TECH WORLD

Millions of people travel across the world to experience the beauty, grandeur, and heritage of some of the planet’s most popular landmarks. However, there is often more than meets the eye to many historic attractions, things most tourists will never realize are there. For example, many famous landmarks house hidden spaces you may not notice at first glance.

Here are ten secret places inside the world’s most famous landmarks. Some of them can be visited by those with sufficient funds or the right connections. Others are entirely off-limits.

10 Mount Rushmore
South Dakota, US

Mount Rushmore is easily one of the most recognizable landmarks in the United States, as it depicts four of the arguably most famous presidents in US history: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Yet, many people might not be aware that behind the chiseled sculpture of Abraham Lincoln is a hidden room, which is known as the Hall of Records. The secret room is roughly lined up with Lincoln’s forehead, and it contains text from some of America’s most important documents.

The designer of the famous political monument, Gutzon Borglum, originally wanted the room to serve as a vault for a selection of US documents. In fact, his vision was to install an 240-meter (800 ft) stairway that would lead to the grand hall, which would measure 24 meters by 30 meters (80 ft x 100 ft) and would be directly behind the US presidents’ sculpted faces. Inside the hall would be busts of great Americans from history, as well as a list of US contributions to industry, science, and the arts. Tragically, Borglum’s vision was halted due to his death in 1941. However, in 1998, monument officials chose to make Borglum’s dream a reality by maintaining records from American history in the secret hall.^[1]

9 The Eiffel Tower
Paris, France

The Eiffel Tower is one of the most famous landmarks in the world, which is why the city of Paris welcomes millions of tourists year after year. You might, however, be surprised to learn that the historic landmark features a secret apartment. Those who are lucky enough to visit the top of the structure will not only absorb the mesmerizing views of the French capital, but they might also enjoy a glimpse inside the secret apartment and office, which has only recently been opened to the public.

Gustave Eiffel, the structure’s engineer, built a private apartment for himself inside the landmark in 1889, and only he had access to this hidden room throughout his lifetime. In fact, many Parisians offered to rent the apartment for one night only, but he always refused, wanting to keep the space all to himself and the occasional guest. Visitors can now finally take a step inside the private apartment, which has been restored to its original condition. They can also view mannequins of Gustave, his daughter, and Thomas Edison, who he regularly entertained at the apartment.^[2]

8 Waldorf Astoria
New York City, US

The Waldorf Astoria is deemed one of the most luxurious hotels in New York. While many more modern hotels have emerged over the ensuing decades, it has continued to welcome every sitting US president, from Hoover to Obama. Many people might, however, be unaware that there is a secret train station located below the hotel, as the secluded platform was introduced to help President Franklin D. Roosevelt to inconspicuously travel from the presidential suite to Hyde Park, which was his childhood home. Track 61 was an integral mode of transportation during World War II, as the president’s private railway car could pull up inside the station, and he could take an elevator to gain direct access to the hotel. It is also believed that FDR used the train to hide his paralysis from the public.

The platform remains in use today, and it can be reached within minutes from JFK Airport. The Secret Service has been sworn to secrecy regarding some of its features. While the platform is still in working order, FDR’s custom locomotive now sits abandoned under the hotel.^[3]

7 The Statue Of Liberty
New York City, US

Millions of people visit the Statue of Liberty every year, with many tourists stepping inside the structure’s crown to enjoy beautiful views of New York City. Yet, many people might be unaware that it is possible to climb higher within the structure. Until June 30, 1916, tourists were able to enter a room located inside the Statue of Liberty’s torch, which offered breathtaking panoramic views of the city.

However, access was denied to the public when the pier between Jersey City and Black Tom Island was blown up by German agents. Sadly, the explosion ripped through various buildings nearby, which caused serious or fatal injuries for hundreds of people. Debris from the explosion became embedded within the Statue of Liberty’s arm, which made the route to the panoramic room unsafe for the public. The arm was repaired, but only National Park Service staff can enter the torch, and they must climb a narrow 12-meter (40 ft) ladder to gain access to the torch and maintain the floodlights.^[4]

6 Leonardo Da Vinci Statue
Rome, Italy

Travelers are welcomed into Rome by the Leonardo da Vinci statue located at Fiumicino-Leonardo da Vinci Airport. Yet, there is more to the structure than you might realize at first glance. Despite the 18-meter (60 ft) bronze statue being unveiled in 1960, the hidden hatch located halfway up the structure was not found until its renovation in 2006.

Workers found two parchments inside the statue. One parchment detailed the area’s history in classical Latin, while the other listed the attendees from the opening ceremony. It is believed both the hatch and parchments were the brainchild of Assen Peikov, the Bulgarian artist who won the competition to design the work of art.^[5]

5 Disneyland
Anaheim, California, US

You will not find a drop of alcohol in Disneyland unless you step inside the exclusive Club 33. It would be easy to walk past the club, as it sits behind an unmarked door in New Orleans Square. It was originally created as a place for Walt Disney to entertain his guests and business associates. Unfortunately, he died five months before Club 33 was officially opened.

