Unexplained

51 places across Britain and Ireland

• Agatha Christie's DisappearanceNewlands Corner, near Guildford, Surrey · The queen of crime vanished for eleven days and never explained why.
• Bella in the Wych ElmHagley Wood, Worcestershire · Four boys find a skull inside a hollow tree, and a wartime riddle begins.
• Cantre'r GwaelodBorth, Ceredigion · A drowned kingdom under Cardigan Bay, and a sunken forest at low tide.
• Chislehurst CavesChislehurst, London · Twenty miles of chalk tunnels linked to Druids, wartime shelters and rock stars.
• Clonycavan ManClonycavan, County Meath · A bog body with a gelled hairstyle, killed in a ritual.
• DunwichSuffolk coast · A medieval town swallowed by the sea, where bells are said to ring underwater.
• Flannan Isles LighthouseOuter Hebrides · Three lighthouse keepers vanish from a tiny island without trace.
• Gallarus OratoryDingle Peninsula, County Kerry · A stone chapel built without mortar that has kept out the rain for centuries.
• Gef the Talking MongooseDalby, Isle of Man · A farmhouse spirit that claimed to be a mongoose 'born in Delhi in 1852'.
• Goodwin SandsOff Deal, Kent · The ship-swallower, where a ghost ship returns every 50 years.
• Jack the RipperWhitechapel, London · The most famous unsolved case in history.
• Jay's GraveNear Hound Tor, Dartmoor, Devon · A lonely grave on the moor where fresh flowers always appear.
• Lough GurCounty Limerick · An enchanted lake where a sorcerer earl rides out every seven years.
• Morgawr the Sea SerpentFalmouth Bay, Cornwall · A long-necked creature photographed in Falmouth Bay.
• Mother Shipton's CaveKnaresborough, North Yorkshire · A prophetess's birthplace, and a well that turns things to stone.
• Prince MadocRhos-on-Sea, Conwy · A Welsh prince said to have sailed to America 300 years before Columbus.
• Royston CaveRoyston, Hertfordshire · A secret bell-shaped cave carved with saints, under a busy crossroads.
• Sawney Bean's CaveBennane Head, Ayrshire · The legendary cannibal clan said to have hidden in a sea cave.
• Spring-heeled JackBarnes Common, London · A leaping figure with glowing eyes terrorises Victorian London.
• The Arthur's Seat CoffinsEdinburgh · Seventeen tiny coffins, each holding a carved wooden figure.
• The Beast of Bodmin MoorBodmin Moor, Cornwall · A big cat stalking the moor, or a story that will not die?
• The Beast of ExmoorNear South Molton, Devon · A farmer lost over 100 sheep, and the Royal Marines were sent in.
• The Bluestone QuarriesCraig Rhos-y-felin, Preseli Hills, Pembrokeshire · Where Stonehenge's bluestones were cut, 150 miles from Salisbury Plain.
• The Brahan SeerChanonry Point, Black Isle · A prophet burned in a tar barrel, whose predictions are still quoted.
• The Cottingley FairiesCottingley, West Yorkshire · Two girls, a camera and the fairy photos that fooled Sherlock Holmes's creator.
• The Croglin VampireCroglin, Cumbria · A creature at the window of a remote Cumbrian farmhouse.
• The Death of Amy RobsartCumnor, Oxfordshire · The wife of Elizabeth I's favourite, found dead at the foot of the stairs.
• The Devil's FootprintsExe estuary, Devon · Hoof-shaped tracks run for miles across snow, walls and rooftops overnight.
• The Discovery of Ley LinesBlackwardine, near Leominster, Herefordshire · Where a Hereford businessman saw ancient sites lining up across the land.
• The Dorset OoserMelbury Osmond, Dorset · A horned wooden mask that terrified villagers, then disappeared.
• The Fairy BridgeNear Santon, Isle of Man · Say hello to the fairies, or risk their mischief.
• The Fairy FlagDunvegan Castle, Isle of Skye · A faded silk flag said to win battles for the MacLeods.
• The Green ChildrenWoolpit, Suffolk · Two green-skinned children climb out of a wolf pit, speaking no known tongue.
• The Hairy HandsPostbridge, Dartmoor · Invisible hairy hands grab the wheel on a lonely Dartmoor road.
• The Hellfire ClubMontpelier Hill, Dublin · A ruined hunting lodge where, legend says, the Devil came to play cards.
• The Hexham HeadsHexham, Northumberland · Two small stone heads dug up in a garden, and a creature in the night.
• The Hythe CryptSt Leonard's Church, Hythe, Kent · Over a thousand skulls stacked in a church, and nobody knows whose.
• The Latoon Fairy BushLatoon, County Clare · A motorway moved to save a fairy tree.
• The Lost Ninth LegionYork · Five thousand Roman soldiers who disappeared from history.
• The Moving Statue of BallinspittleBallinspittle, County Cork · Thousands of people saw a statue of Mary sway and move.
• The Nanteos CupNanteos, near Aberystwyth, Ceredigion · A battered wooden bowl said to be the Holy Grail.
• The Owlman of MawnanMawnan Smith, Cornwall · Two girls see a huge owl-like man hovering above a church tower.
• The Pollock TwinsHexham, Northumberland · Twin girls who seemed to remember the lives of their dead sisters.
• The Princes in the TowerTower of London · Two young princes enter the Tower in 1483 and are never seen again.
• The Shell GrottoMargate, Kent · An underground temple of 4.6 million seashells that nobody can explain.
• The Southern Television BroadcastHannington transmitter, Hampshire · A voice from 'the Ashtar Galactic Command' took over the evening news.
• The Stone of DestinyScone, Perth and Kinross · Scotland's crowning stone. But is it the real one?
• The Vanishing of Lord LucanBelgravia, London · A murdered nanny, a bloodstained car, and an earl never seen again.
• The Vanishing of Owain GlyndŵrGlyndyfrdwy, Denbighshire · The last native Prince of Wales disappeared, and his grave has never been found.
• Wistman's WoodNear Two Bridges, Dartmoor · Twisted dwarf oaks on mossy boulders, home of the Wisht Hounds.
• Wookey Hole WitchWookey Hole, Somerset · A witch turned to stone in a cave beside the River Axe.