1Oannes
Sumer was an ancient civilization founded in the Mesopotamia region of the Fertile Crescent situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. A Sumerian priest named Berossus recorded how an amphibian, named Oannes, emerged from the Persian Gulf and taught the Sumerians numbers, medicine, astronomy, politics, ethics and law, encompassing all the necessities for civilized existence. He said that before his intervention, the Sumerians ‘lived like beasts in the field, with no order or rule.’
2. Jacqueline Priestman is a British woman from Manchester who became notable for the way electronics behaved around her. Her ordeal started in 1980 after her husband died following an argument they had. She cursed him saying “I hope you break your neck!” That's exactly how he died. Sometime later light bulbs in her house started exploding when she was around. Her vacuum cleaner kept burning out. Other electrical appliances went haywire around her and some appliance stores even banned her. When a visiting professor examined her, he found her to suffer from an extreme build-up of static electricity (10 times the normal). He recommended a special diet and walking around the house holding onions to discharge electricity. Her symptoms slowly diminished, however when her daughter was born in 1985, she too started exhibiting symptoms of High Voltage Syndrome. The exact reason behind her strange symptoms still remains unsolved.
3. The original vampire legends originated from a dead man named Arnold Paole in Serbia, way before Vlad the Impaler became the archetype for vampires. In 1726, Arnold Paole died in the village of Meduegna in Serbia. After his death when people started seeing his undead body, officials called for the help of two Austrian military doctors, Glaser and Flückinger. The investigation and report produced by them confirmed the existence of vampires. The report said that Arnold’s dead body was responsible for the deaths of four people. When his corpse was dug up it was “quite complete and undecayed, with fresh blood from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.” They staked his heart and burned his body. Five years later, the deaths of 17 people were attributed to Paole and vampirism.
4. In 1876, a controversial archaeologist and conman named Heinrich Schliemann wanted to uncover the true location of the legendary city of Troy and began the excavation of Mycenae, an archaeological site in Greece. Here he believed he would uncover the graves of the great Mycenaean kings. He found six graves containing 19 bodies all of whom were surrounded by treasures: medallions, goblets, ivory-pommeled swords, rings, and the so-called “Cup of Nester.” In the 5th grave, he found a golden mask, which he instantly claimed was the mask of the legendary king Agamemnon. His findings were quickly dismissed as fake and forgery. Modern research though revealed the mask to be authentic and predating Trojan War by 300-400 years and some estimates put it at approximately 2500 B.C. So, for whom was this incredible mask made?
5. In 2013, a man in Toronto was arrested for committing over $400,000 in fraud. He claimed to be ‘Herman Emmanuel Fankem’, a French national living in Montreal. When the Canadian authorities contacted the French, it was found his passport was fake and they had no record of him. Further investigations uncovered other instances of him appearing in nearly 11 countries over the years under several more aliases. Being completely uncooperative, he refuses to answer any questions about his identity or past. Unable to identify him, the Canadian government can’t deport him, leaving him in limbo in a max security prison. He was scheduled to testify publicly in 2019 before the Immigration and Refugee Board, but at the last minute, the hearing was made private with no media or public allowed. Under Canadian law, any of these hearings are to take place in public unless under extraordinary circumstances. Still to this day, he refuses to reveal his true identity.
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6Pope Exorcism
In 2000, Pope John Paul II himself had to carry out an impromptu exorcism on a 19-year-old girl after she began “screaming insults in a cavernous voice” during an audience with Pope in the Vatican City. Pope and Father Gabriele Amorth (Vatican’s official exorcist) sat with the girl for half an hour and despite their best efforts, she remained possessed. She muttered “not even the head of the church can send me away” as the Pope walked off, defeated.
7. Archaeologists in London were excavating the graveyard of St. Pancras Old Church in 2003, in preparation for the construction of a rail terminal. It was the site of mass graves holding the bodies of 44,000 people, who were victims of a number of epidemics during the 19th century. When scientists opened up one particular coffin, they found the remains of eight people and a sizeable beast, which turned out to be a walrus. No one knows how it got to London or why it was buried there.
8. In a remote village in Georgia in Russia, a 6.5 feet tall wild woman was caught from the mountains in the 1850s. She had red hair all over her body and was very muscular. She was named ‘Zana’ and she spent several years in a cage. Eventually, she was let out. She roamed the village but always came back. She was trained in simple chores and never wore clothes. Her strength was legendary, and she did not seem to be affected by the frigid winter air. She enjoyed grapes and also had a weakness for wines, often drinking so heavily she would sleep for hours. This is likely how she became the mother of many children to different fathers. Her first two children died when she tried to wash them in the freezing river. The villagers then started to take her children away from her and raised them as their own. She died in 1890. When her grandchildren were researched by a professor, one of her grandsons, had jaws so powerful he could lift a chair with a man sitting in it. Their DNA test shockingly showed that Zana’s ethnic background was ‘100% sub-Saharan African’.
