On December 18, 1912, Charles Dawson and Arthur Smith Woodward announced the discovery of mysterious bone fragments at a meeting of the Geological Society of London. These fragments, which included part of a skull and a jawbone, seemed to prove the existence of a previously unknown human species with chimpanzee-like features. In other words, the…
Once upon a time, the American buffalo roamed North America in large numbers, perhaps as many as 10-70 million. But by the mid-1880s, its once-vast numbers had been reduced to just a few hundred. Who killed the buffalo? And why? The Rise of the Buffalo? Interestingly enough, the rise of the American buffalo may have…
Another week, another theory on what the mysterious Classic Maya collapse. As a reminder, the Classic Maya period took place in the southern Maya lowlands of the Yucatán Peninsula, starting around 200 AD. By 900 AD, this highly-advanced civilization had abandoned its great cities and seemingly vanished from the face of the Earth. So, what caused…
At 8:43am on July 2, 1937, Amelia Earhart vanished somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. Nearly 75 years later, her disappearance, along with that of her navigator Fred Noonan, remains one of the most spectacular unsolved mysteries of history. Background on Amelia Earhart We first looked at this mystery back in July 2011. To sum up, Amelia…
In 1987, the infamous ex-Nazi Rudolf Hess appeared to be on the verge of being freed from Spandau Prison after more than four decades of incarceration. However, he died beforehand, supposedly by self-asphyxiation with an electrical cord. Afterward, researchers began to speculate that Hess’s death wasn’t suicide…it was murder. The Mysterious Death of Rudolf Hess?…
During the 1930s, a strange group of Nazi sympathizers known as the Silver Legion of America built a gigantic, heavily-guarded bunker in Los Angeles. What was the purpose of this bunker? Did they hope to build a Nazi America? Nazi America – Hitler’s American Bunker? The members of the Silver Legion of America were known…
As early as 11,500 years ago, a strange group of people lived in China’s Red Deer Cave and Longlin Cave. The Mysterious Red Deer Cave People? These people, referred to as the Red Deer Cave people, are believed to be a separate species of Homo – possibly the last such species on Earth, next to modern…
In memory of the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, The Atlantic is publishing an astounding collection of Civil War photos taken by war correspondents. They are, in a word, shocking. Shocking Civil War Photos? My third great grandfather fought for the Union during the Civil War. He was mustered in during 1862, was…