Each of these mysterious stories one could call it a detective. But in detective stories, as you know, all the secrets are revealed by the last page. And in these stories, the solution is still far away, although humanity has been puzzling over some of them for decades. Perhaps we are not destined to find answers for them at all? Or will the veil of secrecy ever be lifted? What do you think?
43 missing Mexican students
In 2014, 43 students from the College of Education from Ayotzinapa went to demonstrate in Iguala, where the mayor's wife was scheduled to speak to residents. The corrupt mayor ordered the police to rid him of this problem. On his orders, the police detained the students, and as a result of the harsh detention, two students and three bystanders died. The remaining students, as we found out, were handed over to the local crime syndicate Guerreros Unidos. The next day, the body of one of the students was found on the street with the skin torn off his face. Later, the remains of two more students were found. Relatives and friends of the students organized mass demonstrations, triggering a full-blown political crisis in the country. The corrupt mayor, his friends and the chief of police tried to escape, but were detained a few weeks later. The provincial governor resigned, and several dozen police officers and officials were arrested. And only one thing remains a mystery - the fate of almost four dozen students is still unknown.
Oak Island Money Pit
Off the coast of Nova Scotia, on Canadian territory, there is a small island - Oak Island, or Oak Island. There is the famous “money pit”. According to legend, local residents found it back in 1795. This is a very deep and complex mine, in which, according to legend, countless treasures are hidden. Many have tried to get into it - but the design is treacherous, and after the treasure hunter has dug to a certain depth, the mine begins to be intensively filled with water. They say that brave souls found at a depth of 40 meters a stone tablet with the scrawled inscription: “Two million pounds are buried 15 meters deeper.” More than one generation has tried to get the promised treasure out of the hole. Even future President Franklin Delano Roosevelt student years At Harvard, I came to Oak Island with a group of friends to try my luck. But the treasure is not given to anyone. And is he there?..
Who was Benjamin Kyle?
In 2004, an unknown man woke up outside a Burger King in Georgia. He had no clothes on, there were no documents with him, but the worst thing was that he didn’t remember anything about himself. That is, absolutely nothing! The police conducted a thorough investigation, but could not find any traces: no missing people with such signs, no relatives who could identify him from the photo. He was soon given the name Benjamin Kyle, under which he continues to live to this day. Without documents or certificates of any education, he could not find a job, but one local businessman, having learned about him from a television program, out of pity, gave him a job as a dishwasher. He still works there now. The efforts of doctors to awaken his memory, and the police to find his previous traces, did not yield results.
Shore of Severed Legs
"Severed Legs Coast" is the name given to a beach on the Pacific Northwest coast of British Columbia. It received this terrible name because local residents several times found severed human legs here, shod in sneakers or sneakers. From 2007 to the present, 17 of them have been found, with the majority being right-wing. There are several theories to explain why legs wash up on this beach - natural disasters, the work of a serial killer... some even claim that the mafia destroys the bodies of its victims on this remote beach. But none of these theories looks convincing, and no one knows where the truth is.
"Dancing Death" 1518
One day in the summer of 1518 in Strasbourg, a woman suddenly began dancing in the middle of the street. She danced wildly until she fell from exhaustion. The strangest thing is that gradually others joined her. A week later, 34 people were dancing in the city, and a month later - 400. Many dancers died from overwork and heart attacks. The doctors did not know what to think, and the churchmen also could not exorcise the demons possessing the dancers. In the end, it was decided to leave the dancers alone. The fever gradually subsided, but no one ever knew what caused it. We were talking about something special form epilepsy, poisoning, and even a secret, pre-coordinated religious ceremony. But scientists of that time did not find an exact answer.
Signal from aliens
On August 15, 1977, Jerry Eman, who was monitoring signals from space at the volunteer Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Civilizations, picked up a signal at a random radio frequency, clearly coming from deep space, from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius. This signal was much stronger than the cosmic noise that Eman was used to hearing on the air. It lasted only 72 seconds and consisted of a completely definite, in the eye of the observer, completely random list of letters and numbers, which, however, was accurately reproduced several times in a row. Eman disciplinedly recorded the sequence and reported it to his colleagues in the search for aliens. However, further listening to this frequency did not yield anything, as did any attempts to catch at least some signal from the constellation Sagittarius. What it was - a prank by completely earthly jokers or an attempt by an extraterrestrial civilization to contact us - no one still knows.
