5 More Ancient Mysteries We Still Haven't Solved

[@BellePullman]

I'd be interested to see the flip side of this - the long-standing mysteries, the theories that came up, and the more recent accepted facts explaining what actually happened. What crazy ideas were believed before a modern answer was found? ... and do those facts then influence how we look at unsolved mysteries?

[@Trebor74]

The math Celeste has pretty much been solved.

[@everythingsalright1121]

Id imagine that before we knew what luminous plankton floating in the ocean waves at night were, people were super freaked out by it. But thats not much of a mystery i guess. I guess one could be one that simon already covered in his hanging gardens of babylon episode which basically talks about how the hanging gardens may have been in an entirely different location than what we assume

[@stevenanthes5696]

Yes it's all explained by swamp gas

[@thelandofnod123]

@Plain Silk Tie I think even today I would be slightly freaked the #*%! out if that happened. Although I don’t know which would be worse, going ashore to find a huge croc or being all alone at sea and suddenly a blue whale just glides up to the surface with its beady little eye right next to you. Shudder.

[@golddustwoman4993]

@@stevenanthes5696 also ball lightning

[@ignitionfrn2223]

0:55 - Chapter 1 - The death of cyrus the great 4:00 - Chapter 2 - The disappearance of abu bakr II 6:30 - Chapter 3 - The voynich manuscript 8:50 - Chapter 4 - The olmec colossal heads 11:10 - Chapter 5 - The mary celeste

[@VincentWolfeye]

Wasn't the Voynich manuscript confirmed to be an old turkish dialekt written phonetically? kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmfOloCdgdJ5e80

[@Alrion1704]

@@VincentWolfeye was about to write the same

[@acuteoctogon9303]

Thanks

[@jfkassnation5980]

Ta. (thanks)

[@linda10989]

Thank you! ❤

[@WILD__THINGS]

I love how much Simon has loosened up over the years and really lets his personality shine now.

[@kjsdpgijn]

Thanks business blaze

[@112313]

he needs more blazing moods in his other channels....or maybe not.....need to keep it fresh.

[@nosuchthing8]

Yes

[@mulhall72]

It's called "day drinking" lol

[@RealBradMiller]

@Buzz Killington Ya gotta watch Business Blaze.

[@butwhataboutdragons7768]

In reading about the Mary Celeste, I really like Channel 5's experiment. Alcohol CAN burn without actually burning anything around it, and if some fumes went up in an explosion, it's easy to imagine the crew being scared out of their minds and flying into a panic, not knowing they're not actually in real danger since those fumes burn off instantly. All they know is that they hear a huge THOOM sound or whatever, and see a wave of fire, and they run for the lifeboat.

[@paulwhiting6979]

There's also the fact that when the found the Mary Celeste the lids on many of the vats containing the alcohol were slightly askew as if they had undergone a minor explosion shifting them.

[@micklee721]

Very good!

[@joseybryant7577]

Gibberish or not, the monk that made it did an exceptional job. The penmanship is beautiful, as are the illustrations.

[@gerarduspoppel2831]

.I thought so too. plus. Around that time it took a lot of time and money to make something like this. So I do not think it's some kind of April Fools joke. and this was written around the time when there was still. Witches were burned. Writing such a book at that time was a very big risk.

[@stannyb3346]

@@gerarduspoppel2831 it was more likely written in code to prevent the church or anyone else to uncover its secrets

[@alecblunden8615]

The Latin church has a long history of forgery,, witness the 8th century so called Donation of Constantine, demolished by Valla in the 15th century but still being cited in the 18th in support of the extremely iffy claims to papal primacy.

[@gerarduspoppel2831]

@@alecblunden8615 .I thought of something like that at first too. and you are right. but there is no reference to a saint in this book. or something.

[@matthewbolton4289]

It was recently transcribed by a father and son

[@DungeonDragon18]

The theory I heard about the Mary Celeste is that you're supposed to open the cargo hatches regularly when carrying denatured alcohol, to prevent the fumes from building up. But the weather had been so bad during the voyage that they had to keep all the hatches closed to prevent the rain from flooding the ship, so when they finally had the chance to air out the hold, the fumes were so bad that the crew was having a hard time breathing. So they decided to pile into the life boat, and hang out at the end of the tow line until the fumes cleared out, but then either the line broke or the life boat capsized, and they all drowned.

[@DonForceFeedback]

Saw this theory as well and is the most likely in my opinion. Minor evidence pushes this as the sails were in tatters and if a big wind or storm catches them whilst they were in the lifeboat, they would not be on board to lower the sails and they would’ve inevitably gotten damaged in the storm. Plus large sails would’ve meant that as the wind picked up, it would’ve been too late to catch up to it in a lifeboat.

