We are living in a world filled with mysteries that are all around us. We’ve gazed into space for quite some time now, but still can’t figure out how the Universe is wired. Our planet Earth is also packed with hidden nooks and pits, both on land and underwater, that contain numerous secrets we haven’t even discovered yet. And to top all that there’s our own history and the remains of ancient civilizations that leave us with dozens of questions as to our origin. Here are 8 biggest historical mysteries that remain unsolved.
Stonehenge is as mysterious now as it was decades ago. How did the ancient people drag all those heavy stones for hundreds of miles? The heaviest of the Stonehenge stones weighs 30 tons and it originated in Wales – 150 miles away from the construction! It could be accomplished now, but back in 2500 BC? It’s a mystery!
Christianity has quite a few legends of its own, one being about the mythical Holy Grail. It is believed that this goblet comes from the Last Supper. It is also the vessel that carried Christ’s blood from the crucifixion, making it one of the holiest items ever. Many believe the Knights Templar retrieved it from Jerusalem during the Crusades and took it to Europe. Many goblets have claimed the name of the Holy Grail, but we’ll never know for sure!
The Lost City of Atlantis
We should all thank Plato for creating one of the biggest mysteries in human history. Atlantis was technologically advanced civilization that was so materialistic and military-oriented that one day it ceased to exist devoured by the seas. The wrath of Gods seems to have been involved, but that’s not really the point. Could we really lose a huge subcontinent? Modern researchers made a more accurate translation of Plato’s work that placed ancient Atlantis in the Mediterranean sea around 9600 BC. According to experts, there existed the Cyclades Plateau, an island of huge size. Was that it? The mystery remains.
The Loch Ness Monster
The first ever mention of Nessie, the Loch Ness monster, dates back to 565 AD. In 1934, Robert Kenneth Wilson took the first photo of the creature, but nobody believed it to be true. People already were suspicious of photos even though things like Photoshop would appear only decades later. A special investigation bureau used everything from infra-red cams to echo sounders to find Nessie, but to no avail. Still, the sightings continue!
The infamous Bermuda Triangle in the North Atlantic Ocean has taken 50 ships and more than 20 planes into its mysterious depths. No one still knows where they’ve gone and what happened to the people on board. There are dozens of theories ranging from UFOs to gigantic rogue waves and even a crack in reality that sucks the ships into a parallel Universe. Some ships come back from time to time, but without the crew or passengers.
Geoglyphs of Nazca
Also known as Nazca Lines, these ancient drawings in the soil are truly huge in size – some are as big as three football fields! One can really appreciate the drawings (and actually understand that it’s a picture and not a random line) only when looking from high up above. This raises the question – how could an ancient civilization make these pictures? And for what purpose? You can appreciate them only when flying on a plane!
The Sphinx of Giza is the biggest structure of ancient times that still captivates the minds of historians. Created around 5,000 BC (or even earlier than that!) Sphinx is as puzzling as the pyramids around it. Together with the famous Pyramids of Giza and Nile, Sphinx represents the position of Leo constellation with Milky Way and Orion as they would have been observed during the Age of Leo. This alone puts the origin of Sphinx to question. Did the Egyptians really build it or some other more advanced civilization created the structure? Recent research shows there are chambers hidden beneath Sphinx’s paws!
The Amber Room
The mind-blowing Amber Room was once considered the eighth wonder of the world and was a symbol of peace between Prussia and Russia. After Frederick William I gifted it to Peter the Great, Amber Room was transferred to the Winter House in St. Petersburg, and then moved to the Catherine Palace. In 1941, the Amber Room was taken by the German army and shipped to the Konigsberg Castle, where it supposedly remained until the bombings in 1944. No one actually knows whether the Amber Room was evacuated or destroyed in the fire!