Yahoo Lifestyle 28 Unsolved Cases That — Despite Tons Of Theories — Have Yet To Be Solved
WARNING: This article contains mentions of death, bodily harm, and murder. Please proceed with caution.
As your friendly neighborhood enjoyer of all things spooky and unexplainable, it's no surprise I've covered a ton of true crime cases and other unsolved mysteries in 2024. Now that the year is coming to a close, I decided to round up 28 of the most unforgettable ones I researched and shared with you all this year:
Did you learn about a true crime case or unsolved mystery this year that you can't get out of your head? If so, share it with us in the comments below!
1.The "coincidental" murders of Mary Ashford and Barbara Forrest. Both women were 20 years old, killed on the same day (May 27), and found in Pype Hayes Park in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Both of their bodies were found in ditches and showed signs of rape. Mary and Barbara both had gone out dancing the night they were murdered, and the main suspects of both their cases had the last name "Thornton." Both suspects went to trial and were found not guilty due to lack of evidence. Both women even expressed having senses of dread leading up to their deaths, confiding in friends and explaining they felt something bad was going to happen. The only difference, though, was that their murders occurred 157 years apart. Mary's death was in 1817, and Barbara's was in 1974. Their cases are eerily similar.
You can read more about them here.
2.The Circleville Letters. From the late '70s to the mid-'90s, residents of the town of Circleville, Ohio were plagued by mysterious, anonymous letters. The author of these handwritten letters accused the people of infidelity, domestic violence, embezzlement, and murder. For instance, the author accused a local school bus driver, Mary Gillispie, of having an affair with the school's superintendent, Gordon Massie. Mary and her husband received many threatening letters about it. In August of '77, her husband supposedly got a call from the writer and — that same day — was suspiciously killed when his car ran into a tree.
The author struck again a few months later when Mary saw "an obscene sign about her 13-year-old child." She noticed a box attached to the sign when she tried tearing it down, which she later learned housed a booby-trapped gun ready to go off.
The gun belonged to Paul Freshour — Mary's brother-in-law. Paul was tried and convicted for attempted murder. He was in prison for ten years — specifically without being allowed pens or paper — and, yet, the letters kept coming. They finally stopped in 1994, when Paul was released. The author is still unknown.
You can read more about the case here.
3.The disappearance of an extra from Scarface. There's a scene in the movie where Tony and others are upstairs in an apartment while Manny is supposed to keep watch from his car. Manny gets distracted by a blonde girl in a bikini and starts hitting on her. That blonde girl was Tami Lynn Leppert. Tami was a Florida beauty queen and model who, near the time of shooting the movie, went to a party one night and came back as a completely different person. It was like she changed overnight. She became paranoid, began isolating herself, and was convinced someone was trying to kill her.
On the fourth day of filming, a character in the movie was shot, and she saw the blood packet get activated. She had a breakdown on set and began to hysterically cry. Tami eventually quit the film, and went back home. According to Unsolved Mysteries, her mother claimed there were good and bad days with Tami, but eventually, she snapped and began smashing the windows in their home and attacking family members, fearing they were trying to poison her.
Tami went in for a psych eval and showed no signs of drug or alcohol use. The following day, she and her friend went for a drive to the beach, and Tami never came home. The friend told the police they'd gotten into an argument, and Tami wanted to get out of the car, and he let her. She was left near Cocoa Beach, five miles from her home, with no shoes and her purse. She was never seen again.
4.The mysterious green children of Woolpit. The legend is that two children with green skin reportedly appeared in the village of Woolpit in Suffolk, England, around 1150. The brother and sister duo spoke in an unknown language and refused to eat anything but raw fava beans. They were taken to the home of a man named Richard de Calne, who, over time, slowly got them to consume other foods and learn to speak English. Eventually, their skin lost its green color. When asked where they came from, they claimed to be from "the land of St. Martin," where the sun doesn't rise.
They didn't know how they got to Woolpit but recalled that "on a certain day, when we were feeding our father's flocks in the fields, we heard a great sound, such as we are now accustomed to hear at St. Edmund's, when the bells are chiming; and whilst listening to the sound in admiration, we became on a sudden, as it were, entranced, and found ourselves among you in the fields where you were reaping." The children were then baptized, and the boy died shortly after due to an unknown illness. The girl stayed with Richard.
