Unsolved Mysteries Trivia Quiz

Answer: Death Valley

Racetrack Playa is a dried lakebed found in the aptly-named Death Valley National Park. The surface of this extremely dry lakebed is made of silt and clay and is dotted with rocks that appear to slide over the surface without the help of man. No one has ever observed the rocks moving, but the evidence of their movement is left behind them in trails that can last decades.

Some of the theories put forth have been that they are moved by the force of the wind. Other scientists favor the idea that they slide on ice that is formed on cold nights and melts quickly in the morning. Each stone is thought to move only every couple of years and sometimes flip over, causing a change in the direction of the path. Most of these curious stones are between six and sixteen inches and are usually dolomite or syenite.

This natural(?) phenomena was a topic of many myths for Native American tribes in the area.

Answer: Mary Celeste

Most of us have heard of the British brigantine 'Mary Celeste'. Many of us did not know it was originally named 'Amazon'. On Dec. 5, 1872, the ship was found abandoned at sea, all supplies, personal belongings, food, and water were still on board. The only thing missing was a single life boat and the crew.

This was just another strange incident in the life of this ship. The ship's first captain died of pneumonia at the very beginning of its maiden voyage and, subsequently, three other captains died on board before it was found derelict at sea. The ship was in two collisions and actually caught fire once. The name was changed after many such incidents gave the ship a reputation as being cursed, and making it very difficult to get experienced sailors to sign on. She ended her days in 1885 after her new owner deliberately wrecked her in a failed attempt to commit insurance fraud. What happened to her crew in 1872 is unknown and will probably never be known.

After giving us these extra tidbits of knowledge, Pat looks around the darkened room and whispers, "Now that you have heard about this strange ship, do you believe that things or people can be cursed?"

Answer: Pharmacology

Kimberly speaks in low, murmuring tones as she explains that "'The Voynich Manuscript' was a 15th century book that was written by hand on vellum. The author is unknown, and what it says is unknown. The unknown text appears to be written from left to right and has defied cryptographers ever since it came into public knowledge around 1912.

It gets its name from Wilfrid Voynich, the Polish book dealer who bought it from an unknown seller in 1912. Although a few pages of the manuscript appear to be missing it still contains 240 intact pages, most of which are decoratively illustrated. Most scholars believe it may deal with health and pharmacology.

There are over 170,000 different glyphs used and there appears to be no punctuation. No one knows what it says, what language is used, nor who wrote it.

It is one of the great mysteries in the history of cryptography."

Answer: Linen

Lee shows this photo of the shroud and then tells us "The Shroud of Turin is a holy relic believed by many to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ. It is a 14 ft. long piece of linen which appears to have the image of a man imbedded into the fibers in an unknown manner.

The photo shows the appearance of the cloth using two different lighting sources. Although most scholars agree that the cloth dates to the medieval times, there is intense debate as to where the cloth comes from, whose image is on the cloth, and whether or not is it just an elaborate fake." A bit of discussion ensues between all of us, but in the end we agree it will probably remain unsolved.

Answer: It landed safely but its crew had disappeared.

Paul clears his throat and begins to tell the room about this little known mystery:

"On August 16, 1942 a U.S. Navy L-8 blimp landed in the middle of Daly City, California causing mild pandemonium. Navy investigators arrived within an hour and found the blimp to be air-worthy. All of its flight settings were correct and emergency parachutes were aboard; the only thing that was missing was the two-man crew. No emergency transmissions had come over the radio. While it is doubtful that the true story will ever be known, theories abound. Were they kidnapped in midair by the Japanese or maybe kidnapped by aliens? Some people thought it might have been a deliberate AWOL scheme. Both crew members were declared as missing in action and declared dead about a year later."

Answer: No

James speaks up and tells David that he is wrong. He regales the club members with this information:

"This mysterious iron pillar in Delhi, India, is of unknown origin. It is famous for its rust resistant properties. Believed to be at least 1,600 years old, this iron monument does not appear to rust despite the humid climate in which it now stands. It has engravings on it from differing time periods and in different types of script. Who made it, what exactly it is made from, and why it was made are hotly debated."

What did the ancients know, that we don't? Why does it not rust? The club members are unable to come up with an explanation.

Answer: Adam's Bridge

Kevin's offering to the club goes like this:

"Adam's Bridge is simply a chain of shoals that runs between India and the island nation of Sri Lanka. It is best seen from space, as it is this view that gives a true perspective of just how long this underwater land bridge is. How old this land bridge is, or if it is a man-made or natural phenomena is a matter of great speculation and disagreement among scholars. Although the bridge was known about by the local population and is part of Hindu myth, it was thought by the rest of the world to be just another piece of folklore. When discovered at the end of the 20th century, it sparked interest of archeologists around the world."

Where did this mysterious grouping of shoals come from? Was this edifice constructed by aliens? Will we ever know?

Answer: Costa Rica

As the storm outside grows, Giz gives the club the following information about the stone balls.

"Costa Rican stone balls are found all over the nation and range in size from a few centimeters in size to over two meters around. Some are known to weigh up to 16 tons! Originally there were over 300 of these unusual objects, but many of them were destroyed by Europeans who believed they held a fortune inside. They have even been found in burial sites that are over a thousand years old. Some theories state they were used as money. Some anthropologists believe they were made as a tribute to tribal gods."

Will we ever find out how they were made, who made them, or what their purpose was? There are many theories and it is a topic of much disagreement and discussion between scholars. These are a prime example of an 'unsolved mystery'.

Answer: The Nazca culture

Jason gives some background to these unusual man-made creations.

"To understand the Nazca lines is next to impossible. They were created by removing desert rock and sand to expose the pale pink sand which lied underneath."

Why did the Nazca people create these works of art? There are numerous animals, straight lines which stretch for miles, and even what appears to be a bipedal being. These beautiful geoglyphs are some of the largest in the world. What was their purpose? Were the straight lines landing strips for UFOs?

Answer: The Urals

As members slowly start to get ready to leave, Bill provides the following facts:

"In 1959 in the Russian Ural Mountains, a team of nine cross-country skiers died under very strange circumstances. In temperatures that were below 0 degrees, these people cut out the sides of their tents and fled into the woods. Most of them were only partially clothed; some of them had sustained injuries and others were uninjured. All their gear was left inside their tents and most of the hikers were found to have frozen to death."

Given that all of these people were experienced hiker/skiers, what could have happened to cause all of them to cut out their tents from inside and flee into weather that was sure to kill them within minutes? Was it a hallucinogenic substance ingested by accident? Were they attacked by aliens, as some people claim?

He then shows the group this photo which depicts the actual campsite on the day investigators arrived.