sky.
29:54Ships that have shown up absolutely empty, no sign of any struggle, and yet the crew has just vanished.
30:00But the explanation is simple and unexciting. While some may imagine the triangle as a small
30:05and specific area, it's actually a huge and not well-defined region that is heavily trafficked by
30:11sea and by air. In fact, your cruise ship may have sailed right through it without you noticing.
30:27Yes, plenty of accidents have occurred there, but they largely have logical explanations.
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30:481. Anastasia's Escape
30:51In 1918, the Russian Imperial Romanov family was executed by communist revolutionaries. But,
30:57for years, rumors persisted that Tsar Nicholas II's youngest daughter Anastasia
31:02somehow survived and escaped. It didn't help that several women throughout history have
31:13impersonated the supposedly missing princess. The genetic testing proved beyond all reasonable doubt
31:19that Anna Anderson was not Anastasia Romanov.
31:32These speculations were fueled when the Romanov's grave was found in 1991,
31:37and two bodies were seemingly missing. But by 2007, another gravesite had been found nearby,
31:42and DNA evidence conclusively proved that all members of the family are accounted for.
31:47It's a sad ending to the tale for those who preferred to hold out hope of her survival.
32:02What answer to a historical mystery are you most skeptical about? Let us know in the comments.
32:07No trace of the soldiers has ever been found, until now.
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