[@jeffreyrobinson3555]

One would think if they were just airing out the hold and they wanted to float in a safe area they would have dropped sail. Even in light winds she would be making four to six knots. If they were becalmed experienced seaman would have know wind can come up pretty fast, again you would think they would drop sail. It would only take a few minutes to let go the halyards and lifts, dropping the sail, let go the braces so the yards would hang free and not hold any wind. Not ten minutes

[@cait6461]

That's the one I saw and honestly it makes the most sense

[@thomasmount3530]

To further your excellent theory - let us remember that the Captain was a devout Christian teetotaler (drinks no alcohol), who had his family with him. Furthermore, he is known to have selected every crewman to be Christian teetotalers too. It would have been natural for him to feel responsible for his crew and children becoming inebriated by the fumes, and felt compelled to act. So, they are becalmed, they take the hatches off, but everyone is getting very drunk and they don't want to be drunk because of their religious beliefs. The captain feels he has no choice but to launch the jolly boat so everyone can sit away from the ship on the calm hot day. Then the wind picks up from an unexpected direction and snaps the line, because the topsails were still up - possibly because everyone was too drunk to risk climbing up there to take them down. Maybe the captain was not awake to notice when the weather shifted because they were sleeping off the effects of drunkenness.

[@christinaify]

In my imagination, the Colossus of Rhodes had to-scale, pendulous nads which helped sailors denote the direction of the wind. My imagination is fun.

[@abbiecamello579]

Lmao pendulous nads eh :)

[@tomB-A]

So...any bloke over the age of 40 eh.

[@darrenbrashaw8409]

A "Windcock" as it were?

[@tomB-A]

@@darrenbrashaw8409 You've been waiting for that opportunity haven't you. Lol

[@lesliefranklin1870]

LOL!

[@mikes5637]

Glad to see you, Simon. It's been a couple of hours. I was worried something had happened you.

[@josee-annejoly6896]

😂

[@DarkFire1536]

LOLOLOL

[@brandoncyoung]

Hahhahahah. This comment sums Simon up pretty well

[@JSReaL]

Simon in most channels: "Second part because you liked the first one" Simon in BusinessBlaze: "Second part because I like moneyy" Well... Both statements are honest, I guess.

[@jamesknapp64]

Simon's honesty and authentic feel (and humor) is why a lot of people love his youtube channels.

[@GrandPrixDecals]

Except he did talk about the money 30 seconds later

[@theveryworstluck1894]

Both statements are honest... allegedly.

[@jamesmtucker2283]

How many channels does this man have

[@metgath]

@@jamesmtucker2283 Over 9000!!! allegedly... I think it's actually 6.

[@anthonyowens6446]

When the cargo of the Mary celest was examined there was one empty barrel, which means that it was leaking. By the time it had drifted to Gibraltar, all the alcohol had evaporated, but you can imagine the powerful stench of alcohol on the ship at the time of its leaking, combined with the fact that it was packed amongst many other alcohol fired barrels, the crew wouldn't have known how many were leaking and would have been terrified that the slightest spark, which is very common, could have caused an explosion. It can be reasonably deduced that the crew decided to leave the main boat given the alcohol leak and the very high risk of fire /explosion. I also think I read that there was a rope attached to the ship trailing behind as if they'd meant to tether themselves on but got detached somehow.

[@andrewgause6971]

I've heard the same story. Strikes me as logical. Move outside the hazard zone (comparatively speaking, given how hazardous the open ocean would be for a lifeboat of the time) temporarily while you wait for the fumes to dissipate, and once the danger has passed, get back aboard. But maybe they forgot to properly secure the rope in their haste or maybe just bad luck hit them and, well... with the ship more or less at full sail, there would have been absolutely no way to catch back up.

[@ptolemyglenn79]

The lifeboat was still on board

[@anthonyowens6446]

@@ptolemyglenn79 no the lifeboat was missing

[@0MohawkWarrior0]

This comment needs more attention. The Mary Celeste 'mystery' was solved long ago.

[@thelandofnod123]

@@0MohawkWarrior0 to a reasonable degree. There were several empty red oak barrels on board that were likely accidentally filled with the alcohol as white oak is used for liquids and red oak for solids such as grains and alike (of which there were a number on board also). The leading plausible theory is that the alcohol had leaked from the barrels either causing a flash event or the captain suspected it could so the crew grabbed navigation equipment and launched the life boat tethered to the ship. They had also opened several hatches for ventilation. The idea being that once the danger had passed they would reboard the ship and continue. Somehow the life board became detached and there was no hope of catching the ship from there. The crew met a watery end somewhere at sea. However we will never truely know exactly what happened.

[@cdybft9050]

A recent book on Mary Celeste: “The topsails were up”. That clue there, Solves it. The other sails stowed but not the top sails because it was found several caskes were empty and some broken-they were not empty As the alcohol had evaporated. The fumes went up, Thea lightheaded and too lightheaded to risk going to remove the topsails. They got in the lifeboat with one line securing to wait out the evaporation but the line broke. Bad luck. They could never catch up with the topsails still up.

[@hecate235]

The fumes would have been strongest (and most dangerous) in the hold and on deck. The farther above, like the topsails, the more the more dispersed. Especially if the ship were moving, there wold have been clearer air above. Though I do like the idea that the tow line broke or came loose, and the Mary Celeste sailed away from her crew. As they intended to return to the ship, they would have taken few provisions with them in the lifeboat. Not a good way to die.

[@sleepassist5745]

The manuscript has always made me chuckle. Awhile back I worked as an Instructor’s Aide in a special needs classroom. There was one student who would do these elaborate drawings and then write his own made up texts talking about his drawing. I could see one maybe someone copying ones creations into a nice looking book as a gift.

