Tag: unsolved mysteries

The Story Of Michael Rockefeller’s Disappearance And The Gruesome Theories Behind It

Michael Clark Rockefeller was born in 1938. He was the youngest son of New York governor Nelson Rockefeller and the newest member of a dynasty of millionaires founded by his famous great-grandfather, John D. Rockefeller — one of the richest people who ever lived.

Though his father expected him to follow in his footsteps and help manage the family’s vast business empire, Michael was a quieter, more artistic spirit. When he graduated from Harvard in 1960, he wanted to do something more exciting than sit around in boardrooms and conduct meetings.

His father, a prolific art collector, had recently opened the Museum of Primitive Art, and its exhibits, including Nigerian, Aztec, and Mayan works, entranced Michael.

He decided to seek out his own “primitive art” (a term no longer in use that referred to non-Western art, particularly that of Indigenous peoples) and took a position on the board of his father’s museum.

It was here that Michael Rockefeller felt he could make his mark. Karl Heider, a graduate student of anthropology at Harvard who worked with Michael, recalled, “Michael said he wanted to do something that hadn’t been done before and to bring a major collection to New York.”

He had traveled extensively already, living in Japan and Venezuela for months at a time, and he craved something new: he wanted to embark on an anthropological expedition to a place few would ever see.

After talking with representatives from the Dutch National Museum of Ethnology, Michael decided to make a scouting trip to what was then known as Dutch New Guinea, a massive island off the coast of Australia, to collect the art of the Asmat people who resided there.

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9/11: Whodunnit? and Why It Matters to the Peace Movement

“I have chosen this time and this place to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth is too rarely perceived — yet it is the most important topic on earth: world peace . . .”— PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, JUNE 10, 1963

Sixty years later it behooves us more than ever to penetrate the tenacious ignorance of which Kennedy spoke. To honor my friend and colleague, TRANSCEND member Prof. Graeme MacQueen, who passed away in April, this editorial addresses topics he was passionate about, namely peace, justice and truth, in particular 9/11 truth.

If we’re not willing to open our minds to the abundant evidence refuting the narrative, fed to us mere minutes after the heinous crimes of 9/11 unfolded before our eyes, that a band of foreign militants from the Middle East was solely responsible for those crimes, then we risk continuing to fall prey to propaganda leading to unending wars and suffering.

Johan Galtung introduced me to Graeme at a 2011 TRANSCEND symposium in North Carolina. 9/11 was not on the formal agenda, but came up in side conversations as the 10-year anniversary approached. Galtung has always promoted open dialog on challenging topics, bucking the penchant of academic institutions and major media platforms to ignore dissenting views on 9/11 and dismiss them as crazy conspiracy theories. He thus proposed adding a session on 9/11 to the symposium and opening it to the general public. Three of us presented our views, followed by Q and A.

Galtung accepted the official narrative that 9/11 was perpetrated by foreign Muslim extremists, viewing it as blow-back from the many injustices the US had inflicted on the Middle East. He called it a public execution of 3 buildings (World Trade Center 1 and 2, and the Pentagon) that symbolized the US military-financial complex. 

Graeme and I enumerated unexplained anomalies pointing to complicity of key agents within the US Government and cast doubt on the culpability of Al-Qaeda operatives. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, alleged mastermind of 9/11, confessed involvement only after being subjected to prolonged torture via waterboarding, while videos of Osama bin Laden claiming credit for the attacks look suspiciously fake.

We all agreed, however, along with most peace activists, that the US response to the events of 9/11 was reprehensible: declaring the unending war on terror, fomenting widespread Islamophobia, curtailing civil liberties, decades-long military incursions in Afghanistan and Iraq that ruined both countries and cost countless lives. The US leadership justified its violent response by the fear, outrage and desire for revenge that swept across much of the nation, horrified at the shock and awe it had witnessed that fateful day. How could that have been prevented?

Imagine what our world might look like if the propaganda machine set in motion the morning of 9/11 had failed. What if most journalists, commentators, engineers, pilots, firefighters, police, and politicians on mainstream media had pressed for answers to valid questions, like:

How could damage and fires on the upper floors have caused both twin towers to explode and disappear into their footprints? How could World Trade Center 7, a third skyscraper not hit by a plane, have imploded symmetrically at free fall speed? How could an alleged hijacker who flunked flight school on small planes have executed a harrowing maneuver to ram a passenger jet into the Pentagon going 500 mph at ground level? How did the US, with its hundreds of billions in defense spending, fail to defend the nerve center of its military headquarters in the nation’s capital? 

