On March 18th, 1990, Johannes Vermeer's painting, "The Concert," disappeared from the Gardner Museum. The thieves never ransomed it, and it's never shown up at an art auction. That masterpiece, and other artworks worth millions, seemingly vanished off the face of the Earth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On December 26, 1900, a reserve lighthouse keeper arrived for his shift at a remote lighthouse off the coast of Scotland after being delayed by a storm. He found that the three other keepers had vanished from the tiny island without a trace. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On July 13, 1980, over 300 people fainted en masse during a marching band jamboree in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, England. Even after an official investigation, no has ever been able to explain what happened. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
More than 6 years have passed since Rico Harris's disappearance, and today police still don't have any leads about where he went. Theories abound, suggesting he was murdered, attacked by wild animals... or faked his death so he could start a new life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In October 2014, former Harlem Globetrotter Rico Harris parked in a remote lot in a Yolo County Regional Park. Later, police couldn't determine why he'd driven there, why he'd left his car... or what became of him afterward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In Chicago 1987, local television sets were commandeered by a man in a Max Headroom mask. His explicit and uncensored behavior caught the attention of millions who wondered: Who had the power to take over the airwaves? What was his motive? And if he struck again, what would he do next? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
For roughly a century, from the 1860s to the 1960s, numerous people reported the same bizarre medical malady: horrible toothaches that didn't end until the offending molars exploded — inside their mouths. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
For almost a century, the Hinterkaifeck murders have run cold. Some point to a robbery gone wrong, political extremists, or even familial love triangles as possible motives behind the attacks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In a rural German settlement in April 1922, five members of the Gruber family, along with their maid, were slaughtered in cold blood. While the Grubers had been the topic of town gossip for years, not even the police could fathom who might have wanted them dead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
45 million years ago, a group of monkeys somehow arrived in South America. Some scientists think the primates rafted across on floating islands, while others believe they trekked across a landbridge — a journey that took them millions of years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
There are two families of monkeys on the planet: the Old World Monkeys, which live in Africa and Asia, and the New World Monkeys native to South America. A discovery in 2015 confirmed that they share a common ancestor — but one major mystery remained. How did it cross the Atlantic Ocean? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Outside Glasgow, Scotland, a 1,000-square-foot slab of rock lies buried in a hillside, covered in ancient carvings. Is the Cochno stone the remnant of an ancient ritual, a rocky guidebook, or something more supernatural? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Inexplicable rumblings from the heavens have dated back centuries. With no connection to the weather, many wonder if these strange noises are due to meteors, sonic booms, or if they're Biblical warnings that the end is nigh. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nobody really knows why Houska Castle was built, or why its strange layout seemingly defies explanation. It may be a last defense against a gateway to Hell, or host a portal through space and time. Or perhaps its real purpose is even more obscure… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Is a castle in the present-day Czech Republic guarding us against unimaginable evil? Built in the 13th century by Bohemian settlers, the layout and history of Houska Castle suggest something sinister lurks there… and legend holds that it sits atop a gateway to Hell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
When it comes to sudden memory loss, the most common forms of amnesia are often short-term, and stem from trauma to the brain. But some cases are much more inexplicable. People with Dissociative Amnesia don't experience brain damage, but still lose large chunks of time… and can even forget their entire identity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Between 2018 and 2019, 12 American tourists died suddenly at resorts in the Dominican Republic. Was something nefarious stalking vacationers in paradise? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Since the 1970s, a strange radio signal has broadcast from somewhere in Russia. Listeners can hear rhythmic buzzes, and occasionally, a speaker reciting a nonsense string of letters and numbers. Nobody knows what the messages mean, but the ongoing broadcast may be the only thing preventing global nuclear devastation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On December 18th, 1994, three cave scientists discovered a narrow opening in a cliff near the Ardèche River in France. When they cleared enough debris to get inside, they found a cave covered in perfectly preserved 30,000-year-old paintings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
After failing to make a name for herself in the New York folk scene, Connie Converse gave up music for good. But her sadness still lingered, and in 1974 she drove off from her family, never to return again. What could have happened to the folk music pioneer? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In 2004, radio host David Garland played a 50-year-old tape of a folk singer named Connie Converse on the air. Those listening didn't know they might be hearing a ghost… In 1974, Connie Converse disappeared without a trace. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In the early 20th century, a disturbing pattern emerged: gold prospectors and trappers would enrich themselves in Nahanni Valley, and then lose their heads. Nobody could account for the eerily similar murders. Was the pristine river gorge home to a dark curse? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Nahanni Valley lies in a remote Canadian mountain range. For centuries, legend suggested that strange monsters lived in the lands. The accounts were easy to dismiss — until four prospectors in the valley died in gruesome, inexplicable ways. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Today, most scientists agree that, prior to dying, something likely happens inside the brain — it’s just unclear what. Perhaps souls really can glimpse into the afterlife… or maybe brains are simply processing chemical reactions to physical trauma. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Thanks to the marvels of modern medicine, thousands of people have returned from the brink of death. But some report having out-of-body experiences, meeting deceased loved ones, even seeing a light at the end of a tunnel. Are Near-Death Experiences the hallucinations of a dying brain, or could they be proof that an afterlife exists? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Freedom of Information Act allowed civilian UFOlogists to access information the government had kept under wraps. But after the millennium, the U.S. government itself decided to get back into the game — and discover once and for all where UFOs come from. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In 1952, the Air Force created a third project, pursuing objective UFO data without a bias. After examining thousands of cases, and dismissing many as planes, birds, or clouds, Project Blue Book was left with several UFO sightings that no one could explain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In 1949, the Air Force launched a new UFO research project: Project Grudge. But this time, they had a new mandate to follow: extraterrestrial UFOs did not — and could not — exist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In 1947, a team of Air Force officials and scientific experts began studying unidentified flying objects spotted in American skies. Their investigations under Project Sign marked the beginning of a decades-long battle for objectivity and transparency in UFO research. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
It’s an architectural wonder: a self-supporting spiral staircase in Santa Fe’s Loretto Chapel, constructed by a man who showed up unannounced and left without payment. Some have wondered if the unidentified carpenter was St. Joseph himself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
