625 people in 95 mysteries

J 20 on this page

JG

John GregoryWarrant Officer (Engineer), Erebus; identified by DNA

Franklin expedition (HMS Erebus and HMS Terror)

JH

John HawksPalaeoanthropologist, University of Wisconsin-Madison; joint corresponding author

Homo naledi and the Rising Star burial claims

JO

John O. LambrechtSenior aviator, USS Colorado; led the Phoenix Islands overflight

Disappearance of Amelia Earhart

John RaeHudson's Bay Company surgeon and explorer; reported Inuit accounts in 1854 · 1813–1893

Franklin expedition (HMS Erebus and HMS Terror)

JS

John S. JustesonLinguist; Epi-Olmec decipherment

Cascajal block and Isthmian writing

John SmithSettler; first digger by tradition; later owned the pit lot · 1798–1888

Oak Island money pit

JW

John Wayne JanusekArchaeologist, Vanderbilt University

Puma Punku and Tiwanaku

JW

John WhiteArtist and governor of the 1587 colony

Lost Colony of Roanoke

JC

Jon ClindanielAuthor of a grammar of non-numerical khipu signs

Inka khipus: the knotted-cord records

JK

Jon KosloskiDirector of AARO from August 2024

US government UAP disclosures

JK

Jon KosloskiDirector of AARO from 2024

2004 Nimitz encounter and the Navy videos

JL

Joseba LakarraBascologist; critic of the numeral comparison

Iberian language and Palaeohispanic scripts

JA

Joseph AndersonCo-author of the 1903 classification

Pictish symbol stones

JN

Joseph NagyvaryBiochemist; long-time proponent of chemical treatment

Stradivari "secret"

JD

Joshua D. EnglehardtArchaeologist; archaeometric study

Cascajal block and Isthmian writing

JC

José CaprilesArchaeologist, Penn State; Palaspata

Puma Punku and Tiwanaku

JF

José Fernández de Santillán, Count of Casa AlegreCommander of the Tierra Firme fleet; died in the San José

San José galleon

JT

Julia ThomasNeighbour who nursed Waltz; led the 1892 search; sold maps

Lost Dutchman's gold mine

JS

Julian Schilliger2023 Grand Prize winner

Herculaneum Papyri and the Vesuvius Challenge

JU

Jürgen UntermannEditor of Monumenta Linguarum Hispanicarum

Iberian language and Palaeohispanic scripts

K 22 on this page

KL

K. Lal GauriGeologist; mapped the Sphinx's limestone beds and weathering

Great Sphinx of Giza

KJ

Karen J. MeechUniversity of Hawaii astronomer; led the discovery and characterisation papers · born 1959

1I/'Oumuamua

KL

Karen L. SteelmanChemist; runs Shumla's radiocarbon laboratory; led the 2025 dating of Pecos River style

White Shaman Mural

KO

Karen O. BruhnsArchaeologist; 2007 critique · born 1941

Cascajal block and Isthmian writing

KD

Karl D. StephanEngineer, Texas State University; led the 2008 spectroscopy campaign and the 2011 analysis of the 2005 bright object

Marfa lights

KL

Karoline LeavittWhite House press secretary; announced the review of the cases on 17 April 2026

America's missing scientists, 2021–2026

KP

Kash PatelFBI director; said the Bureau was "spearheading" the review and promised a final report

America's missing scientists, 2021–2026

KK

Kathryn KelleyAssyriologist (Uppsala); computational Proto-Elamite work

Proto-Elamite and Linear Elamite

KK

Kathryn KelleyAssyriologist; computational work on proto-cuneiform and proto-Elamite sign use

Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk

KM

Keith MartinInformation security academic, Royal Holloway, University of London

Cicada 3301

KB

Kemal BalkanTurkish Assyriologist whose Kassitenstudien 1 (1954) collected the Kassite language · 1920–1992

Hattic, Kassite and the half-read languages of the cuneiform archives

KD

Kevin DaySenior radar operator, USS Princeton

2004 Nimitz encounter and the Navy videos

KK

Kevin KnightComputational linguist, USC Information Sciences Institute; led the decipherment

Copiale cipher

KZ

Kevin ZahnleNASA Ames; co-author of the 2011 and 2025 critiques

Mars methane puzzle

KhafreFourth Dynasty king; builder of the second pyramid · -261–-253

Great Sphinx of Giza

KhufuKing of the Fourth Dynasty · 26th century BC · died -256

How the Great Pyramid was built

KC

Kim CoxContributor to the 2016 book on the mural; paint-sequence analysis with Boyd

White Shaman Mural

KD

Kipp DavisLead author of the 2017 study of dubious fragments

Dead Sea Scrolls: dating, scribes and provenance

KR

Kirsty RowanLinguist (SOAS); Afroasiatic hypothesis

Meroitic

KS

Klaus SchmehCryptology writer; 2018 analysis

Dorabella cipher

KS

Klaus SchmidtExcavator 1995–2014, DAI

Göbekli Tepe

KP

Konstantin PozdniakovLinguist; reduced sign inventory and statistics · born 1952

Rongorongo

L 18 on this page