The Most Puzzling Unexplained Events From World History

We can learn from the past to prevent making missteps in the future.

However, the historical events that we can't take notes from are the ones that never made sense.

This only demonstrates that sometimes, history teaches us nothing.

Curious to hear examples of head-scratching historical moments, Redditor throwaway-adnauseum asked:

"What is the most puzzling unexplained event in world history?"

These may forever remain a history mystery.

Strange Eruption

"The 1808 mystery eruption."

"Scientists have discovered that there was a giant volcanic eruption somewhere in the South Pacific in 1808. It was at least comparable to Krakatoa."

"They based it on secondary data (weather observations in South America, ice core readings, pine tree rings, etc)."

"Thing is, no one knows exactly which volcano went kaboom in 1808. Which is odd, because a volcanic eruption of that size should have been noticed by someone."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1808_mystery_eruption?wprov=sfla1"

– go_zarian

"The volcanic winter of 536 ce is a comparable mystery."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_winter_of_536?wprov=sfla1"

– DomCaliente

Perilous Journey

"Not the most puzzling, but I'd really like to know what happened to Malaysian flight 370. I especially want to know if the passengers were aware."

– EddieMcClintock

"I think Green Dot Aviation’s video on it is pretty solid. Mentour Pilot, another fantastic aviation channel will be releasing (I assume) an MH370 video soon as well.

"In short, due to the discovered satellite “handshakes” performed between the aircraft and the satellite system, while the majority of the system was turned off there are little scraps of data to work from to paint a picture of what likely happened."

"We’ll never truly know, of course, but there are only so many ways to interpret what data is available."

– NotAnotherNekopan

We Almost Didn't Make It

"The Toba bottleneck theory is a hypothesis that 70,000 years ago a massive volcanic eruption almost extinguished humanity, wiping out millions of humans to just a 1,000-10,000 people left."

"There is a few of researchers who disagree, but the theory has a lot of plausible basis and evidence. We just won't know for certain, it's just scary and interesting to think humanity almost went extinct and that we originate from a population of few thousand."

– booksnpizza

The Long Pause

"The 60,000 year pause humanity took in the desert while migrating out of Africa. Why in the world would they "pause" (60,000 is an awfully long pause) in such an inhospitable locale?"

– JBmadera

What was going on in the minds of those who lived in ancient times?

Exploratory Pause

"Why did the ancient Polynesians really stop voyaging for a thousand years and then start again?"

– Rolmeista

Fall Of Civilization

"The Bronze Age collapse."

"A bunch of theories but no full-on consensus"

– CARNIesada6

Making The Cut

"Connected to this: How were the Egyptians cutting stone so well before, and why was that knowledge totally lost?"

"You can see that the stones cut after the collapse are all chipped and ugly. Whereas the stones cut before could be so precise as to not allow any gap between them."

– ReasonablyConfused

"Humans are observant and when society is stable and allows for specialization it can achieve amazing things. We are essentially the same humans. Stability is the most crucial aspect, though. We don't just put much thought to longitudinal preservation of knowledge even now. They surely didn't back then. So when catastrophe strikes hundreds or thousands of years of generational knowledge is lost forever."

"Think of it like this, if widespread calamity would strike us tomorrow, worldwide, how long would it take humans to get back to the moon or achieve 3nm lithography chip fabrication? Think of who 'owns' that data/knowledge/know how."

– ratpH1nk

The Deal Down Under

"The peopling of Australia. The deeper you dig, the more fascinating it becomes."

– Captain_Wisconsin

"There’s a great documentary on PBS about this. Guy is tracing the DNAs of various people and found some family in South India that matches the aborigines DNA of Australia."

– imeeme

What about major historical figures? There's more talk of their legacy than the mysteries surrounding them.

Gone Forevermore

"Edgar Allen Poe's last days. Where did he disappear to? Was he kidnapped? Did he go on a bender?"

"Why was he found in a delirious state? Drugs? Disease? Trauma?"

– crissyn

"There's a theory I remember hearing that as an alcoholic he could have been a victim of a common practice of voter fraud of the time. Rough types got someone stinking, deliriously drunk and had them vote for a candidate, and then had their clothes forcibly changed so they could be made to vote several times."

– skullan6

Stumping Hercule Poirot

"A similarly weird story - Agatha Christie disappeared for 11 days, and had no memory of what happened during those days."

– Red-Beerd

"That one seems pretty self explanatory—she disappeared right after having a big fight with her husband who was having an affair. The media had a circus and when she was found staying in a nice hotel (under his mistress's name) she insisted that she had no memory of what had happened."

"We can't know her exact mental state but when you have all the info it was clearly some kind of nervous breakdown, with the only question being if the memory loss was real (some sort of fugue state) or just her trying to get the press and police (who tried to get her husband to pay for the manhunt after she was found unharmed) out of her business."

– Kittalia

Famed Leader

"Who or what was the Pied Piper?"

"The legend was apparently based on actual events commemorated in a stain glass image. But it's unclear if it was allegory or what."

– in-a-microbus

"The children’s crusade. It’s actually a pretty sad period. A classic Disney story. Children from small towns were scammed to believing a French and German boy had visions from god. The children were convinced into joining a crusade to convert Muslims in Jerusalem. They were all led to Italy and sold into slavery."

"https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children's_Crusade"

– kingkongcrapper

Where Did He Come From, Where Did He Go?

"Really curious about a timeline for the whereabouts of a person that affected me personally, known as Cotton Eyed Joe. Where is his place of origin? How did he prevent my marriage, and what happened to him."

– AOCMarryMe

What I find disturbing is how there was never any justice for the victims who died at the hands of a mysterious serial killer in London notoriously known as "Jack the Ripper."

The killer's moniker was identified through letters written to the police, taunting them in their search for the individual known to have killed at least five women in 1888.

We'll never know who it was.