Earth's Unsolved X-files 2013 (Part 1)

Hi readers, I thought it was time to follow up on sublimecraft's brilliant threads, they really wetted the appetite and left me wanting more of this chilling forteana, so I decided to pick up the mantle.

If you would like to leave suggestions for future O/Ps by all means private message me or alternatively post a reply to the thread.

Hopefully the following mysteries will both intrigue and compel you, and even if you're already familiar with them I hope to present a juicy angle for which you can sink your teeth into. Or simply scratch your head at.

These scientific dilemmas still baffle experts to this very day, the explanations are inconclusive and no absolute answers have been reached. All I wish do is touch on each event and present the facts (especially the spooky ones!), though I will leave you to make up your own minds…remember folks, the truth is out there.

1nquisitive.

Coming up in Part 1:

1.Who was Kaspar Hauser, and why did people want him dead?
2.Bhutan 'Yeti' DNA
3. NASA's fake 'moon' rocks
4. The Hanging Rock incident
5. Did the Titanic sink another ship?

It can take a few hours to upload a whole post, so please be patient, I'll get it done ASAP!

1.Who was Kaspar Hauser and why did people want to kill him?




Making his mysterious appearance in 1828 ,Kaspar was the original forest boy. Thought at first to have been raised in the woods, it later emerged that the youth claimed to have been imprisoned in a damp and darkened cell.

Initially with no knowledge of himself and relying on a tiny vocabulary the teen straggler was happened across by Georg Weickmann, a humble shoemaker.

Georg thought the boy to be a drunkard and accosted him, though his suspicions were quickly roused when Kaspar handed him a letter titled "To the Honourable Captain of the Cavalry of the Fourth Squadron, of the Sixth Regiment of the Light Cavalry in Nuremberg".

After being presented to the Captain, and being bewildered by the seemingly alien beer & sausages presented to him, Kaspar was given bread and water which he devoured keenly and was quickly dispatched to the local constables for questioning.

Down at the station repeated the same "don't know" and "take me home!" to any query thrown at him, a cycle only broken when an officer noticed the boys dazed stupor, handing him a coin, this made Kaspar's face light up and he proclaimed "horse! horse!". When handed ink, pen and paper Kaspar wrote "Kasper Hauser" in 'firm and legible handwriting', much to everyones surprise.

Due to the boys healthy and well fed stature, his healthy hair and fair skin, and most notably his vaccinations, he was thought by many to have had aristocratic beginnings, though they noted the eclectic mix of both his well made and scruffy attire.

He also had some printed religious texts on his persons, including a spiritual manual entitled 'The Art of Replacing Lost Time and Years Badly Spent', which seems a cruel yet sincere irony given his subsequent treatment.

Kaspar was handed to a jailer by the name of Andreas Hiltel, whose children (along with the physician ordered to monitor him secretly) managed to impart both the alphabet and how to communicate to them on him.

Like a toddler he was shy, yet unembarrassed, and was very unsteady on his feet.

Public interest in the mysterious youth grew daily and crowds assembled to gaze as he ate and slept. Many thought, since he could hardly walk, could speak only a few strange sentences, and was able to hear but not understand what was said to him, that he must be a feral child.

Here's the mystery…there were several assassination attempts on his life, whilst in the care of numerous aristocrats, prior to him supposedly committing 'suicide'.

The text below is lifted from a Hauser wiki

On 17 October 1829, Hauser did not come to the midday meal, but was found in the cellar of Daumer's house bleeding from a cut wound on the forehead. He asserted that while sitting on the privy he was attacked and wounded by a hooded man who also threatened him with the words: "You still have to die ere you leave the city of Nuremberg." Hauser said that by the voice he recognized the man as the one who brought him to Nuremberg.

As was obvious from his blood trail, Hauser at first fled to the first floor where his room was, but then, instead of moving on to his caretakers, he returned downstairs and climbed through a trap door into the cellar. Alarmed officials called for a police escort and transferred him to the care of Johann Biberbach, one of the municipal authorities.

The alleged attack on Hauser also fueled rumours about his possible descent from the House of Baden. Hauser's critics are of the opinion that he inflicted the wound on himself with a razor, which he then took back to his room before going to the cellar.