9. The Arizona Gazette published a front-page article on April 5, 1909, that ran several pages entitled “Explorations in Grand Canyon: Remarkable finds indicate ancient people migrated from Orient.” The article mentioned that an expedition financed by the Smithsonian Institute discovered tablets bearing hieroglyphics, copper weapons, and tools, statues of Egyptian deities, and mummies. Smithsonian denied all knowledge of the discovery, and several expeditions searching for the cavern have come up empty. Was it just a hoax? Supporters claim that the restricted areas in the Canyon are evidence of the cover-up.
10. The ‘Woman of Seine’ was an unknown woman whose body was pulled out of the Seine River in Paris in the 1880s. A post-mortem pathologist at the morgue was so taken by her beauty that he made a plaster cast death mask of her face. She was estimated to be 16 years old and she quickly became famous for her smile. It was compared to Mona Lisa and girls all over the world, most notably in France and Germany, copied her look. Her death mask is now used as the face of the CPR mannequin and it is the most kissed face on earth. The true details surrounding her death have been debated for years and her identity still remains unclear.
11Malawi Terror Beast
Malawi terror beast was an unidentified wild animal that killed at least 3 people and severely injured 16 others in Malawi in 2003. It crushed their skulls and ate their intestines and genitals. 4,000 people left their villages in order to escape it. Authorities identified it as a rabid hyena, but those people who saw the animal dismissed the claims that it was a Hyena, due to its large hind legs. Locals believed it was the soul of a similar beast that was killed a year before. The beast was never caught and it remains a mystery as to what it really was.
12. The Mad Gasser of Mattoon was an alleged maniac who may have attempted to covertly gas over 20 peoples’ homes for unknown reasons in the 1940s. Victims reported smelling a strong, sweet odor and immediately began to feel weak and nauseated. Police often found a hole made somewhere in the house where the gas was most concentrated and presumed to have been used to inject gas into the houses. One witness claimed to have seen the gasser and described “him” as a tall thin woman dressed as a man and footprints belonging to a woman were discovered at some of the scenes. The perpetrator was never caught.
13. In 1944, Nazis ran a train to Berlin to transport the valuables plundered from some 800,000 Hungarian Jews. Gold, gems, diamonds, pearls, watches, about 200 paintings, Persian and Oriental rugs, silverware, chinaware, furniture, fine clothing, linens, porcelains, cameras, stamp collections, and currency were filled on a 42 car freight train. Estimated to be worth $350 million ($4 billion in 2007), the train was seized by Allied troops and that’s where most the most notable objects started disappearing. US Army auctioned the assets it received for just $152,850 in 1948. US government kept details of this train a secret until 1998 when President Bill Clinton prepared a report detailing the handling of the train's assets by the US and cited a multitude of “shortcomings” of the US restitution efforts. In 2001, a lawsuit against the US government was filed by Hungarian Holocaust survivors in Florida over the mishandling of assets on the Hungarian Gold Train. In 2005, the government reached a settlement worth $25.5 million. It is still a mystery what happened to most of the valuables on the train.
14. In 1907, Ireland’s crown jewels (worth several million euros) were stolen from a safe in a strong room at Bedford Tower in Dublin Castle, under the eyes of 4 men assigned to guard them. A long investigation by Scotland Yard produced a report that was never released. It is said to have named the culprit and to have been suppressed by the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). Francis Shackleton, brother of renowned Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, was one of the main suspects behind the robbery. The whereabouts of the treasure and the identity of the thief are still unknown.
15. In 1900, three lighthouse keepers mysteriously disappeared from the lighthouse on Eilean Mor, an island north of Scotland. The door to the lighthouse was unlocked, coats were missing and half-eaten food was left behind. The last entries on the log described a storm on December 12th of severe winds, but all other reports in the area stated the weather was clear that day.
16Gef the Talking Mongoose
Gef the Mongoose a.ka. the Darby Spook was an alleged talking mongoose that inhabited a farmhouse on the Isle of Man in the 1930s. The Irvings, the family that lived there said he would throw stones, ride the bus for the gossip and sing bawdy renditions of “Home on the Range.” It claimed to have been born in New Delhi, India, in 1852 and described himself as “the fifth dimension...the eighth wonder of the world!” The story was given extensive coverage by the tabloid press in Britain at the time. Voirrey Irving, who took Gef under her wing, died in 2005. In an interview published later in her life, she maintained that Gef was not her creation.
