Exciting
historical
and modern
Stories
by elsa.jon
Step into a world of legendary tales and curious wonders.
Hello and welcome – I’m Elsa.
I was born in 1980 near Düsseldorf and now live somewhere quietly tucked away between Berlin and Brandenburg – where the forests grow denser and the thoughts roam freer.
Stories and tales have always been part of my life – especially the ones you won’t find in any textbook. Offbeat anecdotes, curious coincidences, and historical footnotes with character – that’s my kind of territory.
I’ve seen a lot, read a lot, and travelled far. And I’ve come to believe: the bizarre is often the most truthful. And certainly worth telling.
When I’m not writing, you’ll find me with a good coffee, digging through dusty archives, or talking to people who are stories themselves.
I’m already looking forward to sharing more of my books with you very soon. Stay curious!
The Pyramids of Antarctica: Myth or Reality?
Antarctica, a continent largely hidden beneath a thick ice sheet, harbors many riddles and mysteries. One of the most fascinating and controversial topics is the so-called "Pyramids of Antarctica." Reports of pyramid-shaped structures beneath the ice have caused a sensation for decades and sparked the imagination of many people. But what is really behind this story?
Origin of the Claims
Rumors about pyramids in Antarctica began as early as the 1980s and intensified in the 1990s with the advent of the internet. Satellite images and photos showing natural mountain formations were frequently misinterpreted and presented as evidence of artificial structures. These images were often spread on social media and conspiracy websites, triggering numerous speculations. Some unproven theories claim that these are remnants of an ancient civilization that supposedly inhabited Antarctica thousands of years ago.
Scientific Explanations
Scientists have clearly identified the alleged pyramids as natural geological formations. Geologists and glaciologists explain that these structures, which occur in various regions of Antarctica, were formed by natural erosion processes. Particularly in the Ellsworth Mountains, wind, weather, and glacier movements have shaped pyramid-like mountains over millions of years, known as nunataks mountain peaks that protrude from the ice.
These geological formations occur when mountains are surrounded by glaciers that erode their flanks, thus creating a pyramid-like shape. Similar formations can also be found in other alpine regions worldwide, such as the Matterhorn peak in the Swiss Alps.
The Role of Imagination and Media
The fascination with the unknown and the possibility of a lost civilization in Antarctica have fueled the pyramid theories (...)
Feel free to follow me on YouTube
Legendary stories, concisely told and visually staged, now on my channel. German with subtitles for now, English version coming soon. Hang in there!
The Lost Colony of Roanoke
The story of the lost colony of Roanoke is one of the most fascinating and mysterious episodes in early American history. Founded in 1587 on Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina, the colony disappeared without a trace, leaving behind only a single cryptic inscription: "CROATOAN". This puzzle has occupied historians, archaeologists, and history enthusiasts for centuries.
Background and Foundation of the Colony
The colony of Roanoke was not England's first attempt to gain a foothold in North America. As early as 1585-1586, there had been two failed settlement attempts on Roanoke Island under the patronage of Sir Walter Raleigh. The colony was founded in the third attempt under the leadership of John White, who had been appointed by Sir Walter Raleigh as governor of the new settlement.
In July 1587, a group of exactly 117 settlers, including women and children, reached Roanoke Island. Among them was White's pregnant daughter Eleanor Dare, who gave birth to Virginia Dare on August 18, 1587 – the first English child born in America. Shortly thereafter, John White sailed back to England to obtain urgently needed supplies, but his return was delayed by three years due to the war between England and Spain (the Spanish Armada of 1588).
The Mysterious Disappearance
When White finally returned to Roanoke in August 1590, he found the settlement abandoned. The buildings had been dismantled and the settlers had vanished. The only sign he found was the word "CROATOAN" carved into a palisade post, and the letters "CRO" on a tree. Particularly significant was that no cross was found with the inscription, a sign that White had agreed upon with the colonists to indicate that they had left the settlement under duress or in danger. There were also no signs of violence or fighting, which suggested that the settlers had left the colony in an organized manner and presumably voluntarily (...)
The Mystery of Numbers Stations: Mysterious Radio Stations
Broadcasting Encrypted Number Sequences for Decades
Somewhere in the vastness of shortwave radio, between international news broadcasts and amateur radio operators, a mechanical female voice monotonously transmits number sequences into the night: "7-4-2, 7-9-9, 1-4. Boris, Roman, Olga, Mikhail, Anna, Larisa." Then it falls silent again for weeks. What sounds like science fiction has been the reality of espionage for over a century.
The Ghost Voices of Intelligence Services
Numbers stations are shortwave transmitters that broadcast encrypted messages in the form of numbers, letters, or Morse code. Their robotic voices have broken the nocturnal silence since the early days of radio, transmitting commands to agents worldwide. The first such broadcasts were documented during World War I, when Austrian radio amateurs intercepted encrypted Morse messages from the Allies.
