Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

Which Real Life Mystery Do You Find Most Fascinating?

829 replies

LifeIsBrutal · 28/04/2020 10:24

Mine is D. B. Cooper. He hijacked a beong 727, stole $1.25 million in today's money, and parachuted down to earth with it. His identity is unknown and it's unknown if he survived the plunge to earth.

OP posts:
loopylindazdaughter · 03/05/2020 19:48

Half way through death in ice valley bbc podcast, it's bloody brilliant x

DangerousMouse · 03/05/2020 19:52

Its not much of a mystery but one I think about often is Princess Latifa, will she ever be free? Is she alive even? www.dailymotion.com/video/x6ykawb
I think that is the only place to watch the documentary since it was pulled from the iplayer

dayswithaY · 03/05/2020 20:29

Back to JBR - when the parents finally agreed to be interviewed by police about a year later, they had been coached and when police asked the usual question - who do you think could have done this - John Ramsey named two employees and Patsy named her housekeeper. All of them were cleared as suspects. I guess one of the reasons why people aren't stopped from talking about this the way they do with MM is because Patsy is dead and John lives as a recluse. Who seems awfully keen to let Burke take the heat for the murder. IMO local police never tried very hard to solve this and one day the whole sorry mess will come unravelled.

AdamantEve · 03/05/2020 21:45

Not so much a mystery as we know he was taken hostage, but I always think about John Cantlie and hope he’s still alive somewhere.

Pootle40 · 03/05/2020 22:01

The 'Whites' who were former very close friends of the Ramseys ended their relationship not long after the JBR event. Wonder what they know.....although they've never been too keen to talk about it. I'm not sure the truth will ever come out. And agree that the police and many others knew it was all within the family but just couldn't prove it.

covetingthepreciousthings · 03/05/2020 22:06

Back to JBR - when the parents finally agreed to be interviewed by police about a year later

Wow, so did they not get interviewed straight after by the police?

I only knew parts of the JBR case, but now after hearing more it all seems so baffling, and like there was more that could have been done to solve it..

queenofarles · 03/05/2020 22:07

I don’t want to name the specific missing case, but one thing struck me, which can be applied to JBR too, is status and class of the family. Of course children from all background can be abducted/murdered. But it’s so extremely rare in wealthy/successful families.
In the Ramsey’s case, they seemed like they had it all, wealth, nice home, fantastic lifestyle, healthy, beautiful happy children, everyone the police spoke to said Patsy was a great mother and loved her children. So even if something horrible happened , the family will always be eliminated. As they are just not text book suspects.

Coming from a difficult background not only has many disadvantages , the kidnapping or Murder is mostly blamed on the family circumstances. Drugs, poverty, abuse, and the parents are always the first suspects. Either the case gets resolved so quickly and any suspect gets blamed, or they just leave it and hope it gets forgotten.

Hope it makes sense?

Packingsoapandwater · 04/05/2020 00:21

About bigfoot...

Years ago, I read an article somewhere (cannot remember for the life of me where) about the reports of a woman who had some sort of accident in a remote area of national parkland in the US, and described coming round in a cave and being looked after by, what she described, as a humanoid/ape species.

There was something about the report that just rang true, and I've always wondered about it. It was in a really unusual type of publication for the story as well.

And I'm also a believer that troll myths are the remnants of very early folk memories of encounters with neanderthals in North Western Europe.

As for more modern times, I don't think the whole truth ever came out about what Hindley and Brady did. I've read a lot about the case over the years, and some aspects just do not make sense. I suspect there was a crime scene that the police never found.

BovaryX · 04/05/2020 07:33

Has anyone else heard about the Jeffrey Macdonald case? I would be interested in what other people think about it. The thing which I find difficult to understand is if he is guilty, how did a military police guy see a woman in a floppy hat standing near the house shortly after the murders? If Dr. Macdonald invented her, it's a bizarre coincidence.

Frownette · 04/05/2020 08:21

@BovaryX I just read briefly about him, doesn't seem very clear cut

Izzabellasasperella · 04/05/2020 11:34

Damien Nettles. He disappeared over 20 years ago on the Isle of Wight. So many rumours about what happened. I wish his Mum could get the answers she desperately wants.

