15 Disappearances, Cold Cases, And Other Unsolved Mysteries People Revealed They Won't Ever Forget

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28-01-2025

A few weeks ago, I shared the stories behind some unsolved mysteries Reddit Users couldn't stop thinking about.
From true crime to historical mysteries to unexplained paranormal phenomena, I asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to share the unsolved mysteries they'll never forget. Let me just tell y'all...some of these have me extremeeee goosebumps. So, without further ado, here are 15 of the tales they shared.
Warning: This post contains graphic descriptions of cases involving murder, kidnapping, and suicide.
1.The Setagaya Family Murders. On December 30, 2000, two kids and their parents were murdered in their home in Setagaya, Tokyo. The children's grandmother, Haruko, lived next door, and went to check on them as they hadn't answered her calls. She found all four members of the Miyazawa family dead, the son having been strangled and the others stabbed. The creepiest part, though, is that the killer stayed in the family's home for hours after killing them. According to ABC Australia, "He left his DNA everywhere. He left clothes at the scene. He left the murder weapon. He used the victims' computer. He ate at least four ice creams from their freezer."
Over 250,000 investigators have worked on this case, but it still remains unsolved over 20 years later.
Suggested by: u/zoenin_out
You can read more about the case here.
2.The peculiar case of Pauline Piccard. In April of 1922, in the small French village of Goas Al Ludu, a young girl went missing from her parent's farm. Searching had proved to be futile, and eventually, the family assumed she'd been kidnapped. That was until a young girl matching Pauline's description was found wandering in Cherbourg, 400 kilometers away. The family travelled there, identified the girl as Pauline, and brought her back home with them. The strange thing, though, was that the girl didn't seem to recognize the parents. When spoken to in Breton, which Pauline knew and spoke, she remained silent.
Some of these questions, however, were answered about a month later. According to a 1922 publication by the New York Times, a farmer about a mile out from the family's town found the body of a small, naked girl with her clothes folded neatly nearby. The body was unrecognizable, but the mother noticed the clothes were those Pauline wore on the day she disappeared. Nonetheless, the discovery incited more questions than it answered. What happened to Pauline? Who killed her? And finally, who was the girl they brought home?
Suggested by: Anonymous
You can read about her case here.
3.The Voynich manuscript. The manuscript — which lives in the rare book library at Yale — was written in the 15th or 16th century in Central Europe. It's written in an undecipherable script and assumed to be scientific or magical in nature. According to Yale, the manuscript seemingly consists of six sections: unidentifiable plant species, astronomical and astrological drawings, biology (which consists mostly of women with swollen stomachs "immersed or wading in fluids and oddly interacting with interconnecting tubes and capsules"), nine cosmological medallions, drawing of medicinal herbs, and long pages of text, thought to be recipes.
Universal History Archive / Universal Images Group via Getty Images
While it is possible the manuscript is a hoax, it would be a rather elaborate one, as it was believed to have had two to eight writers and taken years to complete. Though the manuscript has been handed down from many owners — including Emperor Rudolph II of Germany — the puzzle of what exactly it is or what it's saying has yet to be cracked.
Suggested by: u/11Kram
You can read more about it here or watch the video below:
4.The Lady of the Dunes. On July 26, 1974, the body of a woman was found at Race Point Beach in Provincetown, Massachusetts. She was lying on a beach towel with her head on top of a pair of folded jeans and a blue bandana. The woman — who was estimated to have been there anywhere from 10 days to three weeks — was almost entirely decapitated and missing her hands. Nobody could identify her, which was strange in such a small, tightly knit town. Detectives noticed she had extensive dental work in "New York style," and sent out details of it to every dentist in the state, multiple dental journals, and government agencies, but, still, nobody could identify the work or the woman.
This was the beginning of a trend for the case — no matter what information they could gather from the woman, they came no closer to learning who she was. Her body was exhumed three separate times for blood samples to be taken, a bust of her face to be made, bone fragment testing, and DNA to be taken, but it all lead nowhere.
