This article was originally published on Travlerz
Most of the biggest mysteries usually end up getting solved, but there are always a few that don't. In North America alone, there are still several unsolved mysteries--no matter how many great detectives are put on the case. These spine-tingling unresolved mysteries continue to fascinate people all around the world to this day, and we gathered some of the most interesting ones, from terrifying murders to questionable alien signals.
1. The American Stonehenge
This granite monument in Elbert County, Georgia remains one of the most interesting unsolved mysteries to date. Otherwise known as the American Stonehenge, this 1979 monument contains some very interesting commandments for an "Age of Reason," and these ten commandments are written in eight languages--English, Spanish, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese and Russian.
The commandments are not remotely similar to the Old Testament commandments, and are bizarre, to say the least, like this one--"Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature." The person who led this project goes by the pseudonym "R.C. Christian," but no one has figured out his/her true identity to this day. Furthermore, it is unclear who funded the construction of this massive monument.
2. The Boston Heist
When it comes to mysteries in the art world, most cases involve stolen paintings, and while a majority of cases have been solved, there's one that was never brought to justice--the heist in Boston at the Isabella Steward Gardner Museum. On March 18th, 1990, two art thieves disguised as police officers came into the building at night, handcuffed the security guards, and stole $500 million worth of paintings, including works by Rembrandt and Johannes Vermeer.
There have been many crazy theories over the last 30 years, from mobsters and gangsters to the Irish Republican Army. So far this mystery remains unsolved, but the museum hasn't given up hope. They're offering a $10 million reward to anyone who helps recover these lost pieces of art.
3. Arkansas Bird Deaths
Here's an unexplainable story about birds. On New Year's Eve in 2010, 5,000 blackbirds slammed into windows, telephone poles, and trees, and died instantly in Beebe, Arkansas. People tried to come up with reasons as to why it happened and decided that the New Years' fireworks made the birds go crazy.
Only the year after that, 500 birds died again on New Years', and the fireworks had been banned. Why were these birds dying on New Years'? There have been many theories about weird omens having to do with the Mayan calendar, but no one really knows.
4. Kryptos
There is an odd-looking sculpture outside CIA's headquarters in Langley, Virginia. It's 12 feet tall, curved, and made out of copper. The mysterious part about this sculpture is that it contains four encrypted messages. The statue is called Kryptos, which is an ancient Greek word for hidden, and although three of the messages have been solved, the fourth one remains a mystery.
The sculptor, Jim Sanborn is the only one that knows what it says and revealed a new clue in 2014--the message involves something with Berlin and a clock. Cryptographers have been stumped for years, and it seems they will continue to be for quite some time.
5. The Beale Papers
This Old West tale may not be true, but it's fun to think that there's a hidden place filled with silver and gold. Back in the 1800s, a Virginian man named Thomas J. Beale allegedly uncovered gold and silver while hunting for buffalo near Santa Fe, New Mexico. He came back to Virginia and buried it near Bedford County.
He made a treasure map with three encrypted messages, holding the secrets as to where the treasure is. He left these letters with a friend, and they were published in 1885 as "The Beale Papers." So far, only one message has been cracked, but the treasure is nowhere to be found.
6. The KGC
Who were the Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC)? They were a secret society of rich Southern loyalists and were active right before the Civil War broke out. They were devoted to defending their southern values and also had plans to create a Confederate empire by conquering parts of Mexico, Central America, and Cuba. Some of their members were famous like John Wilkes Booth.
According to some, President Abraham Lincoln's assassination was a plan by the KGC. They disappeared shortly after the Civil War ended, but many debate whether or not they actually disappeared. Some say they continued working in secret to plot against the US government, and others claim that they buried treasure filled with gold.
7. Wow! What A Signal
In 1977, astronomer Jerry Ehman was a radio signal detector from Ohio State University. He was using a radio signal detector in his research of the stars when he picked up a 72-second frequency from space. He logged it by writing "Wow!" on his computer printout, which is a pretty hilarious way to respond to potential aliens.
Over the years, people have been quick to dismiss this possible contact with extraterrestrials, but we'll never know if it was just a comet passing planet Earth or an alien trying to get in touch with us.
