Interesting mystical facts from people's lives. The most inexplicable mystical stories. Why do corals pulsate

In the myths of Ancient Greece, a legend is told about lustful forest nymphs-temptresses who lured travelers into thickets and arranged a real sexual feast, after which, returning home, these men were no longer able to have fun with an ordinary woman. Not in vain, Herodotus exclaimed: "Whoever tasted the love of a nymph, he will never be able to forget her caresses."

It is believed that it was the forest harlots who taught people the art of sexual positions, and this legend became the reason that hypersexuality in women was called nymphomania. It is rather unfair that polygamy and sexual activity in men have not caused almost any surprise for a long time, but for some reason it is still not possible to explain such behavior in women.

Who are nymphomaniacs

Alfred Kinsey, a well-known researcher of sexual relationships, for example, gave the following definition to a nymphomaniac - this is "one who wants more sex than you." Since ancient times, mankind has known cases of increased sexual desire in men and women. However, the term nymphomania (from the Greek nymph - bride, mania - passion) is a type of hypersexuality only in women, and in men it is satyriasm (from the Greek satyr - a lustful goat-legged demon of the forest).

Interestingly, the scientific literature describes the case of a nymphomaniac who had sexual intercourse with men 10-15 times in a row and continued to feel the need and desire for further copulation. The nymphomaniac is always haunted by an uncontrollable desire to have sex with everyone, while she is completely illegible in choosing her partners.

This is explained by the fact that in the blood of nymphomaniacs the concentration of sex hormones is quickly restored - reaching that critical point when sexual intercourse becomes extremely desirable. The very attempts to get at least some pleasure are reduced to absolute zero, since true nymphomania does not entail sexual pleasure.

Statistics show that for every 2.5 thousand women there is always one true nymphomaniac, which should be distinguished from temperamental women with a free attitude to sex. Nymphomania can be divided into two types: the desire to have as many orgasms as possible or the desire to have as many partners as possible.

Nymphomania can develop against the background of severe stress caused by cruel punishments in childhood, violence. Interestingly, it can also be provoked by such seemingly far from sex diseases as encephalitis, meningitis, tumors and vascular lesions of the brain, drug intoxication, hyperfunction of the adrenal cortex. Often, nymphomania is preceded by difficult childbirth, abortions with complications, abuse of oral contraceptives, menopause.

Carol Groneman, professor of history, in her book called "Nymphomania" draws a connection between a developed occiput, cerebellum and excessive sexual activity in women. However, this fact has not found scientific confirmation, and thus it is impossible to determine the nymphomaniac "by eye".

It is interesting that the most tireless nymphomaniacs are not crazy aged ladies, but girls aged 14-16. At this age, a woman's personality has not yet been fully formed, and youthful maximalism and infantilism do not allow her to resist increased sexual desire.

The most famous nymphomaniacs

The names of the most famous nymphomaniacs in history have become household names. It was not beauty and not their great deeds that made these women famous all over the world, but unbridled passion.

Cleopatra

Cleopatra was distinguished not only by her obstinate disposition, but also by her violent temperament. To satisfy her sexual desires, Cleopatra had a whole harem of young handsome men. Interestingly, according to legend, after a night with the queen, the young lover was expected to die imminently. Perhaps this was just a ploy to ensure that men were given love "like the last time."

Valeria Messalina

Valeria was the wife of Caesar Claudius. It is known that she slept with the entire legion of guards and had fun with clients in a brothel, pretending to be a prostitute. There is a term "Messalina complex", which is synonymous with nymphomania.

Known for changing favorites like gloves. Rumor has it that her insatiability is due to the fact that even in her early youth, Catherine played with artificial phalluses, constantly increasing their size: up to 9 cm in diameter. Perhaps that is why no man could satisfy her.

Our world is full of wonders. They surround any of us from the first minutes of our birth. If you think more deeply, then the very fact of our life with you is already an incredible and supreme miracle. Scientists have calculated that the birth of a person is one chance in a billion billion that has fallen to the lot of people who have ever lived, are living and have not yet been born into this world. But if the birth of a person has long been explained biologically, then Bigfoot, UFOs, brownies, crop circles, Chupacabra, Nessie, the Bermuda Triangle are still inexplicable facts! We will tell about them.

Place 10. Crop circle

Crop circles are geometrically correct circles with a diameter from 1 to several tens of meters. but a fact! As a rule, they are formed by ears of corn growing in the fields, involuntarily laid on the ground in one single direction. It should be especially noted that the ears do not break, but simply press down, continuing their natural growth. Crop circles are a mass phenomenon, usually there are from 3 to 70 of them within one section of the field.

The incredible stories of farmers associated with the appearance of crop circles, as well as various observations, have repeatedly forced ufologists to doubt the natural origin of this phenomenon. After all, not a single person, with all his diligence and desire, can lay the ears so accurately and not damage their stems. Of course, crop circles are a mysterious and still inexplicable phenomenon of either Mother Nature, or third-party forces.

