5 Greatest Unsolved Mysteries You May Not Know About

I always loved magic shows growing up. I didn't necessarily need to figure out exactly how some of the magic tricks were done; I just liked the entire mystery of it all. Now, it's easy to become obsessed with the mysteries of the world. Most people like to think that anything can be figured out or solved, but that is just not the case. You're probably familiar with some of the more popular mysteries, such as the Bermuda Triangle or the search for the Holy Grail. Here are five of history's greatest mysteries that you might not be familiar with.

1. Voynich Manuscript

Named after the Polish-American antiquarian bookseller Wilfrid M. Voynich, who acquired it in 1912, the Voynich manuscript is a detailed 240-page book written in a language or script that is completely unknown. Its pages are also filled with colorful drawings of strange diagrams, odd events, and plants that do not seem to match any known species. The original author of the manuscript remains unknown, but carbon dating has revealed that its pages were made sometime between 1404 and 1438. It has been called the world's most mysterious manuscript. There are a lot of theories about the origin and nature of the manuscript. Some believe it was meant to be a book detailing medicinal drugs and their effects to address topics of medieval or early modern medicine. Many of the pictures of herbs and plants hint that it may have been some kind of textbook for an alchemist. The fact that many diagrams appear to be of astronomical origin combined with identifiable biological drawings has even led some to propose that the book may have an alien origin. One thing most agree on is that the book is unlikely to be a hoax, given the amount of time, money, and detail that would have been required to make it.

2. Beale Ciphers

The Beale ciphers are a set of three ciphertexts that supposedly reveal the location of one of the grandest buried treasures in U.S. history. The treasure was originally obtained by a mysterious man named Thomas Jefferson Beale in 1818 while prospecting in Colorado. After three ciphertexts, only the second one has been cracked. Interestingly, the U.S. Declaration of Independence turned out to be the key, a curious fact given that Beale shares his name with the author of the Declaration of Independence. The cracked text does reveal the county where the treasure was buried (Bedford County, Virginia), but its exact location is likely encrypted in one of the other uncracked ciphers. It would be cool if "National Treasure 3" was about this.

3. Phaistos Disc

The mystery of the Phaistos disc is a story that sounds like something out of an Indiana Jones movie. Discovered by Italian archaeologist Luigi Pernier in 1908 in the Minoan Palace site of Phaistos, the disc is made of fired clay and contains mysterious symbols that may represent an unknown form of hieroglyphics. It is believed that it was designed sometime in the second millennium BC. Today, the disc remains one of the most famous puzzles of archaeology.

4. Shugborough Inscription

When you look at the 18th-century Shepherd's Monument in Staffordshire, England, you might take it as nothing more than a sculpted re-creation of Nicolas Poussin's famous painting "Arcadian Shepherds." Look closer, though, and you'll notice a curious sequence of letters, a code that has eluded decipherment for over 250 years. Though the identity of the code's carver remains a mystery, some have speculated that the code could be a clue left behind by the Knights Templar about the whereabouts of the Holy Grail. Many of the world's greatest minds have tried to crack the code and failed, including Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin.

5. The Taos Hum

The town of Taos in north-central New Mexico is a small, laid-back, artsy community that is home to an unusual mystery - a resident hum of unknown origin, the so-called "Taos Hum." A variety of theories have been offered as an explanation, from the psychological to the paranormal, from secret government mind-control experiments to low-frequency electromagnetic radiation.

These mysteries continue to intrigue and baffle researchers and enthusiasts alike. Despite advancements in technology and science, these enigmas remain unsolved, leaving us to wonder about the secrets they hold. Whether they are the result of human ingenuity, extraterrestrial influence, or natural phenomena, these mysteries remind us that there is still much to discover and understand about the world around us.