8. Dutch Schultz's Treasure
Who was Dutch Schultz? He was a gangster in the 1920s and 1930s and made millions off of bootleg alcohol and the numbers racket. But because he was so sure he was going to be murdered, he decided to hide his money (around $5 million to $9 million in cash, jewels, and gold) to keep it safe.
As the story goes, Schultz put his valuables in a box or suitcase and hid it in the Catskill Mountains near Phoenicia, New York. Not surprisingly, he was murdered shortly after, and the treasure remains hidden to this day. So if you ever wind up in the Catskills with a shovel and a stroke of luck, you might get crazy rich.
9. Phoenix Lights
This blurry photo of the Arizona skyline pretty much says it all--what were those mysterious lights that appeared above Phoenix on March 13, 1977? Was it a secret military aircraft, or maybe some friendly aliens coming to say hello?
The upside-down V-shaped lights stumped everyone and still remain a mystery all those years later. The official explanation was military flares, but we're still holding out for the alien theory.
10. What Really Happened To DB Cooper?
Something very mysterious happened on November 24, 1971. A man named DB Cooper boarded a Northwest Airlines flight from Portland to Seattle only to hijack it shortly after, claiming that his suitcase contained a bomb. He released all 36 passengers in Seattle and demanded $200,000, as well as parachutes, from the authorities.
He then told the pilots to fly to Mexico while staying very close to the ground and with the rear door unlocked. The strange man then jumped off the plane in the middle of nowhere and was never heard from or seen since. No one knows if he made it out alive, but a boy in Portland found around $5800 in a sandpit that matched the serial numbers of the missing cash. Weird.
11. The Zodiac Killer
One of the scariest unsolved mysteries is none other than the case of the "Zodiac Killer." In the 1960s, a man murdered at least seven people (he claimed the number was actually 37) in the San Franciso Bay area.
The murderer sent letters to the police and the press with encrypted messages about himself, as well as terrifying messages about his victims. It's been 44 years since the world last heard of him, and while one person in 2014 claimed that his deceased dad was the killer, we'll never truly know.
12. Escape From Alcatraz
From 1934 to 1963, the famous federal prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay was known for being impossible to escape. Anyone who tried either died in the process or was caught, except for three bank robbers--Clarence Anglin, John Anglin, and Frank Morris. They escaped the penitentiary in 1962 by digging their way with spoons and sailing in a raft made out of raincoats.
But did they actually survive or did they drown in the water? Their bodies were never found, so maybe they made it ashore and kept a low profile. A note was recently discovered allegedly written by John Anglin saying that they escaped that night. Is the letter real? We may never know.
13. Bugsy Siegel
Who killed Bugsy Siegel? The infamous gangster was murdered in Beverly Hills, California on June 20th, 1947, and it's still unclear as to who did it. Many say it was fellow gangster Meyer Lansky's doing since he wasn't happy with the amount of money Siegel was spending to build his Flamingo resort.
But more recently, the family of a deceased Slavic truck driver called "Moose" came forward claiming that Moose was behind the murder, to stop Siegel from killing the husband of the woman he was sleeping with. The case is still open and may never be solved.
14. Area 51
Who doesn't know about the theories of Area 51? The famous Air Force base in the Nevada desert has been a popular topic of discussion due to many strange rumors over the years. The most famous rumor is the alien conspiracy that started in 1947, which claims that an extraterrestrial spacecraft crashed into New Mexico and was taken to be studied at Area 51.
There are other ridiculous claims like the government is controlling the weather from there, or that time machines are being developed. None of these theories were proven, and as a general rule, you shouldn't believe everything you hear.
15. Disembodied Feet
Here's a really bizarre mystery that's been puzzling many over the years. On August 20th, 2007, a disembodied human foot inside an Adidas sneaker was found on a beach near Vancouver, British Columbia. But that wasn't the only one; A week later, another one washed up on the beach, and over the course of 11 years, 13 feet (mostly in sneakers) have been found along the shores of British Columbia.