You can read more about them here.
5.The vanishing of Mary, Fannie, and Jessie Stuart. On December 10, 1978, Mary Stuart and her two daughters, Fannie and Jessie, left their home in Honeydew, California, for a day of errands — specifically, grocery shopping, to get their TV repaired, and the optometrist. The three did not make it home that night, so one of Mary's friends reported them missing. Police checked with local optometrists and TV repair places, asking if they'd seen the Stuart girls, but none had. Almost a month later, their car was found on an old logging road just a few miles from their home. Detectives found their bags of groceries and a now-repaired TV inside and noticed the car's gas line was broken. There was no sign of the family, nor were there indications of foul play.
The prime suspect in the case was Byron McGray Stuart — Mary's husband and the girls' father. He had a history of violence and aggression, but police did not have enough evidence to tie the case to him. While it was reopened in 2009, the case remains unsolved, and Mary, Fannie, and Jessie have never been found.
You can read more about it here.
6.The Great Kentucky Meat Shower, or the "Kentucky Shower of Flesh." On the third of March in 1876, large chunks of fresh meat — most of which were about 5x5 cm — rained down from the sky in Olympia Springs, Kentucky, "like large snowflakes." It was not actually raining, though — in fact, the sky was crystal clear, minus the chunks of flesh falling from it. Two local men tasted the strange meat and believed it was either venison or mutton. Later, two histologists analyzed the meat and determined it (or at least, the pieces they had access to) was made up of lung tissue, muscular tissue, and cartilage.
What exactly happened in Kentucky that day remains a mystery, though there have been several hypotheses. One of which is that the "meat" was actually nostoc, which is a gelatinous bacteria also known as "witch's butter" or "star-slubber" that swells and floats when it rains. As previously stated, it was a perfectly clear day when the meat rained down, so most aren't too convinced about the supposed explanation. Other theories range from it being projectile vulture vomit or alien flesh from a UFO explosion in space.
You can read more about it here.
7.The disappearance of Branson Perry. In April of 2001, 20-year-old Branson was at his home in Skidmore, Missouri, with a family friend. Branson's dad had been in the hospital, so the two were getting the house ready for his return. Branson went to the shed near his family's home to put a pair of jumper cables back...and simply never returned. He left all his belongings — including his car — behind.
One officer on the case suspects Branson's disappearance may have been a drug-related kidnapping. In 2012, his stepfather purchased him a burial plot. While his name is on the headstone, the plot remains empty.
You can read more about his case here.
8.The "Lost Girls" of Panama. In April of 2014, two Dutch women — Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon — were hiking the "El Pianista" trail near Boquete, Panama. They were in the region to volunteer at a local school and learn Spanish. They were informed that their assistance wasn't needed for another week, so they decided to explore the area in the meantime. Unfortunately, neither Kris nor Lisanne ever returned from that hike. Search parties were sent out but came back empty-handed. Two months later, Lisanne's left foot — which had been detached at the ankle — was found in her hiking boot. Kris's pelvis was also discovered, split in two. Later, locals found Lisanne's backpack, which held their bras, phones, $87 in cash, and a Canon Powershot camera. The camera had dozens of strange photos on it, most of which were taken at night, dated a week after the women initially disappeared.
Not much is known about what happened to Lisanne and Kris. According to police, the duo asked an innkeeper for directions before their hike and later that day asked for assistance returning to town. It was the last time they were seen.
You can read more about them here.
9.The lost nuclear bomb off the coast of Tybee Island, Georgia. In 1958, a fighter jet and a B-47 bomber had a mid-air collision during a training exercise, resulting in the pilot dropping the bomb into the water to prevent it from going off if the plane crash landed. The bomb wasn't found during their search, but the government claimed it "didn't pose a threat unless it was disturbed." However, in 1994, a declassified document suggested otherwise.
It revealed that the bomb did contain a nuclear capsule and, according to Savannah Morning News, "the resulting explosion would include a fireball with a radius of over a mile and thermal radiation for up to 10 times that distance." The bomb still hasn't been located to this day.
You can read more about it here.