Once it was announced hijacked planes were crashing into buildings, why did Secret Service agents allow President Bush to remain in a Florida classroom with children, leaving them vulnerable to attack? Who made money on a significant increase in stock market betting right before 9/11 that prices of American and United Airline stocks would drop? 

What if honest eye-witness journalists, who in the morning had reported explosions both before and during the destruction of the towers, had continued to develop that thread and ask deeper questions throughout the day and following days, rather than being diverted by select experts and pundits who silenced the “explosion” theme, supplanting it with unproven assertions that Osama bin Laden did it.

Had these questions — many raised also by 9/11 victims’ family members — been relentlessly pursued, the flimsy tale of Muslim extremists from remote parts of the world with no ties to any government being the lone perpetrators of this apocalyptic theatrical display would have soon disintegrated.

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‘Trunk Lady’ murder victim identified over 50 years after she was found strangled to death with bolo tie

After over half a century, investigators in St. Petersburg, Florida, say they have learned the identity of the city’s oldest and most notorious cold case victim. Sylvia June Atherton, a 41-year-old mother of five from Arizona, was the woman whose body was discovered in a wooden trunk 53 years ago on Halloween, authorities announced.

According to a press release from the St. Petersburg Police Department, two officers found a black steamer trunk in the woods behind a restaurant on Oct. 31, 1969, in the 4200 block of 34th Street South.

Inside, officers found a woman wrapped in a large plastic bag. She had visible head injuries, was strangled with a man’s Western-style bolo tie, and was partially clothed in a pajama top. The unnamed victim was buried as “Jane Doe” in Memorial Park Cemetery.

The case quickly gained notoriety, with the victim being dubbed the “Trunk Lady,” and was featured in various television shows, articles, and cold case conferences.

Forty years after discovering the “Trunk Lady,” a doctor with the University of Southern Florida’s Department of Anthropology assisted authorities in exhuming her remains. Efforts to identify the victim using teeth and bone samples over the years proved challenging due to their degraded state. However, earlier this year marked a breakthrough when a St. Petersburg police cold case detective discovered original samples of the victim’s hair and skin, which had been taken during the victim’s initial autopsy.

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Titanic sinking mystery ‘finally solved’ by fatal design flaw in unsinkable ship

The mystery surrounding why the “unsinkable luxury liner” The Titanic sank back in 1912 has long been subject to speculation, but was it simply a design flaw that caused the downfall of such a majestic ship on its maiden voyage.

Scientists previously believed the fate of the Titanic wasn’t down to the course chosen by Captain Edward Smith or a faulty rudder – but now it’s thought it could simply be down to poorly designed rivets holding the ship together.

The rather mundane reason was proposed by Jennifer Hooper McCarty and Timothy Foecke in their book What Really Sank the Titanic.

McCarty and Foecke are a pair of scientists and academics who have studied the downing of the cruise liner for decades.

Their work analysed 48 rivets found in the wreck of the Titanic and they believe the shipbuilders used cheaper iron to make them than was originally planned.

Speaking on the Early Show, an early morning news show in the US, Ms McCarty, who started researching the Titanic’s rivets while working on her PhD at Johns Hopkins University in 1999, explained why they were so vital.

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FBI has IDENTIFIED Zodiac Killer as Air Force veteran Gary Francis Poste – who died in 2018 – and has partial DNA sample that could link him to five serial murders, cold case investigator claims

A cold case investigator is claiming that the FBI has identified the man suspected to be the infamous ‘Zodiac Killer’, who killed at least five people in the late 1960s.

Journalist Thomas Colbert alleges that an FBI whistleblower confirmed to him that Air Force veteran Gary Francis Poste, who has been previously posited as the killer, is currently listed by the bureau as a suspect.

Colbert claims FBI labs have a ‘partial’ DNA sample on Poste – who has been dead since 2018 – that links him to the murders, and believes authorities didn’t look into him enough when he was alive.

