Top 30 Creepiest Mysteries That Were FINALLY Solved

Top-30-Creepiest-Mysteries-That-Were-Finally-Solved

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most unsettling mysteries that finally received answers.

#30: The Long Island Serial Killer

It was one of the most absorbing mysteries of the early 21st century - who killed all those women in New York? The Long Island Serial Killer murdered at least eleven victims since the early 1990s and disposed of most of their bodies throughout the Gilgo Beach area. The killings remained a mystery until the summer of 2023, when a 59-year-old architect named Rex Andrew Heuermann was arrested and charged with three counts of first degree murder. DNA has officially linked Heuermann to many of the victims. As of June 2024, he has been charged with six of the murders and is currently pleading not guilty.

#29: The Death of Richard III

Mysterious deaths will always be intriguing and a little creepy, especially when they involve someone as famous as Richard III. The King of England was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, making him the final English king to die in battle. However, the exact nature of his death was long regarded as a mystery. That mystery was finally answered in 2014, and with technology that would probably be considered witchcraft back in Richard’s day. By using various CT scans on the King’s remains, scientists found nine injuries to his skull, suggesting that Richard was struck on the head after misplacing or removing his helmet. His corpse was also stabbed multiple times, meaning his armor wasn’t effective or it somehow came off.

#28: The Case of Margie Jelovcic

While working at her mother’s Indiana tavern, Margie Jelovcic met a biker named Randy Yager, who rode with a gang called the Outlaws. The gang was reportedly incredibly violent and under numerous investigations for the likes of racketeering, robberies, and even various bombings and murders. Jelovcic devoted herself to and defended Yager, becoming paranoid that the police were after them. In September of 1997, she up and vanished. Her asthma inhaler was left behind, suggesting that she had been taken against her will. But that wasn’t the case. It wasn’t until October of 2014 that both Jelovcic and Yager were found living together in Mexico. Unfortunately, Jelovcic was killed while driving away from the police. Yager was caught and given a fifteen-year prison sentence.

#27: The Disappearance of Star Dust

Airplanes simply up and disappearing will always be a disturbing subject. A famous case occurred on August 2, 1947, when a plane named Star Dust vanished while flying from Argentina to Chile. The plane never arrived at the airport, and a search and rescue operation ended in failure when they couldn’t locate the aircraft. It was simply gone. And it would remain missing for over 5 decades. After years of conspiracy theories, the wreck of Star Dust was found by two mountaineers in Mount Tupungato in the late ‘90s. Further study seemed to show that the pilots likely became mistaken about their location, having encountered a jet stream, and accidentally flew into the cloud-obscured mountain. The crash then started an avalanche, which buried the plane and prevented rescuers from finding it.

#26: Young Monica Bonilla

The marriage of Guillermo and Rosemary Bonilla began to collapse after the murder of John Lennon in 1980. Not long after, Guillermo Bonilla began dressing and acting like Lennon, telling Rosemary that he was the reincarnated musician. On September 22, 1982, Rosemary finished work and came home to find nothing in it anymore, including furniture, belongings, Guillermo, and their young daughter, Monica. Years later, an episode of “Unsolved Mysteries” told of the disappearance of one Nyleen Marshall. A school official in Vancouver contacted the producers, claiming that a student named “Mary Ann Kelly” may be the missing Marshall. The FBI investigated Kelly and discovered that she was not Nyleen Marshall, but the also-missing Monica Bonilla instead. She was safely returned to her mother, who called the bizarre coincidence “God’s will.”

#25: The Mary Celeste

It’s probably the most famous ghost ship in North American history - on December 4, 1872, the Mary Celeste was found floating and abandoned off western Europe. The boat was in fair condition, while both its cargo and the crew’s belongings were mostly accounted for. While we’re still not 100% sure what happened, many commentators believe that something very very worrying had to have happened. The explosive theory is one of the most popularly accepted ones. Carrying over 1,700 barrels of alcohol, it’s likely that the barrels started seeping, causing either an intense smell of gas or a small pressure-wave explosion that would have left behind no scorching or soot. Either way, it’s likely that the captain ordered the crew into the yawl, and in a panic, failed to secure it to the boat. The ship then drifted away, leaving the men to die on the open ocean.

#24: The Freeman Arson

At 5:30 am on the morning of December 30, 1999, police were notified of a fire at the house of Danny and Kathy Freeman. Inside they found the corpses of Kathy and Danny, both of whom had been shot. Missing was the Freemans’ teenage daughter Ashley and Ashley’s friend Lauria Bible, who was sleeping over that night. The crime wasn’t solved for nearly twenty years. In April of 2018, 66-year-old Ronnie Busick was arrested and charged with four counts of murder, including those of Bible and Ashley Freeman. It’s believed that Busick and two others - Warren Welch and David Pennington, both dead - killed the Freemans, torched their house, and kidnapped the teens. Busick pled guilty and served just 38 months of his 10-year sentence thanks to “good behavior.”

