Mystery

About Mystery

Uncover fragments from the unknown — unexplained phenomena, strange disappearances and enduring enigmas.

mystery31 May 2026

Ancien Régime Wolf Hunts Needed a Certified Carcass

A 1677 royal ruling in France made certified wolf carcasses official proof for assigning the costs of wolf hunts to nearby parishes.

mystery25 May 2026

Boston to Calcutta Ice Trade Began With One Shipment

In 1833, Frederic Tudor’s shipment of New England natural ice to Calcutta demonstrated that ice could survive a long voyage to India and be sold in a tropical market.

Quote Explained

Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here

— Jack Swigert, an Apollo 13 astronaut

💬

mystery23 May 2026

Jack Swigert's Apollo 13 Problem Call Explained

It marked the first calm verbal sign of the Apollo 13 crisis, signaling that an oxygen tank explosion had turned a Moon mission into a fight to keep the crew alive.

6 Negative and Raw-File Mysteries Cropped Out

🗒️

mystery14 May 2026

6 Negative and Raw-File Mysteries Cropped Out

The article explains how original photographic materials such as negatives, raw files, sleeves, and contact sheets can preserve clues or context that published images may lose through editing, cropping, or retouching.

mystery04 May 2026

Michel Dokis Trading Ledger Preserves Rare Ojibwa Pictographs

A digital copy of a 19th-century trading ledger linked to Michel Dokis uses Ojibwa pictographic writing to record everyday trade, showing Indigenous record-keeping in commerce.

mystery28 Apr 2026

Qing Imperial Consort Robe Preserves Exact Qianlong 43 Receipt Tag

A Qing imperial consort’s robe survives with its original yellow tag, which records the fabric and the exact date it was received in the palace.

mystery27 Apr 2026

Longyou Caves Mystery: Who Carved China's Hidden Caverns?

The Longyou Caves are a group of 24 large, human-carved underground chambers in China whose purpose remains uncertain.

mystery26 Apr 2026

Somerton Man Tamám Shud Scrap Changed the Case

The Somerton Man case became especially famous after police found a tiny paper scrap reading “Tamám Shud,” which led them to a copy of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám and possible coded writing inside it.

mystery21 Apr 2026

Napa County Courthouse Repairs Reveal 1979 Time Capsule

Earthquake repairs at the Napa County Courthouse uncovered a time capsule hidden in a staircase banister, containing letters, clippings, matchbooks, a bottle of rosé, and live rounds.

mystery03 Apr 2026

When the Thames Smelled So Bad, Parliament Finally Acted

The Great Stink of 1858 forced Parliament to act on London’s sewage crisis, leading to Joseph Bazalgette’s modern sewer system.

mystery30 Mar 2026

How HMS Erebus and HMS Terror Were Found in the Canadian Arctic

The rediscovery of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror confirmed the fate of Franklin’s lost Arctic expedition and turned a long mystery into an archaeological record shaped in part by Inuit oral history.

mystery28 Mar 2026

Why Some Easter Island Moai Once Had Coral Eyes

Some Easter Island moai were fitted with inlaid coral eyes and stone pupils, likely to give them a more active, intentional ceremonial presence.

mystery26 Mar 2026

How the H.L. Hunley May Have Killed Its Own Crew

A PLOS ONE analysis suggests the crew of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley may have been killed almost immediately by the explosion that sank the USS Housatonic, rather than by flooding or mechanical failure.

mystery24 Mar 2026

Japan's Unsolved Candy Extortion Panic

The 1984 “Monster with 21 Faces” case began as the kidnapping of Glico’s president and escalated into an unsolved extortion campaign involving threats that candy products had been poisoned.

mystery24 Mar 2026

When a London Brewery Burst and Beer Became a Deadly Flood

An 1814 brewery vat failure at Meux’s Brewery caused the London Beer Flood, killing eight people and damaging the surrounding neighborhood.

mystery23 Mar 2026

The Ishango Bone and the Debate Over What It Meant

The Ishango bone is a prehistoric carved bone whose notch patterns have been interpreted as counting marks, a lunar calendar, or an early mathematical tool, but its original purpose remains uncertain.

mystery22 Mar 2026

Marks on the Taung Child Skull Point to a Possible Eagle Attack

The Taung Child skull is an early hominin fossil whose puncture marks may indicate it was attacked by a large bird of prey, possibly an eagle.

mystery22 Mar 2026

Photos from Andrée's 1897 Arctic Expedition Were Found in 1930

Undeveloped photographic negatives from Salomon August Andrée’s 1897 Arctic balloon expedition were found on Kvitøya in 1930 and later developed, providing a rare visual record of the lost journey.

mystery17 Mar 2026

Coin Inside a 15th-Century Ship Helps Date Newport's Medieval Port

Archaeologists uncovered part of a 15th-century ship at Newport’s medieval river port, and a French petit blanc coin sealed in the vessel helped date the wreck to after 1447.

mystery17 Mar 2026

Brazil's 1966 Lead Masks Case Still Has No Clear Answer

In 1966, two men were found dead on a hill with crude lead masks over their eyes and a note suggesting a timed sequence, but the cause of death remains uncertain.

mystery08 Mar 2026

The Voynich Manuscript: A Real Book with an Unknown Text

The Voynich Manuscript is a real medieval book with unreadable text and puzzling illustrations that has resisted definitive decipherment for centuries.

mystery05 Mar 2026

USS Cyclops: The 1918 Navy Disappearance That Remains Unexplained

The USS Cyclops vanished in 1918 after leaving Barbados for Baltimore with more than 300 men and a cargo of manganese ore, and no confirmed wreckage or distress signal was ever found.

mystery04 Mar 2026

Why the Black Dahlia Murder Still Has No Answer

The article describes the 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short, known as the Black Dahlia case, and explains why it remains unsolved despite decades of investigation and publicity.

mystery01 Mar 2026

The Beale Ciphers: Buried Fortune or a Very Durable Hoax?

The Beale Ciphers are a long-running American treasure mystery tied to three encrypted texts, one reportedly solved and two still unsolved, with uncertainty about whether the story is genuine at all.

mystery24 Feb 2026

The Sodder Children and the Fire That Never Fully Made Sense

The Sodder family of West Virginia remained convinced for years that five of their children did not die in the 1945 house fire and that the case involved unanswered questions.

mystery22 Feb 2026

Inside the Real Mystery of the Winchester House

The Winchester Mystery House is a large, irregular San Jose mansion built over decades by Sarah Winchester and famed for its confusing layout and enduring ghost-story legend.

Explore by topic

Choose your next rabbit hole

Tap a topic to search across all CurioWire stories.

Strange accidents Moon mysteries I love fish!

mystery20 Feb 2026

Why the Zodiac Killer's Ciphers Still Resist Solution

The article explains that the Zodiac Killer case remains unresolved in part because its letters and ciphers created a long-lasting public mystery alongside the murders.

mystery19 Feb 2026

The Mysterious Green Children of Woolpit

Medieval accounts describe two green-skinned children discovered in the English village of Woolpit in the 12th century, sparking mystery and speculation about their origins.

mystery17 Feb 2026

The Unsolved Mystery of the Marfa Lights

The Marfa Lights are mysterious orbs of light observed in Texas that have puzzled observers for over a century.

mystery16 Feb 2026

The Unsolved Mystery of the Missing Amber Room

The Amber Room, a famous treasure, disappeared during World War II, and its fate remains a mystery.