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Things Nobody Knows—And Nobody Ever Will

Similarly to the Tamam Shud/Somerton Man case, the Isdal Woman case has long fascinated me. I remember first hearing about it about a decade ago when very little info was out there about it, it has gained a lot more interest recently and progress has been made so maybe we will eventually be able to solve that one.

Regarding Agatha Christie, I've often wondered if she went away to have a termination. Someone as resourceful as Christie would know where to go. I'm probably way off mark, but it's food for thought.
 
Similarly to the Tamam Shud/Somerton Man case, the Isdal Woman case has long fascinated me. I remember first hearing about it about a decade ago when very little info was out there about it, it has gained a lot more interest recently and progress has been made so maybe we will eventually be able to solve that one.

I had a (probably rubbish) theory about the Isdal Woman after I first heard about the case. She'd been using eczema cream (some was found in her luggage) and given the recent news stories about skin creams being potentially flammable, I'd surmised that perhaps she'd accidentally gone on fire because of the skin cream, which would explain why the burning was only at the front of her body (i.e. where she'd likely have been applying the cream).

Told you it was a rubbish theory :)
 
This is a great one isn't it? If you listen to podcasts, there's a wonderful one presented by 'Casefile True Crime' called 'The Somerton Man' which has the best in-depth, well rounded summation of the case that I've come across. It's a must if your fascination with this case continues.

I took your advice and listened to that today. There were a few things there that I didn't know so it was a fun listen. But I have to admit that the hosts tone and meter was hard to listen to.
 
I took your advice and listened to that today. There were a few things there that I didn't know so it was a fun listen. But I have to admit that the hosts tone and meter was hard to listen to.

Yes, it's one of their/his earlier ones. Their latest podcasts have a much higher production level. If you're interested, listen to their ones on the Belanglo killer, Ivan Milat, there's nothing Fortean about it, but it's haunting in it's own way. It all happened not far from where I sit as I type this and I know the guy who discovered the first skull and leg bone.
 
I had a (probably rubbish) theory about the Isdal Woman after I first heard about the case. She'd been using eczema cream (some was found in her luggage) and given the recent news stories about skin creams being potentially flammable, I'd surmised that perhaps she'd accidentally gone on fire because of the skin cream, which would explain why the burning was only at the front of her body (i.e. where she'd likely have been applying the cream).

Told you it was a rubbish theory :)

It's by no means the worst theory. It's a fascinating case isn't it?

Moving away from crime, I've been reading about Audubon's mystery birds recently and while there are a lot of plausible theories there doesn't seem to be a one case fits all scenario.
 
This is a great one isn't it? If you listen to podcasts, there's a wonderful one presented by 'Casefile True Crime' called 'The Somerton Man' which has the best in-depth, well rounded summation of the case that I've come across. It's a must if your fascination with this case continues.

The Astonishing Legends 3-4 episodes are worth a listen, the researcher they spoke to seems to have determined that he probably died by accident, rather than foul play and is pretty certain he's "Jestyn's" son's father.
 
Stonehenge - why? I know it's all astronomical and whatnot, but I'm fascinated by the stories that will never be told.
And even more in the same line - Silbury Hill ? I find the Silbury / West Kennet / Avebury triangle amazing and astonishingly atmospheric. The only other - much smaller - place I know with the same vibe is the Merry Maidens in Cornwall - and I've visited many a stone circle.

But I can say with absolute confidence we will never know why Silbury Hill was raised. Although I'm sure many people have and will put forward theories.
 
But I can say with absolute confidence we will never know why Silbury Hill was raised. Although I'm sure many people have and will put forward theories.
It may have started out with the intention of being a motte-and-bailey, with a fort at the top, but maybe that last bit didn't happen.
 
It may have started out with the intention of being a motte-and-bailey, with a fort at the top, but maybe that last bit didn't happen.
No. First of all it predates motte and bailey castles by roughly 3000 years, and second no-one would build a castle or any sort of defensive earthwork in a dip that was dominated by surrounding hills. It's the latter that makes it so peculiar.

Go up to the Long Barrow and you are looking down on the hill. And no-one has ever found a burial within it that can be attributed to its original building. There are secondary burials, true.

Edit: There are other mysterious earthworks in the UK - Wansdyke, Offa's Dyke, Devils Dyke. The traditional explanations for these make very little sense.
 
