Five Mysteries I Would Love To Solve
When I was younger, I wanted to be an archaeologist. This was the mid-seventies – way before Indiana Jones jumped on the screen – although that movie solidified my resolve. At the time, shows like Leonard Nimoy’s “In Search Of” fueled my love for anything unknown and mysterious and I still have the desire to solve some of these enigmas to this day. Life changed my grand plans to be a globetrotting, world reknowned archaeologist, but the mysteries remain. Below are the five mysteries I’d love to solve if given the chance. Feel free to add your own.
The Monsters that Roam the Earth
This is basically the solving of the worlds cryptozoology questions. I heap Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster,Chupacabra, and the Abominable Snowman amongst the monsters I’d love to uncover. These monsters have been sighted for hundreds of years and talked about by all sorts of cultures. To sight one of these creatures would be the highlight of any mystery hunter. These monsters are located all over the world, so there would be lots of traveling around. To find one of these creatures, you would need survival skills in harsh regions with little human contact.
What Ever Happened to D.B. Cooper?
In 1971, an unknown hijacker parachuted out of a commercial airplane with $200,000 over heavily forested wilderness. No one ever saw him again. No one knows if he lived or died from the jump. It is presumed that he is dead, but no one ever found the money or the body. This case is the only unsolved U.S. hijacking. A few clues have arisen, but nothing to prove what happened to Cooper – which is the pseudonym that he used for his plane ticket. Over five thousand dollars in $20 bills was found along the Columbia River in 1980 and a placard from the plane was also discovered. In 2007, the FBI re-opened the case, stating they don’t believe Cooper survived, but they wanted to know who he was. They aren’t alone!
How Were the Pyramids Built?
Pyramids have been around for 6000 years, starting with ziggarauts in Mesopotamia and being formed in Egypt (where they are most famous) and in North and South America, where Aztec and American Indian pyramids have been found. How were these things made? Why did people from diverse cultures insist on making them? The Aztec pyramids and the Great Pyramid of Egypt are almost the exact same size! How did that happen? Some people believe the pyramids were built by slaves hauling large stones on top of each other. Other methods talk about the use of wind power and building them from the top down. Since no one remembers and drawings have never been found, the world may never know.
England’s Mystery: Stonehenge
A “henge” is a circle. It can be made out of stone or wood and is surrounded by earth. The most famous of these is Stonehenge in England on the Salisbury Plain. Almost all of them were built in the late Neo-lithic or early Bronze eras. In England, alone, there are at least nine such Henges. Stonehenge became the most popular due to Thomas Kendrick’s work as the Keeper of British Antiquities for the British Museum. It is believed that henges were created for either astrological discovery or burial grounds. They are terrible for defense and it is believed that rituals were conducted within their confines. Since there is no written history on the henges, their use is conjecture.
The Discovery of Atlantis
This story has been going around since the time of Plato and mentioned in his dialogues, Timaeus and Critius. According to Plato, Atlantis was an island country about the time of 9600 B.C. and stood before the “Pillars of Hercules”. They conquered most of Europe and Africa and sank into the sea after failing to take over Athens. The existance of Atlantis has been argued for many years. Some scholars argue that Plato took the story from events that he knew during his lifetime, while others believe it to be a true story. It has only been in modern times that the story is taken seriously. In ancient Greece, it was considered just a story. Places where the mythical Atlantis might have been have ranged from just beyond the Straits of Gibraltar to the shoreline of Bimini, in the Bahamas, off the coast of Florida. Did it ever exist or was Plato just telling a story?