Unexplained Mysteries

What happens when a teenager goes missing in the world’s smallest, and supposedly safest, country? Emanuela Orlandi’s sudden disappearance remains the only missing person’s case in Vatican City, yet more than 40 years later we still have no idea what really happened behind the papal state’s walls. After the story, stick around for an exclusive interview with the director of The First Omen, Arkasha Stevenson! This episode is brought to you by Twentieth Century Studios' the First Omen. Experience the most terrifying movie of the year, and what critics are calling “deliciously disturbing” only in theaters April 5th. Conspiracy Theories is now on Instagram @theconspiracypod and TikTok @conspiracy.pod! Follow us to keep up with the show and get behind-the-scenes updates from Carter and the team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When it comes to sudden memory loss, the most common forms of amnesia are often short-term, and stem from trauma to the brain. But some cases are much more inexplicable. People with Dissociative Amnesia don't experience brain damage, but still lose large chunks of time… and can even forget their entire identity. This episode originally aired in February 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How would a time machine work? Physicists have been engaging the question for decades — and building theoretical frameworks to make it happen. From designs like the Tipler Cylinder, to the paradoxes that imply time travel's improbability, how close are we really to folding the fabric of space-time back on itself… and breaking free from the constraints of time as we know it? This episode originally aired in November 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is it possible… and has it happened already? Today we’re investigating the most famous — maybe even most credible — timeslip in history (involving two respected academics and Marie Antoinette!), and the alleged time traveler from 2036 who’s connected to a mystery no one’s been able to crack. This episode originally aired in November 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A disembodied arm, a man-eating shark, and multiple rumored mob hits. It’s one of Australia’s most famous and bizarre murder mysteries, but the pair of unsolved deaths might not be murders at all... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Over 10,000 years ago, the city of Atlantis was believed to exist as a pinnacle of human achievement before it was suddenly, mysteriously wiped from the face of the earth. Over millennia of human evolution, our species has returned time and time again to the mystery of the Lost City. This episode originally aired in May 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Known as the first Empire, this great city ran afoul of the gods and was destroyed over 10,000 years ago. Despite expeditions made by everyone from Spanish Conquistadors to Nazis, there’s no proof the Atlantis actually ever existed. This episode originally aired in May 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Over the past decade, thousands of people have realized their memories don't quite match history. Though these false recollections are usually insignificant, perhaps they point to someone making changes to space, time, or even the fabric of our reality… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 2009, paranormal investigator Fiona Broome realized something odd: She had a memory of watching Nelson Mandela's funeral in the 1980s. The only problem? He was still alive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When a group of thieves hijacked a train and escaped with millions of pounds, they set a new record for the largest cash robbery in British history. But who tipped them off? For decades, sleuths have debated the identity of ‘The Ulsterman’ — the shadowy insider who instigated the Great Train Robbery of 1963.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After five years, we’re saying goodbye to Unexplained Mysteries.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The site of the bloodiest battle ever fought on American soil is also allegedly home to countless restless spirits. Today, we’ll cover the nightmarish clash between the Union and the Confederacy and retell some of the most famous — and terrifying — ghost stories from its grounds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the 1940s, an elite group of American female pilots known as the WASPs risked their lives during WWII, testing new airplane models, transporting aircraft, and preparing fighter planes for combat. In October 1944, Gertrude Tompkins Silver took off from Los Angeles in a P-51 Mustang. It was supposed to be a routine flight, but four days after takeoff, Gertrude was declared missing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some of the wildest UFO encounters have happened in the Alaska Triangle. Are aliens behind the many unsolved disappearances there? Or should we believe the stories that say cryptids—like the Hairyman—are stalking the region? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Missing planes, government cover-ups, something called the Dark Pyramid… The mysteries run deep in this remote region of Alaska, which has been earning an unnerving—and some say, supernatural—reputation since the 1950s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Aliens did not build Machu Picchu (though this episode does include a story about supernatural warriors…). Ever since Hiram Bingham III came upon “the city in the sky” in 1911, questions have lingered: Who lived there? What was its purpose? And how did it survive all this time intact? Scientists and scholars continue to puzzle out the answers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the early 20th century, a history professor from Yale introduced the world to Machu Picchu—an ancient Incan city built atop the Andes Mountains. The now-legendary site is a feat of engineering, hydrology, and physics. It’s also a place of mystery, posing questions that have baffled scholars for years.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In rural Missouri, a reverend’s granddaughter hunts for proof of a family secret….and stumbles into a government conspiracy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Jurassic Park film franchise brought dinosaurs to life using CGI and special effects. But, with advancing gene engineering technology, could dinosaurs actually be resurrected? If so, should they be? Would they even survive in 21st-century conditions? We may find out sooner than you think. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's been thirty years since the first Jurassic Park film dazzled global audiences. Since then, the movie franchise has reshaped our understanding of dinosaurs. But should it? Though the filmmakers got some things right, some inaccuracies remained for dramatic effect, leaving many questions unanswered. What do we really know about velociraptors? Were they as formidable as they are depicted in the films? And if it was possible, what would a real-life Jurassic Park look like today? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices