Your favourite unsolved mystery?

Wibbs wrote: »

I dunno. The natives killing them seems an unlikely one. The only footprints found were the skiers own and the apparent chronology of events seem at odds with that too. The avalanche theory seems more plausible. Though a couple of problems with that one too. One there wasn't any evidence of one. Two they were camped in an area not prone to them and if one had occurred it would have missed the camp by a large distance(experienced hikers so picked the right spot, though why they didnt stay in the shelter of the relatively close forest is puzzling in itself). Jets passing overhead while rumbling would pass over head quickly. From the time they'd hear the approach, rouse from sleep, get out of the tents chances are the jets and noise would be gone. If they thought avalanche why all run in one direction? If they thought they were at risk from same why get out of their clothes in their tents(that's odd itself given the temps) or not stay in the treeline? I suspect they heard or saw or thought they heard or saw something(suspected bear/wolves?) approaching the campsite and ran in group/herd terror away from it and the elements took their toll. Maybe earlier in the day they had spotted a bear in the distance and hyped up the fear?

A few jet fighters passing overhead, one after the other, could possibly be sustained enough sound like an avalanche (this would explain the lights seen by people from the area on the night in question). Maybe one of the crew called avalanche and all panicked.

For the clothes thing, either they had the clothes off already in the tent, this would indicate that they weren't afraid of an animal incursion, or they took their clothes off due to paradoxical undressing, which is quite common in cases of hypothermia.

There are some anomalies in the reporting, as shown in the site I linked, so it's impossible to conclusively close the case.

The “snowfall anomaly” refers to the fact that some of the bodies found – those returning to the camp – were buried under snow. How is it that enough snow fell to bury these bodies but tracks that were found higher up the hill were preserved in such a good condition that investigators could (allegedly) tell that at least one person had been barefoot?

dr gonzo wrote: »

Really not that strange, i saw them myself and they're very shallow. The way the sand is in the area means that the immediate top layer is red and much lighter underneath therefore the actual work boils down to just scraping the top layer off. I read about an experiment a university carried out where they recreated one of the smaller figures and then taking into account estimated contemporary population and figure size that the total time required to create the entire nazca plateau would have been a lot smaller then you'd think. Unfortunately i dont have that book to hand so i cant remember.

Yes, but why were they made. Some of the lines are dead straigt when seen from the sky but on the ground they go across ridges and through valleys.

Who were they made for and why? Thats the mystery.

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

Conversely there is a type of person obsessed with mysteries and conspiracy theories, eschewing all rational (therefore boring) explanations in favour of more fanciful (and therefore interesting) versions. I think generally the reality of these 'mysteries' can be quite mundane.

Taking some examples from this thread:
Dyatolov Pass incident - seems the explanations that they thought there was an avalanche (due to jets passing overhead) or else that they were attacked by natives are both very possible and believable. No reason to bring in secret weapon tests or aliens.

The seemingly obvious answer to this mystery is that it was an avalanche. Why don’t people believe that this is the case?

The answer to this question has been compiled by a combination of review, first hand testimony and personal investigation. The evidence against an avalanche is as follows:

*

At the time of discovery, the specific location of the incident did not have any obvious signs of an avalanche having taken place. Many people have assumed that because the search and rescue party seen in old photographs had snow prods there must have been considerable movement of snow. In actual fact the snow prod is merely standard rescue equipment.
*

A study of the area using up-to-date terrain-related physics has revealed that the location is not conducive to the formation of snow build up of the kind that causes an avalanche.
* "More than 100 expeditions to the region have been held since the event took place and none of them have ever reported conditions that might create an avalanche in this location."

*

The first bodies were found within ten days of the event and only covered with a shallow layer of (atmospheric) snow. Had there been an avalanche of sufficient strength to sweep away the second party then these bodies would have been swept away as well.

*

The condition of the tent when it was discovered indicated that it had not been impacted with any form of snow flow of sufficient strength to knock over the poles. Put another way – it had collapsed laterally not horizontally. This is clearly visible in the photographs.
*

An avalanche would have left “Flow” patterns and other “debris” distributed over a wide area. Neither of these indicators were ever found.






