History is filled with amazing and bizarre stories, from World War’s to social history,
there is a niche period that everyone can enjoy.
With history comes mystery and thanks to top scientists and academics, some of the world’s
greatest historical mysteries have finally been solved.
5 - Blood Rain On the morning of July 25th, 2001 residents
of the state of India were exposed to one of the creepiest moments in history.
As the residents woke up and went about their normal routine, rain began to fall from the
sky.
This was to be expected, after all, they were in the middle of monsoon season and heavy
rainfall was anticipated.
What they didn’t anticipate was that the rain falling from the sky would be a rich,
deep red colour that resembled blood as it splashed onto the ground.
The residents were in disbelief, they couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
Their clothes became stained and people fled indoors, fearing that the red rain could possibly
injure them.
It wasn’t just red rain either, people all around the state reported seeing yellow, green
and black rain and panic and confusion quickly set in.
Locals reported that the red/yellow/green/black rain came after they heard a loud thunderclap
followed by a bright flash of light.
More worryingly, the residents reported that after this great flash of light, grey or burnt
leaves began falling from the trees spontaneously.
For 10 days the mysterious rain continued, locals reported that the red rain was localised
and only lasted for a short duration.
One area could be experiencing normal rain, whilst just a few miles away, red rain would
be falling from the heavens.
The Indian Government were baffled as to what could have caused the red rain.
People began speculating that the red rain was otherworldly and had been caused by extraterrestrial
life or an event deep in space.
The Indian Government hypothesised that the red rain was caused by debris from a meteor
as each millimetre of rain contained 9 million red particles.
Scientists were able to collect samples of the mysterious coloured rain and analysed
it further.
The analysis proved that the red particles were spores of a nearby plant.
These spores had risen into the atmosphere and combined with the rain.
In 2013, another group of scientists found that the specific algae wasn’t native to
India and had travelled in the wind all the way from Austria.
Finally, the mystery of the blood rain in Kerala was solved, but who knows when one
of the creepiest moments in history may repeat itself?
4 - Where did the Mayans go?
The Mayan Civilisation and its downfall have been one of the most debated world-historical
mysteries.
Hundreds of historians, scientists and other academics have dedicated their careers to
uncovering what happened to the Mayans and why they really abandoned their homes.
In 2005, centuries after the sudden collapse of the Mayan Empire, Jared Diamond put forward
an interesting theory that prompted Arizona State University to conduct further testing.
In his 2005 book, ‘Collapse’ Jared Diamond hypothesised that the Mayans didn’t leave
because of war or disease.
Instead, he proposed that they left out of necessity, to look for food and because they
were living through an intense drought.
The ancient civilisation of the Mayans is believed to have its origins as far back as
1500 BCE.
The Mayan people thrived by developing agricultural methods and slowly settling themselves into
larger and larger settlements that quickly developed into cities.
Historians have estimated that at its peak, the ancient Mayan civilisation was home to
around 2 million people who thrived on the new societal systems set in place.
Then around 900 CE the population mysteriously drops, almost as if the Mayans vanished into
thin air.
For decades, historians have tried to piece together what exactly happened to the Mayans
and a 2012 study by the University of Arizona finally yielded some concrete answers.
After hearing Diamond’s hypothesis, researchers at the University of Arizona became intrigued
and wanted to explore his idea further.
They used archaeological data from Yucatan and discovered that around 900 CE the area
was experiencing a large drought.
They also found that during this time, the Mayans had deforested a lot of areas to make
way for more farms which only contributed to their water issues.
The Smithsonian explained “Because cleared land absorbs less solar radiation, less water
evaporates from its surface, making clouds and rainfall more scarce.
As a result, the rapid deforestation exacerbated an already severe drought.”
After decades and even centuries of research, hard work and dedication, we have finally
arrived at a solid conclusion as to what happened to the ancient Mayan civilisation.
They did not flee due to conflict or disease, but instead, they fled to find more arable
land to produce food so that their people could survive.
3 - David Lee Niles 72-year-old David Lee Niles spent the evening
of October 11th 2006 at Jake’s Bar in Byron Centre, Michigan.
David and his friend spent the night at the bar drinking and engaging in casual conversation.
In the months before October 2006, David had been struggling with cancer and depression
and his friend wanted to do something to help cheer him up and take his mind off his problems,
even if it was just for a few hours.
The pair sat and chatted for a while, that was until David got up and left without warning.
He didn’t tell his friend where he was going or why he was in such a hurry to leave.
Sadly after that, David was never seen again.
Days passed and when friends and family realised they hadn’t heard from David, they contacted
the Kent County Sheriff’s Office to file a missing person report.
An investigation was launched, but as there was no sign of David, little came of their
investigation.
As the years went by, David’s friends and family never forgot about him and often wondered
what had happened to him and if he was still out there.
Then 9 years later on November 10th 2015 Brian Houseman made a shocking discovery that would
finally bring an end to the weird historical disappearance of David Lee Niles.