Ufologists put forward several versions that somehow explain these inexplicable facts. Some say that this is the result of an overdose of fertilizers or a peculiar effect of a fungal infection on them. Others suggest that crop circles are formed due to the effect of air vortices on field vegetation. Some farmers even say that these are traces of mating games arranged by field hedgehogs and badgers.

The military is also getting involved in this issue. They are considering a version with a field test of some new type of secret weapon. In general, the phenomenon of the appearance of crop circles is still a mystery of mankind. It is worth noting that in 1980 the record for the number of circles that occurred on the field was set: in the UK, more than 500 circles were recorded at that time!

Location 9. Bermuda Triangle

Once upon a time, a Spanish navigator named Bermudez discovered islands in the Atlantic, surrounded on all sides by reefs and shoals that pose a danger to ships. He was lucky: he passed them safely, calling them the Devil's Islands. Later they were called Bermuda. Currently, this place has a bad reputation: it is a dangerous area for navigation and air travel. Yes, and its boundaries have expanded significantly.

Currently, a whole area located in the Atlantic Ocean between these same islands is considered a danger zone: Puerto Rico, the Florida Peninsula and Bermuda. This zone got its name - the Bermuda Triangle. It is here that the disappearances of ships, planes and people take place. It has been noted that it is in the region of the Bermuda Triangle that the conditions of sea and air navigation bring people significant difficulty.

We repeat, this place found its sad glory because of planes, ships and inexplicable death of people. For example, in December 1945, a whole flight of US Air Force patrol planes fell into this zone at a time. The commander of this link only managed to transmit the following on the radio: “All the instruments on board failed! Our planes are off course! God, the ocean looks strange!” After that, communication with the crews of all these aircraft was cut off.

The investigation carried out turned up absolutely nothing. The Bermuda Triangle has remained an eternal mystery of mankind. In the future, there were more and more cases of the disappearance of ships and aircraft that fell into the zone of the mysterious triangle. In the second half of the 20th century, this natural phenomenon began to be taken seriously. The inexplicable things happening in the Atlantic between Bermuda, Florida and Puerto Rico force scientists to come up with new hypotheses.

However, there is still a sign of mystery in this place. And this is due either to a lack of facts, or to a deliberate distortion of certain evidence. Be that as it may, scientists do not exclude manifestations of yet unexplored natural anomalies in this zone. Some experts believe that the Bermuda Triangle is a giant pathogenic and uncomfortable zone in which hurricanes are born, as well as unusual atmospheric phenomena that generate electrical interactions of water and air.

Location 8. The mystery of the Egyptian pyramids

Pyramids are the tombs of the pharaohs who once ascended the throne. The richer and more powerful the ruler was, the more majestic was his tomb. The inexplicable facts of history are primarily associated with the mysterious construction of the ancient Egyptian pyramids. According to historians, their construction lasted from 2700 to 1800 BC. But the mystery lies not at all in this! Scientists say that mere mortal people in those days would not have been able to build such serious and practical structures.

The total weight of stone blocks specially processed for the pyramid and laid in it was calculated. This weight is equal to 6.5 million tons! While some scientists believe that the construction of one such tomb took 20 years with the participation of 100,000 people, others refuse to believe it at all. According to the second, even such a huge army of builders without special equipment would not have been able to cope with such a task in two decades.

Skeptical scientists claim that such a task would be too much for them, saying that all this is just incredible facts. In addition, it is assumed that the construction of the ancient Egyptian pyramids was not carried out all year round, but only during those intervals when the Nile River overflowed, suspending the work of human builders related to agriculture. Today, many hypotheses have been put forward, but none of them stand up to criticism and testing for strength.

Location 7. Bigfoot

Many incredible stories that excite the imagination of the inhabitants are associated with their meetings with the so-called yeti, or bigfoot. This is certainly one of the most amazing mysteries of cryptozoology - the science of unusual animals and people ever seen on our planet. At present, a great many different testimonies have been collected about the meetings of people with these huge and shaggy humanoid creatures.

A lot of indirect evidence of the existence of the yeti has been collected, all kinds of prints of allegedly his paws on snow and soft ground. Some witnesses even brought pieces of wool allegedly torn from Bigfoot. Scientists have already created a whole database based on the classification of certain evidence (not evidence!) of the existence of Bigfoot. Many of them are so picturesque that scientists have little doubt about their authenticity.

But, oddly enough, the more reports of meetings with the yeti appear, the more doubts arise in scientists about its existence: some seemingly inexplicable materials of the meeting with the yeti are, it turns out, fakes! Casts from the footprints of these creatures turn out to be artificial, and photo and video filming is made through editing and special effects. Even pieces of wool, allegedly belonging to the Yeti, after appropriate laboratory tests and analyzes, are recognized as gross fakes. Therefore, the sensation has not yet happened.