Kaspar was buried in a quiet country churchyard where his gravestone read:
   


'Here lies Kaspar Hauser, riddle of his time. His birth was unknown, his death mysterious.' 

Who was Kaspar Hauser and why did people want him dead? Was he a princely heir, the keeper of a deadly secret, or simply 
a fictitious character?

To this day nobody can peel the veil from this enigma of a boy.

www.guardian.co.uk...
www.mysteriouspeople.com...


A sketch by Hauser, 1929

2. Bhutan 'Yeti' DNA



Back in April of 2001 a team of scientists, headed by specialist British biologists, made an astonishing announcement: they had found hair samples that do not belong to any currently known animal species.

Stephen Wagner, paranormal phenomena guide:

The long black strand of hair examined by the British scientists was found on the bark of cedar tree in the Kingdom of Bhutan, a small country on the eastern side of the Himalayas. The tall, hairy creature is believed by many locals to inhabit the forests and mountains of Bhutan, where it is called the Migyur. The British were led to this particular tree by Sonam Dhendup, the kingdom's official Yeti hunter.

Locals had found a mysterious piece of skin in the hollow of the cedar tree, which they think the creature might have called home. Carefully examining the area, the British scientists found fresh footprints just a few hours old. Inside the tree, they noted claw-like scratch marks and found several strands of the hair.

Some of the hair was taken back to the UK for DNA testing. Bryan Sykes, Professor of Human Genetics at the Oxford Institute of Molecular Medicine and one of the world's leading experts on DNA analysis examined the hair. "We found some DNA in it," he said, "but we don't know what it is. It's not a human, not a bear not anything else we have so far been able to identify. It's a mystery and I never thought this would end in a mystery. We have never encountered DNA that we couldn't recognize before."

This latest discovery follows the 'Snow Walker' footage of 1996, which seems to show a LARGE hairy biped clutching trees as he climbs a mountainside. It was captured by walkers in Nepal and has yet to be disproven, even by experts.

There is one thing this discovery has proven however - there IS an unknown animal out there...who knows, you may even stumble upon it yourself, let's hope it's not on a dark night and you catch it in a good mood.


www.bhutantimes.com...

3. NASA's fake 'moon' rocks



I'll keep this one short and sweet, as I'm pretty sure we all know my angle.

NASA insists it brought back 380 kg of genuine lunar surface material, and that these have been either vaulted away, tested or awarded as diplomatic gifts.

The thing is back in 2009 it turned out a 'moon' rock given as a present to the Dutch Rijksmuseum was actually fake. Indeed, it was no doubt a good replica, as at one point it was insured for nearly $1 million.

Now, a fake artefact wouldn't normally pique my curiosity, however it was presented as real by none other than by NASA, the guys who would always have us believe their word is the gospel truth - cue a pique in my curiosity.

It has also transpired that the bulk of these 'moon' rocks have 'disappeared'.

Is this a tragedy of a poorly managed NASA, or is something more nefarious at play?


www.wired.com...
news.bbc.co.uk...
www.scientificamerican.com...

4. The Hanging Rock incident

5. Did the Titanic sink another ship?

Originally posted by 1nquisitive
4. The Hanging Rock incident

Do aboriginal spirits loiter within Hanging Rock? Is there an unseen force responsible for the irreconcilable incident? Or is it just a simple disappearance?

Well, rumours abound of the causes and forces behind this community shaking event, but first we need to look at the facts. It's Valentines day, 1900, and a school party comprising of both students and teachers from an exclusive girls school are on a field trip-cum-picnic. They headed out to the nearby beauty site of Hanging Rock and the group, from Appleyard College, numbered 7. Only 2 survived the unknown occurrence. The others, including the school mistress, completely disappeared, leaving the survivors memoryless though anxious.

One small snag, however, is that it's not officially a real incident, that's right - it's fictitious. The author's 'side' claims it's entirely fictional and not based on any real events. BTW, the book in question is 'Picnic at Hanging Rock', by Joan Lindsay.

