From mysterious inventions to unsolved codes, some secrets were destined to remain hidden forever. Join us as we explore the most intriguing mysteries that followed remarkable individuals to their graves. From brilliant scientists to controversial figures, these stories continue to captivate and perplex us to this day.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00In the end, others made fortunes with his inventions, and he wound up penniless and rejected.
00:07Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most shocking and scintillating secrets that died with their famous keepers.
00:13The characteristic of a Strat in general is that it has a silvery tone, and it creates this incredibly sweet tone.
00:21Number 20, Sir Edward Elgar.
00:24Perhaps the greatest English composer since Handel, Edward Elgar.
00:28Music has a way of conveying messages that may never be revealed with the spoken word.
00:32Though Sir Edward Elgar penned multiple pieces throughout his career, none have been as intriguing as Enigma variations.
00:38Beyond the musical content you hear on the surface, there are also supposed hidden melodies interwoven throughout the different movements.
00:51The secret lies within the title itself, with people trying to figure out exactly what the Enigma is.
00:56Elgar even left hints within his lifetime, prompting several people to try and guess.
01:01However, no one came close, and eventually the truth died with him.
01:04While the melody remains a mystery, it's also added an air of intrigue that has allowed the theme to live on long after the composer.
01:11Number 19, James Black.
01:13Even something as small as a knife can be shrouded in mystery.
01:16In 1830, a blacksmith named James Black crafted a weapon for Jim Bowie, a famed knife fighter who used it to take three lives.
01:23Jim Bowie's story is forever enshrined at the Alamo where he died.
01:27But his fame and legend began years earlier in a knife fight on a Louisiana sandbar.
01:33This led to others wanting one, and Black complied.
01:35However, the exact process he used was elusive, with everything being done behind a curtain.
01:39Customers were mystified by how they were both tough and incredibly flexible at the same time.
01:44A combination that should have been impossible.
01:46Some even theorized that he had somehow learned an ancient technique.
01:49Unfortunately, a series of personal tragedies led to him forgetting the exact method.
01:54And after his death, some began to question if he had any hand in the original at all.
01:58Number 18, Richard Amor.
02:00There's no worse feeling than realizing you hit a dead end on a conundrum.
02:04Journalist Robert Parry dedicated his career to exposing the truth behind the 1980 October surprise.
02:09A theory that claimed the Republican Party prevented hostages in Iran from coming home until Ronald Reagan was inaugurated.
02:1652 American hostages who'd been held in Tehran for more than a year were released immediately after President Reagan took office.
02:23Parry always believed that George H.W. Bush and William Casey had secret meetings with the Iranian government.
02:29But the two always had an alibi witness.
02:31Those close to Bill Casey have never denied those meetings.
02:34Indeed, they say the plot was typical of the man.
02:36This party, later revealed to be lawyer Richard A. Moore, was the only one who could have confirmed if the two were at the meeting.
02:42However, his death in 1995 confirmed that the truth would remain unknown.
02:46And Parry's own passing in 2018 ended the investigation entirely.
02:50If Bush was involved, this becomes Watergate.
02:53Number 17, Jan Slout.
02:55Dying before your invention can come to fruition is awful for many reasons.
02:59In 1995, Jan Slout claimed to create a coding system with the ability to compress data into a smaller size.
03:06This was a feat that went against everything previously understood about the technology at the time.
03:10Just before he could finalize a deal, he died of a heart attack.
03:13Investors attempted to move forward with the plan, only to learn that a floppy disk containing a key component of the program had gone missing.
03:19They were never able to find it, leading to the idea dying with its creator.
03:24Number 16, Freddie Mercury.
03:26In life, Freddie Mercury said he didn't have any real friends.
03:30At his funeral, they had to employ extra security to keep them away.
03:34In life, he was a highly publicized figure that loved the spotlight.
03:38In death, however, he yearned for the opposite.
03:40Following Freddie Mercury's passing in 1991, he had a public funeral service that was attended by friends, family, and celebrities.