Only those who become a member can now step inside the club, which offers both a restaurant and jazz lounge, known as Le Salon Nouveau, as well as access to the 1901 Lounge in California Adventure. Membership is not cheap; depending on the level of membership, the initiation fee reportedly costs between $25,000 and $100,000, followed by a $12,500 to $30,000 annual fee. The waiting list is reportedly years long.^[6]

4 Niagara Falls
New York, US

Niagara Falls is the umbrella name of the three waterfalls located along the international border between the state of New York and the province Ontario. Located a stone’s throw away from Niagara Falls is Devil’s Hole State Park, which many people visit to experience the beauty of the waterfalls. A cave inside the park was given the nickname “the Cave of the Evil Spirit” by the Seneca due to their belief that an evil spirit was trapped inside. It was believed that only warriors who were ready for battle would enter the cave.

The Devil’s Hole Massacre was a battle that took place between the Seneca and British soldiers in 1763.^[7] After the Seneca won the battle, they warned the British of the cave to prevent them from trespassing on the land. There is also a superstition that anyone who steals a rock from the cave will experience bad luck.

3 Empire State Building
New York City, US

The Empire State Building has been a tourist hot spot for nearly a century, as visitors have been enjoying the New York skyline since 1931. While most people can view the city from the observation deck on the 86th floor and the top deck on the 102nd floor, you might be surprised to learn that some visitors can experience an even better view on the private 103rd floor.^[8]

The secret deck offers only a knee-high ledge with a low railing, and visitors need to take a series of escalators to reach it. The elevator ride alone will be a unique experience, as visitors will pass the inner workings of the building on their journey up to the secret floor. It is an experience often only available to VIP guests, such as celebrities and dignitaries. For example, Taylor Swift had the pleasure of experiencing the VIP observation deck back in 2014.

2 Colosseum
Rome, Italy

The Colosseum welcomes four million tourists annually, who visit the landmark to view the Flavian Amphitheatre, which dates back to AD 80. Yet, many people might not realize that there is a network of (now exposed) underground tunnels below street level, called the Hypogeum, which were used to house various animals, such as lions and bears, which were then lifted into the gladiator arena via a pulley.^[9]

The maze was hailed as a superb archaeological discovery when it was initially uncovered. The Hypogeum is now open to the public, but tours are limited to a maximum of 25 people each time. Archaeologists have, however, criticized the tours, as they believe they could put the structure at risk.

1 Trafalgar Square
London, England

Trafalgar Square might be well-regarded for its remarkable architecture and beautiful fountains, but it also features a hidden room you could easily miss. The public square is the home of Britain’s smallest police station, which is located on the southeast corner of Trafalgar Square.

The tiny station was built in 1926 to serve as a watch post, as the square was often the location of many protests, riots, and marches. It therefore only offers enough space for one police officer or two prisoners. The box is no longer in use by the police and is now simply used as a broom closet for Westminster Council cleaners.^[10]

Elisabeth Sedgwick is An English freelance writer. You can view her growing portfolio at clippings.me/elisabethsedgwick.

Murder has always been a global problem. There seems to be no place on Earth where people can avoid the corruption of anger, greed, or pure sadism to the point where they would not kill their fellow humans.

Today, we are looking at murder mysteries with an international flavor. All these crimes are decades or even centuries old. The chances of ever finding out the truth about them are very slim, but who knows? Maybe they’ll be featured one day on a new list about cold cases finally solved after years of waiting.

10 The Family Murders
Australia

In the late 1970s and early ’80s, five young men were murdered in Adelaide. They had all been tortured, sexually assaulted, and mutilated before having their remains dumped in remote parts of the city.

The gruesome similarities between the crimes convinced authorities that they had been committed by the same person or persons. It soon became the working theory that a group of people was responsible for the murders. After a police interview, the group became known as “The Family.”

With little progress made in the way of arrests, rumors soon sprang up that “The Family” was a powerful pedophile ring which contained high-profile members from Adelaide’s elite.^[1]

Only one killer was identified. An accountant named Bevan Spencer von Einem was convicted in 1984 of the murder of 15-year-old Richard Kelvin, the last of the slayings attributed to “The Family.” Von Einem was suspected of involvement in the rest of the killings as well as other infamous Australian crimes like the disappearance of the Beaumont children.

Von Einem alluded but never admitted to the existence of “The Family.” He refused to name names out of fear for his life.

9 The Square Mile Of Murder
Scotland

In 1961, Scottish author Jack House wrote The Square Mile of Murder. It covered four of Glasgow’s most infamous crimes which took place in the same square mile area over a period of 50 years between 1857 and 1908.

First was the case of Madeleine Smith. She was a socialite who was accused of poisoning her lover in 1857. Although most scholars who studied the murder believe that Madeleine was guilty, the jury at her trial gave a verdict of “not proven,” meaning she was acquitted due to insufficient evidence.^[2]

Afterward came the Sandyford murder of 1862. Servant Jessie McLachlan was convicted of killing another housemaid named Jessie McPherson. However, a separate commission investigated the evidence in the trial and commuted her sentence from hanging to life imprisonment.

