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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: mystery

mystery stories: 15 news summaries

 Ship Vanishes From 
 English Channel 

Secret cargo of drugs or arms may be behind maritime mystery

Aug 12, 09 4:11 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Russian navy has deployed warships and submarines in search of a cargo ship that mysteriously disappeared from European waters, the Telegraph reports. The Russian crew of the Arctic Sea, which was transporting a load of timber worth nearly $2 million, reported being attacked by pirates in Swedish waters on... More »

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Russia • drugs • piracy • English Channel • Sweden • mystery • Russian Navy

Plan Could Divine Missing Watergate Minutes, CSI-Style

Archivist pushes plan to uncover lost pages' imprints

Jul 28, 09 4:08 PM CDT
(Newser) - A Watergate hobbyist has a plan to discover what was discussed during the 18½ minutes erased from a taped conversation between President Nixon and his chief of staff after the break-in. Phil Mellinger doesn’t want to examine the tape itself; that's been done without success. He says the answer... More »

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Watergate • Richard Nixon • National Security Agency • mystery • tape • National Archives • paper • documents • Phil Mellinger

(Newser) - SpongeBob SquarePants is 10 years old, and the “happy nonsense” of the show is “as popular as ever,” Alessandra Stanley writes in the New York Times. What’s more, the wacky, uncynical cartoon has managed to do it “without having disclosed any higher meaning... More »

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entertainment • television • cartoon • mystery • SpongeBob • Nickelodeon • children's show

 NY Maple Aroma 
 Mystery Solved 

NJ fragrance factory source of mysterious smell

Feb 5, 09 12:57 PM CST
(Newser) - The maple syrup-like smell that pervaded Manhattan at certain times in recent years, puzzling residents and government officials, came from a New Jersey factory, the New York Post reports. After a lengthy investigation, city officials today revealed that the aroma originated at the Frutarom fragrance factory, which produces ester, a... More »

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New Jersey • New York • Manhattan • Michael Bloomberg • mystery • scent • fragrance

OPINION


 Lesbian Fiction's 
 Hot New Stars: 
 Secret Service 
 Agents 

Security more desirable than love: Thomas

Jan 22, 09 2:32 PM CST
(Newser) - Secret Service agents have become popular protagonists in lesbian romance mysteries because they embody traits readers covet, June Thomas writes for Slate. "They are the ultimate strong, silent type—they fade into the background without hiding, they keep their mouths shut, and they have your back," she... More »

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gay rights • gay marriage • Secret Service • fiction • fantasy • mystery • romance • Lesbian

 Mystery Writer 
 Tony Hillerman 
 Dead at 83 

Penned police novels infused with Navajo culture

Oct 27, 08 6:39 AM CDT
(Newser) - Bestselling author Tony Hillerman died yesterday at 83 of pulmonary failure, the AP reports. He was known for his mystery novels, which featured two Navajo policemen with distinct views on their people, constantly balancing the Navajo world with the Anglo one. A onetime journalist, he found success with Skinwalkers in... More »

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obituary • literature • mystery • Native American • novel • book • Tony Hillerman

DNA Tests Yield Few Clues on Canada Victims

But authorities say
two of the floating feet belonged to one man

Jul 11, 08 7:20 AM CDT
(Newser) - Canadian authorities have determined that two of the five feet found floating on British Columbia's coastline came from the same man. The only other information about the mystery victim are his shoe size (11) and brand preference (Nike), and fact that he must have been alive in early 2003 when... More »

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Canada • DNA • sneakers • mystery • British Columbia • missing person • severed feet

Soldier Held as French Probe Display That Left 17 Injured

Live ammo substituted for blanks; officials say error, not premeditation, likely

Jun 30, 08 10:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - French authorities are investigating a military demonstration gone terribly wrong yesterday, the AFP reports, in which 17 people were wounded when a soldier fired live rounds instead of blanks during a demonstration of hostage-situation techniques. The soldier has been detained, but has no history of psychological problems. "The theory... More »

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France • accident • mystery • shooting • French military

Mysterious Human Feet Baffle Police

Speculation afoot around washed up body parts

Jun 25, 08 7:56 AM CDT
(Newser) - Police are struggling to explain a string of washed up human feet found on beaches along one 125-mile stretch of British Columbia. So far five of the grisly, sneaker-clad appendages have been found, and all are right feet. “It’s a mystery,” said one Royal Canadian Mounted Police... More »

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Canada • mystery • British Columbia • unsolved mystery • missing person • DNA evidence • feet • severed feet

 Missing Romanovs Identified 

DNA tests confirm that bones are those of children murdered with Russia's last tsar

Apr 30, 08 5:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - DNA tests have confirmed that remains discovered last year in Russia are the remains of two children of Tsar Nicholas II, the BBC reports. Though most of the tsar’s family, executed during the Bolshevik revolution, was found in 1991, two children—Alexei and Maria—were thought missing, fueling widespread... More »

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mystery • Nicholas II • Bolshevik Revolution • Romanov • Alexei Romanov • Maria Romanov • Czar Nicholas II

Mystery of Little Prince Author's Fate Solved

German vet tells archaeologist, 'I shot down Saint-Exupéry'

Apr 11, 08 1:37 PM CDT
(Newser) - One of aviation’s great mysteries has been solved: What happened to Antoine de Saint- Exupéry, the French pilot and author of The Little Prince, who disappeared in 1944. A bracelet turned up in the Mediterranean a decade ago, then a sunken aircraft. An archeologist diver, not satisfied to... More »

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France • aviation • World War II • mystery • author • unsolved mystery • Luftwaffe • Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Margaret Truman Daniel Dead

First Daughter went on to act, sing and write

Jan 29, 08 5:20 PM CST
(Newser) - Margaret Truman Daniel died today at 83 after breaking the mold of First Daughter and embarking on careers in singing, acting, and writing, the Los Angeles Times reports. The go-getter braved opera critics as a singer in the 1940s and '50s before acting alongside Jimmy Stewart on radio and television.... More »

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White House • obituary • Washington • opera • mystery • book • Too Much Media • Harry Truman • first families

Top 10 Mysteries of the Mind

From memories to sleep to consciousness itself, scientists still can't agree

Jan 19, 08 11:49 AM CST
(Newser) - Debated for centuries, the human mind still holds a mystery or two in modern times. Here are LiveScience's top 10:
  1. Consciousness. Still the biggest human puzzle since Socrates.
  2. Cryonics. Can gray matter be revived from a 320-degree deep freeze?
  3. Aging. An unappreciated benefit, or simply cell decay with
... More »

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sleep • memory • science • list • brain • mind • mystery • top 10 • laughter

New Lead on Poe's Death Excites Buffs 

Accounts of Poe's brain may solve 'biggest literary mystery'

Oct 21, 07 4:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - Accounts of Edgar Allan Poe's exhumed brain may prove how he died, says Matthew Pearl, author of The Poe Shadow. He found reports of Poe's "dried and hardened" brain, "diminished in size," in old newspapers—and confirmed them as signs of a tumor. One Poe descendant says... More »

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literature • death • mystery • Matthew Pearl • Edgar Allan Poe

Full Moon Injuries Just a Myth: Scientists

Austrian researchers miss chance to weigh in on werewolves

Aug 1, 07 7:17 AM CDT
(Newser) - Another of life's mysteries has been cleared up—a crack team of scientists has found no link between accidents and the full moon. Experts analyzed 500,000 industrial accidents to arrive at the myth-busting conclusion, the AP reports. Says an Austrian government astronomer, "The full moon does not unfavorably... More »

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accident • full moon • myth • mystery • werewolf • moon

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