[@kinnexion]

2:50 had me cracking up for some reason. Dunno why. Love how Simon can be so composed and sophisticated one second and then the next he can shout and act really well. Love it

[@badbiker666]

I have done some calculations. I input the number of KZbin channels that Simon Whistler hosts, multiplied by the amount of time each video runs, added the number of hours each video takes to prepare, subtracted rehearsal time (because Simon obviously reads his copy cold on camera), and compared the results to the number of hours in a day and came to the conclusion that the only way Mr. Whistler can produce that much content is by using a Time Turner.

[@j-bob_oreo]

HEY ! ! ! SHHHHHHHHH!

[@DungeonDragon18]

He probably has staff to do stuff like editing and research, but even just the time he spends on camera is probably equivalent to a full time job.

[@MimiYuYu]

Is this like a Britney Spears situation? Where Simon is forced to work and perform in front of a camera. FreeSimon!!

[@rabbidrick7533]

Arrived so fast I had to help put out chairs for everyone.

[@isaaclux2128]

Not to complain, but mine was wet before i sat down...

[@ARIXANDRE]

Thanks!

[@zinussan50]

I'll help sweep the floor 🕺🧹

[@rabbidrick7533]

@@isaaclux2128 yeah the rags were a bit damp this time around.

[@borntoclimb7116]

Yes

[@seascape35]

You have not mentioned what I consider one of the the biggest mysteries of the ancient world. What happened to the bodies of Anthony and Cleopatra? Did Octavian bury them together as Cleopatra requested? Or were they cremated in Roman fashion? Or lost in the earthquakes of the Mediterranean Sea? How great it would be to find their gravesite!

[@quinnzykir]

I still think Cleopatra fled the Roman Empire and lived out her remaining years somewhere.

[@red94mr28]

@@quinnzykir Then you argue against Plutarch, the greatest historian and biographer of that age, who wrote in his "The Life of Antony": "But Caesar, although vexed at the death of [Cleopatra], admired her lofty spirit; and he gave orders that her body should be buried with that of Antony in splendid and regal fashion. Her women also received honorable internment by his orders. When Cleopatra died she was forty years of age save one, and had shared her power with Antony more than fourteen."

[@seanarthur8392]

Hello Simon and Team. Here is an idea: large artworks or large collections of art lost to history. Not sure if you can find enough to make a Side Project of this topic, but I have been fascinated by the stories of lost art. Big lost art in some cases. In current times we've lost the Buddhas of Bamiyan in 2001. If you include collections and heritage sites, ISIL rampaged across their occupied territory in the Middle East destroying whole heritage sites and looting collections . Another fabled lost piece is a collection, the Amber Room, of 1716. It was stolen by Nazis in WWII and disappeared. Not a panel has been found. Is it somewhere in a vault? 6 tonnes of Amber plus gold leaf and mirrors...got to be somewhere, right? More curiously though is what happened to the last of Rembrandt's works. After his death he was still technically bankrupt and creditors were allowed to possess the contents of his art studio. There were dozens of unfinished paintings, many very large, and no one could make out what they were about. Descriptions make them sound like early attempts at abstract art! And none survive. Presumably the canvases were sold to other artists to be scraped off, cut apart and reused. But are there amateur and professional works from that era that have a ghostly image under them that are Rembrandt's last creative output? Or even on the back, which was the easy way to reuse a canvas, just take out the tacks and flip it around? And then there is the case of John Banvard, the American moving-panorama painter. His painting of the Mississippi river valley was 12 feet high and at least half a mile long. (Yes, 1/2 a MILE). He had a building put up just so he could make it. When he was done touring it all over the States, it was cut into much smaller pieces and sold, and not a single scrap exists today! That we know of. But what happened to the canvas pieces? Were some reused by artists? Is there a roll of canvas in someone's attic that's a chunk of this marvel? In square feet, "Mississippi" was 31,680 which substantially eclipses Sacha Jafri's current (2020) "The Journey of Humanity" of 17,000 sq ft or three basketball courts. Guinness book of records 'certifies' "Journey" as the world's largest painting but I protest. Largest extant painting perhaps. Another travesty is Plymouth Rock. Not artwork, but heritage. Most of it was chipped away by tourists and hucksters and now it's just a small boulder, a fraction of its original size! Not sure if there is other huge art lost to antiquity or stupidity... but you might be able to find more!

[@amandajones661]

I would totally watch that.

[@Lunch_Meat]

I am so for this. Glad you mentioned the Rembrandt stuff because I have been so interested in that for so long and there's so little out there about it

[@hungjury7482]

Here are some for you: The Mennorah of the Jewish Great Temple, believed by some to be in the Vatican Archives after being looted by the Romans centuries ago. And the great bell of Dhammazedi, which a Portuguese warlord tried looting from Myanmar but sank into a river and hasn't been recovered or even found since

[@Slaughtermelons99]

You guys need to do this. Basically have half a script right here

[@hungjury7482]

@@Slaughtermelons99 sure. @Sean Arthur give me an email or something

[@spacecadet35]

The trouble with the story of the Mary Celeste is that 12 years after the incident a, then unknown, author by the name of Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a short story called "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" about finding an abandoned ship called the Marie Celeste. Most of the modern legend/mystery is actually from the short story and not from what actually happened.

