Mysteries Uncovered True Stories of the Paranormal and Unexplained

by Emily G. Thompson

The mysterious is all around us...UFOs, extraterrestrial encounters, baffling disappearances- Mysteries Uncovered investigates, without prejudice, some of the most notorious, disturbing and enduring mysteries ever recorded.- UFO the Roswell Incident, the Phoenix Lights, the Rendlesham Incident...- Alien the Barney and Betty Hill case...- Uncanny the missing crew of the Marie Celeste , the lost colony of Roanoke, the fate of Amelia Earhart...- Notorious the cases of Lord Lucan and "D.B. Cooper"...For every instance rationalized away, there is another that defies explanation...

Genres: Nonfiction, Paranormal, Mystery, Horror, Aliens, True Crime, History

Paperback

About the author

Emily G. Thompson is an author and freelance writer based in Northern Ireland.

Her first book, Unsolved Child Murders, was published by McFarland in 2017, followed by three more books published by Dorling Kindersley: Unsolved Murders: True Crime Cases Uncovered, in 2019, Cults Uncovered: True Stories of Mind Control and Murder, in 2020, and Mysteries Uncovered: True Stories of the Paranormal and Unexplained, in 2020.

Thompson is also the founder of the true crime website and award-winning podcast, Morbidology, which won the "Best International" podcast at the iHeartRadio Podcast Awards in January 2022. The weekly true crime show takes a look at cases from all across the world, and highlights systemic failures in various systems.

In addition to writing for her own website and podcast, Thompson is a freelance writer for Crime + Investigation, Law & Crime, A&E Network and other true crime podcasts.

Reviews

[Fiona MacDonald · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting but unremarkable selection of unexplained mysteries. The book covers accounts such as Roswell, Lord Lucan, Amelia Earhart, the Dyatlov Pass Incident and more. Some good pictures to go along each story, but really nothing I haven't seen before.

[Sarah B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the 15 true stories in here mostly interesting. The majority of them are about people who have vanished under odd circumstances and no one has any idea of where they could be. Each take includes the facts about what had happened and also then presents the different ideas that various people have come up with. The author then leaves it up to the reader to decide which they wish to believe.

A few of the tales are also about encounters with UFOs and aliens. Then the second to last is about the truly bizarre stuff going on at Skinwalker Ranch.

The majority of these tales are very famous. There were a few new ones in here to me, but if you are well versed in this topic then I'm sure all of them will be very familiar. I did find them interesting, except for the first one on the Roanoke Colony - just have heard too much about that one online. A few others also didn't interest me too much but the majority of them were fun to read. The UFO ones really make you wonder.. especially since one had a mayor as a witness! I guess the book brings up more questions than it answers. Which is probably what it should do.

I'm surprised the author didn't include the story of the USS Nimitz in here. That one seems very famous as well.

[Cav · Rating 3 out of 5]

Althought I'm admittedly a huge fan of unsolved mysteries and unexplained, this one fell a bit short for me...

Author Emily G. Thompson has several years experience as an investigative reporter. She has her own popular true-crime website and podcast, : Morbidology, with over 120k downloads per month.

Emily G. Thompson:


The book opens a bit abruptly; with no preface or introduction. With such interesting subject matter, I think one was definitely needed. The book also closes without an epilogue.
Thomson jumps right in, covering the lost colony of Roanoke in the first chapter. Each subsequent chapter details another mystery.

Unfortunately, despite fielding some rich material here, I found most of Thompson's writing to be fairly dry and unengaging. Considering the inherent exciting nature of this subject matter, this was disappointing... And although there was nothing necessarily wrong with the book, I feel that the topics covered here could have been presented in a more exciting, interesting manner.

The mysteries Thomson covered here are:

• The Lost Colony of Roanoke
• The Mystery of the Mary Celeste
• The Flannan Lighthouse Mystery
• The Disappearance of Amelia Earhart
• The Roswell Incident
• The Flatwoods Monster
• The Dyatlov Pass Incident
• The Abduction of Barney and Betty Hill
• The Falcon Lake Incident
• The Isdal Woman
• The D. B. Cooper Hijacking
• The Lord Lucan Case
• The Rendlesham Forest Incident
• Skinwalker Ranch
• The Phoenix Lights





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Although I found the mysteries covered here interesting, and I did enjoy hearing about these stories, I felt that the telling of them fell a little short...
3 stars.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting. Fans of strange mysteries and short stories would like this one.

