There are secrets that have been fought over for many years, but there are also those that cannot be solved for centuries. However, regardless of the age of the mysteries, scientists and experts do not give up trying to solve the greatest mysteries of our recent or distant past. Of particular interest is anything that is a mixture of legends and real history.
This list contains just a few examples of ancient mysteries that continue to intrigue those trying to solve them. Some of them are so easily accessible that they can be personally inspected and felt, and which experts can study at any free time. Others are only rumored, and people are still trying to find them.
10. Lost city in the Kalahari
In November 1885, Guillermo Farini (aka William Leonard Hunt) wrote a report on a strange and mysterious city, the ruins of which he came across in the Kalahari Desert. He presented this data to the Berlin Geographical Society, and in 1886 to the Royal Geographical Society of Great Britain. He even published a book that same year detailing his discovery. In the book, he described the mysterious rock formations that he believed were the ruins of an ancient city. He argued that the city was built in the shape of an arc, some parts of it were under the sand, others outside. He could not find any inscriptions and suggested that this city was several millennia old.
Over the years, there have been many rumors surrounding this message of an ancient city right in the center of the Kalahari, now completely covered in desert sands. Sometimes even the local Hottentots said that there used to be an ancient city here that was not built by them. The historian Gustav Prelude argued that the Hottentots were ready to lead him to the ruins in the north of the region and to the place even further, where precious stones were once discovered.
Many expeditions have been organized to find the ruins of the city and try to prove that Farini's story is true. As the years passed, however, the mystery became legend, although some people claimed to have seen quarries and even shipwrecks in the middle of the desert. But all the searches ended in vain. Professor A. J. Clement examined Farini's story and came to the conclusion that he did not reach the Kalahari Desert, but followed a different path, where he discovered natural rock formations consisting of dolerite, which, as a result of erosion, may look like man-made.
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Later, in 2016, another expedition to the Kalahari was undertaken (a report of which was broadcast on TravelChannel). Walls and rocks were found that matched Farini's original description. However, it is still unclear whether these structures are artificial.
9. Spiral staircase of Loretto Chapel
In the late 1870s, the architect who led the construction of the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, died unexpectedly during work, after most of the chapel was already completed. Then the builders discovered that not a single staircase leading to the choir (the upper open gallery inside the church) had been planned in the chapel. The construction of an ordinary staircase was impossible due to the small area of the chapel, and the carpenters did not understand how a staircase could be accommodated in such a small space.
The nuns prayed for nine consecutive days in the church of St. Joseph. The day after the prayer marathon, a strange-looking man appeared at the door of the chapel. He told the sisters that he could build them a staircase that would fit the chapel, but they did not have to disturb him for the time required to complete the task. For three months, he worked alone in the chapel, while using only the most common tools and materials that he brought with him: a saw, a square, warm water and wood.
When the staircase was finished, the man disappeared without even giving his name to anyone. The staircase was 6.7 meters high, curling twice before reaching the choir. However, there were no nails or other fasteners in it. It curled in a spiral, but did not have a middle column, so it was not clear how it can support the weight of a person. Ten years after this strange incident, a railing was added to the stairs. In the years that followed, the wood was inspected by the chapel caretaker and found to be an unknown species of spruce that does not grow in the area.
The nuns of that time attributed the creation of the staircase to St. Joseph himself and insisted that it be declared a miracle. Who this man really was and how he was able to build such a staircase using ordinary tools remains a mystery. Of course, this is just a legend that has been around for many years, but maybe there is more to this story? We'll probably never know.
8. Tomb in Pomorie
Near the town of Pomorie in Bulgaria, among vineyards and orchards, a man-made secret is hiding. The so-called Thracian tomb in Pomorie, or the Dome Tomb, is a semi-cylindrical vault, in the middle of which there is a hollow column, the diameter of which is more than three meters. Towards the top, it gradually expands, becoming one with the outer wall of the tomb. It is estimated that the tomb was built between the second and fourth centuries AD. There are signs that there used to be a spiral staircase inside the column. In the late 1950s, the tomb was reconstructed.
Experts were unable to establish the specific name of the building and how it was built with such precision at that distant time. For the first time, the study of the tomb was carried out at the end of the 19th century, then two brothers-archaeologists from the Czech Republic, Karel and Hermann Skorpily, made several drawings and notes about this monument. They, like most historians, assumed that it was a tomb. However, some researchers believe that it was not just a tomb, but a mausoleum built as a monument to the hero of those times. Research continues now, their task is to establish what was the purpose of this ancient complex and who built it. (Some believe it was built by a wealthy Thracian family.)
7. Traub's motorcycle
Renovating an apartment building in Chicago in 1968 turned out to be a little more work than the plumber expected. But he was rewarded for this when, breaking one of the brick walls, he suddenly saw an old motorcycle with the inscription Traub under a pile of rubble.
The plumber immediately set about finding the first owners of the building. They claimed that it was their son who stole the motorcycle from its former owner, but then he went to the First World War. They also said that he was the one who hid the motorcycle in the wall, but that he was killed during the war, and therefore the motorcycle remained hidden until discovered by a plumber.
The motorcycle, after it was found, was resold several times until it finally ended up in the Museum of Modern Wheeled Transport. Founder Dale Walksler still uses the bike today and is amazed that it still works great. Experts say the Traub motorcycle is so sophisticated that it surpasses all the classic bikes that have come since it, and the parts used to make it are unparalleled. Its engine is one of a kind, as is its braking system.
However, the biggest mystery will be who the creator of the motorcycle was. Most historians speculate that it could have been Gottlieb Richard Traub, but, in their opinion, there is no convincing evidence for this theory. There is only a letter that Traub sent to Motorcycle Illustrated magazine in 1907, in which he claimed to have assembled a motorcycle with an engine power of 4 horsepower. He also owned a motorcycle shop and used to live in Chicago, next to the apartment building where a motorcycle was discovered in 1968.