#23: A Zodiac Cipher Is Finally Cracked

The story of the Zodiac Killer continues to intrigue owing to his elusive nature and the bizarre ciphers that he produced. The Zodiac made four of these cryptograms, and before 2020, only one had been solved. The first was quickly cracked back in 1969, but for the next several decades, the remaining three continued to stump even the most professional codebreakers. That is, until December 2020, when another cipher was solved by private citizens. Dubbed Z-340, the puzzle was originally sent on November 8, 1969 and references the Zodiac’s welcoming of death. He claims that his new life “will be an easy one in paradice” and that he is “not afraid of the gas chamber because it will send [him] to paradice all the sooner.”

#22: The Lost Roanoke Colony

One of America’s biggest mysteries is also one of its simplest. A number of colonists settled in what’s now North Carolina in 1585. This was known as the Roanoke Colony. Explorer John White left the colony in 1587, meaning to get more supplies in England. When he finally returned in 1590, having been delayed by war, the colony was gone, the only clue being the word “Croatoan” carved into the palisade. White deduced, likely correctly, that the colonists left for nearby Croatoan Island. While we don’t know for sure, there is tons of circumstantial evidence showing that it’s most likely the colonists moved out and assimilated with the local tribes, having lost hope of White’s return. Indeed, the present day Hatteras tribe considers themselves descendants of the lost Europeans.

#21: Dyatlov Pass

Avalanches seem to account for many mysteries. The 1959 Dyatlov Pass one has long been a famous one, with nine hikers fleeing the safety of their tent in the dead of night and dying under puzzling conditions. Their deaths were initially attributed to a “compelling natural force,” and questions abounded for many decades. But advancements in technology led to a sound answer in 2020: avalanche. It’s likely that the hikers heard the rumblings of an imminent avalanche and fled the tent in a panic. Further study suggests some got hit by a slab avalanche, hence their devastating physical injuries, and the rest got lost in the dark and passed on through hypothermia. This answer has been supported by numerous independent bodies, all of whom agree that it’s the most likely scenario.

#20: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition
For centuries, explorers sought out a Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific through the Arctic Ocean, but their expeditions often ended in disaster. One of the most famous was British Royal Navy officer John Franklin’s in 1845. His expedition’s ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, never returned. Search parties recovered only artifacts and human remains. With the passing of time however, we’ve pieced together the full story. The ships got trapped in pack ice, and the crew died from starvation, hypothermia, and disease. The sunken Erebus and Terror were finally found in 2014 and 2016, respectively.

#19: Pierre April
Imagine waking up in a ditch with only $17 in your pocket and no idea who you are or where you came from. That’s what happened to amnesiac Pierre April in May, 1992. April was found wandering the streets of San Diego and taken to a shelter. Pieces of his life started coming back to him, including faces and talents, but nothing came of his attempts to connect to his past life. In September, his case was featured on an episode of “Unsolved Mysteries.” This episode was seen by an old colleague of April’s named Carol. She phoned the show’s tip line and told them all they needed to know. April was happily reunited with his family, and his memory has since recovered.

#18: Umbrella Man
The assassination of John F. Kennedy in November, 1963, prompted countless conspiracy theories. Some of the more interesting ones were about a figure spotted in photos and films of the event, who had been brandishing an umbrella despite the sunny weather. Could he have been complicit in the assassination? He remained a mystery for 15 years, until 1978, when Louie Steven Witt came forth. Witt identified himself as the Umbrella Man, and said that the umbrella was meant as a symbolic protest against Kennedy. An umbrella had been the trademark accessory of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, infamous for initially appeasing the Nazi Party. And with that, one of the world’s most tantalizing mysteries fizzled out with a disappointing answer.

#17: The Paulding Light of Michigan
Speaking of horribly disappointing answers, let’s discuss the Paulding Light! Paulding is a small community in western Michigan that houses a famous piece of folklore. Just outside of town, onlookers can spot a bright light flashing on and off at the end of a valley. The people of Paulding have many supernatural explanations for this light, including ghosts. One particularly creepy story claims that it’s a grandparent looking for their lost grandchild with a flickering lantern. But the truth is far more boring. Turns out, it’s actually just headlights from a nearby highway. So…yeah. Bummer.