In 1865, Dr. Edward William Pritchard was executed for the murders of his wife and mother-in-law. He was also suspected of having killed a servant girl a few years earlier. The last and certainly the most famous crime occurred in 1908 when 83-year-old Marion Gilchrist was killed during an attempted robbery. German Jew Oscar Slater was convicted in what was arguably the country’s most notorious miscarriage of justice.

8 The Botanist Killing
Indonesia

Canadian botanist Charles Budd Robinson was born in Nova Scotia in 1871. After holding a few positions both in his native country and in New York, Robinson took a post in Manila. He enjoyed traveling to exotic locations in search of new species of plants, and the numerous islands of Southeast Asia made it easy for him to indulge his passion.

In December 1913, Robinson left on a botanical expedition of Ambon in the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. He was never heard from again. While his ultimate fate remains a mystery, we have an idea of what likely befell him due to a report by Mr. van Dissel, Assistant Resident of Ambon.

He tried to piece together Robinson’s last days by relying mostly on oral accounts. According to van Dissel, the botanist traveled to a remote part of the island where a group of natives mistook him for a headhunter and killed him.^[3]

One popular but unsubstantiated legend that arose following Robinson’s death said that he died due to a simple lexicological confusion. Seeing a young boy in a coconut tree, the doctor asked the boy to cut him down a fruit. However, with his poor understanding of the Malay language, Robinson accidentally used the word kepala (“head”) instead of kelapa (“coconut”), which is why the locals thought he was a headhunter.

7 Death Of A Translator
Japan

In 1988, Salman Rushdie published The Satanic Verses. The book was scorned by the Muslim world and labeled blasphemous. Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini even issued a fatwa, calling for the death of Rushdie and his publishers.

This was no empty threat. There were several attempts on the author’s life. His Norwegian publisher, William Nygaard, was shot three times but pulled through. The Italian translator, Ettore Capriolo, was stabbed in his apartment but also survived.

Hitoshi Igarashi was a 44-year-old assistant professor of Islamic culture at Tsukuba University. In early 1990, he translated The Satanic Verses into Japanese and was killed for it a year later. Igarashi’s body was found on July 13, 1991, by the cleaning lady in the hallway of his campus building. He had been cut on his hands and face repeatedly and had a deep wound in his neck.^[4]

The murderer left behind footprints and stains of type O blood, but that was not enough to identify him. Technically, a link has never been established between Igarashi’s translation of Rushdie’s book and his murder. However, given the timing and circumstances, most assumed that there was a connection.

A 2005 update on the case mentioned that the police weren’t any closer to solving the murder even though they still had a task force in place investigating the scholar’s slaying. Back then, Japan had a 15-year statute of limitations on murder, so even if authorities identify the killer, he is now beyond the reach of the law.

6 Murder In The Woods
Wales

On June 27, 1946, 12-year-old Muriel Drinkwater was returning home from school, following the path to her house which passed through the woods of Penllergaer in Swansea. She never made it out of the forest. Her body was found the next day. She had been beaten, raped, and shot twice in the chest.

The murder weapon was found a few days later. It was a World War I–era Colt .45, American army issue pistol with a modern Perspex grip. There was also a description of a suspect—a 30-year-old man with “thick, fluffy hair and wearing brown corduroy trousers and a light brown sports jacket.” Despite the leads, the killer remained unidentified.^[5]

Over 60 years later, investigators finally found a solid lead thanks to modern forensics. In 2008, they were able to extract a DNA sample from a semen stain and construct a DNA profile. There was no match in the national database, so now it has to be compared individually to 40–50 men targeted in the original investigation or, more likely, their surviving relatives.

While the killer’s identity still eludes us, DNA testing was able to clear 75-year-old Hubert Hoyles, who was 13 at the time of the murder. Many people suspected Hoyles as he was the last person to see Muriel alive. He described the recent finding as a “heck of a relief” after the murder “blighted” his life.

5 Murder Of A Mathematician
Netherlands

Dutch mathematician Willem “Wim” Klein was noted for his remarkable feats of mental arithmetic, earning him the moniker of “The Human Computer.” Born in Amsterdam in 1912, he first developed his skills of lightning-fast calculations into a circus act which he performed throughout Europe.

During the 1950s, he worked as a scientific calculator as he was much quicker and more reliable than computers of the day. In 1958, Klein was employed by CERN and moved to Switzerland, where he stayed for almost two decades.

Wim retired in 1976 and moved back to Amsterdam. He kept doing performance shows and focused on breaking records. That same year, Klein entered the Guinness Book of Records for calculating the 73rd root of a 500-digit number in two minutes and 43 seconds.

Willem Klein was murdered on August 1, 1986. His housekeeper found “The Human Computer” in his home, dead from multiple knife wounds.^[6] Although a young man was soon arrested for the crime, he was eventually released due to lack of evidence. The killer was never identified. Some believe that Klein was killed because he was gay, while others opined that it was a botched robbery.