However, here's the kicker (well, there has to be, right?), skeptoid says:

At some point, a rumor appeared that the local police station in Woodend had burned down sometime in the early 1900s, thus destroying any records of the girls' deaths that may have existed. There is (and was) an actual police station at Woodend, but there's no record that it ever burned down. The granddaughter of a police constable from Woodend, Richard Lawless, is reported to have phoned into a radio station and reported that her grandfather's theory is that the girls had fallen into a crevice which was then covered over by a boulder. If what she said is true — and there really isn't any way to know at this point — it proves nothing more than she believed her grandfather's tale

And in the author's own words:

Whether Picnic at Hanging Rock is fact or fiction, my readers must decide for themselves. As the fateful picnic took place in the year 1900, and all the characters who appear in this book are long since dead, it hardly seems important

Skeptoid goes on to say:

What really stirred the pot was the 1980 publication of The Murders at Hanging Rock by Australian science fiction author Yvonne Rousseau. Although she prefaced her book with a statement that Picnic at Hanging Rock was fiction, she then went on to offer five possible explanations for the disappearances, since Lindsay had given none at all. Rousseau suggested:

That everything happened in some sort of parallel universe where time was slightly offset, thus accounting for why the bodies were never found, and explaining a major factual error in the original book. Lindsay had set her story on Saturday, February 14, 1900. However this date was actually a Wednesday.

A confusing suggestion that an alternate dimension was somehow involved.

They were all abducted by a UFO, which Rousseau suggested was consistent with Irma's amnesia.

A supernatural event of some kind must have taken place.

That it turns out to have been a conventional murder. The two teenage boys in the story, stable hand Albert and Michael, who was obsessed with Miranda, beat and raped and murdered Miranda, Marion, and Miss McGraw; but Irma escaped, having been beaten to the point of amnesia.
Although the first four explanations have never gained much traction outside of the New Age community (who still frequent Hanging Rock with crystals and robes), the murder story did take root. Among the many visitors who come to the rock today and ask the rangers about the mystery, it turns out that most of them have heard that the girls were murdered

So, did the events really happen, was it a part of the author's history that she felt compelled to share, or was it just a vehicle to share insights into a basket of local phenomena? Or was it perhaps just a story?

I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on this guys, as it seems an ever elusive mystery -yet at the same time particularly enduring.

skeptoid.com...
www.bookmice.net...

S&F! Interesting stuff indeed. I've never heard of the Kasper or Hanging Rock stories. I will research into the topics further.

reply to post by 1nquisitive


I saw this movie last month. My girlfriend had it on. It leaves a lasting impression. Recommended.

Originally posted by 1nquisitive
5. Did the Titanic sink another ship?

The hypothesis that the Titanic struck another ship is a fairly familiar (though I wouldn't say ubiquitous) suggestion, and is spearheaded by Robin Gardiner, author of 'Titanic: The Ship That Never Sank'.

The crux of the theory is that the Titanic never hit an iceberg at all, but instead hit an IMM rescue vessel. Well, strictly, he also states that the Titanic wasn't real, or at least wasn't unique.

The lesser known word on the street is that White Star Lines actually rebadged their defunct Olympic liner as the 'Titanic'.

Gardiner asserts that knowing the Olympic was irreparably damaged from previous misfortunes and couldn't be relied on as a seafaring vessel they simply concocted a new 'sister vessel', whilst actually repainting the Olympic, and sank it purposefully in order to recoup the losses made when Lloyd's of London refused to payout on the previous accident of the Olympic.

At this point things start to make sense, afterall detectives call that motive, right?

A little background digging indicates that the Olympic struck Royal Navy Warship HMS Hawke in the Brambles Channel near Southampton. Such was the proximity of the Olympic to the naval ship that the Olympic's motion drew the Hawke into her after starboard side -causing extensive damage to her hull, much of it below the waterline.

Contrary to many eyewitness accounts the British admiralty awarded blame on behalf of the Olympic. Gardiner then goes on to say that the seacocks were opened to flood and sink the ship, whilst nearby rescue vessels so that passengers could be ferried to safety before the ship sank entirely, without the need for numerous lifeboats.

