by Shelly Barclay

Created on: September 02, 2010

Mysteries have a tendency to capture the minds of the curious and European history is full of them. Mysteries can be found all over Europe from every century in recorded history, from disappearances to cryptid sightings, unsolved murders and beyond.

Mysteries in European History: The Loch Ness Monster

The Loch Ness monster is a cryptid that reportedly resides in a Scottish loch on Glen Mor. Modern sightings of this creature began in the 1930's. However, local lore contains several stories that seem to describe the Loch Ness monster going much farther back in history. Lately, the story of the Loch Ness monster has come to be regarded as mistaken identity coupled with hoaxes. Nonetheless, supposed sightings persist and diehard "Nessie" fans continue to believe.

Loch Ness is a very large body of water. It is more than 22 miles long and more than 1 mile wide. It contains roughly 16,430,000 gallons of water. It follows that there is enough room for many things to hide in there. However, the Loch Ness monster is commonly described as a gigantic creature that is dinosaur-like in appearance. In other instances, it has been described as looking like a snake with a long neck and large head undulating on the water . If something like that existed in the loch for this long, it would have a family and some of them would have died by now. That many creatures would have a hard time eluding Nessie fans and scientists. Furthermore, their skeletons and carcasses would like have washed ashore. However, that has not happened, so we are left with speculation.

Mysteries in European History: The Bog Bodies

The Bog Bodies are mummies that have been found in sphagnum bogs. They are commonly found in northwestern Europe. They were not mummified before death, but have been preserved by the very earth in which they were discarded. Some of them date as far back as 160 BC. That is no mystery to us. What is mysterious is the manner in which many of them seem to have died.

Many of the Bog Bodies obviously were victims of murder. Why they were murdered and under what circumstances remains a mystery. They may have been criminals or sacrifices. However, criminal does not suit all of them. It could also be that these bodies constitute a mixture of random murder, sacrificial murder and the 'lawful' murder victims. Either way, it is and will likely remain a complete mystery. Without written records, there is no way to know why these people were killed, but we can certainly tell how.

Mysterious in European

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