10 Enigmas That Defy Explanation

Short explanation about the iron pillar: some of the compounds in the iron form an extremely thin film when they corrode, which acts as a barrier, preventing oxygen from reaching and corroding the iron. It's the same basic concept as stainless steel (which, like all steel, is nearly all iron). In the case of the pillar, it's probably just dumb luck that it happened, or possibly trial and error after seeing it happen to other pieces of iron, even if they didn't really know why it worked.

Y'know, even the Mary Celeste is not so much a mystery. The Wikipedia, at least, states that the ship "took on board a cargo of 1,701 barrels of commercial alcohol". A very reasonable theory is that the ship's crew, fearing explosion and fire from vapors accumulating in the hold, the crew may have removed a leaking barrel, and then vented the hold to clear the vapor. Rather than wait on top of a powder keg, they would have taken refuge on a tethered lifeboat. If the lifeboat became loose, though, the crew would have had no way to catch up to their ship, leaving it derelict and moving.

Raining blobs? Um . . . a tornado effect could suck up a bunch of water from a pond, and release it over another location to rain down. If the season is right, it could have frog egg masses, as was shown in the illustration (gelatinous mass with little oval bits inside). Frogs, like other amphibians and reptiles, have blood cells that contain their nuclei, unlike the red cells of mammals, leading a sloppy investigator to conclude that they are human white blood cells; the only nucleated blood cells in mammals. The source of water and frog eggs could be a cesspool, sewage treatment pond or leach field, and so would be full of bacteria; including E. coli, which is found in humans. Breathing the atomized water droplets from this release would make everyone sick with fever, diarrhea, etc.

It is not unknown for water to be transported in this way. The rest is not so mysterious.

Abbey-

The Wikipedia article on the Pillar has an explanation, but personally my eyes glazed over after two sentences.

#10 Zero references in newspapers? Made up.

#9 They figured it out. We know how it works. It's impressive that they accomplished it so long ago, but then it could simply be an accidental benefit of their process.

#8 Not knowing what happened isn't really the same as mysterious. Evidence points to piracy or mutiny. Boats and people disappear all the time.

#7 All the evidence from one source with zero confirmation? Hoax.

#6 Paint and imagination.

#5 The glacial dam that created the lake melted to the point where water pressure was able to break a hole. The lake drained quickly down river into a fjord and then into the sea. Geologists found the hole and evidence of flooding.

#4 Okay, this one is weird, but idea is Pectinatella magnifica, a bryozoan colony that forms gelatinous masses made of 90% water. Another idea is some naturally occurring polymer crystal.

#3 Uh, helicopters attempting to track someone else? Paranoia?

#2 Folktales combined with occasional hoaxes. Zero actual evidence.

#1 Urban legend retold as true by a TV show.