Mysteries stir our curiosity, mesmerizing us until they can be solved. Though supernatural causes or conspiracy theories are more fun to think about, mysteries often end up with surprisingly banal explanations. However, there are cases which remain unsolved, perhaps forever, and they are often the most intriguing.
5 The Hessdalen Lights
Sightings of this particular phenomenon go back as far as 1811 and occur in the Hessdalen Valley, which is in the middle of Norway. However, in the early 1980s, the lights became much more frequent, with a peak of nearly 20 separate reports each week. Since then, the sightings have decreased in frequency, with observations numbering 10–20 per year. Normally, the lights are either bright white or yellow and hover above the ground.Various scientific studies have been commissioned to find out the source behind the lights, but no conclusive explanation has been found. (There are cameras stationed around the valley, set up to take pictures of any bright light.) Studies meant to refute some of the findings have pointed out a variety of logical explanations, including car headlights and mirages, though they admit that such things don’t necessarily explain every occurrence .
4 The Aurora Incident
Aurora is a sleepy town in Texas, just northwest of Dallas, but it has one rather large claim to fame. On April 19, 1897, a cigar-shaped flying object, which had been spotted a number of times in the weeks prior, crashed near the village, killing its pilot. In addition, the local graveyard claims to have the corpse buried somewhere in its grounds, though they refuse to allow it to be exhumed.[7]To make matters worse, the alien’s burial site is no longer marked, as its gravestone was stolen in the 1970s, when the local legend entered the national consciousness and the media descended on the small town. The story goes that the UFO crashed into a windmill, exploding into a mass of little pieces, leaving the pilot’s remains badly disfigured. The body was given a “Christian burial,” and the leftover debris were tossed into a local well. The most likely explanation is that a couple of drunks wanted to cover up the fact they burned down a windmill, which was located on the town judge’s land.
3 The Murder Of Geli Raubal
Angela “Geli” Raubal was a young woman who grew up in Germany in the early 20th century. Her life was cut short when she allegedly committed suicide on September 18, 1931.[10] The gun she used belonged to her half-uncle—and rumored lover—Adolf Hitler. Known as “Uncle Alfie” to his niece, Hitler entranced the young woman with his celebrity, since they first became involved just as the Nazis were rising to power.Raubal traveled with the fuhrer all over the countryside, eventually moving into Hitler’s mansion in Munich as a “housekeeper.” During their time together, Hitler exalted his niece as a paragon for all Aryan women, though some didn’t see her that way. One rival called her an “empty-headed little slut” who manipulated Hitler. Reports of the pair fighting the night before her death were said to have centered on Raubal’s wish to travel to Vienna to get engaged to another man.After her suicide, Hitler’s people put forth the explanation that Raubal had shot herself because she was nervous about an upcoming music recital, which was widely discredited. No note was ever discovered, and there were reportedly numerous injuries found on Raubal’s body, including a broken nose. A firestorm of controversy erupted but was quickly silenced by the Nazis’ political influence as well as their threats of litigation. Nevertheless, rumors dogged Hitler for years that he had in fact murdered Raubal. A journalist who was investigating the circumstances surrounding her suicide was arrested by the Nazis just before he was to publish his findings. He was executed months later at Dachau. With that last death, any investigations into the truth of the matter were abandoned, and we may never know what truly happened to Geli Raubal.
2 The Hornet Spook Light
With sightings dating back as far as 1866, the Hornet Spook Light, also known by a number of different names, has made its home in a place known as the “Devil’s Promenade” in Northeast Oklahoma. Normally said to be an orange ball of light which bobs along a 6.4-kilometer (4 mi) stretch of gravel road, legend says that it was first seen by Native Americans who walked the Trail of Tears.[9]Nobody has ever suffered adverse effects from the light; it simply appears in the sky, wanders aimlessly, bobbing and weaving at great speed, and then it’s gone. The most popular explanation is that the Hornet Spook Light is a will-o’-the-wisp, the name for the light given off when wood and other organic compounds decay (although, the light given by that phenomenon isn’t normally as bright). Another leading reason is rather simple: Scientists say that it may simply be the refracted headlights of nearby drivers. However, this doesn’t explain the sightings before the invention of the automobile.
1 The Disappearance Of Benjamin Bathurst
Benjamin Bathurst was a 19th-century diplomat for Britain, relatively young and extremely proficient in his job, a man with seemingly limitless potential. In 1809, after conducting a diplomatic mission to Austria, he headed home, forced to take a more perilous route to avoid the French. (He had been trying to convince the Austrians to attack Napoleon’s forces.) Armed to the teeth, including two pistols he always kept on his person, Bathurst decided to travel through Germany, under the assumed name of Koch.[5]On November 25, Bathurst and his German aide, Herr Krause, stopped at the small town of Perleberg, resting a while before continuing their journey. When the time had come to leave the inn at which they had stopped, Bathurst walked out the door, with Krause allegedly following afterward, only seconds behind. However, when Krause got outside, Bathurst was gone, never to be seen again. Krause himself eventually made it to England, weeks later, and told British officials of Bathurst’s disappearance.A rather large investigation was undertaken, with Bathurst’s wife herself spending a lot of money to have dogs scour the area surrounding Perleberg, but Bathurst was never found. Various articles of his clothing were discovered in the nearby area, but his body remained lost. The prevailing opinion is that he was either arrested by the French and later killed in prison or was simply another victim of the bandits who made traveling through Europe during the 19th century a risky proposition.