During the Cold War, numbers stations experienced their heyday. Dozens of these mysterious transmitters broadcast their cryptic messages daily, often accompanied by eerie melodies or children's voices. The famous "Swedish Rhapsody" played a children's melody on a music box before a child's voice read numbers. The "Lincolnshire Poacher" of the British MI6 announced itself with an English folk song before sending its encrypted messages.
UVB-76: The Buzzer That Never Sleeps
The most famous of all numbers stations is UVB-76, also known as "The Buzzer." Since 1982, this Russian transmitter has been broadcasting a monotonous buzzing on frequency 4625 kHz: 25 tones per minute, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Only occasionally does a Russian voice interrupt the buzzing with cryptic messages like "MDZhB-75-59-75-59. Anna, Nikolai, Vasily, Fyodor."
In 2010, The Buzzer fell silent for an entire day – an event that threw conspiracy theorists into turmoil.
Urban explorers later found the abandoned transmission station near Povarovo near Moscow: rusted equipment, abandoned logbooks, and the ghostly atmosphere of a hastily abandoned military facility. The transmitter had changed location and has been broadcasting from a new site ever since.
The Encryption of Impossibility
The genius of numbers stations lies in their encryption method: the so-called "one-time pad." This mathematically unbreakable cipher adds random numbers to each message. Only those who possess the identical key can decrypt the message. After one-time use, the key is destroyed. Even with the most modern computer technology, this encryption is practically unbreakable.
Shortwave signals can reach thousands of kilometers and can be received with any simple radio. An agent in Siberia or South America needs only a commercially available receiver to receive his orders – without suspicious internet connections or satellite equipment.
Modern Espionage Cases: When Numbers Become Evidence
The existence of numbers stations may be mysterious, but their use for espionage is legally documented. In 2001, Ana Montes, a high-ranking analyst with U.S. defense intelligence, was exposed as a Cuban spy. In her house, investigators found a shortwave receiver and decryption software for the Cuban numbers station "Atención." In 2011, German police arrested the married couple Andreas and Heidrun Anschlag directly while receiving an encrypted message from Moscow. Their transmission times – Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6 PM – matched exactly with those of the Russian numbers station XPA. In the famous case of the "Cuban Five" from 1998, FBI agents decrypted messages containing instructions for recruiting sources and even congratulations for International Women's Day (...)
The Island of the Dolls in Mexico:
A Bizarre and Creepy Place
The Island of the Dolls, or "La Isla de las Muñecas," is one of the most eerie and bizarre places in Mexico. It is located in the canal system of Xochimilco, south of Mexico City, and is known for the hundreds of weathered dolls hanging from trees and buildings. This story illuminates the creation, legends, and dark fascination of this unusual place.
The Creation of the Island of the Dolls
The story of the Island of the Dolls begins with Don Julián Santana Barrera, a hermit who moved to Xochimilco in the 1950s to live there in complete isolation. The reasons for his flight from civilization remain mysterious to this day – some say he sought spiritual enlightenment, others suspect that personal tragedies drove him.
According to the legend that stubbornly surrounds the island, Don Julián one day found the body of a drowned girl in one of the canals. Shortly after, he discovered a doll floating nearby. To appease the girl's soul – or perhaps out of deep guilt – he hung the doll from a tree. What began as a single gesture of remembrance developed into a lifelong obsession.
The Collection of Dolls
Don Julián spent the next five decades populating the island with dolls. He collected them from garbage dumps, fished them from the canals, and even traded his homegrown vegetables for more dolls. The dolls, often mutilated and in various stages of decay, were strategically attached to trees, fences, and buildings.
For Don Julián, these grotesque guardians were far more than just protection from evil spirits – they became his only companions in solitude. Visitors from that time reported that he spoke to the dolls as if they were alive and firmly believed they protected him.
The Mysterious Death of Don Julián
In 2001, Don Julián Santana Barrera was found dead in the same canal where he claimed to have discovered the drowned girl.
His nephew, who was with him that day, later reported that Don Julián had sung strangely shortly before his death and spoke of mermaids calling him. A few minutes later, he suffered a heart attack and fell into the water. His death exponentially intensified the mysterious and creepy atmosphere of the island and fueled speculation about supernatural forces that finally took him (...)
The Football Game, the Christmas Truce of 1914: A Moment of Humanity in World War I
The Christmas Truce of 1914 is one of the most moving and symbolic events of World War I. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, British and German soldiers on the Western Front laid down their weapons to celebrate a spontaneous ceasefire. One of the most remarkable aspects of this peace was the football game that took place between the enemy troops. This story illuminates the events that led to the Christmas peace, the famous football game, and the significance of this unique moment of humanity.