10.The 169th victim of the Oklahoma City bombing. In the late 1990s, an additional leg was found in the rubble. DNA tests showed it belonged to another victim who had already been buried, but seemingly with the wrong left leg. Testimony reports from the trials claim that it wasn't possible to obtain DNA from the leg at the time, according to Fox 25, but it turns out that the state did have a DNA profile of it after all. The sample was compared to that of 10 known victims, but didn't match any of them. So, who did this leg belong to? All other legs had been accounted for in other victims.
They found no other body parts, and nobody else had been reported missing. In 2015, they were finally able to get DNA from the leg, but who it belongs to is still unknown to us. A few conspiracy theories have popped up, like maybe it was a second bomber that got caught in the blast, but it's still unknown.
You can read more about the 169th victim here.
11.Tim Molnar’s disappearance and death. One day in 1984, he left home to go to class. He was never seen by his family again. According to an episode of Unsolved Mysteries, the night after he vanished, the family received a silent phone call. They believed Tim may have run away to start a new life and wanted to call them, but he got nervous and hung up. Two weeks later, the family's credit card was used at a gas station in Lake City, Florida, and witnesses claimed Tim was traveling alone. Months later, his car was found in a parking lot in Atlanta, Georgia, where it'd been abandoned. The lot was near a Greyhound bus station, and the car had reportedly been left there six days after he left. He'd nearly drained his bank account, took the valuable items out of his car, and left behind his wallet, license, and credit cards.
Here's a plot twist: In early 1996, a Wisconsin man was watching Tim's episode of Unsolved Mysteries on TV. According to the Wisconsin State Journal, he'd found a body in a secluded wood lot, frozen in a block of ice with a ring of keys. Tim drove a 1969 Dodge Dart, and Dodge car keys had been found with the body. Helen — Tim's mom — still had the same locks on the doors of her home, so she mailed the man a copy of her house key to match it with the one found with the body. It was a match. DNA tests confirmed it was Tim.
12.The disappearance of Asha Degree. On Valentine's day in 2000, she walked out of her home in the middle of the night. She was only 9 years old. According to the FBI, there were no signs of forced entry or indications of where she went. Asha was sighted multiple times walking down an extremely rural and desolate highway by herself — including by one truck driver at 4 a.m. — in the middle of a storm. She ran into the woods after being spotted and was never seen again.
Candy wrappers and a hair bow in a nearby shed hinted that she'd perhaps taken shelter there. 18 months later, Asha's book bag was discovered 26 miles away, wrapped in a trash bags.
You can read more about Asha's case here.
13.The Tunguska Mystery. At a little after 7 in the morning on June 30, 1908, residents near the Podkamennaya Tunguska river in rural Romania reported seeing a smoking fireball in the sky, an incredibly bright flash of light, a loud boom, and felt themselves being blown into the air. Some reported going unconscious and that their homes were destroyed. Trees in the area were flattened and burned. According to Scientific American, other parts of the world experienced huge silver clouds, spectacularly colored sunsets, and bright skies even in the dead of night.
Expeditions did not make it to the region until 1927 due to a variety of factors, including the area being difficult to get to, WWI, and the Russian Revolution. When they finally did, they did not find the source of the explosion. There was no impact site, no bolide, nothing. Just the destruction it left behind.
Today, most scientists believe it was an asteroid or comet gunning for Earth that was vaporized in the mid-air explosion, explaining the lack of evidence found in the area. Later expeditions found microscopic particles that were definitely from somewhere in space, though scientists couldn't determine what exactly they'd come from. Others, however, believe perhaps there's a more paranormal explanation for the blast, like aliens.
You can read more about the Tunguska Event here.
14.The whereabouts of Byron Preiss's treasure. In 1982, Bryson Preiss published The Secret (treasure hunt), a fantasy book about "the Fair People," which were creatures like dragons, fairies, goblins, and the like who fled the "Old World" for the human world and brought heaps of treasure with them. In the book, Byron invites readers to find the 12 lost treasures of the Fair People, which he actually hid across North America. Through a series of 12 paintings, verses, and riddles, Byron and his team hint at the locations of 12 ceramic casques containing keys. Upon the discovery and redemption of a key, the winners get their cut of $10,000 worth of jewels (in 1982 dollars — which, today, would be worth about $31,960.31).
