As consumers, we’re kind of obsessed with everything related to true crime. A 2024 report found that 83% of Americans aged 13+ watch or listen to True Crime through any medium. Podcasts especially are especially popular: they’re the third most popular genre behind just comedy and society & culture.
We here at Bored Panda, too, love to play sleuths from time to time. Getting lost in an unsolved mystery case can be similar to solving a big puzzle. So, here we have for you some of the most bizarre True Crime cases in history. We warn you, though: some of them might give you some serious heebie-jeebies.
We reached out to Kat and Jethro Gilligan Toth, the hosts of the Box of Oddities podcast. It’s a delightfully bizarre show where the strange, the unexpected, and the downright ridiculous collide—because reality is weirder than you think. We chatted about lesser-known mysteries and internet sleuthing and even got to know which mysteries they would love to solve the most. Read our conversation below!
More info: The Box of Oddities | Listen to The Box of Oddities here!
#1
3 lighthouse workers with impeccable mustaches traveled to a remote island on December 7th, 1900 for a lighthouse shift that should have lasted for two weeks. When a boat arrived to pick them up, they were gone. No trace of the bodies, and the lighthouse was strangely locked. Not only was the setting normal (meal ready to be served), but there was no fire in the fireplace, and the clock stopped. One of the men kept a log in a diary, and he said that the seas were rough one day, but when monitored, it was actually calm. No one knows what happened to them.
Edit: The mustaches have nothing to do with the story at all. I just really liked them.
Image source: unhealthyshoe, Marc Calhoun
#2
The wife of Scientology leader David Miscavige has not been seen in 11 years. The church insists that she’s just too busy to make public appearances, but former member Leah Remini has filed a missing person report for her. Some say she’s straight up dead.
Image source: Nosey_Canus, Scientology Media
#3
Bermuda triangle. As a kid, that phenomenon was everywhere. TV, Sun Classic Films (just dated myself (IYKYK), magazines. Now it’s as if no ships or planes disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle.
What gives? Was all the hype fake. Was that real? I need to know!
Image source: CommonTaytor, Arz
#4
What ever happened to that missing Malaysian flight? It just took a couple of crazy turns and then completely disappeared from the radar.
Image source: reddit.com, Laurent ERRERA
#5
On the evening of March 31, 1922, six people from a small farmstead in Bavaria, located around 70 kilometers (43 miles) north of Munich, were found deceased under mysterious circumstances. The victims included Andreas Gruber (63), his wife Cäzilia Gruber (72), their widowed daughter Viktoria Gabriel (35), Viktoria’s two children, Cazilia (7) and Josef (2), and their maid, Maria Baumgartner (44). They had all been fatally struck with a mattock. Strangely, the person or people responsible seemed to remain at the house for several days afterward, eating food, caring for the animals, and even starting fires in the fireplace. The case remains one of the most perplexing and unsettling unsolved crimes in German history.
Image source: wikipedia.org, wikipedia.org
#6
The Voynich Manuscript. Nobody knows if it’s legit or just an elaborate joke.
Image source: SpicyPirate13, Internet Archive
#7
The Mary Celeste. The merchant ship found abandoned and adrift in 1872. The crew’s belongings had not been disturbed. There were ample provisions for the sail. The cargo was not disturbed. However, the life boat was gone. The crew just… disappeared.
Image source: heyrainyday, Possibly Honore Pellegrin
#8
Roopkund lake. A small lake up in some mountains in India with a lot of human skeletons in it. Not only that, but the skeletons seems to have come from at least two different incidents hundreds of years apart.
Image source: BeardedAxiom, Schwiki
#9
What Pope Leo said to Attila the Hun. Attila was taking over the world and made it to Rome and the Vatican. Leo rode out alone and spoke to Attila and convinced Attila to not destroy Rome and the Vatican. What was said, only the archives of the Vatican has any idea.
Image source: Xikkiwikk, Mark of Kalt
#10
Ball lightning is accepted as a real phenomenon, but is largely a mystery.
I first became fascinated with “ball lighting” as a kid after my grandpa freaked out when a ball of light came in through our back door and followed him to the living room then disappeared. He told that story again and again until he passed. I was a big fan of the Little House on the Prairie series at the time and his description sounded similar to what I read.
A few years later, my mom was taking a meteorology class and that reignited my interest in the weather, especially lightning. I loved having her teach me all the stuff she was learning and we’d watch her required documentaries together.
Fast forward to middle school when we finally got a computer, and my interest flared back up. That was about the first time I ran into the concept of ball lightning and it reminded me of when I was a kid. My mom confirmed my memory of my grandpa’s story and even how eager I was to read him the passages from the book.