Location 6. Nessie

"Unbelievable but true!" - so say cryptozoologists about the legend associated with the existence in one of the Scottish lakes of a certain monster from prehistoric times. This lake is called Loch Ness, and it is located in the north-west of Scotland among many mountain ranges. originated approximately 300,000,000 years ago. Its maximum depth is 300 meters. According to urban legend, a strange creature of enormous size settled in its depths. Scientists dubbed this monster a very cute name - Nessie.

This problem was attended not only by cryptozoologists, but also by paleontologists, because the Loch Ness monster is not a monster from fairy tales, but just a plesiosaur, which miraculously survived to our times. Messages about meetings with Nessie accumulated at a tremendous speed: someone watched the monster go ashore, someone saw his head sticking out of the water along with his neck. There are also such eyewitnesses who allegedly saw Nessie with a whole brood of cubs. The mystery of Loch Ness attracted and continues to attract tourists from all over the world.

Inexplicable cases of people meeting with Nessie still fuel the professional interest of scientists in this legendary lake. Until now, paleontologists and cryptozoologists come there, they take samples of soil and water, trying to catch at least some relationship with Nessie. Currently, scientific expeditions are conducting serious research, capturing the underwater world of the lake on video cameras and with the help of sonars. A video filmed in one day showed only the water column with indeterminate moving objects, which in most cases turn out to be

In fairness, we note that sometimes objects that vaguely resemble flippers attached to some huge carcass fall into the camera lens. On the shore, traces are also visible from time to time, similar to those that a massive animal leaning on flippers can leave behind. The surface of the lake is monitored around the clock, data are verified, and reports are compiled. But all this cannot be called irrefutable facts, so the mystery of Loch Ness has not yet been solved.

Location 5. Chupacabra

Inhabiting our planet, are not limited to Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster. A good example of this is the Chupacabra. The first part of this word is translated as "suck", and the second - "goat", literally - "goat vampire". There are already legends all over the world about this mysterious animal: this creature kills domestic animals (sheep and goats), sucking blood from them.

Currently, the Chupacabra has become the heroine of books, various feature films, TV shows and cartoons. Outwardly, this animal resembles either a dog or a jackal. Often, evidence proving the existence of the Chupacabra turns out to be photographs of some mutated animals: wolves, foxes, dogs. There is currently no reliable information about the existence of this inexplicable animal.

Place 4. Evil spirits

Not every one of us, of course, has come across this, but we have all heard more than once that sometimes some inexplicable things can happen in the house: spoons fall from the tables, dishes that are evenly standing on the table break, some sounds are heard, etc. .d. It is generally accepted that all this is the tricks of the brownie. How he looks, of course, no one knows for sure, but his image has firmly entered Russian folklore, which made him such a sweet and charming "old man".

From the point of view of scientists, a brownie is a paranormal phenomenon concentrated in an invisible clot of energy. Parapsychologists are sure that the brownie is a thinking creature that can read the thoughts of the owners of the house in which it lives. One of the brownie phenomena is inexplicable cases of his meetings with young children. Psychics say that in a house where there are children, this bundle of energy can take the form of some big toy. Children often see it, but cannot explain anything to adults.

Place 3. Dreams and dreams

Inexplicable mysteries lie not only in nature, but also in the mind of man himself. Such are, for example, our dreams. In the old days, a person believed that his soul embarked on some kind of journey through the outside world at night. There she allegedly receives either Divine revelation or a corresponding warning of danger. Today, such dreams are called prophetic, or prophetic. Scientists still cannot explain this nature of dreams. Most likely, our brain is very well intuitively developed, which allows it to “draw” warning dreams in our minds.

Often dreams are of some kind of chaotic character: a person who wakes up after this remembers only a certain episode or passage from what he dreamed about. In this regard, there is an inexplicable, but rather frequent phenomenon: often in a short moment between dream and reality, we, without realizing what is happening, attract some phantasmagoric image to everyday problems, and vice versa. As a result, we get a real "vinaigrette" from reality and illusion.

Location 2. UFOs and aliens

Many unexplained facts of the world do not have (and never will have) such popularity as UFOs, or unidentified flying objects. Someone jokingly remarked: “While the scientific minds of the whole world are tracing the paths of the evolutionary development of organisms, studying meteorites and taking samples of lunar soil, ordinary people habitually watch UFOs.” On the one hand, objects of extraterrestrial origin are fiction, but on the other hand, where do their photographs come from, published on the pages of magazines, newspapers and on the Internet?

According to the concept outlined in the popular television series: “NASA. Inexplicable Materials”, over the past decades, world researchers, together with ufologists, have done a tremendous job: they have compiled a catalog of possible representatives of extraterrestrial civilizations. This allowed them to divide all space aliens into two groups:

• humanoids,
• non-humanoids.

