17 Creepy Mysteries That Still Haven't Been Solved

I'm definitely double-checking that my doors are locked tonight.

Reddit user Cantthink90 recently asked, "What cold case or unsolved crime still gives you chills?" And you guys...the responses have FREAKED ME OUT.

NBC

I've compiled some of the creepiest that I hadn't heard about before. Warning: These will definitely freak you out. Read ahead at your own risk!

Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.

1. The Disappearance of Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès

Netflix

French aristocrat Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès left town back in 2011 — a few days later, the bodies of his wife, children, and dogs were found buried in the garden. Dupont de Ligonnès quickly became the main suspect based on his past purchases of cement and shovels, but he was never located.

The case was featured on Netflix's Unsolved Mysteries. After the show's release, showrunner Terry Dunn Meurer was contacted with a photo of a similar-looking man in Chicago, which he forwarded to the police.

—MSchmidt8080

2. The Case of the Watcher

Julio Cortez / AP

In 2014, a family bought a house in New Jersey. Before moving in, they began to receive letters from someone calling himself "the Watcher," detailing their comings and goings and asking if they brought their children for him out of "greed." The man claimed that workers would soon find something in the walls of the house. The family hired investigators and set up cameras, but the man was never caught or identified, and in 2019 the family sold the house at a loss.

—meradorm

3. The Isdal Woman

BuzzFeed Unsolved Network / Youtube / Via youtube.com

The Isdal Woman is a name given to a woman found burned to death in Ice Valley in Norway in 1970. Her things, including cosmetics and wigs and coded notebook entries, were found at a rail station. Police discovered that she had stayed at many hotels around Norway and had multiple fake passports. She was never identified, but many believe she was a spy related to the Cold War, possibly monitoring trails of the Norwegian Penguin missile.

—ralphwiggum345

You can watch the BuzzFeed Unsolved episode about the Isdal Woman here.

4. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Heist

AFP via Getty Images

On the night of March 18, 1990, museum guards allowed two men dressed as police officers to enter Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. They were fake cops and immediately tied up the guards and set about stealing 13 artworks worth half a billion dollars.

Despite the $10 million reward, the case remains unsolved.

—Back2Bach

5. The Disappearance of Henry Louis Baltimore

Fox 47 News / YouTube

The very first Black drum major at Michigan State University disappeared one night and was never seen again. His wallet, car, and everything else he owned was left behind. He was supposed to appear in court to testify against someone who had stolen from him and beaten him up, and it’s suspected that that person murdered him, but no evidence was ever found and no one came forward.

There’s a great documentary about it that can be found here: What Happened to Henry?

—2tired2makeAname

6. The Case of Septic Tank Sam

Blakedavidtaylor / Getty Images

In April 1977 in a small town in Alberta, a local couple tried to find a pump for their septic tank in their old abandoned farm. However, when they opened the tank, they discovered the badly decomposed body of a man. The man had been mutilated and tortured and likely tied on a bed, and was eventually shot before being dumped in the tank. He was buried in an unmarked grave and was exhumed twice to create reconstructions of his face. His teeth information was sent to over 800 dentists, but no records matched.

—BizarroCullen

7. The Disappearance of Louis Le Prince

Hulton Archive / Getty Images

French inventor Louis Le Prince actually invented a motion picture camera before Thomas Edison. Just before he left for New York to present his work, he boarded a train and was never seen again. A few years later, Edison invented his own motion picture camera — the famous patent wars ensued, and Edison became the accepted inventor of motion pictures.

—ZLATEN_DAB

You can watch the BuzzFeed Unsolved episode dealing with Le Prince's disappearance here.

8. The USS Cyclops Disappearance

Gemini Pro Studio / Getty Images

A US Navy ship vanished without a trace with over 300 men on board in the Bermuda Triangle in 1918. What's even creepier is that two of her sister ships also vanished on that same route in the 1940s. Her other sister ship was renamed the USS Langley and converted into America's first aircraft carrier. The loss of the Cyclops is the largest noncombat loss of life in Navy history.

—yumbatsoup

9. The Man Who Didn't Exist

Ron Burton/Keystone / Getty Images

In early 1945, a Boston hospital received an unconscious patient suffering serious injuries, including infected shrapnel wounds. Someone wrote on a card, "Charles A. Jamison [some articles say "Jamieson"]; forty-nine; religion-Catholic; American. Cutty Sark."

After extensive treatment, Jamison slowly improved to the point where he could speak. Unfortunately, he seemed to be suffering from amnesia, and what little information he could give couldn't be matched to any records. There was no US enlisted man named Charles Jamison (or any variation) who was unaccounted for. The patient's fingerprints and photos were checked against military and criminal records, with no match. No ship named Cutty Sark was listed in the US military. There was one used by the British navy. The British vice-consul (who felt Jameson spoke with a British accent) sent his information to the admiralty and the British maritime registry, who couldn't match it to any sailor.