4 The Crewe Killings
New Zealand

Husband and wife Harvey and Jeanette Crewe were last seen alive on June 17, 1970. A few days later, Jeanette’s father, Lenard Demler, visited their farmhouse in Pukekawa. He found their infant daughter, Rochelle, crying in her cot, and the house covered in bloodstains.

Jeanette’s body was found two months later and Harvey’s a month after that. They had both been shot with a .22 caliber firearm and dumped in the Waikato River. But the husband had been weighted down with a car axle, which is why he was harder to find.^[7]

Police first suspected a murder-suicide but quickly dismissed the idea. Afterward, they shifted their focus toward Len Demler. He exhibited strange behavior and had a financial motive—Jeanette had inherited half of his farm and wanted to buy him out. However, investigators couldn’t find any solid evidence connecting him to the murders.

Next up came a neighbor named Arthur Allan Thomas. He was actually charged and convicted of the crimes in 1971 and again in 1973 during a second trial. There was just one problem, though. He had been framed by two detectives who had planted evidence.

Thomas was pardoned in 1979. But the officers were never charged, and nobody else was arrested for the double murder.

3 The Battersea Flat Murder
England

Thomas Weldon Atherston (real name Thomas Anderson) was a stage actor who met a curious demise in London’s Battersea district on July 16, 1910. After reports of gunshots, police came to investigate the area and found Atherston’s body on the grounds of Clifton Gardens. He was wearing bedroom slippers and carrying a rudimentary blackjack in his pocket. He had died from a bullet wound to the face.

Investigators talked to the tenant of the apartment, a woman named Elizabeth Earl. She happened to be Atherston’s ex-girlfriend and reported hearing gunshots while having dinner with a young man named Thomas Frederick Anderson. He happened to be the actor’s son and was currently in a relationship with his father’s former lover.^[8]

Given the circumstances, police didn’t believe that Atherston’s death was a coincidence. They investigated the possibility of a murderous love triangle where the young Anderson and his lover conspired to kill the older actor.

Several other witnesses claimed to have seen a man fleeing the scene, but none could describe him. While he could have been Anderson, there was no evidence to indicate this as the lovers gave each other alibis.

Although no culprit was arrested, police believed that Atherston was in the wrong place at the wrong time. While lurking in the shadows and spying on his former mistress, he encountered a burglar who shot him to make his getaway.

2 The Death Of Sharron Prior
Canada

On March 29, 1975, 16-year-old Sharron Prior left her home in Montreal to meet friends at a diner. It was a short walk, but that was the last time her family saw her alive.

Sharron’s body was found days later in a beekeeper’s field. She had been raped and severely beaten. There were some branches clumped in her hand, suggesting that she was still alive when she was dumped in the field.^[9]

Right before Sharron’s disappearance, another woman was assaulted by a man with a knife in the same area. However, she screamed for help and several people rushed to her rescue, scaring her assailant away. Some have speculated that it was the same man and that he ran into Sharron while making his getaway. She then became a target of opportunity.

Another hypothesis stated that there were two perpetrators. This was due to evidence left at the scene—a footprint and a man’s shirt, probably used to bind Sharron.

Although the footprint was size 8-1/2, the shirt belonged to a bigger man, somewhere around 183 centimeters (6’0″) and 90 kilograms (200 lb). The measurements matched the description of the other woman’s attacker. So it could be that the larger culprit was the abductor and the smaller accomplice dumped the body.

1 The Wonderland Murders
USA

The Wonderland murders had sex, drugs, and lots of violence—the perfect recipe for one of the darkest moments in Hollywood. During the 1970s and early ’80s, one of several groups getting rich from Los Angeles’ thriving cocaine trade was the Wonderland Gang.

However, the pack met a sudden and brutal end on July 1, 1981, when three of its members and an associate were gruesomely killed in their drug den in the Hollywood Hills.

Allegedly, the killings were retaliation from nightclub owner and drug trafficker Eddie Nash. Prior to this, the Wonderland Gang had robbed his home, making Nash beg for his life and wounding his henchman, Gregory Diles, with a grazing shot. Also possibly involved was notorious porn star John Holmes.

According to the story, Holmes helped the Wonderland Gang rob Eddie Nash by going to his house earlier in the day and leaving the sliding door open. Afterward, the mobster realized Holmes’s involvement and made him give up the location of the robbers. The porn star was charged with the murders in 1982. Nash and Diles were charged in 1990, but all three were acquitted.

In 1988, after Holmes died, his ex-wife came forward, saying that John had confessed his involvement to her. He had taken three thugs to the drug den on Wonderland Avenue and watched them bludgeon the robbers to death. Holmes didn’t name any of the assailants.^[10]

Ancient Egypt has fascinated the imagination since we first cleaned the sands away from the Great Sphinx. For the past two centuries, it has been an obsession for archaeologists and historians. It is a land whose mysteries we have spent years slowly unraveling.

Even after all this time, though, there is still a great deal we don’t know. Some of the biggest discoveries of the ancient world still lie covered under the sands of Egypt, waiting to be revealed. More often than not, such revelations only yield yet more mysteries and unanswered questions.

