Be it a
lonesome train journey, a late-night pajama party or a crackling campfire,
themes like ‘unsolved’, ‘unknown’, ‘mysteries’, ‘paranormal’ and ‘haunted’ can
spark up conversations like none else! So here are 7 spine-tingling unsolved
mysteries to share, scare and intrigue, during your next get-together.
The ‘Un-erasable’ Handprint
This is the
story of a Francis Leavy, a Chicago-based fireman, way back on April 18, 1924.
Known for his cheerfulness, Francis was unusually grumpy on that day. After
cleaning a window, he told his co-workers that he had a premonition of dying
the very same day. Soon, the fire alarm rang and the team had to rush to a
building that was ablaze. True to his words, Francis lost his life at the fire
site whilst savings others. But what’s bone-chilling is the fact that the other
firemen discovered his hand-print on the window he was cleaning the next day.
Despite using the harshest of chemicals, they were not able to erase the print
at all. It was only in 1944 that a Newspaper Delivery Boy accidentally
shattered the window and ended this creepy episode.
Haunted Woods
If you
thought ‘haunted forests’ existed only in horror flicks and fiction novels, you
should probably visit the Hoia Baciu in Transylvania, Romania. Visitors to the
forest either end up with unexplainable burns and scars, or said to have
gone ‘missing’ for hours, only to return back not remembering a single thing.
Many native people and explorers who dared to visit, have even disappeared
without a trace. Villagers who stay nearby are convinced that these are the
workings of evil spirits, and never venture into these deep, dark and mysterious
woods.
Most of us
are guilty of ‘over-indulging’ on sleep at times. But it’s one thing for a
person to laze around occasionally, and completely different (and super-weird)
for an entire village to ‘involuntarily drift off to sleep’ for several days at
a stretch! We’re talking about the Kalachi Village of Kazakhstan, a mystery
that has baffled scientists since 2014. Masses of people just fall asleep in
broad daylight for no apparent reason, and wake up several days later. Attempts
are being made to rehabilitate the residents elsewhere, to enable them to lead
a normal life.
The Island that ‘disappeared’
We’ve heard
of people, ships and aircrafts that disappeared. But a whole island just
vanished into thin air? That’s exactly what happened with the Bermeja Island of
Mexico. With the Oil-Discoveries in the 1970s, the island was of great economic
significance to the country. Mexico had even signed an ‘economic zone’ treaty
with the US, to lay claim to the oil reserves in the island’s periphery.
Surprisingly after two decades, expeditions from both countries could never
trace the island. Rumor had it that the CIA blew it up, but no staunch,
rational explanation has come so far.
‘Past Life’ Trance
This true
story (unexplained till date) is bound to give you goose-bumps! In 1904, 3-year
old Dorothy Eady fell off the stairs at her London home. Declared dead on the
spot, she suddenly came back to life, much to the joy of her parents. However 4
years later (during a visit to the British Museum), she had vivid glimpses of
her past life as a priestess ‘Omm Sety’ in Ancient Egypt. Growing up, she
married an Egyptian and settled in her ‘native country’. But the trance-like
state recurred from time to time, and her husband was horrified to see her
muttering and scribbling a random script. As a matter of fact, she guided
archaeologists to the exact location of the Abydos Temple Garden, proving that
she had not lost her marbles!
The Code That’s Never Been Cracked
Seldom has it happened that a
historical treatise be lying around for centuries without any possible way to
decipher it. The Voynich Manuscript (presently housed at the Yale University
Manuscripts Library) has been recovered in a secret code that has never been
cracked till date. In fact, this manuscript recovered from Northern Italy
(carbon-dated back to the 15th century) was unnamed. It was only in
1912 when Wilfrid Voynich, a Polish Book Dealer purchased it, that it was named
after him. The language and code continues to stun cryptographers across the
world.
Miraculous Recovery
As the saying goes, ‘Faith can move
mountains’. In this case, a family’s lost hopes for their son, Chucky Mcgivern
were not just rekindled, but stunned all and sundry. Afflicted with Reye’s
Syndrome, 7-year old Chucky who was admitted in the Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia, went into a coma in 1982. His mother, a staunch Catholic, put up
a medal with a picture of St John Newman (the 19th Century Bishop of
Philadelphia) on his bed. To their surprise, their son woke up from his come
within a day. They also found the position of the medal changing automatically
from time to time, and the presence of a stranger boy in the ward. When Chucky
was fully healed, the family paid a ‘thank-you’ visit to the Saint’s Shrine,
and also saw a picture of the Saint when he was 12. You guessed it right. It
was the same ‘stranger boy’ in the ward!
