12 Great Unsolved Mysteries of the World

The world is a mysterious place full of wonder and enchantment. For centuries humankind has done its best to understand the world and why we are here, but there are some things we can’t explain. Sometimes there just isn’t enough historical information to determine an event, or there are contradictory reports about people and places and things that have occurred. Then there are those unsolved mysteries of the world that nobody has an answer for.

Do aliens exist? What is really happening in the Bermuda Triangle? Who shot JFK? These are just some of the biggest unsolved mysteries in the world that continue to baffle everyone from scientists and historians to everyday folk like you and me. 

So read on and discover 12 unsolved mysteries of the world that have puzzled people for years. 

12 Great Unsolved Mysteries of the World

1. Was King Arthur Real?

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You’ve no doubt heard of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. He’s the fella who pulled the sword Excalibur out of the stone and went on adventures with his mate Merlin the Magician. But did you know there are many who think he was an actual king sometime around the 5th or 6th century in Great Britain?

There is documentation of a King Arthur existing, albeit without any magic being involved. He was said to have fought battles against the Saxons, although there is still a lot of conjecture about these stories. There’s also been a lot of talk about Tintagel Castle in England’s south being the former home of Arthur, but like everything else concerning the much loved King, nobody is really quite sure what’s fact and what’s fiction. 

2. The Bermuda Triangle

The Bermuda Triangle is an area of open water in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a bunch of strange things has happened. Also known as the Devil’s Triangle, several ships and planes have gone missing in the area over the years never to be seen again.

Some claim it’s aliens abducting people while others say the lost city of Atlantis is located there and when ships and planes come into the vicinity, they are taken underwater by the city’s inhabitants. 

Not everyone believes these conspiracies though, with many scholars and scientists attributing the loss of life to bad weather (the Triangle is located in a notorious area of the sea besieged by tropical storms) and human error. 

3. Who Shot JFK?

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While in Dallas for a PR trip, President John F. Kennedy was part of a parade driving through the streets in an open-top Lincoln Continental when he was shot in the head and killed. His death shocked the world but the mystery about who shot him has become even bigger.

There have been reports of multiple gunmen, evidence tampering, cover-ups, and a whole slew of other conspiracy theories surrounding JFK’s death. In the end, Lee Harvey Oswald was accused of the killing, although he denied it was him. He never got a chance to plead his case as he was shot and killed by Jack Ruby, who died while in prison. How convenient. 

While the official record lists Oswald as the killer, there are countless theories pointing to the American government, the mafia, the CIA, and even the Cuban government as the ones who ordered the assassination. The only person who really knows is Nic Cage. 

4. What Happened To Amelia Earhart?

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American Amelia Earhart was an aviation pioneer who did many great things during her short life. She was the first female to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and wrote several best-selling books about her triumphs. But while on a flight trying to become the first woman to circumnavigate the world in July of 1937, Earhart disappeared. 

Despite an extensive search, the wreckage of the plane nor Earhart’s body was ever found. A year and a half after she went missing she was declared officially dead. The mystery surrounding Earhart has been a talking point for over 80 years. While most agree that she crashed after running out of fuel, there are theories concerning Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan being kidnapped by the Japanese or crashing and then assuming new identities. These are both quite far-fetched, but until their bodies or the plane wreckage ever turns up, we will never know for sure what happened. 

5. Is the Loch Ness Monster Real?

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Inhabiting the Scottish Loch Ness is an ancient creature known as the Loch Ness Monster. Sightings of the underwater creature date as far back as 565, when a record of Nessie was recorded in the Life of St. Columba by Adomnán. Since then there have been dozens of sightings, with the most well-known being photographic proof taken by surgeon Robert Kenneth Wilson, although it turned out the photo was fabricated. 

There is yet to be any solid proof Loch Ness is real, with sonar readings of the Loch coming up empty-handed. While many still want to believe there is a dinosaur-like creature roaming beneath the surface, it’s more likely than not that what people have seen is other underwater animals or debris in the lake. But until we have a definitive answer, there is always a chance the Loch Ness Monster is real.

6. What Happened To Jimmy Hoffa?

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If you’ve seen The Irishman then you’ll know it was mafia associate Frank Sheeran that killed and disposed of Union leader Jimmy Hoffa in the mid-70s. He told all in his biography before his death, but there has been a lot of doubt cast on his story. Famous assassin Richard “The Iceman” Kuklinski also claimed to have killed Hoffa and buried his body in a scrap yard, but the police are unsure of his story too. 

