It would seem that there are such a huge number of hunters for treasures and secrets in the world that it is difficult to believe how real values can remain undiscovered for a long time. Someone should definitely find the Ark of the Covenant, after all.
However, there are many treasures of world significance, which are of great material and cultural value, with a still unknown fate.
the Amber Room
This masterpiece was created in 1701 by Danish and German masters by order of the Prussian king Frederick I. After which he visited several palaces until it was presented to Peter I and placed in Tsarskoe Selo near St. Petersburg. The Amber Room was considered one of the greatest Russian treasures, moreover, it was even given the name - the eighth wonder of the world. Its decoration included amber panels, gold jewelry and mirrors.
In 1941, evacuation took place in the Catherine Palace, but most of the valuable exhibits, including the amber room, were decided not to be touched due to their fragility. The priceless walls were covered with wallpaper with cheerful pictures, in the hope that the Germans would not understand why one of the palace halls had such a tasteless design. However, hopes were not justified, the Russian treasure was taken to Germany.
The room was restored in one of the castles of Konigsberg and began to be shown to the public. And in 1945, when Russian troops entered Germany, Hitler received an order to dismantle it and send it to one of the secret storage facilities. There is a document that confirms the delivery of the precious cargo to the railway station. However, this is the last official mention of the amber room.
How can you even lose an entire room filled with gold and amber? It is believed that the allies loaded it onto a ship and later sank it. Also, many believe that it is still kept in one of the secret bunkers under the city. The Russians have made numerous attempts to find her since the end of the war. Throughout Europe, the search was carried out by several expeditions, all suspicious lagoons, mines and caves were checked. However, no traces were found. Some of the researchers believe that the room was destroyed, and the authorities simply hid it.
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The amber room was recently renovated. But from time to time, various fragments of the original emerge in different places, apparently, so that interest in this almost mystical story does not disappear. For example, one of the fragments of the mosaic was left as a souvenir by a German soldier who was preparing the room for the move in 1945. One thing is for sure, the one who finds this priceless loss will be provided for life.
Fuhrer's body
In 1945, when Berlin was almost completely captured by Soviet troops, Adolf Hitler decided to commit suicide, taking his wife Eva Braun and the dog Blondie with him. And he even ordered to shoot the puppies.
Later, Russian soldiers came and found corpses near the bunker. This happened about seven hours after Hitler died. The bodies were buried. However, after some time, Stalin ordered an exhumation and the removal of the Fuhrer's skull from the burial. Apparently, he wanted to make sure that it really was Hitler.
Later, already in 1970, the burial came under the control of the authorities of East Germany. Not wanting the burial to become a place of worship, a group of KGB officers was sent there to dig up the remains of the Fuhrer, burn them, and scatter the ashes over the Elbe.
On this, the case was closed until 2009, when a DNA analysis of the removed bones was done. The results surprised everyone: they turned out to belong to a woman under the age of forty. It turns out that either the skull was not taken, or Hitler's death hid another mystery. A variety of assumptions have been put forward. And the jaw from that burial is still kept in Russia, under the pretext of its “extreme fragility”. They do not want to give her away for additional research, so the secret remains unsolved. So, it is quite possible that 120-year-old Hitler is still basking in the sun somewhere in Argentina.
Letter from hell
October 1888 will be remembered for all Londoners of a series of murders carried out by a certain Jack the Ripper, whose identity has remained a mystery. A special Whitechapel Vigilance Committee was organized by a group of volunteers to do all sorts of things to keep residents safe at night. However, the whole police in London was doing the same.
One day an unsigned package came to the name of the head of the committee, George Lusk. There were two things inside: a piece of a human kidney and a note taunting the Committee. Worst of all, it said the rest of the kidney was "fried and eaten."
Hundreds of letters came in on behalf of Jack the Ripper, but it was this, signed "From Hell," that many researchers considered to be genuine. Mostly because of the kidney, which is not very easy to get for an ordinary "joker". And if we consider that it was these organs that were usually "lacking" in the victims of the Ripper, then there was practically no doubt about the authorship. Therefore, the fragment of the kidney was preserved in alcohol and, together with the letter, was given to the police for preservation.
Since then, no one has seen this letter again. If it was possible to save it, then using modern technology it would be possible to determine the type of paper and ink, and maybe even take prints. It is possible that Jack the Ripper might have been identified. However, the negligence of the London police officers left this secret unsolved.
