Murder, mystery and mayhem: N to Z of the unexplained

The mysteries of the Nazca Lines: Designs carved into the earth of the Peruvian desert have long fascinated visitors but interest intensified this year after new shapes of a snake and a bird were discovered. The Lines, first spotted in 1939 from the air and declared a Unesco heritage site in 1994, were made by the Nazca civilisation between the 1st and 5th centuries but experts are still struggling to explain the archaeological enigma.

The Sir Harry Oakes murder: Police were baffled and the public enthralled as the Duke of Windsor, who gave up the crown to marry Wallis Simpson, was drawn into the investigation after gold mining millionaire Sir Harry was found bludgeoned to death in the Bahamas. Mired by sub-plots that involved a mafia boss and a flamboyant playboy, the inquiry was botched by the Duke’s decision, as governor of the islands, to hand the case over to two private detectives from Miami rather than local police. A farcical trial led to the acquittal of the prime suspect and the dark motives behind the death of the Canadian have never been revealed.

The mystery of the Pollock Twins: When Jacqueline and Joanna, aged six and 11, were killed after they were run over while walking to church in Hexham, Northumberland, in 1957, their deaths raised the possibility of reincarnation. A year later their grief-stricken parents John and Florence were blessed with more twins, Jennifer and Gillian, and inexplicably the girls had identical birthmarks to their dead sisters. The eerie coincidences continued as the new twins requested toys by name that their dead sisters had played with. They even asked to visit a park they had never seen before. Their case was reviewed by the Journal of American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry after a respected parapsychologist claimed the twins could be reincarnations of their departed sisters.

A meeting with destiny: The mythical figure of RM Qualtrough was central to the case of William Wallace, pictured, escaping the hangman’s noose for the murder ofhis wife Julia in January 1931. The insurance salesman claimed he was trying to locate a potential client named Qualtrough at the time Julia was bludgeoned to death at their Liverpool home. The mystery man was never found and the address did not exist so the jury convicted Wallace within an hour and condemned him to hang. In another twist, an appeal court cleared the 52-year-old because the conviction was not supported by the evidence and he walked free. The murderer has never been found.

The Redpath Mansion Murders: The killing of wealthy 59-year-old Ada Mills and her son Cliff remains a chilling mystery 113 years after their bodies were found on June 13, 1901. Strangely, the police were not called and the pair were buried in the family plot in Montreal within 48 hours. Theories raged that Cliff had shot his mother out of love because she was suffering from extreme rheumatoid arthritis then turned the gun on himself. The deaths have never been adequately explained.

Spring-Heeled Jack: This terrifying paranormal figure haunted Victorian London and was even “spotted” in Sheffield. With glowing eyes, a pair of claw-like hands and the ability to leap across buildings, Jack was blamed for a string of attacks with victims claiming to have had blue flames spat in their faces. Riotous nobleman the Marquess of Waterford became a suspect but incidents continued after his death and Spring-Heeled Jack was placed at the scene of a murder in 1845. No one was ever caught.

The Impossible Murder: Beautiful young widow Laetitia Nourrissat Toureaux worked in a factory by day and as a police informer and a private detective agency messenger by night. She boarded the Paris Metro at 6.27pm on a May evening in 1937. The second-class compartments were crowded but Laetitia sat alone in first class. A minute later, at the next station, she was found slumped forward with an eight-inch dagger protruding from her neck. It was the first murder on the Paris Metro and remains unsolved. Police interviewed hundreds of people but could not fathom how the killer could have got into the carriage, committed the murder and escaped in 60 seconds while the train was moving. 

Sunk without trace: The USS Scorpion submarine lies two miles deep at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, her hull a coffin for 99 crew. The tragedy, on May 17 1968, happened during the Cold War when the nuclear sub was on a top-secret mission to investigate Russian naval movements. Conflicting US intelligence reports have fuelled speculation that she was sunk by a Russian torpedo but both sides remained silent and the true fate of the USS Scorpion remains shrouded in doubt.

The Van Meter Visitor: Residents hid for three nights after a giant bat-like creature emerged from an abandoned mine to create havoc. Flying at speed or perched on top of buildings with a bright light shining from its horned head, the spectral figure created panic in Van Meter, Iowa. Even eminent members of the community claimed to have witnessed the half-human, half-animal flying around. Townsfolk armed themselves with weapons to hunt the Visitor down but it was last seen flying back into the mine. The chilling legend has endured for more than a century and was the subject of a book that could find no evidence of a hoax.

Walls of blood: When Minnie Watson complained that her house was “bleeding” she wasn’t taken seriously. The 77-year-old had found blood splattered on her bathroom floor and on the walls of the kitchen, living room and bedroom, she claimed in 1987. Police eventually investigated and discovered that the substance was blood type O, while Minnie and her 79-year-old husband William were type A. Authorities in Atlanta, Georgia, failed to explain the phenomenon and dropped the case. 

The Welsh X Files: A mysterious rumbling and explosion on the Berwyn Mountains in Llandrillo, North Wales, on January 23, 1974, was rumoured to be a UFO crash that was covered up. Witnesses reported pulsing orange lights in the sky and a ball of fire on the hillside. Locals claim the site was sealed off by the military before official reports said there was no debris to be found. 

The YOGTZE puzzle: Gunther Stoll was found naked and severely injured after his car crashed into a ditch. He died en route to hospital and was thought to be a drunk-driver but an autopsy discovered that he had been run over and then placed in the car. A scrap of paper beside him in the car had one word written on it: YOGTZE. The jobless food technician had complained he was being stalked and his wife said that he had written the strange word down on the day of his death in 1984. Police have been unable to explain his death, 80 miles north-west of Frankfurt, or trace a mystery man in a white jacket allegedly spotted at the crash scene.

The Zone of Silence: This is an isolated stretch of desert in Mexico where radio and radar signals refuse to work. Pilots have reported their instruments going haywire over the area and an American test missile fired from the White Sands Base in New Mexico inexplicably went off course and crashed. Scientists claim the bizarre activity is caused by high levels of uranium and magnetite deposits, which are sending out electromagnetic pulses, but others believe that the area could have been used as a portal by aliens in the past. Tales of bright, disc-like objects are numerous and many people claim to have seen three blond strangers.