Unknown from Somerton Beach
Here's another perfect murder, the mystery of which has still not been solved. On December 1, 1948, in Australia, on Somerton Beach in southern Adelaide, the body of an unknown man was discovered. There were no documents with him, only a note with two words: “Taman Shud” was found in one of his pockets. This was a line from Omar Khayyam's rubaiyat, meaning "the end." The cause of death of the unknown man could not be determined. The forensic investigator believed that it was a case of poisoning, but could not prove it. Others believed it was a suicide, but this claim was also unsubstantiated. The mysterious case has alarmed not only Australia, but the whole world. They tried to establish the identity of the unknown person in almost all countries of Europe and America, but the efforts of the police were in vain, and the history of Taman Shud remained shrouded in secrecy.
Confederate Treasures
This legend still haunts American treasure hunters - and not only them. According to legend, when the northerners were already close to victory in Civil War, the treasurer of the Confederate government, George Trenholm, in desperation, decided to deprive the victors of their rightful spoils - the treasury of the southerners. Confederate President Jefferson Davis personally took on this mission. He and his guards left Richmond with a huge cargo of gold, silver and jewelry. No one knows where they went, but when the northerners took Davis prisoner, he had no jewelry with him, and 4 tons of Mexican gold dollars also disappeared without a trace. Davis never revealed the secret of the gold. Some believe that he distributed it to the planters of the South so that they could bury it until better times, others believe that it is buried somewhere in the vicinity of Danville, Virginia. Some believe that the secret society “Knights of the Golden Circle”, who were secretly preparing revenge in the Civil War, laid their paws on him. Some even say that the treasure is hidden at the bottom of the lake. Dozens of treasure hunters are still looking for him, but none of them can get to the bottom of either the money or the truth.
Voynich manuscript
The mysterious book, known as the Voynich manuscript, is named after the Polish-born American bookseller Wilfred Voynich, who bought it from an unknown person in 1912. In 1915, having taken a closer look at the find, he told the whole world about it - and since then many have not known peace. According to scientists, the manuscript was written in XV-XVI centuries in central Europe. The book contains a lot of text, written in neat handwriting, and hundreds of drawings depicting plants, most of which are unknown to modern science. The signs of the zodiac and medicinal herbs are also drawn here, accompanied by text, apparently, of recipes for their use. However, the contents of the text are just speculations of scientists who have not been able to understand it. The reason is simple: the book is written in a language still unknown on Earth, which is also practically indecipherable. Who wrote the Voynich manuscript and why, we may not know even in centuries.
Karst wells of Yamal
In July 2014, an inexplicable explosion was heard in Yamal, as a result of which a huge well appeared in the ground, the width and height of which reached 40 meters! Yamal is not the most populated place on the planet, so no one was injured from the explosion and the appearance of a sinkhole. However, such a strange and potentially dangerous phenomenon required an explanation, and a scientific expedition went to Yamal. It included everyone who could be useful in studying the strange phenomenon - from geographers to experienced mountain climbers. However, upon arrival, they were unable to understand the reasons and nature of what had happened. Moreover, while the expedition was working, two more similar failures appeared in Yamal in exactly the same way! Until now, scientists have been able to come up with only one version - about periodic explosions of natural gas coming to the surface from underground. However, experts consider it unconvincing. The Yamal failures remain a mystery.
Antikythera Mechanism
Discovered by treasure hunters on a sunken ancient Greek ship at the beginning of the twentieth century, this device, which at first seemed like just another artifact, turned out to be, no less, the first analog computer in history! A complex system of bronze disks, made with precision and accuracy unimaginable in those distant times, made it possible to calculate the position of stars and luminaries in the sky, time in accordance with different calendars and dates Olympic Games. According to the results of the analyses, the device was made at the turn of the millennium - about a century before the birth of Christ, 1600 years before the discoveries of Galileo and 1700 before the birth of Isaac Newton. This device was ahead of its time by a thousand seconds. extra years and still amazes scientists.
