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Disappearances & Unresolved Identities

MV Joyita: The Waterlogged Ship and Its Missing Twenty-Five

Joyita’s seaworthiness problems and failed communications explain how an emergency could develop. The decision to abandon a buoyant vessel, and what happened afterward, remain unresolved.

uncertainpublicSouth Pacific between Samoa and Tokelau; representative departure pin3 October–10 November 1955

UFOs & Aerial Phenomena

Lakenheath–Bentwaters: Radar, Interceptors and an Unresolved Night

The Lakenheath–Bentwaters incident combines multiple radar reports and an interceptor account, yet gaps in timing, weather and original records prevent a secure identification or extraordinary conclusion.

uncertainpublicRAF Lakenheath, Suffolk; representative radar-station pin13–14 August 1956

Hauntings & Apparitions

Old Jeffrey at Epworth Rectory: A Haunting Preserved in Family Letters

Epworth’s “Old Jeffrey” is unusually well documented through Wesley family correspondence, but the accounts remain household testimony copied and published later, with no independent test of the noises.

uncertainpublicThe Old Rectory, Epworth, Lincolnshire; representative site pinDecember 1716–January 1717

Cryptids & Animal Reports

The Ivory-billed Woodpecker: Evidence at the Edge of Extinction

The ivory-billed woodpecker controversy tests how conservation science handles suggestive video, acoustic recordings, expert sightings and the irreversible claim of extinction.

uncertainpublicCache River National Wildlife Refuge, Arkansas; representative search-area pinLast widely accepted U.S. record in 1944; reported rediscovery in 2004–2005

Folklore & Legends

Changelings: Fairy Substitution and the Human Cost of a Belief

Changeling lore is a family of supernatural explanations preserved across Europe. Folklore archives reveal its variety, while historical cases show the danger of treating a metaphor or diagnosis as a literal replacement.

folklorepublicIreland; representative National Folklore Collection context pinMedieval roots; recorded extensively in nineteenth- and twentieth-century tradition

Archaeology & Disputed Artefacts

The Kensington Runestone: A Viking Claim in a Minnesota Field

The Kensington Runestone is a real carved object with disputed origins. Its language, runes and discovery context favour a nineteenth-century creation, while the identity and precise motive of its maker remain unresolved.

disputedpublicNear Kensington, Douglas County, Minnesota; representative find-area pinFound in 1898; inscription claims 1362

Scientific Anomalies & Natural Phenomena

Strange Signals: How Investigators Classify Sounds and Transmissions

A source-led guide to anomalous signals, from underwater sounds to radio bursts: how calibration, reference libraries and independent repetition separate useful evidence from compelling noise.

explainedpublicInternationalModern acoustic and radio investigation

UFOs & Aerial Phenomena

Washington 1952: Radar Returns Over the Capital

The Washington sightings combined radar returns, visual reports and official alarm. Temperature inversions offer a plausible mechanism for some returns, but the heterogeneous evidence does not support one neat solution.

uncertainpublicWashington National Airport and the Washington, D.C. region; representative radar-site pin19–20 and 26–27 July 1952

Hauntings & Apparitions

The Rosenheim Poltergeist: Electrical Faults in a Bavarian Office

Rosenheim is remembered as an instrumented poltergeist case. Surviving reports document disruptive events and investigation, while gaps in control and opportunities for manipulation prevent a secure paranormal conclusion.

uncertainpublicRosenheim, Bavaria; representative city-centre pin1967–1968

Cryptids & Animal Reports

The Tatzelwurm: An Alpine Creature Made in Retelling

The Tatzelwurm is a durable Alpine animal tradition assembled from inconsistent sightings, regional names and later illustration. Familiar wildlife and folklore explain more than an undiscovered species.

folklorepublicAare Gorge, Bernese Oberland; representative Alpine folklore pinRecorded in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century tradition; continuing folklore

Scientific Anomalies & Natural Phenomena

Cold Fusion: The 1989 Claim and the Replication Problem

Cold fusion became a lesson in calorimetry, press-first science and replication. Later reviews left room to investigate materials effects but did not validate the original nuclear-energy claim.

disputedpublicUniversity of Utah, Salt Lake City; representative institutional pin23 March 1989 and subsequent replication campaigns

Disappearances & Unresolved Identities

Search Without a Story: How Missing-Person Investigations Manage Uncertainty

A practical guide to search theory: how planners separate likely location from detectability, update search areas and avoid turning an unsuccessful search into proof of an extraordinary disappearance.

explainedpublicInternationalModern search-and-rescue practice