03:46Freddie's death from AIDS stunned the world, but none more so than the other members of Queen,
03:51there to mourn the loss of the man they call the greatest and most beloved member of our family.
03:57However, rather than be buried, he opted for cremation again.
04:00He entrusted his ashes to his closest friend, Mary Austin, and only told her where to bury them.
04:05To this day, she hasn't told a soul about his final resting place.
04:08While some of Mercury's fans claim to have cracked the code, there has never been any confirmation that they're correct.
04:13But Austin's commitment to his final request has ensured that he finally had some privacy.
04:18Number 15. Edward Leeds Calden
04:20Using but the most primitive of tools, he handles huge 15-ton pieces of coral rock with the greatest of ease.
04:27This is his life worth.
04:28There are some accomplishments so incredible that it's hard to fathom how they could have happened.
04:32Florida's Coral Castle is the ultimate example of this.
04:36The architectural feat is still unknown as there are several roadblocks he should have faced along the way.
04:40It consists of over a thousand tons of oolite, which is typically only found deep underground.
04:45The stones were then placed on top of one another with nothing to bond them together.
04:49Yet the spaces between them were non-existent.
04:51Building a great stone city that he hopes will stand for thousands of years.
04:55When asked, Leeds Calden claimed to know the same secrets used to build the Great Pyramids.
04:59Both he and the site are now enshrouded in mystery, with some hypothesizing that he had made the materials levitate.
05:04Number 14. Arsene Hodertier
05:07Throughout six centuries, the Ghent altarpiece has been burned, forged, and raided in three different wars.
05:15Even famed art pieces aren't safe from thieves, and the Ghent altarpiece is no exception.
05:20It's made up of several parts which have been damaged and seized since its inception.
05:24In 1934, the panel depicting the just judges was taken, and the details are still a complete mystery.
05:30In fact, nothing was known at all until a potential suspect, Arsene Godertier, made a sudden deathbed confession.
05:36He claimed to know the whereabouts of the missing piece, and even said he wrote down the location, which ended up being another ruse.
05:42While on his deathbed a year after the theft, revealed an unsent ransom note.
05:48It reads,
05:49While it's assumed that he was the perpetrator, it's still unknown if he had help or how he succeeded.
06:02As for the panel, it's still missing, and it seems it may never be found.
06:06Number 13. Bing Crosby
06:07Sad news. Bing Crosby died today while playing golf near Madrid, Spain. He was 73.
06:13A celebrity being involved in some shady dealings may come as no surprise.
06:17However, even those who claimed to be family-friendly held dark secrets, some of which were only revealed posthumously.
06:28Bing Crosby was a highly respected musician and actor, but even he had a dark past that was eventually uncovered.
06:34In 1999, over 20 years after his death, the FBI let it be known that the performer had been indebted to one shady character in particular.
06:41He had received letters threatening his life if he didn't pay $10,000 to an unknown mobster.
06:46While those details have been released, who the letters were coming from still remains under wraps.
06:51Number 12. Benjamin Franklin
06:52This founding father had a bit of a reputation with the ladies, and in the process ended up with a son of mysterious origin.
06:58Franklin was very secretive about who William's mother was.
07:02Some suspect that he was born before Ben married Deborah Reed, making him illegitimate.
07:06Another theory posits that he was the result of one of Franklin's many escapades with sex workers.
07:10William Franklin did make a name for himself by helping his father in his famous kite experiment,
07:15opposing him in the Revolutionary War and eventually settling in England.
07:18My father Benjamin promoted rebellion, while I worked for reconciliation, for my persistent loyalty to the crown.
07:26Even so, his mother's name was never released.
07:29Number 11. Jimmy Savile
07:30Everyone was bedazzled by him.
07:34He was like a conjurer.
07:38He mesmerized people.
07:41We trusted him.
07:42Sometimes it's the ones you suspect the most that are guilty.
07:45During his multi-decade career in British television, Jimmy Savile had been hit with multiple allegations of abuse.
07:51While those were eventually dismissed, the ones made after his death weren't so easily brushed under the rug.
07:56Investigations began almost immediately afterwards, and hundreds of people came forward to finally share their alleged experiences.