Sea people
The Bronze Age, which lasted approximately from the XXXV to the X century BC, was the heyday of several European and Middle Eastern civilizations - Greek, Cretan, Cananese. People developed metallurgy, created impressive architectural monuments, tools became more complex. It seemed that humanity was moving by leaps and bounds towards prosperity. But everything collapsed within a few years. The civilized peoples of Europe and Asia were attacked by a horde of “people of the sea” - barbarians on countless ships. They burned and destroyed cities and villages, burned food, killed and took people into slavery. After their invasion, ruins remained everywhere. Civilization was thrown back at least a thousand years ago. In once powerful and educated countries, writing disappeared, and many secrets of construction and working with metals were lost. The most mysterious thing is that after the invasion, the “sea people” disappeared as mysteriously as they appeared. Scientists are still wondering who and where this people were from and what their further fate. But there is no clear answer to this question yet.
Murder of the Black Dahlia
Books were written and films were made about this legendary murder, but it was never solved. On January 15, 1947, 22-year-old aspiring actress Elizabeth Short was found brutally murdered in Los Angeles. Her naked body was subjected to cruel abuse: it was practically cut in half and bore traces of many injuries. At the same time, the body was washed clean and completely devoid of blood. This story of one of the oldest unsolved murders was widely circulated by journalists, giving Short the nickname “black dahlia.” Despite active search, the police were never able to find the killer. The Black Dahlia case is considered one of the oldest unsolved murders in Los Angeles.
Motor ship "Ourang Medan"
In early 1948, the Dutch ship Ourang Medan sent an SOS signal while in the Strait of Mallaka off the coast of Sumatra and Malaysia. According to eyewitnesses, the radio message said that the captain and the entire crew were dead, and it ended with the chilling words: “And I am dying.” The captain of the Silver Star, having heard the distress signal, went in search of the Ourang Medan. Having discovered the ship in the Strait of Malacca, the sailors from the Silver Star boarded and saw that it was indeed full of corpses, and the cause of death was not visible on the bodies. Soon the rescuers noticed suspicious smoke coming from the hold and, just in case, chose to return to their ship. And they did the right thing, because soon the Ourang Medan spontaneously exploded and sank. Of course, because of this, the possibility of an investigation became zero. Why the crew died and the ship exploded is still a mystery.
Baghdad battery
Until recently, it was believed that humanity mastered the production and use of electric current only at the end of the 18th century. However, an artifact found by archaeologists in the region ancient Mesopotamia in 1936, casts doubt on this conclusion. The device consists of a clay pot in which the battery itself is hidden: an iron core wrapped in copper, which is believed to have been filled with some kind of acid, after which it began to generate electricity. For many years, archaeologists debated whether the devices were actually related to the generation of electricity. In the end, they collected the same primitive products - and managed to get with their help electric current! So, did they really know how to install electric lighting in ancient Mesopotamia? Since written sources from that era have not survived, this mystery will now probably forever excite scientists.
Today you need to try hard to make data about yourself inaccessible to the public. After all, you just need to type a few words in a search engine - and secrets are revealed, and secrets come out...
Today you need to try hard to make data about yourself inaccessible to the public. After all, you just need to type a few words in a search engine - and secrets are revealed, and mysteries come to the surface. With the development of science and the improvement of technology, the game of hide and seek becomes more and more difficult. It was, of course, easier before. And there are many examples in history when it was impossible to find out what kind of person he was and where he came from. Here are a few such mysterious cases.
Kaspar Hauser
May 26, Nuremberg, Germany. 1828 A teenager of about seventeen wanders aimlessly through the streets, clutching a letter addressed to Commander von Wessenig. The letter states that the boy was taken in for training in 1812, taught to read and write, but was never allowed to "take one step out of the door." It was also said that the boy should become a "cavalryman like his father" and the commander could either accept him or hang him.
