Top 10 Unsolved Mysteries

I do love a good mystery, and what science can't explain the human mind certainly tries to. Some of these mysterious pieces are absolutely mindblowing, and whilst many probably aren't as exciting as they are predicted to be, they still tell fascinating stories. I have had to discount solved mysteries, such as the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, because they're not really mysteries anymore. So all the items featured on the list are still unexplained by science and logic.

#10 Beale Cipher

The 'Beale Ciphers' are a set of three ciphers that allegedly tell the location of buried treasure worth 63 million dollars. Out of the three texts only one has been solved, and that's the one stating how much is inside and its rough location. The story goes that Thomas J Beale gave the encryption to a local innkeeper who went public with the mystery after Thomas was never seen again. The treasure is known to be buried in Bedford County, Virginia. Although that's a rather large area to start looking, and it's still debated whether the code is genuine or not, so I wouldn't bother. Many people have claimed that the two patterns left to be cracked don't follow the conventional patterns of modern English, which hints at them being simply nonsense. The other issue is that only the vague location has been identified, making sure people are still interested despite being a complete lie. It may be unlikely that this mystery is genuine, but that doesn't stop avid treasure hunters from trying to find it. And hell, it's actually quite a good anecdote.
 
#9 Shugborough Inscription

Probably the most exciting thing in Staffordshire, England. But then it doesn't really have much fierce competition. The mystery lies in the sequence of letters inscribed on the town hall of Shugborough. They are located underneath a mirror image of Nicolas Poussin's painting 'Shepherds of Arcadia', which is known by conspiracy theorists as the painting that allegedly tells us where 'The Holy Grail' is located, but that's all we really know about this carving. It's said to be one of the hardest ciphers to crack, and even great minds like Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin have failed at finding a solution. The common theory is that when this is solved it will tell us the location of 'The Holy Grail', although thanks to 'Assassin's Creed' and 'Indiana Jones' we already know where it is. But that's all there is to it; certainly a very simple yet very mysterious object. 

#8 Bigfoot

Okay let's be honest, this is almost certainly bullshit. I think it stopped being a mystery quite a while ago, but it's still unsolved and so qualifies for this list. Just look at that picture; am I really supposed to believe that it isn't some guy in a gorilla suit? The story tells us that he's some sort of human like ape wandering around America, but that doesn't look anything like the description. Let's face it, America has a lot of mega-fauna, and so the majority of the sightings are probably just bears or elk. It's just always seemed funny to me how scientists or common people have never seen one, it's just always those people who we shall call 'eccentric'.

The only evidence to suggest that 'Bigfoot' does exist is some tentative accounts and findings that could have easily been manipulated. All the documented cases scream hoax, and there's nothing to suggest that the perpetrated fossils are not other prehistoric lifeforms. I could have picked the Yeti for this entry, as at least that has some better evidence. But 'Bigfoot' is a much more popular myth and so I stuck with him; even if he is almost certainly a massive lie. This mystery doesn't add up scientifically or logically, and so for now I will call it a hoax. But I guess stranger things have happened; Piers Morgan got a TV show.  

#7 'Wow!' Signal

The brilliantly named 'Wow!' signal was a radio signal detected by astronomer Jerry Ehman at the less impressively named 'Big Ear Telescope' in Ohio. The signal lasted a total of 72 seconds and has never been detected since. Apart from being interstellar we know nothing about where this signal originated and what actually sent it, but it could be the key to finding extraterrestrial life in the galaxy. We think the signal came from an area in the constellation of Sagittarius, which has never been explored my mankind, and so in theory this could be our first contact with aliens. However that is unlikely as it's seemingly random and an isolated case. The signal would also have had to be transmitted by a very powerful transmitter that would dwarf its nearest counterpart on Earth.

But then where the hell did it come from? Nobody knows, or is any closer to finding out. It is unlikely to be aliens, but the possibility makes it a that much greater mystery. In the event that it was aliens trying to contact us scientists sent a message back in 2012. The message contained various files from social media sites, which is exactly how I would want to showcase humanity to the universe. I'm sure if that does reach the aliens then they won't be in a massive hurry to reply.

#6 Voynich Manuscripts

View in its entirety: http://brbl-dl.library.yale.edu/vufind/Record/3519597

This is quite possibly the most mysterious piece on this list as to this day nobody is anywhere near to solving it. It's quite simply just a mysterious book written in a completely unknown language. Scientists have carbon dated the book back to the 15th century, but have yet to discover the purpose and language that the book is set on. The book is housed at Yale University, and the link above will show you every single page as it's being kept in their library. You can see for yourself how alien and mysterious the lavish diagrams and various paragraphs are. The strokes used to create this masterpiece are full of repeated symbols and short words that occur in no obvious pattern making it seemingly uncrackable.