Naturally, there are tons of theories as to who she was and what exactly happened to her. They range from her being killed by serial killers or mobsters to her being a criminal herself. One of the most notorious theories, though, comes from Stephen King's son, who, while watching Jaws, noticed an extra who looked strikingly similar to the sketch composite of the Isdal Woman. Further, in the scene, she was wearing a blue bandana and jeans, just like the ones the body was found on top of. Unfortunately, though, Universal Studios didn't have any record of the extra, and it is nonetheless still just a theory.
Suggested by: Anonymous
You can learn more about her here:
5.The Circleville Letters. From the late '70s to the mid-'90s, residents of the town of Circleville, Ohio were plagued by mysterious, anonymous letters. The author of these handwritten letters accused the people of infidelity, domestic violence, embezzlement, and murder. For instance, the author accused a local school bus driver, Mary Gillispie, of having an affair with the school's superintendent, Gordon Massie. Mary and her husband received many threatening letters about it. In August of '77, her husband supposedly got a call from the writer and — that same day — was suspiciously killed when his car ran into a tree.
The author struck again a few months later when Mary saw "an obscene sign about her 13-year-old child." She noticed a box attached to the sign when she tried tearing it down, which she later learned housed a booby-trapped gun ready to go off.
The gun belonged to Paul Freshour — Mary's brother-in-law. Paul was tried and convicted for attempted murder. He was in prison for ten years — specifically without being allowed pens or paper — and, yet, the letters kept coming. They finally stopped in 1994, when Paul was released. The author is still unknown.
Suggested by: Anonymous
You can read more about the case here.
6.The "Monster of Florence" Murders. There was a serial killer in Florence, Italy, in the 1970s and '80s who was assumed to have killed at least 16 people. According to CBS News, the victims were almost all couples who were stabbed or shot with a Beretta pistol. Six of the couples were killed in their cars, with most of those murders having occurred during or after the couples had sex. Some of the victims had their genitals carved out, and — according to The True Stories of The Monster of Florence — one of the last known victims, Nadine Mauriot, had her breast cut off and mailed with a letter to the state prosecutor.
Five men were accused — and one even confessed — however, another murder occurred while each of them was in prison. The case is still unsolved to this day, though many relatives of the victims want it reopened.
Suggested by: Anonymous
You can read more about the case here.
7.The Yuba County Five. On February 24, 1978, five men went to a basketball game at The University of Chico. The five men were developmentally disabled and one had schizophrenia. On their way home, they stopped by a local store to purchase some snacks, then headed back on the 50 miles it would take them to get home. Except, none of them ever made it home that night. According to The Washington Post, their car was found on a deserted mountain road 70 miles from Chico. The car's tires appeared to have spun, but it was working fine and still had gas. The day the car was found, nine inches of snow covered the mountain, making it almost impossible to search for evidence. Four months later, once it began to thaw, the body of one of the men, Ted, was found frozen inside a deserted trailer 19 miles from the car.
His shoes were missing, his wallet and money were with him, and a gold Waltham watch with the crystal missing — which did not belong to any of the men — was found at the scene. By analyzing his facial hair, it appeared that he survived in the trailer somewhere between eight weeks to two months. The bodies of two of the other men were found about 11 miles from the car outside on the opposite side of the road as the trailer. Various bones from the third man were found two days later, who was able to be identified with his teeth. The final man was not found, and it is unknown whether or not he survived. No one knows what prompted the men to leave their cars and travel so far up the mountain.
Suggested by: Anonymous
You can read more about the case here.
8.The death of Ivana Smit. In December of 2017, Ivana — an 18-year-old Dutch model living in Malaysia — was found naked and dead at the bottom of a high rise in Kuala Lumpur. According to the BBC, while police didn't suspect foul play, it was reported that she'd gone home with millionaire Alexander Amado Johnson and his model wife, Luna, that night after a party. The couple claimed to be asleep at the time Ivana fell, however, Ivana's family claimed they saw marks on her neck. Her body showed signs of bruises and trauma, and the couple's DNA was found under her nails.
