There’s nothing like a mystery to get people talking – and there are a fair few within pop culture history that seem to have kept the theories coming for decades.
Here are just a few of our favourites!
What Really Happened To Walt Disney?
We’ve all heard this one, haven’t we?
The official story is that Walt Disney passed away after a battle with lung cancer on December 15th, 1966 and was quickly cremated two days later. However, as with the deaths of many prominent figures, thousands felt that there must be more to the story – the theory being that Disney is not dead, simply cryogenically frozen to be re-animated in the future.
The theory first appeared in the French magazine Ici Paris in 1969, when an article stated that the rumours had come from a group of animators employed at Disney. Walt Disney’s fascination with the future seemed to solidify the story in many minds – he had even expressed an interest in being cryogenically frozen on several occasions.
There’s a sub-theory here, too. If you’re looking to learn more about this story, what would you search? Walt Disney Frozen, right? Some believers in this story have theorised that the real reason behind the release of the film Frozen back in 2013 was to cover Google results regarding the rumours.
Whether or not you believe the tale is up to you, though it’s worth remembering that the Disney family have emphatically denied the rumours on several occasions.
Who Was Behind The Max Headroom Incident?
On November 22nd 1987, residents of Chicago, Illinois, were both confused and disturbed when two local TV channels – WGN-TV and WTTW – had their regular programming interrupted in perhaps the most bizarre way possible.
At 9:00pm, during the sports segment of WGN-TV’s news programme, the broadcast suddenly cut to footage of a man in a fancy dress mask of the British TV character Max Headroom, who swayed erratically in front of a corrugated metal background, the scenes accompanied by a loud buzzing sound. The interruption lasted for 25 seconds, leaving viewers bewildered by what they had just seen.
Perhaps WGN-TV’s sports anchor at the time best encapsulated the collective reaction, commenting “Well, if you’re wondering what’s happened, so am I…” as the broadcast resumed.
As WGN-TV executives scrambled to work out who was behind the incident, it at least seemed as though the station had regained control of their output. Just two hours later, however, the same couldn’t be said for WTTW, who saw their broadcast of Doctor Who interrupted by seemingly the very same culprit. This time, the man in the footage could be heard laughing maniacally, singing the theme tune of the Clutch Cargo cartoons and making remarks about several prominent figures in culture. This time, the broadcast lasted around 90 seconds before the station regained control of the output and returned to scheduled programming.
In the days following, authorities worked hard to track down the person behind the broadcast, exhausting leads until they eventually ran into a brick wall and were unable to identify any positive suspects. Almost 35 years on, the culprits have never been identified – they likely never will be.
Did A 1928 Charlie Chaplin Film Feature A Real-Life Time Traveller?
In a bizarre discovery by Irish filmmaker George Clarke, the behind-the-scenes footage of the 1928 Charlie Chaplin silent movie The Circus seems to feature footage of a woman talking into a mobile phone.
The woman appears in just a few seconds of the film, though that was all it took to get theorists talking after Clarke uploaded the clip to YouTube. As the woman passes the camera, she appears to be speaking directly into a device that she’s holding up to her ear – a device that looks chillingly similar to a modern mobile phone.
Some believe that this is real evidence of a time traveller revisiting a significant point in history, similarly to the photographs of an alleged time traveller at the 1941 opening of the South Fork Bridge, British Columbia. Meanwhile, some theorise that the device could be some form of hearing aid.
Could this be real-life evidence of time travel? Or is it simply an illusion?
What are your favourite pop culture mysteries? Let us know over on our Twitter and Instagram.
Read More: 150 Years Of Culture | The Metropolitan Museum of Art Keeps The Flag Raised High For Culture