There are plenty of theories about these strange occurrences, from body part remains of a plane crash to a serial killer who likes to cut off his victims' feet after he murders them. Will will see any more this year? We hope not, but we'll just have to wait and see.
16. What ReallyHappened To Harry Houdini?
The famous stunt performer Harry Houdini supposedly died from complications of a ruptured appendix in 1929. However, there have been conspiracy theories for years, claiming that he was actually murdered.
In a 2006 biography, The Secret Life of Houdini, there is a discussion that people from the spiritualist community (people who believe that they can communicate with ghosts) may have killed him. Houdini used to mock them and famed author and spiritualist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did threaten that Houdini had something coming to him.
17. Judge Crater
The disappearance of 41-year-old Supreme Court Justice Joseph F. Crater is a mystery that remains unsolved to this day. Crater was seen last at a restaurant in 1930 and had been missing ever since.
He did have plenty of enemies, and some people say he was murdered and was buried under the Coney Island boardwalk, but others claim he fled the country with his mistress. One thing that came out of his disappearance, was the phrase "pulling a Crater," which became a popular slang for someone disappearing.
18. Nixon's Missing Tape
The Watergate scandal will always be a topic of discussion since there's so much we'll never truly know about this controversial part of former president Richard Nixon's presidency. The biggest question of all surrounds the missing 18 and a half minutes of tape recordings of the events that took place in the Oval Office.
We'll never know what was discussed during this time and what secrets would have been revealed had the tapes been released to the public. Nixon's secretary Rose Mary Woods took responsibility for five minutes of the missing tape, saying that she hit the record button by mistake, but there's no excuse for the other missing 13 and a half minutes.
19. Lizzie Borden
Here's another gruesome mystery: A wealthy couple in Fall River, Massachusetts were brutally murdered in their home with an ax in 1892. Although the killer was never found, the town blamed it on one likely suspect. Their 32-year-old daughter Lizzie who lived in the same house. Everyone assumed she was guilty of the murder, and it certainly didn't help that her answers during the investigation were inconsistent.
Before the incident, she was upset with her parents, especially her stepmother, and when she was found not guilty, the town treated her as if she was. She even became the subject of children's rhymes.
20. Where's Jimmy Hoffa
When you gather many enemies over the years, it's only a matter of time before people will try to kill you. Jimmy Hoffa, famous labor leader and president of the Teamsters Union, went to prison for bribery, fraud, and jury tampering, and had no shortage of enemies. While it's no surprise that he was murdered, no one was ever able to find his body.
The only evidence that was found was a brown hair that matched Hoffa's DNA in the back seat of a car, which may have been his last car ride. Unfortunately, most people have given up the search, including his daughter.
21. The Max Headroom Hacking
Today we are all too familiar with the term hacking, but back in the 1980s, it didn't really exist. In 1987, two Chicago TV stations were taken over by a hacker and interrupted the broadcast signals wearing a Max Headroom (a well-known fictional AI character) mask and sunglasses.
This attack lasted 25 seconds, but it happened again at 11 pm during a Doctor Who broadcast, where the guy dressed as Max mooned on TV. To this day, nobody knows who did it or why, and the incident remains a mystery.
22. The Taos Buzzing
There's a small town in north-central New Mexico called Taos, and the town has been having the same problem since the early 1990s--there's a consistent low buzzing sound throughout the town. The people of Taos complained to Congress in 1993, but no one can figure out where it's coming from.
Is it the result of industrial equipment? electromagnetic radiation? Or maybe secret military experiments are being conducted? Either way, it's a huge mystery and definitely annoying for the town's residents.
23. The Black Dahlia
The Black Dahila case is one of the most famous unsolved murders in US history. Elizabeth Short, a 22-year-old actress, was brutally murdered and found in a lot in Los Angeles. Her body was sliced in half and had three-inch cuts by the side of her mouth, made to look like a scary clown smile.
Over the years, the mystery murderer was never found, and the murder has been the subject of many books and movies. In a recent book, "Black Dahlia, Red Rose," the author claims that one of the suspects, a bellhop and mortician's assistant, could have been the real murderer, but we'll never know.
