(upbeat music)
- Yeah, just hold on a minute.
This is when it gets to the good part.
So throughout the course of history
over 130 million books have been published,
so obviously humans have a thirst for knowledge.
And when you think of books, what do you think of?
Harry Potter, The Alchemist, the Bible, maybe?
Well, what about books that replicate themselves
or predict the future?
Well today I'm going to show you
a list of books that actually existed
that defy all logic by existing at all.
So let's jump right into it.
These are the 10 most mysterious books in history.
Number one is the Book of Soyga.
Also known as Aldaraia,
the Book of Soyga is a legendary book
that exists right now in the UK
that is said to have been presented to Adam himself
by the angels of God in the Garden of Eden.
The 197 pages of the book consists of everything
from spells, rituals, and information on other magics,
demonology, and astrology.
The first known owner of this book was John Dee,
a well-known Elizabethan mathematician, astrologer,
and consultant to the court of the queen.
He possessed over 3,000 books,
which was the largest library in England at the time.
After his death, however,
the book seemed to vanish from existence
only to suddenly resurface
in not one but two different places in 1994.
One was the British Library in London
and the other was the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
Okay, so obviously the existence of this book defies logic
but what also defies logic is why this guy
had over 3,000 books.
I mean, I'm all about hobbies and whatnot
but go see some sunlight, man.
Number two is the Rohonc Codex.
All 448 pages of this book are written in a language
that to this day is still indecipherable.
The Rohonc Codex's words
are written from right to left on each page
and are accompanied by 87 illustrations
of military battles, landscapes,
and other images that may have religious influence.
Scholars have noted that the number of symbols
used in the book
are 10 ten times those in any known alphabet.
The codex was discovered in 1700 in Hungary
and since then many have tried to decipher it
with wildly different translations.
The fact is this mysterious book
may never be truly understood, kind of like Michael Jackson.
That man was an enigma.
Rest in peace.
Number three is the Great Omar Book.
The full title of this book is
(clears throat)
the Sangorski Edition of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
Well that's quite the mouthful.
Francis Sangorski was a bookbinder from London
who started a firm in 1901
and created the first of what many claim
to be the most cursed book of all time.
The book that Sangorski made
found its way to the bottom of the Atlantic
when it sank with, of all things, the Titanic.
Then there was a second copy made
using Sangorski's original drawings
which was destroyed soon after completion
in the early days of World War II
when London was bombed during the Blitz.
It then took 40 years to finish the third copy,
which was donated to the British Library
after its maker, Stanley Bray, died.
You know, maybe I'm just pragmatic,
but I would just not touch the book.
I don't care what secrets lie within,
it's goin' kill me, man!
Be pragmatic, don't touch those pages.
Number four are The Prophecies of Nostradamus.
Possibly the most famous book on this list,
The Prophecies of Nostradamus is one that is widely claimed
to have predicted several major events in human history.
These include the rise of Napoleon and Adolf Hitler,
the Great Fire of London,
the dropping of the first nuclear bomb,
and even the September 11th attacks
on the World Trade Center in New York City. ( a.k.a. 9/11)
People seem to consistently be linking every disaster,
both those that occur naturally and those that are man-made,
to the words that Michel de Nostradame wrote 400 years ago.
Now this is highly contested with many believing
that these predictions are 100% accurate
and some that just call them out as false.
Personally, I would love to be able to predict the future
but not just the things that are bad.
I feel like that would make you a bit of a party pooper.
Hey Matt, nice to meet you.
You're going to lose your job tomorrow.
Okay, good chat!
Number five is the Ripley Scroll book.
Named after the 15th century Augustinian monk
and alchemist George Ripley,
the Ripley Scroll reads almost like a journal
and it's essentially a real life wizard's spell book.
It chronicles the man's travels across Europe
as he combed the land in search of immortality
and the secrets behind transmutation.
Legend has it that he was able to change lead into gold
with a spell contained within the pages
by creating the philosopher's stone.
This, of course,
in turn was used to make the elixir of life,
which many claim had made the monk immortal.
Now history claims that the man died in 1490
but he may still be out there somewhere,
waiting, drinkin' on that sweet elixir.
Number six is the Popol Vuh.
According to a tale told by Francisco Ximenez,
a Dominican priest,
the Popol Vuh was a manuscript given to him
when in 1701, he visited a small town in Guatemala.
The Popol Vuh, which translates to the Book of the People,
contains an elaborate creation story involving four deities,
a brief history of the planet, and cosmology teachings.
