Top 8 Mysterious Things That Are Still Mysteries (1-4)
This is half ‘continuation of my ‘Fascinating Things that Fascinate Me’ list‘ and half totally separate list. Basically it’s a list of things I find equally fascinating but are all unsolved by either science or the detectives assigned to the case. Perhaps you can crack the mystery…
1.) Max Headroom TV Hack- This is one of the creepier entries on this list that…that doesn’t involve murder anyway. Back in 1987 on November 22nd in Chicago Illinois, a still unknown individual was able to intrude in on the signal of two separate TV stations within 3 hours of each other.
The creepiness is what you will find in the second hack which intruded the screen for about a minute; a man in a rubber Max Headroom mask and brown suit with an oscillating background of corrugated metal. The strange individual proceeds to semi-rant about Chuck Swirsky (a news anchorman), utter random nonsensical phrases, toss a Pepsi can (Max Headroom promoted Coca-Cola), make an obscene hand gesture and then for the coup-de-gras, turned himself over and expose his bare ass to the camera while a female in a dress spanked it with a fly swatter. The veritable collage of crazy gives off the vibe that this man actually had some sort of twisted agenda, which no one was able to figure out, nor who the identity of the strange man was. Other than the two signal intrusions on November 22nd, the man in the creepy 80’s Coca-Cola spokesman mask was never seen again.
To view the video in all of it’s wonderful whack-job glory, click here. The first 31 seconds of the video is the original scheduled programming before the hack happens. Skip ahead to get to the video. Also, because the individual distorted his voice, it’s very difficult to understand what he says so click here if you want a transcription of what is said and more interesting details to the story.
2.) The WOW! Signal- I wasn’t too keen on adding anything supposedly extraterrestrial or paranormal to this list as those items tend to lean in a direction that has very little basis in either fact or scientific evidence and is usually looked upon with heavy skepticism. The WOW! Signal however, is an actual, 100% factual anomaly detected by SETI on August 15th, 1977.
The Big Ear Radio telescope located in Ohio, measures small-band signals floating in space (not originating from earth), rating them on a numerical scale of 1 to 9. Anything signal stronger than a 9 is then denoted by letters, for example: A=10, B=11 etc. On average, the signals recorded by the Big Ear Radio telescope are between a 1 and 4. The WOW! Signal had a code of 6EQUJ5 ( 6, 15, 26, 30, 19, 5). As you can see, the 72 second signal rose from an intensity of 6 all the way up to 30 (U) and then back down to 5. This was such an unheard of extra-terrestrial signal, that the man who detected it, Dr. Jerry Ehman of Ohio State University, wrote the word WOW! in red ink next to the circled signal. Because of the signals strength and location, it is widely believed to be a “created” signal not of earth instead of a natural expulsion of energy from nearby stars and/or galaxies. As of yet, it is our only “proven” existence of alien life. Make of it what you will, but it is difficult to deny its mysterious existence.
To this day, well-respected scientists and astronomers have no explanation for the WOW! signal’s strange, one-time appearance. If you are interested in further reading, click here.
3.) Zodiac Killer- I mentioned my fascination with serial killers in a previous list; here I delve into one of the more puzzling perpetrators of this fascination.
Operating in Northern California in the 60’s and 70’s, this person killed 4 men, 3 women and possible others, naming himself the ‘Zodiac’ in a series of letters, puzzles and ciphers. Only one of these ciphers has ever been decoded but are all available to the amateur sleuth and code-breaker who wish to give the 40-year-old case a shot.
Due to a plethora of ‘wannabe’s’ and copycats, it is unknown exactly how many of the letters and attempts at communication are actually attributed to the Zodiac killer. It has been confirmed that there are a minimum of 4 known letters. As well as the standard letter form of communication, it’s also thought he was responsible for sending several greeting cards. As I said earlier though, because of copy-cats it is unsure whether they are all from one person as the code and handwriting on each have slight variations.
