World’s a creepy haven jam-packed with the macabre, blood chilling murders, mysterious disappearances to top up with irrational paranormal that in rational terms ‘’defies all logical explanation’’. Though we have written extensively on the subject, more and more mysteries keep popping up fast and furious all round the globe. Without much pomp and color, we bring another set of “Ten Tantalizing World Mysteries That Will Probably Never Be Solved”.
10. San Angelo John Doe
We are all conversant with creepy tales of individuals who died under mysterious circumstances carrying fake or worse, no ID on them. Sadly, despite extensive investigation by the police and exhaustive coverage by the media, many are silently buried without a name and forgotten by the annals of history. Though some are victims of foul play, cover-ups or circumstances, a number are usually victims of their own making; Individuals who go to extreme lengths to conceal their identities for whatever reasons leaving the police in a frantic search for the elusive clues on who they were.
On March 2005, an elderly man strolled into a convenience store, collapsed and died shortly in Shannon Medical Center, Texas. The cause of death was ruled heart attack. Immediately after the low key demise, a new page opened that left the public puzzled.
After the demise, detectives alongside the medics made a startling discovery. The elderly had scrubbed off all his finger prints and the four IDs found on him were a forgery. Dental records were of no use either since he had no natural teeth but dentures. The case attracted healthy doses of debate, speculations and theories as well. Face experts joined the wagon and speculated he was Elmer Crawfod, an Australian fugitive wanted for the murder of his wife and three children in the 70’s. However, DNA tests with Elmer’s kin turned negative and the promising case crumbled. With no clue and under pressure to identify him, the FBI speculated he was James Bulger but shortly recanted. With no closure in sight, he was buried San Angelo John Doe. Unless luck comes their way, we’ll never know his identity or why he chose to obliterate his fingers in the first place.
9. Charles Peck Ghost Calls
On September, 12, 2008, Charles peck, an employee of a Delta Airlines hopped into a train for Los Angeles for a job interview. However, this was not to be as he was killed in a fatal train crash moments before the scheduled appointment. Thanks to a lax engineer, who, busy chatting with a bunch of teenagers over the phone ran a red light and collided with an oncoming freight train. Charles alongside the engineer and 25 more souls were killed on impact. Hundreds more were injured in the subsequent pile up.
Soon after the deadly crash, things took a turn for the worst when he called his family members but all they heard was static. Thinking he had been seriously wounded and unable to speak, the worried family returned the call which in turn was diverted to his voicemail only for their phones to rings and the cycle began anew.
Not knowing what to make of the creepy calls, they immediately notified the rescuers who traced the spooky signals to a heavily mangled couch and worked round the clock to rescue him. However, when they did reached him, it was determined he had been killed on impact. How and why he placed over 35 calls to specifically his son, his stepmother, his sister and his brother along with his fiancé eleven hours after his death is unknown and we’ll never know for sure as the phone was never recovered and the calls ceased exactly one hour prior to the find.
8. Cardinal Crescentius And The Phantom Visitor
On our previous list, we covered the strange and horrifying death of Lord Rossmore after an encounter with a banshee. Today, I bring you the creepy death of a London clergy. The year was 1552 and lord Crescentius was busy writing a letter in the middle of the night. However, this was no ordinary night as he was about to find out. Minutes later, a strange black dog crept into the room and sat under his table. Engrossed in the letter, he kept his cool but when the relaxing atmosphere changed to fear and danger, he knelt for a second look and made a disturbing discovery; the dog had red eyes like a hot coal, fur darker than the night and long ears that swept the floor.
At once, the frightened cardinal called on his servants to take the feline out but none ever saw the phantom dog. After combing through the room, the attendants gave up much to the chagrin of the clergy who insisted the dog was sat ‘’right under the table’’. Immediately, he fell sick and bedridden, dying shortly thereafter still insisting ‘’take the dog out…’’
7. Who Was Wallace D. Fard?
Those living in Detroit certainly recall having read about Wallace in 1930’s. He was more of a con artist and a forger than self proclaimed philosopher cum sheikh. We all know the ‘’white supremacy ideologies’’ of the early 19th Century and its far reaching effects today. It was in this eccentric background that Wallace popped up in the streets with rather strange teachings that immediately raised eyebrows. He insisted the whites were a ‘’product’’ of a laboratory experiment gone awry thousands of years ago and that all African Americans were Muslims by nature. A powerful speaker with orator prowess, he amassed a number of followers sympathetic to his cause and as more trooped in, he bought a house and opened a mosque in the basement. The ‘’Nation of Islam’’ was born.
However, before long, he found himself under intense media scrutiny and police investigation after a faithful slaughtered a man as part of a sacrifice. To diffuse tension, he threw his stuff together and hightailed to Chicago. His aliases soon caught the attention of the FBI who quickly launched investigation to determine his real identity. For all their trouble, the security agency uncovered 58 different aliases he used in different states. Months later, he jetted back to Detroit but was once more forced to bolt.
In 1934, the beleaguered head of the “Nation of Islam’’ appointed ‘’Elijah Mohammad’’ as his successor before hopping on a plane and vanished never to be heard from again. Not even his successor knew who he really was. Though resurfaced of is sighting in California, nothing came of it and as of this writing, nothing is known of him either. Not even his country or date of birth.
6. Barbara Assunta Bolic
On 18 July, 2007, Barbara Bolic alongside a family friend Jim Ramaker set off for the nearby Bear Creek trail in Montana for a short picnic. However, on this occasion, things took unexpected turn. After driving to the creek, the pair set off on foot into the bushy trail and later settled for a quick snack.
