Fraud and Vandalism

"Chelsea talks about the Tamam Shud case and Cristina recounts a story from the 1800's of a man who blames Wendigo's for the murder of his family. Also, everything is aliens."

Presented by: Cristina
Category: Historical Mystery

Anastasia Nikolavena was the youngest daughter of Nicholas II, the last czar of Russia. She was murdered along with the rest of her family in 1918 during the Russian Revolution. Almost immediately, there were rumors that she had survived.

In part this was because there no official account of what happened to her and her family in until 71 of years after their deaths. The Bolsheviks had signed a treaty with the Germans who were demanded the safety of the princesses who were German by blood. The royal families of Europe were all interrelated and they didn't want retaliation. Another reason is that the accounts differ. Some say Anastasia survived the initial firing squad only to be shot in the second round. Another said she was stabbed to death by bayonets. For years, all anyone knew is that she was probably dead based on the royal families effects being found dumped down a mine shaft.

Several people over the years claimed to have been Anastasia. The most famous was Anna Anderson, who was able to fool people who knew her, who spend years trying to prove to the German government she was the lost princess. However, a DNA test after her death proved she had no relation to the Russian royal family. She is believed to have been a missing Polish woman with a history of mental illness. Other claimants include Eugina Smith, who made her living off the story and a nun who kept up the claim until her death and was buried under the name.

The idea that Anastasia survived was one of the nicer things to believe, compared to the reality, buy in 2007 her body, and the body of her sister, was found and positively identified. They had been buried separately to prevent them from being found.

Presented by: Chelsea
Category:

The Toynbee Tiles are a series of art installations found around the Americas, mostly centered around Philadelphia. They're made using linoleum and tar paper, the at acts a glue to keep them in place until the weight of cars going over them in the roads set them and reveal them.

The tiles all contain, in some form the following message:

TOYNBEE IDEA

IN MOViE '2001

RESURRECT DEAD

ON PLANET JUPITER

However, some contain other messages, including on in the with an anti-Semitic and anti-Communist rant. The main message is based on the works of Toynbee, who believed that humans could be resurrected if their bodies could be reformed. Therefore, the afterlife is possible if we could build it. The tile creator believe in terraforming mars, apparently unaware that gas can't be terraformed.

A documentary on the tiles tracked down the creator, who did not want to be known. Out of respect, their name is not listed here.