Anomaly•Registry

The Wow! signal intensity sequence, six E Q U J five, encoding 6, 14, 26, 30, 19 and 5 times the background noise level.

Record AR-0002  /  15 August 1977

Something was measured.
Nobody knows what.

Ohio State's Big Ear telescope recorded a narrowband signal from Sagittarius at thirty times the background noise. The astronomer who found it on the printout circled it and wrote one word in the margin.

It has never been detected again.

72sin the beam
30×above background
49years, no repeat
Open the record
Plotted

38 events. Every one of them happened somewhere.

32 of 38 plotted. 4 are not on Earth, and 2 happen everywhere.

Unsolved Partial Explained Debunked
Scope note

A register of anomalous events that actually happened.

Every record here is traceable to contemporaneous documents, inquest files, peer-reviewed literature, or credible reporting. What is documented and what has merely been proposed are kept strictly apart, on every page.

Cases that were later explained are kept. Cases that were debunked are kept. An archive that keeps only its mysteries is not an archive.

38 records 10 unsolved 16 partially explained 11 later explained 1 debunked

The register — 38 records

All Unsolved Partially explained Later explained Debunked
Record Case Date Status
AR-0001 Dyatlov Pass Incident Nine hikers cut their way out of their tent from the inside and walked into a night of extreme cold. All nine died. 1959 Partially explained
AR-0002 The Wow! Signal A strong narrowband radio signal from Sagittarius, detected once, never repeated. 1977 Unsolved
AR-0003 The Somerton Man A body on an Adelaide beach, labels cut from the clothing, and a scrap of Persian poetry in a hidden pocket. 1948 Partially explained
AR-0004 The BloopEntry in preparation An ultra-loud ocean sound, later traced to icequakes from calving Antarctic ice. 1997 Later explained We keep the solved ones. That is the point.
AR-0005 The 52-Hertz WhaleEntry in preparation A real whale calling at an unusually high frequency. The species is still debated. 1989 to present Partially explained
AR-0006 Max Headroom Broadcast IntrusionEntry in preparation Two Chicago television signals hijacked on a single night. The perpetrator was never identified. 1987 Unsolved
AR-0007 Numbers Stations and UVB-76Entry in preparation Shortwave stations broadcasting coded messages. Espionage is the accepted purpose; the specifics are not known. Cold War to present Partially explained
AR-0008 The HumEntry in preparation A persistent low-frequency drone heard by a minority of people. Some sources found, many not. 1970s to present Partially explained
AR-0009 Mary CelesteEntry in preparation A merchant ship found adrift, her crew gone, cargo and provisions intact. 1872 Unsolved
AR-0010 Flannan Isles KeepersEntry in preparation Three lighthouse keepers vanished from a Hebridean island. A freak wave is the leading account. 1900 Partially explained
AR-0011 The Lead Masks CaseEntry in preparation Two men found dead on a Brazilian hillside wearing lead eye masks, with cryptic notes. 1966 Unsolved
AR-0012 D. B. CooperEntry in preparation A hijacker parachuted from a passenger jet with ransom cash and was never found. 1971 Unsolved
AR-0013 Hinterkaifeck MurdersEntry in preparation Six killed on a Bavarian farm, with signs the killer had been living there beforehand. 1922 Unsolved
AR-0014 The Bermuda TriangleEntry in preparation No statistically anomalous rate of disappearance. Retained because the debunking is the record. Popularised 1950s to 1970s Debunked
AR-0015 Hessdalen LightsEntry in preparation Recurring luminous phenomena in a Norwegian valley, under active scientific study. Documented since 1981 Partially explained
AR-0016 Ball LightningEntry in preparation Luminous spheres during storms. Laboratory analogues exist; the mechanism is still debated. Long documented Partially explained
AR-0017 Marfa LightsEntry in preparation Distant flickering lights in West Texas. Many are attributed to headlights and atmospheric refraction. 1883 to present Partially explained
AR-0018 Min Min LightsEntry in preparation An Australian light phenomenon, largely explained by mirage-like refraction of distant sources. 1838 to present Later explained
