Unsolved Mysteries, Questions, and Phenomena Iceberg Explained

Disclaimer: Information in this blog post may be distressing to some readers. Reader discretion advised.

TW: true crime, m*rder, missing persons, torture, unsolved.

Previous Iceberg Chart Posts:

• The Weird/Creepy Internet Stuff Iceberg (31 min read) - some of the information in here may overlap.

• The Google Maps/Google Earth Iceberg Chart Explained (11 min read)

Hi friends! If you're a fan of the dark and spooky side of life, then welcome to another iceberg explained post! In this blog, we're taking a look at the "Unsolved Mysteries, Questions, and Phenomena Iceberg". I found this iceberg on Reddit from the user /u/crescentCommoner.

If you're unfamiliar with what iceberg charts are, I like to think of them as a visual representation of data that is separated into tiers. Tier one is usually the most well-known/familiar information, and then the lowest tier is usually the most obscure or scariest information. In this case, I think the user has created the lower tiers with how much of a rabbit hole you can go down.

I really hope you enjoy this one, and let me know if I should make a YouTube video to go along with this blog post.

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Unsolved Mysteries, Questions, and Phenomena Iceberg Explained

Iceberg Chart created by Reddit user /u/crescentCommoner

Tier 1

• Jack the Ripper - Jack the Ripper was a serial k*ller active in Whitechapel, London, England around 1888. To this day, the identity of Jack the Ripper remains unknown. Jack the Ripper targeted women working as prostitutes, sl*t their throats, and removed vital organs (usually in the stomach area). This led authorities to believe that "Jack" had some surgical or medical knowledge. The nickname "Jack the Ripper" came from a letter known as the "Dear Boss letter," which was signed "Jack the Ripper". There is speculation about this letter, as some authorities believed it was a hoax and others believed it was real. Either way, the name stuck. Many people have ideas as to who they think Jack the Ripper was, but no one has been able to agree, so the identity of Jack the Ripper remains a mystery.

• The Zodiac Killer - Whenever I think about the Zodiac Killer, I always think about the fact that he could have been sitting in the cinema while he watched the movie Zodiac, and no one would have known it was him. If you're unfamiliar, the Zodiac Killer is the name given to another unidentified serial k*ller. The Zodiac m*rdered at least 5 people in the San Francisco Bay Area between December 1968 and October 1969. The Zodiac attacked 3 couples and a taxi driver. There were 7 confirmed victims, and 2 of them survived (I believe there are some interviews with the survivors online somewhere). Anyway, the thing about the Zodiac is that there was a series of letters mailed into Bay Area newspapers from a person taking credit for the m*rders. These letters contained information that was only known to the police at the time. The Zodiac threatened more m*rders if the newspapers didn't print his letters. He also included puzzles/cryptograms in his letters. Two of these cryptograms were solved in 1969 and 2020, respectively. Two remain unsolved. The Zodiac claims to have k*lled at least 37 victims. There isn't a lot of evidence, but most people think that Arthur Leigh Allen was the Zodiac. However, this case remains open.

• D. B. Cooper - D.B. Cooper is the alias of an unknown man who hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 - a Boeing 727 flying from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington on the 24th November, 1971. He told the flight crew that he had a b**b, demanded $200K in ransom, and 4 parachutes in Seattle. Once the flight landed in Seattle, all passengers were released, and Cooper told the flight crew to refuel and take a second flight to Mexico City with another refuelling stop in Reno, Nevada. Once they took off from Seattle, Cooper opened the aircraft door (this is illegal, never do this), deployed the steps (airstar), and parachuted to an unknown fate somewhere in Washington. Apparently, there was an error by a reporter, and the hijacker became known as D.B. Cooper (I think it was supposed to be Dan Cooper). In 1980, some of the ransom cash was found near Vancouver, Washington. However, no further information has come to light. There is a silver lining for this case, though; there were major upgrades to security measures for airports and aviation. Airports added metal detectors, and bag checks became mandatory. People who bought flights on the same day were also additionally screened. The D. B. Cooper case is the only unsolved air piracy case to this day.

A sketch of "D.B. Cooper"

• The Taos Hum - I don't know too much about this one, but the Taos Hum (or just "The Hum") is a persistent, low-frequency humming noise that is audible to some people in a specific area. There have been reports of a hum in places like the UK, Australia, Canada, and the USA, but the most notable ones are heard in Taos, New Mexico (The Taos Hum) and Ontario, Canada (The Windsor Hum). Explanations for the hum have varied, but they include: local mechanical sources, tinnitus in general, and/or other auditory biological effects.

• Bigfoot - A fun fact about me is that when I was a little girl, I was very scared of Bigfoot because I thought he was real. As an adult, my sceptical nature leads me to believe that, even though it's possible, it's probably unlikely. Like, wouldn't we have seen him by now? Anyway, Bigfoot goes by many names - even Australia has a version called the Yowie, and New Zealand's is the Moehau Man. Anyway, for this specific Bigfoot (or sasquatch), he is referred to as a large, hairy, mythical creature whose habitat is in North America. Bigfoot has become part of popular culture, and to this day, some people swear they've seen one. What if Bigfoot is just a human in a giant gorilla suit bigger than the average gorilla, or just sightings of a Gorilla?

• Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 - Flight MH370 was a flight that disappeared from radar on the 8th of March, 2014. I think everyone knows this story. Anyway, MH370 was flying from Malaysia to Beijing. The cause of disappearance remains unknown. All 227 passengers and crew are presumed d*ad. If I go into more detail here, I think we'd need a separate blog post. I think the most logical explanation for this is that one of the pilots intended to do this to end his life, but it just doesn't explain why he took the whole plane with him.

• Death of Elisa Lam - I feel a bit sad whenever this one comes up, because it's clearly someone who was experiencing a severe mental health crisis, and no one could help her. Anyway, Elisa Lam's body was recovered on the 19th of February, 2013, inside a cistern at the Cecil Hotel (now Stay on Main) in downtown LA. Lam was a Canadian tourist who was staying at the hotel. She was reported missing on the 8th of February when her parents hadn't heard from her back in Canada, and was last seen alive on the 31st of January, 2013. A hotel maintenance worker found Lam's body following complaints of flooding, issues with water pressure, and an odd taste in the water. The reason that this case got such a following was due to security footage released of Elisa Lam the day she disappeared, and the hotel having a reputation for being haunted. Lam was behaving erratically in a hotel lift (with many people believing she was playing the elevator game). Lam's cause of d*ath was determined accidental as a result of her bipolar disorder, as blood analysis revealed she wasn't taking her medication.