17. On August 16, 1942, an L-8 military blimp left San Francisco bay to investigate a possible oil spill. A few hours later, the airship wandered back over land and crashed with nobody aboard. Life rafts and other gear had not been touched. The radio was fully functioning yet there had been no radio transmissions indicating anything had gone wrong. To this day the two-man crew has never been found.
18. A failed businessman named William Morgan was rejected from being inducted into the Freemasons Society of Batavia, New York in the 1800s. In retaliation, he planned to publish a book revealing their secrets. The angered local Freemasons took out newspaper ads denouncing Morgan and even attempted to burn his newspaper office down. Morgan was eventually arrested on charges that he owed money and was jailed. That same night an unknown man came to the jail offering to pay his debt and have him released. Morgan left the jail with the man and was never seen again. Three Masons were eventually convicted of kidnapping Morgan, but his body was never found
19. In 1942, residents of Pascagoula, Mississippi lived in fear of the “phantom barber,” a criminal who would sneak into homes at night only to steal locks of hair from his victims. He worked in the darkness made more profound by the Army’s blackout regulations due to World War 2. Though an arrest was made, many believe it to be a setup, and the identity of the phantom barber still remains a mystery.
20. Freak show performer Angelo Faticoni’s singular talent was reflected in his nickname, the Human Cork. He was unsinkable, and he made his living demonstrating that fact. He could stay afloat for hours with lead weighing twenty pounds fastened to his ankles and assume any position in the water without danger. Harvard University doctors assessed him and concluded he did not possess abnormal internal organs but failed to find any explanation for his buoyancy. He promised to reveal his secret, but he died in 1931, taking his secret with him.
21Seed Rain
On February 12, 1979, in Southampton, U.K., Roland Moody heard repeated sounds outside his observatory and discovered the glass roof to be covered with thousands of mustard seeds and cress seeds coated with jelly. Seeds continued to fall all day. Eight pails of cress seeds were collected and planted, and the plants eventually harvested. Moody learned that the garden of his neighbor, Airs Stockley, had been hit with seeds the previous year as well. The next day Moody and his two immediate neighbors were rained upon by haricot beans, broad beans, maize, and peas. Police were called in, but the seeds’ origin remained a mystery. Those three houses were the only ones targeted, and no “rain” fell on the sidewalk in front of them.
22. In 1925, women in Bridgeport, Connecticut started reporting “Phantom Stabber” who would use a sharp, pointed weapon to jab their buttocks or breasts before fleeing the scene. Victims described him as being unusually fast on his feet, disappearing while they screamed in pain. By June 1928, the Jabber’s victims numbered 26. Despite a continuous police investigation, the jabber was never identified.
23. In 1960, a man named William Foos claimed that his 15-year-old daughter Margaret Foos was skilled at “blind reading.” Though she wasn’t blind, she could read books through touch alone while being blindfolded. He even took his daughter to Veterans Administration Center in Washington, D.C. to be subjected to scientific tests by psychiatrists. She was blindfold by the doctors and she used her hands to read sections of the Bible, identify objects and colors, trace lines, and play checkers. Her father occasionally left the room and did not appear to be giving her signals. Though she passed the tests, VA psychiatrists couldn’t explain how she’d done it. Even the FBI investigated William Foos and his claims.
24. Katherine FitzGerald, the Countess of Desmond was a 17th-century noblewoman who was rumored to have lived up to the age of 140. She is said to have died of a fall when climbing a tree to gather nuts - not due to old age. She was so very well known that she was mentioned by Francis Bacon and Sir Walter Raleigh who nicknamed her “the old Countess of Desmond.” She reportedly walked every week to her local market town, a distance of 4–5 miles. She was also said to have grown teeth twice or thrice in her lifetime; casting her old teeth, and others coming in their place.
25. The South Atlantic Anomaly is a region of space that has reduced magnetosphere coverage, with higher-than-usual levels of radiation because Earth’s inner Van Allen belt comes closest to the Earth’s surface here. It’s an area centered just a bit off the coast of Brazil, and it has caused computers in satellites to crash, astronauts have reported seeing “shooting stars” in their visual field and a space telescope was destroyed by a guidance computer’s fault. The Hubble Telescope is turned off from taking observations when passing through the Anomaly and the International Space Station avoids scheduling spacewalks when passing through it. The anomaly is known to be caused by the high levels of radiation that accumulates here, but scientists aren’t sure exactly how or why.