Since its publication, only three of the twelve treasures have been found — one in Chicago in 1984, one in Cleveland in 2004, and one in Boston in 2019. According to the clues, the others are believed to be buried in New Orleans, New York City, San Francisco, Houston, Roanoke, Charleston, St. Augustine, and Montreal.
You can learn more about the treasure hunt (and find the book for yourself) here.
15.The peculiar case of Pauline Piccard. In April of 1922, in the small French village of Goas Al Ludu, a young girl went missing from her parent's farm. Searching had proved to be futile, and eventually, the family assumed she'd been kidnapped. That was until a young girl matching Pauline's description was found wandering in Cherbourg, 400 kilometers away. The family travelled there, identified the girl as Pauline, and brought her back home with them. The strange thing, though, was that the girl didn't seem to recognize the parents. When spoken to in Breton, which Pauline knew and spoke, she remained silent.
Some of these questions, however, were answered about a month later. According to a 1922 publication by the New York Times, a farmer about a mile out from the family's town found the body of a small, naked girl with her clothes folded neatly nearby. The body was unrecognizable, but the mother noticed the clothes were those Pauline wore on the day she disappeared. Nonetheless, the discovery incited more questions than it answered. What happened to Pauline? Who killed her? And finally, who was the girl they brought home?
You can read about her case here.
16.The Setagaya Family Murders. On December 30, 2000, two kids and their parents were murdered in their home in Setagaya, Tokyo. The children's grandmother, Haruko, lived next door, and went to check on them as they hadn't answered her calls. She found all four members of the Miyazawa family dead, the son having been strangled and the others stabbed. The creepiest part, though, is that the killer stayed in the family's home for hours after killing them. According to ABC Australia, "He left his DNA everywhere. He left clothes at the scene. He left the murder weapon. He used the victims' computer. He ate at least four ice creams from their freezer."
Over 250,000 investigators have worked on this case, but it still remains unsolved over 20 years later.
You can read more about the case here.
17.The Voynich manuscript. The manuscript — which lives in the rare book library at Yale — was written in the 15th or 16th century in Central Europe. It's written in an undecipherable script and assumed to be scientific or magical in nature. According to Yale, the manuscript seemingly consists of six sections: unidentifiable plant species, astronomical and astrological drawings, biology (which consists mostly of women with swollen stomachs "immersed or wading in fluids and oddly interacting with interconnecting tubes and capsules"), nine cosmological medallions, drawing of medicinal herbs, and long pages of text, thought to be recipes.
While it is possible the manuscript is a hoax, it would be a rather elaborate one, as it was believed to have had two to eight writers and taken years to complete. Though the manuscript has been handed down from many owners — including Emperor Rudolph II of Germany — the puzzle of what exactly it is or what it's saying has yet to be cracked.
18.The disappearance of Jodi Huisentruit. Jodi was a morning news anchor at KIMT-TV — a news station in Mason City, Iowa. On the morning of June 27, 1995, Jodi didn't show up to work. A producer called her, and, frazzled, she said she'd overslept and would be in ASAP. The producer called again later, but she didn't pick up the phone or show up to work that day. So, they called the police for a welfare check. They found a bottle of hairspray, a pair of red shoes, and a blow dryer next to Jodi's red Mazda Miata. There were signs of a struggle at the scene, including a bent car key and handprints on the car.
In an unexpected twist, private investigator Steve Ridge later revealed that the red Mazda wasn't even Jodi's car. She'd planned to buy it but hadn't actually paid for it prior to her disappearance. Jodi's mother purchased the car after her death.
Neither Jodi nor a suspect was ever found, and to this day, we still do not know what exactly happened that morning. With Jodi being well-known to the public, though, her case quickly became the topic of many rumors. One particularly popular one revolves around a budding romance of Jodi's prior to her disappearance. The relationship was allegedly very new — so much so that her friends and family didn't know about it yet. While Ridge doesn't believe the man she was seeing was involved in her disappearance, he did think it was possible that a frequent viewer or admirer found out about him (or simply that she was dating) and grew jealous, potentially giving them a motive for an abduction.
19.The Max Headroom signal hijacking. On November 22, 1987, the Nine O'Clock News was being televised as usual on Channel 9, until the signal cut out without warning. It was hijacked by a person in a suit and smiling rubber mask — inspired by the character Max Headroom — jumping around to the sound of static. It lasted for about 30 seconds before the studio was able to regain control of the broadcast. But, Max wasn't done. Two hours later — on a completely different channel — Max returned.