[@red94mr28]

"Most of the modern legend/mystery is actually from the short story..." Not really. Maybe in the latter 19th century when it was published (1884) and early 20th century but certainly not in the "modern" era of the '50's to today. His story popularized the real event but he purposely changed the facts in his story. o He renamed the ship Marie Celeste instead of "Mary Celeste" o The captain was renamed J. W. Tibbs instead of Benjamin Biggs o The voyage was from Boston to Lisbon instead of the real New York to Genoa, Italy o His vessel carried passengers, among them his protagonist Jephson. The real Mary Celeste only carried cargo and crew In the story, a fanatic black man, Goring, with a hatred of the white race has convinced members of the crew to murder Capt. Tibbs and take the vessel to the shores of West Africa. The rest of the ship's company is killed, save for Jephson who is spared because he possesses a magical charm that is venerated by Goring and his accomplices. I've never seen or read any of the items from Doyle's story I just listed above in any re-telling or re-visit of the Mary Celeste mystery.

[@EllieODaire]

"What were these heads carved for?" to insult children as they try to assemble a silver puzzle monkey before a large man in a weird costume catches them

[@imperfectly-balanced8861]

Underrated comment and Underrated show! Loved it as a kid

[@davesmith6059]

Sounds terrifying!

[@pompe221]

Best answer! (Also -- that was a superfun show. Wouldn't mind a reboot.)

[@steveita2162]

They're working on a new series

[@missybarbour6885]

My thoughts exactly

[@robertrogers7938]

The best Mary Celeste explanation I've heard was that they went into a life boat because of the alcohol danger but would have tied the life boat to the ship so they could get back to it. But then the knot didn't stay connected and they just floated off. But who knows.

[@Beryllahawk]

Very intriguing! I had a thought about the Manuscript - If it was indeed written in the 1400s - paper was NOT cheap. Two hundred forty pages is rather a lot of paper. Perhaps not a lot compared to a copy of the Bible; but this was also highly unlikely to be some noble lady's journal, since such "blank books" generally did not exceed 100 pages, for the simple reason that they became a bit less easy to handle after that. I am thinking too that book binding of that time period, and the thickness of the paper used, made for a pretty heavy tome compared to a book of similar page count maufactured today. At any rate, large or not, that's still an Expensive Thing To Use For Gibberish. While it's possible that the book was used by someone of high breeding and low sanity - such persons did exist, after all - it seems to me that the family would rather have burned the resulting manuscript, not allowed it into any space where it might be publicly discussed. Mad noblemen (or noblewomen) were cared for by their families, yes, but not without quite a lot of shame and hushing-up involved. Embarrassing, don't you know, to acknowledge that Cousin Bert went off his head and had to be locked up in his own room. (Or whatever.) BUT!! Something that seems more plausible: a nobleman (or woman) who was only a little bit of a crack-pot. Someone who could get away with being called "eccentric" rather than "mad." Someone who still had access to the sort of wealth and leisure that allows for writing out such a tome - by hand - on expensive materials. With colored ink, might I add, surely more expensive to procure than the usual black/brown ink made from oak galls. Perhaps the person was a hobbyist dabbling in the use of herbs as medicines, or perhaps they were an alchemist. Alchemy in particular makes a lot of sense to me: it wasn't a hated notion, and while no one made fun of it the way we do in this century, it was most certainly a popular hobby among "eccentric" nobility, right? And many alchemists, hobbyists or not, seemed intent on keeping ANY discoveries they made quite to themselves. So they often wrote in riddles, in codes, in obscure languages or the like. And only an idiot would keep his cipher key right with the coded text: in fact, if the author were that sort of genius that seems like a madman to others of his own time...he might have kept the cipher inside his own skull. Now of course I have absolutely no idea how one would go about finding evidence and ANY of this. But it just seems very logical to me, that this is some kind of journal. I suppose it could still be a hoax, an object created specifically to confuse and infuriate the author's contemporaries. But if so - why preserve it? The folks who got pranked wouldn't want to keep it, certainly. But perhaps one of these days a bit more will be learned about the book and its origins, which would be neat :D

[@o0260o]

I think it's a "resume" of an aspiring book transcriber and illustrator who was illiterate

[@andrewj1754]

I'm surprised no one has tried to use a computer to decipher it. Hopefully one day!

[@everythingsalright1121]

@@andrewj1754 well a computer still needs a basis to work off of. The writing doesnt match any kind of language we know of so it probably wouldnt be of much help

[@everythingsalright1121]

I think in all likelihood the book belonged to a rich person like you said who wrote in a coded language to stop others from reading it. Or perhaps the books language is from a secret society or a now long lost people whose language is dead. Who knows

[@mirandagoldstine8548]

My theory is that it’s an alchemical codex. Alchemists lived in fear of being thrown into jail if they didn’t produce results and they were fiercely protective of the techniques they used in their pursuit for the philosopher’s stone.

[@chicken2jail]

The Olmecs obviously quit while they were ahead.

[@cameronjadewallace]

I heard one of them became a tv host for a kid's show in the 90's

[@BigZebraCom]

I was going to solve these ancient mysteries but things are really crazy at work right now.

[@frankgesuele6298]

Well the weekend is coming up.