• The Bloop - I had no idea what this one was until today. According to Wikipedia, the bloop refers to "an ultra low frequency, high-amplitude underwater sound detected by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 1997." There was speculation that this sound was produced by an unknown marine animal; in 2012, it was confirmed to be caused by an ice quake in Antarctica (i.e., an iceberg cracking). Yay, climate change (not). Antarctica is one of my bucket list places I want to go, and I think it was so funny how Bowen Yang got stuck there LOL.

• Harold Holt - Of course, Harold Holt is on here, but the irony of Australia is so crazy, naming a damn swimming pool after a prime minister who allegedly drowned LOL. Anyway, Harold Holt was the 17th prime minister of Australia who served from 1966 until he disappeared in 1967. Holt loved swimming and the ocean, and he had a holiday home in Portsea, Victoria. On the 17th December, 1967, Holt was spending time at his holiday home in Portsea. He and four others decided to drive to Port Nepean to watch a sailor pass through a place called The Rip. On the way back, Holt convinced his friends to stop at a beach called Cheviot Beach for a swim. The beach had very rough conditions, so only one of Holt's friends joined him in the water. Holt swam out far and likely got caught in a rip. No trace of Holt's body was ever found. Sometimes, I worry that I moved to this country LOL. Anyway, if this should teach you anything, it's don't bloody swim if the conditions are rough!!!!!!!

• The Voynich Manuscripts - This refers to "an illustrated codex, hand-written in an unknown script referred to as Voynichese" from the 15th century. No one knows who wrote this manuscript, and it currently resides at Yale University. It was rediscovered in 1912 by a rare books dealer called Wilfrid Voynich. It has around 240 pages, but there is some evidence that pages are missing from it. The text is written from left to right, with some pages being foldable and different sizes. Lots of pages have fantastical illustrations or diagrams, some coloured, and there are also representations of people, plants, and astrology symbols. So many codebreakers and experts have tried to decode this manuscript, but no one has ever been able to. I think it's also possible to think about whether someone just wanted to mess with people in the future (not saying that's the case, but I think it should be considered).

Page 29 of the Voynich Manuscript

• Webdriver Torso - Webdriver Torso refers to a test YouTube account. It gained attention around 2014 for its unexplained nature and jokes. On the 7th of March, 2013, Google created this YouTube channel and started uploading videos on the 23rd of September, 2013. Uploads consist of videos with simple slides and beeps, and were brought to public attention in 2014 when more people online started seeing them. It remained a mystery until YouTube confirmed it was just an internal testing utility.

• Babushka Lady Identity - Babushka Lady Identity refers to an unidentified woman who was present during the 1963 JFK assassination. It is speculated that she was taking photographs or filming the event as it happened. She wore a US Army headscarf, which looked similar to those worn by elderly Russian women; hence the name, Babushka Lady. Many witnesses saw this woman take photos, and she appears in other photos taken by others. Her film or identity has never been seen or discovered.
  

Tier 2

• Numbers Stations - According to Wikipedia, "A numbers station is a shortwave radio station characterized by broadcasts of formatted numbers, which are believed to be addressed to intelligence officers operating in foreign countries". There is a whole subreddit dedicated to researching these stations and what codes are being communicated. You can have a look at that "here". Spies LOL.

• Purpose of dreaming - I am not 100% sure if this one is right, but I think it's referring to the fact that we don't fully know why we dream, but there are some theories, including dreams help us regulate emotion, act as a memory aide, help us forget bad things, help us solve problems, or deal with fears. However, Erik Hoel (a researcher who studies consciousness) believes that we dream to help us train our brains, keep them fit. Hoel believes that our brains work similarly to how machines learn. I don't have the knowledge to go into the detail about the AI, but I think what he means about dreaming is that a person has an X problem to solve on Monday. They try so many things and end up repeating things - they're tired, drained and over it. They go home to sleep, but the next day, they solve their problem. The belief here is that the brain acts like a filter to find the right information to solve the task while we sleep. I can actually relate to this one, as when I was doing my masters I was struggling to figure out what methodology to use, then it came to me in a dream - not quite the same, but similar.

• Tylenol Murders - This one is really sad, but at least it meant that pharmaceutical companies put the pills in blister packs and created induction seals. Anyway, the Tylenol Murders refers to a series of m*rders in Chicago in 1982 from a person tampering with Tylenol. Victims consumed Tylenol that had been laced with potassium cyanide. There were at least 7 victims, but no one has ever been charged with the m*rders, and no one has ever come forward. When authorities worked out what had happened to the victims, all Tylenol bottles were recalled - I think like over 30 million bottles as they couldn't be sure where the poison was, as they found it in more than 1 store. It was believed that the Tylenol had been tampered with after it was placed on the shelf, with the hypothesis being that the perpetrator took the bottles, added the poison, then placed them back on the shelf (I assume the perpetrator stole or bought the bottles, then returned them) with the intention of mass m*rder. There were even copycat k*llers who did the same thing with other over-the-counter medicines. Terrifying to think about.

• Cicada 3301 - I am going to quote myself here because this one comes up a lot, "Cicada 3301 was a series of puzzles posted online (on 4chan originally, then Twitter) with the title "3301" between 2012 and 2014. The puzzles were intended to recruit intelligent individuals. There were 3 puzzles altogether, but the third one was never solved. To this day, we don't know who created these puzzles or why. They may have disappeared because people went to the media when they solved the puzzles." You can read more in depth about this mystery "here".

• The Wow! Signal - This one refers to a radio signal that was detected on the 15th August, 1977 by Ohio State University's (OSU) Big Ear radio telescope - a telescope used to help search for extraterrestrial life as part of a programme at the university. The signal came from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, and it is widely believed that it was of extraterrestrial origin by many researchers. The signal spelled out "6EQUJ5" and was discovered by Jerry R. Ehman, who discovered the anomaly a few days later and wrote "Wow!" next to his discovery, hence the name of the signal. The signal has not been heard again. Not every researcher believes that this was some sort of alien contact signal, but to this day, the wow signal remains a mystery. Ironically, Luke and I are watching The X-Files, and I think this was referenced in season 2.