10 The Lost Labyrinth Of Egypt

2,500 years ago, there was a massive labyrinth in Egypt that, in the words of one who saw it, “surpass[ed] even the pyramids.”

It was a massive building, two stories tall. Inside, there were an unbelievable 3,000 different rooms, all connected through a winding maze of passages so complex that nobody could find their way out without a guide. At the bottom, there was underground level that served as a tomb for kings, and at the top was a massive roof made out of a single gigantic stone.

Countless ancient writers described having seen it firsthand, but 2,500 years later, we still aren’t sure where it is. The closest thing we’ve found to it is a massive 300-meter-wide (1,000 ft) stone plateau that some believe was once the foundation of the labyrinth. If it is, though, the top stories have been completely lost to time.

In 2008, a team of geo-radar specialists scanned the plateau and found that underneath, there appears to an underground labyrinth just like the one ancient writers described.^[1] As of yet, though, nobody has ever excavated it or stepped inside. Until somebody makes it into the labyrinth, we won’t know for sure whether we’ve really found Egypt’s greatest archaeological wonder.

9 The Unknown Queen Of Egypt

In 2015, archaeologists stumbled upon the tomb of a woman who was buried among the great pyramids of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. In her tomb were inscriptions calling her both “the wife of the king” and “the mother of the king.”^[2]

4,500 years ago, when this woman was alive, she would have been one of the most important people on the planet. She would have had greater power than any other woman in the nation. And nobody has any idea who she is.

Historians have dubbed her “Khentakawess III,” under the assumption that she was the daughter of Queen Kehntakawess II. They believe she may have been the wife of Pharaoh Neferefre and the mother of Pharaoh Mekahur—but they don’t really know. They’re just guessing.

If her name was Khentakawess III, then there are no references to her whatsoever in anything we’ve ever found. Whoever she was, she was once an incredibly powerful woman, but today, she is little more than an enigma.

8 The Sphinx Of Israel

In 2013 in Tel Hazor, Israel, archaeologists found something they’d never expected to find so far away from Egypt: a 4,000-year-old Egyptian sphinx.^[3]

Specifically, they found the paws of the statue, resting on a base. The rest of it, it’s believed, was deliberately destroyed thousands of years ago. Before somebody toppled it over, though, it would have been 1 meter (3.3 ft) tall and weighed half a ton.

Nobody knows what an Egyptian statue was doing in Israel. The only clue left behind is an inscription on the base that bears the name “King Mycerinus,” the name of a pharaoh who ruled over Egypt around 2500 BC.

It’s highly unlikely that Tel Hazor was conquered by the Egyptians. During the reign of Mycerinus (aka Menkaure), Tel Hazor was a trading hub in Canaan, directly between Egypt and Babylon. It was vital to the economic well-being of two of the biggest powers in the area.

Our best guess is that it was a gift. If it was a gift, though, it’s not clear why King Mycerinus sent it—or, for that matter, why anyone got angry enough to shatter it. All we really know for sure is that for some reason, somebody built a sphinx 1,000 kilometers (600 mi) away from the Great Sphinx of Giza.

7 The Mysterious Death Of King Tut

King Tutankhamun was only 19 years old when he died, and nobody knows for sure what happened. His death is a complete mystery—but not because he was in the prime of his life. The reason that Tut’s death is such a mystery is that there were so many things wrong with him that it’s hard to tell which one finished him off.

King Tut was in terrible health. He had malaria, for one thing, and he was born with so many genetic disabilities that historians are convinced his parents must have been brother and sister. He had a club foot and genetic defects that, some believe, may have made his death nothing more than a matter of time.

He also had a fractured skull that, for a long time, was thought by archaeologists to be a sign that he’d been stabbed in the head. Today, it’s believed that his head just got damaged while his body was being embalmed, but the possibility that he was murdered hasn’t been ruled out.

He broke his knee shortly before he died, too, which has lead to a theory that he was killed in a chariot accident. If he was, though, getting on that chariot in the first place was a strange decision. Tut was so deformed that he couldn’t even stand without someone propping him up.^[4]

It could have been anything, or it could have been a whole slew of different things affecting him at once. The only thing we know for sure is that King Tut didn’t get a lot of good news in his last month alive.

6 The Hidden Chamber Of The Great Pyramid

The greatest pyramid of them all was built 4,500 years ago for Pharaoh Khufu. It is massive structure almost 150 meters (490 ft) tall, built with more than 2.3 million stone blocks. And yet, up until recently, there only seemed to be three chambers inside.

If that seems like a lot of wasted space for you, you’re not alone. That’s why a team scanned the pyramid in November 2017 to see if there was anything they missed. Sure enough, above the Great Gallery of the pyramid, they found signs that there might be a large hidden chamber as large as the biggest room in the whole pyramid.^[5]

The strange thing is that the Egyptians deliberately built the hidden chamber to be completely inaccessible. There are no corridors or pathways connected to it. The only way they could have put anything inside is if they filled the chamber while they were building the pyramid, then sealed it up afterward.