[Kevin Halter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mysteries Uncovered by Emily G. Thompson collects some of the top paranormal and unexplained events and tales from around the world. It is a comprehensive collection but instead focuses on 15 of the more notable cases ranging from the Lost Colony of Roanoke to the Pheonix Lights. As someone with more than a passing interest in the topic, many of these were known to me but there was still information or updates that I was unaware of--in particular, I enjoyed the chapters of the Isdal Woman, the Falcon Lake Incident, the Flannan Lighthouse Mystery, and the Flatwoods Monster.
I also appreciated Emily Thompson's handling of the material and her objective presentation of the material.

[cleo · Rating 4 out of 5]

(The X-Files theme plays)

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating collection of true stories of the unexplained. Absolutely worth a read. Five stars for sure ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covered a lot of well known mysteries, and some that I myself was not very familiar with.

The ones I knew less about, or hadn't heard of at all, were the most interesting. The Flannan Lighthouse Mystery, lost colony of Roanoke, and the strange murder and disappearance of Lord Lucan were super interesting.
I know a little about Skinwalker Ranch but taking a deeper dive into it was kinda fun.

Overall, if you want a good dive into some mysteries, I recommend this book. There are theories and options discussed for the stories, but nothing definitive is ever figured out.

[Jennifer Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book that goes over true events that have happened in the world. It is a great read for spooky season and to truly get into the spirit.

[Lainy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 239

Publisher - DK

Source - Gift

Blurb from Goodreads

The mysterious is all around us...

UFOs, extraterrestrial encounters, baffling disappearances-Mysteries Uncovered investigates, without prejudice, some of the most notorious, disturbing and enduring mysteries ever recorded.

- UFO activity: the Roswell Incident, the Phoenix Lights, the Rendlesham Incident...
- Alien abduction: the Barney and Betty Hill case...
- Uncanny events: the missing crew of the Marie Celeste, the lost colony of Roanoke, the fate of Amelia Earhart...
- Notorious disappearances: the cases of Lord Lucan and "D.B. Cooper"...

For every instance rationalized away, there is another that defies explanation...



My Review

Mysteries, conspiracies, UFO's and old belters like the Marie Celeste, Amelia Earhart, Lord Lucan, The Roswell incident and some I didn't know of. Short stories, info on what we know of X case and some photographs to go along side some of them.

People who vanished, strange findings, missing persons, personal accounts of their abductions or encounters with UFOs. Interesting if a bit short but then it is short stories and there was more UFO stories but I think there was a good mix.

Different and I would pick up another if there was/is a series set like this, would absolutely love more of the disappearance ones, mysteries Marie Curie style as there are so many in history, 4/5 for me this time. UFO lovers will find plenty to digest/argue/debate but may also enjoy some of the other mysteries flung in.

[G · Rating 5 out of 5]

When it comes to anything horror related I’m pretty much down… but add unexplainable supernatural phenomena and make it non-fiction? Well, now you’ve really got me. Naturally, I loved this book. Mysteries Uncovered tells fifteen of the world’s most fascinating stories of the unexplainable. The majority of these stories are well known such as the Roswell Incident and the D.B. Cooper Hijacking. However, even if you know all of these stories, they are still great to read. Emily Thompson views all of these stories without an ounce of bias. She looks at them from the view of skeptics and believers alike. She covers the stories in detail and the theories as well. One of my favorite things about this book is that, while being detailed, every story took no more than twenty pages. I loved learning more about cases I already knew and enjoyed and even learning about some new ones. If you are interested in the paranormal at all, whether you are a skeptic or a believer, I highly recommend this book.

Warnings: violence, mentions of racism, murder, death, and scary shit

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the true stories were interesting/intriguing. I was a hint put off with many of the UFO-related tales simply because of how they were produced. Stories about UFO abductions are not my cup of tea, especially when one woman who became the 'mother of abductions' so fervently discredited anyone else - other than her own account - stating they were all lies. As though it were only possible she (and her husband) were the only ones who were ever taken by aliens. Just arguing that IF being taken were possible, how then is everyone else's story a tall tale but her's? I think she just didn't like the attention being taken away from her. Otherwise, I liked the overall book and the narrator (audiobook) did a good job.

[Emily Skeen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
This is a non-fiction collection of different unsolved mysteries from UFO sightings to missing persons and mystical creatures including Bigfoot.

