Within the spectrum of unexplained, comes a certain exhilaration in knowing that anything and everything is possible in this world. Anyone who has ever looked up into the midnight sky and saw more than just stars and darkness, knows that there is more to life than what we can see. While most prefer to ground themselves among the reality of what we know to be true, those who venture outside of the box, searching for the unknown, are perhaps closer to reality than most of us realize.
Crop Circles
The phenomenon of crop circles goes back to 815AD, where it can be argued their presence first appeared in prehistoric carvings. They have continued to ‘crop up’ century after century, bringing with them multiple explanations and theories, such as UFO’s, vortex winds, military weapons, and electric forces. Trampling through a farm making circles is none too impressive, but true crop circles are not trampled, but gently bent (not broken) to the ground in various directions, sometimes even layered upon each other in intricate woven patterns.
A big breakthrough for this mystery came in 1991, when two elderly landscape painters, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, confessed to the hoax. They claimed that they had been creating the circles in England ever since the 1970’s. The news spread throughout the world like wildfire through the various news stations, and even though the two men were never able to successfully recreate a single circle for the media, the mystery was laid to rest.
Some theorize that the two painters were planted by communicating governments to draw attention away from the circles. Despite reduced media coverage, crop circles continue to appear, particularly around ancient, religious sites. Their increased complexity of geometric mathematical shapes pushes the boundaries of today’s technology, disproving the possibilities of what two men can do in one night with one roll of string and two wooden boards.
The Taos Hum
The real mystery behind the Taos Hum, is not whether it exists, but what it actually is. The hum is located in areas all over the world, particularly in the U.S., U.K., and Northern Europe. The most famous location for the sound is in Taos, New Mexico, where residents petitioned congress back in 1993 to investigate its cause. Residents were complaining of dizziness, insomnia, headaches, and nosebleeds, all which seemed to accompany the onset of the hum.
The hum has not always around, mind you. In fact, it was described by the residents of Taos, as literally “turning on” one day, as if somebody flipped a switch. It has been droving on ever since, some days more intensely than others. Not everyone is capable of hearing the low frequency sound (between 30 and 80Hz). Only two percent of the world have this capability, which if you think about it, is actually a phenomenal number of people.
How these ‘hearers’ (as they are called) describe the sound, is a distant chugging of an unworldly diesel engine buried deep within the earth’s fibers. Some claim the sound is likely military in nature, such as a communications device for submarines. Others say it is a build-up of electromagnetic frequencies sourced to cordless electronics resonating through our skin. Then there are those who believe these signals are from another planet.
Bermuda Triangle (Devil’s Triangle)
There are not too many people who have not heard of the Bermuda Triangle. They may not know what it is, but they know enough not to be in the center of it. Reason being, things tend to disappear around these coordinates. Everything from airplanes to giant tankers have seemingly evaporated. Sometimes with a trace, sometimes without. They call it the triangle, as it is made up of three invisible points running from Miami (Florida) to Puerto Rico, to the Bermuda island.
The first documented account of strange happenings in this area were recorded by the explorer, Christopher Columbus. He wrote in his ships log about “flames”, “strange dancing lights”, and a malfunctioning compass. These words would soon echo in many other accounts of disappearances over the next couple centuries. Two of the more famous disappearances, the USS Cyclops and Flight 19.
There is no conclusive explanation for what happened to the wreckage of the USS Cyclops or its 306 souls aboard. The ship disappeared in 1918 without a distress call or single scrap of iron left behind. Theories ran rampant from paranormal events to UFO kidnappings. In 1945, Flight 19 disappeared during a routine practice bombing over the Triangle. Commander, Lt. Charles Taylor radioed back to base notifying them his compasses were malfunctioning. Lost at sea, low on fuel, the plane was never seen or heard from again.
