Last week in my article, I talked about some of the mysteries in history that never fail to baffle me. I discussed the missing Roanoke colony, the Japanese "Atlantis", the never-found Jack the Ripper and the assassination that is nothing short of the perfect example of fate. But, you know what? There are so many mysteries in history that are left to discuss and to discover. I could write an article a week on the subject for 20 weeks and still have more mysteries to write about. However, I have decided to be a little bit picky and choose only another four of the top mysteries that baffle me. Here we go into the past:
1. So... Stonehenge?
Stonehenge is a monument in Wiltshire, England. It is incredibly well-known and is considered to be a major landmark in the UK. However, despite its popularity, the site is still shrouded in mystery. For instance, who built it? When was it built? Why was it built? How was it built? The factors that led to Stonehenge's mere existence are essentially unknown. Archeologists believe it could have been built around 3100 BC but we cannot be 100% sure. There are many theories that surround the creation of Stonehenge. Some believe that it was once an ancient burial ground. Human remains found at the site at different times has come to support this thesis. Other theories are more abstract however as some believe that Stonehenge was the result of extraterrestrial interference. But how exactly was it built and for what reasons? We may never know.
2. Dancing Until Death
The Dancing Plague of 1518 brings a whole new twist on "dancing till you drop". In 1518 in Strasbourg, Alsace about 400 people took to dancing for days without rest and many died from exhaustion. The dancing epidemic lasted for over a month. The outbreak began in July 1518 when a woman named Miss. Troffea began to dance in the street. Others soon to join her and began to drop like flies. Strasbourg was not the only place affected by the plague either. Other regions of Europe experienced the same dancing epidemic. But what caused these people to dance until they died? At the time, supernatural reasons seemed to be a main cause of the dancing madness. This theory was later replaced by natural causes such as having "hot blood". However, recent studies have found that at the time, there was possibly a toxic fungi that affected the wheat was consumed by the people through bread. The fungi had similar structures to that of LSD. This could very well be the case, but why dancing? And how they never stopped until they died of exhaustion?
Paititi. Otherwise known as the "City of Gold" is a supposed Incan city that has been lost to society for 100's of years. It is said that the city is located in the dense rainforests of Peru, Bolivia, or Brazil. In 2001, Maria Polia found a document from the missionary of Andres Lopez who, in his reports, described the famous Incan City of Gold. There is a conspiracy theory that the Vatican has been keeping the city a secret all of this time from the rest of the population. However, is it true? We cannot be sure. Archeologists are still trying to uncover Paititi but all have failed. Does the legendary City of Gold exist? Is it a myth? If it does exist? Will we ever find it?
Ah Shangri-La. The fictional village of Nepal described in James Hilton's 1933 Novel "Lost Horizon". It is supposed to be a Utopia in the Himalayas that is equivalent to heaven. However, maybe such a place did really exist? A similar city is described in the 200's in a poem titled "The Tale of the Peach Blossom Spring". A fisherman stumbled upon a city outside of the Qin Dynasty where people live din harmony without the troubles of the outside world. Could this city possibly be where the idea of Shangri-La came to be? Was this an actual place in history, or is it a place for pure fiction?
There is so much to learn about our past. I do not think that we will ever stop trying to uncover the mysteries that came before us. Who knows, maybe in ten years or so these mysteries of history will be solved. And maybe, there will be even more mysteries uncovered from our past.