Mysteries Uncovered was a well researched book which included many interviews from those involved within the mysteries. The cases were well written and easy to read.

The inclusion of different photographs and drawings throughout the book gave more depth to the cases being explored.

In summary, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend to anyone interested in mysteries and the unexplained

[Christopher Owens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Subtitle: True Stories of the Paranormal and Unexplained

This book provides summaries of fifteen as yet unsolved mysteries. Devoting about twelve pages for each mystery, the book gives an overview of the mystery itself along with various theories concerning the solution to the mystery.


While many of the mysteries covered are familiar ones (the Mary Celeste, Amelia Earhart, etc.), there are a handful that are more recent or that I had never heard of before. These included the Flannan lighthouse mystery, the Flatwoods Monster, the Falcon Lake incident, the Isdal woman, and Skinwalker Ranch.

I gave Mysteries Uncovered four stars on Goodreads. Although it does include a lot of familiar cases, there was enough material that was new to me to make it worth reading.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is better than average recapping details for some well known mysteries of the past.

I've read entire books about 3 or 4 of these but had not heard or read about the Idal (Norway located) woman or read any exact witness tales (or photos) for 2 or 3 others (like the missing Lord Lucan) .

Most of the UFO's stories of encounters and abductions I heard in detail closer to the times in which they occurred (most usually 1950-2000). There are just too many eye witnesses for most of this to be untrue. Roswell and the one in New Hampshire- those especially.

Lots of reference and some nice photos and graphics. Worth the time and it was easy read.

[Carmen Tudor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contains a lot of familiar cases such as DB Cooper, Amelia Earhart, Roswell, Mary Celeste, etc, etc, but I was much more interested in the Flannan Lighthouse, Dyatlov Pass and Lord Lucan entries. Dyatlov and Lucan, of course, already appear in many other texts but Thompson does them justice. Flannan was new to me and utterly captivating. That's the one I'd recommend starting with if you pick this up (I read it non-sequentially). Having just finished a facetious Australian legend collection, it was really nice to encounter an author who speaks of seemingly incredible things with a serious -- yet wholly accessible -- tone. There are two good sections of colour photographs too.

[Amber Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had potential. The title was captivating and drew me in instantly. I’m a sucker for the paranormal and unexplained. However, I found that a majority of this book was based on people’s encounters with extraterrestrials which isn’t my cup of tea... on a positive note I did enjoy a couple chapters on a plane crash incident and murder mystery. Overall, I found the UFO stories off putting.

[Lorenzo Pasculli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light read, perhaps too much UFO-centred

A light read that deals with unexplained facts in an objective and critical way. It’s easy and fast to read, but it’s a bit too focused on UFOs, compared to what the title promises. I was hoping for more ghost stories, supernatural events, unsolved crimes or disappearances.

[Em · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the fact that there is a brief description before each ‘event story’ because I’ve read other books that jump right in and I have no idea what I’m reading about so I lose interest..

However I did find it was written quite boring. Nothing made me want to do more research on or look deeper into, it wasn’t exciting.

[Charli Huston · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed review - some chapters were really interesting but I must admit, I felt there were too many “UFO” mysteries in this book for me.

This is obviously personal preference but UFOs just don’t do anything for me unfortunately, and it sort of spoiled the book. Without the UFO chapters I would give it a solid 4.5 ⭐️

[Brittany McCann · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not a bad collection, but it doesn't really offer anything new and chooses most issues that have been beaten into the ground.

The most interesting for me was the Phoenix Lights, which are slightly less prevalent.

Good for popular items in small doses.

3 Stars

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a light, fun, spooky read. Perfect for Halloween season.

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were different types of mysteries some more interesting than others.

It was well researched and good effort by the author.

[Caleb · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid collection of well known mysteries that are always a delight to turn over and explore. Straight and plain retellings that easy and accessible.

[Rob Mead · Rating 2 out of 5]

It won’t make you a believer

[Rachel Schaefer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good choices of mysteries covered, but fell a little short in the explanations, definitely surface level recaps.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting! In the Amelia Earhart chapter, she helped during WW1 not WW2.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like reading stuff like this but it just wasn’t quite what I expected. The story about skinwalker ranch was definitely the weirdest.

[Kyle A Massa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do love a good supernatural mystery. Better yet, several of them.

[Lisa Arnold · Rating 3 out of 5]

collection of short stories about mysterious sights but most of them are so well known there was nothing new so kind of bland