• Max Headroom Incident - I discussed this mystery in "this blog post". Anyway, the Max Headroom Incident refers to a hijacking of the TV signals of two stations in Chicago on the 22nd November, 1987. It was a pirate broadcast of an unknown person wearing a Max Headroom Mask and costume (a computer-generated TV host persona played by actor Matt Frewer). An investigation occurred, but the mystery still remains. And I still get confused by this crime because like, why?

Perpetrator wearing the Max Headroom Mask while hijacking the TV station

• Black Dahlia - I don't think I've ever discussed this case on my blog. I think I've just avoided it mostly. Anyway, this case is pretty horrific. This case refers to the brutal m*rder of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short in LA, California. On the 15th of January, 1947, a mother and child were going for a morning walk when they stumbled across the body of Short in Leimert Park. Short was found naked and mutilated (in two pieces). There was no blood found at the crime scene, so authorities believe that she was k*lled elsewhere. The LAPD sought the help of the FBI to identify the deceased woman, and this was done in less than an hour. I think this is due to her prints being on file for underage drinking. It was believed that Elizabeth Short was an aspiring actor. The LAPD's investigation found over 150 suspects for the m*rder, but not one of them was ever charged.

• The Dancing Plague - The Dancing Plague was a dance epidemic of 1518 that consisted of dancing mania in Strasbourg, France. Between 50 and 400 people were complicit in this plague, and they were dancing for weeks on end. Some theories as to what caused this plague are: stress-induced mass hysteria, ergot poisoning/food poisoning, or some sort of religious/cult activity. It's not clear if or how people passed from this plague - I assume so because you wouldn't be eating or drinking water?

• Lost Media - I believe this one refers to any sort of lost media, but I'm not sure of specifics. Anyway, according to Wikipedia, "Lost media is any type of media thought to no longer exist in any format, or for which no copies can be located, partial or otherwise." It usually refers to content that is audiovisual, such as movies, television, radio, video games, or music. You can go down some crazy rabbit holes with this sorta stuff, as lots of media would have been lost due to wiping practices. I do like that the internet now has the Wayback Machine, so we can dig a little deeper, and archiving is more common. The concept of this just kinda gives me the heebie jeebies, and I can't pinpoint why.

• Black Knight Satellite Photos - I think this one is referring to a specific conspiracy theory. Wikipedia says, "The Black Knight satellite conspiracy theory claims that a spacecraft of extraterrestrial origin is in near-polar orbit of the Earth, and that NASA is covering up its existence and origin." It is a conspiracy theory that combines many stories into one (basically a conflation of many stories). There was a photo taken during the December 1998 STS-88 mission of what people believed was the Black Knight satellite; however, this was debunked as a thermal blanket that got lost during the mission. Martina Redpath (a senior education officer from Armagh Planetarium in Northern Ireland) says, "Black Knight is a jumble of completely unrelated stories; reports of unusual science observations, authors promoting fringe ideas, classified spy satellites and people over-interpreting photos. These ingredients have been chopped up, stirred together and stewed on the internet to one rambling and inconsistent dollop of myth." So, basically, there's not really anything here, or do they just want us to believe that? Just Kidding!

Tier 3

• Disappearance of Jennifer Kesse - This refers to the case of Jennifer Kesse, a 24-year-old finance manager who disappeared from her home in Orlando, Florida, around the 23rd/24th of January, 2006. Kesse's car was found 1.6 km (1 mile) away from her house by authorities. The 3rd picture on the iceberg tier refers to the following information "Security footage captured an unidentified "person of interest" parking the vehicle and walking away, but the individual could not be identified due to poor image quality, a fence obstructing the view, and the lack of distinguishing features. The disappearance received both local and national media attention." Kesse's whereabouts remain unknown, but in 2025, Kesse's father announced that authorities had found new DNA evidence that significantly narrowed the pool of suspects, and the case is no longer cold. I don't know if the case will ever get solved, though.

Screengrab of video footage of Kesse's alleged abductor

• The Overtoun Bridge - I don't like this one as it's to do with animals, but the Overtoun Bridge is a bridge in Scotland where dogs essentially jump off to their demise. I believe it's not really a mystery, though, as we know why it happens. The dogs are attracted to the smell of mink urine, and the dogs just want to go sniff, and they don't realise the bridge isn't safe.

• Spider Rain - Oh my god, this happens in Australia (did I move to the wrong country LOL?) Spider Rain is a phenomenon where thousands or even millions of tiny spiders (sheet-web or money spiders) descend from the sky. This is called "ballooning" and happens commonly in Australia and Brazil. The spiders move through the air by releasing silk to catch the wind. The spiders then become airborne due to air currents and electrical fields (idk, science). I believe it's a survival/migration technique. You can read more about it "here".

• The Solway Firth Spaceman - Ugh, this one is so stupid, and it makes me mad. Anyway, this refers to a figure that looks like a spaceman seen in a photo taken on the 23rd of May, 1964, by Jim Templeton. Jim took 3 film photographs of his 5-year-old daughter on a day trip to Burgh Marsh, England. On this trip, his wife was also present. Jim believed that this was really a spaceman in the photo, and even his wife thought so too. Anyway, in 2014, a journalist offered an explanation that said that it was most likely his wife who was wearing a blue sun dress, and it was over-exposed in the photo and that she just doesn't remember standing there. Nothing spooky is going on here.

The spaceman photo

• Tamam Shud Case (aka Somerton Man) - I discussed this briefly in "this blog" post about Australian Scandals. Anyway, the Somerton Man is a case from Australia. On the 1st of December, 1948, an unidentified deceased man was found on the beach of Somerton Park, Adelaide. The case is often called the Tamam Shud case, as alongside the man was a piece of paper with a note with the Persian phrase "tamám shud" which translates to "It is over", or "It is finished". The note wasn't found until a few months later in the back pocket of the man's jeans. It was torn from a poetry book, and once authorities found the poetry book, they discovered on the inside cover: a local phone number, an unidentified number, and a text that they believe was a coded message. I don't think this code has ever been deciphered. In 2022, it was suggested that the Somerton Man's identity was that of electrical engineer Carl "Charles" Webb based on DNA from the man's hair. However, forensic experts from South Australia have not confirmed this. This case is always so interesting to me, like, was he a secret spy? Who k*lled him? How did he end up there? So many unanswered questions.

