We all have those strange personal mysteries that don't seem to have an answer. Some of these unsolved mysteries momentarily linger in our heads, while others haunt us more consistently and cause us to ask why and how. Here are some personal unsolved mysteries from Reddit users that are bound to recall baffling moments from your own life.
43. A Stranger’s Kind Gesture
I was at a baseball game and went in the washroom. A guy was leaving one of the stalls and said, “Don’t go in that one, people are such animals!” I went in the next one over, and while I was doing my thing, somebody went in the one the other man warned me of and screamed, “Jesus Christ what the heck?!?” I wrestled with the idea of looking but decided against it, and now I’ll never know.
42. A Mystery We Can All Relate to
What the heck does the dryer do with my missing socks?
41. Mystery Egg
During a party I was throwing in 2014, one of my friends was hit in the head by an egg. She was standing in the backyard and an egg seemingly flew out of nowhere and cracked on her head.
Four years later, and no one has been able to venture a theory that does not require a wild stretch of imagination.
40. Snacking on Cash
When I was a teenager, my family and I lived on a military base in Japan. In front of the on-base shopping center, there was an outdoor ATM that dispensed both yen and dollars. My mom and I got in line for the ATM—the line had about 6 people in it. While we were waiting, a man took out the equivalent of $50 in yen from the ATM. As he walked away and past the line of people, he chewed up and ate the money, one bill at a time.
39. Bizarre, But Who Would Say No to Fuzzy Slippers?
During freshman year of college, my roommate was mysteriously sent fuzzy animal slippers about once a month. I think she ended up with like 7 or 8 pairs. Her family said they had nothing to do with it. It was especially weird because we changed rooms at the beginning of second semester, and even after we changed, the delivery address had the correct room number, so whoever it was knew that she changed rooms.
38. I Have a Hunch That it Was The Parents
A stack of EE Savings Bonds remains missing. They were stashed in the dresser drawer beneath my underwear. I had quite a collection of bonds, most of them with a face value of $100 or $500 each that were given as gifts from the time I was born. For every birthday, Christmas, graduation, and other occasions, family members would give EE Savings Bonds as gifts to be used later in life.
One day I noticed the bonds were gone, even though we hadn't had a break in. Hopefully, no one can cash them in, because my name is on them.
37. A Bloody Good Mystery
When we did blood typing back in high school biology, mine was not an option given my parents’ blood types. My type has since been confirmed by the Red Cross when donating blood, and my parents' types were from reliable sources. I’m either a freak of nature, got swapped at birth, or that wasn’t my dad.
36. A Disturbing Discovery
Who or what killed my goldfish? My family and I were at dinner and when we arrived home, my goldfish was in the middle of the room with a needle through him.
35. We've All Been There
On the night bus home after a night out, I struck up a conversation with this guy. Turns out we had a lot in common, lived nearby, and on top of it all, he was really cute. As we got to his stop I said something like, “Would it be creepy of me to ask for your number?” He burst out laughing and said he wanted to ask me, but didn't want to be “that guy.” So we swapped numbers.
We went on a date after that and it's one of the best dates I've been on, we laughed from beginning to end. The following weekend there was a music festival that we were both going to. Death Cab For Cutie was on the bill and it was going to be the first time for both of us to see them live. We agreed to meet up to watch Death Cab together.
The morning of the festival, he messaged me saying he couldn't wait for Death Cab and he was looking forward to seeing me. We had a bit of back-and-forth and agreed that I'd let him know once I got to the venue.
I got to the stage where Death Cab was playing, found an easily identifiable spot for him to find me, and messaged him where I was. He didn’t respond. About 10 minutes before they were due to go on, I gave him a call. No answer.
About a week after I told my sister about it, she said he'd probably lost his phone and didn't have my number memorized. I sent a final, “Hey, it's me, hope you enjoyed the weekend” kind of message, but again, no response.
I'd love to know what happened in the two hours between "looking forward to seeing you" and standing me up.
