Here are a few of the strangest things found!
9 - The Shroud of Turin The Shroud of Turin is a piece of lenin that
some people believe bears the image of Jesus on it.
They argue that the shroud was used to wrap Jesus in after he was done with by the Romans.
Here’s where it gets complicated.
Well, I mean it’s religion, so naturally it’s a complex subject.
The earliest known historic records of the shroud dates back to the mid 14th century.
However, radiocarbon dating would suggest that the linen actually dates back to sometime
between 1260 and 1390.
Could just be a coincidence, but it’s led some people to conclude that the shroud doesn’t
actually have Jesus’s image on it, since it was created more than 1,200 year after
his birth.
Forensic analysis suggest the markings of the body are consistent with the biblical
account of his crucifixion, indicating wounds on the wrists, torso and forehead.
So the authenticity of this shroud remain controversial, complex and difficult to prove.
However, what we do know is that the finding is still pretty unusual it’ll still be a
source of intrigue for generations to come.
8 - Indonesian Hobbits What if Hobbits weren’t just fictional creatures
making their homes in the Shire of Middle Earth?
Well, okay, they’re still just figments of Tolkien’s imagination, but he was accidentally
onto something as it turns out.
In 2003, the bones of what’s now known as Homo floresiensis were discovered on the Indonesian
island of Flores.
They turned out to be the bones of an extinct species of people who stood about 3 feet 7
inches tall, the exact reason why they’ve been dubbed “Hobbits.”
When they were discovered by a team of Australian and Indonesian archaeologists, it was a total
shock because the team was just looking for evidence of human migration from Asia to Australia.
Instead they discovered a new species entirely.
DNA analysis suggests they lived roughly 60,000 to 100,000 years ago, although it’s not
really all that clear why they went extinct.
They ARE quite similar to us Homo Sapiens, but they’re still distinctly different.
Namely their smaller bodies and brains.
7 - Betz Mystery Sphere Every family is different, but let’s assume
that the typical family outing doesn’t result in finding what could be an alien artifact.
Unless of course you’re the Betz family.
It was 1974, and the Betz family, Antione, Gerri, and their 21-year old son Terry were
roaming their property on Fort George Island in Florida assessing the damage caused by
a brush fire.
That’s when they found this interesting looking orb of some kind.
This thing was in pristine condition, polished, black and not a mark on it, except for a triangle
stamped on it.
This mystery sphere was about the size of a bowling ball and weighed roughly 22 pounds.
Well, like any of us extremely curious about interesting things, Terry hauled this orb
home where he and his family noticed it had some weird characteristics.
For example, when Matthew strummed his guitar, the orb would vibrate and throb in response
to certain notes.
The dog would cover her ears anytime she was near it.
The orb would also vibrate in certain weather conditions and if they tried to roll it across
the room, it would stop and change directions.
All this is according to the Betz family of course.
Seriously, if I found an orb that did all this, I would have just gotten rid of it at
that point.
The United States Navy as well as NASA were said to have shown interest when the sphere
was found, and the family supposedly ended up delivering the orb to the Navy.
Decades later, this sphere still defies logic and baffles experts.
Supposedly the orb has 3 magnetic poles and possibly a fourth.
It can also withstand up to 120,000 pounds of pressure per square inch.
I’m not too sure what’s happened to the orb, but if any of you guys out there know,
definitely let us know in the comments section!
6 - The Mystery on Mount Owen While exploring a dark cave on Mount Owen
in New Zealand, archaeologists made a bizarre and frightening discovery in 1986.
Believe it or not they found the claw of a massive prehistoric bird.
Scientific analysis revealed that the claw was part of the mummified remains of a dinosaur-like
bird that were about 3,300 years old.
The remains, as it turned out, belonged to an upland moa, a flightless bird that once
roamed New Zealand beginning some 18 and a half millions years ago.
The bird probably went extinct a few centuries before the discovered remains were mummified.
So let’s do the math, these guys hung around for millions of years!
Bones of moas were first discovered in the late 19th century.
Archaeologists discovered thousands more over the years and based on that, they were able
to piece together the skeleton of what seems like a truly terrifying creature.
The largest moa species stood just over 10 feet tall and had these amazing claws that
they used to hunt down their prey.
There were about nine subspecies, including the upland moa which, and they tended to be
a bit smaller.
But let’s not underestimate just how freaky of an experience finding this thing in a dark
cave had to be.
Imagine these archaeologists exploring the depths of a dark, mostly unexplored cave,
when they found a fleshy claw, detached from it’s body.
That sounds like the beginning of a bad sci-fi movie rather than part of an ongoing series
of significant scientific discoveries.
5 - The Bog People Of all the eerie human remains discovered
throughout history, perhaps Tollund Man stands alone in its weirdness.
This dude lived sometime during the 4th century BC on the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark.
His body was so well preserved that he was actually initially mistaken for a recent hurdler
victim!
His body was discovered in 1950 by some people clearing out some vegetation near their house.
Once the found the body, they called the cops, who were also pretty baffled.