I check in time to time to see what new breakthroughs have been made in the area, but it’s still really sparse even today.
Image source: ineedanewaccountpls, Wikimedia
#11
So it’s this Australian family who owned a Berry farm. Somehow Mr and Mrs Tromp and their three grown kids developed the belief that they weren’t safe and they needed to flee their farm without cell phones or anything traceable (credit cards, etc). It sounds like the oldest son wasn’t sold on whatever it was that led them to flee. He brought his phone, but eventually it got tossed from the car. He ended up bailing first and taking a train home. From there the rest of the family slowly separated and suffered various degrees of emotional breaks. The two girls stole a car. Somehow they got separated and one made it home, but the other was found on the floor in the backseat of some guys car in a catatonic state. (he spotted her after he started down the road). Eventually the parents were found wandering around aimlessly. Fortunately they were all ok physically but wtf happened? Was someone actually after them? Were they delusional? As far as I know the family hasn’t released any updates.
Image source: Hysterymystery, Unpredictable
#12
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser. I find the story of Kaspar Hauser, an anonymous teenager found wandering the streets of Nuremberg in in the early 19th century, fascinating. He appeared out of nowhere with no family, friends or anyone who could confirm his identity. He claimed to have been kept in almost total isolation for his whole life up until that point. His linguistic skills were severely limited, consistent with someone who had grown up with very little human contact. Rumours began to circulate that he was actually a German prince who had been swapped at birth with a dead baby to prevent his succession to the throne by scheming relatives. Rather than k**l him, they locked him up in complete isolation and left there to be forgotten, until somehow he was freed or managed to escape. He attracted several wealthy sponsors over the course of his short life, but none were successful at solving the mystery of his origins. He died under suspicious circumstances (stabbed by an unknown assailant) 5 years after being found. Of course he may have just been a deranged fantasist or attention seeker – who knows!
Image source: HunchyTheHuncher, Carl Kreul
#13
El Fausto.
Disappeared THREE TIMES during a trip that should have only taken hours and was missing for months. People talked to the crew when it reappeared before it vanished again. And when it was found for the last time, the crew was dead, one practically mummified. He kept a journal that didn’t make much sense either. Amazing to read.
Image source: TheFerryman47, Hour House Photography
#14
The U.S.S. Cyclops. A coal ship. Disappeared with 306 men. The largest U.S. Navy loss of life that didn’t involve combat.
Image source: Catlenfell, New York Navy Yard
#15
The Codex Gigas. Supposedly the Devil’s bible. It’s been mysteriously saved multiple times from burning buildings. For example it was chucked out of burning building from the 4 floor or something, but the catch is that a single person can’t carry it. It weighs several hundred pounds and no one was in the building. Nobody knows where it’s been originated. Also, it’s reported that there’s evidence in the hand writing and ink that the entire book was written within a very short period of time, (like a week or something) but the book is huge, should’ve taken years to write. Really interesting stuff.
Edit: Also as someone mentioned according to analysis, it seams as though the entire book was written by one monk.
Image source: IllRaindrop, Michal Maňas
#16
Here’s one I learned about recently: in 2000, a mummy was found around Pakistan with an inscription on the sarcophagus claiming her to be the unknown daughter of the Persian king Xerxes, Rhodugune. It caused a big hubbub, since it was the first apparent Persian mummy. It was fascinating because it had been mummified in traditional Egyptian fashion, complete with all the organs extracted including the brain, and I even recall something about golden resin being found inside the body.
But deeper examinations revealed a lot of smaller details that didn’t add up. One archaeologist remembered being contacted by a middleman about a mummy that resembled the photos, and when he’d had a piece of the sarcophagus carbon dated he found it was only 250 years old. The inscription also used a Greek form of the name instead of Persian, the bandages dated to the wrong period, and the stone pad was found to be five years old. And a lot of other experts noticed that the heart had been removed, which Egyptians absolutely did NOT do.
They quickly decided she wasn’t a Persian princess.But here’s the freaky part: further examination on the “mummy” revealed her to be a woman between 21-25 who died around 1996 from some sort of blunt impact, like being hit by a car.
There have been a trail of suspects from it, since it was found in possession of some Pakistani and Irani dealers who were trying to sell it on the black market. But no one knows the victim’s identity, and we probably never will.
Image source: cannibalisticapple, Shvets Anna/pexels (not an actual photo)
#17
The Isdal Woman refers to an unidentified woman found deceased in Isdalen (“The Ice Valley”) in Bergen, Norway, on November 29, 1970.
While authorities at the time concluded that the death was likely self-inflicted, the unusual circumstances of the case sparked continued speculation and investigation over the years. Even after more than fifty years, it remains one of Norway’s most perplexing unsolved cases.