The Face of Belmez
The horror stories behind ancient burial grounds have kept many sleepless children awake through the night. The sacred grounds where those before were laid to rest, often become hotels, restaurants, and even residential neighborhoods. There is debate over the mysterious faces which appeared in a cement kitchen floor in Belmez, Spain nearly 40 years ago. Some believe them, others say they were a hoax. The story goes…
One August, home owner, Maria Gomez, noticed a dark stain on her kitchen floor. Over the next couple weeks, the stain developed into the outline of a face that grew in detail with each passing day. Terrified, her husband and son broke up the unwanted image, replacing it with fresh cement. As the cement cured, new forms began to push up through the floor, almost as if the activity had awoken something. Many of the new faces were now accompanied by a body.
Their tormented expressions haunted the family, bringing friends, family, and paranormal seekers to behold this anomaly. The attention reached public officials who ordered the floor dug up. Countless headless skeletons were found beneath the cement slab. Onlookers could only imagine the horror behind each of their stories. The floor was once again replaced, only to have new faces come back. In 2004, an EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) recording revealed a faint whisper that was translated, “I want to leave.”
Egyptian Pyramids
Building an Egyptian pyramid even with today’s technology would be a massive undertaking, so you can imagine the obstacles that would have been faced before trucks, cranes, pneumatic tools, and health insurance. To give you an idea of the impressive nature of these pyramids, the Pyramid of Cheops, built during the rein of King Khufu, stands nearly 480 feet (40-plus stories), and is composed of 2,300,000 stones, each weighing an average of two tons.
Historians have spent lifetimes attempting to unlock the secrets of the Egyptian Pyramids, but for the most part, they are still very much a mystery. Some say the complex nature, engineering, and sheer mass of the project was beyond the capability of the time period (2500 BC), therefore intervention from aliens seems the most obvious explanation. Others contend that thousands of slaves working under the guise of giant pulleys could have conceivably built a pyramid over the lifetime of a Pharaoh (30 years, give or take).
The Egyptians were probably much more advanced than we give them credit for. Possibly even more advanced than we are today in some ways. Take for instance the design of the pyramid. It has been said that these triangular structures manifest a certain electrical energy that not only helps to preserve flesh (as in mummies), but also enhances food nutrition, and can sharpen the edge of a razor/knife in a matter of days.
Stonehenge
The mystery behind the meticulously arranged stones, known as Stonehenge, has taunted historians for centuries. Much of its structure may very well have been built before the widespread use of the wheel, begging the question, how could these massive stones have been transported? What do they mean? How were they erected? But perhaps even more importantly, why would anyone (or anything) have gone to the trouble?
Stonehenge is believed to have been constructed over the course of 1400 years. The first stage (3100 BC) began as a 320 foot diameter circle with a wooden sanctuary built in the center. There were 56 holes dug around perimeter with traces of cremated human remains inside each. The second stage (2150 BC), saw the wooden portion of the sanctuary replaced by large erect bluestones (weighing several tons each), dragged from the Prescelly Mountains of Wales, nearly 240 miles from the site.
The final stage (what we see today) involved resetting the bluestones towards the inside of Stonehenge, while the outside was replaced with larger sarsen stone (eighteen feet in length, 25 tons in weight). It has been believed that the stones represent some sort of astronomical observation area, but recent evidence suggests the stones represented a ritualistic function. Perhaps part of a two-mile ceremonial walk to cremate the dead.
Dark Energy
Little is known about our planet. But perhaps one of the greatest mysteries of mankind, is how our universe came into existence. Some experts believe the world as we know it came into existence 13.7 billion years ago. There are many theories that attempt to explain how this came about, with one of the most widely accepted being the Big Bang Theory. This theory says quite simply, first there was nothing… and then there was something.
Unlike what its name implies, there were actually no giant explosion that created time, universe, and our planet, but rather a gradual ripping of its boundaries. The universe continues to broaden with each passing day through dominate forces we can neither explain nor understand. These forces have been appropriately deemed, Dark Energy. This dark matter accounts for nearly two-thirds of the universe.