We still haven’t seen the inside of the hidden chamber. But whatever is in there, Pharaoh Khufu apparently didn’t want it to ever see the light of day.

5 The Mummy Wrapped In A Foreign Book

In 1848, a man bought an ancient Egyptian mummy off of a shopkeeper in Alexandria. For years, he put it on display as a decoration, not realizing how strange of an artifact he’d found. After peeling off her bandages a few decades later, though, scientists found something very unusual. The mummy had been wrapped in the linen pages of a book—and it wasn’t written in Egyptian.^[6]

It took years of investigation to figure out what language it was, but today we know that that it is written in Etruscan, the language of an ancient civilization that once lived in modern-day Italy. It’s a language we know little about. The words wrapped around this mummy make up the longest Etruscan text we’ve ever found.

There are still a lot of questions left unanswered, though. For one thing, we still don’t know what the text says. We can only understand a few words, which seem to be dates and the names of gods, and beyond that, we can only speculate as to what it means or why anyone would wrap it around a dead body.

Above all, we have no idea why an Etruscan book was wrapped around a mummy in Egypt. Was she Etruscan? If so, what was she doing in Egypt? And what did she put in her final message to the world?

4 The Dendera Light

On the wall of a temple in Dendera, Egypt, there is a massive relief showing a very strange image. It shows, according to the usual interpretation, a snake in a big ball of fire flying out of a lotus flower while being held up by a pillar with human arms.

It’s a weird picture—but not just because the pillar has arms. It just happens to look exactly like a model of a Crookes tube, a type of early light bulb invented in the 19th century.^[7] In fact, it looks like so much like a light bulb that some people think it just might be a diagram showing how to make one.

Admittedly, that’s the kind of theory you usually hear proposed by tall-haired madmen on the History Channel, but they have some eerily convincing arguments.

The room that shows the Dendera Light is the only room in the whole temple that didn’t have fire-burning lamps. Archaeologists have found residue that shows Egyptians burned lamps in every other part of the building except for this one. So if they didn’t have an early version of a light bulb stored in here, how did they see anything? And if the room was pitch black, why did they bother putting such an intricate image on the wall?

3 The Destroyed Pyramid

The Pyramid of Djedefre should have the highest point of any pyramid in Egypt. Djedefre made sure of it. He didn’t have the resources to build the biggest pyramid, but he used a little workaround to make sure the tip of his tomb was just a little bit taller than everybody’s else’s, anyway. He built it on a hill.

For some reason, though, while all the other pyramids of Egypt are still standing after thousands of years, Djedefre’s pyramid alone has been totally destroyed.^[8] All that is left is the base.

Nobody’s entirely clear on what happened to it, but there are theories. Some think that Djedefre simply died before they were able to get much of the work done, and his pyramid was left in ruins. Others think that Romans quarried it for the stones 2,000 years ago, tearing down a massive historical monument. And still others think that the people of Egypt just really, really hated Djedefre—so much so that they were willing to pull apart an entire pyramid just out of spite.

2 The Disappearance Of Queen Nefertiti

Queen Nefertiti is legendary for being one of the few women to rule over Egypt. She was the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten, likely the mother of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, and is believed to have taken over Egypt and ruled in her own right. And yet, while the tombs of other pharaohs still tower over Egypt today, nobody has ever found Nefertiti’s final resting place.

The search for her tomb has gone on for years. Up until 2018, archaeologists were almost convinced that they’d found her burial place in a secret chamber hidden in King Tut’s tomb. In May, though, they meticulously scanned the wall and found that there was nothing there.

Curiously, there’s no mention of her death in Egyptian history, either. After about the 12th year of her husband Akhenaten’s reign, all mention of her stops altogether. Some believe this is because she became pharaoh and took on a different name—but not anybody agrees.

Some think that the answer to this mystery is a bit more mundane than we might hope. According to Dr. Joyce Tydseley, the simplest explanation is just that Nefertiti was never a pharaoh at all.^[9] Dr. Tydseley believes that people made a big deal out of Nefertiti in the 1920s because a sculpture of her face became popular, and they just wanted her to be popular badly enough to believe it.

According to Dr. Tydseley, the explanation is simple. We don’t know what happened to Nefertiti because she just wasn’t that important of a person.

1 The Lost Land Of Punt

Ancient Egyptian writings are full of references to a place called Punt. It was an ancient African kingdom full of gold, ivory, and exotic animals that excited the Egyptians’ imaginations. And it must have been extremely powerful. It was a place that commanded the respect of the Egyptians, a land they had dubbed “God’s Land.”

There’s no question that Punt existed. There are countless mentions of it in ancient writings. There’s even a picture of the queen of Punt in an ancient Egyptian temple. But despite how powerful and important this place must have been, we’ve never found it.

The only traces we have of Punt are the artifacts the Egyptians kept. Scientists, desperate to figure out where this kingdom was, studied the mummified remains of two baboons that the Egyptians got from Punt and determined that the baboons, at least, had come from the area of modern-day Eritrea or Eastern Ethiopia.^[10]

This, at least, gives us a starting point in the hunt to find Punt—but it’s a huge area for an archaeological search. And if we ever do find the ruins of the Kingdom of Punt, it’ll open up a whole new series of mysteries to solve to uncover our past.