What is the difference between them? As the name implies, representatives of the first group are similar to an earthly person. They are considered anthropomorphic and their growth ranges from 0.7 to 3.5 meters. Parts of the body do not always have a proportional shape: the head is large, the limbs are thin and long. They can be dressed in both ordinary and strange clothes and have a habit of imitating the person they like in everything.

According to the data presented in the same series “NASA. Inexplicable materials”, researchers include all other extraterrestrial beings to the representatives of the second group. These aliens can have a completely different appearance, and their body can take any form. It was these creatures that were the favorite characters of many famous Hollywood directors who shot such blockbusters as Alien, Critters, etc.

Incredible facts about UFOs and aliens constantly excite the minds of not only ufologists, but also the inhabitants of the entire planet Earth. After all, it may turn out that our “neighbors” fly to us in the galaxy, and possibly throughout the Universe! But is it worth it to blindly believe the numerous eyewitness accounts, more than half of which are empty fakes? We will probably disappoint you, but so far earth scientists do not have authentic evidence of the existence of aliens.

Place 1. Life after death

The afterlife, or the life of the soul after the death of a person, is a philosophical and religious idea of ​​the continuing conscious life of people after their death. Unexplained facts and related situations are today, perhaps, the most important topic of the spiritual existence of man. In principle, people from century to century have been interested to know what will happen after their physical death.

At present, this aspect of the spiritual being of a person is strictly prescribed in each of the existing religions. The curiosity associated with the afterlife never ceases to excite our minds and tickle our nerves. In the overwhelming majority of cases, all ideas about a new life are due to a person's belief in immortality and the reincarnation (transmigration) of his soul, in resurrection from the dead, in posthumous retribution. It is these inexplicable facts that are reflected in religious and philosophical-religious worldviews.

The phenomenon of clinical death, which is not unknown to all of us, is closely connected with. Scientists and physicians pay special attention to it. Many people who have suffered so-called clinical death talk about certain visions that visited them at that moment. Here's what's important: all of them are characterized by a spot of light in front and a feeling of flying / falling towards it. The question of the nature of the origin of such near-death visions is still the subject of scientific disputes and discussions among scientists to this day. There is an opinion that all these are processes occurring at the moment of clinical death directly in our brain. However, even this today is only a hypothesis.

These days, it's pretty hard to completely hide your personal data, because just typing a few words in a search engine - and the secrets are revealed, and the mysteries come to the surface. With the development of science and the improvement of technology, the game of hide and seek is becoming increasingly difficult. It used to be easier, of course. And there are many examples in history when it was impossible to find out what kind of person he was and where he came from. Here are some of these mysterious cases.

15. Kaspar Hauser

May 26, Nuremberg, Germany. 1828. A teenager of about seventeen wanders aimlessly through the streets, clutching a letter addressed to Commander von Wessenig in his hand. The letter states that the boy was taken to school in 1812, taught to read and write, but he was never allowed "to take a single step out the door." It was also said that the boy should become "a cavalryman like his father" and the commander could either accept him or hang him.

After meticulous inquiries, they managed to find out that his name was Kaspar Hauser and he spent his whole life in a "blackened cage" 2 meters long, 1 meter wide and 1.5 meters high, in which there were only an armful of straw and three toys carved from wood (two horses and dogs). A hole was made in the floor of the cell so that he could relieve himself. The foundling hardly spoke, could not eat anything but water and black bread, he called all people boys, and all animals - horses. The police tried to find out where he came from and who the criminal was, what made the boy a savage, but this was never found out. For the next few years, some people took care of him, then others, taking him into their house and caring for him. Until December 14, 1833, Kaspar was found stabbed in the chest. A purple silk purse was found nearby, and in it was a note made in such a way that it could only be read in a mirror image. She said:

"Hauser will be able to describe to you exactly how I look and where I came from. In order not to bother Hauser, I want to tell you myself where I _ _ I came from _ _ the Bavarian border _ _ on the river _ _ I'll even tell you the name: M .L.O."

14. Green Children of Woolpit

Imagine that you live in the 12th century in the small village of Woolpit in the English county of Suffolk. While harvesting in the field, you find two children huddled in an empty wolf hole. Children speak an incomprehensible language, dressed in indescribable clothes, but the most interesting thing is their green skin. You take them to your house where they refuse to eat anything but green beans.

After a while, these children - brother and sister - begin to speak a little English, eat not only beans, and their skin gradually loses its green tint. The boy falls ill and dies. The surviving girl explains that they came from "St. Martin's Land", an underground "world of dusk" where they looked after their father's cattle, and then they heard a noise and ended up in a wolf den. The inhabitants of the underworld are green and dark all the time. There were two versions: either this is a fairy tale, or the children ran away from the copper mines.