After meticulous questioning, we were able to find out that his name was Kaspar Hauser and he spent his entire life in a “darkened cage” 2 meters long, 1 meter wide and 1.5 meters high, in which there were only an armful of straw and three toys carved from wood (two horses and dog). A hole was made in the floor of the cell so he could relieve himself. The foundling hardly spoke, could not eat anything except water and black bread, called all people boys, and all animals horses. The police tried to find out where he came from and who the criminal was that made a savage out of the boy, but they could not find out. For the next few years, he was cared for by one person or another, taking him into their home and caring for him. Until December 14, 1833, Kaspar was found with stabbed breasts A purple silk wallet was found nearby, and inside it was a note made in such a way that it could only be read in mirror image. It read:
“Hauser will be able to describe to you exactly what I look like and where I came from. In order not to bother Hauser, I want to tell you myself where I come from _ _ I came from _ _ the Bavarian border _ _ on the river _ _ I’ll even tell you my name: M. L. O.”
Green Children of Woolpit
Imagine that you live in the 12th century in the small village of Woolpit in the English county of Suffolk. While harvesting in a field, you find two children huddled in an empty wolf's hole. The children speak an incomprehensible language, are dressed in indescribable clothes, but the most interesting thing is that their skin is green. You take them to your home where they refuse to eat anything other than green beans.
After a while, these children - brother and sister - begin to speak a little English, eat more than just beans, and their skin gradually loses its green tint. The boy gets sick and dies. The surviving girl explains that they came from the "Land of St. Martin", an underground "world of darkness" where they looked after their father's cattle, and then heard a noise and found themselves in wolf's den. Residents underworld are green and dark there all the time. There were two versions: either it was a fairy tale, or the children escaped from the copper mines.
The Man from Somerton
On December 1, 1948, police discovered the body of a man on Somerton Beach in Glenelg (a suburb of Adelaide) in Australia. All the tags on his clothes were cut off, he had no documents or wallet, and his face was clean shaven. Even the teeth could not be identified. That is, there was not a single clue at all.
After the autopsy, the pathologist concluded that “death could not have occurred due to natural causes” and assumed poisoning, although no traces of toxic substances were found in the body. Apart from this hypothesis, the doctor could not guess anything more about the cause of death. Perhaps the most mysterious thing in this whole story was that a piece of paper was found with the deceased, torn from a very rare edition of Omar Khayyam, on which only two words were written - Tamam Shud (“Tamam Shud”). These words are translated from Persian as “finished” or “completed”. The victim remained unidentified.
Man from Taured
In 1954, in Japan, at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, thousands of passengers were rushing about their business. However, one passenger seemed to be taking no part in it. For some reason, this outwardly completely normal man in a business suit attracted the attention of airport security, they stopped him and started asking questions. The man answered in French, but was also fluent in several other languages. His passport contained stamps from many countries, including Japan. But this man claimed to come from a country called Taured, located between France and Spain. The problem was that none of the maps offered to him showed any Taured in this place - Andorra was located there. This fact greatly saddened the man. He said that his country had existed for centuries and that he even had its stamps in his passport.
Discouraged airport staff left the man in hotel room with two armed guards outside the door, while they tried to find more information about this man. They didn't find anything. When they returned to the hotel for him, it turned out that the man had disappeared without a trace. The door did not open, the guards did not hear any noise or movement in the room, and he could not leave through the window - it was too high. Moreover, all of this passenger’s belongings disappeared from the airport security premises.
The man, simply put, dived into the abyss and did not return.
Lady Grandmother
The 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy has given rise to many conspiracy theories, and one of the most mystical details of this event is the presence in photographs of a certain woman who was dubbed Lady Granny. This woman in a coat and sunglasses was in a bunch of pictures, moreover, they show that she had a camera and was filming what was happening.
The FBI tried to find her and establish her identity, but to no avail. The FBI later called on her to turn over her videotape as evidence, but no one ever came. Just think: this woman, in daylight, in full view of at least 32 witnesses (photographed and videoed by her), witnessed and videotaped a murder, and yet no one, not even the FBI, could identify her. It remained a secret.