Mark Oliver

Mark Oliver is a regular contributor to Listverse. His writing also appears on a number of other sites, including The Onion's StarWipe and Cracked.com. His website is regularly updated with everything he writes.

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“Six feet under” is sometimes the best place for an archaeologist. However, combing through the right ancient grave dredges up more than just somebody’s remains. It often sheds light on our ancestors and their way of life.

Unusual burials and those abandoned where they died also bring historic questions to the living—sometimes mysterious, often heartbreaking. Then there are the bizarre things people did with the dead as well as amazing glimpses into lost lives.

10 A Medieval Female Criminal

In 2016, Bulgarian archaeologists discovered a necropolis in the city of Plovdiv. A year later, investigations progressed to a late medieval grave and the contents were unusual. The person inside had been placed facedown.

Reports speculated that the remains most likely belonged to a bandit, especially since the skeleton’s wrists were tied behind his back. A better look at the skeleton has since proven that it was female. Though her history is lost, the strange position was almost certainly punishment for a transgression in life and not to prevent her from turning into a vampire.

In the past, a spate of strange and gruesomely treated graves betrayed the ancient Bulgarians’ fear of the undead. Some were staked; others were thoroughly nailed down. But the woman, one of eight medieval graves found in the Nebet Tepe Fortress, had no such mutilations.^[1]

The rare burial was not the only noteworthy find. The same excavation also found evidence that human occupation at Plovdiv started as early as the fifth millennium BC.

9 Strange Status Symbols

Iron Age Scandinavians considered the goose the ultimate status symbol. Researchers reached this conclusion after peeking into several Nordic graves. If you lacked the rare bird (as geese were in Scandinavia at the time), a chicken in the tomb was an acceptable switch.

The 2018 study cataloged content inside 100 graves from AD 1–375. This was a critical time when Nordic countries saw many cultural changes because of Roman influences. Scandinavia took to the Roman trend of burying animals with their dead. Women were typically buried with sheep, and one infant was interred with a decapitated piglet.

Geese were sacred to the Romans. Thus, only the most privileged Danes took one along into the afterlife. One man’s tomb was royal, filled with a menagerie that included a goose, cattle, sheep, a pig, and a dog.^[2]

The latter proved that not all the animals were food for the dead. Cut marks on some species did suggest that Nordics adopted another funerary tradition from the Romans—to feast on the meat first. The dog had no cuts and probably symbolized friendship with a warrior master.

8 Turkish Mass Grave

The 3,000-year-old city of Parion started out as a Greek settlement and fell under Roman rule in 133 BC. Today, the ruins of this major harbor stand in Turkey. In 2011, archaeologists puttered about the site during an unofficial dig. It soon turned very official when a mass grave was unearthed.

One child and 23 adults turned up. Unlike most mass graves, their burial was not the result of violence. On the contrary, the multi-tombed structure was lined with grave goods. In addition, the careful arrangement of the bodies suggested high status.^[3]

The dead were not interred all at once but over a long time, from the first to the third centuries AD. However, a grisly find appeared odd among all the signs of respectful funerals. The occupants of the tomb were decapitated. At one end of the mass grave, 15 skulls were recovered. The rest were eventually located in a northeast corner, together with the child.

7 Knives Made From Humans

During the 1800s and 1900s, missionaries reported a gruesome practice: The warriors of New Guinea used bone daggers sourced from humans. The weapons were used in close combat, reportedly to disable prisoners who were later served up as dinner.

In 2018, researchers wanted to know why such a gory relic was a prized possession. As it turned out, human knives were practical and bestowed powerful rights upon the owner. Measuring up to 30 centimeters (12 in) long, these thighbones were not plucked from the leg of just any random person. They came from one’s father or an influential individual.^[4]

The dagger continued to hold the status and rights of the deceased, so the living person who possessed it could claim those privileges. It also turned out to be more resilient than another New Guinea knife crafted from the cassowary.

The cassowary is large and flightless but remains one of the most lethal birds on Earth. Their thighbones made decent daggers. Unfortunately, they turned out flatter and lacked the fortifying curvature of human thighbones, making cassowary knives only half as strong. Additionally, bird bones were easier to find, which made human daggers more valued for their rarity.

6 A New Pompeii Child

Alone and scared, a Roman child fled from hot volcanic ash and debris in AD 79. The youngster decided to take shelter in the public baths building. But as Vesuvius erupted, its superheated pyroclastic cloud killed everyone who stayed behind in Pompeii—including the child.

Citizens received a fair warning when the volcano smoked and rumbled for days. Even so, about 2,000 people chose to remain in the city. In 2018, sophisticated scans swept the bath complex. When the discovery inevitably happened, it was unexpected because the area had been considered fully explored since the 19th century.