13. Somerton Man

On December 1, 1948, on Somerton Beach in the town of Glenelg (a suburb of Adelaide) in Australia, the police discovered the body of a man. All the labels from his clothes were cut off, he had neither documents nor a wallet, and his face was clean-shaven. Even the teeth could not be identified. That is, there were no clues at all.
After the autopsy, the pathologist concluded that "death could not have occurred due to natural causes" and suggested poisoning, although no traces of toxic substances were found in the body. In addition to this hypothesis, the doctor could not suggest anything more about the cause of death. Perhaps the most mysterious thing in this whole story was that a piece of paper was found with the deceased, torn from a very rare edition of Omar Khayyam, on which only two words were written - Tamam Shud ("Tamam Shud"). These words are translated from Persian as "finished" or "completed". The victim remained unidentified.

12. Man from Taured

In 1954, in Japan, at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, thousands of passengers were hurrying about their business. However, one passenger did not seem to take part in this. For some reason, this outwardly perfectly normal man in a business suit attracted the attention of airport security, he was stopped and began to ask questions. The man answered in French, but was also fluent in several other languages. His passport had seals from many countries, including Japan. But this man claimed to have come from a country called Taured, located between France and Spain. The problem was that on none of the maps offered to him there was any Taured in this place - Andorra was located there. This fact greatly saddened the man. He said that his country had existed for centuries and that he even had its stamps in his passport.

Discouraged, the airport staff left the man in a hotel room with two armed guards outside the door, while they themselves tried to find more information about the man. They didn't find anything. When they returned to the hotel for him, it turned out that the man had disappeared without a trace. The door did not open, the guards did not hear any noise and movement in the room, and he could not leave through the window - it was too high. Moreover, all the belongings of this passenger disappeared from the airport security service.

The man, simply put, dived into the abyss and did not return.

11. Lady Granny

The 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy spawned many conspiracy theories, and one of the most mystical details of this event is the presence in the photographs of a certain woman, who was dubbed Lady Grandmother. This woman in a coat and sunglasses got into a bunch of pictures, moreover, they show that she had a camera and she was filming what was happening.

The FBI tried to find her and identify her, but to no avail. The FBI later approached her to provide her videotape as evidence, but no one ever came. Just think: this woman, in broad daylight, in full view of at least 32 witnesses (whom she was photographed and videotaped), witnessed and filmed the murder, and yet no one could identify her, not even the FBI. She has remained a secret.

10. D. B. Cooper

It happened on November 24, 1971 at Portland International Airport, where a man boarded a plane bound for Seattle, clutching a black briefcase, who bought a ticket under the documents in the name of Dan Cooper. After takeoff, the Cooper handed the flight attendant a note saying that he had a bomb in his briefcase and his demands were $200,000 and four parachutes. The flight attendant notified the pilot, who contacted the authorities.

After landing at the Seattle airport, all passengers were released, the Cooper's demands were met and an exchange was made, after which the plane took off again. As it flew over Reno, Nevada, the imperturbable Cooper ordered all personnel on board to stay where they were, while he himself opened the passenger door and jumped out into the night sky. Despite a large number of witnesses who could identify him, "Cooper" was never found. Only a small portion of the money was found - in a river in Vancouver, Washington.

9. 21-faced monster

In May 1984, a Japanese food corporation called "Ezaki Glico" ran into a problem. Its president, Katsuhiza Ezaki, was kidnapped for ransom right from his home and held for some time in an abandoned warehouse, but then he managed to escape. A little later, the company received a letter stating that the products were poisoned with potassium cyanide and there would be victims if all products were not immediately recalled from food warehouses and stores. The company's losses amounted to $21 million, 450 people lost their jobs. The unknown - a group of people who took the name "21-faced monster" - sent mocking letters to the police, who could not find them, and even gave clues. Another message said that they "forgave" Glico and the persecution stopped.

Not satisfied with playing with one large corporation, the Monster organization has its eyes on others: Morinaga and a few other food companies. They acted according to the same scenario - they threatened to poison the products, but this time they demanded money. During a failed money exchange operation, a police officer almost managed to grab one of the criminals, but still missed him. Superintendent Yamamoto, in charge of investigating the case, could not bear the shame and committed suicide by setting himself on fire.

Shortly thereafter, "Monster" sent his final message to the media, poking fun at the death of a police officer and ending with "We're the bad guys. It means we have more to do than harass companies. Being bad is fun. Monster with 21 faces." . And nothing more was heard from them.

8. The Man in the Iron Mask

The "man in the iron mask" had the number 64389000, according to prison records. In 1669, the minister of Louis XIV sent a letter to the head of the prison in the French city of Pignerol, in which he announced the imminent arrival of a special prisoner. The minister ordered a cell to be built with several doors to prevent eavesdropping, to provide this prisoner with all his basic needs, and finally, if the prisoner ever spoke of anything other than this, to kill him without hesitation.

