History harbors a lot of mysteries over the solution of which not one hundred scientists are fighting. For centuries people have been lured by history, and people wanted to know what happened when they were not in this world. Yes, to know everything in the world is not an easy task, and few people can boast that they know everything, and that is why for the expansion of horizons and their own knowledge, people are so eagerly trying to unravel the secrets of history. Next you will find 10 mysteries of history, which historians still can’t unravel.
Tomb of Genghis Khan, Central Asia
As soon as Genghis Khan let out his last breath in 1227 at the age of 65, several legends about his death were born at once. Some have suggested that he died after falling from a horse or during a battle with the Chinese. Others believed that he did not survive pneumonia or lost too much blood after castration (there is also such a legend). Not only that the cause of the death of Khan is a secret, still have not found his final resting place. According to the will of Genghis Khan, he was to be buried in a secret place, and those who had buried him were killed so that they would not reveal the secret to anyone.
Legends make this mystery even more mysterious. Some claim that the riverbed was specially changed so that it would pass over the grave of the great commander so that no one could find it. Another story says that 1000 horses were driven out of the grave to cover all tracks, after which trees were planted above it. Search for the tomb of Genghis Khan continues, despite technical difficulties, such as poorly studied terrain and the huge size of the desert terrain.
Lost City of Kalahari, South Africa, Namibia
In November 1885, Guillermo Farini (aka William Leonard Hunt) wrote a report about the strange and mysterious city that he stumbled upon in the Kalahari Desert. He presented this data to the Berlin Geographical Society, and in 1886 to the Royal Geographical Society of Great Britain. Farini even published a book in the same year in which he described the discovery in detail. In the book, he described the mysterious rock formations, which, as he was convinced, were the ruins of an ancient city.
The traveler claimed that the city was built in the shape of an arc, with some of its parts hidden under the sand, while others could be considered quite well. Since Farini could not find any inscriptions on the ruins, he suggested that the city is several thousand years old. Over the years, this information about the ancient city right in the center of the Kalahari, which is now completely covered by desert sand, has been overgrown with rumors.
Interestingly, even the local goggentot tribes stated that there used to be an ancient city that was not built by them. Historian Gustav Prelude also claimed that the goggentots were ready to lead him to the ruins in the north of the region and to a place further away where gems were once discovered. Many expeditions were carried out to find the ruins of the city and try to prove that the history of Farini is true. However, all searches did not lead to anything, and the mystery has now become a myth.
Professor A.J. Clement tried to investigate the theory of Farini and concluded that the traveler never reached the Kalahari Desert, but instead went the other way, where he discovered natural rock formations consisting of dolerite, which can appear artificial during erosion. In 2016, another expedition to the Kalahari was conducted, and scientists finally managed to find walls and rocks that corresponded to the original description of Farini. However, it is still unclear whether these structures are artificial.
Spiral Staircase of the Loretto Chapel, USA, New Mexico
In the late 1870s, the architect of the Loretto chapel in American Santa Fe died unexpectedly during construction, when most of the church was completed. And only then the builders suddenly realized that there was not a single staircase leading to the choir in the building. It was impossible to install a standard ladder, given the small size of the chapel, and carpenters did not understand how to “get out of the situation”. Then the nuns in the church began to pray to St. Joseph and did this for nine consecutive days.
On the tenth day, a strange-looking man appeared at the door of the chapel. He told the nuns that he could build a ladder that would fit in the chapel, but they would have to give him complete confidentiality for the time needed to complete the task. Therefore, the man worked alone in the chapel for three months, using only the simplest tools that he brought with him: a saw, a square, warm water and wood.
When the staircase was completed, the man disappeared, without even telling anyone his name. The spiral staircase was 6.7 meters high and made two turns, rising to the choirs. What is most incredible is that there was not a single nail or even a central bearing column in it, so it simply did not have to withstand the weight of people climbing along it.
Ten years after this strange incident, a railing was added to the stairs. In subsequent years, the keeper of the chapel decided to check the wood from which the stairs were made, and it turned out that this was an unknown species of spruce that was not found in the area. The nuns at the time attributed the construction of the staircase to the most holy Joseph and insisted that it be declared a miracle. Who this man was and how he was able to build a ladder that simply “should not work” using only basic tools remains a mystery.
Tomb in Pomorie, Bulgaria
Near the town of Pomorie in Bulgaria among the vineyards and gardens you can find a man-made secret. Called the Thracian Tomb in Pomorie or the Dome Tomb, this structure is a semi-cylindrical vault with a hollow column in the middle, which gradually expands to the top and eventually passes into the outer walls. It is estimated that the tomb was built between the second and fourth centuries of our era. There are also signs that previously there was a spiral staircase inside the column.
The experts could not establish the real name of the structure and how it was built with such precision thousands of years ago. When the study of the tomb began at the end of the 19th century, the Czech archaeological brothers Karel and Hermann Skorpil made several drawings and notes on this structure. They suggested that it was a tomb, like most historians. However, some researchers believe that this is actually a mausoleum, built as a monument to the hero of those times. Research continues to establish the true purpose of the ancient structure and who built it.
