People
625 people in 95 mysteries
Researchers, witnesses, makers and the missing: everyone the mysteries' records name, with what they did in each.
W 11
WB
W. Brent SealesComputer scientist, University of Kentucky; pioneer of virtual unwrapping
WGHerculaneum Papyri and the Vesuvius Challenge
W. G. FastLed the 1960s tree-fall direction surveys
WW1908 Tunguska event
W. W. NewcombAnthropologist at the University of Texas; defined the Pecos River style
White Shaman Mural
Walter HautLieutenant, public information officer who issued the release · 1922–2005
WGRoswell, 1947
Wang GuoweiHistorian who in 1917 matched the ancestors and kings named in the inscriptions to Sima Qian's Shang king list, confirming the list with cor
WYWang YirongQing official and antiquarian who in 1899 first recognised the marks on the Anyang bones as ancient writing; he died in August 1900 during t
WDWarren D. RayleNASA Lewis Research Center; author of the 1966 survey
WFBall lightning
William F. AlbrightOrientalist who published the fullest decipherment of the Sinai texts in 1966 · 1891–1971
WNProto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet
William Neil McCaslandRetired Air Force major general; commanded the Air Force Research Laboratory 2011–13; missing since 27 February 2026
WNAmerica's missing scientists, 2021–2026
William NoelCurator; director of the Archimedes Palimpsest Project · 1965–2024
WWArchimedes Palimpsest
William W. 'Mac' BrazelRancher who found the debris
Roswell, 1947
Y 6
YC
Yinqiu CuiAncient DNA researcher, Jilin University; corresponding author 2021
YNTarim Basin mummies (Xiaohe)
Youssef Nader2023 Grand Prize winner
YKHerculaneum Papyri and the Vesuvius Challenge
Yousuke KaifuPalaeoanthropologist, University of Tokyo; Mata Menge fossils
YYHomo floresiensis, the origin of the Flores "hobbits"
Yuri YudinTenth member, turned back on 28 January; the survivor
YDDyatlov Pass incident
Yves DuhouxEpigrapher; critic of decipherment claims
YDPhaistos Disc
Yves DuhouxLinguist (Louvain); author of the standard edition of Eteocretan, 1982
Z 5
ZV
Zack Van EyckDeseret News reporter who broke the story
ZASkinwalker Ranch
Zaharie Ahmad ShahCaptain
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370
Zahi HawassEgyptian archaeologist; Sphinx excavation and conservation · born 1947
Great Sphinx of Giza
Zahi HawassEgyptologist; excavator of the builders' cemetery · born 1947
ZTHow the Great Pyramid was built
Zsófia TormaHungarian archaeologist who excavated Turdaș (Tordos) from 1875 and first collected incised Neolithic signs · 1832–1899
É 2
ÉD
Édouard DhormeFrench Assyriologist and Semitist (1881 to 1966), one of the decipherers of the Ugaritic alphabet in 1930, who in 1946 announced a Phoenicia
ÉFÉmile FradinFarmer at Glozel who, aged 17, found the first chamber with his grandfather on 1 March 1924 and co-signed Morlet's fascicles; tried for frau