There have also been numerous rumors that Hoffa’s body is buried beneath Giants Stadium, in the backyard of a mafia associate, and in a steel drum beneath the Pulaski Skyway in New Jersey. None of these have proven true yet, with all hope of finding Hoffa’s body long gone. 

7. Oak Island Mystery 

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It’s believed that some form of hidden treasure is buried on Oak Island in Nova Scotia. Everything from the Holy Grail to Shakespearean manuscripts is believed to be buried on the island. Nobody quite knows how the mystery started, but a pirate by the name of Captain Kidd is the one believed to have stashed his fortune there.

Daniel McGinnis was the first person attributed to finding treasure on Oak Island in 1857. Since then there have been hundreds of expeditions as people have attempted to turn up the reported £2 million loot. Six men have died and plenty more have hurt themselves digging for the lost treasure. Even today people are still trying to find what’s buried on the island, with the History Channel even filming a special about it. 

8. Who Was Jack the Ripper?

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Jack the Ripper sent the streets of London into a panic in 1888 when he murdered and mutilated five women. One of the most vicious serial killers in history taunted the police with letters about his crimes, which is where the name ‘Jack the Ripper’ came from. Several men were suspected of being the Ripper, but nobody was ever arrested and charged for the crimes. 

The list of possible suspects is long and varied, with everyone from a physician to a member of the Royal family at one time touted as the killer. The 2012 book Jack the Ripper: The Hand of a Woman even suggested that the killer was a woman by the name of Lizzie Williams, although many have disputed the accusation. DNA evidence has also proved inconclusive, with the real Jack the Ripper most likely never to be known. 

9. What Happened To the Crew of the Mary Celeste?

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This famous mystery surrounds the disappearance of the crew of the Mary Celeste. The ship was making the journey from New York to Genoa when it was found adrift in the Atlantic Ocean. The ship was still in relatively good condition but everyone was missing. All the captain’s and crew’s possessions were still on the ship while the alcohol supply hadn’t been touched.

Nobody knows what happened to the crew but there have been many unbelievable stories created to understand their disappearance. One of the more likely scenarios is an insurance scam, but there are theories that say the crew was murdered by pirates, killed by sharks, eaten by a Kraken, or aliens abducted the crew. This unexplained mystery seems destined to stay that way. 

10. Easter Island Statues

While these stone monoliths, known as Moai, have stood for over 500 years, nobody is quite sure why they were built. These huge statues number around 1,000 and are on average 13 feet tall and 13 tonnes heavy. Many think they have something to do with the inhabitant’s spiritual beliefs or were built to protect the island, as the majority face the ocean. 

Nobody really knows what the statues represent, but we do understand that the thriving population of Easter Island died out in the late 1800s due to the introduction of the Polynesian rat and European disease. There are around 7,700 people living on the island these days, which has become a major tourist attraction as people try and work out what the statues mean. 

11. Area 51

While conspiracy theorists and UFO believers swear Area 51 is hiding alien lifeforms from the 1947 Roswell incident, there is no proof to back this up. It’s all based on the fact that Area 51, which the American government only acknowledged existed in 2013, is shrouded in secrecy. 

Nobody knows what’s there and the heavily guarded perimeter means the general public has no chance of getting anywhere near it. The Air Force says it’s a training base, but what training base has that much security and is kept under wraps to such an extreme? 

As well as being linked with extraterrestrials, there are many other theories floating around on the internet as to what Area 51 actually is. Some say it is where a super energy weapon is being developed with the power to destroy cities. Others say there is a Stargate there and the government is testing time travel. Whatever people think, nobody really knows what is going on underground in the Nevada desert, and we probably never will.  

12. Stonehenge 

One of the great tourist attractions of the UK, Stonehenge is an ancient construction of stones erected in a circle on the Salisbury Plains. Scientists believe the impressive collection of stones was built somewhere between 3000 BC – 2000 BC. While scientists think it may have been a burial ground, there is no clear answer to what the stones represent. 

Many historians think they have something to do with the summer solstice and pagan rituals, while one theory ties in Henge to the King Arthur legend, with Stonehenge erected in his honor after he killed 420 men in battle. While we might not ever know the reason for its creation, it remains a UNESCO World Heritage Site so will be around for another couple thousand more years.