Unlike the previous one, this broadcast lasted for a minute and 20 seconds, and included audio. Speaking in "a voice that sound[ed] like a cartoon villain," Max called out the sports broadcaster he'd previously interrupted, and made various TV references while flailing and throwing a rubber penis. It all ended with Max bent over and a mostly-off-camera woman spanking his bare butt with a fly swatter. Then, it returned to the episode of Dr. Who that was airing, as though nothing had happened. Though the FBI and FCC were on the hunt, the culprit has never been found.
You can read more about it here.
20.The Taos "hum." In Taos, New Mexico, some residents report hearing an inexplicable low-frequency humming noise, which they describe as sounding like a swarm of bees or the humming of a truck. The noise, which has been reported since 1993, is usually heard when the surrounding atmosphere is quiet and still. Hearing an unexplainable noise like this isn't a unique occurrence — it's been the complaint of residents in several cities across the globe. How Taos differs, however, is that nobody has figured out where the sound is coming from.
In the '90s, an engineering professor at the University of New Mexico did a study and found that only 2% of Taos residents heard the hum. They set up equipment in their homes, hoping to record vibrational, electromagnetic, and auditory data, but they found nothing. The Air Force's local laboratory did their own research and also came up empty.
Possible explanations for the humming noise vary, ranging from the psychological to the paranormal. Everything from mass tinnitus, to underground UFO bases, to government mind control experiments have been thrown around. Some particularly spiritual residents feel as though the hum is pulling them in, making them feel ~one~ with the land and nearby Sangre de Cristo mountains. Others believe that because such a small portion of the population hears it, it's meant to drive them out of the town. The less spiritual believe that the sound is simply people looking for something where there is nothing, their minds filling the space because they are expecting to hear something.
You can read more about the hum here.
21.The disappearance of Tiffany Sessions. On February 9, 1989, 20-year-old Tiffany left her home in Gainesville, Florida, at 6 p.m. to take a walk. She was never seen or heard from again. Thirty-five years later, neither Tiffany nor her remains have been found.
It's suspected that Paul Rowles — a convicted rapist and murderer — may be responsible. In 2013, a detective received a box of Paul's personal belongings, including a black notebook. In it were references to Linda Frida and Elizabeth Foster — two women whose murders he was linked to. The notebook also had a page with the date "2/9/89" and the number 2 written on both sides, which some believe ties him to Tiffany's case, as that was the day she went missing, and the number two could imply she was his second victim. Unfortunately, detectives didn't link Paul to the case until after his death in 2013.
You can read more about her case here.
22.The "Bloody Benders" of Labette County, Kansas. They were believed to be one of the first serial killer families in America. In the 1870s, the family of four ran a one-room inn and sold supplies in a small town in Kansas. People began to go missing, but nothing was formally looked into until the brother of an up-and-coming politician, Alexander York, disappeared. In the search for his brother, York interviewed the Benders and called them "odd and hostile," but didn't outright accuse them. Instead, he decided to search every home in the town so as not to alert them.
The details after this become a bit fuzzy. After speaking to York, one source said the Bender family fled from their homes, knowing they would soon be caught for their crimes. Another source claimed they seemingly abandoned their homes out of nowhere, and townspeople searched it believing they'd become the latest victims. Either way, the townspeople certainly weren't expecting what they found in the cabin. There was a trap door in the floor, which led to the blood-soaked floor of the cellar. Between the cellar, their well, and a nearby orchard field, eleven bodies in total were found, all with their skulls smashed in. People reported seeing the parents flee to Missouri and the kids to Texas via trains, and locals occasionally reported their whereabouts, the family was never formally caught or tried.
You can read more about them here.
23."The perplexing Yonaguni Monument. Located off the coast of the Ryukyu Islands in Japan is a series of rectangular rock formations that make up these strange, pyramid-like structures 25 meters underwater. It's about 50 meters by 20 meters in total and kind of looks like giant, carved steps. At first glance, it certainly seems man-made, so it makes sense that people have dubbed it "Japan's Atlantis." According to scientists, the "monument" is estimated to be over 10,000 years old.