• The Badge Man - I actually don't know if this one is legit or just the pareidolia effect or some bad exposure on a photograph. I'll let you be the judge of that. According to Wikipedia, "The Badge Man is a figure that is purportedly present within the Mary Moorman photograph of the assassination of the United States president John F. Kennedy in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963. Conspiracy theorists have suggested that this figure is a g*nman firing a weapon at the president from the grassy knoll." The photo was taken about 1 second after JFK was assassinated. I don't think any sort of forensics found anything hidden in the photo, but as I said before, I will let you be the judge of that. You can view the photo below.

Circle refers to an alleged "figure"

• The Sodder Children - Another case I've discussed on my blog before in a post, "Christmas Mysteries". This is a pretty sad case. On the morning of 25th December, 1945, a fire destroyed the home of the Sodder family living in Fayetteville, West Virginia, USA. Living in the house were George and Jennie and 9 of their 10 children. At the time of the fire, 4 children and George and Jennie escaped; however, the remaining 5 children were unaccounted for. No bodies of the children were ever found. The Sodder parents believed that their 5 children were still alive due to some "odd" circumstances before and after the fire. The fire department claimed that the fire started out as an electrical failure, but George didn't believe this; he thought that this was odd, considering the house had just been rewired and checked. Jennie believed that the fire was caused by arson and even came up with theories that the 5 children were taken by the mafia in retaliation for George's outspoken criticism of fascism. I kinda wonder if it is possible that the children did pass away in the fire, and they were burnt so badly that no one was able to identify them? I really don't know what happened to these children.

• Blank Room Soup - I covered this in another iceberg blog post, and here's what I said: "I used to think this one was 100% real, but I was quickly humbled LOL. If you haven't seen it, Blank Room Soup is a video where there is a man in a white room hunched over eating noodle soup. He is wearing a white tank top and is eating his noodles with a giant ladle. It appears that the man is either laughing or crying (I'm pretty sure it's crying), and then the bowl spills. A figure then appears in the room with him that looks like a life-size POP! doll - he then approaches the man and rubs his back. Another figure appears - exactly the same as the first, and also starts to comfort the man. The video abruptly ends and has baffled people since it was first posted in 2005. However, this one is solved as performance art for an artist called RayRay, who brought the two POP! like figures out on stage in 2010."

• Brian Shaffer - This is another case I've covered here on asheycakes. You can read a bit of a deep dive in this article, "Freaky Friday Files: The Disappearance of Brian Shaffer". It's a pretty weird case IMO. Shaffer was a medical student who went missing on a night out with mates on the 1st of April, 2006, at a bar called The Ugly Tuna Saloona in Ohio. The events leading up to Brian's disappearance were as follows: On the 31st of March, 2006, around 9 PM, Brian met up with his friend Clint at The Ugly Tuna Saloona, then around 10 PM, Brian called his GF Alexis, then Brian and Clint went bar hopping, getting a shot of alcohol at each bar. Around Midnight on the 1st of April, Brian and Clint meet up with someone called Meredith Reid, who is allegedly a friend of Clint's. Meredith took Brian and Clint back to The Ugly Taloona Saloona. All 3 people had a round of bubbles. Brian is then separated from his friends. Around 2 AM, Brian's mates tried to call him to find where he went, and even waited outside for him, thinking he may have just gone to the bathroom. At closing time, Brian never comes out, so his friends go home, not thinking much of it. A few days later, Brian still never showed up, but so far, no one seemed super worried. It wasn't until Brian didn't show up for a trip to Miami to see his GF Alexis that people started to think something was wrong. This is where it gets kinda weird, police reviewed the security footage around the bar and at 2:AM, they saw Brian talking to two unknown women, saying goodbye. Then Brian moves off camera, and there is no more footage of him. No evidence of Brian's whereabouts has ever come to light. If you wanna hear my analysis on this case, definitely check out the Freaky Friday Files post I linked above.

• P versus NP - Oh no, maths. The P versus NP problem is an unsolved problem in theoretical computer science. I struggle with comprehending complex maths like this, so I recommend watching the YT video below. I think that P = any problem that a computer can solve with a straightforward process, and NP = if you are given a solution to something, you can verify the answer quickly and see if you can come to the same conclusion. P versus NP = is to work out whether P and NP problems are the same (so if something that can be checked by a computer fast to see if it's accurate can also be solved by the computer fast). I think this is right. I am sorry if I have not explained this correctly, I am not good at maths. If you can solve this problem, you can get like 1 million dollars LOL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX40hbAHx3s

• Markovian Parallax Denigrate - Ooh, another mystery I've talked about before. There are a few in here! I am going to quote myself here, "it [the Markovian Parallax Denigrate] refers to an internet mystery where there were a lot of messages on Usenet in 1996. Messages looked as if they were gibberish, as it was all random. It was thought that all subject lines of the messages were titled with the words Markovian Parallax Denigrate, but this has been disputed. This mystery has not been solved or debunked, and there's really only been a few theories as to what it might be: 1) The messages were connected to antiw*r activist Susan Lindauer as her name was written in an email address somewhere; however, it was found in 2012 that this was a spoof. 2) An early chatbot/text generator that was experimental. 3) An internet troll. 4) A programmer testing spam filters or a programmer experimenting with Markov chains. Even though it hasn't been solved, we can apply Occam's Razor and say it was most likely something to do with spam."

Tier 4

• 11B-X-1371 - This one refers to a piece of media that was called 11B-X-1371. It was a video clip that went viral in 2015. It was sent to a Swedish tech blog, which published it. The video is in black and white and is 2 minutes long, and depicts a person wearing what is assumed to be a plague doctor outfit walking through an abandoned building where you can see a forest out the window. The video is also accompanied by a loud buzzing sound. I believe that people found hidden messages inside the video, including the code 11B-X-1371, which has become the title of this piece of media. I don't think we know where this video came from, but some theories suggest it was just some edgy teenagers trying to make a scary horror video, some sort of subliminal messaging/Morse code, or a marketing tactic.

A still from the video

• Lights over Phoenix - This refers to a series of unidentified flying objects observed in the skies over the Southwestern US States of Arizona and Nevada on the 13th of March, 1997. Many lights were seen between 7:30 PM and 10: 30 PM, and witnesses reported seeing a UFO that looked like a steel square (like a carpenter's tool) that contained 5 spherical lights. It is said that these lights were just from military aircraft, so what do you think?

