Historical Mysteries

From lost cities to unsolved murders, historical mysteries continue to fascinate. We examine the theories, evidence, and ongoing debates surrounding history’s biggest mysteries.

Menu section: History & Culture · 59 stories on nationalgeographic.com

Recent stories in Historical Mysteries: The 'Taraia Object' Isn’t Amelia Earhart’s Plane. So What Is It?; Inside the New Expedition to Find Amelia Earhart's Plane; Grisly Mysteries; Solving one of humanity’s oldest ‘missing person’ cases; Can DNA testing help solve the mystery of the Fourth Musketeer?; Who really wrote the Old Testament? These are the theories.; The mystery of the Norse Vikings who vanished from Greenland; Making sense of the Egyptian pyramids’ enduring conspiracies; The mystery woman at the heart of Beethoven’s secret love affair; What really happened to the Library of Alexandria? These are the theories.; How Harry Houdini became the king of impossible escapes; Who was Nostradamus?; How did Jane Austen die? Even after two centuries, nobody knows.; How Alexander the Great's daddy issues reshaped the world; Mark Synnott isn't afraid to be reckless; Amelia Earhart's life is way more interesting than her mysterious death; The Hittite Empire transformed the world—and then the world forgot it; This Renaissance masterpiece had been hidden for centuries—until now; Why did Agatha Christie go missing? Here are 4 theories, from amnesia to publicity stunt; Why the case of Ireland’s missing crown jewels remains unsolved after more than a century; These images were almost lost to icy waters—instead they made the 'Endurance' crew legends; The 'Endurance' disappeared over a century ago. Here's how explorers found the famous ship.; Breaking down the unsolved mystery of Edgar Allan Poe's death; This ancient script has remained unsolved for over a century; How Ouija went from quirky parlor game to the most feared spirit board in history