Random Unexplained Mysteries Throughout History That Were Finally Solved (12 items)

• 

  (#6) The Cadavers Of Two Missing Women Were Found After 40 Years When A Creek's Water Level Was Low Enough To Reveal Their Car

  Teenagers Cheryl Miller and Pamella Jackson were supposed to attend an outdoor party near their hometown in South Dakota in May 1971. But they never made it. For decades, the mystery of the young women's disappearance haunted their community.

  Decades later, Miller and Jackson's families finally got an answer.

  In September 2013, a drought caused water levels in the area to drop. The water level in a nearby creek was low enough to reveal an old Studebaker, wheels-up in the shallow water. 

  It was soon clear that Miller and Jackson's remains were in the car; investigators even found Miller's purse still inside. 

  The discovery helped authorities determine that it had been a tragic incident. Somehow, the driver lost control of the vehicle as they headed to the party, and the Studebaker ended up in the creek, trapping the passengers inside.
• 

  (#10) Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia

  • Noble person

  On July 17, 1918, Russian Czar Nicholas II, his wife, Alexandra, and their five children were slain. Due to the secretive nature of the act and subsequent disposal of the remains, some have alleged that Anastasia, the czar's youngest daughter, somehow survived.

  In the years after the event, several impostors stepped forward claiming to be the lost grand duchess. The legend of Anastasia's escape even inspired a play, along with film and musical adaptations.

  Alas, it seems that Anastasia didn't escape her murderers. In 1991, the remains of Nicholas, Alexandra, and three of their children were unearthed. DNA analysis two years later confirmed their identity. 

  What happened to the remains of the other two children? Some claimed this was proof Anastasia really survived.

  But that hope was put to rest in 2007 when a second grave was discovered near the first. DNA analysis proved that the remains of the czar's son Alexei and one of his daughters - likely Maria - were in the second grave. That means Anastasia's remains were in the first grave.
• 

  (#8) Leo Frank

  • Businessperson

  In 1915, Leo Frank was lynched in Atlanta for a crime he likely didn't commit.

  Two years earlier, Frank - who managed a pencil factory - was accused of murdering Mary Phagan, a 13-year-old who worked in the factory. Frank's conviction said more about the prejudices of the era than about what actually happened to Phagan. Though there was no evidence against Frank, the court was motivated by antisemitism to convict him. He was sentenced to capital punishment.

  Georgia Gov. John Slaton wasn't convinced of Frank's guilt, however, and commuted his sentence to life imprisonment in the hopes that he would eventually be exonerated. 

  Members of the public roused themselves into an antisemitic frenzy and took matters into their own hands: They captured Frank and lynched him.

  If Frank wasn't responsible for Phagan's demise, who was? The most likely suspect is Jim Conley, the janitor in the factory who first pointed his finger at Frank. In 1982, another employee at the factory gave new evidence that Conley, not Frank, was responsible.

  Frank has yet to be officially pardoned.
• 

  (#9) After A Texas Woman Took Her Own Life, Her Other Identity Was Discovered

  When Lori Ruff ended her life in 2010, her husband was perplexed. Though he had shared his life in Texas with her, he began to question how much he actually knew the woman he married. A paper trail seemed to indicate that her name wasn't actually Lori Ruff, and she had, in fact, taken on a number of identities over the years. Who was Lori Ruff?

  The mystery was solved in 2016 when an investigator with the Social Security Administration and crowd-sourced sleuths found the answer. 

  It turned out that Lori Ruff was actually Kimberly McLean, a Pennsylvania woman who had apparently run away from home in 1986 when she was a teenager. She went on to adopt other identities for the next two decades.
• 

  (#1) Azaria Chamberlain's Parents Claimed A Dingo Stole Her, But Authorities Refused To Believe Them 

  In August 1980, Michael and Lindy Chamberlain of Australia and their three children - Aidan, Reagan, and 9-week-old Azaria - went camping near Uluru in the Northern Territory.

  The camping trip ended in tragedy when they discovered Azaria was missing from the campsite. A bereft Lindy told authorities a dingo (a wild Australian dog) had taken her baby from the tent.

  Though the medical examiner initially accepted Lindy's story, other authorities remained unconvinced. Instead, they detained, convicted, and imprisoned Lindy for the murder of her daughter - even though Azaria's body was nowhere to be found. 

  What happened to Azaria?

  Azaria's body has never been discovered, but a key piece of evidence has. In 1986, a tourist fell from Uluru (a large rock in the area) while hiking. The search for the tourist actually turned up the dress Azaria had been wearing when she disappeared - and it was found near a dingo den. Lindy's original story, it seemed, was correct.

  In 2012, Azaria's death certificate was finally changed to state death by dingo.
• 

  (#7) A Mysterious Quadruple Slaying Was Finally Pinned On A Notorious Serial Killer After 13 Years

  Chesnee, SC, became the scene of a horrific incident on November 6, 2003: Somebody shot four people inside the Superbike Motorsports store. There were no survivors, and authorities had no idea who was responsible.

  Thirteen years later, authorities accidentally solved the mystery while investigating another case. Following the trail of Kala Brown and Charles David Carver, two missing persons in South Carolina, police searched the property of a man named Todd Kohlhepp. There, they found Brown chained up. Police apprehended Kohlhepp. 

  Following his detention, Kohlhepp admitted to the Superbike slayings, in addition to a string of other incidents.

New Random Displays    Display All By Ranking