24. Where Is Billy The Kid Buried?
Billy the Kid is one of the most famous gunfighters in the world. The story is that he was shot down at 21 by Sherrif Pat Garrett on July 14th, 1881, but why does he have so many graves? One of them is in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, and the grave is surrounded by a cage after fans stole his headstone twice.
A Texas man named Ollie "Brushy Bill" Roberts later claimed that he was Billy the Kid, and a guy named John Miller also claimed he was the real Billy. John's grave is open to visitors, and a Billy the Kid Museum opened up in Robert's hometown of Hico, Texas.
25. The Gurdon Light
The Gurdon Light is an unexplained mystery on the railroad tracks in Gurdon, Arkansas. Unexplained light floats around the tracks, and many theories and legends surround this phenomenon.
One theory is that a railroad worker was hit by an oncoming train, was decapitated, and the light comes from a lantern that his ghost is holding while he searches for his missing head. On the other hand, there was a murder that took place on the tracks, and some say that it's the ghost of the victim walking along the railroad.
26. The Shot Heard Round The World
As we all learn in history, the American Revolution started on April 19th, 1775, during the Battle of Lexington and Concord. There was the famous "shot heard 'round the world," but we'll never know who actually fired that weapon.
It's still an unsolved mystery to this day--it could have easily been an American or a British soldier. But whoever fired the shot probably didn't know how big its impact would be.
27. Did Babe Ruth Call His Shot?
Legend has it that the famous Yankees baseball hitter Babe Ruth called his shot in game three of the 1932 World Series against the Chicago Cubs. Supposedly, he pointed exactly where he would hit the ball during the fifth inning and then hit exactly at that mark.
In reality, Babe Ruth most probably pointed at the field, but not exactly where he was going to hit. Either way, it was one of the most impressive games ever played, but if you're talking to a serious Yankee fan, maybe don't bring the conversation up.
28. The Legend Of Bigfoot
We've all heard of Bigfoot. That tall, big, and hairy creature who seems to leave huge footprints and has been roaming North America for years, although no one has ever seen him. Supposedly he's been to every state besides Hawaii and likes the Pacific Northwest.
There have been plenty of hoaxes, including one as recent as 2014 when Bigfoot hunter Rick Dyer said he had shot the creature, but it was later discovered that he created a prop out of foam, latex, and camel hair. There really is no proof that he exists, but we all love a good legend, right?
29. Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart was a pioneer in the field of aviation, but unfortunately, she disappeared after attempting to fly around the world in the summer of 1937. She boarded her Lockheed Electra 10E plane with her navigator Fred Noonan and was never seen again. For years, people claimed she must have crashed in the Pacific, but some rumors were flying around that she was alive and well.
Someone said to have seen her years after the incident on a dock in the Marshall Islands, but that theory was disproven. Recently, bones were found on a remote Pacific Island dating back to 1940 that may just be Earhart's remains. Imagine if we actually solved this mystery!
30. One Small Step For Man
This is definitely the craziest conspiracy theory on this list, but we'll just add it for fun. We are all very familiar with Neil Armstrong's famous moon landing on July 20th, 1969, with his "one small step for man" quote. However, there are some crazy people out there who believe that the moon landing was one big hoax.
Hollywood director Stanley Kubrick directed his outer space film, 2001: A Space Odyssey one year before, and some people actually think that Kubrick staged the 1969 landing. From mysterious shadows to a rock that looks like it says the letter "C" (like how props are labels on movie sets), some theorists are convinced that the landing was fake. NASA continuously denies the hoax, and Apollo 11 pilot Buzz Aldrin once punched a guy for bringing up the ridiculous theory!
31. An Alabama Mystery
This murder in Alabama continues to go unsolved and dates back to 1956. Three brothers Billy, Howard, and Robert Dye vanished with their cousin Dan Brasher. The last time they were seen was in Jefferson County in a green Ford car.
People said that their disappearance went unnoticed for a while because the men drank a lot and usually disappeared for days at a time. When residents were questioned, no one had anything to say aside from strange theories, and the case remains a mystery.