• Largest buyer of glitter - This is such a fun mystery. For a while, it was unknown who the largest buyer of glitter was. But this mystery has been solved. The biggest buyer of glitter is the boat industry. I think this mystery stemmed from a NYT article about Glitterx, where people who worked at the company said their biggest client doesn't want anyone to know that it's glitter and requires secrecy. Obviously, now we know it's the marine industry, but some other theories were put forward, like the toothpaste industry, LOL.

• Most Mysterious Song on the Internet - I think this was in one of my previous iceberg posts, but this refers to a piece of lost media called "Subways of Your Mind" by German new wave band Fex. In 2007, a recording of the song from a 1980s broadcast radio was uploaded to the internet, and then the song became a mystery. It was finally identified in 2024 by a Reddit user.

• Green Children of Woolpit - I don't know if this is real or some sort of legend. Wikipedia says it's an urban legend, but I think it's possible to be real (some of it anyway). Wiki says, "The legend of the green children of Woolpit concerns two children of unusual skin colour who reportedly appeared in the village of Woolpit in Suffolk, England, sometime in the 12th century, perhaps during the reign of King Stephen (r. 1135 - 1154). The children, found to be brother and sister, were of generally normal appearance except for the colour of their skin." The children spoke a language that was unknown to the village, and the only thing they ate were broad beans. Both children learned to eat other sorts of food, and the green colouring slowly went away. However, the boy was sick and passed away around the time of the girl's baptism. The girl was considered rude by the villagers, but when she learned to speak English, she claimed that she and her brother had come from a land where there was no sun and the light was like twilight. One version of this story claims that the girl said everything in this land was green.

• Mortis.com - Ooh, another one from a previous iceberg, so I'm going to quote myself again because I don't think there's a better way to explain it. "Allegedly, there was a creepy website created in 1997 called Mortis.com, and when people accessed the site, it would come up with just a login page and a black screen. The password was extremely hard to guess/hack into for non-members. As more internet sleuths started to look into this creepy website, things got a lot weirder. For example, the website was linked to a dentist's office, a lawyer, and a security firm (high-end), files on the site were heavily encrypted and had weird titles, with some of the files being really big (like 39 GB), and references to the website online have been removed. It was also found that the site was owned by someone called Thomas Ling, but it's thought that this was an alias, as there was literally no information on this person. Someone found a website that was linked to Mortis that only had 1 white chess piece on the site, and apparently, Thomas Ling said that this website was for his wedding photos. It no longer exists. I think this one is technically solved because many sites have said that the website just belonged to a dentist and was "normal". It's a really weird one because I don't know for sure what is true. Barely Sociable does a great YT deep dive video you can check out "here". I think that sums it up quite well.

• Shelly Miscaviage - This refers to the mystery of where the f*ck is Shelly? Sorry that seems like I'm quite angry, but it does seem odd what has conspired. For context, Shelly Miscaviage is the wife of David Miscaviage (the current leader of Scientology). Shelly was last seen in public in 2007. In 2012, lawyers said that Shelly is a practising scientologist and leading a private life. In 2013, a former Scientologist, Leah Remini, filed a missing persons report with the LAPD, but it was thrown out as it was considered "unfounded". It's not clear whether Shelly is alive or not. And I have SO many questions. Like, if she's alive, does she just never go outside? Wouldn't the paparazzi be able to find her if she did? Is she stuck in a bunker like Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt? Is she dead? So many questions. Oh, and her niece has been taking to social media to speak out against the Church and then Scientology decided to create their own social media. This whole thing is crazy. Scientology is a cult. Such an odd mystery.

• Septic Tank Sam - This is a very odd case, and I had never heard of it until now. It's horrible. Anyway, this refers to the m*rder of a person we now know as Indigenous Canadian man Gordon Sanderson. Sanderson was known as "Septic Tank Sam" as his identity remained a mystery until 2021. He was a m*rder victim who was found deceased in a septic tank in 1977, in Lindbrook, Alberta, Canada. The perpetrator has not been found. He was discovered while a couple were searching their property for a septic tank pump in rural Alberta. The couple saw his leg bobbing and immediately called authorities. Following the autopsy, the cause of d*ath was two g*nshots to the head & chest. Sanderson was also tortured prior to his d*ath. I don't wanna go into detail about that, just know it was so bad that they didn't know he was male at the time they did the autopsy. Also, the photo reconstruction they did to try and work out what he looked like has such an Uncanny Valley effect to it, it made me think, oh maybe that's what the septic tank did to him. The police believe that Sanderson may have been involved in some sort of illegal activity around Edmonton and that some of his associates were the ones who k*lled him. I don't know if we'll ever know. Poor guy, may he rest in peace.

• Mpemba Effect - This refers to a physics theory that is still debated to this day. Wikipedia says, "The Mpemba effect is the observation that very hot liquids or colloids (such as ice cream) can freeze more quickly than colder ones, for similar volumes and surrounding conditions. Physicists remain divided on the effect's reproducibility, precise definition, and underlying mechanisms." This effect is named after a teenager called Erasto Mpemba, who studied this in the 1960s. Mpemba's studies found a paradox where hot water freezes faster than cold water in certain conditions. I think this one is a mystery because it's very hard to replicate, and if you don't have the right conditions, it won't work.

Tier 5

• Berenstain Bears Effect - I don't know why this one is so low. Anyway, it's just the Mandela Effect, where people believe that Berenstain was always spelled Berenstein collectively. We're all susceptible to Mandela Effects. Pretty easy to debunk IMO. You can read a deep dive into " The Mandela Effect "here". Even though some of us can see how Mandela Effects happen, some people tie these together with theories about parallel universes or glitches in the matrix. I also think the misremembering of the spelling is common due to people's last names being more commonly having the suffix "stein" than "stain".

• Bigfoot on Mars - Omg I can't with this one (I am sorry, I am so sceptical). In 2007, a rover on Mars took the photo below, and people believe it's Bigfoot on Mars. I feel like this is 100% the pareidolia effect in play because that's just a rock that looks like Bigfoot.

