Mary Celeste
A sailing ship found drifting in the Atlantic in 1872. Its cargo and food were still aboard, but the captain's family and the entire crew had vanished. It is history's most famous "ghost ship" mystery.
Mystery Timeline｜1868–1945
Mysteries of the 1868–1945
From the age of The Legends of Tono to the days when Nessie and the coelacanth made headlines around the world: mysteries from the Meiji era to the end of World War II.
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1872
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1876 (said to be the first use of the term)
Deja Vu
The strange feeling of strongly sensing "this has happened before" in a place you are visiting for the first time or during a new experience. It means "already seen" in French. Many people are said to experience it, and it is sometimes linked with memories of past lives or precognitive dreams.
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18th century (panic) / 1897 (Dracula)
Vampires
The dead said to rise from their graves at night and drink human blood. Derived from Eastern European folklore, they caused a "vampire panic" in the 18th century. Bram Stoker's novel Dracula fixed today's image.
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1902
The Monkey's Paw
A mummified monkey's paw that grants its owner three wishes, but at a terrible price. It is world-famous from the 1902 horror short story by the English writer W. W. Jacobs.
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Taisho era
Okiku Doll
A Japanese doll kept at Mannenji Temple in Iwamizawa, Hokkaido, whose hair is said to grow. It belonged to Kikuko, a little girl who died young, and after her death the doll's bobbed hair began to grow, it is said. It is one of the most famous mysterious dolls in Japan.