Though he cites his source as a parishioner in the town,
no similar manuscript has ever been found.
There are some scholars who argue
that he should never have been given access to the pages
since it was considered a closely guarded secret.
The Popol Vuh is definitely a book shrouded in mystery.
Number seven are the Beale Ciphers.
The Beale ciphers are basically like the beginning
of a real-life national treasure.
The pages are actually a trio of ciphers
which lead to a massive hidden treasure
of gold, silver, and jewels
worth nearly, brace yourself, $63 million.
As legend has it,
in 1820 the pages were given in a box by Thomas Beale
to an innkeeper in Virginia named Robert Morris.
The box was given with the instruction
that he should only open the box
if Beale did not return within 10 years.
And of course, Beale disappeared
so naturally, Morris opened the box
and began trying to break the code
written on the papers inside.
In all of history, only one of the pages
has ever been deciphered
and it took, believe it or not,
the Declaration of Independence as a key to unlock it.
And you guys thought I was joking
about the national treasure thing.
Neither of the codes have ever been broken to this day
and many claim that the treasure is still out there
waiting to be found.
I think it would be hilarious after decades
somebody finally cracked the Beale cipher
and they open the box and instead of treasure
it's just, like, a note that says
♫ Lo lo lo lo lo lo lo lo lo lo lo lo lo lo ♫
That would be money. ($ _ $)
Number eight are the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Discovered in 11 caves across the shore of the Dead Sea,
starting with one that two goat herders found,
the Dead Sea Scrolls are considered
the greatest manuscript discovery of modern times.
They were found between 1947 and 1956
and contain, amongst other things,
the oldest collection of Old Testament manuscripts
ever discovered.
These included prophecies by Ezekiel, Daniel,
and Jeremiah that had never been found in the Bible before.
The scrolls themselves are unbelievably over 2,000 years old
and at least one of them is an ancient treasure map
to 64 different buried treasures.
Look, I appreciate that the (mimics goat)
goat herders handed these in for historical purposes,
but if I found a treasure map like that
that led to 64 different big treasures,
you would never see me again. (The wild baldo goes extinct)
I would be on an island bathing in gold and jewels.
Sorry, historians.
Number nine is the Liber Linteus.
The Liber Linteus only contains 1,200 words
written on 230 lines
but what makes it truly unique
is what those words are written on
and also what it was used for later.
The ancient text refers to the Etruscans,
people who populated italy
before the rise of the Roman Empire.
It's scribed on linen,
making it the only known example of a book made that way.
Interestingly after the Etruscans fell
their Roman conquerors would have destroyed the text
if for not how it was preserved and hidden.
The Liber Linteus was written on wrappings
covering an Egyptian tailor's mummified wife,
which is how it was discovered in the 1800s
when the mummy was donated to a museum.
Now if they really wanted to hide this message
I think they should have put some underwear on the mummy
because think about it.
Someone discovers a mummy, sees underwear,
what are they going to do?
They're going to look underneath.
They're going to find a message on some mummy dick.
And number 10 is the Voynich manuscript.
This final one is vastly considered
the most mysterious book on the planet.
The Voynich manuscript is so old and confusing
that many an argument has been had
to how exactly it needs to be studied.
Written by an anonymous author,
the manuscript is almost impossible to translate
but some people claim that it's actually a puzzle.
The book, which in the 1800s was part of a Jesuit library,
is named after Wilfred Voynich,
a Polish book dealer who came into its possession in 1909.
It's an illustrated, handwritten codex
penned in a language that was previously unknown.
To this day it's still not known
exactly what the manuscript is
or even what's said on its pages.
Speaking of books, my very first book just launched guys,
and it is available right now
in both paperback and audiobook.
How's that for a segue way?
Yes, this is the book that I've been talking about
for over a year.
Mind Equals Blown
is a collection of amazing and mind-blowing facts
from the world that we live in,
as well as a bit of my own life story.
If you guys like what I do here on YouTube,
you're going to love this book.
I promise you that.
So click the link in the description and buy your copy now.
I'm incredibly excited
to hear what you guys have to say about it.
I've been working on this for a long time.
So be sure to order it
and let me know what you think once you've read it.
Ah! I'm overly excited today.
Thank you guys so much for watching.
If you enjoyed this
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and as always if you want to learn anything else,
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Thanks again for watching.
I hope you guys have a great day.
Check out the book!
Peace!
Bye!
(Matthew humming)
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