Immediately after the meals, Barbara remained packing while Ramaker stepped ahead to enjoy the scenery. When he turned back, she was gone. Thinking she had momentarily stepped into the thicket to relieve herself, Ramaker slowly walked to the scene but she was nowhere to be seen. After searching and calling out her name for hours, he reported her missing to the forest management who promptly launched a large scale manhunt involving police dogs, helicopters and large numbers of volunteers but all attempts were fruitless. Two young men were placed on the scene at the time of her disappearance but so far none has been identified and her disappearance remains a mystery.
5. The Missing James Bond’s Goldfinger Aston Martin
In 1964, a spy movie in the famous James Bond series was released and featured a car that left an indelible mark on both car enthusiast and to the lay eyes alike. The automobile featured highly sophisticated features such as ejection seat, bullet proof windows, revolving number plates and other complex defense mechanism to top up with sleek silvery body, customized rims and speeds of up to 200km\h, it was the undisputable king of the road and a moving masterpiece at the time.
As the film hit all major cinemas around the world, so did the desire to see the legendary car up-close and within days of releasing the film, thousands of appearance requests poured in from museums, car shows and individuals each offering an invitation. Sadly, since only four of the prototype cars were ever made; the original car, the stunt double and two other PR cars, they couldn’t keep up the appearences and majority had to contend with photographs.
As the years went by, the cars were sold and re-sold changing hands over the years but the fate of the ‘’original’’ car gets weird. After being bought by a car collector Anthony Pugliese, he decided it was a good idea to store her in a secured hangar in Boca Raton airport but it turns out it was a costly mistake. In the night of June, 1997, unidentified truck pulled into the airport and moments later sped off the hangar with the car on its bed never to be seen again. During investigation, the night guard testified to have seen lights going off at the storage facility but never bothered to check it out and she remains missing to this day.
4. Shelly Malone And The Horse Cover-up
On October 18, 1992, Shelly Malone and a colleague Erica Stumvoll hopped on their favorite horses and left for sunset ride in The Plains, Virginia. However, what supposed to be a leisure stroll turned tragic when disheveled Erica bolted out of the woods pleading for help. Shelly had been seriously injured in a freak horse accident when both horses spooked and threw them on the ground. Erica fell to the left of her horse but Shelly wasn’t lucky. She had been trampled and ‘’severally kicked’’ by her horse in an apparent attempt to get away.
Erica, the Paramedics and their boyfriends rushed to scene and located her forty five minutes later in a rough state. She was airlifted but pronounced dead on arrival. Her death was ruled as accidental but discrepancies soon emerged. Bloodstains were discovered inside Shelly’s car on the front seat and in various parts of the car. The police categorically insisted no DNA analysis could be performed since they had no such budget allocation and the source of this mysterious bloodstain remains a mystery as only the paramedics moved Shelly from the scene.
Erica is her affidavit swore the horse ‘’repeatedly kicked’’ Shelly on her legs, face, and the head before running off. A statement disputed by horse veterans who insisted horses might step on one when getting up but ‘’rarely trample and kick’’ on an individual lying on the ground. Immediately after her funeral, the horses were mysteriously carted off and Shelly’s boyfriend showed up on a pickup truck eager to ferry off her stuff. Unless the police reopen the investigations, we’ll never know what transpired on that fateful sundown.
3. The Ghost Plane of Mindanao
The events of December 8, 1942 would certainly remain embedded in historical books for quite a long time. Not as an important political date but rather a cabalistic dance with bizarre after the US Army radars picked up a flying plane on its radars. Still hysterical of the Pearl Harbor attack months ago, the army quickly scrambled two fighter jets and what they saw shocked them. They closed in on a strange plane model the P-40 which was heavily damaged with bullets holes and blown away landing gears. The pilot was slumped on his chest drenched with blood. As they peered inside, the pilot gestured slightly before the plane plummeted to the ground.
After the impact, no pilot was found and the fuel tanks were bone dry with no trace of fuel to begin with. A small journal aboard pinpointed the planes’ location to Mindanao Island, thousands of miles away. Though others thought the plane might have been shot down years ago and the pilot repaired it back to flight status, it remains a mystery on how it took off in the first place.
2. Francis Leavy’s Indelible Print
On April 18, 1924, Francis Leavy, a fireman from Chicago Fire department was busy washing a large window when he suddenly announced he had weird feeling he would die that same day. A smiling man ready to help, his colleagues quickly dismissed him off and went about their chores when they were alerted of fire outbreak and hurriedly rushed to the scene.
Minutes later, he climbed on the smoking upper floors to help the trapped when fire erupted in the lower floors causing the building to collapse. He alongside nine other firemen and a civilian were killed by the falling masonry. However, things took a turn for the worst when the grieving firemen noticed an imprint on the window Francis had been cleaning. Unsure of the creepy find, they cleaned the window but the hand print wouldn’t go away. Glass cleaners were contacted but nothing would wash it off. They gave up and left it alone for 20 years before a careless newspaper vendor shuttered the glass along with the imprint.
1. The Mysterious Disappearance of Randy Leach
On April 15, 1988, Randy borrowed her mother’s car and drove out of their Linwood, Kansas home to a late night party. After drinking, he got intoxicated and was helped to the car by a friend but Randy had apparently misplaced the key. When the friend came out a few minutes later to check on him, he was gone and the sedan was missing from the parking lot. Assuming he had driven himself home, he went back to party but Brandy didn’t arrive home that night. He, alongside the car was never found.
The next morning after the disappearance, Brandy’s parents saw a car drive slowly by and a man staring at their house. His motives is unknown. Though a man later confessed to have been kidnapped by a cult and locked up in the caves with Brandy’s corpse, police found no evidence to back up his story.
AUTHOR; Moses Onyango is a medical student who loves writing lists for wonderslist. You can check out his previous top notch list that set tongues wagging.