From Legends to Ghosts: The Most Mysterious People in History

Many of us are intrigued by mysteries. We are fascinated by the unknown and love the art of deception, the thrill of the unknown, and the idea of solving a mystery. Hollywood has been playing into our desires for mystery for decades, giving us fictional programs like Midsomer Murders, Big Little Lies, and Mindhunter to name a few. But nothing compares to real-life mysteries, those stories of actual people whose arrival was just as mysterious as their disappearance. These individuals went from Legends to Ghosts: The Most Mysterious People in History.

Some of these people you may have heard of, and some may have been under your radar, but one thing is for sure: all of these people have curious origin stories. Some died under strange circumstances, others came seemingly out of nowhere, and some we know so little about that their true identity may be lost forever.

We compiled this list based on historical records and official websites, including The History Channel, Brittanica, TIME magazine, The National Archives, and others. However, many of these stories are largely based on folklore.

This post was updated on September 23, 2025 to clarify the year of the D.B. Cooper crime, Jerome's death year, the CPR doll's origin, Grigori Rasputin, and the evidence from the Isdal case and the Cooper case.

On November 24, 1971, a man wearing a suit, Trench coat, and loafers bought a one-way plane ticket from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington. After the flight took off, he handed a note to the flight attendant claiming to have a bomb and demanded $200,000 in twenty-dollar bills, alongside four parachutes.

When the short flight landed in Seattle, the man received his demands and allowed all passengers to exit the plane, only keeping some of the flight crew. Then, he ordered them to fly him to Mexico City. Shortly after the plane took off for Mexico City on this windy, rainy November night, the man jumped out of the Boeing 727 and was never seen or heard from again.

While the case remains unsolved, some clues over the years have kept FBI and amateur detectives on their toes. The money, which could be identified with specific serial numbers, was never spent. In 1980, a small portion of the ransom money was found along a sandy shore of the Columbia River outside of Portland.

The bills were badly damaged but appeared to have not been buried. The other main clue is a clip-on tie the suspect left in his seat, which was later analyzed and found to have traces of metal particles consistent with certain industries, such as aircraft manufacturing.

Despite the clues, nobody knows who D.B. Cooper was. Authorities think he had military training because he knew how to jump with a parachute and had knowledge of airplanes, specifically the Boeing 727, which had a staircase that could be deployed while in flight. The only bits of physical evidence were a strand of hair and some used cigarette butts, which only resulted in a partial DNA profile.

Some officials speculate that Cooper died during the jump from the cold and heavy winds; others think he survived and lost the money in the jump. It is impossible to know and D.B. Cooper remains one of the most mysterious people who ever lived.

The woman known as the Isdal Woman is a strange case that has never been solved. The mysterious woman's body was found in a remote hiking area in Norway on November 29, 1970. Her remains were found by hikers who happened to be in the area a few days after her death. She appeared to have been burned, but the case is tricky because the woman's cause of death was actually due to a barbiturate drug overdose in addition to carbon monoxide poisoning.

Authorities believe that before she died, she had taken an overdose of pills, but that doesn't explain why she was set on fire.The case got even more complicated when medical experts discovered char in her lungs, meaning she may have been burned alive. Soot in her lungs indicated she inhaled smoke, but whether she was set alight deliberately or in suicide attempt remains unresolved. Officials looked to the odd mix of things near her body for clues to what really happened.

There were pill bottles and loose pills, rubber boots, a scarf, and a bottle of liquor. The unusual thing about these items is that they all had labels removed, again refuting the suicide theory.

The investigation took a turn when authorities discovered two suitcases at a train station and were able to trace them back to the various hotels the woman had stayed at. They learned the woman had several passports, all with different names, and that she spoke German with an accent.

The investigation was able to piece together that she had traveled recently to France and that the pills that ended her life were from England. Some theories suggest she was a spy since it was during the Cold War, and there was a lot of espionage happening throughout the continent. Others claim she was a prostitute or mistress of a VIP and her death was a love affair gone awry.

We may never know who the Isdal woman was, but we know she was given a Catholic burial, and her remains were buried in Norway.