08:09The findings were worse than anyone could have imagined, with reports of him hurting minors and even abusing corpses.
08:16Though no physical proof was found, word of mouth was plenty of evidence for some, and his reputation was subsequently destroyed.
08:21The true extent of his crimes may never be known, but at the very least, he faced some posthumous consequences.
08:27I expressed my concern about the lettering on the front of the headstone.
08:32It was good while it lasted.
08:35It is offensive.
08:36And it will be offensive for all time.
08:39Number 10. Captain William Thompson
08:40In 1820, during the Peruvian War of Independence, the city of Lima needed to keep its riches secure, and decided to move the fortune to Mexico.
08:48Captain William Thompson and his crew were to transfer the treasure, valued at around $208 million.
08:54But they went rogue, killing the guards and priests on board, and snagging the loot for themselves.
08:59They supposedly buried it on Coco's Island, near modern-day Costa Rica, but were then captured.
09:03Thompson and his first mate were allowed to live if they showed the treasure's location to the Spanish.
09:08When they got to the island, though, they escaped and were never heard from again, taking the secret of the treasure's location with them.
09:13Number 9. Alan Turing
09:16One of the greatest mathematical minds of the 20th century.
09:20Some geniuses leave this earth without ever being truly recognized.
09:23There's no better example than Alan Turing, whose work with Ultra went unknown for nearly three decades.
09:28During World War II, the designation decoded ciphers that reportedly shaved years off the conflict, saving countless lives as a result.
09:35Turing's contribution to the Code Breakers was quite simply vital to the war effort.
09:40Turing and his colleagues' work was unknown, with no explanation given as to why it was hidden.
09:45In 1974, the program was finally made public, but by that point, Turing had already been outed, arrested, and convicted on an indecency charge, leading to him taking his own life in 1954.
09:55He would never see the way he or his work was celebrated.
09:58And today, the government still won't reveal why they hid the intelligence from the world.
10:03Number 8. Morris Ward
10:04Back in the 1980s, ex-hairedresser Morris Ward invented something that could have changed the world.
10:09After the Manchester air crash, Ward was inspired and began mixing non-toxic, heat-resistant plastics.
10:15Eventually, he produced a material with amazing heat-dissipating properties.
10:19This invention, named Starlight by his granddaughter, could withstand blow torches and lasers.
10:24Although numerous companies contacted him regarding the formula, Ward declined to sell, believing Starlight to be too valuable.
10:29I think Morris was very, very bothered about knowledge leaking out.
10:37He wanted to own it. He, in fact, wanted Starlight to be his.
10:41He unfortunately passed away in 2011, taking his secret with him.
10:45Not even his wife or kids seem to know how to replicate it.
10:48And so it seems Starlight has faded into the night.
10:51His end goal was to, in fact, get something like 10 billion pounds dumped on him so that he could just do it.
10:59No one's going to do that.
11:01Number 7. Johann Bessler
11:02Many inventors have tried to create a perpetual motion machine, but most have failed.
11:07Hundreds of years ago, however, Johann Bessler, aka Orpheus, may very well have done it, or so he claimed.
11:13Back in 1712, the German innovator showed off a self-spinning wheel that was able to lift weight off the ground and keep going.
11:19By 1717, word of his invention had spread, captivating scientists and common folk alike.
11:24Bessler's wheel was said to have spun for 54 days straight with no energy source.
11:29Being extremely paranoid, however, he destroyed the machine, and in 1745, Bessler fell off a windmill to his death.
11:36Number 6. Pope St. John Paul II
11:38John Paul II left an indelible mark on the world.
11:41A mark that, even 20 years after his death, remains profoundly tangible.
11:46In the Catholic Church, the Pope appoints cardinals.
11:49However, on rare occasions, cardinals are named in pectorae, signifying in the breast.
11:54This means the Pope names them in secret, a move typically made when the clergyman in question
11:58is from a hostile country where such a position could put them in danger.
12:01During his lifetime, Pope John Paul II appointed and later revealed in pectorae cardinals from China, Ukraine, and Latvia.