This day and age, it’s somewhat difficult to “get away with” being a serial murderer because of advances in crime detection technology; however, in spite of all these advances and the fact the Zodiac case is still an open one, no leads have been found in several years. Like Jack the Ripper, if this case isn’t solved very soon, he’s bound to go down in history as one of the great unknown serial killers of our time.
To read more on the case and see actual photographs of the Zodiac killers letters, please click here.
4.) Easter Island- It is the most remote inhabited island in the world; that alone is enough to stir curiosity in all of us. This is another one I touched on in my Fascinating Things list for their undeciphered and dead language, Rongorongo; now I will go a little deeper in the island and include the eponymous Easter Island monoliths called moai.
Located in the Southeastern Pacific ocean, the island was “discovered” on Easter Sunday 1722, though initial settlement is estimated to have occurred around 400 to 1100 AD by Polynesian explorers. it is thought that due to the construction of the large stone heads (maoi), cannibalism took place when extreme deforestation destabilized an already fragile ecosystem.
The large statues were created as a way for the living to speak to the dead in a cult-like religion. These heads were the deified ancestors with which the living provided offerings in hopeful return of health, fertility, land, animals and fortune in a disappearing and dying society. One of the mysteries is how these statues were erected. While several theories abound, archeologists and scientists are still unable to provide definitive proof of how these technologically limited people were able to construct such large stone structures. The Rapanui traditions refer to mana (spiritual power) being used to “walk” the moai from the quarry.
Along with the mysterious statues was the question of exactly why several species of tree, bird and various other plants and animals became extinct with in a short period of time before the Europeans made land fall. The island was virtually deforested and “dead” by the time western colonization even began.
To learn more about the mysteries of Easter Island, give these people a look.
graysonjack
angry rant 
Never before had a big interest in serial murderers, however, should the Zodiac Killer ever come out of retirement, I’d love for him to have an encounter with my ex-husband. Or maybe he (my ex) could win a free trip to Easter Island where he could be offered up in a ritual sacrifice. I’m all choked up just thinking about the possibility of never writing another alimony check. Can’t wait to see what you come up with in Part 2.
Mystery #9 Who wrote this post and where in the hell is Jack. Pop some smoke Jack i have a fire team ready to come and get you brother. Sara our fearless leader is setting up the logistics for the LZ Stay strong Marine!
Hey, the Zodiac thing is a code, one he concocted which is one of the most difficult yet simple methods of encryption known, a simple substitution code. Problem is, the mind that created it is likely dead (or very awesome at secret-keeping), so what you’re left with is a 26-digit list of possible combinations within the framework of (assumed) English. They’ve thrown Cray computers at Zodiac’s letters and been pwned.
Great post! I watched the film about the Zodiac killer a few months back. I had never heard of it before then. So scary, so fascinating. It also fascinates me what drives people to kill others like that, not in a freaky ‘give me tips’ way, but just because it is alien to me.You should check out isohunt and down load Appropriate Adult. It is a two part drama about this English serial killer, called Fred West, him AND his nut job wife properly tortured multiple (about 13 bodies were discovered, but the Police suspect another 20+ victims) women and BURIED them under his house and in his back garden. It is beyond the realms of grim. It really beggars belief that his neighbours didn’t know what was going on. Check it out. If you get stuck with the accents, you might find a subtitled version somewhere!
I have a fascination for serial killers as well. In fact, I have read extensively about various serial killers in a bid to try and figure out what makes them tick. Obviously, I haven’t been particularly successful. By the way, as far as I know, India has no real records of any serial killers. While I find it difficult to believe that there has been none especially considering that we form almost one-fifth of the population, I think it has to do more with the fact that the police has just failed repeatedly to determine any form of causal connection between possibly related cases.
The Zodiac Killer is someone I have heard of and read about. I have even seen the movie starring Jake Gylenhall. A very very interesting case.
The easter Islands figure in my list of must-visit places. I keep hoping that someone will solve their mystery soon.
I haven’t ever heard of the first two but they are very interesting. Look forward to reading the rest of the list!