Some mysteries are destined to remain unsolved, leaving behind more questions than answers. Throughout history, chilling crimes and disappearances have baffled investigators and terrified the public. From infamous serial killers to vanished lighthouse keepers, these are nine unsolved true crime cases that may forever remain a mystery.
1. Jack The Ripper
Jack The Ripper was one of the most famous serial killers in the world, and the crazy thing is, he was never caught! His first murder took place in August 1888 when he left Mary Ann Nichols’s body in the Whitechapel district of London’s East End. He targeted female sex workers and killed at least five people between August and November 1888. We will likely never know who he really was.
2. The Black Dahlia
On January 15, 1947, a woman and her son were out for a morning walk when they spotted a young woman’s body. The woman was 22-year-old Elizabeth Short, and she had been dismembered, cleaned, and placed in an abandoned lot. This case made headlines everywhere, and Short was nicknamed “the Black Dahlia”. To this day, no one knows who her murderer was, but some people suspect it was a man named Dr. George Hodel. Even his son thinks he’s to blame.
3. Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe passed away over 170 years ago, and people are still debating about what could’ve killed him. On October 3, 1849, he was found in a gutter wearing someone else’s clothes. He was delirious when he was taken to the hospital. He passed away just four days later. Poe was never able to tell anyone what had happened to him, but he kept muttering the name “Reynolds” before his death. Though no one knows what really killed him, many believe it had something to do with alcohol.
4. Walter Collins
In 1928, 9-year-old Walter Collins vanished from his home in Los Angeles. Five months later, a boy in Illinois claimed to be him, but when brought to L.A., Walter’s mother, Christine Collins, insisted he wasn’t her son. The LAPD, unwilling to admit their mistake, forced Christine to take the boy home and later committed her to a psychiatric ward when she refused to accept him. The boy eventually admitted he wasn’t Walter, leaving the case unsolved. Suspicion then turned to Gordon Northcott and his mother, accused of murdering two boys in Wineville, CA. Though he had initially confessed that his mother had murdered the boy, Gordon later told Christine he and his mother had nothing to do with it. To this day, no one knows what happened to Walter.
5. The Wall Street Bombing
Around noon on September 16, 1920, a horse-drawn cart stopped outside the U.S. Assay Office near the J.P. Morgan building. Moments later, the cart exploded. Thirty people died instantly as metal debris tore through the area, injuring 300 others. The death toll eventually reached 38. Despite a thorough investigation, authorities never identified who planted the dynamite-filled cart.
6. The Flannan Isles Lighthouse Keepers
On December 15, 1900, the crew of the transatlantic steamer Archtor noticed the Flannan Isle lighthouse was dark. A relief ship arrived the next day to check on the three lighthouse keepers, James Ducat, Thomas Marshall, and William MacArthur but found the island empty. Inside the lighthouse, a meal sat untouched, but the men were nowhere to be found. Investigators believed they drowned while trying to secure equipment during a storm. A supposed logbook entry fueled theories of supernatural forces or even murder. While the storm remains the most likely cause, some still suspect MacArthur may have killed his colleagues before taking his own life.
7. The Hinterkaifeck Murders
On April 4, 1922, Andreas and Cäzilia Gruber and their daughter and granddaughter, Viktoria and Cäzilia Gabriel, were found murdered on their farm in Hinterkaifeck, Germany. Their bodies were found stacked on top of one another in the barn. Later, Viktoria’s 2-year-old son, Josef, and the family’s new maid, Maria Baumgartner, were found murdered in their beds. To this day, no one knows who’s responsible for their murders.
8. Christina Kettlewell
On May 12, 1947, Christina Kettlewell and Jack Kettlewell eloped despite her family being against the marriage. They were uncomfortable with the extremely close relationship Jack’s roommate, Ronald Barrie, had with the two of them. He joined them on their honeymoon on May 17, and by May 20, Christina had passed away. That day, Barrie claimed to have found the cabin they were staying in on fire while Jack lay unconscious in the living room. Christina’s body was later found face down in nine inches of water. To this day, no one knows what really happened that day.
9. Artemus Ogletree
On January 4, 1935, hotel staff at the Hotel President in Kansas City found a young man, initially known as Roland T. Owen, brutally beaten in room 1046. He had been tied up, strangled, stabbed, and suffered severe head injuries but was still alive. When asked who attacked him, he replied, “Nobody.” He later died from his wounds. It took nearly two years to identify him as 19-year-old Artemus Ogletree. Evidence was scarce, but a woman’s fingerprints were found on a glass in his room, along with a bottle of sulfuric acid. An anonymous donor paid for his burial, and flowers arrived at the funeral home with a note signed, “Love for ever – Louise.” To this day, his killer remains unknown.
Sources:
Unsolved True Crime Cases That May Never Be Solved
15 Crimes That Will Never Ever Get Solved
28 Unsolved Cases That — Despite Tons Of Theories — Have Yet To Be Solved