34. A Six-Week Sojourn
I still don’t know where my childhood cat disappeared off to for over a month. He was the neighborhood stray cat. My mom took pity on him when winter set in and he became our cat. He still enjoyed going out at night and got into quite a few adventures I’m sure. One morning he showed up half torn to pieces. The vet said he probably ran into a badger or something. Either way, for 12 years he always came back everyday. Then one day he didn’t.
We looked for him for about a week, then assumed he had probably been hit by a car or some other “outdoor animal accident” had happened. Then one day about six weeks later, he shows up howling at the door all skin and bones (He had been a chunky cat.) He very rarely left my mom’s side after that for the remaining six years of his life. I still wonder what happened to him that made him disappear.
33. Guitar Gone and Then Found
When I was a teenager, my mom bought me this gross old guitar, and we stripped it down and painted it blue. I played that thing for years and years. One day, I realized I hadn't seen it in a while. Then when I went to find it, it was gone. The case was there, but the foam inside the case and the guitar itself was missing.
Ten years later, someone I know sent me a picture of a guitar asking if it was mine. They had found it in their basement behind a bunch of crap that hadn't been touched in forever, still in the foam cutout from the case. It was stripped of all its paint, and the pickguard was painted a different color. I don't know how it got there. They don't know how it got there and it makes no sense for it to even be in their house. I don't know where the paint went, or who painted the guard. It's not badly done, but it's not professional by any stretch. But it is done in colors I like.
It's a complete mystery to me. It went off on some weird journey and came back.
32. A Terrifying Phone Call
I was out camping one time in southern France with my family. We were visiting from the Netherlands. After setting up the tent and checking out the area, my parents started cooking and I got some time off for myself. I was about 15 and just bought a new phone from my first job.
I was sitting in my own secluded little area playing some Animal Crossing, when suddenly my phone rang. I pick up and hear nothing, but there is some breathing. I answered, “Hello, who's this?” And then I hear a small girl slightly sobbing, asking me, “Do you know where my mommy is?” The kid couldn't have been older than ten. I got caught by surprise by that question, so I just answered back with “What?!”
Then they hung up and nothing else followed after that.
31. Perhaps Some Mysteries Are Better Left Unsolved
Who was the lady who birthed me? I was found in a dumpster, premature, and had been left to die. I really don't have any deep urge to find her or anything. A while back I got 23andMe and ended up finding first cousins. The lady who birthed me would have been their aunt.
I reached out to them, and they're both very nice. However, we left it at pleasant hellos and small exchanges about ourselves. See, they have 7 aunts. One of them is my birth mother. From what I've been told, they're all a happy family, and I may even have half-siblings.
But I'll never know why I couldn't have been left somewhere safer. To me, it's not worth dragging that skeleton out of the closet or potentially getting someone in legal trouble. I'm glad she's doing okay. I grew up in a happy, loving family that has my back, so I made out well enough.
30. Did You Check the Back of the Wardrobe?
When I was about 10 or 11, I was reading the final Narnia book. It was a library book from school and it was hardcover. I was very obedient regarding library rules and handled it with care.
I was reading the book one night and it was late so I eventually stopped. I put the book under my pillow and went to sleep (my parent turned off the lights).
In the morning, the book was gone. Gone! My family and I tore the apartment apart trying to find it, since we didn't want to pay the library to replace it, and it was never found. When we moved out two years later, it still wasn't found.
What the heck happened to that book? I slept on it!
29. Great Aunts Don’t Typically Disappear for 30 Years
Where was my grandma's sister for 30 years? She disappeared in the '50s and showed up again in the late '80s like nothing had happened. She said she'd been living in Wisconsin, but never explained why she hadn't contacted them for all that time. My mom thinks she was in prison.
28. The Ghost Poop Phenomenon
Where did that poop go all those years ago? I felt it perform its exit, and when I looked down into the bowl, there was absolutely nothing there. I know you think I'm joking, but I'm legit still bewildered to this day.
