Over the years, many historical mysteries have been left unsolved. Most of us are aware of major mysteries that have shocked, devastated, and inspired curiosity, but there are perhaps more little-known mysteries waiting to be unearthed and solved.
Additionally, not every hazy enigma revolves around murders, kidnappings, and ancient civilizations. You may be surprised at just how many interesting mysteries have been solved thanks to modern intervention. If you’re curious to learn a few of the more obscure but solved mysteries, take a look at this list.
Dan Rather Was Famously Assaulted In 1986 And Identified His Attacker In 1997
Renowned journalist and winner of 33 Emmy awards for news and documentaries, Dan Rather was famously assaulted in 1986, but it wasn’t until 1997 that he was able to identify his assailant. On October 4, 1986, Rather was accosted while walking down Park Avenue in New York. Oddly, the man repeatedly asked him, “Kenneth, what is the frequency?” which would later inspire the title of an R.E.M. song.
Almost 10 years later in 1997, Rather discovered who his attacker was when a psychiatrist reached out and told him of William Tager. The psychiatrist was in charge of evaluating Tager after he took the life of a man named Campbell Montgomery. Tager had an unhealthy obsession with finding out if the media was indeed sending hostile messages to his brain, which led to him killing Montgomery and assaulting Rather. When the newsman saw Tager, he immediately identified him as the mystery man.
The Mysterious ‘Windsor Hum’ Was Finally Solved When A Town Fell Silent To COVID-19
For years, people living near the US/Canadian border would complain of a mysterious hum that would often rattle windows and cause houses to shake in Windsor, ON. For years, there were suspected culprits, with the major suspect being a US steel plant on Michigan’s Zug Island.
The plant was under investigation by researchers trying to establish if it was the cause of the “Windsor Hum.” It wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 that this nearly 10-year long mystery was solved. When the steel plant shut down and announced it was scaling back its operations at its Great Lake facilities, the noise almost completely disappeared. The steel plant’s overworked blast furnaces were the culprit all along.
A Man Killed A Young Couple In 1987 And Was Convicted Using DNA Samples In 2018
Every year, forensic science is evolving and adapting to better solve criminal cases. Genetic genealogy is the latest scientific tool for solving cold cases throughout the US. After three decades, the 1987 cold case of Jay Cook and Tanya Van Cuylenborg was solved with the aid of a public ancestry site called GEDMatch.
A genealogist used the site to link William Talbot II to the deaths of the missing couple. This finding led to his trial and conviction, putting to rest the mystery surrounding what happened to Cook and Van Cuylenborg.
An Actor/Director’s Strange Apparent Suicide Was Revealed To Be A Murder
In 2006, writer, actor, and director Adrienne Shelly was found dead in her apartment of an apparent suicide. Shelly had given no indication or clue that she had ever been at risk of suicide. Authorities were baffled by how they had found her, as there was an unknown shoe print near her body.
Authorities discovered construction worker Diego Pillco was the culprit after they managed to match his boot print to the one found near Shelly’s body. Allegedly, he and Shelly got into an argument over a noise complaint, which led to her slapping him. In a fit of rage, he punched Shelly so hard she fell unconscious. Reportedly, he feared he would be deported, so he staged her body to look like a suicide, leading to her unfortunate demise.
The French Author Of ‘The Little Prince’ Disappeared During WWII; Clues Surfaced 60 Years Later
For years, the world had no answer about what happened to French aviator and world-renowned author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry after he left for a covert reconnaissance flight for Allied forces in Southern France in 1943 during WWII.
Three theories prevailed surrounding his disappearance. Some believed the French pilot was shot down as he was flying over hostile areas. Others believed he lost control of his aircraft, as there was evidence of him being involved in several major crashes before undertaking the reconnaissance mission. A small portion of people even believed that he took his life.
In 1998 a fisherman found a silver ID bracelet with Saint-Exupéry’s name on it, although this was not incontrovertible proof that Saint-Exupéry had perished at sea. However, in 2002, his plane was recovered by a group of scuba divers and was confirmed to belong to the French pilot based on a serial number. These discoveries prompted a German man named Horst Rippert to come forward and state that he had shot the plane down. Although investigators could not find holes in the wreckage, it is now established that Saint-Exupéry did perish at sea.
The 30-Year Mystery Of Garfield Phones Washing Onto French Beaches Was Finally Solved
At the height of Garfield’s popularity, many novelty items were produced, including Garfield-shaped phones. However, for more than 30 years, it was a mystery why these feline phones were washing up on a stretch of coastline in Brittany, France.