San Jose
In 1708, the War of the Spanish Succession was fought between old rivals Britain and Spain. This major conflict began in Europe in 1701, after the death of the last king of Spain belonging to the Habsburg dynasty, Charles II. It ended in 1714, after King Philip V ascended the throne. The reason must be sought in the Caribbean, near the shores of the Colombian Cartagena. The ship "San Jose" was returning to Spain, but on the way was attacked by British ships that sunk it.
Now, few people would have remembered this incident if it were not for the valuable cargo that was on the ship. He transported 344 tons of gold and silver, 116 chests filled with emeralds, practically everything that was accumulated by the governor of the King of Peru in his entire life. According to experts, its cost by today's standards would amount to $ 2 billion. And if you take into account that there were many antique values, then it can grow up to 10 billion.
But, despite the fact that it is roughly known where the ship sank, none of the many attempts to find the treasure have been successful. However, since 1984 the number of official expeditions has decreased significantly. Probably due to the fact that the government "slightly" reduced the percentage for the finder - from 50 to 5.
In addition, the Colombian government does not permit the use of Sonar sonar or other methods for remote search. Therefore, all that remains for the treasure hunters are vague descriptions given by the British sailors who participated in the loading. The $ 2 billion prize is still waiting for its owner.
Eighteen and a half minutes of Watergate tape
President Nixon's greatest glory was the Watergate scandal. He had to leave his post in 1974, after one very ugly story became public.
On June 17, 1972, 5 people were detained at the Watergate complex in Washington, which was the headquarters of the Democratic Party. They were caught adjusting the eavesdropping equipment and photographing headquarters documents.
And later it turned out that President Nixon not only knew about this violation, but even approved it. Nixon had a fad about wiretapping. Moreover, such that he made recordings of his own conversations for use in the future when writing memoirs. One such film surfaced one fine day. On it, Nixon talks about the Watergate story with his chief of staff, Holdman, calling it a "smoking gun" and ordering the FBI and CIA to interfere with the investigation. And this, according to US law, is a pressure on justice and is considered a serious criminal offense.
So, incautiously collected incriminating evidence put an end to the president's career and reputation. But in the course of the investigation, one interesting fact was discovered, a significant part of that tape was erased, including almost 19 minutes from that conversation with Holdman. The commission, which was entrusted with the investigation, could not find out anything intelligible. Everyone tried to blame the president's secretary. It is clear that it was not an “annoying misunderstanding” that caused the film to be erased. But what was on it then? A direct order from Nixon to place bugs in the offices of political opponents? An order to remove someone? It looks like we will never know.
However, technical progress does not stand still. Officials at the National Archives and Records Administration hope that technologies will emerge in the future to restore the recording. Several attempts have already been made.
Atomic bombs
Over the years, the military has learned well how to "throw" bombs, which cannot be said about their ability to collect unexploded ordnance scattered around the world. Over the 90 years that have passed since the First World War, about 900 tons of this "good" have been collected in Europe alone. Even modern remote sensing technology cannot detect all bombs. Many of them still lie in the ground until a farmer finds them. Each spring, they appear on the surface of the earth, called the "Steel Harvest".
They are not always just bombs. Many of them contain mustard gas or other chemicals that can kill from a distance. They are so dangerous that sometimes entire cities are evacuated.
However, this is nothing compared to nuclear weapons “scattered” around the planet. In the United States alone, 11 nuclear weapons have been officially recognized as missing. And according to some public organizations, including Greenpeace, the fate of about 50 units of such weapons remains unknown around the world. It is essentially a lost apocalypse.
If it occurs to someone to go in search of these weapons, it is worth noting that they were mostly "lost" in extremely hard-to-reach areas. One bomb was "lost" in transit from Alaska to Texas. To be more precise, it was dropped off the coast of British Columbia in Canada, as the B-36 bomber could not continue its further flight due to minor problems. Canada was lucky that time, the nuclear filling did not detonate, but this was the beginning of a whole series of similar incidents.
Another was lost in Greenland, where a US Army Boeing B-52 crashed into an ice shell off the coast of North Star Bay. So, until global warming begins, it will be problematic to look for it.
Many of these "seeded" bombs, which the US military call "broken arrow", lie on the ocean floor, not far from civilization. One of them got there in 1956, then one of the A-4E jet aircraft carrying a nuclear charge on board fell into the water from the US cruiser Ticonderoga, sank 80 miles off the Japanese coast.
There is another story: in 1961, during tests, a B-52 aircraft dropped a bomb with a nuclear charge of 24 megatons in North Carolina. She fell in areas of flooded agricultural land and has been there for several decades.
Of course, you may not need to panic, it is quite possible that these bombs will never go off.