Houseman was working on a tree that sat outside of the Cook Funeral Home in Byron Centre,
across from the funeral home was a large pond.
As Houseman carried out his work, he couldn’t help but feel that he could see something
submerged at the bottom of the pond.
He tried to carry on with his work, but he was unable to shake that uneasy feeling from
his mind.
As he crept closer to the pond he discovered the roof of a car sitting underneath the surface
of the water.
After realising what he had discovered, he called the Kent County Police Department and
told them to attend the scene right away.
Hours later, the car was pulled from the pond and investigators made yet another shocking
discovery.
Sat inside of the car were the skeletal remains of an adult male.
The remains were sent to the coroner who used dental records to confirm that the remains
belonged to the missing 72-year-old David Lee Niles.
Shortly after, David’s family were informed and made funeral arrangements.
The Kent County Sheriff’s Office has ruled out foul play and is unsure of what happened
to David that night.
In a bizarre twist, investigators and residents found that David’s submerged car had been
visible on Google Maps since he had mysteriously vanished in 2006.
It turns out that the answer to their mystery was right under their noses.
In a statement to the media, David’s family said “Why God waited nine years, I have
no idea, but we’re happy.
It’s good to have him home.”
2 - Iron Pillar of Delhi For over 1600 years the iron pillar of Delhi
mystified locals and scientists.
The pillar stands at a whopping 22 feet and weighs around 3 tonnes.
Many visitors have commented that from far away, the pillar seems like nothing special
and that it's only when you get closer do you realise the scale and enormity of it.
The pillar sits outside of a Mosque in New Delhi, India and whilst people still debate
how it came to be there, there is another mystery surrounding the pillar that was recently
solved.
According to the inscription on the pillar, it was brought to the site in New Delhi by
King Chandra who ruled from 375 to 415 CE.
Scientists discovered that the pillar is over 1600 years old, meaning that the pillar was
built and created elsewhere before being moved to New Delhi.
No one knows for certain who moved the pillar or how they did it.
The inscription on the pillar reads “The residue of the King’s effort - a burning
splendor which utterly destroyed his enemies - leaves not the earth even now, just like
the residual heat of a burned-out conflagration in a great forest.
He, as if he wearied, has abandoned this world and resorted in actual form to the other world
- a place won by the merit of his deeds - and although he has departed, he remains on earth
through the memory of his fame.”
The pillar has become an important historical landmark for the people of India, but the
mystery behind who put the pillar there isn’t the only one surrounding it.
Being over 1600 years old, you would expect to see rust and wear on the pillar, however
that is simply not the case.
The pillar in New Delhi has never rusted and for decades, residents were itching to know
how this was possible as the pillar is made from iron.
It wasn’t until the 2000s that people in India finally had their answer.
A local doctor discovered that the iron used was not pure, in fact, it sits at around 98%
purity.
As lime was not used in the smelting process, the phosphorus was never removed from the
iron.
This phosphorus then oxidised and reacted with the impurities in the iron and formed
a protective barrier around the pillar and thus the strange historical mystery was solved.
Had the pillar been made in more modern times, the phosphorus would have been removed and
the impurities would not have been present in such high concentrations.
So whilst the construction of this pillar used what we might deem as “outdated”
methods, this is an example of when primitive methods have worked to our advantage.
1 - Cangrande della Scala Cangrande Della Scala was a revered figure
throughout Italy in the early 1300s.
Scala had solidified his position by showing no mercy to his opponents and in 1329 he marched
into Treviso a proud man.
He had recently conquered northern Italy and was slowly consolidating his power and planning
how he would make the rest of Italy his.
That was until he mysteriously passed just days after marching into the city of Treviso
on July 22nd 1329.
For centuries, his passing has been the subject of one of the world’s greatest historical
mysteries with historians and scientists pouring over the evidence to finally crack the case
once and for all.
Just days after his triumphant arrival, Scala began exhibiting symptoms of a mystery illness,
he was vomiting and had a high fever but no doctors were able to determine the cause of
his mystery illness.
As the hours ticked by, Scala’s condition worsened and those around him remembered that
he had drunk out of a polluted spring and blamed that for the illness.
Hours later, Scala had passed away, leaving a small power vacuum and a mystery that would
span centuries.
Some historians sided with the fact that Scala is believed to have drunk water from a polluted
spring and put his demise down to waterborne disease.
Other historians believed that there was something more nefarious that had happened and it turns
out that they were right.
In 2004 Gino Fornaciari, a forensic pathologist at the University of Pisa was approached by
a Museum to conduct an exhumation and autopsy of Scala.
Fornaciari agreed and along with a team of researchers he set about exhuming Scala’s
body.
The team were able to recover biological samples from the naturally mummified remains of Scala
and toxicology tests performed on these samples held shocking results.
Foxglove was found in these samples and when ingested, is lethal to humans.
Other toxins were also found in these samples indicating that someone had poisoned Scala.
Whilst we now know what caused the fall of the great leader, we still don’t know who
is responsible.
Perhaps that’s one part of a historical mystery that we will never solve.