[@davidhendershot2380]

Suggested historical mysteries. I haven't yet seen the first one in this series, so there may be repeats: 1. Kaspar Hauser. 2. The third thing that Joan of Arc told the Dauphin. 3. Richard 3 and the Princes in the Tower. 4. Vienna Lance. 5. Who built Great Zimbabwe, and are the Lemba tribe who and what they say they are. 6. Lost army of Cambyses of Persia. 7. Disappearance of the Confederate treasury, or rather who stole it. 8. Count of St. Germain, who he really was and how he did it. 9. Whether Stalin was murdered by Beria. 10. Ark of the Covenant.

[@pablojones5613]

I heard Cyrus died when his mullet got caught in a ceiling fan. But then again, I might have been thinking about Billy Ray Cyrus.

[@wlodell]

One of the better comments on this site!

[@skaking04]

"When life gives you boulders, make giant heads" -Simon Whistler, 2021

[@toomanyopinions8353]

Reasonable tbh 🤷🏻

[@t8r507]

I hear Matt "The Boulder King" has been coveting Whistler's grand round head for his garden.

[@susie9893]

This explanation seems credible to me. Another idea I've heard that seems credible is lead poisoning (food was canned in lead cans back then and a ship probably used a lot of canned food) which can cause delusions. It's interesting to speculate but I don't think the causes can ever be conclusively proved (might be different if we still had the ship to analyse)

[@amaccama3267]

One can decipher gibberish. It just takes a lot of beer.

[@owenshebbeare2999]

Whisky is faster!

[@brianarbenz1329]

My ancestors emigrated from Gibberia, so I bet I could translate gibberish!

[@gort5583]

No, that's how you speak a lot of gibberish!

[@anonemoose9130]

I am gibberish incarnate. Also Scottish.

[@hihi-nm3uy]

ive never seen simon so energetic before; he legit sounds off his rocker

[@Pooneil1984]

My understanding of the most likely scenario for the Mary Celeste is the alcohol fumes were gathering in the hold. The captain feared an explosion and opened the hatches to let it ventilate. Simultaneously, they provisioned and launched the lifeboat tethered to the ship. A storm came up and the crew either detached from the ship to keep the tether from capsizing the boat or the tether was broken. This left them adrift and unable to catch up and to their ultimate fate at sea. Such an event should have been in the log. but since there was no entry, everything remains speculation. But it is a plausible scenario.

[@Aurelleah]

Love your videos, but I feel like you could really use a little bit of compression on your audio (This is done via a compression plugin, not sure how you'd do that in your video editor but it's a staple plugin in digital audtio workstations.) -- It basically reduces the dynamic range of an input signal; making the quieter bits louder and louder bits quieter. Some parts of the videos are really hard to hear and other parts are startlingly loud

[@KingOhmni]

The historian described a burn that still lingers through the ages about one Frederick Folly - Flood. Bravo sir. Bravo.

[@Megan-xm5nv]

Simon you handsome devil. Your personality has really grown through the years. I hope you're having as much fun IRL as it seems on the video. Thanks for making my day fun and informative.

[@chriscostello117]

My neighbors think i have a British man that yells at me living in my apartment.

[@painbow6528]

Imagine being on a lifeboat knowing that you're going to starve to death. Imagine being a child. Life can be awful.

[@anarchyantz1564]

The Blazement is bleeding more and more into Simon's other channels. To keep on the "morally bankrupt theme" can you do Yet another 5 Ancient Mysteries We Still Haven't Solved.

[@mikes5637]

I'm waiting for 'Even More Ancient Mysteries we Still Haven't Sold.'

[@jimc.goodfellas]

Consume more of Simon's channels, peasants

[@anarchyantz1564]

@@fuzzymeep Simon claims on Business Blaze that he is morally bankrupt a lot when a subject does well, he will do a sequel. Personally I don't agree and just think this is good business and entertainment sense.

[@mattvjmeasures]

I thought the Mary Celeste mystery had been proven to have involved Daleks.

[@thelandofnod123]

This has been disproven, everyone knows Daleks can’t climb rigging.

[@halsinden]

i shan't lie; simon's reaction to the "...IQ" shade quote did have me laughing.

[@chesh1rek1tten]

Then you should really watch business blaze of you haven't yet =)

[@feekygucker2678]

As IQ is a 20C thing (1910’s iirc) the shadiest this is the quote itself, though I do appreciate the sentiment.

[@twylanaythias]

The Mystery of the Mary Celeste was solved roughly twenty years ago: the accidental ignition of leaking alcohol resulted in a "vaporous pressure explosion". A tremendous fireball would have engulfed the hold with a tremendous roar while increasing waves of pressure blew open doors and hatches. Such explosions follow the path of least resistance, gouting as the flames reached open air and flared up by several orders of magnitude. "Full of sound and fury" but resulting in only incidental damage (or none at all) and leaving no evidence of combustion. This can easily be simulated by pouring some isopropyl ('rubbing') alcohol into a plastic soda bottle, laying the bottle on its side, and holding a flame near the opening: a pyrotechnic explosion followed by a brief period of intense flames before extinguishing for lack of oxygen; no soot, no melting of the plastic, and (after a short period of cooling) zero evidence that the fire ever occurred.