27. This Is the Start of a Horror Movie
I was driving and heard a little boy's voice whisper in my ear, “Faster.” And then suddenly, the accelerator on the car I was driving pressed itself to the floor. It terrifies me to this day, and there still isn't a logical reason for it to have happened. In the past, someone mentioned cruise control or maybe the radio was on. Nope. The vehicle didn't have cruise control and the radio wasn't on.
26. Closing off Contact
I had a family friend whom I’d known forever. She had been a friend of my parents since over a decade before I was born. When I was in my late teens, she dropped all contact with us for absolutely no reason I can discern. Parents don't know either. Her brother confirmed that she's still alive and in the country, she just doesn't want to talk to us anymore.
25. Super-Absorbent Drama
Once, my roommates and I bought a jumbo pack of six rolls of paper towels. We placed it on top of the fridge, and the next day the entire package had vanished. Even when we totally emptied and cleaned the whole house to move out (including moving the fridge out to clean underneath and behind it), it never showed up. I find it deeply disturbing that the two most likely possibilities we came up with were: a) A six-pack of paper towels somehow fluttered halfway across the room to land in the bin, where all four of us failed to notice it all week. Or b) The estate agent crept in in the middle of the night, stole it without touching anything else, and left congratulating himself on a successful heist.
Like, I get that one of my roommates probably just brought it all up to their room and lived in luxury for the rest of the year. But honestly, not knowing which of those jerks failed to own up to it for the last three years is like a constant shadow over our relationship.
24. Tiny Plastic Elephant, Where Did You Come From?
When we were kids, my sister and I had a big box of toy animals. We played with them everyday, so knew every single toy in that box. One day, my sister stood up from playing and underneath where she'd been sitting was a teeny tiny plastic elephant that we'd never seen before.
The only explanation we could come up with at the time was that she had given birth to it there and then. I still can't think of a better one.
23. Why Would Someone Do Something So Cruel?
I was about 10 years old and had a photo of myself with a horse in my wallet. I kept my wallet next to my bed. One day, I went into my room and the photo of the horse and me was torn into pieces lying on my pillow. I was a sweet and shy girl and that broke my heart. I never found out who did it or why. I still think about that moment.
22. Sherry, Can You Come out Tonight?
What happened to Sherry? Sherry was a friend of mine twenty-odd years ago. She moved to another state to live with a man she met online (back when this was a complete oddity). We stayed in touch for a few years and then she dropped off the face of the Earth. From what I can tell, no one has heard from her in about fifteen years.
21. Anyone Else See a Bizarre Faceless Entity in the 90s?
What the heck did I see briefly peeking out of my neighbor's master bedroom when I was little? The thing had no face and it retracted just as fast as it had popped out. This was back in the '90s, by the way.
20. A Serial Square Cutter
My parents hosted two small church potlucks at our house, a few years apart in two different places, hundreds of miles apart with two entirely different groups of people.
The first time, everyone left and the next day my mom discovered someone cut a perfect 1.5” by 1.5” square out of the middle of one of her shirts in her room. Few years later at the next event, someone cut a perfect square of similar size out of a sentimental baby bib that was kept at the bottom of a drawer in the kitchen with other special linens.
No one knows who it could’ve possibly been. Both groups of people were fairly small, and were close family friends. We eventually narrowed it down to two suspects, one for each event, but my parents never asked them or tried to find out. We just stopped inviting them and if they did come, we locked the bedroom doors and kept an eye out.
19. We All Have That One Oddball Co-Worker
At work, each time I go to the private bathroom, the lock is left in the locked position while the door is open. This means that someone consciously locks the door as they are exiting and leaves the door open. I just don't understand the reasoning behind this, and the small inconvenience drives me bonkers.
18. What Happened in Argentina?
For some reason, I have blocked out my childhood memories. We used to live in Argentina, and I don't remember anything about what we did or where we lived, unless I look at photos. About the earliest memories I have are of third and fourth grade here in the US. I've spoken to my mom about it, and she is worried that something happened that caused me to block those memories. I thought it was normal to not remember things from childhood, but I seriously don't remember anything.