There's also no punctuation and many words seem to repeat themselves, which does hint at the language used as completely made up. For all we know it could just be complete rubbish, or someone recording their trip on hallucinogens; but I guess that just adds to the mystery even more. But then why would they bother creating such a beautiful piece? Some of the diagrams are of amazing quality and would surely take a significant amount of time to write, and so you would think there must be some value to the alien structure; if not then it's a very elaborate ruse. It would probably be going too far to suggest that this is the work of extraterrestrials as there are many illustrations that are present in common folklore, namely the constellations used, but that's all there really is to know about it. I don't know about you but I just find this fascinating. 

#5 Klerksdorp Spheres

Klerksdorp, in South Africa, is home to mysterious metal spheres that look to be a man made product. However, they are found in rock that is at least three billion years old making it impossible for them to have produced by humans. They range in both size and colour, but are typically red or grey and slightly flattened at the edges. Scientists believe that they are formed when minerals inbetween rock particles create densely packed layers of sedimentary rock. The markings suggest that this was formed from volcanic sediment, but that still doesn't explain those almost perfectly rounded grooves. Surely they can't be formed during volcanic processes as well? As per usual it doesn't look like aliens have anything to do with it, but I could be wrong considering how little we know about them. 

#4 Marie Celeste

The legendary ship that is famous for being found in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean completely abandoned. The 'Marie Celeste' was a British Brigadine that set sail from New York in 1872 with a crew full of experienced seamen. The destination was Genoa, and the cargo bay was filled to the brim with wine for transportation. What happened on that eventful journey is still widely debated today, but the simple answer is that we really don't know. She was found in good condition sailing at a constant bearing towards the Straits of Gibraltar with no obvious signs of distress but a lot of water had come overboard. Only nine of the 1701 caskets of wine had been taken, yet all of the ships papers had, as well as the lifeboat, making piracy an unlikely explanation.

The lack of suspicious activity makes this such an interesting find. There was no signs of violence and the ship was still perfectly seaworthy. The most popular theory concerns how the wine was transported. The nine wine barrels that were taken had been transported in red oak caskets, which is a lot more porous than the traditional white oak caskets. The wine inside would emit a large amount of vapor and this coupled with the intense movement of the barrels meant that sparks where likely to have been produced. Whether this would of caused the captain to abandon ship is still unknown, but it does seem the most logical theory. Still doesn't stop it from being a bloody good story though. 

#3 Loch Ness Monster

Who doesn't know this one? The Loch Ness Monster is a legendary creature said to live in the murky waters of Loch Ness, near Inverness. I'm not sure there is another mystery that has got quite as larger reputation as this one, and the increased public interest has since named the monster 'Nessie'. However, whether there is any truth behind the mystery is another matter as there has never been any scientific evidence to suggest that it ever existed. Over the years there have been many photos that have been cited as evidence, however all of them have been proved as hoaxes. In recent years sonar scans have even trawled the loch for any clues to its existence, but no large creatures were detected in the entirety of the lake. The common image that people imagine is that of a plesiosaur, which unfortunately died out 66 million years ago. So it seems the whole thing is complete bullshit, but maybe at one point there was some truth to it.

#2 Atlantis

Yes this is the mysterious underwater city, not the crappy drama made by the BBC. There is surprisingly little evidence to suggest the existence of what should be a rather large part of history. We only know about the city because of famous philosopher Plato, who although was a great man, wasn't exactly the most reliable source. Experts claim that the city may just have been invented to serve as an allegory to the rise of the western world. The story went that the ancient Athenians fought off the Atlantians in Plato's historical epic 'Timaeus', and were then banished into the ocean by the angry gods.

No evidence of the city has ever been found, although it's said to be located in either the Atlantic Ocean or the Mediterranean Sea; which is quite a large area to start looking, and probably why we haven't found it yet. It's also an area that scientists know very little about so the idea of a lost city isn't as ludicrous as you may think. Land can quite suddenly be submerged into the water, so for Earth to lose a civilization at some point throughout its long history is actually very believable. But as for Atlantis, well that's probably just the brainchild of Plato I'm afraid.

#1 UFOs

UFOs, or Unidentified Flying Objects, are pretty self explanatory in concept, and let's face it, who hasn't heard of them? The accounts of strange lights in the sky or actual visuals of alien vessels are numerous, although they all manage to settle on that cylindrical shape for some reason. The vast majority of accounts are just eccentric idiots who are walking home from the pub on a Friday evening, and so many sightings have just been passed as hoaxes. Some of the stories out there are just exceptional. There was a story of a man who claimed to have time traveled overnight. This event happened on the same night the clocks went forward, and this is a common pattern throughout the vast majority of the witnesses.

There isn't any scientific evidence to say they do exist, but sightings have been happening frequently since the dawn of civilization, although whether they were just misguided views on astronomical events such as comets and meteors is another matter. Just a quick look on the internet will show you some very plausible images, and some of the videos are absolutely fascinating. Out of all the mysteries on the list this is by far the most genuine; is it really that absurd to believe that there is intelligent life out there on our doorstep? Granted many of the sightings are almost certainly aircraft lights or mirages but there is an overwhelming evidence from public media that does suggest there is something at play here, and that is something that cannot be explained by science at this point in time.