History's Mysteries

[nacho]

This is one that McGraw and Fajwat can waste their day on...

http://www.maydaymystery.org/mayday/

From Wikipedia:

The May Day Mystery refers to a series of cryptic ads which have been placed in the Arizona Daily Wildcat, the newspaper of the University of Arizona, every May 1 since 1981. (In 1983, 1988, 1999 and 2005 the ads technically ran on April 29, April 27, April 29 and April 29, respectively. May 1 fell on a weekend in those years, when the Daily Wildcat does not publish.) The ads have appeared on other dates as well, usually in early December. While the ads at first appear to be an intellectual game, there is an underlying message of political and economic revolution.

The first ad contained three handwritten lines: "SR/CL: RICHMOND", a string of Simplified Chinese characters, and "MAY DAY, 1981". The Chinese characters translate literally as "Chairman Mao ten-thousand years old", which is usually interpreted as "Long live Chairman Mao". [1]

There are a number of recurring themes in the ads, including:

* The Orphanage: A secret society, supposedly behind the ads
* The Prize: An unspecified reward for anyone who "solves" the mystery; in a safe deposit box
* Smiley Guy: A stylized smiley face that appears in some of the ads
* SR/CL: An unknown acronym
* White Rabbit/Wonder Bread: Unknown commodities transported by the Orphanage
* Martin Luther

Bryan Hance, a former student, discovered the ads as an undergraduate and is the first person known to seriously investigate them. He started a website in 1997 to document his investigation, and has attracted a small group of followers. He has been in contact with "The Orphanage" and others (such as "the Pimp") by email, post and phone since 1999. He has received many packages in the mail containing everything from coins and photographs to printouts from websites. He has also received many gold coins and bills, totaling over a few hundred dollars. He has been told that the money can be spent any way he wants, though Bryan tends to use it on paying the server bill.

The ads are placed by Robert Truman Hungerford, an eccentric lawyer who claims to be the legal counsel for the organization. While he refuses to discuss the origin of the ads, he has said that it is possible that he is insane and that the ads are "the ravings of a madman".

The meanings of most of the Mayday Mystery ads are unsolved.

[nacho]

An oldie but a goodie -- what's under the Sphinx?

http://www.catchpenny.org/chamber.html

[Nubbins]

So, this isn't mystery really, but it is historical... and this was the first "history" thread that popped up in the search.

Anyway, I've been reading about Nicolai Ceausescu because there was a Jeopardy question about him tonight.

On December 21, the mass meeting, held in what is now Revolution Square, degenerated into chaos. The image of Ceauşescu's uncomprehending expression as the crowd began to boo him remains one of the defining moments of the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe. The stunned couple (the dictator had been joined by his wife), failing to control the crowds, finally took cover inside the building, where they remained until the next day. The rest of the day saw a revolt of the Bucharest population, which had assembled in University Square and confronted the police and the army on barricades. These initial events are regarded to this day as the genuine revolution. However, the unarmed rioters were no match for the military apparatus concentrated in Bucharest, which cleared the streets by midnight and arrested hundreds of people in the process.

Now, the entire Wiki on him is pretty damn interesting, but the video is absolutely priceless.  The first time I watched it, it was gut wrenching seeing the guy realize that he's completely and totally fucked.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEZHZHNByCs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceaucescu

[nacho]

His legacy in Romania is amazing.  Packs of wild dogs roam the streets of city and town, and chase the trains, all thanks to his rural clearances.  Building projects -- from apartment blocks to follys -- are all still half complete.  He owned about an eighth of the country -- villas, country homes, castles -- and they're all sealed off and guarded while the government tries to figure out what to do with them.  They still paint the trees white across the country (his wife thought it was pretty, but it was also a way for people to navigate at night as he didn't believe in streetlights).  The whole country is damaged and insane... A must visit before they completely clean it up.  I loved it...would love to go back.

[nacho]

Jesus...and that Youtube link led me to the video of his execution.  From his final rants to quietly packing him away in the cheap coffin.  All that was aired prime time, too.  Family viewing!

[Cassander]

one day in America....one day.

[Nubbins]

Yeah man, totally nuts.  His government could actually TAX up to 25% of a person's income if they had no children!  Rutting was a state sanctioned activity!

[Reginald McGraw]

Yeah man, totally nuts.  His government could actually TAX up to 25% of a person's income if they had no children!  Rutting was a state sanctioned activity!