It's unclear whether her death was accidental, caused by the couple, or a result of drugs and alcohol. The case was reopened in 2019 at the request of her family.
Suggested by: katootje
9.The Max Headroom signal hijacking. On November 22, 1987, the Nine O'Clock News was being televised as usual on Channel 9, until the signal cut out without warning. It was hijacked by a person in a suit and smiling rubber mask — inspired by the character Max Headroom — jumping around to the sound of static. It lasted for about 30 seconds before the studio was able to regain control of the broadcast. But, Max wasn't done. Two hours later — on a completely different channel — Max returned.
Unlike the previous one, this broadcast lasted for a minute and 20 seconds, and included audio. Speaking in "a voice that sound[ed] like a cartoon villain," Max called out the sports broadcaster he'd previously interrupted, and made various TV references while flailing and throwing a rubber penis. It all ended with Max bent over and a mostly-off-camera woman spanking his bare butt with a fly swatter. Then, it returned to the episode of Dr. Who that was airing, as though nothing had happened. Though the FBI and FCC were on the hunt, the culprit has never been found.
Suggested by: u/Terrbear1013
You can read more about it here.
10.The Isdal Woman. On November 29, 1970, the body of an unidentified woman was found in the Isdalen Valley of Bergen, Norway, wedged between big rocks. The front side of her body was severely burned, but not the back. All the labels on her clothes were removed, and jewelry was placed neatly beside her at the scene. Police also found a broken umbrella, remnants of nylon stockings, rubber boots, and bottles, all of which had the labels rubbed off. The autopsy showed that there were 50–70 sleeping pills in her system, which had not yet been fully absorbed into her bloodstream when she died.
While the manner in which she died leaves many unanswered questions, the Isdal Woman herself is shrouded in mystery. Three days after police discovered her body, they found a set of suitcases at the train station with glasses that had her fingerprints on them. The suitcases contained some strange items, like wigs, money from various countries, a notepad with a code written on it, a tube of eczema cream, and makeup — the latter of the two having all their identifying labels removed.
Detectives traced a bag they found in the suitcases from the shoes to a shop 130 miles away. An employee described the woman he sold the shoes to, specifying she was well-dressed and had the strange odor of garlic. They later learned that she stayed at a nearby hotel under the name Fenella Lorch. However, nobody by that name had stayed anywhere in Bergen, where she was found. As it turns out, the woman had gone by at least eight different names, having identification for each. They realized that the code found in her suitcase indicated where and for how long she was staying in different places. Given the details of the case and its proximity to the Cold War, it's no surprise many people theorize the Isdal Woman was a spy of some sort. However, that, and many details of the case, are still unknown to this day.
Suggested by: bethowens514
You can learn more about her here:
11.The mystery of the Jamison family. On October 8, 2009, the Jamison family — Sherilynn, Bobby, and their six-year-old daughter, Madyson — were seen alive for the very last time in the Oklahoma mountains. They were looking at a 40-acre property, on which they planned to live in a storage container they owned. The man who saw them claimed he saw no one else in the area that day. Eight days later, a group of hunters found the family's locked truck. Inside was Sherilynn's purse, Bobby's wallet and phone, their GPS, $32,000 in cash, and the family's pet dog.
According to the police, there was no sign of struggle. Despite a large-scale air and ground search for the family, they were not found. Over a month later, though, local hunters discovered three partial skeletal remains deep in the woods, less than three miles away from where the Jamison's car was found. They were identified as those of the Jamison family. No cause of death was able to be determined by the medical examiner.
There are tons of theories as to what happened to the family, ranging from the elements to Bobby's father murdering the family, to being targeted by a religious cult. The theories are further fueled by the strange details of the case, like an 11-page "hate letter" from Sherilynn to Bobby found in the car. Bobby's father was also under suspicion, as his son had filed a protective order against him six months earlier. And finally, there were rumors of the family's involvement in the occult, furthered by some graffiti found on the storage container on their property that said "Three cats killed to date by people in this area. Witches don't like their black cat killed." Still, though, what exactly happened to the family is a mystery.