The legend of the young Russian Princess Anastasia has fueled films and speculation about what really happened to her. Princess Anastasia was the youngest daughter of the last Russian Tzar Nicholas II. Nicholas II and his family were removed from the royal palace during the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 when communists took over. A year after they had been exiled to Yekaterinburg, they were killed with their servants.

For years, many believed that Anastasia had somehow escaped the fate of her family and had run away to safety. The bodies of her family were found and identified in 1991, but the bodies of Anastasia and Alexi (her little brother) were not with the other remains, which added more fuel to the theory that she had lived.

The story of Anastasia reads like a fairy tale. The young princess evades the authorities and escapes to, well, who knows? Maybe she went to live in Paris, or maybe she fell in love and made her way to America. Over the years, there has been no shortage of women claiming to be her. But Anastasia and Alexi's remains were found in 2007, confirmed by DNA testing, proving the two indeed did perish.

The mysterious stories and claims of Anastasia's sightings over the years led to rumors of her whereabouts and satisfied the public's desire for a happy ending for the young woman from a privileged family. However, science put her strange tale to rest.

The story of Shanti Devi is almost unbelievable. The young woman from India was born in Delhi in 1926 and, at an early age, began talking about her old life with her husband and son. Her parents ignored her silly talk as storytelling, but Shanti persisted. Eventually, they believed her enough to take her to look for her family from another life in the town where she claimed they lived.

Shanti's life and details about her previous life were studied as many tried to disprove the idea that she really was a reincarnated woman. Interestingly, the committee that investigated included Mahatma Gandhi. According to the researchers, she knew details that a young girl would not be able to know, and when she met her previous husband and shared intimate details, he quickly believed that Shanti was truly his dead wife.

So, what does this mysterious story mean? It may confirm your beliefs in life after death and reincarnation, but if you are a non-believer, you can find all kinds of ways to debunk her claims. The thing we know for sure is that Shanti impressed everyone with the details of her past life.

If you like the true crime genre, then chances are you have heard about the Zodiac Killer. Criminals, specifically serial killers, have always been an interesting subject matter. Researchers have long questioned just how a human could commit such heinous crimes and if serial killers have different brain chemistry or something else they can pinpoint.

While they haven't found a "serial killer gene", they have discovered that most serial killers make mistakes that lead to them eventually getting caught. However, that was not the case with the Zodiac Killer.

The mysterious Zodiac Killer was active in northern California from 1968–1969. He was never caught and taunted law enforcement by sending cryptic coded messages. It was like he wanted to be caught or at least to play mind games with the investigators. Some of the coded messages have been deciphered, and others haven't and may never be understood.

It is not uncommon for writers to take a pen name or a fake name. Sometimes, it's so they can write freely without worrying about what their friends and family will think of them. Others take pen names so they can write about disturbing or controversial topics without being discovered. In the case of author B. Traven, we have little information as to who he actually was or why he chose to hide himself behind the literary identity of B. Traven.

B. Traven was an author who wrote adventure-themed books and short stories. Many of his works were set in Mexico, where he lived later in life. His most famous novel, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, was a big hit. The book was so popular it was made into a movie starring Humphrey Bogart. B. Traven was able to keep his true identity hidden from everyone, including his editors and publishers.

He liked to claim to be an American from Chicago, but most evidence points to Traven being Ret Marut, a German anarchist who published controversial content during the First World War. He had likely escaped Europe before he could be arrested, but that has not been proven.

The only facts about him that we do know are that he died in Mexico City in 1969 and that he had a Mexican wife. After his death, she gave a few more clues as to who exactly he was, but since she met him later in life, it's difficult to know if she knew the entire story of her talented husband.

You have probably never heard of this woman before, but chances are you are familiar with her face. The Unknown Woman from the Seine is the mysterious woman who was found dead in the Seine River sometime in the late 1800s. The young woman had no injuries, and her cause of death was unknown. Authorities left her body out to be claimed, which was common for the time, but the poor young woman was never identified.

As the story goes, the coroner made a death mask of her serene smile in the hope that maybe a family member would recognize her. The mask became a popular piece of art, and many replicas have been made over the years.Later, in the 1950s, when medical experts developed the resuscitation technique, CPR, they needed a model or plastic dummy for training. Some say the resulting Resusci Anne (the CPR doll) was modeled after the unknown woman from the Seine death mask. The doll's creator, Asmund Laerdal, confirmed the mask inspired the design. In this way, the expression of the mysterious sixteen-year-old young woman who drowned in the late nineteenth century lives on.