The lack of lifeboats is seen by the mainstream to be the prime factors in the excessive death toll; curiously, lifeboats were one of the only parts of the vessels to carry the insignia, either 'Olympic' or 'Titanic'. It is seen by many as an example to avoid any unnecessary rebadging costs.

From a Titanic wiki:

One of Gardiner's most controversial statements is that the Titanic did not strike an iceberg, but an IMM rescue ship that was drifting on station with its lights out. Gardiner based this hypothesis on the idea that the supposed iceberg was seen at such a short distance by the lookouts on the Titanic because it was actually a darkened ship, and he also does not believe an iceberg could inflict such sustained and serious damage to a steel double-hulled vessel such as the Titanic.

Gardiner further hypothesizes that the ship that was hit by the Titanic was the one seen by the Californian firing distress rockets, and that this explains the perceived inaction of the Californian (which traditionally is seen as failing to come to the rescue of the Titanic after sighting its distress rockets). Gardiner's hypothesis is that the Californian was not expecting rockets, but a rendezvous. The ice on the deck of the Titanic is explained by Gardiner as ice from the rigging of both the Titanic and the mystery ship she hit. As for the true Titanic, Gardiner alleges that she spent 25 years in service as the Olympic

.

What would you do for money?

www.whitestarmomentos.co.uk...

Originally posted by jtrenthacker
S&F! Interesting stuff indeed. I've never heard of the Kasper or Hanging Rock stories. I will research into the topics further.

Yes, please do, and thanks.

Also, remember to let us know whatever you discover!

Do you have any mysteries to cover in the next instalment? (I will be sure to cite all contributions).

Originally posted by this_is_who_we_are
reply to post by 1nquisitive

 

I saw this movie last month. My girlfriend had it on. It leaves a lasting impression. Recommended.

I'll be sure to watch it! Not one for just before bedtime, mind, might give me the heebie jeebies.

You know whats weird? Night before last I was lying in bed and the thought of, wondering if there will be anymore of these unsolved x files threads, just popped into my mind randomly. And, what do you know, here is one.
Great thread though, interesting stuff as always. S&F

Originally posted by kx12x
You know whats weird? Night before last I was lying in bed and the thought of, wondering if there will be anymore of these unsolved x files threads, just popped into my mind randomly. And, what do you know, here is one.
Great thread though, interesting stuff as always. S&F

Hehe-nothing beats a good mystery, huh?

Will try and find some gems for the next instalment, cheers guys.

Ps- maybe you have a psychic affinity, *cue twilight zone theme*

Thank you! I love these type of x-files. I always imagine Moulder and Scully while reading the strange stories

That Titanic one is pretty interesting, I'm sure that ship along with the white star line had many secrets being the wealthiest people of the era.

Originally posted by Agent008
Thank you! I love these type of x-files. I always imagine Moulder and Scully while reading the strange stories

That Titanic one is pretty interesting, I'm sure that ship along with the white star line had many secrets being the wealthiest people of the era.

Thanks dude/dudette- really glad you like the cases!

"Things are getting strange, I'm starting to worry, this could be a case Mulder and Scully..."

reply to post by 1nquisitive


Found this short movie on The Titanic switch

Originally posted by Agent008
reply to post by 1nquisitive

 

Found this short movie on The Titanic switch

Sweet...loving this

reply to post by 1nquisitive

I'll be keeping an eye out for then next one.

I love that show, it's quite a bit before my generation but it's still great.
Actually, things like that happen to me all the time, nothing too big, just thinking of things someone says right before they say it, thinking of something very specific then randomly see it/hear it later that day. Just average weird coincidences that happen to everyone, I think.

S & F OP! I have just read the Kasper story & it is fascinating to say the least...
what an incredible story & including all the witnesses...fabulous!
I am looking forward to reading the rest of your informative post...
Cheers
Ektar

Originally posted by 1nquisitive
2.Bhutan 'Yeti' DNA

All these years later, there is no evidence that any such DNA actually exists.

Originally posted by 1nquisitive
4. The Hanging Rock incident

All these years later, there is no evidence that any such incident ever happened.