[MOTU] What's your favourite Unexplained Mystery

Owryan · 26-07-2013 12:06am

This : http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kensington_Runestone. While many believe its a hoax, its still something of a puzzle and if you link it to this :
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newport_Tower_(Rhode_Island) then its an intrguing theory that norse/viking explorers reached and settled america long before colombus.

degrassinoel · 26-07-2013 12:33am

I'd always thought that second one about viking colonists was about Canada or Newfoundland.

there's a decent article here about it too

downonthefarm · 26-07-2013 12:45am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bloop

dont know if this is of any use but i thought it fairly odd

degrassinoel · 26-07-2013 9:37pm

there's some really eerie sounds picked up by those hydrophones, Upsweep is another one, sounds like an alarm or klaxon.

nice one!

Owryan · 26-07-2013 11:02pm

degrassinoel wrote: »

I'd always thought that second one about viking colonists was about Canada or Newfoundland.

there's a decent article here about it too

There is a degree of evidence to suggest that the vikings did reach the Americas before Colombus but nothing definate to suggest they settled inland or formed any permanent settlements.

If the Kensingston Runestone and the Newport Tower were proven to be authentic then there would be a lot of suddenly out of date school books :eek:

The Theory is that the vikings were able to use the inland waterways of North America to expand their presence in Newfoundland

turnikett1 · 22-05-2014 4:16pm

Is it cool if I bump this, or...? If it is, then, this is pretty weird!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_Masks_Case

Johnny Be Goode · 23-05-2014 12:15pm

Re: Spontaneous Human Combustion (i.e. the death from a fire originating without an apparent external source of ignition according to definition on Wikipedia) have all reported cases been fully explained satisfactorily? I haven't heard of any recent cases and know that it was an unsolved mystery up to a few years ago anyway. (I don't think I am able to post links yet but googling finds a lot of info and articles etc etc) JBG

Kenny Logins · 23-05-2014 1:02pm

Johnny Be Goode wrote: »

Re: (i.e. the death from a fire originating without an apparent external source of ignition according to definition on Wikipedia) have all reported cases been fully explained satisfactorily? I haven't heard of any recent cases and know that it was an unsolved mystery up to a few years ago anyway. (I don't think I am able to post links yet but googling finds a lot of info and articles etc etc) JBG

I don't think there's any mystery there. It may be rare to find a body burned with the 'wick effect' and a little odd, but it's certainly not by 'Spontaneous Human Combustion'.

Johnny Be Goode · 23-05-2014 2:24pm

Kenny Logins wrote: »

I don't think there's any mystery there. It may be rare to find a body burned with the 'wick effect' and a little odd, but it's certainly not by 'Spontaneous Human Combustion'.

Bye the way think your music's great, have all your albums …. but moving on ….

I haven't done too much research here myself yet, heard the explanations about body fat acting as a fuel and all that but initially the temperatures to incinerate a human body must have been extreme … and not cause any damage to the surounds .. that why these reports are so bizarre … don't know if any experiments have been carried out … if I find anything on the web I 'll try and get someone to post link … thanks JBG

Star Lord · 23-05-2014 2:28pm

The only semi-remotely feasible explanation I've ever read for it was that the cause could be some really rare form of 'ball' lightening.

Now how this happens to people indoors, I don't know...

Johnny Be Goode · 23-05-2014 2:35pm

Thanks Damo, will check out the link if the boss is not watching ...

Johnny Be Goode · 23-05-2014 2:36pm

Wow, did not hear of that one before as an explanation. cheers

Star Lord · 23-05-2014 2:37pm

The link is to a wikipedia page on ball lightening itself, as opposed to it being suggested to be the cause of spontaneous combustion.

Kenny Logins · 23-05-2014 2:49pm

Johnny Be Goode wrote: »

Bye the way think your music's great, have all your albums …. but moving on ….

I haven't done too much research here myself yet, heard the explanations about body fat acting as a fuel and all that but initially the temperatures to incinerate a human body must have been extreme … and not cause any damage to the surounds .. that why these reports are so bizarre … don't know if any experiments have been carried out … if I find anything on the web I 'll try and get someone to post link … thanks JBG

I have seen it replicated with a pig, can't remember what show it was... but it was following a case of a man's body found in a ditch, where it was confirmed that a flicked cigarette butt was the source of ignition.

Oh, hang on - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/158853.stm

Johnny Be Goode · 23-05-2014 2:54pm

DamoElDiablo wrote: »

The link is to a wikipedia page on ball lightening itself, as opposed to it being suggested to be the cause of spontaneous combustion.

I guess all possibilities have to be considered

Johnny Be Goode · 23-05-2014 2:58pm

Kenny Logins wrote: »

I have seen it replicated with a pig, can't remember what show it was... but it was following a case of a man's body found in a ditch, where it was confirmed that a flicked cigarette butt was the source of ignition.

Thanks again, that is a very good article … JBG

Kenny Logins · 25-05-2014 4:53pm

Here's one I admit I haven't heard of until now. Why did four women kill themselves by starvation?

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/why-did-four-women-kill-themselves-by-starvation-26244299.html

Myrddin · 24-07-2014 6:21pm

Some interesting ones here that I'd not heard of

maccored · 28-07-2014 1:51pm

I saw that too - didnt actually replicate it though. they nearly burned down the room they had the pig in, plus it took ages.

"Dr De Haan said: "The sort of damage here is exactly the same as that from supposed spontaneous human combustion."

5 hours to burn. I would agree the end results are the same (ie burning), but thats about it.

Kenny Logins wrote: »

I have seen it replicated with a pig, can't remember what show it was... but it was following a case of a man's body found in a ditch, where it was confirmed that a flicked cigarette butt was the source of ignition.

Oh, hang on - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/158853.stm

Reebrock · 18-08-2014 9:13am

turnikett1 wrote: »

Is it cool if I bump this, or...? If it is, then, this is pretty weird!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_Masks_Case

That's an odd one.

maccored · 18-08-2014 1:36pm

sounds like they poisoned themselves:

"16:30 (04:30 PM) be at the agreed place. 18:30 (06:30 PM) swallow capsules, after effect, protect metals, wait for mask signal".

" A search for toxic substances was impossible, as the coroner's office was very busy at the time, so when the autopsy was finally conducted, the internal organs of the two victims were too badly decomposed for reliable testing."

Reebrock wrote: »

That's an odd one.

Reebrock · 18-08-2014 2:04pm

But what about the random note? Although poison is likely, I'm more intrigued by the situation.

maccored · 27-08-2014 10:20am

the note - was that the list of electronic parts mentioned in this article? - http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4398

also:

Exactly what Elcio Gomes told police, it turns out, when they questioned him a second time. Apparently these men were all part of a local group that called themselves "scientific spiritualists". Gomes said the three of them were interested in trying to contact Mars, and that the explosion had been the unfortunate failure of some device they'd built in pursuit of their spiritualist interests. Compounding this was a book found in Miguel's home workshop, where police found the tools and scrap used to cut the lead masks, with passages highlighted pertaining to "intense luminosity" related to spirits. Someone expecting to be exposed to "intense luminosity" might well choose to protect his eyes with lead shields.

Bowen also found that two weeks after the deaths, the newspaper Folha de São Paulo published a statement by a self-described "professor of yoga" who stated that the local spiritualist community would often take psychedelic drugs, and it was his opinion that Manoel and Miguel had died due to an accidental overdose. The professor of yoga's statement was anecdotal of course, but it did suggest a version of events that seems to fit the limited amount of information available.

[MOTU] What's your favourite Unexplained Mystery

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