Forbidden Lore

The Case Files

Documented
Cases.

Real incidents. Surviving records. Witness testimony. Investigations. Evidence that can be examined — even when the final explanation remains uncertain.

Forbidden Lore documents what happened, what was reported, what investigators found and where the evidence stops.

12 Case FilesEvidence · Testimony · Investigation

Case Index

All Cases

Every documented case currently preserved in the archive.

Files12
CASE 001
Documented Case

Status

Unresolved

Location

Flatwoods, Braxton County, West Virginia, United States

UFOs & Encounters

September 12, 1952

The Flatwoods Monster: What Did They Encounter on the Hill in 1952?

On September 12, 1952, a group of children in Flatwoods, West Virginia, watched a brilliant object cross the evening sky and appear to descend onto a nearby hill. When they climbed the hill with two adults, they encountered a towering figure with a glowing face, strange eyes, and a dark hood-like shape. They ran. Within days, the Braxton County Monster became national news.

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CASE 002
Documented Case

Status

Unresolved

Location

Kelly, Christian County, Kentucky, United States

UFOs & Encounters

August 21-22, 1955

The Hopkinsville Goblins: The Night Something Surrounded a Kentucky Farmhouse

On August 21, 1955, a terrified Kentucky family arrived at the Hopkinsville police station claiming that small, strange creatures had surrounded their isolated farmhouse for hours. Police found bullet holes, frightened witnesses, and no creatures. Nearly seventy years later, the Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter remains one of the strangest close-encounter cases in American UFO history.

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CASE 003
Documented Case

Status

Unresolved

Location

International / Internet

Historical Mysteries

January 4, 2012 - April 2017

Cicada 3301: The Internet's Most Mysterious Recruitment Puzzle

On January 4, 2012, an anonymous message appeared on 4chan claiming to seek highly intelligent individuals. What followed was an international trail of cryptography, steganography, obscure literature, telephone numbers, Tor websites, and physical clues placed around the world. The group called itself 3301. More than a decade later, nobody has conclusively established who created Cicada 3301, what organization stood behind it, or what happened to the people who reached the end.

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CASE 004
Documented Case

Status

Unresolved

Location

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Historical Mysteries

November 22, 1987

The Max Headroom Signal Hijacking

On November 22, 1987, an unidentified person wearing a Max Headroom mask interrupted two Chicago television broadcasts. The second intrusion lasted about ninety seconds and was recorded in full. Despite an FCC investigation, the people responsible were never publicly identified.

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CASE 005
Documented Case

Status

Unresolved

Location

Central Europe

Historical Mysteries

c. 1404-1438

The Voynich Manuscript: Inside the Mysterious Book No One Can Read

More than 600 years ago, someone filled hundreds of pages of parchment with an unknown script, impossible plants, astronomical diagrams, strange bathing figures and mysterious recipes. Cryptographers, linguists and codebreakers have spent generations trying to read it. The Voynich Manuscript still refuses to give up its secret.

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CASE 006
Documented Case

Status

Unresolved

Location

Florida, United States

Historical Mysteries

November 2, 2000 - March 24, 2001

John Titor: The Man Who Claimed He Came From 2036

In 2000, an anonymous internet user claimed to be an American soldier from the year 2036. He described his time machine, photographed its supposed components, predicted war and catastrophe, and said his mission involved a forgotten IBM computer from 1975. Then, in March 2001, John Titor disappeared.

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CASE 007
Documented Case

Status

Unresolved

Location

Arizona, United States

UFO / UAP

March 13, 1997

The Phoenix Lights

On March 13, 1997, thousands of people across Arizona reported strange formations of lights moving silently through the night sky. More than one phenomenon was recorded that evening, and not every question surrounding the event has been settled.

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CASE 008
Documented Case

Status

Disputed

Location

284 Green Street, Enfield, London, England

Ghosts & Hauntings

1977–1979

The Enfield Poltergeist

Beginning in 1977, a North London family reported furniture moving, objects flying, strange noises and an apparent voice coming from one of the children. Investigators spent months inside the house, but the case remains deeply disputed.

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CASE 009
Documented Case

Status

Unresolved

Location

North Atlantic Ocean, near the Azores

Disappearances

November–December 1872

The Mary Celeste

In December 1872, the Mary Celeste was discovered adrift between the Azores and Portugal with its cargo largely intact and no one aboard. A contemporary salvage investigation examined the vessel, but the fate of its crew was never established.

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CASE 010
Documented Case

Status

Disputed

Location

Bluff Creek, Northern California

Cryptids

October 20, 1967

The Patterson–Gimlin Film

In October 1967, Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin filmed a large unidentified figure walking through a Northern California river canyon. More than half a century later, the short film remains one of the most debated pieces of alleged Bigfoot evidence.

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CASE 011
Documented Case

Status

Explained

Location

Near Roswell, New Mexico, United States

UFO / UAP

June–July 1947

The Roswell Incident

In July 1947, debris recovered near Roswell, New Mexico became the center of the world's most famous alleged UFO crash. The military first announced the recovery of a 'flying disc,' then identified it as a balloon. Decades later, Project Mogul records, disputed witness testimony and stories of alien bodies transformed the incident into an enduring controversy.

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CASE 012
Documented Case

Status

Unresolved

Location

Kholat Syakhl, Northern Ural Mountains, Soviet Union

Historical Mysteries

January–February 1959

The Dyatlov Pass Incident

In February 1959, nine experienced hikers died in the northern Ural Mountains after abandoning their tent in severe winter conditions. The circumstances of their deaths created one of the twentieth century's most enduring mysteries.

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Our Standard

Documented
does not mean
proven.

A documented case is an event with a traceable historical record — whether that record consists of witness testimony, newspaper reports, photographs, official documents, investigations, court records or other surviving evidence.

Forbidden Lore separates the existence of a report from the truth of the claim. A witness can be documented without their explanation being established as fact.

Some cases eventually receive strong conventional explanations. Others remain disputed or unresolved. The archive preserves that distinction rather than forcing every mystery toward the extraordinary.

The unanswered question is part of the record.

The Investigation Continues

Some cases neverreceive an answer.

Examine the reports. Follow the evidence. Separate what is known from what is claimed. Decide what the surviving record supports.

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