Background and Origins of the Christmas Truce
World War I had begun in the summer of 1914, and by December of the same year, the war on the Western Front had transformed into a bloody war of attrition. Soldiers lived and fought in trenches, often only a few meters apart. The onset of winter and the terrible living conditions at the front intensified the longing for a break from the fighting.
On Christmas Eve 1914, a spontaneous ceasefire began at several points along the Western Front. German soldiers decorated their trenches with candles and small Christmas trees and sang Christmas carols. On the British side, soldiers responded with their own songs, and soon soldiers were exchanging Christmas greetings across No Man's Land. Pope Benedict XV had already called on the warring nations on December 7, 1914, "that the weapons may be silent at least in the night when the angels sang." Although this appeal was officially ignored, it may have served as inspiration for the spontaneous ceasefires.
The Football Game
On Christmas Day, an unprecedented event occurred: soldiers from both sides met in No Man's Land, the area between the opposing trenches. They exchanged gifts such as cigarettes, food, and souvenirs. Amid these peaceful encounters, improvised football games were organized. There are several reports of these football games, with details varying according to source.
Historians now agree that they were more spontaneous "kickabouts" than formally organized games. Most reports describe how soldiers found or improvised a ball and began a game on the frozen ground of No Man's Land. Lieutenant Johannes Niemann of the 133rd Saxon Infantry Regiment wrote: "Suddenly a Tommy came with a football... Teams were quickly set up for a game on the frozen mud, and the Fritzes beat the Tommies 3:2."
The results of the games are unclear, and it seems it was less about competition and more about the joy and spirit of the moment. The significance lay not in the game results but in the human connection between enemies (...)
The Wow! Signal:
An Inexplicable Message from Space
On August 15, 1977, astronomer Jerry R. Ehman discovered a strange and strong radio signal while scanning the sky with the Big Ear radio telescope at Ohio State University. This signal, known as the "Wow Signal," remains one of the most fascinating mysteries in the search for extraterrestrial life to this day. It was so remarkable that Ehman wrote the word "Wow!" next to the printed data series—thereby coining the name for this mysterious signal.
The Wow! Signal
The Wow Signal lasted 72 seconds—the maximum time the Big Ear telescope needed to scan a specific point in the sky—and had a frequency of about 1420 MHz, the natural emission frequency of hydrogen, which is often considered a likely communication channel for extraterrestrial civilizations. It was 30 times stronger than the background noise of the universe. On the computer printout, the signal appeared as the character sequence "6EQUJ5," where the numbers 0-9 and letters A-Z form an alphanumeric scale for representing signal strength. The letter "U" represented the highest measured value, about 30 times the background noise. These factors made the signal particularly interesting for SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) researchers searching for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence.
Characteristics of the Signal
The signal came from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, with sky coordinates RA 19h25m31s ± 10s, Dec −26°57′ ± 20′, near the globular cluster M55. It showed no signs of human interference sources. The signal had the expected properties of an interstellar radio signal: it came from a fixed point in the sky and showed no frequency modulation that could come from a natural phenomenon. The signal was also strong and clearly defined, distinguishing it from other known natural or human signals.
A remarkable technical peculiarity was that the Big Ear telescope was equipped with two receivers (so-called "feed horns") that observed the same sky point with a delay of about 3 minutes.
However, the Wow! Signal was detected by only one of the receivers, suggesting that it was either very short or must have another explanation, since a continuous signal should have been registered by both receivers.
Search for an Explanation
Despite intensive research, the Wow! Signal could never be repeated or confirmed. Scientists have tried to find the source of the signal through renewed observations of the same sky area, but without success. Various theories have been proposed, including reflections from satellites, interference from terrestrial signals, or unusual astrophysical phenomena, but none could conclusively explain the signal (...)
These texts are excerpts from the book Legendary & Curious – 100 fascinating Stories from Past and Present by elsa.jon, © 2025. All rights reserved.
Legendary and curious
The audio book
The full audiobook experience, 7.5 hours of legendary listening. Available soon.
New release for fall/winter 2025
Legendary and curious
Berlin
Of spectral whispers, spies, and eccentric geniuses.
50 astonishing tales from Berlin – between Wall, metropolis, and myth.
Legendary & Curious: Berlin
50 epic stories from Berlin –
from past to present.
Legendary and curious
Hamburg
Tall tales, scandals, and strange sensations.
50 Nordic-curious stories from Hamburg – from the dark canals of the past to the harbor lights of today.
Legendary & Curious: Hamburg
50 epic stories from Hamburg – from past to present
Legendary and curious
Munich
O’zapft is – with a twist of history!
Munich’s most hidden chapters: quirky, wondrous, and told with Bavarian flair.
50 curious tales from Munich – from royal halls to revolutions and beer garden lore.
Legendary & Curious: Munich
50 epic stories from Munich – past and present.