#16: The Somerton Man
One of Australia’s enduring mysteries may have been finally solved in the summer of 2022. On December 1, 1948, a body was found in Adelaide’s Somerton Park. He was wearing American clothes embroidered with the name “Keane.” Inside his pocket was a scrap of paper reading “tamám shud” - Persian for “is finished.” The book that this paper was torn from was eventually located, and investigators found cryptic text written on the cover. In July 2022, DNA helped identify the man as Carl Webb. It’s also now believed that the “cryptic” text found in the book were the names of horses, as Webb often gambled on horse racing. And finally, the clothes were likely passed down from his nephew, who once lived in the United States.

#15: The Bloop
Many people have a fear of the deep ocean, and it’s because of things like this. The Bloop was a very loud underwater noise captured in 1997 by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It was so loud that it was detected by sensors over 3,000 miles away. It doesn’t sound like much at normal speed, but it takes on its signature “bloop” noise when sped up. Believers in Cthulhu immediately went to ‘giant underwater monster’, but once again, the truth is more mundane. It wasn’t a massive creature, but an ice quake as a result of glacial movements. Man, science can’t let us have any fun…

#14: Anastasia’s Fate
On July 17 1918, far-left revolutionaries, the Bolsheviks, murdered the Russian imperial Romanov family. In the aftermath, rumors circulated that Grand Duchess Anastasia, who was 17, had somehow escaped and survived. Her body could not be located, and several people came forward claiming to be the lost Anastasia. However, these stories turned out to be outright lies or the result of mental illness, as was the case with famous imposter Anna Anderson. The longstanding rumor was officially put to rest when the remains of the royal family were identified with DNA. Grand Duchess Anatasia was among them, proving that she died with the rest of the Romanovs.

#13: Lady Be Good
The World War II bomber Lady Be Good was used to conduct a raid on Naples on April 4, 1943. However, it disappeared on its way back to Libya, and both the plane and its crew were considered lost. No one knew what happened, and the plane was not recovered. That is, until 1958, when the crashed aircraft was spotted in the Libyan Desert. This raised even more questions, as the plane was remarkably preserved and showed no signs of the crew. All the questions were subsequently answered after an investigation. The pilots had gotten lost in a sandstorm and ejected from the craft when it ran out of fuel. The plane crashed and the men died while walking through the desert.

#12: Sailing Stones
It’s one of the most bizarre sights that can be seen in nature. A lone rock stands in the middle of the desert. A massive trail snakes behind it, as if it has been pushed across the ground. However, no footsteps and no signs of animal activity can be found. These stones are especially notable in the Racetrack Playa of California’s Death Valley. So just what in the heck is going on with these rocks? The phenomenon has tantalized researchers for decades, but the mystery has only recently been cracked. The valley floor produces a very thin layer of ice, and the rocks slide across these sheets when the ice starts to melt. The movement leaves indentations in the ground, resulting in their signature trails.

#11: The Death of Jun Lin
One of the most notorious videos in the history of the internet was uploaded on May 25, 2012. Titled “1 Lunatic 1 Ice Pick,” it depicts an Asian male getting killed and dismembered by an unidentified figure. Various body parts were then sent to schools and federal offices across Canada, and these remains were linked to the man who was killed in the video. The case made international headlines and remained a mystery for several days. But investigators quickly traced the grisly homicide to a man named Luka Magnotta, who had already fled the country. An international manhunt ensued, and Magnotta was finally captured in Berlin on June 4 - about a week and a half after uploading the infamous video.

#10: The Face on Mars
This is one of the most popular space images of all time. Taken by the Viking orbiters back in the mid-'70s, the picture depicts the Cydonia region of Mars. People immediately noticed that one of the features bore a striking resemblance to a human face, or maybe one of those old-school hockey masks. Speculation immediately flew to aliens or some kind of human habitation on the supposedly barren planet. But nah, the answer is much more boring. Turns out, this was just an optical illusion - the result of lighting, angle, and a low-resolution picture. More recent and much better photos have been taken of the same location, and they reveal nothing but a boring hill with face-like characteristics.

#9: The Construction of the Pyramids
The Giza pyramids are arguably the most famous landmarks in the world. They continue to stand tall (literally) after thousands of years. Their construction has baffled people for millennia, leading some to suggest that aliens must have been involved! After all, humans couldn’t possibly drag and lift those stones into place, right? Well, yes they could. Researchers believe that workers loaded the blocks onto sledges and wet the sand to make them easier to drag. They raised the blocks using ramps and levering techniques. This took tens of thousands of people decades to complete, but hey, no one said building a Wonder of the World was easy!