‘The felon has been secretly listed as the Zodiac “suspect” in Headquarters’ computers since 2016,’ Colbert’s organization, Case Breakers, said in a statement.

While the Zodiac killer is known to have killed five people in Northern California, the true figure is believed to be between 20 and 28 people, while the killer themselves claimed to have killed 37 in taunts sent to officials.

The FBI has long denied that the long-open case has been solved, confirming it remains open as recently as October 2021.

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50 Chilling Unsolved Mysteries Of The 1970s 

The 1970s were full of glorious parties at Studio 54 and post Vietnam celebrations, but it was also a decade full of chilling crimes that remain unsolved to this day. From gruesome murders to raucous heists and supernatural sightings, the mysteries chronicled here will leave you scratching your head and wondering exactly what happened in each of these stories.

Many of these stories are too upsetting for younger readers, so keep younger eyes shielded from the gruesome stuff. Keep in mind that many of these unsolved mysteries are cases that remain open, if you or someone you know can shine a light on these eerie crimes from the ’70s don’t be afraid to reach out… you could change everything.

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Autopsy Reveals New Details in Death of Detroit Neurosurgeon Who Was Found Dead in His Home

On April 23, Police found the body of Dr. Devon Hoover, 53, wrapped in a sheet in the attic of his home. Dr. Hoover, a notable neurosurgeon, lived alone in a large home in the historic Boston-Edison District of Detroit. 

A welfare check was requested when he did not respond to calls or meet with family members in Indiana as expected on April 22. Police report Dr. Hoover was shot inside his home and that they recovered his abandoned vehicle several miles away.

Police have not revealed a motive or information on possible suspects. 

On Wednesday, April 10, Police reported that Dr. Hoover had been shot twice in the head, then dragged naked into the attic. The Detroit Free Press reported that Dr. Hoover was “shot behind his right ear and then again in the back of the head.”

Dr. Hoover was on staff at Ascension Michigan Hospital—A spokesperson told Fox News Digital: “Devon Hoover, MD, was a dedicated and well-respected member of the Ascension Michigan family and will be greatly missed by our community.”

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A Series of Strange and Eerily Similar Unsolved Deaths in Minnesota

Jelani Dante Brinson had a lot going for him. The 24-year-old Jelani had a new, 9-month old baby daughter with his girlfriend Dena Anderson and they were trying to plan a life together, and he had just been promoted at his place of work at a cell phone shop. The devoted Christian was planning on becoming a minister and moving in with his girlfriend and child, but his life was about to lead down a dark path towards a tragic and perplexing unsolved mystery, that may or may not link to another mystery. 

On the evening of April 17, 2009, Jelani met up with some friends and went to a co-worker’s house in Anoka, Minnesota, in the United States. They then went to another friend’s house and Jelani was described as being in good spirits and his usual cheerful self. They then went to yet another acquaintance’s house, and after about 5 minutes there Jelani received a call on his cell phone. It isn’t known what he talked about on this call, but shortly after this he abruptly left the home and went off on his own without explanation and without saying goodbye. It was fairly strange and out of character for him, but they just assumed that he had been called away for something important and he would be back. He never did come back, but at the time they still did not realize that they would never see him alive again.

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US Risks Becoming First World Power Where Most Murders Go Unsolved

The United States is on its way to becoming the first developed country where most murders go unsolved, according to a Murder Accountability Project report.

Despite solving more murders in any year since 1997, solved homicide cases dropped to below 50% in 2020, the lowest recorded level, according to a Thomas Hargrove, founder of the Murder Accountability Project, report drawn from FBI data. In 1980, 71% of homicide cases were solved.

“Do we have to go to the status of most murders going unsolved? No, we don’t but the trend line certainly suggests we might,” Hargrove told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The truth is that we’re already there in dozens and dozens of major cities. It’s plain and simple that in many major American urban areas, most murders go unsolved and have done so for several years now.”

In 2019, 77% of homicides were solved in the Netherlands while 98% were solved in Finland, according to European Journal of Criminology report. Canada had a 75% success rate in solving murders, and Germany’s success rate ranged from 88% to 94%.

The cities with the most homicides in 2020 included Detroit, Michigan, St. Louis, Missouri, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, according to the report. Most of the homicide cases in 202o and 2021 involved guns.

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