Suggested by: jsq86
You can learn more about them here:
12.The mystery of the Boy in the Box. On February 25, 1957, a boy — estimated to be between four and six years old — was found dead in a box along Susquehanna Road in Philadelphia. He was wrapped in a blanket and placed inside the box, which had previously housed a bassinet from J.C. Penney that had been paid for in cash. He had scars suggesting previous surgeries and his body showed signs of being beaten. According to the medical examiner, he died from blows to the head. Despite matching fingerprints from local hospitals, comparing him to missing children reports, and putting out thousands of fliers, the boy was never identified.
Despite DNA testing, there have been no further leads. As for the culprits, the biggest lead detectives had was a man who claimed to have seen a woman and a young boy on the side of the road, sifting through their trunk. He assumed they were having car trouble, but she waved him off. Whether or not they are connected to the case is still a mystery.
Suggested by: spidermanssidekick
You can learn more about this case here:
13.The murder of Karina Holmer. She was a 20-year-old Swedish au pair who worked in Dover, Massachusetts. On June 22, 1996, she and some friends went to Zanzibar nightclub. According to The Boston Herald, a homeless man was searching through a dumpster in Boston the next day and found her torso, wrapped in garbage bags. While she was reportedly seen with some men at the club, no one knows if she left with anyone or where she went that night afterward. The killer and the other half of her body have never been found.
14.The mysterious murder (and haunting) of room 636. On February 8, 1965, a maid found a man standing over his bed at the Sheraton Gunter Hotel, holding blood-soaked sheets. He reportedly shushed the maid and carried them out of the room. According to the hotel's official blog, the man had checked in under the name 'Albert Knox' and was seen around the property with a blonde woman. While no body was found, police did find "strands of blonde hair, nylon hose and women's underclothing," as well as a bullet shell lodged into the wall. Police later identified "Albert" as Walter Emerick, who'd snuck away to a nearby hotel under the alias 'Robert Ashley.' Walter, however, committed suicide before the police made it to his room. The blonde woman's body was never found, nor was anyone who matched her physical description reported missing.
The hotel claims that multiple hotel employees have heard strange noises, seen apparitions, and even seen "unexplained figures" in their photographs around the hotel and room 636 in particular.
Suggested by: Anonymous
You can read more about the case here.
15.The "Bloody Benders" of Labette County, Kansas. They were believed to be one of the first serial killer families in America. In the 1870s, the family of four ran a one-room inn and sold supplies in a small town in Kansas. People began to go missing, but nothing was formally looked into until the brother of an up-and-coming politician, Alexander York, disappeared. In the search for his brother, York interviewed the Benders and called them "odd and hostile," but didn't outright accuse them. Instead, he decided to search every home in the town so as not to alert them.
The details after this become a bit fuzzy. After speaking to York, one source said the Bender family fled from their homes, knowing they would soon be caught for their crimes. Another source claimed they seemingly abandoned their homes out of nowhere, and townspeople searched it believing they'd become the latest victims. Either way, the townspeople certainly weren't expecting what they found in the cabin. There was a trap door in the floor, which led to the flood-soaked floor of the cellar. Between the cellar, their well, and a nearby orchard field, eleven bodies in total were found, all with their skulls smashed in. People reported seeing the parents flee to Missouri and the kids to Texas via trains, and locals occasionally reported their whereabouts, the family was never formally caught or tried.
Suggested by: u/Hauser717
You can read more about them here.
Now it's your turn! Is there an unsolved mystery — be it a disappearance, a scientific anomaly, or a paranormal phenomenon — that you can't stop thinking about? If so, tell us about it in the comments below or via this anonymous form.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length, clarity, and fact checking. Some submissions have also been sourced from the original Reddit thread.