Creepy Unsolved (preferably paranormal) Mysteries.

Let's post and discuss any we can find!

I'll start off with the Dyatlov Pass Incident.

edited 14th Nov '11 1:35:40 PM by RL_Nice

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unexplained_boom

Ill search for more.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babushka_lady

edited 14th Nov '11 1:51:11 PM by Baff

When people get hypothermic, they sometimes strip because nerve signals in the body get mistaken for "hot" instead of "cold". Just solved your so-called "paranormal" incident right there.

As for the missing tongue and fractured bones, it is called "bears". They like to chew on the soft parts of the body first, including tongues.

The radiation was proven to be something some idiot put into the report after the fact, and is in fact not actually true.

edited 14th Nov '11 2:52:11 PM by MyGodItsFullofStars

In fact, most of these "unexplained" mysteries get such mundane explanations... doesn't mean they don't make for badass Call Of Cthulhu adventures.

Sure, they are fun, but at some point you've got to grow up and accept the fact that the world is a pretty ordinary place. That doesn't mean that there is no mystery out there, just that so far all of the mysteries we have found eventually prove perfectly explainable, and that "paranormal" is simply a stupid way of describing something that we haven't figured out yet.

That being said, there are some things that, despite not being paranormal, are inexplicable:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_spheres_of_Costa_Rica

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism

edited 14th Nov '11 2:57:06 PM by MyGodItsFullofStars

edit: ignore, redundant

edited 14th Nov '11 2:58:15 PM by pagad

Oh, mind you, I didn't say these paranormal things are true. I doubt it's even unclear. I, however, see this thread as "share creepy stories", especially as you can get adventure ideas for Call Of Cthulhu just by reading a newspaper. Missing space probe? Mi-Go. Madman kills three? Even easier.

@Stars,

Weren't the people at Dyatlov Pass found with their chests exploded/imploded from the inside out?

If so, I don't think bears can do that...

My personal favorite is SM UB-65, a haunted German U-Boat of World War One vintage. I remember being captivated by the story when I was little (it was in an anthology of real life ghost stories that my Fourth Grade teacher had) and it's still one of my favorites. I need to read up on it again—it's been a long time since I've read it—but I remember it was very... disturbing, somehow...

edited 14th Nov '11 3:53:02 PM by USAF713

I don't remember reading anything about exploded/imploded chests. And I do find it somewhat suspect that a bear would eat a corpse's tongue and leave the rest of the body alone.

Not Call Of Cthulhu, but rather my own series of adventure stories.

edited 14th Nov '11 4:18:31 PM by RL_Nice

Not just bears, man. What about small mammals or birds? Did they still have their eyes when they were found? I know in warmer climes, birds like to eat the eyes early on. I suppose it might not be worth the effort in the freezing temps up there. You're probably right that a HUNGRY bear would probably eat more than just their tongues, but if they somehow accidently antagonized a bear in their delirium, they could have been killed by the bear in self defense, and had birds eat their tongues.

edited 14th Nov '11 4:24:30 PM by Katrika

Anyone here know of BLOOP?

Yeah, I know of it, but I don't think I've ever seen an explanation. It's really weird, isn't it?

EDIT: So I went to look for it in Wikipedia (still no definite answer) and found out that there have been several other named sounds that remain unexplained.

Second edit: I listened to some of the sounds that have their own article (they're linked at the end of the article for BLOOP.) Really eerie shit. If I ever make a movie or a game or something else that'd include an opportunity to make use of these, I'd totally go for it if there's no copyright on these. (I'm guessing that these are free to use because they're recorded (and named) by a US government source.)

Douglas Adams left us a long list of excellent quotes from which to reach for his wisdom and insight in a futile attempt to get over his untimely demise. Among those pearls you'll find this:

edited 14th Nov '11 6:12:04 PM by BestOf

Technically that's very normal, as far as we know. What it ISN'T is boring.

=P

edited 14th Nov '11 6:15:33 PM by Katrika

Exactly.

"Grow up" might be the wrong phrase, I think.

So, do they sound mechanical or biological?

I'd say mechanical, all of them; but probably resulting from something natural (volcanic activity and glacial events (usually ice calving) have been among the most common proposed explanations.)

My favourite among them is Julia.

...And now I've stumbled upon something even weirder. I had completely forgotten about the quacker phenomenon of the 1960s and 70s.

Wikipedia:

None of the proposed explanations seem very likely, but the one that came closest to accounting for all the facts was that the quacker was a giant squid; so this one definitely meets the purpose of this thread.

The other two explanations were: unknown US technology (there still exists nothing that could replicate the properties of the quacker in any country's known arsenal, especially when the source of the sound wasn't detectable by active SONAR;) and UFOs, that eternal stock response to any presently unexplained phenomenon.

edited 14th Nov '11 6:45:53 PM by BestOf

Even BLOOP?

Quacker: Okay, that is bizarre. I'm betting some critters we've not yet discovered.

My guess would be quackers are caused by haloclines - regions where fresh and saltwater mix. Because sound waves move differently in salt and fresh water, if you weren't compensating for the possible presence of such things as freshwater geysers or sub-surface ice you'd think that the sound waves suddenly sped up or slowed down. Why do they seem to move when a submarine is nearby? Because the submarine is stirring the water around as it passes. The eventual disappearance of the haloclines (due to the constant submarine activity stirring them to the point that they simply diffused into the rest of the sea) also makes some sense.

How much traffic would it take to mix the water enough to dissolve (not the correct word but can't think of a better one) the halocline?

'Cause I don't think submarines travel the same routes all the time, or that the routes are short - I'd expect the traffic to have been something like one sub every month or two per quacker.

edited 14th Nov '11 7:08:56 PM by BestOf

...Guys, you just sucked the 'magic' out of it.

When you know what's causing it, it's even more awesome. Well, that's how it works for me, anyway.

Douglas Adams again:

edited 14th Nov '11 8:07:15 PM by BestOf

—shrugs sheepishly—

Sorry. Not my field of study, I suppose.

Any others you can think of?

Cthulhu. Or smaller, lesser minions of Cthulhu.

How's about all those various "Triangles"?