[@ellingtonhilligas]

An interesting story that you might like to do is about Gilbert Joseph Bland Jr. the most prolific map thief in history!

[@jondoe406]

Yes, that scoundrel stole my map as well!!

[@constipatedinsincity4424]

The History Guy did a story on him I think 2 years at the most!

[@ClipCoyote]

Id watch it

[@susie9893]

"I believe not in England" "So just a conspiracy of cartographers then?"

[@christobalcolon6601]

Hi Simon, consider and episode on Squanto, the American Indian who travelled down from present-day Maine to greet the English Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony in 1620, with "Hello!" Squanto had been a crewman on Basque fishing boats working the Grand Banks, and he had actually travelled and lived as far away as Malaga, Spain, in Granada, before being returned to North America by a boat captain who respected him.

[@CAP198462]

CuriosityStream has a documentary about the Voynich manuscript called the Voynich code. If they’d sponsored the video you could have suggested it, just a thought.

[@Bacopa68]

I think the Voynich is the last record of the witches written in secret script during the burning times. I'm not saying witches could do supernatural magic, just that a community of women might have had traditions passed down mostly orally, and sometimes written in a secret script. There was until recently a secret women's script in China, why not the same thing in Europe? The second time the CIA took a crack at the Voynich they said it is a script and not a cypher, though it may include some encryption within the script. A large majority of people depicted in the illustrations of the text are women. This is a book for women and likely has a female author. Wildest thing about the Voynich is that it includes a section on astrology that includes a heliocentric model with a big triangle that with a little trigonometry would convert it to match the geocentric diagrams in the same text. And all this before Copernicus. Yes, both ancient Iran and Greece considered heliocentric models, and depending on how you interpret Plato, he might even have been a heliocentric supporter. Still, it's pretty wild that the only presentation of a serious heliocentric model in Europe in the 1400s in the Voynich.

[@terryeasterday580]

They broke the code, it's on youtube. Some form of ancient turkish or Hungarian. I can't remember. Similar to da vinci's writing. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmfOloCdgdJ5e80

[@lindsayschmidt2177]

@Terry Easterday a large number of people have claimed to have “cracked the code” of the Voynich manuscript. It never holds up to peer review.

[@CAP198462]

@@lindsayschmidt2177 agreed. Many theories and a page here and there gets translated but not the whole book.

[@Miner-dyne]

I like that you are straight about the ad revenue driving the content. It is refreshing honesty in a world where people seem ashamed to admit they do things for gain. Well done!

[@ThePongzilla]

I learned about the Olmec heads because of the Simpsons have one in their basement

[@pauldominguez6870]

When you do a “part two” video, could you please link the “part one” video in the description? I often find myself watching a video that has a prior one and can’t find the original. Thanks.

[@misterflibble6601]

KZbin _does_ have a search feature, and it works and is easy to use kzbin.info/www/bejne/q5e2dYJ-gK6djLc

[@sophroniel]

I'm a simple gal, I see historical mysteries, I click Edit: why have I gotten more (albeit vague) male attention from this youtube comment than my entire dating history

[@the902giant]

But... Aren’t we all?

[@dwraptorgeezus097]

@@the902giant Yes... We are all simple gals..that's why we are here. lmao Even us boys... 🤣

[@jeremybulfin4295]

#metoo

[@pakde8002]

Then you're gonna love me😎

[@higherlearning1013]

Well then, take a look at B.A.M (building ancient megalithic structures) on Amazon prime itll open your mind to what the ancients were up 2 and make u wonder how once u figure out how perfect some of them are

[@robotswithgunzlol]

The joy on Simon's face at the "Rock solid" rimshot was brilliant.

[@daveclyborne4021]

Suggested topic (whatever channel is most appropriate): The wreck of the Mary Deare. I believe there was a book and one movie about, although rarely seen or discussed today. Interesting piece of history and nautical jurisprudence. Respectfully submitted

[@Stellra52]

The fact the navigational instruments were missing off the Mary Celeste suggests that those evacuating at least had the presence of mind to grab the navigational gear so they wouldn't get lost at sea in the lifeboat. Aside from that... yeah I got nothing.

[@goldenboy7888]

"So, I got more money through ad revenue ". Like your honesty. I'll keep watching.

[@teleriferchnyfain]

This crew included the captain’s wife & infant daughter

[@sagu1lar]

"If life gives you boulders, make giant heads " Is my new mantra.

[@a_real_jive_turkey7772]

I want to know how much Simon makes per day. He's definitely bank rolling

[@tomstark28]

"5 historical mysteries that Civ 6 players will love" amazing stuff!!

[@alpurl]

A thousand years from now, there will be more "unsolved ancient mysteries." How many channels did Simon actually have? Where, when,.and why did he stop creating them? How did he manage them? How did he keep producing content for all of them?

[@mica4977]

"Prerecorded videos obscure his time of disappearance so when exactly did it happen?"

[@jonathansoko5368]

It's not hard when other people do all the hard work, he reads a script and others do the work. He doesn't even do a Google search himself

[@mica4977]

@@jonathansoko5368 As a person with poor verbal skills I'd say his story telling skills, enjoyable voice & likeability in front of a camera are admirable & crucial in fulfill the actor roll on these series, allowing the script writer more time to focus on their own work and get more content out there. Each side has it rough.

