Forbidden Lore / Tag
Historical Mysteries
Stories and accounts connected to historical mysteries.
Folklore & Legends
Spring-Heeled Jack: The Leaping Terror of Victorian London
In 1837, stories spread through London of a bizarre figure attacking people on lonely roads. Witnesses described a tall man in a cloak who could leap extraordinary heights. Then two young women reported encounters with something far stranger: a clawed attacker with fiery eyes who appeared to breathe blue flame. Newspapers called him Spring-Heeled Jack. Nobody ever established who—or what—he was.
Historical Mysteries
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.
Historical Mysteries
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.
Historical Mysteries
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.
Disappearances
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.
Historical Mysteries
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.