Dyatlov Pass - Vertical Tent Poles

*

An avalanche of sufficient strength to “sweep” four people into a ravine – beyond the tree line – some 1.5 kilometres from their tent should have produced two results. Firstly it would have caused far more serious and different injuries and secondly it would have damaged the tree line at the point of impact. Neither of these conditions were ever observed.
*

The "dangerous" conditions sometimes referred to by proponents of the avalanche theory were observed in April and May when the snow falls of winter were melting. During February, when the incident occurred, there were no such conditions. In addition, the so called conditions were observed in a different location with significantly steeper slopes and cornices.
*

An analysis of the terrain, the slope and the incline indicates that even if there could have been a “miraculous” avalanche, its trajectory would have bypassed the tent.
*

Dyatlov was an experienced skier and the much older Alexander Zolotarev was studying for his Masters Certificate in ski instruction and mountain hiking. Neither of these two men would have been foolish enough to allow the camp to be established anywhere in the path of a possible avalanche.


There had initially been some speculation that the indigenous Mansi people might have attacked and murdered the group for encroaching upon their lands, but investigation indicated that the nature of their deaths did not support this thesis; the hikers' footprints alone were visible, and they showed no sign of hand-to-hand struggle.

“It is important not to make generalizations about ethnic peoples. It would be like saying that all Afro-Americans are criminals or that only Arabs are terrorists. In fact the Mansi people are the most peaceful people of the Ural and Trans-Ural regions. They had absolutely no reason to attack people – even for their possessions.”

Their behavior is more in line with people who have been blinded by
something.

The victims’ tent was “cut from the inside”

"Reconstructions of the victims’ behavior indicated that they may have been blinded. An example is that the victims broke wet tree branches to start their campfire, though there was good dry kindling nearby."

"The Dyatlov Pass Accident is truly a horrible accident, and a fascinating story. But one doesn’t need to look at influence from UFOs, Yeti, or other supernatural explanations, or even an “unknown compelling force”. A bit of critical thinking and skeptical analysis tells the story: A group of very unlucky people stumbled into some weapons testing. The Dyatlov Pass Accident was a terrible event, but hardly a mystery. Those nine people just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Soviet investigators determined only that "a compelling unknown force" had caused the deaths.

The matter was classified by the Russian government until 1993.

http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/03/08/the-dyatlov-pass-accident-and-the-fatal-unknown-compelling-force/

Seans_Username wrote: »

very surprised this hasn't been mentioned http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marree_Man

That's pretty cool
http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=-29.534481190377775~137.46761536164433&lvl=13&dir=0&sty=h&form=LMLTCC

Anyone see the POSTMAN ?
Stradbally

Turpentine wrote: »

I nominate this cryptic missive.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/foul-play-at-work-in-case-of-missing-postman-695638.html

Famous unsolved case in Waterford. There was a book written about it that came out last year, I believe.

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Biggest mysteries are in the physical constants and forces and their ratios to each other.

In 500 million years time we won't have enough CO2 to support plants on this planet. On a cosmic scale this puts a limit to the time intelligent life has to develop and get off this rock.

Compare that to the events leading up to it

heavy elements are formed in supernovas, no supernovas no heavy elements, no heavy elements and we have problems. you wouldn't last long with iron in your haemoglobin etc.

we live on a Goldilocks planet in a Goldilocks universe.

IIRC there is one number that has to be accurate to the tenth decimal place for us to evolve in this universe. Most other constants have to be within a few % of a critical value or things like neutrons / atoms / stars either don't form. Subatomic particles / galactic superclusters either condense or flie apart

People will just throw that infinite number of universes and were just one of them crap at you.

Amazing the number of people who take this as a scientific fact because they saw it on horizon.

One that still perplexes me is the 5 Israelis who were caught filming the September 11 attack from their white van in a parking lot in New Jersey and celebrating as the towers collapsed. When interviewed on Israeli TV one claimed that "Our purpose was to document the event." How did they know there was going to be an event to document and why were they celebrating when it happened?

Pompey Magnus wrote: »

One that still perplexes me is the 5 Israelis who were caught filming the September 11 attack from their white van in a parking lot in New Jersey and celebrating as the towers collapsed. When interviewed on Israeli TV one claimed that "Our purpose was to document the event." How did they know there was going to be an event to document and why were they celebrating when it happened?

Probably some anti-Jewish crap.

firefly08 wrote: »

Nope this appears to be a well documented fact:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jfu0nVjjs0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh3wo18oDZU&feature=related

In the first video you can hear the cop describing one of the vans (which actually exploded) as having a mural of a plane diving into new york painted on it. Unfortunately there's not much info on the origin off that recording.

But the second one appears to be a genuine Channel 4 documentary. Interesting .

On March 15, 2002, The Forward claimed that the FBI had concluded that the van's driver, Paul Kurzberg, and his brother Sivan, were indeed Mossad operatives, who were in America "spying on local Arabs".[60] ABC news cited this report on June 21, 2002, adding that the FBI had concluded that the five Israelis had no foreknowledge of the attacks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9/11_ad..._debate#Israel