#8: The Tunguska Event
In the early morning of June 30, 1908, a remote area of Russia was hit with a massive and mysterious blast. This blast completely leveled over 800 square miles of forest and flattened 80 million trees. No source could be found for the explosion, so no one knew what exactly happened. Thousands of scientific papers have been written about the incident and the area has been studied for decades, with many trying to crack the bizarre case. It is now generally agreed that a 200-foot meteor traveling 60,000 miles per hour exploded in midair over the area, resulting in what’s called a meteor airburst. This airburst then leveled everything below the meteor’s detonation site.

#7: The Death of Ryan Stallings
Patricia Stallings brought her sick baby Ryan to the hospital. The doctors found what they thought was ethylene glycol in the baby’s blood, leading them to conclude that he had been poisoned. He recovered, but Patricia was suspected of the poisoning, and Ryan was sent to live elsewhere. Following a future visit, Ryan fell sick again and died. Patricia was again blamed for poisoning Ryan and charged with homicide. She later gave birth to another son, and he exhibited the same symptoms. It was later found that both children suffered from a disorder called methylmalonic acidemia, an acidic byproduct of the disorder can be mistaken for ethylene glycol. Patricia was released from prison and successfully sued the lab that tested Ryan’s blood.

#6: Stonehenge
One of humanity’s greatest marvels, Stonehenge has been standing for thousands of years. But where exactly did the giant stones come from? They are all pretty much symmetrical - 13 feet high, 7 feet across, and each weighing 25 tons. Experts have been trying to crack the case for hundreds of years. Some will have you believe that it was aliens, but no, it was really just the nearby woods. In 2019, researchers were able to do tests on a small piece of extracted stone and sourced it to the nearby West Woods in Wiltshire. The location has finally been pinned down, but one tantalizing question remains - how did they drag these 25-ton boulders 15 miles to the south?

#5: The Centennial Olympic Park Criminal
On July 27, 1996, Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park was bombed during the Summer Olympic Games. The blast injured hundreds, but thanks to the heroic efforts of security guard Richard Jewell, direct deaths were limited to two people. Jewell himself was initially pegged as the culprit, but he was eventually cleared and the case remained a mystery for several years. The FBI was eventually led to a man named Eric Rudolph, who had committed various other bombings across the American south. Rudolph was finally arrested in 2003 and pleaded guilty to all charges. He was given four life sentences and is currently held in a supermax prison in Colorado.

#4: The Disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi
The case of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was all over the news in the fall of 2018. On October 2 of that year, Khashoggi went missing while visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. At the time, Khashoggi was living in exile, as he was penning scathing articles that criticized the Saudi Arabian rulers. While his fate remained a mystery for weeks, most people had a good idea of what happened - Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate. It was eventually revealed that Khashoggi did indeed die inside the building, and on October 25, Saudi Arabia’s attorney general admitted that it was a premeditated homicide. The CIA later concluded that Khashoggi was assassinated on the orders of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

#3: The Golden State Killer
One of the most notorious criminals in American history, the Golden State Killer has gone by many names. He terrorized California throughout the 70s and 80s, sexually assaulting at least 51 women, burglarizing over 100 homes, and murdering 13 people. He was given different names in different areas, including the Visalia Ransacker and the Night Stalker. Only with time did it become apparent that these crime sprees were the work of one person. The name Golden State Killer was coined in 2013 by crime writer Michelle McNamara. The case helped inspire the creation of California’s DNA database, and it was DNA evidence that eventually nabbed Joseph James DeAngelo in 2018, who by then was 72 years old. He was sentenced to life in prison.

#2: The Collapse of the Maya Civilization
The largest and most sophisticated pre-Columbian civilization of the Americas, the Maya flourished for thousands of years. The civilization entered its so-called “classic period” in the year 250, and this lasted until 900. It was around then that the entire political system collapsed, and the Maya abandoned their most important cities to move north. With this, the Maya civilization entered what is called its “Postclassic period.” So what the heck happened? It’s a mystery that has plagued historians for years. The answer was finally found in the 21st century. Turns out that the Maya were so overpopulated that they damaged the environment and created a devastating drought. With their agriculture thoroughly destroyed, the Maya were forced to abandon their most populous cities.

#1: The Vampire Clan
One of the creepiest episodes of “Unsolved Mysteries” involves Rod Ferrell and his so-called “Vampire Clan.” In November of 1996, Jennifer Wendorf found her parents beaten to death inside their Florida home. The case went unsolved for weeks, although police immediately suspected Ferrell in the killing, as he was close to the Wendorfs’ other daughter, Heather. Ferrell was the leader of a Kentucky cult centered around vampirism and allegedly had prospective members drink his blood in order to join. The grandmother of a member helped police apprehend the cult, and both Ferrell and a man named Scott Anderson were found responsible for the Wendorfs’ deaths and given life sentences.


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