Image source: wikipedia.org, Reinhardheydt
#18
The identity of and what happened to D.B Cooper. A man on a plane called himself D.B Cooper and claimed to have a b**b in use suitcase. He took the flight crew hostage and when he got the money he asked for he had the flight crew start flying again. Eventually he jumped out of the plane with a couple of parachutes and the money. No one knows where he went or if he even survived.
Image source: RaccoonKing1234, Federal Bureau of Investigation
#19
Whether or not we’re alone in the universe. I think everyone is onboard with knowing for sure that we’re not, but there’s still no public proof.
Image source: drinkslinger1974, George Stock
#20
Asha Degree. Girl leaves her house in the middle of the night during a storm and disappeared. The only problem is that she was terrified of thunder and lightning and had no motive for leaving because her home life was fine. Then her clothes and backpack were found a year later in an abandoned construction site.
Image source: reddit.com, https://www.youtube.com/@fbi
#21
On the afternoon of 17 December 1967, Prime Minister Harold Holt entered the surf at Cheviot Beach in Victoria. He was never seen again.
Despite an exhaustive search, no body or other evidence was found. In their place rose allegations, rumours and conspiracy theories that continue to this day.
Image source: nfsa.gov.au, RCoxxie
#22
Where is Tera Smith? She disappeared from her Northern California hometown when she was a teenager in the late 1990s. I lived in Redding and was just a couple years younger than Tera at the time of her disappearance, so her disappearance has always stuck with me.
Image source: CombatBetty, Gordon F. Smith
#23
The boy in the box. A deceased little boy, found beaten, recently shaved of his hair and abandoned in the box for a bassinet that he was way too old for. The photos and reconstructions of him released to the public in the desperate hope of identifying him are haunting.
Image source: erinkjean, TheXuitts
#24
I vote for the Zodiac Killer. He left multiple cryptic messages, some of which never got decoded, but they never identified him. There’s much debate as to what happened to him, and even how extensive the scope of his killings. I believe the FBI still has a reward on information leading to his arrest, but nobody has heard anything in decades.
Image source: Vega3gx, San Francisco Police Department
#25
The Bronze Age collapse. Where’d they all go? All my homies :(
Image source: thesemasksaretight, IgorMorozoff
#26
On June 7, 1992, the Springfield, Missouri Police Department was notified of the disappearance of three women from a residence in central Springfield.
The parents of Stacy McCall, one of the missing women, contacted the police department in reference to their daughter’s disappearance from the home of Sherrill Levitt and Suzanne Streeter, the other two missing women. Upon officers’ arrival, the house bore no signs of a struggle, but rather the appearance of the missing women being abducted. All personal property was left behind including purses, money, clothing, cars, keys, cigarettes, and the family dog.
Image source: springfieldmo.gov, Éovart Caçeir
#27
Roanoke Colony, early Virginia. Somewhere between 110 and 120 people disappeared without a trace between 1585 and 1590. It’s been suggested that they left and joined with the Croatian tribe on their island, but no proof of any of the many theories has ever been found.
Image source: SilverDragonDreams, Internet Archive Book Images
#28
The West Memphis Three case. All of the Satanic Panic mess obscured so much that will probably go unanswered now. A bloody man covered in mud stumbled into a Bojangles the night those little boys went missing. Cops barely investigated that incident and lost the blood evidence they did collect regarding it. WHAT was going on with John Mark Byers and Terry Hobbs, two dads of two of those kids, both turning up with evidence and acting at different points like they may have been involved?
Image source: erinkjean, Furkan Işık/pexels (not an actual photo)
#29
The Monster with 21 Faces
In the 1980s, over a period of 17 months, Japan was held in the grip of terror by just such a powerful criminal force. The case would turn the country on its head, push police to their limits, dispel the notion that Japan was a completely safe place, and 30 years later remains just as unsolved and mysterious as it has ever been. This is the story of the notorious Monster with 21 Faces, an organization led by an enigmatic figure which proved to be just as untouchable and elusive as any super villain, which led the police on an unprecedented manhunt and whirlwind investigation for a crime they would never get to the bottom of, and which has gone on to become one of the most puzzling unsolved crimes in Japanese history.
Image source: justhereforthelul, Unknown
#30
On March 13, 1997 thousands of Arizona residents witnessed a large unidentified flying objects moving across the night sky. High profile witnesses to the phoenix lights include actor Kurt Russell who was flying a plane and reported the object to the FAA, and the governor of Arizona, Fife Symington.
Image source: DragonfruitOdd1989, National Archives Catalog
Follow Us