17. Leprechaun Loot
It was St. Patrick's Day and I was in second grade, playing on the playground. I brought my favorite Beanie Baby to play with during recess. However, somehow a seam split when I dropped it onto the bark chips. The beans spilled out everywhere and I hopped down immediately to try to collect as many of them as I could and refill it.
As I was sifting through the bark chips to get to more of the beans, a glimmer caught my eye. I investigated and lifted a bark chip away, and it revealed a tiny pair of golden scissors. I gasped because I knew that they had to belong to a leprechaun. I saved them in my pocket and showed them to all my friends in my classroom after recess, but unfortunately, a teacher saw what was in my hands and confiscated them.
16. The Tale of the Creepy Cheesecake
When I was about 14 years old, I visited my best friend and we decided to eat some cheesecake we found in their fridge. His parents were not home. After eating half of the cheesecake, we went into another room to play video games. After two hours, we went back into the kitchen and the leftover cheesecake was gone. We were alone in the apartment and he never left my side. After looking everywhere, we found the fork that was stuck in the cake in his room. The door was locked. His parents came home about two hours later from work, and nobody except his grandma (who lives in another state) has a key for the apartment.
15. I’ve Heard of Diamonds in the Sky…But in the Mail?
After I graduated from college, a mystery-sender mailed me a beautiful antique diamond ring with no return address, and no note inside.
I had it examined and appraised by a professional jeweler. It turned out to be worth a great deal of money. Yet I have no idea who sent it, or why.
14. Taking an “L”
I have a scar on the side of my face in the shape of an “L.” And it's not in any of my baby pictures and then started showing up in pictures of ages 3 and up. I've asked most if not all my family where it came from and they all say, “I don't know,” even my mother.
13. This “D” Is Driving Him Nuts
My middle name is Brendt. I asked my parents “Why the d?” Parents have disavowed all knowledge of where my middle name came from. WHAT ARE YOU DOING MIDDLE NAME?
12. Where Did Nicholas Go?
When I was in elementary, I had a friend named Nicholas. The kid seemed lonely and others made fun of him for his weight. There were huge truck tires on our playground that were buried halfway in the ground. We'd go there and hide in them because some kid named Justin would throw rocks at us and call us a whole bunch of names.
Hiding in the tires, I remember him saying he had a secret he was going to tell me. He said to come back to the tire spot the next day during recess. So, the next day I was there and looked all around for him. A car pulled up next to the spot and his mom rolled down the window. She asked if I knew Nicholas and if I had seen him. I hadn't. Never saw him again at school and never found out what happened.
11. Are Golden Crabs Native to West Virginia?
One summer, when I was a little kid, we were at my grandparents’ house in West Virginia. The house was on a winding road facing a small creek on the other side; not super close but you could see it from the porch. On this occasion, a bunch of relatives were visiting and I ran around the house to join them on the porch. I stopped when I happened to see on the grass what I could only describe as a “golden crab.”
Yeah, it looked like a typical crab, but it was golden in that it kind of glowed. I remember vividly that it writhed around on the grass. It was dusk, so maybe that had something to do with it. Whatever it was, it was much bigger than a crawdad. I was stunned at first and speechless, and then freaked out and ran to my mom screaming. Did I imagine it?
10. How Do You Know My Name, Mystery Skier?
A couple of years ago, my friend and I visited his relatives in the countryside, not in the middle of nowhere, but like a thousand miles from my hometown and from our current location. It was winter and we took the relatives' dog and went for a long stroll. Miles from any other place where I've ever been, we met a group of skiers. One of them stopped in astonishment and said: “[My name], what are you doing in our forest?!” And I never learned who it could be.
9. Fraternal ESP
When I was 10, my friend and I were playing video games in my room. My dad was on the phone and I heard him say, “Oh my god” in a very serious tone. I looked at my friend and said, “I think my brother died.” I don't know why I assumed that or even said it. We kept on playing video games, and about half an hour later my dad came in the room and told me that my brother had been killed.
