The desire to know what happened is irresistible, but, despite the efforts of scholars, history is full of mysteries.
There are some, such as where Cleopatra is buried or what secrets They guard the kofun tombs of Japan, which we may one day unveil.
Others, such as who built Stonehenge, a megalithic monument in England, and why, will probably never be solved.
And the lack of answers only makes these riddles more intriguing.
1. The Mary Celeste
What happened to the crew and passengers of this British-American brig remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the sea.
The Mary Celeste set sail or the November 7, 1872 New York City with more than 1. 700 barrels of alcohol bound for Genoa, Italy .
On December 5 was found adrift to 740 kilometers east of the Azores by the crew of another cargo transport ship, the Dei Gratia.
When they boarded the mysterious ship, they found that although it had water with a height of one meter in the hold, it was in good condition
In addition, they found that the cargo and personal belongings were practically intact ctas , although a boat was missing.
- What is the greatest mystery in history
The Mary Celeste was taken to Gibraltar, where a British board of inquiry tried unsuccessfully to clarify the cause of the ship’s abandonment.
There were no signs of violence or lost cargo, casting doubt on suspicions of mutiny, murder and piracy.
There was also no evidence that an explosion caused by vapors of alcohol would have been the cause of abandonment.
Never found the trace of Captain Benjamin Spooner Briggs, his wife and young daughter or the seven experienced crew .
Its name became a worldwide synonym for “ghost ships” abandoned.
two. The “ flying saucers “ by Kenneth Arnold
The birth of the modern phenomenon of UFOs dates back to the sighting of the private pilot Ken Arnold of nine flying objects of peculiar shapes over the Cascade Mountains of Washington in the late afternoon of 17 June 1988.
Arnold told reporters that objects with bat-like wings moved like a saucer would “if you made it jump through the water.”
He calculated its speed as more faster than the most advanced jet aircraft of that era.
A sub-editor came up with the phrase “flying saucers”, and the media coverage that followed triggered a an epidemic from seeing things in the sky that continues to this day.
Two weeks after the Arnold sighting, the Army Air Force of The US announced that the remains of a “flying saucer” had been recovered from a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico.
A modern myth was born, but also a great controversy about what really saw Arnold.
3. The Shroud of Turin
The piece of canvas that is saved in The Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin, in northern Italy, is one of the most investigated objects in the history of mankind, but it preserves its secrets.
Many Christians believe that the holy relic is the shroud in which Jesus of Nazareth was buried .
There is no doubt that it bears an impression negative of the face and outline of the body of a man who has suffered injuries consistent with the crucifixion, but scientists have not been able to reach a consensus on how it was created.
Radiocarbon tests performed by three laboratories in 1988 dated the canvas to the Middle Ages, and some proclaimed it as proof that it was a medieval forgery.
But this interpretation remains the subject of intense scrutiny. bat, prompting former Nature editor Philip Ball to declare that the relic remains shrouded in mystery.
4. What happened to Amelia Earhart?
In 1937, Amelia Earhart, one of the world’s most famous aviators, apparently disappeared without a trace during an attempt to circumnavigate the world.
Although searches started only an hour later From Earhart’s last recorded message, nothing was ever found and his fate remains one of the greatest historical mysteries of all time.
Or maybe not? In fact, the body of a woman was located on Gardner Island , part of the Phoenix Islands, Kiribati, in the western Pacific Ocean, in 1940.
With him were a campfire, a navigation sextant and remains of shoes. The body was later considered to be that of a white woman of Northern European descent, roughly Earhart’s height.
The expeditions carried out since 2001 found other evidence indicating the presence of a living American woman in the decade of 1930. It is possible that Earhart lived as a castaway after an emergency landing.
5. Why did Joan of Arc die?
To the question of why Joan of Arc was burned at the stake, usually the answer is “heresy.”
But while it is true that the so-called Maiden of Orleans was mistrusted for stating that God had guided her to fight as a soldier during the Hundred Years War, the real reason for her execution in 1431 is more unusual.
In May 1430, Juana was captured and imprisoned by her English and Burgundian enemies.
A trial for heresy began in 1431, with questions focused on their faith and visions. The crime of wearing men’s clothing was prosecuted, also a heresy. Juana had done this repeatedly, first as a soldier in armor and then during her incarceration as a defense against rape.
Surprisingly, it was for that last offense that she was finally executed, as she put on men’s clothing again, even though she had promised to renounce it.
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