Grigori Rasputin was a mystical figure in Russian history and remains a mysterious person to this day. Many thought he had hidden powers; others thought he was a healer, but the truth is that he was somewhat of a charlatan with good luck. Historians do know the man was a real figure who was born in a small Russian village in 1869.

He was drawn to religious studies at an early age but later married and had several children before he became a wandering pilgrim while still connected to family. He spent his days searching for the meaning of religion and life. Later, almost accidentally, he came to know the royal Russian Tzar Nicholas II and claimed to be a healer. Rasputin became a close advisor to the royal family and was welcomed into the world of upper-class noblemen.

The man lived a mysterious life, and there are many tall tales about him, but that is just it; he was just a man, not some wizard with magical powers. Rasputin lived and died and was just as human as any person. However, that doesn't stop all of the wild tales about one of the most mysterious figures in Russian history.

Nobody knows the true story of how a legless man was found on the shore of Sandy Cove, Nova Scotia, but that is exactly what happened one morning in early September of 1863. That fateful morning, two boys found a legless man on the beach with a jug of water and some stale bread by his side. The man didn't speak any language they could decipher, but the local boys took him to town to be cared for.

This man only communicated in sounds nobody could identify. Once in a while, he said "gamby" (Italian for legs is "gambe"). The town brought him in, and because he looked Italian or Spanish, they sent him to the Catholic church to be cared for. Later, a local family cared for him until his death in 1909.

Nobody knows how or why his legs were cut off, but the local doctor said it was a clean cut and well-bandaged, meaning it was a professional amputation. The mystery of the legless man's identity and how he got to Nova Scotia has led to all kinds of stories — perhaps he was a pirate, a sailor who disobeyed, or part of a possible love triangle. The truth is we may never know.

When you hear the name "Leatherman," you may think of Leatherface, a crazy film character with a chainsaw and a grudge, but that is not the case for the Leatherman of Connecticut, who appeared in 1857. The strange man was always dressed in a homemade leather suit, hence the nickname. Everybody in the area seemed to know him, and he became a local fixture, always walking and passing through.

The man spoke little English, and some thought he was from France. He was known to walk a 365-mile loop that led him through the counties of Westchester and Fairfield. Not much is known about the Leatherman. He never stayed with any families, but when he would pass through, they would give him food. The Leatherman was known to sleep outside in caves and keep to himself.

The mysterious man with the unknown past never committed any crimes or caused any trouble; he just wandered about. The story gets even more interesting because the man was not destitute. He would regularly stop for supplies and always had money to pay for them. Some think he had trouble in France and came to America; others think he had mental health issues, and others claim he suffered from a broken heart. He died in 1889, his origins still a mystery.

In Europe in the middle of the eighteenth century, a mysterious man appeared who impressed the rich and royals across the continent. He was called Count Saint Germain but went by other names and titles, too. The man was a storyteller who told stories of his adventures and would seduce his dining companions with his wit, humor, and stories about famous contemporaries. The strangest thing about him, besides seemingly being able to worm his way into high society social circle, was his stories of immortality.

The Count claimed to be over a hundred years old and that he had discovered the mysteries of aging and had a special elixir that kept him young. Surprisingly, people actually believed him. He didn't seem like a charlatan, and many trusted him because he was educated, spoke several languages, and was gifted at music.

However, the Count never revealed anything about his past, such as where he came from, who his family was, or where he received his education. He was just a fun party person that the royals and the wealthy would invite to be part of their soirees. He was a talking piece that always made an impression with his tall tales of immortality and magic potions.

Nobody knows his real story, but we do know that he died in 1784 in Eckernförde, Germany. Even after his death, people claimed for years that they would still see him out and about here and there. His most recent sighting was close to a hundred years after his death. Some people believe he is a vampire, but most stick with the idea that he was just a charismatic figure.

The image featured at the top of this post is ©Hulton Archive / Hulton Royals Collection via Getty Images.