English Project (ALP) Unsolved mysteries Posible Topics

NAZCA LINES Who created the mysterious lines of Peru's Nazca plateau?
CASE DETAILS
In South America, monumental drawings have been etched into the desert plain. Were they created to calm angry gods, to map out the heavens, or perhaps to welcome visitors from another galaxy? Welcome to the Nazca plateau, 100 square miles of unanswered questions in western Peru.

Jim Woodman

On the eastern corner of the plateau is a drawing of a spider. Its formed by a single line that starts and ends in the same place. But for what purpose? Another drawing is of a gigantic monkey that could fill two football fields. More than 800 straight lines shoot across the plateau. Laid end to end, they total 1,000 miles. Evidence suggests that the ancient Nazcas, famous for their ceramic art, inscribed the giant drawings between 1,500 and 2,500 years ago. However, the Nazcas left little behind that tells us the meaning of the figures or reveals how they were made. Nearly a thousand lines, geometric shapes, and figures are tattooed across the Nazca plateau. When they are mapped and catalogued, the images form an astounding body of work. In the late 1960s, author Erich Von Daniken proposed an interesting theory to explain the drawings. He claimed that some of the markings were nothing less than giant landing strips for alien spacecraft. In his book Chariots of the Gods, Von Daniken suggested the ancient Nazcas had regarded the aliens as gods and had constructed the runways under their direct orders. However, Dr. Johan Reinhard of the Field Museum and Mountain Institute disagreed with Von Danikens theory:
Scientists aren't against the idea of necessarily extraterrestrials per se, but we do expect some evidence before we then start doing a lot of research in that direction.

Did this design help guide aliens?

Dr. Reinhard and other scientists believe that the plateau is an immense outdoor cathedral. But that theory still doesnt answer how the drawings were created? Then in 1982, archeologists tried to figure out how the Nazcas made the lines. They decided to replicate the whole process using the simplest of tools. Dr. Anthony F. Aveni, a professor at Colgate University, was among the group of archaeologists:
We pirated a couple of broomsticks from the local hotel, some pieces of string, laid out a line, and we proceeded to clean and sweep away the surface of the line. It took us, a group of 12, one morning to make a line about 20 yards long, two yards wide, clear it completely, and here was a brand-spanking-new Nazca line.

Dr. Aveni's line looked similar to some of the other figures. But how did the Nazca artists accurately model gargantuan figures like the sprawling monkey while looking at them only from ground level? According to Dr. Reinhard, creating a simple Nazca line that was 20 yards long and the giant sprawling monkey were two entirely different tasks:
It took the tremendous leap of imagination to make these large models on the ground, which they themselves presumably did not see, not being able to fly.

Some believe they pointed to the stars

Jim Woodman, a British author and explorer, argued that maybe they did fly. To prove his point, Woodman hired a Peruvian craftsman to stitch together a hot-air balloon from materials that would have been available to the ancient Nazcas. A raging campfire provided the requisite hot air. Perhaps for the first time in centuries, the figures were seen from a hot air-balloon hundreds of feet above the desert. However, Dr. Aveni still believed that the lines were meant to be experienced from the ground:

The straight lines look like roadways. They start from someplace, they lead to someplace. So the idea that the lines are meant to be walked on seems to me to be a much more feasible one then the notion that somebody had to look at them from above. The animals are made out of a single continuous line that begins and ends at the same point. I can imagine that a worshipper of a deity would walk around one of these animal figures to pray to the god or gods that had to do with that animal, that probably some invocation to the gods would've happened here.

In the end, there are still no answers. Those who created the wondrous artworks of Nazca have been dead now for centuries, buried in tombs that ring the plateau. Over the years, their bones have been carelessly scattered by grave robbers. However, the ancient mysteries of Nazca will in all likelihood, remain undisturbed forever. External Link: Dr. Johan Reinhard of the Field Museum and Mountain Institute

SLEEPWALKING The dangerous and even deadly results of sleepwalking.

Sleep clinic

Jarod Allgood

CASE DETAILS
The mysterious world of sleepwalking is often portrayed as harmless or even amusing. But in reality, it can be dangerous and sometimes, even deadly. In Iowa City, Iowa, Jarod Allgood was a talented football player during his waking hours and a habitual sleepwalker at night. According to Jarods mother, BeckyAllgood, it all began when Jarod was a young boy:

Sleepwalking listed as cause of death

He was a major sleepwalker, and all of my boys are. And that scared me. And I'd talk about it, and I'd ask the doctors about it, and they would just pretty much pooh-pooh it, like it's really nothing.

When Jarod went to college, his sleepwalking continued. But nothing serious happened until the night of February 9, 1993. Jarod got out of bed and ran out of his apartment. His eyes were wide open, but he was not awake. He ran more than a mile barefoot on the icy pavement. Witnesses later reported that he sprinted with the intensity of a runner at the finish line. Dr. Mark Mahowald studies sleep disorders:
People who have these episodes spontaneously, like Jarod, get stuck in the state between wakefulness and sleep; awake enough to perform complex behaviors, not awake enough to be aware of what we're doing or responsible for what we're doing.