This prison was famous for putting "black sheep" from noble families and the government. It is noteworthy that the "mask" received special treatment: his cell was well furnished, unlike the rest of the prison cells, and two soldiers were on duty at the door of his cell, who were ordered to kill the prisoner if he took off his iron mask. The conclusion lasted until the death of the prisoner in 1703. The same fate befell the things he used: the furniture and clothes were destroyed, the walls of the cell were scraped off and washed, and the iron mask was melted down.

Many historians have since argued bitterly over the identity of the prisoner in an attempt to find out if he was a relative of Louis XIV and for what reasons he was destined for such an unenviable fate.

7. Jack the Ripper

Perhaps the most famous and mysterious serial killer in history, who London first heard about in 1888, when five women were killed (although it is sometimes said that there were eleven victims). All the victims were connected by the fact that they were prostitutes, and also by the fact that they all had their throats cut (in one of the cases, the cut was right up to the spine). All of the victims had at least one organ cut out of their bodies, and their faces and body parts were mutilated almost beyond recognition.

Most suspiciously, these women were clearly not murdered by a novice or amateur. The killer knew exactly how and where to cut, and he knew anatomy perfectly, so many immediately decided that the killer was a doctor. The police received hundreds of letters in which people accused the police of incompetence, and there seemed to be letters from the Ripper himself with the signature "From Hell".

None of the many suspects and none of the countless conspiracy theories have been able to shed light on this case.

6. Agent 355

One of the first spies in US history, and a female spy, was Agent 355, who worked during the American Revolution for George Washington and is part of the Culper Ring spy organization. This woman provided vital information about the British army and its tactics, including plans for sabotage and ambushes, and if not for her, the outcome of the war could have been different.

Supposedly in 1780, she was arrested and sent aboard a prison ship, where she gave birth to a boy, who was named Robert Townsend Jr. She died a little later. However, historians are suspicious of this story, stating that women were not sent to floating prisons, and there is no evidence of the birth of a child.

5. Killer named Zodiac

Another serial killer who remains unknown is the Zodiac. It's practically the American Jack the Ripper. In December 1968, he shot dead two teenagers in California - right on the side of the road - and attacked five more people the following year. Of these, only two survived. One of the victims described the assailant as brandishing a gun wearing a hooded cape like an executioner's and a white cross painted on his forehead.
Like Jack the Ripper, the Zodiac maniac also sent letters to the press. The difference is that these were ciphers and cryptograms along with insane threats, and at the end of the letter there was always a crosshair symbol. The prime suspect was a man named Arthur Lee Allen, but the evidence against him was only circumstantial and his guilt was never proven. And he himself died of natural causes shortly before the trial. Who was the Zodiac? No answer.

4. Unknown rebel (Tank Man)

This shot of a protester facing a column of tanks is one of the most famous anti-war photographs and also contains a mystery: the identity of this man, who is called Tank Man, has never been established. An unknown rebel held back a column of tanks alone for half an hour during the unrest in Tiananmen Square in June 1989.

The tank was unable to bypass the protester and stopped. This prompted Tank Man to climb onto the tank and talk to the crew members through the vent. After a while, the protester got down from the tank and continued his stand-up strike, preventing the tanks from moving forward. Well, then it was carried away by people in blue. It is not known what became of him - whether he was killed by the government or forced into hiding.

3. Woman from Isle

In 1970, the partially charred body of a naked woman was discovered in the Isdalen Valley (Norway). More than a dozen sleeping pills, a lunch box, an empty liquor bottle, and plastic bottles that smelled of gasoline were found on her. The woman suffered serious burns and carbon monoxide poisoning, in addition, 50 sleeping pills were found inside her, and she may also have received a blow to the neck. The tips of her fingers were cut off so that she could not be identified by fingerprints. And when the police found her luggage at the nearest railway station, it turned out that all the labels on the clothes were also cut off.

During further investigation, it turned out that the deceased had a total of nine pseudonyms, a whole collection of different wigs and a collection of suspicious diaries. She also spoke four languages. But this information did not help much in establishing the identity of the woman. A little later, a witness was found who saw a woman in fashionable clothes walking along the path from the station, followed by two men in black coats - towards the place where the body was found 5 days later.

But even this testimony did not help much.

2. Grinning Man

Usually paranormal events are difficult to take seriously and almost all phenomena of this kind are exposed almost immediately. However, this case seems to be of a different kind. In 1966, in New Jersey, two boys were walking at night along the road towards the barrier and one of them noticed a figure behind the fence. The towering figure was dressed in a green suit that shimmered in the lantern light. The creature had a wide grin or grin and small prickly eyes that relentlessly followed the frightened boys with their eyes. The boys were then questioned separately and in great detail, and their stories matched exactly.

Some time later, in West Virginia, reports of such a strange Grinning Man appeared again, and in large numbers and from different people. With one of them - Woodrow Dereberger - Grinning even talked. He identified himself as "Indrid Cold" and asked if there were any reports of unidentified flying objects in the area. In general, he made an indelible impression on Woodrow. Then this paranormal entity was still met here and there, until it disappeared completely.