I'll never know how I knew what happened. I don't remember hearing the conversation on the phone at all, just the “Oh my god” part. Perhaps I subconsciously overheard them talking and my dad said something about it, but I don't remember that. Even when I told my friend, I didn't believe it myself, it was just a feeling I had.
8. The Oddest Assignment
When I was in grade 3, our teacher got very serious all of a sudden and announced that she was giving us a special test. She had us each take out a piece of paper, write our name on it, and then instructed us to copy exactly what she put on the board.
So she started out by drawing two tall, skinny arch shapes. Sort of like the McDonald’s golden arches but not connected at all. Then above them, she wrote the words “I see two mountains.”
When we all had drawn the arches and the phrase on our sheets of papers, she announced that the test was over, and everyone needed to hand in their work. She collected the papers and never spoke about it again, nor did she ever pass them back with a grade or anything.
Every now and then, I start thinking about it and wonder why she made us do that. My best guess is that maybe a student had vandalized something and they were trying to figure out who it was by comparing the handwriting of all the children in the grade. But what did they vandalize? Why did they write “I see two mountains,” and why was it considered such a big deal? Kids would scribble on the walls and desks in pencil all the time, but the teachers just erased it and moved on, they never tried to find out who did it.
She acted like it was so grave and important. It was all just so strange. I don't think I'll ever know.
7. Was This Camp a Cover Clinical Trial?
I've had asthma my whole life, but when I was a child it was very severe. In the summer of 1996, I attended a camp for children with asthma called Camp Wheeze Away in Alabama. It was a pretty regular summer camp with various outdoor activities and an emphasis on adherence to medication schedules.
However, when I returned home that year, my asthma was completely cured for about 3 months. I had no symptoms at all, and I could hold my breath and swim the length of a regular swimming pool 4 times. I can't even do that now as an adult.
Recently, I pulled my charts from my former asthma specialist, and my pulmonary function tests indeed improved for the period of time after camp. I have since suspected that I may have been part of a clinical trial. My mom remembers a rigorous set of qualifications to be admitted to camp.
6. What Happens in Paris Stays in Paris
When my grandfather was younger he, his two brothers, and his brother-in-law went to watch a rugby game in Paris. When they got off the plane, his brother-in-law told them to go to the hotel and he would meet them there, he just had to go sort something with his luggage. The way my grandfather told it, he never turned up. They spent the four days in Paris before the game ringing hospitals and police stations and searching all the pubs and bars.
They couldn't find him, so went to the game hoping he would turn up there. He didn't. The next two days was pretty much a repeat of the previous four. They were then called to identify a body that had been found that matched the description my grandfather gave to the police. It turned out it wasn't him.
The day of their flight home, my grandfather went to the airport to try and change his ticket so he could stay and continue the search. He found his brother-in-law at the airport in the same clothes he was wearing the last time they saw him. He refused to say where he had been or what he had been doing. It was a secret he took to his grave over 20 years later.
5. An Unidentified Pen Pal
I’ve always wondered who exactly was my childhood pen pal. When I was about eight years old, I started getting little notes in the mail every week or two. They were all stamped and addressed to me, and they all contained little doodles and said very random things such as, “I like birthday cake, do you?” or “My favorite flowers are daisies, what are yours?” They were never signed and there was no return address. The handwriting didn't look like anyone in my family or any of my friends, and every person I asked denied it.
Eventually, my parents got visibly uncomfortable with it and would start insisting on examining the letters before I opened them. Pretty soon after that, they stopped coming. It’s been nearly 20 years and I still have no idea what was up with that.
4. Who Let Them in?
My roommate was gone for the weekend, and I was sleeping in, when his family somehow broke into our apartment. I always lock the door with the chain, so even if they had a key they shouldn't have been able to get in, but they did! His mom popped into my room, apologized, and then disappeared. When I got up later they were gone, but the door still had the chain locked on it. I have absolutely no clue how they got in. I know they were there and I didn't hallucinate the whole thing because they left some groceries for him. My only theory is they crawled in through the balcony, but it just seems so farfetched.