Mummies San Bernardo, Colombia
Surrounded by the Andes Mountains, the city of San Bernardo in Colombia became famous for its strange mystery, which scientists can not explain. In 1957, the local cemetery was washed away by a stream of water, after which the workers moved the remains to a new place. Looking through the remains, they were amazed that many of them did not show signs of decay and decomposition, although they had already been in the ground for a very long time.
One of the undertakers, Eduardo Chifuntes, reported this to the authorities, and a subsequent examination of the corpses showed that they were not only mummified in some natural, inexplicable way, but their clothes were also well preserved. From the other corpses in the cemetery, only bones remained, but the data of several mummies remained intact, despite the fact that there was no evidence that they were embalmed.
Theories of the causes of this phenomenon range from the diet of the locals, which includes the unique fruits of guatila and balu, to the climate and the high mountain location of this region. However, this does not explain why the clothing of the corpses is also in good condition and why San Bernardo is the only city in the area where the mummies were found. Some of these bodies are now exhibited inside glass cases in the museum. Although there are no measures in the museum to preserve corpses, the mummies of San Bernardo still do not rot and do not decompose.
The Lost Tombs of the Maccabees, Israel
Almost 150 years ago, the search began for the lost tombs of the Maccabees. Scientists, experts, travelers, etc., took part in the search, but they all ended in nothing, and the graves are still being searched for. In 2015, archaeologists found that they found tombs in the town of Gorbat Ha Gardi near Modiin, but this turned out to be wrong. The family, which aroused such interest among experts all over the world, consisted of a Jewish priest named Mattathias and his five sons, who rebelled against the pagan domination of the Hellenistic Empire Seleucid Empire
When the priest died, his son Judah led the struggle, and eventually successfully freed Judea from the Seleucids, returning the Jerusalem temple to the Jews. During the restoration or re-consecration of the temple, the holiday of Hanukkah appeared. After the temple was redone, the five sons of Mattathias continued to fight for the expansion of the liberated territory, but each of them died one after the other after conquering the throne. It is their lost tombs that still remain the subject of searches of archaeologists.
Winchester Rifle 1882, USA, Nevada
At the end of 2014, employees of the Great Basin National Park in the US state of Nevada made a routine detour and stumbled upon a strange find. On the tree hung a rifle, which even outwardly seemed far from new. But the staff were amazed to learn later that the weapon is more than 130 years old. It was found that the rifle was a model in 1873 and it was made in 1882. From 1873 to 1919, more than 700,000 such rifles were manufactured.
All this information, unfortunately, could not explain who could own these weapons or why and how it turned out to be in the park. There is a theory that the rifle may have belonged to a cowboy or a gold digger who hung it on a tree and forgot it. But this means that the rifle has hung on a tree in the park for over 130 years, and most people consider this theory implausible. According to experts, it is more likely that someone inherited a rifle and decided to leave it in the park for unknown reasons.
Manuscript Sibiu, Romania
In 1961, someone discovered a document called the Sibiu Manuscript. The document contains 450 pages and dates back to the 1500s. Especially in the eyes of experts rushed that the document describes the technical characteristics relating to artillery, ballistics and ... multi-stage missiles. The manuscript also details the successful launch of a multi-stage rocket in front of thousands of witnesses in the city of Sibiu in 1555. The author of the manuscript, Conrad Haas, presented the drawings of the rocket, which he designed and built.
It is believed that the Sibiu Manuscript is the first document that describes rocket science in detail. Haas also spoke in detail about modern spacecraft, rocket fuel, liquid fuel and deltoid wings. As it turned out, someone had studied rocket science 400 years before using this technology in the 20th century. Who it was remains a mystery.
Red Queen, Mexico
In 1994, the archaeologist Arnoldo González Cruz and his team discovered a burial chamber in Temple XIII in the ruins of Palenque (southern Mexico). Inside the chamber they found a sarcophagus and an intact tomb. On one side of the sarcophagus lay the skeleton of a boy, and on the other, the skeleton of a thirty-year-old woman. It is believed that they were sacrificed to accompany the woman in the afterlife, whose remains were found inside the sarcophagus. The skeleton inside the sarcophagus was covered with red dust, which is why it was called the “Red Queen”. Cruz and his team also found a collection of jade and pearl items.
Around the skull lay a diadem of jade beads, as well as the remains of what might have been a funerary mask. Unfortunately, nothing indicated the identity of the woman. Studies of the remains showed that the woman was about 60 years old when she died, and that she loved to eat meat. She is believed to have been an important person, since her burial chamber was located near the grave of Pacal the Great. The remains were returned to Palenque, but attempts to establish the identity of the Red Queen continue.
Tomb of Alexander the Great
According to one version, the body of the commander was placed in a golden coffin, which was taken to Memphis, and then to Egyptian Alexandria, where he disappeared with the end of the period of antiquity.
It was believed that the so-called Alexander sarcophagus was found in Sidon (Lebanon). He is so called and still because of the image on him of a warrior in a lion's helmet, which resembles a commander's helmet. But in reality it turned out to be the sarcophagus of the Sidon king Abdolanim.
In 2014, a skeleton was found in the tomb of Amphipolis (Central Macedonia), and archaeologists believe that this may be Alexander. Confirm or refute this assumption will be possible only after carrying out DNA analysis and careful research.