In 2019, the mystery was laid to rest when a farmer contacted a local environmental group. For years, the group had been involved in efforts to clean the coastline of the phones that continuously appeared. Although group members suspected it was because of a lost shipping container, they had no evidence until the local farmer approached them.
Rene Morvan told the group he knew where the phones were coming from and decided to contact them after seeing the publication they had distributed as part of their Pollution Alert campaign. He took group members to the location of the lost shipping container, which was in a cave with little to no accessibility. Even though the world now knows where the phones come from, they cannot do anything to retrieve the inaccessible shipping container.
Residents From Japanese Coastal Towns Were Going Missing; It Turned Out North Korea Was Kidnapping Them
One mystery that has been evoking political tensions between Japan and North Korea for years surrounds the kidnappings of Japanese citizens from coastal towns. From 1977 to 1983, multiple Japanese citizens were disappearing under incredibly strange circumstances.
In 2002, the mystery of where the citizens disappeared to was solved. Former North Korean leader Kim Jong II admitted that North Korea was responsible for kidnapping 13 Japanese coastal town residents during a political event. However, the Japanese government claims that North Korea actually abducted 17 citizens, not 13, and that 883 missing persons cases have shown links to North Korea.
A Family Of Four Completely Vanished; The Gruesome Truth Came To Light Nearly Four Years Later
For years, authorities were baffled by why the four members of the McStay family would leave their home in 2010 without taking any possessions or money.
When family members initially became suspicious as to why they had not heard from the McStays, they went to the family’s home in search of them. Upon their arrival, they found bowls of stale popcorn and days-old vegetables that had been left out. After an investigation, authorities discovered the foursome’s car near the Mexican border, but there was no evidence that they had crossed to Mexico to start a new life.
In 2013, a motorcyclist found a skull that turned out to be one of the McStays. A phone belonging to Charles Merritt, an employee of Joseph McStay, was found near the location of the bodies. His DNA was also found in the car left at the Mexican border. Although this evidence was deemed circumstantial, Merritt was arrested and later went on trial. He was found guilty of killing the McStay family, thus solving the tragic mystery and granting the families involved closure.
Scientists Finally Have An Answer To How Long A Day Lasts On Venus
Venus is the closest planet to the Earth and yet we still cannot answer many mysteries surrounding it. However, one of the biggest enigmas concerning the length of a Venusian day has been solved by a team of researchers at UCLA. It took 15 years for the team to conduct a study with enough conclusive information to determine an answer.
In 2021, the findings were released, stating that an average day on the planet lasts 243 Earth days, which is approximately two-thirds of an Earth year. However, the length of a day on Venus doesn’t stay fixed, as researchers concluded that the length is ever-changing by up to 20 minutes.
A Mysterious, Foot-Stealing Killer Turned Out To Be Nature
The mystery surrounding why decomposing feet washed ashore in the Pacific Northwest remained unsolved for years. In 2007, the first foot washed up off the shores of the Salish Sea along British Columbia and Washington, and over a decade, 14 more feet appeared.
These mysterious appendages prompted many theories, including that a serial killer was on the loose. Authorities were hard at work for the entire decade, trying to establish who the feet belonged to and why they were appearing on a specific piece of coastline in the Pacific Northwest.
This even led to an entire Wikipedia page being created and dedicated to the mystery. After many years, and with the help of forensic analysts, police, and professors, it was proven that most of the feet belonged to missing persons, and they were washing up on the shores because of several scientific phenomena that converge to periodically deposit these floating feet. Gail Anderson, co-director of the Center for Forensic Research at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, explains:
Feet easily disarticulate [separate from the body] and when they are attached to a flotation device such as a running shoe, they are easily washed ashore… Notice there are no feet washing ashore in stiletto heels or flip-flops. Also, today’s running shoes are much more buoyant than in the past.
Polybius Was Allegedly A Video Game That Drove People Insane But Has Been Proven Repeatedly To Have Never Existed
In video game history, there was perhaps no greater mystery than Polybius. This game was rumored to drive those who played it insane, but it has been repeatedly proven to have never existed.
According to some, the game itself was created by the government to influence a person’s consciousness and cause them to see and believe events that were not real. However, researchers who have extensively questioned witnesses and those who claimed to have played the game have ascertained that their accounts were untruthful. Although government officials were interested in certain game cases and machines, they were not involved with Polybius but rather with uncovering illegal gambling activities.
This urban legend has no truth to it, as there is no proof that the game ever existed based on governmental and investigative accounts. (The photo is a mock-up of what the game cabinet could have looked like).