1. Rasputin

Perhaps no other historical figure can be compared with Grigory Rasputin in terms of the degree of mystery. And although we know who he is and where he came from, his identity has become overgrown with rumors, legends and mysticism and is still a mystery. Rasputin was born in January 1869 to a peasant family in Siberia, where he became a religious wanderer and "healer", claiming that some deity gave him visions. A whole series of controversial and bizarre events led to the fact that Rasputin, as a healer, ended up in the royal family. He was invited to treat Tsarevich Alexei, who was suffering from hemophilia, in which he even succeeded somewhat - and as a result acquired enormous power and influence over the royal family.

Associated with corruption and evil, Rasputin was the subject of countless unsuccessful assassination attempts. Either a woman was sent to him with a knife under the guise of a beggar, and she almost gutted him, then they invited him to the house of a well-known politician and tried to poison him with cyanide mixed into the drink. But that didn't work either! In the end, they just shot him. The killers wrapped the body in sheets and threw it into the icy river. Later it turned out that Rasputin died from hypothermia, not from bullets, and even almost managed to get out of his cocoon, but this time his luck did not smile at him.

This list includes the most famous "mysteries of the century", from stones sliding through the desert to incomprehensible underwater sounds that people still managed to solve.

Richard III's grave found

The remains of Richard III, the last English king to die in battle, have been discovered under a car park in the British city of Leicester. It was one of the most striking archaeological finds of recent decades.

Source of the Nile

This may seem too obvious, but even a response like "Lake Victoria" was not that easy to get. It took the most modern technology to get the final clue, because the true location of the source of the Nile for a long time remained a mystery.

Why is the temperature of the "solar atmosphere" higher than the temperature of the surface of the Sun

The answer sounds too scientific, however, one way or another, the mystery was solved in 2009 thanks to a study by a group of European scientists. They managed to find an explanation for the fact that the temperature of the solar "atmosphere" reaches several million degrees Celsius, while the surface of the sun is much "colder" - only 5 thousand degrees Celsius. The answer is that it is the magnetic field that is the source of energy that causes solar flares and coronal plasma ejections.

Finding the flooded

The discovery in 1985, more than 70 years after the disaster, of a sunken ship was completely accidental and can only be explained by the greatest luck of the researchers.

Loch Ness monster

After decades of countless controversy and speculation, the photographer behind the world-famous original image of the Loch Ness Monster recently admitted that it was a hoax.

Troy

For centuries, mankind considered Troy a mythical city and the Trojan War mostly a legend. This was before the discovery by the self-taught German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann of the remains of the ancient city, also called Ilion

"Magic" circles in the Namib Desert

For a long time, people have associated this phenomenon with anything from radioactive radiation to space alien camps. Only relatively recent studies have led to the final conclusion that the "culprits" of such a long intrigue are ... termites! (However, there are other explanations that we wrote about earlier)

The fate of Martin Bormann

One of the top leaders of the Nazi Reich was not located after World War II, despite intensive searches around the world. According to the most famous version, he managed to escape retribution and hide somewhere in South America, which there were numerous evidences that were exaggerated in the press for many years. However, in 1999 his corpse was found in an unmarked grave near the bunker where Hitler committed suicide.

"Fish flatulence" instead of Russian submarines

In the 1980s, Swedish sailors discovered underwater sounds of unknown origin. Many experts attributed them to Russian submarines threatening the free world. The answer caused an explosion of ... laughter - the source of mystical underwater sounds turned out to be the release of digestive gases from clusters of fish. The Swedes were subsequently awarded the so-called. Shnobel Prize.

Tomb of Tutankhamun

With this most "popular" ancient Egyptian pharaoh, a story reminiscent of the "Trojan" was connected. Until the discovery in 1922 in the Valley of the Kings of the completely untouched tomb of Tutankhamen, it was the subject of countless legends and hoaxes.

Eternal Roar

When researchers from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration discovered a low-frequency sound of unknown origin in the South Pacific in the summer of 1997, at first its origin was attributed to some mysterious, incredibly large and loud animal. Later, however, most scientists agreed that this roar (The Bloop) was caused by the movement of ice masses.

Why do corals pulsate

The pulsation of coral colonies remained an unassailable mystery and the subject of much conjecture for several decades of the last century. This movement could not be explained by any pressing need. In the end, scientists were able to establish that in this way the corals maintain a low oxygen content in the surrounding waters and thereby attract a certain type of migratory algae, which forms the basis of their diet.

In what direction is the Earth's core spinning?

For a very long time, scientists could not understand how the solid inner core of our planet rotates in one direction, while the liquid outer core rotates in the other. Researchers from the University of the British city of Leeds have finally found the answer: the reason lies in the "equiopposite" interaction of near-Earth magnetic fields.