D. B. Cooper
This happened on November 24, 1971 in international airport Portland, where a man who had bought a ticket using documents in the name of Dan Cooper boarded a plane bound for Seattle, clutching a black briefcase in his hands. After takeoff, Cooper gave the flight attendant a note saying that he had a bomb in his briefcase and his demands were $200,000 and four parachutes. The flight attendant notified the pilot, who contacted authorities.
After landing at Seattle Airport, all passengers were released, Cooper's demands were met and the exchange was made, after which the plane took off again. As he flew over Reno, Nevada, the calm Cooper ordered all personnel on board to remain seated as he opened the passenger door and jumped into the night sky. Despite large number“Cooper” was never found to have any witnesses who could identify him. Only a small portion of the money was found in a river in Vancouver, Washington.
21-faced monster
In May 1984, a Japanese food corporation called Ezaki Glico faced a problem. Its president, Katsuhiza Yezaki, was kidnapped for ransom from his home and held for some time in an abandoned warehouse, but then managed to escape. A little later, the company received a letter stating that the products were poisoned with potassium cyanide and there would be casualties if all products were not immediately recalled from food warehouses and stores. The company's losses amounted to $21 million, 450 people lost their jobs. The Unknowns - a group of people who took the name "21-faced monster" - sent mocking letters to the police, who could not find them, and even gave hints. The next message said that they “forgave” Glico, and the persecution stopped.
Not content with playing with one large corporation, the Monster organization has its eyes on others: Morinaga and several other food companies. They acted according to the same scenario - they threatened to poison the food, but this time they demanded money. During a botched money exchange operation, a police officer almost managed to capture one of the criminals, but still let him go. Superintendent Yamamoto, who was responsible for investigating this case, could not bear the shame and committed suicide by self-immolation.
Soon after this, "Monster" sent his last message in the media, mocking the death of a police officer and ending with the words: “We are the bad guys. This means we have other things to do than harass companies. Being bad is fun. Monster with 21 faces." And nothing more was heard about them.
The Man in the Iron Mask
The “man in the iron mask” had the number 64389000, as follows from prison archives. In 1669 the minister Louis XIV sent a letter to the head of the prison in the French city of Pignerol, in which he announced the imminent arrival of a special prisoner. The minister ordered the construction of a cell with several doors to prevent eavesdropping, to provide for this prisoner's every basic need, and finally, if the prisoner ever spoke of anything other than this, to kill him without hesitation.
This prison was known for incarcerating "black sheep" from noble families and the government. It is noteworthy that the "mask" received special treatment: his cell was well furnished, unlike the rest of the prison cells, and two soldiers were on duty at the door of his cell, who were ordered to kill the prisoner if he removed his iron mask. The imprisonment lasted until the prisoner's death in 1703. The same fate befell the things he used: the furniture and clothes were destroyed, the walls of the cell were scraped and washed, and the iron mask was melted down.
Many historians have since fiercely argued over the identity of the prisoner in an attempt to find out whether he was a relative of Louis XIV and for what reasons he was destined for such an unenviable fate.
Experts in the field of archaeologists and ancient cultures who have studied rock paintings in the caves of the Chhota Nagpur plateau in the state of Chattisgarh in central India, discovered a series of images that led them to make sensational statements and seek help from the Indian Space Research Organization.
Not far from the villages of Chandeli and Gottitola, images were discovered on the rocks, whose age experts estimate to be approximately 10,000 years old. They captured strange creatures that looked like people, and an object that resembled spacecraft. Archaeologist J.R. Bhagat, a participant in this expedition, states: “The drawings have retained their colors, which, despite their age, have hardly faded. Strange figures are depicted with weapons-like objects in their hands and do not have certain facial features. Some of the drawings appear to show aliens wearing space suits."
Dr. Bhagat is confident that the drawings can serve as confirmation of the so-called paleocontact theory. According to it, in prehistoric times, the Earth was visited by representatives of advanced alien civilizations, who left numerous evidence of their visits. Proponents of the theory of paleocontact were outstanding scientists, for example, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Most of this evidence is not considered modern science seriously. However, the very fact of the existence of such mysterious images is very interesting and deserves research.