Somehow in his sleep, Jarod managed to weave around parked cars and turn corners. Then he ran in front of a moving car and was struck. Jarod died instantly. Initially, authorities speculated that he had committed suicide. Jarod's mother didn't buy it. She talked to her son's roommate and learned that Jarod was having a recurring dream about running in a race.

Heidee Ruiz

Becky recalls what the roommate told her:

Jarod said, It's a crazy dream. I'm running a race with a man from Bertrum, only the man is in a car, and I'm on foot running a race as hard as I can run."

Some might dismiss this as just a coincidence. But Jarod was killed as he was running down a road that leads to the town of Bertrum. Becky Allgood was absolutely convinced that her son had not taken his own life. Dr. Mark Mahowald agreed:
There was not one shred of evidence that he had depression or any other reason to commit suicide. There was no evidence of drugs or alcohol involved. The only reasonable explanation is that this was yet just another one of his sleepwalking episodes.

In the end, authorities also agreed. Jarod Allgood became the first person in Iowa history whose death was attributed to sleepwalking. Like Jarod, Heidee Ruiz is a chronic sleepwalker:
When I hear stories about Jarod Allgood, I think, that possibly could've been me. And that scares me to think that.

Also like Jarod, Heidee is a dedicated athlete. In 1991, she was attending college on a track and field scholarship and felt a tremendous pressure to perform. That pressure seemed to seep into her dreams and she once found herself running while sleepwalking:
I wasn't running from a particular person or thing. I was just running because I felt like it was the end of the world. It was like a monster inside me trying to get out.

Bonnie-Kay Calder, Heidees mother, witnessed two of the most violent episodes:
I heard a blood-curdling scream. Bang-- two big hits, where I could hear her coming through doors. I have to tell you, the force of her running through that hall I will never forget because of the terror, the look of terror on her face was so incredible. And for a mom to not know what to do in order for her not to be able to hurt herself again was a real scary thing. Real scary.

Heidee once injured herself while sleepwalking:

The biggest episode was in my mom's house back in August of '95. Must've gotten out of bed and took one step and bolted straight into the wall.

The impact tore open Heidee's forehead. She gashed her wrist as she fell to the floor. The episode was a turning point for Heidee:
I decided I couldn't handle it anymore. I was terrified, and I said, I need to go seek help."

Heidee was tested at a world-renowned sleep clinic in Northern California:

I had electrodes all over my head. I had a pulse on my finger. I mean, I was hooked up, like, I felt I was from Mars. It was very, very uncomfortable, but it was an extensive test, and they had to see what was going on.

Heidee was examined by Dr. Clete Kushida of the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic & Research Center:
We wanted to see if we might be able to capture a sleepwalking episode. But that can be rare because it might not occur every night. But, secondly, we also wanted to rule out the possibility that it wasnt something else, such as seizure activity, a sleep-related breathing disorder, or even leg movements that were causing the person to waken and triggering off the attack.

Dr. Kushida could find no physiological causes for Heidee's sleepwalking. But he was able to pinpoint what is likely to trigger an episode:
There's a lot of different triggers. One of them is sleep deprivation. Secondly, stress can also increase a chance that the person might have sleepwalking.

Both Heidee Ruiz and Jarod Allgood fit that pattern. Their sleepwalking flared up under heavy emotional pressure and lack of sleep. Heidee now has her sleepwalking condition under control through medication and careful stress management. Although the world of sleep and dreams has been the subject of decades of extensive research, scientists are still left with more questions than answers. External Link: The Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic

SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION Is it possible for someone to spontaneously burst into flames?

All that was left were ashes

Mr. George Mott

CASE DETAILS
For Kay and Mike Fletcher, February 11, 1996, was a morning theyll never forget. Out of nowhere, a cloud of smoke suddenly erupted from Kays body. According to Kay, she thought her sweater had caught fire:
I said, Take a look at my back, because Im thinking, do I have blisters or what? And he said, No, its just red. We really were frantically looking through the clothing, you know, arm and back, and just looking it over very carefully and we found absolutely no discoloration, we found no sign of any kind of fire damage.

Irvings walker and leg bone remained

Michael Fletcher claimed the source of the smoke was Amys body itself:
It was actually coming off of her skin. But there was no flame. The smoke was so thick that we had to turn on the fan and open the window, just to get the smoke out of there. Now, earlier in my life, I had worked at a crematorium and the smell was that of burnt flesh.