25%!?!?  That's INSANE!!  How could you live with that level of taxation!  Oh...wait.

[Nubbins]

hahaaa

[monkey!]

http://www.greatsociety.org/uploads/userfiles/3/calico.jpg

She is hot to trot.

I love the quotation, "her mother believed the girl in the photo was indeed her daughter due in part to what appeared to be a scar on the girl's leg similar to one Tara received in a car accident. However, the FBI was unable to conclusively prove that it was Tara in the photograph."

Surely her mother would know what her daughter looks like, with or without duct tape over her mouth and cum on her skirt?

[monkey!]

http://www.greatsociety.org/uploads/userfiles/3/calico.jpg

She is hot to trot.

I love the quotation, "her mother believed the girl in the photo was indeed her daughter due in part to what appeared to be a scar on the girl's leg similar to one Tara received in a car accident. However, the FBI was unable to conclusively prove that it was Tara in the photograph."

Surely her mother would know what her daughter looks like, with or without duct tape over her mouth and cum on her skirt?

Also, that girl would get it.

[Fza]

The Kaz II

"The Kaz II, dubbed "the ghost yacht", is a 9.8 meter catamaran which was found drifting 88 nautical miles (160 km) off of the northern coast of Australia on April 18, 2007. The fate of its three-man crew remains unknown, and the circumstances in which they disappeared are mysterious and have been compared to that of the Mary Celeste.

According to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, the Kaz II departed from Airlie Beach on April 15, 2007, and was heading for Townsville on the first leg of a journey that was to take it around Northern Australia to Western Australia.

The first indication that there was a problem came on the April 18, when it was spotted by a helicopter, which reported that the boat was drifting in the vicinity of the Great Barrier Reef, and that its crew were potentially in distress. On April 20 Maritime authorities caught up with the boat and boarded it. They found that the three man crew were missing in circumstances which they described as being "strange".

    "What they found was a bit strange in that everything was normal, there was just no sign of the crew" Jon Hall, Queensland's Emergency Management office.

In a statement delivered on the day of the boarding, officials with the Queensland Emergency Management office revealed that the yacht was in serviceable condition and was laid out as if the crew were still on board. Food and flatware set out on the table, a laptop computer set up and turned on, and the engine was still running. Officials also confirmed that the boat's emergency systems, including its radio and GPS were fully functional, and that it still had its full complement of life jackets. According to news sources, there was even a small boat still hoisted on the back of the boat and the anchor was up. The only signs, other than the disappearance of the crew, that were out of the ordinary, were damage to one of the boat's sails and that there was no life raft on board (it is unknown whether there ever was one onboard)."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaz_II



The Mary Celeste

The Mary Celeste was a brigantine discovered in the Atlantic Ocean unmanned and under sail heading towards the Strait of Gibraltar in 1872. The fate of the crew is the subject of much speculation; theories range from alcoholic fumes to underwater earthquakes, along with a large number of fictional accounts. The Mary Celeste is often described as the archetypal ghost ship.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Celeste


The Flying Dutchman is a cool one too, since it's about the arche type for sightings of ghost ships. Usually probably by drunken sailors but there is one eye account that is interesting;

There have been many reported sightings of the Flying Dutchman on the high seas in the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the most famous was by Prince George of Wales (later King George V of the United Kingdom). During his late adolescence, in 1880, along with his elder brother Prince Albert Victor of Wales (sons of the future King Edward VII), he was on a three-year-long voyage with their tutor Dalton aboard the 4000-tonne corvette HMS Bacchante. Off the coast of Australia, between Melbourne and Sydney, Dalton records:

"At 4 a.m. the Flying Dutchman crossed our bows. A strange red light as of a phantom ship all aglow, in the midst of which light the masts, spars, and sails of a brig 200 yards distant stood out in strong relief as she came up on the port bow, where also the officer of the watch from the bridge clearly saw her, as did the quarterdeck midshipman, who was sent forward at once to the forecastle; but on arriving there was no vestige nor any sign whatever of any material ship was to be seen either near or right away to the horizon, the night being clear and the sea calm. Thirteen persons altogether saw her...At 10.45 a.m. the ordinary seaman who had this morning reported the Flying Dutchman fell from the foretopmast crosstrees on to the topgallant forecastle and was smashed to atoms."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Dutchman

[monkey!]

Where's the photos of tied-up girls, man?

[Nubbins]

Ghost ships!  Pretty cool.

[nacho]

I love ghost ships.  I've never heard of the Kaz II!