3. Wormhole? Portal?
I was once driving a group of friends home from an away high school football game we all went to. I believe it was in November 2011. We were on I-35 headed south, listening to music, and having a conversation. I remember just south of OKC I looked at my radio to turn down the music, and when I looked back up we all looked around and said: “Where are we?”
Somehow we were heading East on I-240. The same song was playing from my radio and no time had seemed to pass as our conversation was ongoing. None of us remembered how we got there, and I couldn't have taken an off ramp because I had my cruise control set on 70. To this day, it still freaks me out to think about it. There were five of us in the car and not a single one of us knew how we got there. No bright lights, missing time, or anything else. We blinked and we were somewhere else.
2. A Missed Connection
I started dating my best friend in university. He was my best friend for years, and we finally got together. He was infatuated for a long time before we got together, I think.
A few months into our relationship, I was in a serious road traffic accident. I had a brain injury and suffered retrograde and anterograde amnesia (forgot the last six months and the following three). Somewhere in there, he dumped me. I never knew why, and my other friend had to remind me everyday that he left me because I kept forgetting. But because I kept forgetting, I went stalker-ex on him because I thought we were still together.
To this day, even though I’m blissfully married, I miss my best friend. I wish he knew that I wasn’t stalking him, I just had no idea he dumped me. If you’re here Stef…I miss you bud.
1. Speaking To Yourself
It happened in early 2000 when I was working at a juvenile detention center in a small town in Oklahoma as a corrections officer. I was working nights at the time and went to work at 9 pm.
This one night when I arrived for work my supervisor looked confused and asked me what I was doing there. I said "I work tonight," and he said, "But they said you called in a few hours ago saying that you were sick." I was a bit confused and said: "It must have been someone else and they got the message wrong."
After everyone else showed up for work that night it was a bit weirder, but we carried on as usual and assigned everyone their places for the night; I went to work in the control room where I usually work. The control room is the center of the prison that has direct control over the cameras, doors, phones, and everything.
After I relieved the guard on duty and settled in for the night, I looked at the message that said I called in. It said that I had called at 6:50 and said that I had gotten sick while out cleaning up after the storm. There had been a storm the night before and it was a bit bad, but not anything that I had to go out to clean up. It was truly weird.
The supervisor came into the control about that time. He was also a friend of mine outside work and we started talking about it, and how odd it was. I decided to call my wife at home and tell her about it while he was still sitting there. I picked up the phone and dialed. After two rings a man picked up the phone and with a raspy voice said "Hello?" I did not know what to say for a few seconds. I looked at the phone to make sure I dialed the right number, and I had.
After a few seconds, the person said "Hello?" again in the same raspy voice. I said "Hello. who is this?". "This is Taylor who is this?" the person said. My head started spinning because my name is Taylor. I said in almost a scream "Where is Ann?". He said "Ann's in bed. Who is this?". I dropped the phone and told my supervisor to ring me out, I had to get home, and I took off towards the door. I could hear Dave pick up the phone behind me and say "Hello?" followed soon after by "What the heck!" rather loudly.
I ran to my car and drove home faster then what was legal, my mind racing the entire time. I busted through the door and my wife was sitting watching TV and was shocked at me being home. I asked her who was there and she said no one has been here. After a rather long talk with my wife, I went to call the prison to tell them what was going on, but the phone was dead.
I went back to work and when I came in Dave was acting weird and asked me "How the hell are you doing this?". He told me that when I left, he picked up the phone and the person on the other end sounded like me. He kinda freaked out and hung up the phone.
A minute later as he could see my car leaving the parking lot, I had called back from home and asked what was going on. He said that I was a bit irate and said I was sick and did not feel like playing these games and was telling him to stop prank calling me and hung up. After convincing him I had no idea what was going on we went back to work.
Later, I find out that the phone line for my area had been knocked down the night before by the storm. This is absolutely the strangest thing that has ever happened to me.
Sources: Reddit, , ,