• Chemical Composition of Starlite - I believe this one refers to how hairdresser Maurice Ward kept the formula of Starlite a secret. Starlite is an intumescent (like a charred marshmallow) material that can withstand and insulate from extreme heat. In 1990, the material was demonstrated on a BBC show called Tomorrow's World in the UK. An American Company by the name of Thermashield, LLC acquired the rights to Starlite in 2013 and were able to replicate the material after Ward passed away. However, they are the only company who have been able to replicate it. I think the mystery is how this material works and what they are using. And why did Ward keep it a secret? This is a fun mystery because no one is getting hurt (that we know of).

• Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry/Baryon Asymmetry - There sure is a lot of physics in this iceberg. Anyway, according to Wikipedia, this is a problem to do with physical cosmology. The baryon asymmetry problem "is the observed imbalance in baryonic matter and antibaryonic matter in the observable universe." Physics was always a subject I struggled with (like chemistry and why I never got to go into forensics like I wanted to). Anyway, I think it's basically how Big Bang theories suggest that both matter and anitmatter woud be created equally, but baryon asymmetry means that after the universe created, there was a tiny excess of matter than surved total annihiation with antimatter and in turn created stars, life, and galaxies. If you are an expert in physics, please feel free to comment and let me know how to explain this better.

• Sad Satan - This refers to a horror video game that came out in 2015 and was allegedly created by a dark web user using the pseudonym "ZK". In the game, the player goes down a dimly lit black and white corridor (in first-person view) and gets interrupted by flashes of full-screen images. I don't think there's a goal to the game or any sort of "wins/rewards". The game was released for Microsoft (and what we now know about Bill Gates makes this even more disturbing). There were two versions of the game. We can see the first version on a YouTube Horror Channel (Obscure Horror Channel) that uploads some footage, and the second version is said to be a clone version, which was WAY more graphic and had flashing images of CP, mutilations, and other graphic things. The YT Channel creator said that they found the game from a viewer tip-off on the dark web. Ugh, yucky yucky.

• Fermi Paradox - The Fermi Paradox is "the discrepancy between the lack of conclusive evidence of advanced extraterrestrial life and the apparently high likelihood of its existence." Basically, it's asking, given how big the universe is, why there's no conclusive evidence of aliens. It's interesting to think about it because I think a lot of people believe that aliens do exist - maybe not in the way we see them in popular culture, like green men, but that there is some sort of alien life form somewhere out there.

• The Body in Room 348 - This refers to a mystery from 2010 that was investigated by a PI called Ken Brennan in 2013 and is detailed in Vanity Fair (article hyperlinked already). A man called Greg Fleniken (an oil & gas man) was found deceased in the Eleganté Hotel stymied the Beaumont, Texas, in 2010 in Room 348. At the time, there wasn't any motive for m*rder as there were no external wounds on the body; however, an autopsy revealed that Fleniken had suffered serious internal wounds (broken ribs, a torn heart & internal bleeding like what you'd suffer in a major car accident). This led to speculation of homicide. On the night of his d*ath, Fleniken was just chilling out in his room watching a movie and then received an email from his wife, Susie, who was updating Greg on her tax extension. I believed Greg wrote back, and then Susie sent "You're doing great, babe". This was around 7 PM. Then, Greg was struck by something. He got off the bed and onto the floor and then died. When Susie couldn't get hold of Greg the next day, authorities were called. They went to room 348 and found him d*ad. Detective Scott Apple was the main guy on this case, but it didn't seem like an interesting case to him, as there were no signs of forced entry and the room was locked from the inside. Apple really believed it was a natural d*ath. When Apple found out about the results from the autopsy, he was shocked - he couldn't believe it, as he thought Fleniken had passed from natural causes. It was all very odd. That was until Susie called PI Ken Brennan, who solved the case. Brennan worked with Apple, and when Apple showed Brennan the crime scene photos, he said: "I think I know how this guy died. I think I know when he died. I think I know who killed him. And I think I know how we're going to catch him." They eventually found a b*llet that had gone through the wall from Room 349 and they had to get the coroner to rewrite his autospy report (reluctantly as he didn't think he'd miss a b*llet wound). Anyway, the b*llet had gone up Greg's scrotum and caused the internal injuries, which showed up like he had been beaten. It turns out that the guys staying in the room next door had gotten drunk and started playing with a g*n when it went off and into the other room. They never checked to see if anyone was in there; they just went downstairs to the bar. So when Brennan came along, it was all over for them.

• Basking Shark ovaries - I don't really know how this is a mystery. Anyway, I think it refers to how female basking sharks have a very unique reproductive system where only the right ovary is functional (i.e., only the right ovary handles egg production). I guess it's a mystery because we don't fully know why this happens. Kinda interesting.

• Capitol Hill's Soda Machine - Early on in my blogging journey, I talked about this mystery, and it's SO fun. I don't know if a lot of people know about it, but I made a YouTube video about it. I'll post it below (miss that old house). Anyway, this refers to a vending machine in Capitol Hill, Seattle. The vending machine was notable for "mystery" buttons which would dispense unusual and interesting flavoured drinks. We don't know who restocked the machine, and many people believed it was haunted. It was in circulation from the 1990s until 2018. There has only ever been one photo of two people restocking the vending machine - but we never see their faces. There is also a Facebook page dedicated to the Mystery Soda Machine. The latest updates on there are from 2024, saying that the vending machine was on the move. I don't have much more information than that. I do wanna know what flavours of drinks there were, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RckvZzL6InE

Tier 6

• True origin of Jeff the Killer photos - This one HAS been solved. I've talked about creepypastas before. You can check out my deep dive "here". There is a creepypasta called "Jeff the Killer," and alongside the creepypasta is an image that is said to be the killer. However, the image is of a girl who has been photoshopped. You can see the breakdown below.

• WKCR Hijacking - Around 1995 in New York, Columbia University's radio station was hacked into and disturbing sounds were played, including those from disasters. I'm not sure how long the hack lasted, but the radio was able to get back on air. To this day, we don't know what this was. Was it a prank? Who did it and why?

• 2007 Carancas Impact Event - This refers to a meteorite that landed near the village of Carancas, Peru, on the 15th of September, 2007. The impact of said meteorite caused a small crater in the clay soil and scorched the earth around it. It was described as if boiling water was coming out of the crater (reminds me of lava from a volcano). Anyway, the mystery of this is that villagers who approached the crater became very sick with some sort of unexplained illness. This illness is now believed to have been arsenic poisoning, as the groundwater in the area was known to contain arsenic. The villagers had inhaled toxic vapour that was coming out of the crater. I'm not sure if anyone passed away due to this, but I believe some livestock did.

