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San Jose, California

The San José Semaphore

It took years to decode its mysterious messages.
A salvaged anchor frames the Warrnambool lighthouse.
shipwrecks

An Australian Town's Identity Rests on a Ship That May Not Exist

Did a 16th-century Portuguese vessel run aground here? Doubtful, but why not celebrate it anyhow?
Bonnie Nicol January 4, 2021
The black material found on the final page of Brønlund's diary.
exploration

A Mysterious Black Spot Offers Clues to a Doomed Explorer's Last Moments

Jørgen Brønlund's diary contained information that wasn't written on the page.
Luna Shyr December 18, 2020
One of the subsequent 2020 monoliths, in Atascadero, California.
film

Trying to Make Sense of the Mystery Monolith Craze of 2020

An expert on Kubrick finds them "fascinating," if "derivative," but they may be this strange year's physical embodiment.
Matthew Taub December 16, 2020
The Wooden Man appears as if sleeping.
Kværndrup, Denmark

The Wooden Man

Generations have refused to move this doll from its dusty resting place to preserve a castle from a watery fate.
The well-preserved wreck lies nearly 300 feet below the surface.
nazis

Found: A Shipwrecked Nazi Steamer, Still Filled With Cargo

It carried soldiers, military vehicles, and sealed crates that divers can't wait to open.
Isaac Schultz October 21, 2020
The Holestone overlooking surrounding countryside.
Doagh, Northern Ireland

The Holestone

This mysterious Bronze Age standing stone has become a place where couples profess their love.
Obelisk of Odzun.
Odzun, Armenia

Obelisk of Odzun

An unusual double-stelae obelisk with ancient and mysterious origins.
An elephant sits in the waters of the Okavango Delta in September 2019.
lakes

Botswana Says It's Solved the Mystery of a Mass Elephant Die-Off

Conservationists were baffled when hundreds of elephants died in the Okavango Delta this summer.
Atlas Obscura September 21, 2020
"Portrait of a Mathematician" by Mary Beale (left); a 1702 portrait of Isaac Newton by Godfrey Kneller (right).
paintings

The Mystery of the Missing Portrait of Robert Hooke

He was a famed 17th-century scientist. Isaac Newton was one of his rivals.
Atlas Obscura September 4, 2020
Sarsen makes up the bulk of Stonehenge's rocky profile.
geology

We Now Know Where Almost All of Stonehenge's Stones Came From

The main source for its largest megaliths is just a stone’s throw from the iconic site.
Isaac Schultz July 31, 2020
The museum room containing the unlabeled replica
Falun, Sweden

The Replica of Fet-Mats

A reproduction of a mysteriously preserved body found in the 18th-century and put on display for years before burial.
The ruin sits on a spit of land in Lake Tere-Khol, in Tuva, Russia.
ruins

In Southern Russia, a Mysterious Island Ruin Is Finally Giving Up Its Secrets

Solar radiation and dead trees tell us when Por-Bajin was built—and why it was neither palace nor fortress.
Isaac Schultz June 16, 2020
A view of the stone under the new oak tree.
Minstead, England

The Rufus Stone

A stone, covered in metal, commemorating an event that happened somewhere else a thousand years ago.
A view of the mansion.
San Diego, California

Villa Montezuma

A magnificent, reportedly haunted mansion built for a composer by Spiritualists.
The Bamberg Horseman, 2008.
Bamberg, Germany

Bamberg Horseman

Art historians have debated the identity of this medieval stone rider since the 19th century.
The discrepancy pops up in the Grand Canyon, where ancient rock abuts, well, less ancient rock.
geology

One of Geology’s Great Mysteries May Actually Be Many Smaller Mysteries

The “Great Unconformity” is a big chunk of missing deep time.
Isaac Schultz April 28, 2020
This Brazilian navy ship had a strange insect encounter during nighttime operations.
islands

The Ecological Mystery of a Stink Bug Swarm Far Out to Sea

The chance encounter has led to insights on how insects make it to distant islands.
Erica Tennenhouse March 24, 2020