As Dr. Bhagat points out, in the state of Chhattisgarh there are legends about ancient people, which descended from the sky on an “oval object”. This folklore is directly related to rock paintings. The literature of ancient Indian authors speaks of vimanas - aircraft that ancient people saw in the sky. And the residents of the villages of Chandeli and Gotitola, near which the drawings were found, have a legend about the “Rohela people” - short creatures who descended from the sky in round flying objects.
Archaeologists think that in ancient images we often see what people might actually have witnessed. It is quite possible that these drawings were made “from life”. Ancient people reflected the appearance of certain mysterious creatures and structures as best they could and as they understood, leaving a series of unresolved mysteries for enlightened descendants.
"(No. 51; 54; 56; 58; 60; 64; 66; 68; 76; 78) without a signature under the title “Mysterious man. Essay on the history of comic time in Rus'". A separate and expanded edition appeared in 1871 under the pseudonym N. S. Leskov-Stebnitsky: “Mysterious man. An episode from the history of comic time in Rus'." With a letter from the author to Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev. Republished under the title "The Mysterious Man" in Full meeting works of N. S. Leskov, 1889, vol. 8, pp. 3-127.
Plot
The documentary essay “The Mysterious Man” is written about the biography of Arthur Benny, a Russian revolutionary, journalist and translator, who at the end of his life joined the Garibaldian troops and was mortally wounded in the battle of Rome. Leskov describes Benny's biography sequentially from childhood until his tragic death at the age of twenty-eight. He portrayed Benny based on his personal impressions, since he knew him for four years from 1861 to 1865, as well as from the memoirs and documentary evidence of I. S. Turgenev, P. D. Boborykin and A. N. Jacobi.
History of creation
The writer first turned to the image of Arthur Benny in his early novel “Nowhere” (1864), written in the wake of the Polish uprising of 1863. Arthur Benny is depicted there under the name of the socialist Vasily (Wilhelm) Rainer. The novel is based on romantic story Rainer and revolutionary Liza Bakhareva (prototype M.N. Koptev), as well as the heroic struggle of the Polish rebels, which ends tragic death Rainer and L. Bakhareva. Rainer's image turned out to be prophetic: three years after the release of the novel, Arthur Benny actually died heroically - in the battle of the Garibaldian troops for Rome at Mentana against the combined detachments of the French and papal troops, he was mortally wounded. This death (1867) was preceded by childhood in Poland, youth in Great Britain, whose subject Arthur Benny became in 1857, acquaintance with Herzen, the desire to take part in the revolutionary reorganization of Russia, the role of Herzen's emissary in St. Petersburg and Moscow in 1861, the history of slanderous libel , when Benny was announced in Russian revolutionary circles as an agent of Section III.
Leskov tells how Benny did not despair and was not disillusioned with Russia, despite all the adversities (“trial 32” of “persons accused of having relations with London propagandists”, lack of money and debtor’s prison, deportation from the country), he compassionately shows selflessness , the nobility and sincerity of the aspirations of the young revolutionary, while at the same time depicting in dark colors the images of the Russian pseudo-revolutionaries surrounding him, primarily Andrei Nichiporenko (in the novel “Nowhere” - Parkhomenko), who, according to Leskov’s version, was the source of the cruel gossip about espionage that darkened life of an English youth. The writer shows the path of a publicist and translator - Arthur Benny became a journalist already in Russia. Leskov portrays Benny’s naive faith in the Russian peasant community, which should become the embryo of the future socialist system according to the socialist.
Benny's faith in Russia, in a country that, in his opinion, could be the first to get rid of exploitation and the proletariat, did not collapse even after Benny was expelled from the country. He appealed to the Russian government to allow him to become a full citizen of the country, but he never received consent from the chief of gendarmes P. A. Shuvalov, and three months later he died. The Russian newspapers that published Benny's obituary recalled previous rumors about Arthur's service as an agent. I. S. Turgenev first came to his defense. Following him, Nikolai Leskov also decided to express his opinion about good name tragically deceased socialist. From a letter to A.P. Milyukov: “Sometimes I knew in St. Petersburg a certain “unsolved man” Arthur Benny. He was killed at Mentana, and his most interesting story, which I described at one time, can be announced. This thing is spicy and zesty and seems to be very interesting. She can cause a lot of noise.". In another letter he said: “I am fighting to strike a blow and restore the good name of a slandered person.” .
