Hoax, proven
Radio Quito's War of the Worlds broadcast
On the twelfth of February, 1949, Radio Quito aired a live drama about an alien invasion in Quito, Ecuador. When listeners learned it was fiction, a mob attacked the station's building, and six or more people died.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
Samantha Houston and Love Letters
Historians have found no evidence for the story of Samantha Houston, a girl said to have died at the Driskill hotel in Austin, Texas, Austin Monthly reports. A painting there, Love Letters, is said to be haunted by her.
Somewhere You Can GoObscurity 5 of 7
Folklore
Sarah Ellen Roberts, the Pisco vampire
Sarah Ellen Roberts, an Englishwoman buried in Pisco, Peru, became the subject of a vampire legend. On 9 June 1993, eighty years after her death, crowds gathered at her grave.
Somewhere You Can GoObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
Sonjō and the weeping woman of Akanuma
In a dream, a weeping woman stands at Sonjō's pillow and asks why he killed her husband. They were happy together at Akanuma, she tells him.
Something ToldObscurity 4 of 7
Claimed sighting
The 1896 mystery airship wave
From November 1896, hundreds of people in Sacramento, San Francisco and Oakland reported a light or an airship overhead at night, and newspapers spread the reports.
Something SeenObscurity 2 of 7
Claimed sighting
The 1913 meteor procession
Fireballs crossed the sky as a procession on 9 February 1913, seen from Canada, the north-eastern United States, Bermuda and ships heading toward Brazil.
Someone Who Was ThereObscurity 7 of 7
Documented
The 1924 Mars radio silence
In August 1924, when Mars passed close to Earth, the US Navy ordered the country's radio stations quiet for a five-minute pause every hour from 21 to 24 August, so listeners could pick up any signal from Mars.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Claimed sighting
The 1952 Washington, D.C. UFO flap
In July 1952 radar operators and pilots around Washington, D.C. reported unknown lights and blips over the capital. The Air Force answered with a news conference that CNN calls its biggest and longest since World War II.
Something SeenObscurity 3 of 7
Folklore
The 99-Door Mansion (Caledonia House)
Caledonia House, an abandoned mansion in Penang, Malaysia, built for the Ramsden family and rumoured to be haunted since John St Maur Ramsden was shot dead there in 1948.
Somewhere You Can GoObscurity 6 of 7
Folklore
The Armero curse
Armero, Colombia, was destroyed by mudflows from the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in 1985, and over 23,000 people died. In Armero Guayabal some people still say a murdered priest had cursed the town.
Something ToldObscurity 5 of 7
Disputed
The Arnold Paole vampire report
An Austrian army commission's report, dated Belgrade, 26 January 1732, recorded exhumations of villagers at Medveđa and was reprinted across Europe.
Something Left BehindObscurity 4 of 7
Hoax, proven
The Aurora, Texas airship crash
An 1897 Dallas Morning News story by S. E. Haydon told of an airship crashing at Aurora, Texas, and its pilot being buried in the town cemetery. The Texas State Historical Association calls the story fiction.
Something ToldObscurity 3 of 7