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There are other mysterious earthworks in the UK - Wansdyke, Offa's Dyke, Devils Dyke. The traditional explanations for these make very little sense.
For me, the dykes make more sense if you understand them as markers, symbols, magic and influence.

I've known forever that you drag your foot or a stick across a route you want to close, or lay a series of pebbles across - but that is more noticeable.

Furthermore, if you have a guardian or watch beast of some sort it's better to have an alarm on the route rather than set them to watch. But that's not the sort of thing we do, now is it my fellow innocent-of-all-charges friends?
 
For me, the dykes make more sense if you understand them as markers, symbols, magic and influence.

I've known forever that you drag your foot or a stick across a route you want to close, or lay a series of pebbles across - but that is more noticeable.

Furthermore, if you have a guardian or watch beast of some sort it's better to have an alarm on the route rather than set them to watch. But that's not the sort of thing we do, now is it my fellow innocent-of-all-charges friends?
Well, that makes a lot more sense than the conventional argument that they were defensive earthworks. How many legions do people imagine the Saxons had? The Romans struggled to maintain the relatively short (compared to Offa's Dyke) Hadrian's wall.
 
I see them as a place for posturing and doing all the things that mean that everyone understands where the line is and that nobody benefits if it's crossed.

Stops minor niggles going wildfire. Doesn't stop a fully organised war band.

And yes, Offa's Dyke is not Hadrian's Wall! :)
 
So many. I could sit here all day writing a list.
However, at the top (as per the original post) would be:

Who was Jack the Ripper? I have a library room with shelves full of books dedicated to the subject and I'm still not swayed to one suspect over another. 133 years on, we now will never have a definitive answer and that bothers me somewhat.

In a similar vein, who shot (and killed) JFK? This is still a crime/unsolved mystery that happened within the lifetime of many, some of us here (I missed out by 2 years). How many government investigations, how many millions of minutes of debate, how many pages have been written, how many hours of screen time have been dedicated to pointing the finger to say ''He did it!''? We have an official answer, but is it the right answer? I'm not so sure. Again, I have shelves dedicated to the subject and I'm sure that Oswald is only a small part in a bigger picture, but I also don't have a solution, nor do I think we ever will.
 
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I have just finished reading a book on Oswald by James Hosty who was an FBI agent with a file on Oswald before the assassination. He is still convinced it was Oswald butas you say we will never know.
 
And even more in the same line - Silbury Hill ? I find the Silbury / West Kennet / Avebury triangle amazing and astonishingly atmospheric. The only other - much smaller - place I know with the same vibe is the Merry Maidens in Cornwall - and I've visited many a stone circle.

But I can say with absolute confidence we will never know why Silbury Hill was raised. Although I'm sure many people have and will put forward theories.

About 30 years ago I visited Avebury and did the walk to West Kennet and Silbury. I have never felt as much menace in my life as I did walking past Silbury Hill. Every fibre in my being was telling me to steer clear of the place. So I did. Rather than following the path directly past, I ended up staying on the road and following it back to my car.

Someone once told me that they had heard that Silbury Hill was built to bury a stone circle that the natives thought had got too powerful.

Earlier in the walk I fell over and got covered in mud, much to the hilarity of a group of American tourists.
 
About 30 years ago I visited Avebury and did the walk to West Kennet and Silbury. I have never felt as much menace in my life as I did walking past Silbury Hill. Every fibre in my being was telling me to steer clear of the place. So I did. Rather than following the path directly past, I ended up staying on the road and following it back to my car.

Someone once told me that they had heard that Silbury Hill was built to bury a stone circle that the natives thought had got too powerful.

Earlier in the walk I fell over and got covered in mud, much to the hilarity of a group of American tourists.
There have been several investigative tunnels dug in the hill over the years & very few large stones found, certainly no buried stone circle remains.

It was fairly recently repaired & all the tunnel voids left from previous digs filled with chalk to the tune of around 1500 tonnes. It was in some danger of collapse otherwise.
 
