Tag Archives: Mystery

May Day Mystery – Cryptography Part I

On May 1st of 1995, a student at the University of Arizona named Bryan Hance was reading through the local college paper when he came across a full page advert which contained a cryptic mix of images, maps, languages, and equations.  Coincidentally on the same day of May 1st for the next two years, Bryan would again see these bizarre full page ‘May Day” ads of seemingly random and nonsensical images. Deciding to dig deeper, Bryan would soon find himself obsessed trying to uncover and decipher  one of the strangest coded mysteries of the modern times.

Soon more light was shown onto this mystery.  These full-paged May Day cryptic puzzles went back in the local paper for decades, with additional smaller advertisements placed throughout the years as well.  Still, no one knew who was behind them or what purpose they served.  Through the years many people from all over the world have tried to crack the code behind the May Day Pages, which hides its clues in obscure historical, mathematical and geographical puzzles.

Are these May Day adverts the work of a secret society as a way to get their message out?  An eccentric game which will lead whoever can solve the puzzle to a vast fortune? Or simply the rambling works of an unstable but genius madman?  Tune in and hear all the theories and ideas behind this modern cryptic mystery!

View the May Day Mystery Website to view all the texts!

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The Mystery of Dorothy Jane Scott

For months, Dorothy Jane Scott had been receiving disturbing phone calls from an obsessed and violent stalker.  This mysterious caller promised Dorothy that he would soon take her, and that she belonged to him.  On one fateful night, Dorothy dropped a wounded colleague off at a hospital, and then later walked back out into the dark parking lot.  That was the last time she was seen.

As strange as this event was, it is merely the beginning of what is one of the darkest and creepiest mysteries yet covered by Strange Matters.   Once Dorothy had vanished, her stalker did not simply disappear as well.  Instead, he turned his attention to her family, persistently tormenting them with conflicting knowledge of their loved one’s fate.

Check out this episode where the dark and downright unnerving mystery of Dorothy Jane Scott is discussed.   All  the known theories and ideas are also presented in an attempt to make sense of it all.

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Featured Dark Myths Podcast: The Eastern Border Podcast

Eastern Border

The Dyatlov Pass Incident

In the freezing winter of 1959, nine experienced hikers traveled deep into the Russian mountains.  When these hikers missed their deadline on what was supposed to be a brief journey,  a search and rescue attempt was sent into the mountains.  What the investigators discovered would become one of the most baffling and intriguing mysteries of all time, known today as the Dyatlov Pass Incident.

Rescuers would eventually find the hikers, all frozen and deceased, spread out across the mountain slope and woods.  For unknown reasons, at some point in the middle of the night the hikers had all run out of their tent into the freezing cold.  Their equipment and supplies were all found intact and undamaged.  Stranger still, the hikers had not even taken the time to properly dress before scattering away from the tent.  The bodies of the hikers would eventually be found in separate locations on the mountain. To further confuse the investigators, several of the bodies showed traumatic internal damage, without any outward wounds or signs of distress.

What exactly happened to those veteran hikers that night?  Were they chased out by a pack of veracious animals, or even violent humans?  Were they the unfortunate victims of a secret soviet military experiment? Or perhaps the mountain claimed them with an unstoppable avalanche.

Listen to this episode as we discuss of one of our favorite mysteries as we go over all the theories, both plausible and outlandish, and also dispel some of the myths and legends that are attributed to the Dyatlov Pass Incident.

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The Family Murders

The Family Murders is a well known and notorious series of crimes that occurred in Adelaide, Australia.  This case includes mysterious attacks, brutal murders, and a dark conspiracy surrounding a secret group of elites that preyed on the young in the city.

Five young men were mysteriously abducted in different areas of Adelaide in a span from the late 1970s into the 80s.  Disturbingly, after going missing their bodies would soon turn up, often horribly mutilated.  Who was behind these attacks and what their motives were was unknown to the families, police, and the entire community.

As the crimes went on, rumors began to circulate of an insidious conspiracy. Some members of the police, as well as the local media, began to talk about a group dubbed “The Family.”  This secretive group was made up of important members of society, who all shared the same sick and twisted violent desires.  This murderous collective was rumored to be responsible for kidnapping and torturing these young men, as well as shielding all of its members from police investigations.

Did the Family actually exists? Was it possible that this secret group of high profile men successfully orchestrated this brutal crimes and get away with it? Or was it all the work of one psychopathic killer? Listen to this disturbing episode and hear all about the Family Murders.

Without a Trace

In this episode of Strange Matters, three cases are presented in which someone suddenly vanished without a trace.  In each of these unsolved mysteries, the victims would be going about living normal lives, until the next moment they were simply gone, forever.

Danielle Imbo and Richard Petrone were hanging at a bar late one night with some friends. At around midnight, the pair left the bar to head towards Richard’s truck. Neither of them would ever be seen again.  This case has puzzled police and the community for over a decade, as no one can see how its possible for two people and a truck could simply go missing without a shred of evidence.

Angela Hammond was on a payphone late at night, talking to her fiance Rob. Suddenly, she screamed into the phone.  Her fiance ran to his car and raced towards to where she was, when a truck passed by with a woman inside screaming his name.  Unfortunately, Rob could not catch up and the truck would drive away, apparently taking Angela with it.  No signs of her would ever be found.

In the last case, teenage Laureen Rahn was enjoying a day with two friends in her apartment.  Later that night, Laureen’s mother came home, to find that only her daughter’s friend was still at the apartment.  Her daughter was gone, with no signs of forced entry or a struggle, and all her belongings left behind.  It’s as if Laureen stepped outside and was suddenly gone, without a trace.  Though there were a few odd leads in this case, the police could find absolutely no clues as to what happened to the missing teenager.

 

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Unwanted Guests

In this episode the crew of Strange Matters dives back into the realm of the paranormal and unknown, with four creepy tales of haunted artifacts, werewolves, angry poltergeists, and disturbed attic dwellers.  These stories of unwanted guests will be sure to send chills down your spine.

The first story is that of the Hexham Heads, strange stone artifacts discovered that seemed to carry with them a dark curse. Several people who had ownership of these heads, and for a few unlucky individuals who just happened to be nearby, witnessed several unexplained and disturbing encounters.  There are claims of ghostly and poltergeist activity connected with the stone heads, not to mention sightings of a werewolf creature that seems to follow them everywhere.

Attic HauntNext up is the infamous Man in the Attic, or the San Pedro Haunting.  This story involves a woman named Jackie who is experiencing a literal house full of horrors, including unworldly noises, moving objects, ghostly sightings, and even walls dripping human blood.  For those who agreed to investigate the house, their experiences would be much worse, and nearly fatal.  This case is one of the most famous cases of paranormal and poltergeist activity in the United States.

The Jacksonville Clowns were a bizarre case that would terrify anyone who shares a phobia of clowns.  A series of men, dressed up as clowns, was caught on several surveillance cameras approaching houses.  Whether this was a meaningless prank or perhaps something more sinister is unknown to this day.

The last case is that of the Woman in the Ceiling.  A paranoid man sets up a night vision camera in his apartment, in the process catching a woman descending from his loft’s attic space to eat his food and walk around his apartment while he slept.  Though some claim this might be a hoax, the man still swears this disturbing intruder actually dwelled in his place for some time, all the time unknown to him.

Enjoy these stories of bizarre and creepy unwanted guests!

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