32. Looking For Robert Fisher
The guy we're looking at is actually one of the FBI's ten most wanted fugitives. His name is Robert William Fisher, and he is wanted for murdering his wife and two kids and for blowing up their house in Scottsdale, Arizona. This horrible incident happened on August 10th, 2001, and while we know who the murderer is, he is unable to be found.
Robert vanished the night of the fire, and there are a few theories for his whereabouts. He could have committed suicide, or maybe he's living under a different identity. The FBI is offering $100,000 for any information that would help his arrest, but so far the case hasn't progressed.
33. A Bleeding House
Imagine if your house started oozing blood out of nowhere! In 1987, Minnie Winston discovered some blood on the floor of her house in Atlanta. Panicked as to where her husband was, she thankfully found him, but they still couldn't figure out where the blood was coming from.
And it wasn't just coming from the floor. Blood was oozing out of the walls and coming up from under the kitchen appliances! While the coupled called the police, the police didn't find evidence of a break-in, and this horror scene remains a mystery.
34. The Haunted Black Forest
Continuing the theme of weird occurrences, the Lee family moved into their home in the Black Forest area of Colorado Springs (already sounds spooky to us), and things started to get strange. They heard footsteps, orchestra music, saw flashing lights accompanied by strange smells, and even some ghost sightings! Not the best housewarming if you ask us.
The Lee family continues to live there to this day, and they're still reporting the same things. When they invited a shaman to have a look, he claimed that the house was built on a "rip in the space-time continuum," where spirits move between different worlds. Weird.
35. New Haven's Skulls
Imagine if you found a skull in your residential park near your house! in 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast, causing massive trees to fall. One tree fell on New Haven Green, a privately owned park in New Haven, Connecticut. But when someone started to clean up the park, they found a skull tangled up in the tree's roots.
As it turns out, the skull dated back 200 years, and after an archeological dig in the area, more bones were found with coffin nails. An estimate of 5,000 bodies are buried under New Haven Green, and people have been trying to figure out why. Some speculate that these people died of an epidemic, but no one really knows.
36. Strange Animal Mutilations
This weird phenomenon in Idaho is absolutely horrifying, to say the least. The towns of Jerome and Bliss, Idaho, have been troubled by extremely horrible mutations to both humans and animals dating back to the 1970s.
Humans, deer, and cattle have been subject to genital removal, bodies being drained of their blood, and the worst part is that there hasn't been any evidence as to who or what is doing this. Law enforcement in the area blames "cult killings," but so far there's been no progress in this unsolvable horror show.
37. The Fire Poltergeist
What started as a nice day in Odon, Indiana, turned into an absolute nightmare. In 1941, a farmer was having breakfast with his wife and children and went to his barn to start his work for the day. Then he saw smoke coming from the upstairs window of his house. He managed to call the fire department and put out the fire but then the weirdest thing happened.
Whenever the firefighters took out the fire, another one started in a different room. All-day long new fires started and by the end of the day, there were 28 in total. The farmer started to believe that the house was haunted by poltergeists and ended up tearing it down and building a new one.
38. A Meat Shower
Imagine you're working outside, and suddenly out of nowhere, meat starts to rain from the sky. Yes, you heard correctly. Back in 1876, a farmer in Kentucky was working, and the sky began raining chunks of meat.
No one was quite sure what kind of meat it was, and the only explanation for the shower was that it came from vultures who gorged themselves on their prey then puked while flying.
39. Marie Laveau's Voodoo
How many of you believe in the practices of voodoo? One woman named Marie Laveau lived in New Orleans at the turn of the 19th century. She charmed her community with voodoo practices, told fortunes, and sold potions and charms.
People believed her words and her magic--she claimed to heal the sick and have the capability to possess people. Her stories were passed on to other voodoo practitioners, but one question remains: was there any truth to her tales?
40. The Barber Of Pascagoula
This barber story sounds like something from a horror movie. Back in 1942, Pascagoula, Mississippi had a number of strange home invasions. The intruder apparently cut off locks of hair from the people whose houses he broke into. How creepy is that!
One man became a suspect, but the police let him go after passing a lie detector test. The town never found the creepy barber, and we'll never know his motives.