Despite record searches in both the US and the UK and widespread newspaper coverage, no one was ever able to figure out who Charles Jamison was. He spent 30 years in the hospital before he died with no solid identity.

—boxofsquirrels

10. The Lake Bodom Murders

AFP via Getty Images

In 1960, two teenage couples went camping at Lake Bodom in Finland. In the morning, three of them were found brutally murdered, while a fourth was injured. The survivor claimed to have seen a man in black and bright red, while nearby bird-watchers saw a man with long blonde hair. The survivor underwent hypnosis to remember more about the murderer, coming up with a composite sketch that was dismissed by many. However, a similar-looking man could be seen in a photograph from the funeral of the victims. Some believe the man to be alleged KGB spy Hans Assmann, although he was never brought in for questioning. Decades later, the survivor was arrested for the murder, but he was cleared of all charges.

—holdnofear

11. The Missing Paper Boys

Taro Yamasaki / Getty Images / Via youtube.com

Back in the early '80s, preteen Des Moines, Iowa, paper boys Johnny Gosch and Eugene Martin went missing about two years apart. They were the first missing children to be shown on the side of milk cartons. Thousands of leads were followed, but nothing relating to the boys was ever discovered. They're still missing today.

—johnnyleto

12. Murderer Belle Gunness

AP

Serial killer Belle Gunness buried dozens of victims in her backyard. Her house was burned down, presumably with her inside, and four bodies were found afterward — one of them headless. Three bodies were confirmed to be her children, but the fourth (headless) body was never confirmed to be Gunness's. Many believe she escaped or faked her own death, but she was never found.

—lostsoul-4ever

13. The Texas Killing Fields

NBC / Via youtube.com

There's a 50-mile desolate stretch between Houston and Galveston where over 30 young women have disappeared or been found murdered. The area has come to be known as the Texas Killing Fields. Most of these cases have remained unsolved, but one of the girls' murderers was caught in 2012 using DNA evidence from 16 years earlier.

Many believe that these murders are the work of multiple people, although the father of one of the victims once received a letter bragging about multiple murders.

—bullshitfree

14. The Disappearance of Asha Degree

FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation / YouTube / Via youtube.com

On Valentine's Day in 2000, fourth-grader Asha Degree left home in the middle of the night with a small bag of things. She was spotted along the highway — and a motorist, concerned about a young girl alone in the early morning, circled back, but Asha ran into the woods. He reported the incident, but Asha was never seen again. A year and a half later, her backpack was discovered, with a book and T-shirt that didn't belong to her inside (although the book was from her school's library). New evidence arose in 2015 that she may have entered a dark-green 1970s-model car. A billboard still stands where she disappeared.

—ClarisLockamy

15. The Location of Shelly Miscavige

Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

Shelly Miscavige, wife of Scientology leader David Miscavige, hasn't been seen in public since 2007. Well-known Scientology defector Leah Remini asked multiple questions about her while in the organization and was always told that she was away. Once Remini left the church, she filed a missing-persons report, but the LAPD ruled it unfounded, claiming that they had met with Shelly. Many believe she is living at the church's remote forest compound, "the Church of Spiritual Technology" — and some believe she is being held against her will.

—nohorse_justcoconuts

16. The Disappearance of Jodi Huisentruit

KARE 11 / YouTube / Via youtube.com

In the early morning of June 27, 1995, beloved Mason City, Iowa, news anchor Jodi Huisentruit was racing to her car to make it to work. Neighbors heard a scream and saw a white van in the parking lot — afterward, police found her belongings strewn about the lot by her car. The only clue was an unidentified partial palm print on the car. Her body was never found, and the investigation is still open today.

—CTeam19

17. The Oakland County Child Killer

Click On Detroit | Local 4 | WDIV / YouTube / Via youtube.com

Between 1976 and 1977, four children were abducted, held captive, then murdered in Oakland County, Michigan. Marney Rich Keenan, who wrote a book about the killings, said that the four children were exploited for child sex abuse images. The killer has never been found, though there have been multiple suspects. At one point, a man identifying himself only as "Allen" wrote to a Detroit psychiatrist, claiming to be the roommate of the killer and to have been left to watch the children while the killer was at work. The psychiatrist spoke with him on the phone, and they planned to meet so he could provide proof, but "Allen" never showed. The case remains open today.

—420Tax

CORRECTION

Oct. 06, 2020, at 17:50 PM

This post has been updated to meet BuzzFeed's editorial standards.