World

Mapinguari: guardian of the Amazon, or a memory of the giant ground sloth?

World - Mysteries & the bizarre - In many Amazonian stories, Mapinguari is a creature or an entity that protects the forest, with a terrifying cry, a powerful smell, skin that is hard to pierce and sometimes feet that point backward ..

27/08/2026
4,723

The Kraken: from ship-swallowing tentacles to a giant squid filmed in the deep

World - Mysteries & the bizarre - The Kraken is a rare case of a "monster" with a relative made of flesh and bone. Giant squid of the genus Architeuthis, metres long, really do live in the deep sea, leaving drifting carcasses, beaks ..

26/08/2026
5,101

Cahokia: Why did ancient North America's largest city decline?

World - Mysteries & the bizarre - Around 1100, Cahokia featured a vast plaza, dozens of mounds, residential areas, and a population that may have rivaled many European cities of the same era. A few centuries later, this center grew ..

26/08/2026
4,840

The Lost Roanoke Colony: What Does the Word CROATOAN Really Reveal?

World - Mysteries & the bizarre - When John White returned to Roanoke in 1590, he did not find the 117 settlers he had left behind. The houses had been dismantled, a wooden palisade had appeared, and the word ‘CROATOAN’ was carved i ..

25/08/2026
4,844

The Beast of Bodmin Moor: what did the British government report find in the Cornish mist?

World - Mysteries & the bizarre - Since the early 1980s, people in Cornwall have described a large black cat slipping across Bodmin Moor, and flocks of sheep being attacked. In 1995 the British Ministry of Agriculture sent experts t ..

25/08/2026
4,930

Orang Pendek: is the "short person" of the Sumatran forest an unknown primate?

World - Mysteries & the bizarre - Orang Pendek means "short person" in Indonesian, and describes a creature that walks on two legs, stands about a metre tall, is covered in reddish-brown hair and lives around the mountain forests of ..

24/08/2026
4,921

Mary Celeste: the ship was intact but the crew vanished

World - Mysteries & the bizarre - On December 4, 1872, the crew of the Dei Gratia spotted the Mary Celeste sailing erratically near the Azores. Upon boarding, they found no sign of Captain Benjamin Briggs, his family, or the seven c ..

24/08/2026
4,691

The Franklin Expedition: From Two Lost Ships to Inuit Oral History

World - Mysteries & the bizarre - In 1845, 129 men under the command of Sir John Franklin boarded HMS Erebus and HMS Terror to search for the Northwest Passage. After a few sightings in Baffin Bay, the expedition vanished from Europ ..

23/08/2026
4,941

The Tasmanian tiger: do sightings after 1936 prove the thylacine survived?

World - Mysteries & the bizarre - The thylacine is not a legendary creature: museums hold skins, bones, preserved specimens and film of living animals. The mystery begins after the last known individual died at Hobart Zoo on 7 Septe ..

23/08/2026
5,007

The ivory-billed woodpecker: the "kent" call, blurry video and a bird that refuses to vanish

World - Mysteries & the bizarre - The ivory-billed woodpecker was once the largest woodpecker north of Mexico, living in the old-growth forests and swamps of the south-eastern United States. The last widely accepted sighting in the ..

22/08/2026
4,871

Amelia Earhart's disappearance: the final signals and the ocean around Howland Island

World - Mysteries & the bizarre - On the morning of July 2, 1937, Amelia Earhart's voice signals to the Coast Guard cutter Itasca grew increasingly stronger, indicating that the Lockheed Electra was nearing Howland Island. However, ..

22/08/2026
4,977

Flight 19: Five Missing Aircraft and the Birth of the Bermuda Triangle Legend

World - Mysteries & the bizarre - On the afternoon of December 5, 1945, five TBM Avenger torpedo bombers left Fort Lauderdale on a navigation exercise. Hours later, radio fragments indicated the formation was unable to determine its ..

21/08/2026
5,060

Is megalodon still alive in the deep sea? What the fossil tooth record answers

World - Mysteries & the bizarre - Megalodon really was a colossal predatory shark, with serrated teeth up to about 18 cm long and a history spanning millions of years. It is precisely that reality which makes the idea of it hiding i ..

21/08/2026
4,692

The Thunderbird: a sacred bringer of storms, or a memory of giant wings?

World - Mysteries & the bizarre - "Thunderbird" is the English name used for many powerful bird beings in the traditions of Indigenous peoples across North America, usually connected with thunder, lightning, water and the order of t ..

20/08/2026
4,989

Flannan Isles Lighthouse: Three Keepers Vanish in a Storm

World - Mysteries & the bizarre - On December 26, 1900, the relief ship Hesperus arrived at Eilean Mòr in the Flannan Isles. No signal was returned, the flag was not flying, and relief keeper Joseph Moore entered an empty lighthouse ..

20/08/2026
5,003

Dyatlov Pass: How Much Can a Slab Avalanche Explain?

World - Mysteries & the bizarre - On the night of February 1 to 2, 1959, nine hikers left their tent on the slopes of Kholat Syakhl in freezing cold. The tent was cut from the inside; bodies were found in several groups from the edg ..

19/08/2026
4,904

The Flatwoods Monster: a meteor, a barn owl and the terrifying night of 1952

World - Mysteries & the bizarre - On the evening of 12 September 1952, a streak of fire crossed the sky over the eastern United States. At Flatwoods in West Virginia, a group climbed a hill to find where the object seemed to have fa ..

19/08/2026
4,669

The Skunk Ape: Florida's Bigfoot, or a black bear standing in the swamp?

World - Mysteries & the bizarre - The Skunk Ape is called "Florida's Bigfoot": a hair-covered, bipedal creature with a powerful smell, living in the Everglades and the swamps of the south. Reports increased through the 1960s and 197 ..

18/08/2026
5,022

MV Joyita: The Unsinkable Ship and the 25 People Who Never Returned

World - Mysteries & the bizarre - On October 3, 1955, the MV Joyita left Apia, Samoa for Tokelau on a scheduled two-day journey. There were 25 people on board. More than a month later, the Joyita was discovered drifting north of Fij ..

18/08/2026
4,902

SS Waratah: 211 People Missing off South Africa in 1909

World - Mysteries & the bizarre - On the evening of July 26, 1909, the SS Waratah left Durban for Cape Town with 211 passengers and crew. The following morning, the ship Clan MacIntyre exchanged signals with the Waratah near the mou ..

17/08/2026
4,634