12:07A fourth was appointed, but John Paul II passed away before the cardinal was made public.
12:12As a result, this cardinal's appointment technically expires, and we're left to guess who the Pope had selected.
12:18Number 5. Ludwig von Beethoven
12:20After famous composer Ludwig von Beethoven died in 1827, a love letter addressed to the Germans' immortal beloved was found.
12:27Even in bed, my ideas turn toward you, immortal beloved.
12:32Beethoven had written the 10-page letter around 1812, but who was his beloved?
12:37Scholars suggest it could have been Antonia Brentano, despite Ludwig being good friends with her husband.
12:42Others proposed Countess Josefine Brunswick as the most likely candidate.
12:47Beethoven had written her many love letters, but because he was of lower social standing,
12:51she could never be open about their relationship, and eventually pulled away.
12:54Theorists have suggested other potential recipients, but only Beethoven knew the real answer.
12:59Never doubt the faithfulest heart of your beloved Ludwig.
13:06Number 4. Antonio Stradivari
13:07No one could make him like Stradivari, literally.
13:11Italian Antonio Stradivari was known for crafting stringed instruments, violins in particular, that produced exceptional sound.
13:17The characteristic of a Strad in general is that it has a silvery tone, and it creates this incredibly sweet tone.
13:24But how did he craft these remarkable instruments?
13:35Well, Stradivari died without leaving any notes, so his secret is lost to us.
13:38Scientists believe it was a mix of the shape, the resins, glues, and varnishes, but haven't been able to replicate it.
13:44Stradivari made around 1,100 instruments, but only 650 are still around, and they fetch exorbitant prices.
13:50His Messiah Stradivarius, made in 1716, is valued at an estimated $20 million.
13:56Clearly, everyone's mad for strats.
13:59It's not a tool. It is a part, it's a total extension of me.
14:03Number 3. Arne Berling
14:04This is code cracking at its finest.
14:07Back in 1940, as part of their expansion, Germany set their sights on Norway.
14:11As a countermeasure, Russia was trying to take Finland.
14:13Sandwiched in between, the neutral Swedes feared for their safety.
14:16Listening to the German Siemens & Halska, T-52's secret teletype writer, they attempted to decipher what was considered the most impossible code to crack at the time.
14:25Then, only two weeks after being assigned the task, mathematician Arne Berling solved the riddle using nothing more than paper and pen.
14:32Having cracked the code, Berling enabled the Swedes to create a device to decipher the code.
14:37What he refused to divulge, however, was how he cracked it.
14:40Number 2. Jerome of Sandy Cove
14:42This man was basically one big secret.
14:45He was found on a beach in Nova Scotia but proved incapable of speech, possibly due to brain injury.
14:50When asked his name, he reportedly responded with something that sounded like Jerome and that stuck.
14:54That's not all, though. He was found with both legs amputated to the knee but bandaged.
14:58Some suspect that he was a sailor who had got his legs chopped off for mutiny.
15:02One historian tied him to the story of a European man who suffered from gangrene in New Brunswick.
15:07He was moved from family to family and died in 1912 without ever telling his story.
15:12Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
15:17You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
15:21If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
15:27Number 1. Nikola Tesla
15:29In the end, others made fortunes with his inventions and he wound up penniless and rejected.
15:36Inventor and engineer Nikola Tesla wanted to change the world by providing wireless energy across the globe.
15:42To do this, he would build the Wardenclyffe Tower, financed by J.P. Morgan and use Earth's atmosphere as a conductor to make the dream a reality.
15:49Unfortunately, he faced skepticism from investors and the press.
15:53With J.P. Morgan refusing further funding and Tesla himself in debt, the project fell apart, thus marking the beginning of the end for Nikola Tesla.
16:00When he died in 1943, his plans for global wireless electricity and countless other concepts died within him.
16:06All great artists, and Tesla saw himself as an artist, feel that they're instruments of a higher purpose, and Tesla certainly felt that he was working along those lines.
16:15Which of these secrets would you love to reveal once and for all? Let us know in the comments below.