Many scientists believe the key to understanding the destiny of the universe, is understanding dark energy. Where gravity has the power to pull objects together, dark energy has the power to force objects apart. Some say its powers are nothing more than residual waves leftover from the big bang. Others say the mere evidence of any force of this nature offers proof of multiple universes, and thus the likely possibility of life in other galaxies.
Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster
Stories of prehistoric creatures roaming the earth in modern day have tickled the imaginations of storytellers for centuries. In the case of Bigfoot, the tale goes a bit further than imagination, and involves key footage filmed on October 20th, 1967, known as the “Patterson-Gimlin film”. The film depicts a clear image of a manlike creature covered from head to toe with hair, trekking across the woods.
To the laymen eye the film has been passed off as nothing more than a man wearing an ape costume. However, some expert opinions say there are some fine points to this film that make it difficult to authenticate or pass off as a mere hoax. For one, the creatures stance is like no man known on this planet. Its movement is also very peculiar. Nobody to date has been able to successfully re-create the film by Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin, using similar equipment.
Tales of a prehistoric monster living in Loch Ness go back at least 1500 years, which is way beyond the multi-million dollar tourist trap it has become today. While there are many proven fake photos of the mythical creature swimming in the lake, there are just as many that seem genuine. The question is, are the genuine photos of an actual creature, or a log or deep shadow lurking within the murky water?
The Roanoke Mystery (The Lost Colony)
The disappearance of the English settlers from Roanoke Island is a peculiar mystery. This story begins in the 1500’s when Elizabeth I of England was in competition with Spain to take control over the New World (America). In July of 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh of England, sent a colony of settlers to the island known as Roanoke Island (North Carolina). A year later, the colony was found starving, obviously unable to survive in the New World. They were rescued and brought back to England.
A man by the name of John White brought 117 colonists (91 men, 17 women, 9 children) back to Roanoke island in 1587. They set to work repairing the homes from the previous settlers, and were determined to thrive as a colony. Realizing that they would need more supplies, John left the colony, only to be delayed by the English war with Spain. He was not able to return for three years.
Upon arriving, the island it was strangely quiet. The homes had vanished with no rubble left behind. There were no signs of struggle, no bodies, just some leftover fence, and two messages. The first message, “Croatoan,” (Croatoan, was a nearby island) was found carved on a fence post. The second, “CRO,” was found cut into a tree. To this day we don’t know if the colonists left the island using material from their homes to build boats, or if they were killed by the Natives, who hid all trace of the settlement afterwards.
Mayan Prophecy (The New Age of Man)
End of the world theories are put to the test each passing year, only to be tossed aside as the sun rises to meet a new day. It seems there is always a new theory about the end of the world each time an important landmark approaches. The millennium New Year had scores of people buying bottled water and toilet paper in preparation for the end of the world. The millennium has come and gone, as has.December 21 (winter solstice), 2012.
This day was supposed to represent the end of the Mayan calendar, which is significant because it symbolizes the sixth cycle of the human race, known as The Golden Age. The Mayans believed that every 26,000 years the earth completed one cycle, which is made up of six mini-cycles, each lasting 5,126 years. December 21, 2012 was the beginning of that sixth and final cycle. In preparation, humans would be given 13 years (dating from 1999) to recognize their destructive nature (accelerated contamination, lack of preservation).
Only if mankind learned to covet nature over material objects, would they survive the cataclysmic event which was said to usher in a new era. This event was to include anything from solar flares, super volcanoes, or man-made disasters. According to scientists, December 21, 2012 left behind 120 small earthquakes and no UFO sightings, which made it pretty much a normal day. Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History warned that the event could be a few days off, but here we are at the edge of 2015, so it is safe to say we’ve survived these mysteries… at least for now.
About Dr. Eric J. Leech
Eric has written for over a decade. Then one day he created Urbasm.com, a site for every guy.
About Dr. Eric J. Leech