Tollund Man was wearing nothing but a wool skin cap on his head and a noose around his
neck.
The cops figured this body wasn’t recent, despite his well preserved skin, so they called
an archaeologist named P.V Glubb.
He estimated that the body was about twenty three hundred years old!
Bodies preserved this well are known as bog bodies and they’re a phenomenon that’s
more common than you think.
Experts think Tollund man was grilled as some sort of ritual sacrifice.
Today his remains are found in the Silkeborg Museum in Denmark.
Bog bodies are an especially weird form of human remains, because they’ve managed to
keep their skin and internal organs well preserved.
Some of these bodies date back to 8000 BCE, making them more than 10,000 years old!
So how are their bodies so well preserved?
A lot has to do with the area they’re buried in acidic water, cold temperatures and a lack
of oxygen help preserve the skin and organs, but not so much the bones.
The oldest such discovery is known as Koelbjerg Man, a man who lived in present day Denmark.
Based on DNA analysis, they dated him back to 8000 BCE to the Maglemosian Culture.
4 - The Peruvian Penguin Peruvian Penguin may sound like some sort
of weird B movie that’s prevalent on Netflix and Amazon Prime, but nahhhhh.
What they were are giant penguins that once waddled around in the deserts of peru.
That’s right, penguins nearly the size of humans once lived in the desert of South America.
Leeeeet’s let that sink in for a bit.
In 2007, Researchers at North Carolina State University led by paleontologist Julia Clarke
found the skull along with fossil samples of this giant penguin which they believe lived
in Peru roughly 36 million years ago, meaning, quite a while before that area officially
became Peru.
The finding was significant, because who knew penguins used to be so big?
Also, it changes our understanding of penguin migration.
For a while, scientists believed that penguins migrated to South America during a cold period
roughly 4 million years ago.
But now we know that in fact, five foot tall penguins lived in Peru 36 million years ago
during one of the warmest periods in the past 65 million years.
These unusual penguins are thought to have been a greyish brown, rather than black and
white like more contemporary penguins.
They also had feathers and a 7-inch beak for scooping up meals from the waters.
As expert swimmers, they passed that evolutionary trait down to their ancestors, who today,
only live in antarctica and your local zoo.
3 - Ancient Microbes Generally speaking, the discovery of a bunch
of microbes in the bottom of a lake might not raise too many eyebrows.
I mean, how can you even make an exhibit with that?
Back in 2012 a group of scientists, lead by NASA found a lot of ancient microbes in the
bottom of a very remote lake in Antarctica.
Lake Vida is one the darkest, most salty and murkiest lakes known to mankind.
And these microbes found absolutely thrive down there!
On average, it’s eight degrees below zero in their environment, and somehow or another,
they’re surviving without any source of energy from the sun, and have been for some
time.
As it turns out, they’ve been hanging around Lake Vida for roughly 3,000 years.
And trust me when I say this is a big deal.
Chris McKay, a senior scientist at NASA said this discovery is the quote “best analog
we have for possible ecosystems in the subsurface waters of Saturn's moon Enceladus and Jupiter's
moon Europa.”
A possibility of life on other planets?!
2 - Jake the Alligator Man In the Northwestern United States, Jake the
Alligator Man has a cult following.
If that sounds weird, well…...it’s because it is.
This supposed half man, half alligator hybrid is on display at the Marsh’s Free Museum
in Long Beach, Washington….among a collection of other bizarre things.
Jake’s cult following includes an annual celebration of his 75th birthday, a festive
occurrence that includes live music, bachelor parties, live music and a bizarre event known
as “The Bride of Jake” where women enter into some sort of deranged bridal contest.
Jake even has his own bumper stickers.
Still confused?
You should be.
So what is actually going on?
Well the general consensus is, at least according to Atlas Obscura, is that Jake was actually
the creation of an artist named Homer Tate, an early 20th sideshow artist who was rumored
to be responsible for many oddities of that era.
The museum bought him in the 60’s for $750 dollars and he continues to be the source
of fascination, fun and a ton of random revenue.
Unfortunately for some of you guys out there, no, there wasn’t actually a half man half
alligator dude ever.
1 - Siberian Unicorn
It’s time for us to talk about the Siberian Unicorn.
No it’s not just a creature from a comic book, but in fact it’s a huge mammal that
roamed the earth as recently as 29,000 years ago.
At least that’s what a recent discovery of a giant Rhino like skull in Kazakhstan
would suggest.
While scientists were well aware of the existence of the Siberian Unicorn, they always believed
it to be a creature that went extinct roughly 350,000 years ago.
But the shocking discovery of the massive, mostly intact skull has revealed that they
lived as recently as 29,000 years ago.
Apparently this is a pretty big deal in the scientific community and it’s brought this
thing back into discussions at the water cooler.
These Unicorns looked more like rhinos, and stood nearly 6 feet tall, weighing over 4
tons.
So yeah, they were pretty massive.
Plus they had a massive horn on their forehead, which gives it its cute lil nickname.
Here’s what’s next!