Do women blush in the dark

This question may sound stupid to you, but even Charles Darwin tried to get an answer to it. After all, if you think sensibly, in the dark it is impossible to see if she blushed, and if you turn on the light, then what happens next will no longer take place in the dark, regardless of the result. Fortunately, German researchers have thought of using special cameras that react to thermal radiation to put an end to painful doubts. Yes, women blush in the dark, how!

Antikythera mechanism

The fact that this ancient Greek “computer” was probably used for navigation purposes was known for a very long time (since the device was discovered among the wreckage of a ship). But the fact that a device of a comparable level of complexity was next built by people only a thousand years later is true hard to explain.

Causes of stomach ulcers

For many years, the pharmaceutical industry has made very good money selling anti-stress drugs to treat stomach ulcers. This continued until Australian scientists discovered that ulcers are often caused by a bacterial factor and are very easily cured.

The nature of absolutely black bodies is inexplicable within the framework of classical physics

Classical physics states that an ideal black body in a state of thermal equilibrium will radiate an infinite amount of energy. This is inconsistent with what is actually happening in the real world. To explain this phenomenon, the laws of quantum mechanics were required.

sliding stones

If you don't know, there are rocks in different deserts around the world that "slide", that is, move on their own. After several experiments, this effect was explained as follows: the movement of the stones, in all likelihood, is caused by the wind and the presence of ice on the desert surface.

Photos from open sources

Someone is constantly faced with miracles, for someone they are fairy tales, nevertheless, paranormal things happen in our lives, and this is the same reality as, say, rain or snow, which seem so ordinary to us. (website)

alien artifacts

On the evening of January 29, 1986, a strange event occurred near the Far Eastern town of Dalnegorsk. A large luminous "meteorite" crashed into the hill at great speed. The top of this hill is visible here from all corners of the city, so almost all local residents have witnessed something mysterious. Later, fires resembling welding began to burn on a hill. January did not allow us to immediately approach the glow, which lasted, as the locals say, about an hour. Only three days later, the researchers managed to climb to the top and see strange fragments, clearly melted under the influence of high temperature. Surprisingly, at the same time, at a distance of several centimeters from the fallen celestial body, bushes and trees remained intact and unharmed.

Photos from open sources

The collision with the rock left a lot of interesting artifacts, the chemical composition of which turned out to be extremely rare, if not completely atypical for the Earth. For example, balls and structures have been found that resemble a grid in their structure. Many of them had a high melting point, although they appeared to be plastic. Scientists have suggested that such chemical compounds are almost impossible to obtain in the natural conditions of our planet. Then - what is it? ..

Annabelle doll

These events formed the basis of the American horror film Annabelle. In 1970, an American student celebrated her birthday. Her mother had given her a large antique doll that she had bought from an antique shop. A few days later they started. Every morning, the girl carefully laid the doll on the bed in the apartment she rented with her friend. The hands of the toy were at the seams, and the legs were extended. But by evening, the doll took a completely different pose. For example, the legs were crossed and the hands were on the knees. The doll could also be seen in unexpected places in the home.

The girls came to the logical conclusion that during their absence, an outsider with a strange sense of humor visits the apartment. It was decided to conduct an experiment and seal the windows and the door in such a way that the attacker would leave traces after the visit. Not a single trap worked, and strange things continued to happen with the doll. Moreover, blood stains began to appear on the doll. Naturally, the police, who were involved a little later in this strange case, could not help the girls in any way. I had to turn to a medium. He said that a seven-year-old girl died on the site of this dwelling, whose spirit plays with this doll, thereby giving some signs, for example, requests for help. But then something terrible began to happen to the doll.

Photos from open sources

Once, a friend of theirs visited the girls. Suddenly, a noise was heard from the adjacent empty room. When the guys looked through the door, there was no one in it, and a doll was lying on the floor. Suddenly, the boy screamed and grabbed his chest. There were blood stains on his shirt. The chest was all scratched. The girls left the apartment on the same day and turned to the famous Warren esoteric research couple. It turned out that Annabelle is not just a doll, but some kind of evil entity that took advantage of the girls' trust. The Warrens performed a purification ceremony, after which the terrible things in the apartment no longer arose. The girls gladly gave the doll itself to their saviors for eternal storage.

rubber blocks

Over the past thirty years, they have been regularly found on the shores of Europe. These are rectangular rubber blocks with rounded edges and the inscription "TJIPETIR". It turned out that this word was used to refer to an Indonesian rubber plantation that existed at the beginning of the last century. But how to explain the appearance of these products on the other side of the planet? Experts suggest that the plates are washed out from a sunken merchant ship.

Photos from open sources

But in this case, very mysterious oddities can be traced. Firstly, the plates appear in England, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, France, which indicates a huge number of blocks during the shipwreck. Such an impressive consignment should be reflected in some archival documents, but none were found. Secondly, rubber was made 100 years ago, but, to the surprise of the researchers of this phenomenon, it is very well preserved. Are these plates made of...