Reaction
The reaction of contemporaries to this essay was negative. A work called “Spy. An Episode from the History of Comic Time in Rus',” written in 1869, the author tried to publish in the conservative magazine “Russian Messenger.” V. P. Burenin, A. S. Suvorin, V. I. Kelsiev called N. S. Leskov’s pamphlet slander on movement of the sixties, accused of misunderstanding the essence revolutionary movement, the caricature of its prominent figures, the hostility and tendentiousness of individual characteristics. Kelsiev, as one of the characters in the book, rebelled against the epithet of “comic time” as a characteristic of the early 1860s, emphasizing the seriousness of the aspirations of its leading representatives, which deserved a more respectful attitude and a less mocking tone. In subsequent reprints, Leskov was forced to remove his subtitle “An Episode from the History of Comic Time in Rus',” but at the same time he retained the bias of other characteristics, the sharpness of the pamphlet and the polemical tendentiousness.
Researchers are still scratching their heads trying to find out: who are they?
“No document, no person,” asserted Woland in the novel Bulgakov"The Master and Margarita". But most of the situations described below have documentary evidence, but who their main characters were is still a mystery. One version is more bizarre than the other, some facts contradict others. And the truth is somewhere nearby, but completely elusive.
Green children from another planet
Several ancient manuscripts have survived that describe mysterious story, which occurred in the 12th century in the village of Woolpit in Suffolk. One hot August day, a boy and a girl materialized in front of the reapers. The children were scared and looked very strange: eyewitnesses were amazed green their skin, strange clothes and an unfamiliar whistling language that the children spoke.
The boy turned out to be weak and soon died. And the girl was baptized, and over time she became lighter. According to some sources, she stayed in the village and married a local guy. According to others, her name was Agnes Barr and the Supreme Ambassador became her husband HeinrichII.
Selfish parents or evil guardian?
Over time, the girl told local residents how she and her brother ended up in Woolpit. According to her, they lived in a place where the sun did not shine, there was always fog, and the people were green. Another version: the guys lived in France. One day they were grazing sheep in a meadow when they saw a fireball. The boy and girl were pulled inside, and they woke up already in England on the field. But this does not explain the green color of their skin and strange language. Researchers suggested that the children escaped from the copper mines, where they were forced to work hard. Copper dust could stain their skin, and they made up the extraterrestrial origin story so they wouldn't be sent back.
Others were convinced that their guardian wanted to poison the children with arsenic. This poison turns the skin greenish. But why then did the unknown foundlings not die from poisoning?
There was a version that the brother and sister escaped from a troupe of traveling actors. Their parents somehow mutilated their skin and showed them at fairs for money. And many folklorists and chroniclers are sure that there never were “green children.” This is just a beautiful and slightly creepy legend.
Foundling with a small brain
May 26, 1828 in Nuremberg on market square They found a teenager 15-16 years old. He had with him a letter addressed to the commander of the cavalry squadron von Wessenig. It followed that the mother could not take care of the child, he did not have a father, but the boy wanted to become a cavalryman and serve the king. When they asked the boy what his name was, he firmly signed with his hand: “ Kaspar Hauser».
The foundling aroused unprecedented interest in society: he had the intelligence of a three-year-old child, moved strangely, was afraid of sounds, could not stand many smells, held his fingers spread apart, had an extremely small vocabulary, and ate mostly black bread and water. Kaspar said about himself that from an early age he lived in a cramped closet, in which it was impossible to really turn around and stand in full height. He slept half-sitting, and a “black man” served him. He fed him bread and water. Sometimes the water had a strange taste, and the child immediately fell asleep. He woke up already changed into clean clothes and with his fingernails cut. The boy was kept company wooden toys, later the “black man” taught him to write.