Now, the mystery lies in who or what exactly created it. Some believe that the perfect, shelf-like structures were crafted by nature, gradually building up over time and aided by the region's frequent earthquakes. People in this school of thought often cite the Giant's Causeway in Ireland as their "proof" — a similar, naturally-formed structure. Others, however, believe that the monument's perfect 90º angles could only be manmade, perhaps by prehistoric civilization — likely the Jōmon people — who could have inhabited the area as far back as 12,000 BC.
You can read more about the monument here and watch a video of if up-close right here.
24.The Rectangle Galaxy. If you've ever seen an image of a galaxy in space, odds are you've seen something that either looks like a disk or some kind of blob. Well, astronomers from Australia's Swinburne University of Technology discovered a galaxy that doesn't quite fit the mold of what we're used to seeing. That galaxy is LEDA 074886, or the "emerald-cut galaxy." Scientists aren't yet sure what precisely made this rectangular (or diamond-shaped, depending on how you look at it) galaxy look the way it does, but leading theories are around two disk galaxies colliding, or some gravitational-tidal interaction. According to Dr. Alister Graham at the university, "It’s one of those things that just makes you smile because it shouldn’t exist, or rather you don’t expect it to exist."
25. Who blew up the Georgia Guide Stones. The monument was made up of four 16-foot high panels that acted as a sundial, an astronomical calendar, and were inscribed with "guidance for living in an age of reason" in eight different languages. There's a lot of mystery surrounding the stones, including why they're there and who is behind them. The Guide Stones were erected in 1980, though the person — or people — who commissioned them remained anonymous, simply using the pseudonym R.C. Christian. Both the messages on it and the monument itself were very controversial — some considered it to be satanic, while others jokingly called it "America's Stonehenge." On July 7, 2022, it was mysterious blown up in the early hours of the morning. Despite security footage, the culprit is unknown.
(1/4) The GBI is releasing additional surveillance video that shows an unknown person leaving an explosive device at the Georgia Guidestones. The video is unclear, but agents are still actively working to identify the person leaving the scene after the explosion. pic.twitter.com/WK61R7MKrs
— GA Bureau of Investigation (@GBI_GA) July 7, 2022
You can read more about it here.
26.On December 5, 1872, a ship called the Mary Celeste was found empty and drifting in the Atlantic. It had set sail from New York City eight days prior and was headed to Genoa, Italy, but was found 400 miles east of the Azores. The ship's cargo was still intact, the crew's belongings were still in their rooms, and six months of food still on board, according to Smithsonian Mag. While there was three and a half feet of water in the ship's bottom, it was still seaworthy. The only thing missing was a lifeboat, which it appeared had been boarded in an orderly fashion. No one knows what happened to the crew or why they left the ship.
You can read more about the Mary Celeste here.
27.The mystery of the Phaistos Disc. In 1908, the disc was discovered inside the Minoan Palace of Phaistos in Crete, Greece. On it are various pictograms featuring images of everything from people and plants to a bell and a cat's head. The images are arranged into 61 total "groups," separated by lines drawn between the images. Many assume these groups are intended to represent words. The disc has long been a particularly fascinating mystery, as no one has been able to decipher what it says, let alone what its purpose was. Loads of theories have been floated, ranging from it being a prayer to a curse.
According to Discovery UK, it's additionally been theorized to be all of the following things: a board game, a prayer to the Minoan earth goddess Aphaia, a nursery rhyme, a magical spell, a poem, a hymn, a healing ritual, and a list of religious centers.
You can read more about it here.
28.The disappearance of Brandon Swanson. On May 14, 2008, Brandon was driving home from a party and drove into a ditch. He called his parents asking for help, and they set out in their pickup truck to find him. According to Brandon's dad, Brandon was sure he knew where he was. When they got there, he was nowhere to be seen. Eventually, they all got frustrated, and Brandon decided to walk back to his friend's place. Brian dropped his wife off at home and went back out to look for his son. He stayed on the phone with Brandon, who was trying to direct his father to where he was walking. Eventually, Brandon told Brian to meet him at a nightclub parking lot. Suddenly, Brandon yelled, "Oh shit!" and the line went dead. They never heard from him again.
You can read more about the case here.
Is there a true crime case or unsolved mystery you learned about this year that you can't stop thinking about? If so, please share it with us in the comments!
