Myths & mysteries
Discover facts about myths & mysteries. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Myths & mysteries
Sacred geometry suggests that universal divine meaning is hidden within basic mathematical shapes
In these traditions, geometric proportions such as the golden ratio are seen as divine patterns repeated from the microscopic world to the cosmos.
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Highly successful historical photographic hoax involving simple paper cutouts that fully convinced a famous author
Simple paper cutouts were convincing enough to fool a famous author in a highly successful photographic hoax.
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Fascinating indigenous legend of a massive subterranean serpent thought to be responsible for triggering earthquakes.
In some island traditions, a giant catfish or serpent slept beneath the earth; when it stirred, people believed its movement caused earthquakes.
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Curious spiritual tradition of crafting elaborate sigils to manifest subconscious human desires
Practitioners condense a written desire into an abstract symbol, then focus on and destroy it—often by burning—believing this can bypass conscious doubts and…
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Mysterious synchronized murmuration of starlings forming dancing clouds was once considered an omen from gods
The illusion of one shifting cloud comes from birds rapidly responding to nearby flockmates; before that behavior was understood, people read the patterns as…
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Many traditional Himalayan shamans deliberately induce deep trance states through rhythmic, repetitive drum beating.
The steady drumbeat is used to induce trance, which practitioners associate with spiritual visions and out-of-body experiences without drugs.
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Ancient Norse warriors eagerly sought out highly aggressive berserker states by consuming specific psychedelic mushrooms.
Some historians have proposed that berserkers took Amanita muscaria before battle, inducing a hallucinogenic frenzy that may have dulled their fear and sense…
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Prominent historical authors genuinely believed the planet contained a hollow subterranean world filled with giants.
The Victorian-era theory imagined openings at the poles leading to a lush, illuminated world inside Earth, populated by giants and alien civilizations.
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Retrocausality within parapsychology research
In controversial lab studies, subjects reportedly reacted emotionally to disturbing images milliseconds before a random generator selected them—an apparent…
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Paranormal anomalies of the Scole experiment
In the 1990s, researchers in the English village of Scole reported floating orbs, materialized objects, and rolls of film bearing cryptic text, which they…
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Philip experiment involving created ghosts
In 1972, Canadian researchers attempted to literally invent a ghost named Philip through collective focus. After giving him a fictional backstory, the group…
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Bizarre European tradition of whispering to honey bees
When a death or major household event occurred, someone would drape the hives in black and whisper the news, for fear the bees would leave if excluded.
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Gothic stone bridge inducing fatal canine leaps
Animal behaviorists suspect the dogs are drawn by the overpowering scent of wild mink nesting below, while locals blame supernatural forces.
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A sacred eastern text was meant to be read to dying people
It was meant to be recited aloud to the dying, guiding their consciousness through the visions believed to occur between lives.
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Dried saintly relic blood that inexplicably liquefies
A glass vial in Naples is said to hold the centuries-old dried blood of San Gennaro, which reportedly liquefies a few times a year. Skeptics suggest it may be…
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Radioactive glow of a famously cursed jewel
The 45-carat blue diamond can glow red for several minutes after ultraviolet exposure because of phosphorescence, not radioactivity.
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A carved runestone sparked Viking mysteries
A Swedish immigrant found the stone tangled in tree roots on his Minnesota farm in 1898. Its runes appeared to describe a medieval Nordic expedition, but…
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A lucky botanical mutation is incredibly rare
A four-leaf clover is a rare recessive genetic anomaly, appearing in about one out of every 10,000 white clovers.
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A mirror summoning legend stems from a grieving queen
The nickname was attached to a paranoid monarch who suffered repeated miscarriages; rumors claimed she killed enemies to preserve her youth.
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Nine experienced hikers vanished in Dyatlov pass
In 1959, nine Soviet mountaineers fled their tent into a blizzard; some were later found without shoes, and traces of radioactivity were detected on some of…
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A seaworthy naval ship was found entirely abandoned
The lifeboat was gone, yet there was no sign of violence or catastrophic flooding to explain why the crew left.
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St. Augustine monster was a fleshy blob from the deep
Biologists once guessed it was an undiscovered prehistoric octopus, but later microscopy identified the mass as sperm-whale blubber.
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Modern skyscrapers designed with giant holes for dragons
In feng shui, the openings give mythical mountain dragons an unobstructed route to the sea.
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An infamous occultist invented his own religion
Crowley founded Thelema, a spiritual philosophy whose best-known rule is “Do what thou wilt.”
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