Podcasts love diving into unsolved mysteries, but these nine have answers the cops and historians already know.
D.B. Cooper
There’s overwhelming forensic proof that D.B. Cooper died well before his story captured the public’s imagination.
Considering he jumped into the biting cold of the Pacific Northwest wearing only a lightweight suit and dress shoes, with a military parachute that offered no directional control and a second, unusable chute, it was much like not having a parachute at all. Only a senseless skydiver would make such a jump, and Cooper was no expert. In fact, he died.
This was proven in 1980 when a young boy discovered a rotting heap of those very ransom bills buried along the banks of the river miles downstream from where DB supposedly jumped.
Bob Crane
Bob Crane, the star of Hogan’s Heroes, was found bludgeoned to death by a camera tripod in his Scottsdale apartment in 1978, sparking twenty years of tabloid frenzy over the unsolved crime.
It was quickly determined that Crane’s murderer was friend and video technician John Henry Carpenter with whom Crane had an intensely hostile relationship. Crane had ended their friendship over the phone just hours before his murder.
The following day police seized Carpenter’s rental car and discovered blood from Crane (who had a very rare blood type) on the passenger side door panel.
Although a jury couldn’t convict Carpenter in 1994, citing the limitations of early DNA technology and the lack of a murder weapon, contemporary forensic analysis leaves no room for doubt that he was the one who murdered Crane.
The Isdal woman
The Isdal Woman refers to an unidentified woman found burned to death in Norway, near the village of Isdal (“Ice Valley”) in November 1970. She has retained her place in Norwegian collective memory due to the mysterious circumstances of her death.
Found among her remains were coded notes, several false passports, wigs, and items of clothing with all labels removed. This led to speculation that she may have been a spy involved in Cold War intrigue.
Recent tests of isotopes contained in her teeth reveal she likely spent her childhood close to the French- German border. It is known that she traveled through much of Europe using at least three aliases.
Though investigators found evidence of barbiturates and carbon monoxide in her body, they have never been able to determine if she committed suicide, was murdered, or died in some other manner.
However, the manner in which she died closely resembled a suicide contingency reportedly taught to some foreign operatives, intended to ensure their own destruction and protect the security of their intelligence network if they fell into enemy hands.
The Axeman of New Orleans
New Orleans was haunted by an unknown serial murderer, dubbed the Axeman, who operated there in the early spring of 1918 and again in the spring of 1919.
Breaking into homes at night, the assailant assaulted victims with an axe or blunt object (possibly improvised with materials found in the residence).
The murderer gained notoriety when he sent a letter to a newspaper implying that anyone who played jazz music on a given night would be spared from assassination. Jazz tunes filled the air across the city that designated night, and thankfully, no further attacks happened.
Despite theories linking these murders to Black Hand extortion or Italian-American organized crime, no physical evidence has ever definitively identified the Axeman or placed anyone at the scene of the crimes.
The case, though, has pointed to Joseph Mumfre, a supposed Black Hand figure, who was killed in Los Angeles in 1920 by the wife of someone he had victimized. However historians have never backed up this claim.
Anastasia Romanov
Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov was the subject of one of history’s longest lasting royal mysteries.
When Russia’s royal family was killed off by Bolshevik soldiers in 1918, there were rumors that Anastasia had miraculously survived. Her supposed disappearance became the topic of many books, movies, and the claims of several women who said they were the grand duchess.
It took nearly a century, but science has finally settled the debate. DNA tests performed in the 1990s and 2000s established a match between the remains of Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alexandra, and their five children, and those of their living relatives. Anastasia definitely died with the rest of her family all those years ago.
Percy Fawcett
British explorer Percy Fawcett disappeared in 1925 while searching for a lost city he referred to as “Z” in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest.
Fawcett, his son Jack, and Jack’s best friend Raleigh Rimell entered the jungle together and were never heard from again. Their fate inspired numerous rescue missions and theories ranging from lost cities to cannibals and aliens.
Most historians and Amazon experts now believe they were killed during an altercation with Indigenous people after unknowingly entering a remote tribal region which was forbidden to outsiders.
No physical evidence has ever been found to support any theory and his disappearance is still considered an open mystery, but this scenario is based on oral testimonies from Indigenous people and the known facts of Fawcett’s final trek.
Jimmy Hoffa
Labor leader Jimmy Hoffa famously disappeared in 1975. Hoffa left his house to meet with several men at a restaurant in suburban Detroit, but was never heard from again.
Although extensive searches have been made, thousands of tips submitted and dozens of speculated locations examined where his body may be buried, no physical evidence of Hoffa’s remains have ever been found.
However, authorities have long suspected that Hoffa was killed by members of organized crime because Hoffa was attempting to retake control of the Teamsters union, which the Mafia had great influence over. Three separate FBI investigations, witnesses and mob turncoats all seem to agree on one basic point; Hoffa was killed shortly after arriving at his meeting and his body was quickly disposed of.
To this day, no one has been convicted of his disappearance and many aspects of the case are still a mystery. However, it is commonly believed by historians and law enforcement officials that Hoffa was the victim of a mob contracted hit.
Amelia Earhart
One of aviation’s most enduring mysteries is Amelia Earhart’s vanishing in 1937 during her bid to fly around the world. The pair, Earhart and Fred Noonan, vanished after losing radio contact during their search for Howland Island in the Pacific.
Searchers never found them or their aircraft. Conspiracy theorists have suggested scenarios such as Japanese capture or secret spy missions but fail to explain what happened to Earhart as satisfactorily as the simplest explanation.
Aviation historians and investigators think Earhart tried to find Howland Island, but ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean. Radio logs, fuel calculations, and navigation analysis as well as several decades of research all point to this simple explanation.
Even without concrete proof of the aircraft, the consensus among many points to a crash followed by submersion.
The princes in the Tower
Perhaps one of the most intriguing mysteries in English history is the disappearance of two young princes after they were imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1483.
Edward V and his younger brother Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York were held prisoner in the tower under mysterious circumstances and never seen alive again.
There have been many different theories about their fate over the centuries, from escape theories to highly complex plots. Most present-day scholars lean towards the idea that the princes met their end within the Tower, probably so their uncle could solidify his claim to the throne once he became King Richard III.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
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