So many. I could sit here all day writing a list.
However, at the top (as per the original post) would be:

Who was Jack the Ripper? I have a library room with shelves full of books dedicated to the subject and I'm still not swayed to one suspect over another. 133 years on, we now will never have a definitive answer and that bothers me somewhat.
Can we ever be certain, I dunno, but I've seen a rather convincing argument that it was Charles Lechmere.
As he points out.. Mr. Lechmere was categorized as a witness, and not a suspect in the initial investigation. but his behavior.. as a witness was weird... he's standing over a woman who's not moving, and does everything he can to talk the other person present to NOT touch the body and instead go and get police help... with what he claims is probably a woman passed out drunk??? with no attempt to wake the woman up or even check to see if she's alive. SUS AF.
Tamam Shud/The Somerton Man is one that always sticks with me. I love telling people about it because it seems so far fetched and made up but of course isn't.

Elisa Lam - scary because we can see her last moments play out in a kind of chilling voyeuristic way.
Mary Celeste - a classic which caught my imagination as a child. One of the reasons I am a Fortean I suppose.
Dyatlov - I know it wasn't a yeti but I so wish it was.

Other than that, flights that completely disappear are always interesting to me especially if there is radio contact before reporting strange visual phenomena.
I was fascinated as a kid, then as an adult I realized I'd been on the wrong track all along.

Mary Celeste is a weird case because of how many would be researchers don't actually research the case and instead scrutinize a work of fiction.
Also, this guy points out that there's a detail often overlooked, sure the ship was found in the middle of the ocean far from land... but where was it when abandoned? apparently it was quite close to the Azores, and perhaps within visual range of land. If so, evacuating via rowboat makes a lot more sense.
 
Can we ever be certain, I dunno, but I've seen a rather convincing argument that it was Charles Lechmere.
As he points out.. Mr. Lechmere was categorized as a witness, and not a suspect in the initial investigation. but his behavior.. as a witness was weird... he's standing over a woman who's not moving, and does everything he can to talk the other person present to NOT touch the body and instead go and get police help... with what he claims is probably a woman passed out drunk??? with no attempt to wake the woman up or even check to see if she's alive. SUS AF.

I was fascinated as a kid, then as an adult I realized I'd been on the wrong track all along.

Mary Celeste is a weird case because of how many would be researchers don't actually research the case and instead scrutinize a work of fiction.
Also, this guy points out that there's a detail often overlooked, sure the ship was found in the middle of the ocean far from land... but where was it when abandoned? apparently it was quite close to the Azores, and perhaps within visual range of land. If so, evacuating via rowboat makes a lot more sense.
I still love Barry Dodds' explanation for the Mary Celeste; Booze Cruise gone wrong.
 
I'm no aficionado of true crime, but I wonder if we are ever going to locate where the last little moors murder victim lies?
I know there were recent rumblings which came to nothing, again.
It's so desperately sad I can't really linger on it for long.
I wonder sometimes if they put him somewhere else. I just don't know.

Dyatlov Pass is of interest to me, too. I became so lost in that thread at the time.

And how many great works of art, literature and music were created that never saw the light of day.....which almost happened to Hilma af Klint, the Swedish artist and mystic, who has thankfully now taken her deserved place in history alongside her contemporaries.
Since her entire body of work was concerned with personal visions and 'communication with spirits', this doesn't fit comfortably with today's rather dry, conventional perceptions of art history. Unfortunately contemporary critics choose to celebrate her fabulous works as a testament to mental illness, which is much more fashionable regardless of the truth.
 
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I'm no aficionado of true crime, but I wonder if we are ever going to locate where the last little moors murder victim lies?
I know there were recent rumblings which came to nothing, again.
It's so desperately sad I can't really linger on it for long.
I wonder sometimes if they put him somewhere else. I just don't know.

Dyatlov Pass is of interest to me, too. I became so lost in that thread at the time.

And how many great works of art, literature and music were created that never saw the light of day.....which almost happened to Hilma af Klint, the Swedish artist and mystic, who has thankfully now taken her deserved place in history alongside her contemporaries.
Since her entire body of work was concerned with personal visions and 'communication with spirits', this doesn't fit comfortably with today's rather dry, conventional perceptions of art history. Unfortunately contemporary critics choose to celebrate her fabulous works as a testament to mental illness, which is much more fashionable regardless of the truth.
Mmm... Dyatlov... that's a weird one. so many thing just... don't make sense as told in the official account. But that has its own (14 year-old) thread.... so much juicy discussion... :D https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/dyatlov-pass-incident-1959.32252/
 
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