For the Fletchers, the entire episode was hard to comprehend. Had Kay survived the bizarre phenomenon known as spontaneous human combustion? If so, she was one of the lucky ones. Most cases end in death. On March 26, 1986, Kendall Mott hadnt heard from his father George, all day. A retired fireman, George had serious lung problems and needed an air pump and face mask just to help him breathe. Even before he went inside Georges home, Kendall knew something was wrong:
The windows were all brown and I noticed that the door handle was warm when I grabbed it. It was real dark inside the house and it smelled like it had been burnt.

Irving Bentley had turned to a pile of ashes

According to Kendall, when he found his father, all that was left was a scattering of ashes, a few splinters of bone, and a fragment of skull:
Its scary to find somebody like that, to walk in and find somebody that you love all burnt like that, with no explanation as to why, or what happened.

Larry Arnold is the author of a book about spontaneous human combustion entitled Ablaze:
There was incredible localized damage done to the body. George Mott was incinerated to an extent that, we have been told by forensic experts, could only be replicated inside a crematorium operating at 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit or more, for twelve long hours.

The Mott burn area had all the weird inconsistencies of a classic combustion case. The TV had melted, but much of the bedding was undamaged. Nearby, a box of wooden matches was still intact. And air was still pumping through Georges face mask. It shouldnt surprise anyone to hear that non-believers, like Joe Nickell of Skeptical Inquirer Magazine, say theres a rational explanation:
Now, do I know exactly what happened? I dont. But let me reconstruct a little bit. Were told that Mr. Mott was a former drinker, and a former smoker, but that he had reformed. He was depressed. Just suppose that he said, What the heck, I think Ill have a cigarette. This would explain him taking off the oxygen mask, while the unit would still be left running, and it would explain why the matches were there. Now, if thats the case, then this is just another case of smoking in bed, and is not mysterious, and is a rather mundane case.

But even a confirmed skeptic would not use the word mundane to describe the next incident. In December of 1966, gas company meter man Don Gosnell made an unpleasant discovery at the home of Irving Bentley, a 92-year old retired physician. As he always did, Gosnell had let himself into Irvings basement:
When I got to the bottom of the steps, there was a pile of ashes on the floor and there was an odor, something Ive never encountered before, its kind of a sickening, sweet odor. And then I looked up and here there was a hole burnt through the floor right above me. And I stood there and I looked at that hole and there were little red embers all around the hole, still yet.

Gosnell rushed upstairs, but nothing could have prepared him for the gruesome scene in the bathroom:
All there was was part of one leg. It was so discolored, I couldnt tell if it was a human being or a mannequin until I got right down close and looked at it. And when I got the picture, I left, right then.

Such scenes are nothing new to Larry Arnold:

What is so profoundly perplexing to mainstream science about the scene that Dr. Bentley left behind is the incredibly intense fire that consumed his body, quite literally, to powder, leaving behind only his head, a knee bone, and a lower left leg as mute testimony that this had once been a human being. The rest of his body was ash in the basement below. We believe that Dr. Bentley answered a call of nature. While standing in front of the toilet, suddenly, spontaneously, he became a human fireball. The nature of the fire, and we kind of use fire in quotes, here, failed to produce enough thermal energy to melt the aluminum walker, failed to produce enough heat to blister paint on the bathtub inches away. And yet was quite capable of directing its energy downward, through the oak beams, through the flooring, and into the sub floor beneath, into the basement.

Where Larry Arnold sees a paranormal mystery, skeptic Joe Nickell sees an unusual, yet possible, solution:
The case of someone like Dr. Bentley is very understandable, in the sense of him being infirm; he had a history of setting his clothes on fire, from his pipe. His clothing was pockmarked with burns from his pipe. In many of the cases, the persons own body fat can contribute to the fire. If we imagined Dr. Bentley with his body on fire, he falls to the floor, there is linoleum on that floor, and linoleum, once it catches fire, is a very powerful flammable material. The flooring burned. The subflooring burned. And beamstheres beams underneath. Theres a tremendous amount of wood underneath his body to act as a funeral pyre. Mysterious? Not really, not scientifically mysterious. Unusual, yes.

Larry Arnold says that debunkers could perform a very simple experiment:
Take a cadaver, put it on a tar-based linoleum flooring, put an aluminum walker over the top of it and drop a cigarette on it. If it burns to powder, were gonna be real impressed, and that person deserves a Nobel prize in physics. But Ill wager money, that experiments gonna fail.

Arnold theorizes that some cases of spontaneous human combustion may be an explosive aberration of the electrical current flows naturally present in the body:
We have the potential of hundreds of thousands of volts of electricity coursing through the body. Instantaneously. If the amperage is sufficiently high, then the body would literally become its own electrocution mechanism. It would fry itself out from the inside, electrically.

Not in the world Joe Nickell lives in:

This is crackpottery of a very high order. There is not a single reasonable theory for spontaneous human combustion. There is no convincing scientific evidence of it. And so the mystery mongers ought to shut up and get a life.

Is spontaneous human combustion real or can every case be explained away? The jury is still out. Unless, of course, it happens to you.