• Existence of Nemesis - This refers to a hypothetical star called Nemesis. The proposed star is said to be a star that orbits the sun at a very, very great distance, and in the 1980s, people suggested that it was the trigger for mass extinction events (i.e., the cause for the complete extinction of dinosaurs). I think it's to do with cycles of events, but it's not clear whether this star exists, as you would have noticed the word "hypothetical".

• Stoneman - I had no idea what to expect when researching this one, but it refers to a serial k*ller called The Stoneman. The Stoneman was a serial k*ller who m*rdered at least 13 sleeping homeless people in Kolkata, India, in 1989. Such a name was also given to someone who partook in m*rders in Mumbai from 1983 to 1988. Authorities believe these are the same person. The Stoneman (if 1 person or more people) has never been found.

• ASASSN-V J213939.3-702817.4 - This refers to a star in the Indus constellation that had a massive, dimming event in 2019, where the star lost 70% of its light for a few days. It's not clear what caused this; some have suggested a dust cloud, but others think it may have been something more sinister. One thing is for certain: it definitely attracted a lot of "alien" investigators/paranormal researchers.

Tier 7

• The shape and size of the universe - I think this is just something we don't know and is a problem of physical cosmology. Observations indicate that what we can see of the universe is spatially flat, but it's not entirely clear what shape the universe is or how big it really is. Makes you think.

• Wayne Fitzgerrell State Park Jane Doe - This one is now solved, but it refers to the m*rder of Susan Lund. Lund was a 25-year-old loving wife and mother of 3 children who disappeared in Tennessee in 1992. On Christmas Eve, Susan went for a walk to the grocery store, and that is the last her family saw of her. Official police efforts were closed after a while, but her family never stopped looking for her. Around the time of Lund's disappearance, two girls found human remains in the Wayne Fitzgerrell State Park. I believed they found a severed head. For 30 years, authorities were unable to determine who this person was, so she remained a "Jane Doe". Authorities believed that this Jane Doe had something called wry neck syndrome (which she didn't have and most likely hindered the case). In 2022, DNA evidence found that this Jane Doe was Susan Lund. Whoever k*lled Susan Lund has never been found. I hope her family gets their justice one day.

• Who put Bella in the Wych Elm? - Going down the tiers, things definitely get more obscure. This one refers to graffiti that was connected to a m*rder in Hagley, Worcestershire, in 1943. On the 18th of April, 1943, 4 boys looking for birds to poach happened to look in a wych elm (a type of tree) where they discovered a human skull. The boys were originally not going to say anything, but one of them felt weird about it and told his parents. Authorities were called and found a near-complete skeleton inside. Since 1944, there have been many graffiti phrases that have appeared on the buildings near the area where Jane Doe was found. Such phrases have been "Who put Luebella down the wych elm?", "Who put Bella down the wych elm, Hagley Wood?", "Who put Bella in the witch elm?" It was found that Jane Doe had passed from suffocation and had likely been deceased for at least 2 years prior to being put in the tree. It's not clear who this woman was or who k*lled her. I also think the remains have gone missing since (but I can't find a clear source for that). We also don't know who did the graffiti, and why it keeps going (that's like 70 years of graffiti).

• Salish Sea Feet - I think this one is another one that's "technically" solved, but I'm sure there are still a few theories afoot - ha, see what I did there. Sorry, that's a bit mean. Anyway, this one refers to the fact that since August, 2007, there have been at least 20 detached human feet that have washed up on the coasts of the Salish Sea in British Columbia & Washington, USA. Canadian authorities have ruled out foul play in most cases. Most feet washed up inside a sneaker, where the sneaker has kept the foot buoyant enough to stay afloat and wash up to shore (and give the foot enough protection to keep it from decomposing). The feet that wash up are usually from people who have gone missing, or some we know have been in accidents and likely just a natural thing to happen. I think when a person drowns, creatures underwater tend to eat the remains, and the feet might just drift off. Some people have speculated that a serial k*ller was to blame, but it's probably more likely that these were washing up post-incident.

• The Devil's Footprints - The Devil's Footprints refers to a phenomenon that happened in 1885 in East and South Devon, England. Following heavy snowfall, some tracks appeared in the snow (see below) that looked like hooves, and they just appeared randomly overnight. They were dubbed the Devil's Footprints as someone said they were the tracks of Satan & made a direct comparison to a cloven hoof. Many theories emerged as to what would have made these tracks. These are as follows: an experimental balloon, hopping mice, a kangaroo, or badgers. But, like, isn't this just a horse's foot? That's what it looks like to me (it's not exactly the same, but I think you get what I mean). Maybe the prints were too small to be a horse now that I think about it. Anyway, I'm sure there is an actual explanation somewhere. It could even be an animal that was never discovered or documented.

• Origin of Mitochondria - I think this one is on here because there are theories about where mitochondria came from, but no specific consensus. The following is what is believed: There was a symbiotic event where mitochondria were once free-living bacteria that became integrated into a host cell (the widely accepted theory). However, it's not agreed upon whether the host was fully formed. We don't know if the relationship was parasitic or mutually beneficial. If we can figure this out, we might be able to figure out why living things exist (oh gosh, my brain hurts, I hope I explained this well enough).

• Tarrare - This refers to a French showman, soldier, and spy who lived from 1772 to 1798. He was noted for some odd eating habits. Tarrare would eat giant amounts of meat and was always hungry. His parents were unable to provide for him, and I think he was kicked out of his family home as a teenager. He travelled around France and became a warm-up act for a travelling charlatan. Tarrare would eat anything, including live animals, and from there, he went to Paris as a street performer. Eventually, after joining the military, he was hospitalised for exhaustion and became a test subject for medical experiments regarding his eating habits. He was able to eat a meal for 15 people at once, but he never gained weight. I think he was even thought to have been a cannibal. No one could work out why he was so hungry and couldn't satisfy his cravings.