[@jonathansoko5368]

@@mica4977 for sure he's good at talking. The people wonder how he does so much content and I was just telling them why. He's just the face who reads the script someone wrote then other people edit it. I'm not hating I'm just explaining.

[@mica4977]

@@jonathansoko5368 I took Allan's comment as just being silly and going with the topic of the video but yeah XD Can see how others do question it unaware of how the channels are run.

[@jayebae5362]

Dropping a like for that straight up honesty in the beginning of the video, and well I love your content too. Thanks for all your hard work!

[@InsanityPlea100]

O hey look, the mary celeste. The story that acted as the root of my deep seated fear of simply 'disapearing' one day when i was like four. Grew up in nova scotia, canada, and heard this story all the time. I have told people, repeatedly, that i want a grave when i die, because now i hate the concept of simply being 'gone'.

[@douglasmulvihill100]

Thanks Simon for making these video. You clearly research your topics well and recite them brilliantly. Keep up the good work!

[@randellgribben9772]

i enjoyed what Cyrus The Great asked for upon his passing, very eloquent

[@FourOf92000]

1:53 to be more accurate, Xenophon fought the Persian Empire on behalf of... the Persian Empire: he was a mercenary hired in a civil war, and then the pretender who had hired him died in battle and left Xenophon and Company up a creek dude needs a Biographics ep if he doesn't have one already

[@buu88553]

This man knows everything except the meaning of "ancient".

[@BarerMender]

I'm convinced the Voynich manuscript is gibberish: too many of the drawings look just like the doodles I drew as a child when I was supposed to be listening to the teacher.

[@jamespuffer2889]

I’m 100% in the belief that the Voynich Manuscript is just one of the earliest itinerations of a fantasy novel. Nothing in it seems to be real or to have ever existed, it seems likely that it was just a piece of entertainment commissioned by a wealthy person in that time period.

[@susie9893]

Well that's a far nicer view than mine. I think it was designed to be a massive and profitable hoax that never managed to get the right PR (probably because not enough people could read when it was written)

[@catherinemckeon8414]

Just under a 3rd of the way in, this vid started looping, like a scratched record on vinyl (do you remember those?).

[@thejudgmentalcat]

More of Simon's true personality exposed. Love you man ❤

[@vennmay2886]

More honesty like this xD Don't mind being a mini part in what it takes to assure your teams livelihood and ability to continue your work - it's amazing after all

[@theveryworstluck1894]

I love when Simon yells at himself for us.

[@StonedtotheBones13]

1:30 I wonder what kind of KZbin empire Simon's kids are gonna make

[@Football__Junkie]

“As you know, there is no way to decider gibberish.” Um…. Have you been to Louisiana? People decider their gibberish every day

[@davidjams2596]

actually the translation for cyrus reads "i conqured the four corners of the earth. spare me but this bare bit of dirt that covers my bones."

[@fozzgeorge]

I love how off the rails Simon goes on the side projects channel 😂 keep it up guys, this is awesome 👏

[@reubenparies6678]

By far the most entertaining thing about this video is Simon.....

[@Mr123Parka]

This man has a stranglehold on smart historical KZbin channels lmao

[@sirpsys]

Too bad he doesn't understand Marx

[@Jackaroo.]

There are plenty of other thriving historical youtube channels...

[@Mr123Parka]

@@Jackaroo. ... why would you take the time out of your day to comment this? Lmao I know that. It’s called sarcasm. Go to those channels

[@XenomorphRebellion]

“I made that up” made me chuckle lmaooo, cheers! I listen to your videos on my way to work every morning!

[@metalpete01]

Do something about the low mic volume, the commercials are blasting when they pop up!

[@GremlinSciences]

The audio throughout the video itself is consistent, and not that low at all. KZbin, however, likes to have deafeningly loud ads.

[@christianmenard9033]

I love when Simon leaks a little blaze into his professional channels

[@randal_gibbons]

I'm a simple chicken. I see historical mysteries, I cluck.

[@ilovebaseballcards9334]

Suggestion for a future SideProjects video: Longest living people in history who should not have lived that long. George Burns comes to mind, smoking cigars but living long. Willie Nelson - lots of drugs but still kicking. Actually many rock stars may fall into this category.

[@ndowroccus4168]

People put so much importance on unsolved mysteries because: You can literally make up anything you want, therefore controlling reality. Who doesn’t want to do that?

[@weekendwerewolf7157]

Ridiculous notion

[@cg4152]

Marie Celeste: Plenty of videos that tries to explain it on KZbin. The one that made most sense to me: There were signs that the crew expected to be back soon, e.g. food on the table. A frayed piece of rope was found tied to the stern railing. The theory is that the alcohol on board was giving off toxic fumes. The crew opened hatches to vent the ship, tied a rope to the rear railing, piled in, and were trailing behind the ship at a safe distance until deemed safe to return. But the rope frayed and snapped, leaving the crew drifting alone in the ocean with no provisions, with the ship continuing the voyage.

[@paganphil100]

CG: The ship was called the MARY Celeste (not MARIE Celeste).

[@chrisjags]

I see Batman wasn't the first person with nipple armor

[@sparky30k]

Thank you. Your videos make me look stuff up, and I really enjoy the learning journey with your channels. Keep it up, jumbuck!

