10 Creepiest Mysteries That History Forgot

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most unsettling mysteries that have been lost to time.

#10: Hoer Verde[a] Mass Disappearance

Normally, people going missing would turn more heads. Some events, such as the disappearance of the Colony of Roanoke, have even had stories crafted around them. Others, like the disappearance of Hoer Verde in Brazil, aren’t quite so lucky. According to local legend, all 600 people living there vanished one day in 1923, seemingly without a trace. After they failed to arrive at a trading event, the shell of their homeland was searched, with the only evidence being a gun and an ominous message. Other civilians have claimed not to know anything about Hoer Verde’s existence, leading some to wonder if it ever existed at all. Whether it’s a mere urban legend or something much darker, there are still plenty of answers left unanswered.

#9: The Lead Masks Case

One of the oddest murder cases is also one of history’s most forgotten. In 1966, the corpses of two Brazilian men were discovered. They were dressed in nice clothes, wearing masks made of lead, and were found next to a note containing a set of instructions. As if that wasn’t all bad enough, there was also no exact cause of death due to them not being examined for weeks, causing the theories to fly. They’ve varied in intensity, ranging from an alien abduction to an accidental overdose. With so much left open to speculation, we may never even come close to learning the truth.

#8: Disappearance of Frederick Valentich [b]

Some missing pilots become the subjects of decades-long mysteries – and others hardly get any recognition at all. The latter was the case for Frederick Valentich, an Australian pilot who vanished during a flight in 1978. While mid-air, the Melbourne traffic control suddenly started receiving odd messages from the young man. He claimed to have been trailed by something else in the air and that it wasn’t another plane. He even reported seeing an odd green light emitting from it. After that, the only thing heard was the sound of metal being scraped. Valentich has never been found, leading the less skeptical to believe he was merely captured by members of an alien race.

#7: Flannan Isles[c] Lighthouse Crew Disappearance

A whole crew going missing in the night isn’t entirely unheard of, but some manage to slip through the cracks of time. The circumstances surrounding the vanishing of the Flannan Isles Lighthouse crew in 1900 still aren’t completely understood. When the suddenly-abandoned post was found by ships later on, they were met with only a few signs of recent human life. The bodies of the three men were never found, leaving the cause of their disappearance unknown. A lack of storms during their final days have only muddied things further, leaving some to turn to more outlandish theories in an attempt to explain the unexplainable.

#6: Disappearance of Connie Converse

You never really know what's going on inside a person’s mind. Coming onto the music scene in the 1950s, Connie Converse was one of the first to contribute to the singer-songwriter subgenre. Despite her historical significance, she didn’t find fame during her lifetime and her music career was short-lived. It was clear she wasn’t satisfied with her life, leading her to disappear in 1974. The notes she left for her family are the last known proof of her existence. Her family attempted to find her a decade later, but they were eventually discouraged from continuing. To this day, it’s unclear whether she adopted a whole new life or if she went down a much more drastic route.

#5: Kaspar Hauser [d]

There are some circumstances that everyday people aren’t equipped to deal with. A teenager suddenly appearing and claiming to have been raised in a dungeon is one such event. When Kaspar Hauser first stumbled into Nuremberg in 1828, the townspeople didn’t know what to make of him. He claimed to have been kept in a dark room his entire life, completely isolated from the world. While he was initially accepted by the town and even taken under the wing of a local schoolmaster, there were still several attempts on his life, supposedly by people from his childhood. At times, Hauser claimed descent from nobility. He was killed five years after his initial appearance, leaving questions of his supposed nobility permanently unanswered.

#4: Yuba County[e] Five

When five men suddenly disappeared while on their way from a 1978 basketball tournament, it became the topic of investigation. The Yuba County Five – a group of five men with developmental disabilities – were last seen at a convenience store buying snacks. After that, it was as though they vanished into thin air. Their car was found a few days later, without them in it. The car was found dozens of miles away with gas still in the tank, raising questions of why they had left it in the first place. The later discovery of four of their bodies confirmed they had met their end via hypothermia. However, one man was left unfound, leaving some to wonder if he survived.

#3: Kentucky Meat Shower

Some events are so bizarre that it’s hard to fathom them actually happening. In 1876, citizens of Kentucky were simply going about their days when they were hit with a barrage of falling meat. It rained for several minutes, coating a small area of the southern state in unknown viscera. Where exactly it came from is unknown – and a taste test left more questions than answers. While it was initially assumed to be beef, further testing claimed that it was from a horse or even a human being. One theory is that the chunks were vomited by vultures, but this has yet to be confirmed. A sample from the shower is still available to view today, if you’re brave enough to get close.

#2: Dancing Plague of 1518

The concept of disease is nothing new, but some are so odd and so rare that they get ignored. Throughout the summer of 1518, various residents of Strasbourg were suddenly vexed with the uncontrollable urge to dance until they dropped – literally. It appeared to be highly contagious, with those who had seen the dancing joining in soon afterwards. They would then groove until they collapsed from exhaustion, thirst, or even heart attacks. The issue ended up correcting itself after those afflicted were sent away to pray the illness away. To this day, both the confirmed number of victims and how they came to be sick is still highly contested, with theories ranging from food poisoning to widespread stress.

#1: Utsuro-bune[f]

It may seem that alien conspiracies are a modern-day invention, but this is proof that they’ve been around much longer. In 1803, a strange hollow boat-like object washed ashore on the beaches of Japan. Its odd shape and interior decorated with foreign texts immediately caused it to stand out, but the most jarring aspect was its passenger. A young woman was found aboard, sporting a never-before-documented hairstyle and wearing unknown fabrics. She didn’t speak Japanese, and eventually the villagers sent her and her vessel back into the ocean. Who she was is still contested; some believe she was an exiled princess, while others question if she – and the beach where she was discovered – ever truly existed at all.

Which mystery would you love to see get more recognition? Let us know in the comments below.

[a]HOO-ur VARE-jee (portuguese)

https://youtu.be/yMc8Ls5IhM8?si=QFAz5vzKaUkZCbOY&t=80 OR https://translate.google.ca/?sl=pt&tl=hi&text=Hoer%20Verde&op=translate
ROH-UH-noke / ROWA-noak https://www.dictionary.com/browse/Roanoke
[b]vuh-LEN-titch https://youtu.be/6nkZuuf8m28?si=3AuJjvIgNB9aNnkz&t=3
[c]FLAN-nin https://youtu.be/dQopp_deP2I?si=DnCn5MZ56TRBrQB8&t=293
[d]casper HAO-zur https://forvo.com/search/Kaspar%20Hauser/
[e]YOO-buh https://youtu.be/e4kiS5hjKBw?si=Pc45n4lLeCCQxvfu&t=10
[f]oot-SOO-roh boo-NAY / boo-NEH
https://translate.google.ca/?sl=ja&tl=en&text=Utsuro-bune&op=translate
OR https://youtu.be/_PaQmnq_nAc?si=ADunIJ9WgZj2PC6m&t=378 OR https://youtu.be/_brcatDOdgo?si=cnvtLotyaEnG34AI&t=79