He or she was around 7–8 years old and became the first child to be recovered from the ruins in half a century. To determine the youngster’s gender and health, archaeologists removed the skeleton for future testing.^[5]

As to how exactly the child perished, he or she likely died of suffocation when the pyroclastic cloud sealed off the building. Located some distance away from Naples, Mount Vesuvius remains a danger today and had a major eruption as recently as 1944.

5 People With Extra Limbs

In 2018, archaeologists did a double take when they opened dozens of graves in Peru. Discovered in the town of Huanchaco, some skeletons had extra limbs. The 1,900-year-old individuals belonged to the enigmatic Viru people (AD 100–750). Why almost 30 of 54 burials included additional parts, especially one skeleton with two extra left legs, stumped the archaeologists.

However, there was one disturbing clue—most were adults with traumatic injuries. These included blunt force trauma and slice marks. One theory suggests that the limbs were funerary sacrifices. However, for the moment, that idea is shelved with other unknown facts, such as the age and gender of the multi-limbed people and whether there existed any link between the deceased and donors.^[6]

Interestingly, the culture that followed the Viru, the Moche people, did the exact opposite. They often packed their dead away with missing limbs. When they did decide to include something extra, they added more than a single arm or leg. Usually, it was an entire sacrificial victim.

4 A Horse Surrounded By People

In 2011, a pyramid was found in Sudan. Nestled inside the ancient Nubian city of Tombos, the elite structure suggested that a very important person was buried inside. The complex had a chapel, and a shaft led to underground rooms.

This architecture was known to be reserved for high-ranking humans. In fact, the remains of over 200 individuals lined the four chambers. However, in a surprise twist on most ancient burials, scientists realized that the tomb was meant for a horse and the people were secondary occupants.^[7]

The 3,000-year-old mare was found 1.6 meters (5 ft) down the shaft, surrounded by artifacts of status. Wrapped in a shroud, her color was still obvious. The chestnut horse died at age 12–15.

The advanced age and elaborate grave indicated that the mare was important to her owner. She’s valuable for modern reasons as well. The animal is among the most intact horse skeletons from this period, and an iron piece, likely bridle-related, is the oldest iron in Africa. The monument also suggested that Nubian horses were more revered than history gave them credit for.

3 A Dangerous Amputee

From medieval Italy comes a really weird graveyard. Among the eternal human residents are greyhounds and even a headless horse. The showstopper was a man found in 2018.

In life, the middle-aged guy had been an amputee. For reasons unknown, his right arm was severed at mid-forearm. Instead of causing vulnerability, one grave item suggested that he actually became more dangerous.

He belonged to the warrior Longobard culture and, like most males in the cemetery, was buried with a knife. While the rest had their blades next to them, this man’s arm and knife was found on his chest. Their positions suggested that the weapon was a deadly prosthesis.^[8]

His body showed the wear and tear from regularly tying something down. The arm bones were deformed by pressure, dental damage was consistent with using the teeth to fasten straps, and his shoulder developed a ridge from keeping the arm in such a way that he could use his mouth.

That the man survived the amputation in an era without antibiotics is remarkable. He lived for years afterward, a hat tip to one individual’s spunk and community compassion.

2 Sandby Borg Slaughter

During the fifth century, Sandby Borg prospered on the coast of Oland island near Sweden. When archaeologists finished a three-year dig in 2018, they left with a few horrors.

The villagers had suffered a brutal end. Around 1,500 years ago, an enemy attacked and massacred people in their homes with shocking efficiency. The violence was exceptional. Nine bodies were found in one house. In another, an elderly man had been left to burn in a hearth. People were struck down in the streets. A tiny arm bone showed that not even babies were spared.^[9]

It is not clear who decided that Sandby Borg was no longer welcome, but the trauma ripple was so severe that nobody returned. The dead were left where they fell, valuable animals starved to death, and not even precious jewelry and gold could lure looters.

So far, only three houses have been excavated and this patch produced 26 skeletons. Sandby Borg consists of about 50 more homes, and archaeologists expect the ancient death rate to climb, perhaps exponentially. The island had around 15 settlements, but only Sandby Borg was razed in this manner.

1 World’s Largest Child Massacre

When locals found bones on Peru’s northern coast, they alerted nearby archaeologists working on a temple. By 2016, all the skeletons were cleared. The scene was difficult to absorb.

Around AD 1450, experienced killers dispatched 140 children and 200 baby llamas in what was likely history’s biggest child-killing ritual. The kids were buried facing the sea, and the llamas looked the other way, toward the Andes.

All the victims had their faces smeared with red pigment. Bones were broken in a way that suggested their hearts were removed. Though human sacrifice was a fact of life during ancient Peru, such a mass event in the Chimu civilization is unheard-of.

Genetic analysis showed that boys and girls, ages 5–14, were harvested from several ethnic backgrounds, sometimes from far away. The slaughter then went ahead near Chan Chan, the Chimu capital and one of the largest cities of its time.

A mud layer near the bodies suggested that the ritual was an act of desperation, not bloodlust. The mud was linked to a destructive El Nino event that pushed the Chimu’s resources to the brink. When adult sacrifices did not stop the floods, they turned to more valuable victims—the children.^[10]