BovaryX · 04/05/2020 11:59

@Frownette

It's really a strange case. He has been protesting his innocence for decades. There is a book about it called Fatal Vision. And a documentary of the same name. The military police thing has always struck me. If Helena Stockeley was there that night, it is a very strange coincidence....

lyralalala · 04/05/2020 12:50

The disappearance of Alan Bryant Jr

There's not actually much mystery in the Allan Bryant case in terms of what happened to him. It's pretty well known who murdered him and when. The police just absolutely and utterly ballsed up the case from day 1 so the chances of them ever being brought to justice are minute.

His father's relentlessness is the only reason the police were being forced to re-visit their investigation.

I just hope one day one of the people who knows all of the details reveals the location of his remains to his poor family

Patsnpons · 04/05/2020 14:38

Jon Benet, watching those Burke childhood interviews, very bizarre behaviour

KittyLane1 · 04/05/2020 15:31

There's not actually much mystery in the Allan Bryant case in terms of what happened to him. It's pretty well known who murdered him and when.

Agree. It's all over SM. I moved away almost 10 years ago and even I have heard stories about who did it. (Could be complete bollocks of course and I in no way suggest that I know for sure what happened)

ElaineMarieBenes · 04/05/2020 17:27

Al Hilli case - no spook link and most likely explanation lone wolf sociopath

Ice Valley women - would say is spook linked

Too many cases where evidence lost by police (who to be fair to them most are not good at investigation) although not so in the above cases!

Someone know something (also my favourite podcast)!

StormOfSekhmet · 04/05/2020 17:34

What happened to Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Wood, MH370, and where is the Ark of the Covenant ?

Frownette · 04/05/2020 17:50

@ElaineMarieBenes what do you mean by no spook link with the Al Hilli shootings?

I can't remember ice valley woman, will look it up.

I'm not reading any of these late at night again, I did that with the lost girls of Panama then couldn't sleep worrying at every little noise Blush

BigFatSoo · 04/05/2020 19:29

What’s a spook link?

JacobReesMogadishu · 04/05/2020 20:22

No link to him being a spy I think.

ANoiseAnnoys · 04/05/2020 20:45

After googling some of these (although I understand the interest in conspiracy theories) there are often perfectly reasonable explanations for what happened. So the Dyatlov pass mystery I found this video on YouTube. Sorry I don’t know how to link a video but if you search for “Dyatlov pass Lemmino” The guy does a very good job of explaining what happened to the hikers. Sometimes the simplest answers are the right ones!

Which Real Life Mystery Do You Find Most Fascinating?
myohmywhatawonderfulday · 04/05/2020 22:34

I have found the Sherri Papini case fascinating. Also when she was younger she wrote a story or something about being kidnapped which makes what happened to her even more bizarre. I hope whatever happened to her that she is able to find some peace and healing.

Cherrysoup · 04/05/2020 23:34

Adam, the child in the Thames , has been identified, there is a book about the painstaking work undertaken by UK police and other police forces in Europe and Africa to name that poor wee boy. I can’t remember what it’s called but it was a fascinating and very sad read.

The police can access crazy technology to determine country of origin. There was a human skull found by a dog walker some years back in my area. The tooth pulp and marrow was extracted, I believe. This led them to a particular village in India and the eventual identity of the man.

CoolCarrie · 04/05/2020 23:43

Cherry , yes it’s incredible what can be discovered by patient, compassion determined people, and to be able to help resolve cases must be a good feeling

WaterIsWide · 05/05/2020 10:14

There was a missing persons case where a Mum and her adult son went for a walk along a promenade in Britain. He wanted to go to the toilet. His mum waited whilst he used the facilities. She has never seen him again.

His body has never been seen, either.

I can't remember his name, the date or even where it happened. That's all I remember.

(I lost most of yesterday to a murder story that happened in America where a man murdered his pregnant wife and two daughters. He's in prison for life.) The rest of the time was spent reading MN and reading the analysis of the JBR, 'ransom' note.