AR-0019 Naga FireballsEntry in preparation Glowing orbs rising from the Mekong. Methane and hoax remain the competing accounts. Documented from the 20th century Unsolved
AR-0020 The Voynich ManuscriptEntry in preparation An illustrated codex written in an unknown script. Still undeciphered after a century of attempts. c. 1404 to 1438 Unsolved
AR-0021 The Zodiac CiphersEntry in preparation Four ciphers. Two solved, one of them only in 2020. The sender was never identified. 1969 onward Partially explained
AR-0022 KryptosEntry in preparation An encrypted sculpture at CIA headquarters. Three sections solved; the fourth is still open. 1990 Partially explained
AR-0023 The Phaistos DiscEntry in preparation Stamped symbols on Bronze Age clay, undeciphered. Authenticity has occasionally been questioned. c. 1700 BCE Unsolved
AR-0024 The Antikythera MechanismEntry in preparation A corroded geared device from a shipwreck, identified as an ancient astronomical calculator. c. 2nd to 1st century BCE Later explained
AR-0025 The Beale CiphersEntry in preparation Three ciphertexts said to locate a buried treasure. Widely suspected to be a hoax. 1885 pamphlet Unsolved
AR-0026 Tabby's Star (KIC 8462852)Entry in preparation Irregular stellar dimming, best attributed to uneven circumstellar dust. 2015 Partially explained
AR-0027 'OumuamuaEntry in preparation The first known interstellar object. Its slight acceleration has natural explanations. 2017 Partially explained
AR-0028 Fast Radio BurstsEntry in preparation Millisecond radio flashes. Many are tied to magnetars; some sources remain unknown. First noted 2007 Partially explained
AR-0029 The Pioneer AnomalyEntry in preparation A tiny unexplained deceleration of two probes, resolved as thermal recoil. 1980 to 2012 Later explained
AR-0030 The Tunguska EventEntry in preparation Roughly 2,000 square kilometres of Siberian forest flattened by a meteoroid airburst. 1908 Later explained
AR-0031 The Carrington EventEntry in preparation The largest recorded solar storm. Worldwide auroras and telegraph systems disrupted. 1859 Later explained
AR-0032 The Sailing Stones of Racetrack PlayaEntry in preparation Rocks that move across a dry lakebed on their own. Solved in 2014: thin ice rafts and light wind. Documented from 1948 Later explained
AR-0033 The Red Rain of KeralaEntry in preparation Red-tinted rainfall in southern India, attributed to airborne algal spores. 2001 Later explained
AR-0034 Spontaneous Human CombustionEntry in preparation Bodies burned with little external ignition. The wick effect is the leading account. Claimed since the 18th century Partially explained
AR-0035 The Dancing Plague of 1518Entry in preparation Crowds in Strasbourg danced for days, some to death. Mass psychogenic illness is the leading reading. 1518 Partially explained
AR-0036 The Tanganyika Laughter EpidemicEntry in preparation Contagious laughing and crying among schoolgirls. A classic mass psychogenic case. 1962 Later explained
AR-0037 The Mad Gasser of MattoonEntry in preparation Reports of a gas-spraying prowler, widely attributed to collective hysteria. 1944 Later explained
AR-0038 The Le Roy Tic OutbreakEntry in preparation Teenagers in upstate New York developed tics, diagnosed as conversion disorder. 2011 Later explained
Browse by category
6 records

Sounds and Signals

Things that were heard or received: radio bursts, ocean sounds, broadcasts nobody claimed.

 8 records

Disappearances and Unsolved Deaths

People and vessels that were there, and then were not, and the inquests that followed.

 5 records

Sky and Atmospheric

Recurring light and electrical phenomena, recorded over decades and in some cases still under study.

 6 records

Ciphers, Codes and Artifacts

Objects and texts that exist, can be examined, and have not been read.

 4 records

Astronomical Anomalies

Observations that did not fit, and what the follow-up work found.

 5 records

Physical and Geological

Events written into the ground, the ice, and the instrument record.

 4 records

Mass and Collective

Episodes affecting many people at once, documented at the time by those who tried to stop them.

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