M.L.O.
The police tried to establish who kept the child locked up and for what reason, and who his parents were. Some considered him weak-minded, others took care of him in every possible way. Over time, Kaspar changed several houses of the nobility, became interested in painting, and even learned to play chess. But no one could guess his identity. There were rumors that he was the son Stephanie de Beauharnais, Grand Duchess of Baden, whose son died in the cradle under mysterious circumstances, but he could have been replaced.
On October 17, 1829, on a white day, Kaspar was attacked by an unknown person with a knife. The young man was delirious for several days and shouted: “Black man!” Fortunately, the wound was not fatal and he survived.
However, on December 14, 1833, the young man was attacked again and brutally stabbed to death. A wallet was found next to the body, and in it an illegible note that could only be read in a mirror image: “In order not to bother Hauser, I want to tell you myself where I’m from... I came from... the Bavarian border... on river... I’ll even tell you the name: M. L. O.”
An autopsy revealed that Casper's brain was too small, as if its development had been artificially stopped at a certain stage. In 2002, DNA samples were taken from the young man’s clothes. The result showed that it was quite possible that he was Stephanie's son, but not all researchers take this for granted. There is still debate about the identity of the “child of Europe,” as he was also called. Some even classify him as an alien, while others see him as a typical Mowgli child.
A person from a country that is not on the map
In 1954, at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, security noticed a European man in a business suit who was slightly confused. The man spoke French and knew several other languages. He showed his passport, which had stamps from different countries, including Country rising sun, which he visited several times lately. The detainee explained that he came from the country of Taured and clearly indicated it on the map, pointing to Andorra. He insisted that it was Tord who was here, and had flown to Tokyo on a business trip. He has a hotel room booked in the city, and company is waiting for him.
No one recognized the man either at the organization’s office or at the hotel. The distressed and confused stranger was locked in the room, deciding to continue the investigation of this mysterious case in the morning. However, the man disappeared, as did all his belongings that were in the airport security premises. He couldn’t get out of the window because the floor was high and there was no balcony. It is believed that it was a time traveler who got a little lost on the way.
Jump to nowhere
On November 24, 1971, a passenger boarded the Boeing 727-51 airliner - flight NW305 Portland - Seattle, who bought a ticket under the name Dan Cooper. After takeoff, the man passed a note to the flight attendant. The girl thought that he wanted to meet her and put the piece of paper in his pocket. However, Cooper stopped her and whispered about the theft and the bomb. He demanded $200 thousand and four parachutes.
After landing in Seattle, all passengers were released, the plane was refueled, and it took to the skies again. Cooper jumped out with a parachute in the area of Lake Merwin. The fighter escorting the airliner did not track the man's jump due to poor visibility.
No one ever saw Cooper again, who managed to fool everyone around his finger. In 1980, a wad of dollars was found in river water northwest of Portland. A total of $6 thousand was raised. Experts matched the serial numbers to the numbers on $20 bills issued to Cooper and confirmed that they were the hijacker's trophy. Presumably, he died after crashing into the water. In July 2016, the FBI suspended its investigation into the case.
Dan Cooper. An identikit made by the FBI in 1972. wikimedia Let mom hear
American under fifteen Monica Libao Together with my parents, I changed about 30 places of residence. At the age of sixteen she learned that her mother Burma I had my uterus removed twenty years ago, that is, before my daughter was born. The mother finally admitted that Monica was actually given birth to by her older sister, who could not raise the child on her own and placed him in the care of a close relative.
However, the biological mother quickly disowned the girl, telling a different story. Allegedly, an unknown woman gave the baby to the Libao family in exchange for a bus ticket. Monica then learned that Burma had been hiding her from the police and found evidence that she had, in fact, been kidnapped. Therefore, her parents constantly moved, covering their tracks.
A private investigator hired by Monica found a two-year-old story Elizabeth Gill, which was stolen from a home in Missouri in 1965. But the result of DNA analysis did not confirm this. The woman is still trying to find out who she is and to find her relatives, mom and dad.