• Padmanabhaswamy Vault B - This one is to do with the Padmanabhaswamy Temple treasure, which is a collection of valuable objects consisting of gold coins, statues, thrones, ornaments, diamonds, and other precious stones. The treasure was found in the temple in Kerala, India, when some of the vaults were opened on the 27th June, 2011. These vaults were opened at the direct order of the Supreme Court of India due to transparency concerns. The treasure gained widespread media attention as it's thought to be one of the largest collections of gold ever. In regard to Vault B, it has not been opened since the 1880s, but in 2014, there was an attempt. The first door was opened, and behind it was another wooden door; then there was a third door made of iron and sealed shut. By 2020, the Supreme Court said that the door wasn't allowed to be open. So the mystery is, what's in Vault B? There are conspiracy theories about what's behind the door, but we just don't know. I wonder if in the future, someone will find out.

• Skinwalker Ranch - I believe this refers to a place in Utah previously called Sherman Ranch that is supposedly a place of high reports of UFO sightings. The SW name is said to mean a malevolent witch in Navajo legend. I can't find any "proof" of such sightings, but it does seem like a big rabbit hole to go down. Apparently, there is a TV show about this place, and it seems to have gained a lot of interest from people.

Tier 8

• 112Dirtbag - The crime that this is connected to is just so awful. It's connected to the Maura Murray case - a nursing student who went missing in 2004 and is still a cold case. According to Wikitubia, 112Dirtbag refers to a man called Jeffrey Alden Olsen. In 2011, Olsen created a YouTube channel. One video he posted was titled "Happy Anniversary", where Olsen is laughing and winking in the video. Olsen also made videos claiming he had memorabilia from Maura Murray and referenced where her car was found. It was speculated that Olsen may have been involved in Maura's disappearance somehow, but authorities investigated Olsen and found that he was mentally unstable and seeking attention on the internet and had nothing to do with the cold case whatsoever. Still, very creepy, and I hope one day they find Maura. It is quite gross trying to capitalise on stuff like that.

• LHOHQ - I explained this in a previous iceberg, so again, I am going to quote myself: "This refers to a website called 'The Laughing Horse Orrifice' that has had a lot of conspiracy stuff and artwork on it. It's either the workings of someone experiencing psychosis or some sort of art project. When I clicked on the website link, it just said stuff about Jimmy Kimmel and nothing else". I think each time you click on the link, something new appears. Today, I got a black and white photo of some celebrities and a man wearing a creepy Mickey Mouse mask. Very strange, but probably nothing to be scared of.

• Ruwa UFO Sighting (Zimbabwe) - This one refers to the "Ariel School UFO incident". On the 16th September, 1994, outside the school around 10 AM, there was a UFO sighting. 62 students aged between 6 and 12 claimed that they saw one or more silver craft descend from the sky and land on the field near their school. Some of the students even claimed that there were creatures dressed in black that were able to communicate with them telepathically. The creature allegedly relayed a message about the environment, which scared the children so much that they began to cry. Honestly, I am having trouble believing this one, as children's minds are heavily susceptible (think Satanic Panic), although so are adults' minds - we're not all immune to things like mass hysteria. Anyway, my point is that it is possible that this was just mass hysteria or some sort of prank. And, why is there no information about any of the teachers? Surely, some of them would have seen it? Also, not every single student at the school claims they saw the UFO, only some of them. But then also, like if this was true, then maybe that's what they want you to think? I am still having a hard time believing this. It's also possible that when the children were interviewed, there could have been priming questions. What do you think about this case?

• Lonnie Zamora Incident - Oh gosh, we got another UFO one. Anyway, this refers to an alleged UFO sighting on the 24th of April, 1964, in Socorro, New Mexico, when a police officer called Lonnie Zamora claimed to see 2 people next to some sort of shiny object that eventually rose into the air, accompanied by blue and orange flames. The US Air Force's Blue Book marked this case as "unknown". Theories about this usually say it was some sort of hoax. So weird.

Artist rendition of what Lonnie "saw".

• Texarkana Moonlight Murders - This refers to a series of 4 unsolved m*rders in the Texarkana region, USA (kinda near Texas, I think). These were committed in 1946 and were attributed to an alleged "Phantom K*ller". I think the Phantom K*ller is a hypothetical suspect, but it is believed that they attacked at least 8 people, with 5 fatalities in ten weeks. The Phantom K*ller's targets were usually couples who went to quiet places like Lover's Lane. These crimes were reported in the media and caused mass panic in Texarkana. Residents armed themselves, and I don't think people went out at night much - there was even more of a police presence at night. It is believed that a man called Youell Swinney was responsible for these m*rders based on circumstantial evidence and statements from his wife. He refused to go to trial, but police convicted Swinney of other crimes, and he is considered most likely the person who did it. But, we probably won't ever know for sure, for sure.

• Why is there something rather than nothing? - This question is also sometimes posed as "Why is there anything at all?" and is a question about basic existence. Why are we here? It's a big physics rabbit hole, and there probably isn't a way to answer the question. Excuse me, I am going to go have an existential crisis now. LOL.

• Many-Worlds VS Copenhagen - I think these are two different theories that are going to make my brain hurt more. The Many-Worlds Interpretation is "an interpretation of quantum mechanics that asserts that the universal wave function is objectively real, and that there is no wave function collapse. This implies that all possible outcomes of quantum measurements are physically realized in different "worlds"." This theory was first proposed by Hugh Everett in 1957. It was then popularised in the 1970s. Whereas the Copenhagen Interpretation is "a collection of views about the meaning of quantum mechanics, stemming from the work of Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Max Born, and others. While "Copenhagen" refers to the city where Bohr and Heisenberg worked, the use as an "interpretation" was apparently coined by Heisenberg during the 1950s to refer to ideas developed in the 1925-1927 period, glossing over his disagreements with Bohr." Wikipedia explains the features of the Copenhagen Interpretation as follows: "Features common across versions of the Copenhagen interpretation include the idea that quantum mechanics is intrinsicnly indeterministic, with probabilities calculated using the Born rule, and the principle of complementarity, which states that objects have certain pairs of complementary properties that cannot all be observed or measurely similtanously." I think in experiments where both interpretations are used, researchers get different results from each interpretation. Google tells me that the Copenhagen Interpretation is simple and probabilistic; the Many Worlds Interpretation posits that all possibilities are real, meaning the universe would branch into separate worlds (or realities).

Obviously, Tier 9 is just the Reddit user being silly.

Anyway, if you made it through this whole post, thank you so much. It was very interesting researching all this stuff, and I hope you learned something. If I've missed anything or gotten something wrong, let me know - for I am just one person.

Ash xx

PS: Stay safe.