Top 10 Creepiest Mysteries of the Last Decade

Remember the infamous clown sightings of 2016? But the craze actually began six years earlier. Back in 2010, two photos appeared on Facebook that sent chills through those who saw them. They showed a large clown in the middle of the forest, first leaning to its left and then appearing right in front of the camera. The photos were posted by one Jarrett Young, who claimed that he saw them on his game camera. But Snopes later contacted Young and discovered that he was just 10 years old when he uploaded the photos. According to Young, he was just trolling and probably got the picture off Google. Unfortunately, the real source of the photo has never been determined.

The field of astronomy closed out the decade with a startling discovery. Canadian researchers found a repeating pattern of fast radio bursts, or FRBs, coming from space. According to the researchers, the pattern occurred every 16 days, with one burst every hour for four days before radio silence (no pun intended) for the next twelve. The pattern would then repeat. But that’s not all. Another FRB was detected that lasted three seconds, with high bursts of radiation occurring within this three second window every 0.2 seconds. But, creepily repetitive as they are, and while we still don’t know for sure what’s causing all these FRBs, it’s most likely that they’re coming from distant neutron stars.

On December 31, 2010, an estimated 5,000 blackbirds died and fell to the ground in the Arkansas city of Beebe. The image is certainly biblical, but it actually has a very reasonable explanation. Experts theorize that New Year’s fireworks startled and disoriented the birds, causing them to fly into objects like houses and trees. Creepy story for sure, but it didn’t end there. The very next year, someone seemingly killed a further 200 birds by setting off fireworks in their roost. The exact same thing happened, with the fireworks causing the birds to flee and slam into various obstacles. Unfortunately, the mysterious perpetrator has never been identified.

You never want to wake up to a dramatic voicemail. Unfortunately, that’s what happened to Kareen McCabe when she woke on the morning of September 7, 2015. McCabe was in California when she received a voicemail from her husband Henry, who was at home in Minnesota. McCabe heard a series of strange growling noises followed by the sound of Henry’s voice, who claimed that he had been shot. The voicemail ends with another voice saying “Stop it.” The story got even weirder on November 2, when McCabe’s body was found in Rush Lake. It did not bear evidence of a shooting, and an autopsy claimed that he had drowned. It’s unclear who the other speaker was or why McCabe claimed that he had been shot.

To understand this story, we have to go back to the Cold War. Between 1966 and 1990, Sweden had to deal repeatedly with foreign submarines. The most famous incident occurred in October 1981, when the Soviet sub U137 ran aground near Karlskrona. Russia claimed that the presence of U137 was an accident following a navigational error. But there were many further sightings, over the years, and the origin of the submarines has never fully been proven. These subs have usually been attributed to Russia, but no one knows if they all are. And even if they were all Russian, no one knows what they were doing in Stockholm — but we can guess.

When it comes to creepy surveillance footage, the tragic murder of Missy Bevers has to be mentioned. Bevers was killed inside Midlothian’s Creekside Church of Christ on the morning of April 18, 2016. A fitness instructor, her body was found by a student shortly after 5:00 am. Police checked the church’s surveillance system and were met with an eerie sight. A person could be seen walking the halls in a full SWAT outfit while periodically breaking glass and opening doors. It’s believed that this was the person who killed Bevers. The creepy footage was released to the public in the hopes of identifying the perp, but to no avail. They have never been identified and the case remains unsolved.

Since 2011, many old boats have washed ashore on the coasts of Japan. While this phenomenon likely began prior to 2011, that was the year that record-keeping began. Since then, hundreds of empty boats have washed up, with 156 appearing in 2019 alone. These ghost ships are often very old and without modern amenities like GPS. It makes for a creepy visual, and we don’t really know why it’s happening. That said, we have a very good idea. The leading theory is that the boats belong to North Korean fishermen who venture out to sea and sadly perish in the dangerous waters. But there’s no certainty.

There have been a number of Internet mysteries throughout the years, but none quite like Cicada 3301. The name refers to a series of puzzles that were posted to 4chan every January between 2012 and 2014. While the first two were eventually cracked, the third remains unsolved. The user who uploaded the puzzles went silent in 2017, and nothing new has since been reported. It’s unclear who exactly this mystery user was, or even if it was one singular user. Multiple theories have also been made regarding the nature of the puzzles. Some believe that it was all a harmless Internet game while others think they served as some kind of secret recruitment tool related to cybersecurity.

Mysterious health scares are very creepy. And that’s what’s been happening to American government officials all over the world for years. It’s known as Havana Syndrome, and it’s caused hundreds of people to report signs of illness, which range in severity, from a simple headache to full-blown cognitive dysfunction. The name is taken from Havana, Cuba, which is where the first cases of sickness were reported in 2016. Since then, over 1,000 cases have been reported. No one knows what’s causing the illness, although, albeit controversially, it’s believed to be some kind of mass psychological issue. Seven different intelligence agencies completed a review of the case in 2023, concluding that foreign adversaries were not involved.

A mystery that has endured in the popular consciousness, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished on March 8, 2014. The plane was flying from Malaysia to China when it deviated from its flight path and crossed over the Andaman Sea. This is where search efforts were initially held before further study concluded that the plane had apparently gone south towards the Indian Ocean. It was in this ocean that several pieces of debris later washed ashore, confirming that the plane had been destroyed. But we still don’t know how it was destroyed or why it deviated from its course. Countless theories have been put forth, including a hijacking, a shoot-down, gradual decompression, and confusion related to a loss of oxygen.



Which of these mysteries gave you the chills? Let us know in the comments!