[@Tiberon098]

Seems like Business Blaze is bleeding a bit into Simon’s other channels.

[@cd5sircoupe]

The Voynich Manuscript is pretty fascinating. Is it a unique, coded cipher that only the author knew? It was written at a time when alternative ideas were generally frowned upon. It also depicts some weird unknown stuff if I recall correctly. Could it just be an early attempt at fan fiction/fantasy writing? I'm actually not far away from the thing since I live relatively close to Yale, but obviously they don't let the general public see the thing. That would be pretty cool though.

[@constipatedinsincity4424]

Gilbert J Bland stole my inheritance from Manso Musa . The map to the woman's G Spot! I just read to the E Spot! So close but yet so far!

[@WTH1812]

Mary Celeste was carrying alcohol in two different types of casks. Most were fine and intact when the ship was found. A few, made of a different type of wood that tended to leak alcohol a bit, were all empty. So a logical conclusion is the alcohol leaked and filled the wooden ship lit below decks by candlelight with alcohol fumes causing the crew to rapidly take to the lifeboat while the fumes dissipated. The the line from the ship to the lifeboat separated and the ship still under sail floated away before the lifeboat could be paddled back to it.

[@EmmaAppleBerry]

Can you do a top 5 indigenous australian monsters or something along those lines of ancient aussie culture. And on the other hand maybe a modern aussie myths or top 5 aussie mysteries as in post europeans. Id like anything australian tbh haha

[@susie9893]

Are you referring to the carnivorous macropads and things of this nature? Or drop bears?

[@SteveLFBO]

The Titanic's lifeboats were perfectly sound. There just wasn't anywhere near enough of them. OK, your writers can invoke poetic license :-P

[@joshduthie3401]

But that wasn't the problem either. The idea of boats in that age was that they were to transfer people from a sinking ship to another. There *was* another ship a short distance away, but they never came to help. That's why they didn't fill the boats - they expected them to be returning empty in a short period of time.

[@edstorer4538]

The WHERE IS IT at the start cracked me up, caught me off guard Simon 😂😂😂

[@kfeltenberger]

IIRC, the Voynich Manuscript was somewhat decoded by a father/son team (IIRC, it was a father and son) who determined that it was an archaic dialect of Turkish. FWIW.

[@xWatanukix]

There already have been countless alleged decodings of the manuscript but none has been convincing. In my opinion that's because there isn't any real text to decode from the beginning.

[@terryeasterday580]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmfOloCdgdJ5e80

[@kfeltenberger]

@@terryeasterday580 That's it! Thanks for posting this!

[@pannobhasa]

One theory I've seen accounting for the Mary Celeste mystery is that someone fell overboard, the entire crew unthinkingly jumped into the lifeboat to rescue the person, and then the wind came up and blew the ship away, leaving them stranded at sea in the lifeboat.

[@inconvenientfacts58]

The conspiracy theorists out there solved everything - "it was the aliens!"

[@katharinegarrison2568]

I love those Olmec heads. I even sculpted a softball sized one for myself.

[@kevincaldwell9700]

I've never heard anyone pronounce "Scythians" that way. It should be a short "i" sound (like in "sit"), not a long "i" (like in, well, "Simon").

[@arnoldloudly5423]

These are the things that set us apart...from the an-eye-mals...

[@misterflibble6601]

Grammar police gottta police grammar.

[@ScarlettSpitfyre]

It's not about the grammar. But if you make a history video, you could have the correct pronunciation. Same with Zoroaster. It's ZoroAster, with an "A" like in the word "Arabic", not ZoroEaster.

[@xhagast]

Cyrus' epitaph is one of the cleverest things ever. His tomb is not a pyramid, to be plundered of treasure and then of stone. He speaks to the traveler(which is flattering), says that he is the Cyrus who won the Persians their empire and then asks to not begrudge him his little tomb. No bragging, no mention of Gods that may offend somebody. Cyrus presents himself as a Persian patriot. He is a great man but all he wants is his little tomb. And it is little enough.

[@jeremyscungio16]

Zoroaster is like the kid who told the joke first and Muhammad said it louder

[@jonathancapps1103]

I remember reading an article maybe 2-3 years ago, that said that a father/son team in Turkey Identified the script in the Voynich Manuscript as being Middle Turkish. Or maybe Old Turkish. It's been a while. Anyway, they claimed that the script used a Turkish alphabet from that time period. They were working on translating some of the book, but it was a slow process.

[@KINGCURTIS_YT]

The video would do well anyway, content is golden, so Gold in fact it'd make mansu mansa look like a peasant. Haha references

[@DeeplyStill]

I understood it was potentially the leakage of the alcohol, and subsequent risk of explosion that prompted an abandonment of the ship? Fascinating

[@DeeplyStill]

Sorry, you said

[@booster815]

They actually deciphered parts of the Voynich manuscript.

[@malita07]

Precisely! I remembered watching this video (from 2018). kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmfOloCdgdJ5e80&ab_channel=VoynichManuscriptResearch

[@mark.J6708]

Love the effort and presentation style and positive vibes. Thanks for doing these videos.

[@southpawhammer8644]

Maybe they drank the denatured alcohol and went insane