There's History & Then There's Mystery

Through the annals of history, humans have left behind some pretty baffling texts. Whether written in a forgotten language, impossible to decipher, crypts that are too hard to break, or simply strange content with a mysterious purpose, these are the items that drive historians mad. Whether they're ancient, elaborate hoaxes, prophetic, or just plain weird, they've done a good job of capturing our curiosity. Here are 20 mysterious historical documents that continue to baffle scholars. 

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1. The Voynich Manuscript

The Voynich Manuscript is a mysterious codex dating back to the 15th century, depicting plants, astronomical charts, and naked women, and text written in an unknown, indecipherable language. The randomness of the images, coupled with the mysterious language, has led scholars to theorize that the manuscript is either an elaborate code or a hoax.

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2. The Rohonc Codex

The Rohonc Codex is a 400-page illustrated manuscript written in an unknown language that was discovered in Hungary in the 19th century. Despite being studied by many scholars, its origins and meaning remain a mystery. 

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3. The Codex Seraphinianus

The Codex Seraphinianus was created by artist Luigi Serafini in his own imaginary language with psychedelic illustrations. No one knows the meaning of this book except, perhaps, the artist himself. 

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4. The Copper Scroll

The Copper Scroll is one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, but unlike the others, it's engraved in copper. It reads like a treasure map, listing over 60 locations where vast treasures were supposedly buried, but none were ever found. 

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5. The Phaistos Disc

The Phaistos Disc is a mysterious artifact from ancient Crete. Shaped like a disc, it's inscribed with symbols that have never been deciphered, and the disc's purpose remains a mystery.

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6. The Beale Ciphers

The Beale Ciphers are a set of coded texts that allegedly reveal the location of a buried treasure. One of the ciphers, which revealed the contents of the treasure as being gold, silver, and jewels buried in Bedford County, Virginia, has been solved using the Declaration of Independence as a key, but the other two remain unsolved. 

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7. The Taman Shud Case Note

The Taman Shud Case Note was a cryptic scrap of paper found in the pocket of an elegantly dressed dead man in Australia. It read "Tamam Shud," which means "ended" in Persian. The circumstances around his death remain unknown. 

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8. The Codex Gigas

The Codex Gigas, also known as "The Devil's Bible," is a massive three-foot-tall medieval manuscript said to have been written with the help of the devil. It contains a massive illustration of the devil, and it appears to have been written by a single scribe, which is unusual for the time. The circumstances surrounding its creation continue to baffle historians. 

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9. The Rongo-Rongo Tablets of Easter Island

The Rongo-Rongo Tablets of Easter Island are a group of wooden tablets covered in script believed to be the island's lost language. No one has been able to decipher them.

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10. The Oera Linda Book

The Oera Linda Book is a manuscript describing a lost matriarchal society called Atland. It first surfaced in the 19th century, and its authenticity has been hotly debated among scholars. Many believe it to be a forgery, but some historians think it's the real thing, contradicting established historical narratives.

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11. The Letter from Prester John

The Letter from Prester John is a medieval document describing a mythical Christian king, intended to inspire support for the Crusades. What makes it so mysterious is how widely it was believed. Influenced real-world politics and wars despite being a complete fabrication.

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12. The Gnostic Gospels 

The Gnostic Gospels were a series of 52 early Christian texts discovered in Egypt in 1945 that include "secret" writings attributed to Jesus that contradict what was said in the New Testament, presenting a very different idea of Jesus. They were banned and hidden for 1,600 years, further adding to their mystery. 

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13. The Zeno Narrative

The Zeno Brothers were Italian noblemen during the 14th century who became famous when their descendant published a map and some letters describing an exploration the brothers made to North America. If the documents are real, they suggest the Zeno Brothers reached the Americas a century before Columbus. Most modern historians, however, believe them to be forged. 

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14. The Book of Soyga

The Book of Soyga is a 16th-century Latin text outlining magical rituals. Its mystery lies in its 36-page section containing 36 tables with 36 rows and columns of seemingly random letters. The book's author and origins are also unknown.

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15. The Dunhuang Manuscripts

The Manuscripts of Dunhuang are a collection of ancient documents discovered in China dating from the 4th to 11th centuries. The documents are written in a variety of languages, including Chinese, Sanskrit, and Tibetan, and they offer fascinating insights into Chinese medieval life. Why someone would hide away such a vast archive of knowledge remains a mystery.

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16. The Gospel of Judas

The Gospel of Judas is a Gnostic text written in the second century that depicts Judas Iscariot as Jesus's most trusted confidant, contradicting the version of Judas in the bible as a betrayer. The text was considered heretical and hidden away for around 1700 years, adding to its mysterious allure. 

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17. The Ripley Scroll

The Ripley Scroll is an impressive vertical parchment six meters long, filled with beautiful illustrations depicting the creation of the mythical Philosopher's Stone. No one knows who created it or why. 

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18. The Rennes-le-Château Parchments

The Rennes-le-Château Parchments were discovered by a French priest in the late 19th century. They were full of coded messages leading to speculation that they led to a treasure, possibly linked to the Holy Grail, further stoked by the priest's sudden, unexplained wealth. Both the nature of the documents and the source of the priest's riches remain a mystery.

Maître de Marguerite d'Orléans on Wikimedia

19. The Sibylline Books

The Sibylline Books were a collection of texts said to predict the future. Only bits and pieces remain today, the rest having been destroyed or lost. Their origins and what the lost documents contained remain a mystery.

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20. The Lost Book of Nostradamus

The Lost Book of Nostradamus is an illustrated codex made up of apocalyptic watercolor images and symbols discovered in the 1990s by a group of Italian journalists. Whether it was actually written by Nostradamus, as well as many of the cryptic messages written inside, remains a mystery.

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