6. Mummies of San Bernardo
The Colombian city of San Bernardo, which is surrounded by the Andes, is famous for its strange mystery. Outwardly, an ordinary small town, just like any other, has a secret that has yet to be explained to scientists.
In 1957, the local cemetery was washed away by a flood, and as a result workers were hired to move the remains to a new location. The workers who dug up the remains were surprised that many bodies did not have the slightest signs of decay and decomposition, although they had been in the ground for a very long time.
One of the gravediggers, Eduardo Chifuntes, reported this to the authorities. The subsequent examination showed that the bodies were not only mummified in some natural, inexplicable way, but even their clothes were preserved. Most of the corpses in the cemetery, as might be expected, were only bones, but the mummies were untouched by decay - although there was no indication that the bodies had been embalmed.
Theories about the causes of this phenomenon range from the local diet, which includes unique fruits called guatila and balu, to the weather and high altitude of the area. However, none of them explains why the clothes of the corpses turned out to be in good condition and why San Bernardo is the only city in the area where mummies have been found. Some of the mummified bodies are now on display in a glass case in the museum. The museum does not take any measures to preserve the corpses, but the mummies of San Bernardo still resist rotting and decay.
5. Lost graves of the Maccabees
The search for the lost tombs of the Maccabees began almost 150 years ago. Everyone took part in them, including scientists, experts, travelers, etc. However, all searches ended in vain, and the search for graves continues to this day. In 2015, archaeologists decided that they found graves in the town of Gorbat-Ha-Gardi near Modiin, but this turned out to be another dead end.
The family that attracts such interest from experts around the world consisted of the Jewish priest Mattathias and his five sons, who rebelled against the rule of the pagan Hellenistic dynasty of the Seleucids. After the death of the priest, the struggle was led by his son Judas, who ultimately managed to free Judea from the Seleucids and return the Jerusalem Temple to the Jews. In memory of the cleansing of the Temple, the holiday of Hanukkah appeared.
After the Temple was rebuilt, the five sons of Mattathia continued to fight to expand the liberated territory, but they all successively perished soon after the conquest of the throne. The tombs of these kings are still the subject of hot searches. So far, the location of these graves remains a mystery.
4. Winchester 1882
In late 2014, employees of Great Basin National Park in Nevada stumbled upon a strange find in the course of their daily tasks. A rifle hung from a tree. Even a simple glance at her was enough to understand that she was not new. However, the park staff were truly amazed when they learned that she was over 130 years old.
It was found to be an 1873 model that was manufactured in 1882. More than 700,000 of these rifles were manufactured between 1873 and 1919. However, all this information did not shed light on who could own this particular hard drive and why it was left on a tree in the park. There are suggestions that the weapon could have belonged to a cowboy or a gold digger. But in this case, the rifle should have been hanging in the park for over 130 years, so most consider this scenario unlikely.
According to experts, another, more plausible version could be that the rifle was inherited by someone and the new owner, for unknown reasons, decided to leave it in the park. The Winchester is now in the Cody Firearms Museum, but it is assumed that it will be returned back to the park for demonstration.
3. Manuscript of Sibiu
In 1961, a document was found that was named the "Manuscript of Sibiu". The document contains 450 pages and dates back to 1500 years. Its content attracted special attention of experts. The document included technical descriptions regarding artillery, ballistics and multistage missiles.
The manuscript also details the successful launch of a multistage rocket in front of thousands of Sibiu residents in 1555. The author of the manuscript, Konrad Haas, provides drawings of a rocket that he designed and built. The Sibiu manuscript is believed to be the first document to detail rocket science. Haas also detailed the idea of modern spacecraft, rocket propellants, liquid propellants and a delta wing.
Who exactly studied rocket science long before modern space flights remains a mystery.
2. Tomb of Genghis Khan
As soon as the 65-year-old Genghis Khan breathed his last in 1227, legends about his death began to appear. According to some assumptions, he died either after falling from a horse, or during a battle with the Chinese. Others said that he either got pneumonia or lost too much blood after castration.
But not only the cause of Genghis Khan's death remained a mystery, his grave also remains undetected. According to the behest of Genghis Khan, he was buried in a secret place, and those who buried him were executed to be sure of their silence. The legends add even more mystery: some say that the river was specially changed so that it would pass over the grave, in others that 1,000 horses were driven over the grave, and then trees were planted over it.
The search for the tomb of Genghis Khan continues today, despite many difficulties. This territory is still little studied, the size of the steppes is enormous, and, probably, it will take many more years to explore them.
1. "Red Queen"
In 1994, archaeologist Arnoldo Gonzalez Cruz and his team discovered a burial chamber in the South Mexican Temple XII, located in Palenque. Inside the cell, they found an intact tomb and sarcophagus. On one side of the sarcophagus lay the skeleton of a boy, on the other - the skeleton of a thirty-year-old woman. It is believed that they were sacrificed to accompany the woman whose remains were found inside the sarcophagus in the afterlife.
The skeleton inside the sarcophagus was covered in red dust, hence the name "Red Queen". There, Cruz and his assistants found a collection of jade and pearl objects. A diadem of jade beads was found near the skull, as well as the remains of what may have been a mask. Unfortunately, there is not a single hint of a woman's personality. Examination of the remains showed that the woman was about 60 years old at the time of her death and that she loved to eat meat. It is believed that she was noble, as her grave is located near the grave of Pakal the Great. The remains of the "Red Queen" were returned to Palenque in June 2012, but attempts to identify the woman continue.