Good evening readers, once again I have taken it upon myself to look into the mysterious and terrifying and bring what I have found to all of you, like a geeky Uncle Ford. In this edition of creepy unsolved mysteries we will explore; a missing politician, the secret of a serial killer, and a man who's identity is lost to time. So submitted for your approval here are 5 Creepy Unsolved Mysteries (Part 16). As per usual if you wish to stroll through our archives feel free to do so.
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1. The Disappearance of Frederick McDonald: In the Spring of 1926 member of the Australian Parliament, Frederick McDonald vanished, and though his body never turned up a mysterious suicide note did. Anytime a prominent member of government dies it makes headlines, but the circumstances surrounding MP McDonald's death made it even more newsworthy. One of his chief rivals in the political arena was a man named, Thomas John Ley, who by all accounts was a nasty and spiteful individual who was under investigation for trying to bribe McDonald. McDonald's "suicide" coincidentally occurred right before the hearings into the matter were set to begin. It should be pointed out that a few years after this another one of Ley's rivals in Parliament Hyman Goldstein, also "committed suicide" by tossing himself from a cliff before he was to conduct his own investigation into Ley's corruption. In the 1940's Thomas John Ley, moved to England where he was finally convicted of murder. It is safe to assume MP Ley knew more about the death of Frederick McDonald than he ever let on, but he died while imprisoned in Great Britain, and since a body has never surfaced it is safe to assume this case may never be solved.
2. Handprint in the Fire House: Francis Leavy was a proud member of theFire Departmentduring the 1920's. Well-liked by his colleagues, Leavy was always happy to lend a hand and always had a smile on his face. So on April 18, 1924, when an uncharacteristically solemn Leavy stoically spent the day washing a large window without interacting with anyone. After several minutes of prodding from his fellow firemen, Francis Leavy admitted that he had experienced a strange feeling that this would be the day he died. Sure enough later that day a massive blaze burned a building that Leavy and his men were called to. Francis Leavy heroically gave his own life to save his fellow firemen while putting out the flames. The following day those who shared the same fire house as he did, remembered their cheerful colleague and noticed a smudge on the window he had spent most of the day before cleaning. Upon closer inspection they discovered it was Leavy's handprint, when they tried to wipe it away the print remained. For the next several years nothing seemed to clean away the handprint of their fallen comrade. In fact it was not until an errant paperboy shattered the window that the firemen were finally rid of the mysterious handprint.
3. Victim 76: In a couple of trash bags behind a Union 76 station, the chopped up remains of a young male were discovered in the dumpster. Investigators were able to tie this horrendous crime to the serial killer Randy Kraft AKA the Scorecard Killer. Kraft kept a record of all of his victims, through an encrypted code for his dozens of victims. Police found this victim listed as Kraft's thirtieth under the title "76" named for the Union 76 which served as the unceremonious dumping ground the man's remains. For the most part police have been able to use this code to identify the Scorecard Killer's victims but the identity of 76 remains a mystery. With Randy Kraft currently on death row this is a secret he will most likely take to his grave.
4. The Man in the Iron Mask: As many of you know, the tale of Alexandre Dumas' Three Musketeers did not begin and end with the popular book, like any good saga there were sequels. One of the more well-known sequels was entitled, The Man in the Iron Mask. A story many are familiar with thanks to the film starring Leonardo DiCaprio. But what few know is that the Man in the Iron Mask was a real prisoner in France from the 17 th century who had been transported through a variety of prisons before ending up at the infamous Bastille. Imprisoned under the name Eustache Dauger, this mysterious man arrived already attired in his famous headwear and forbidden to speak unless he was requesting food or water. For four years until his death in 1703, the man known as Dauger wasted away under heavy guard, his true identity unknown. It is widely believed he was a political prisoner of some kind, hence the need to conceal his identity but exactly who he was has been lost to time.
5. Burrunjor: A frequent reader of this series has brought up the fact that many of these tales of the frightening and unexplained occur in the area in and around Australia, so in honor of this fantastic reader here is another creepy mystery from the Outback. Many of the Aboriginal people in Africa used to tell of the terrible creature, Burrunjor, a large reptilian creature who stood on powerful hind legs yet had tiny insignificant arms, much like a Tyrannosaurus Rex. This was chalked up as regional superstition until the 1950's when local cattle farmers reported that their livestock was being attacked and the animal responsible was leaving behind large clawed footprints in its wake. In 1957 by the McArthur River in Northern Australia this beast was seen by numerous people who reported that it made a loud snorting and grunting noise and chased away a team of ranchers leaving a trail of mutilated cattle in its wake. Could the Burrunjor be a theropod dinosaur who avoided extinction or something else altogether?
