Over the centuries, history is filled with wonderful tales of
mysterious people – many of whom are never identified. This list is a
selection of the most significant or mysterious people of this variety.
As usual, if you know of other fascinating people that would suit a
similar follow up list, be sure to tell us in the comments.

Monsieur Chouchani (died 1968) is the nickname of an anonymous and
mysterious Jewish teacher who taught a number of highly regarded
students including Emmanual Levinas (pictured above) and Elie Wiesel in
Europe after World War II. Very little is known about Chouchani,
including his real name. His origins and entire life history were kept a
closely guarded secret. His gravestone in Montevideo, Uraguay where he
died reads: “The wise Rabbi Chouchani of blessed memory. His birth and
his life are sealed in enigma.” The text was written by Elie Wiesel who
also paid for the gravestone.
There is no known body of work by Chouchani himself, but he left a
very strong intellectual legacy via his students. Chouchani dressed
like a vagabond but was a master of vast areas of human knowledge,
including science, mathematics, philosophy and especially the Talmud.
Most of the details of his life that are known come from the writings
and interviews with his students.

The Poe Toaster is the nickname given to a mysterious man who pays
annual tribute to Poe by visiting his grave every year. The strange
tradition started in 1949 – a century are after Poe’s death, and it
occurs every year on the author’s birthday (January 19). According to
Wikipedia: “In the early hours of the morning on that date, a black-clad
figure, presumed to be male, with a silver-tipped cane enters the
Westminster Hall and Burying Ground in Baltimore, Maryland. The
individual proceeds to Poe’s grave, where he or she raises a cognac
toast. Before departing, the Toaster leaves three red roses and a
half-bottle of cognac on the grave.”
The Toaster wears a black hat and coat and hides his face with a hood
or scarf. Groups of reporters and admirers are often on hand to watch
the event. There have been no attempts to interfere with the Toaster or
to unmask him – most likely out of respect for the tradition.

During the analysis of the film footage of the assasination of John
F. Kennedy in 1963, a mysterious woman was spotted. She was wearing a
brown overcoat and a scarf on her head (the scarf is the reason for her
name as she wore it in a similar style to Russian grandmothers – also
called babushkas). The woman appeared to be holding something in front
of her face which is believed to be a camera. She appears in many photos
of the scene. Even after the shooting when most people had fled the
area, she remained in place and continued to film. Shortly after she is
seen moving away to the East up Elm Street. The FBI publically requested
that the woman come forward and give them the footage she shot but she
never did.
In 1970 a woman called Beverly Oliver came forward and claimed to be
the Babushka Woman, though her story contains many inconsistencies. She
is generally regarded as a fraud. To this day, no one knows who the
Babushka Woman is or what she was doing there. More unusual is her
refusal to come forward to offer her evidence.

On May 26, 1828 a teenage boy appeared in the streets of Nuremberg,
Germany. He carried a letter with him which was addressed to a captain
of 6th cavalry regiment. The anonymous author said that the boy was
given into his custody, as an infant, on the 7th October 1812, and that
he had never let him “take a single step out of my house”. Now the boy
would like to be a cavalryman, thus the captain should take him in or
hang him. Hauser claimed that he had, for as long as he could think
back, spent his life always totally alone in a darkened 2×1×1.5 metre
cell (little more than the size of a one-person bed in area) with only a
straw bed to sleep on and a horse carved out of wood for a toy. Hauser
claimed that the first human being he ever had had contact with had been
a mysterious man who had visited him not long before his release,
always taking great care not to reveal his face to him. According to
contemporary rumors – probably current as early as 1829 – Kaspar Hauser
was the hereditary prince of Baden that was born on September 29, 1812
and had died within a month. It was claimed that this prince had been
switched with a dying baby, and had indeed appeared 16 years later as
“Kaspar Hauser” in Nuremberg. Hauser died after receiving a stab wound
to the chest which was possible self-inflicted. He claimed he had been
stabbed by the man who had kept him as an infant.
In 2002, the University of Münster analyzed hair and body cells from
locks of hair and items of clothing that were alleged to belong to
Kaspar Hauser. The DNA samples were compared to a DNA segment of Astrid
von Medinger, a descendant in the female line of Stéphanie de
Beauharnais, who would have been Kaspar Hauser’s mother if indeed he had
been the hereditary prince of Baden. The sequences were not identical
but the deviation observed is not large enough to exclude a
relationship, as it could be caused by a mutation.

Fulcanelli (1839 – ?1953) is a pseudonym of a late 19th century
French Alchemist and author whose identity is still unknown. Much
mystery surrounds his life and works – leading to him being branded a
cultural phenomenon. One of the more extravagant tales retells how his
devoted pupil (Eugene Canseliet – pictured above) successfully
transformed 100 grams of lead in to gold with the use of a small
quantity of “Projection Powder” given to him by his teacher.
It is believed that on the verge of World War II, the Abwehr (German
intelligence service) was in active (but fruitless) pursuit of
Fulcanelli because of his knowledge of the technology of nuclear
weapons. Fulcanelli had met with a French atomic physicist and given him
accurate details regarding nuclear weapons technology and he claimed
that atomic weaponry had been used against humanity in time long past.
“According to Canseliet (Fulcanelli’s student), his last encounter
with Fulcanelli happened in 1953 (years after his disappearance), when
he went to Spain and was taken to a castle high in the mountains for a
rendezvous with his former master. Canseliet had known Fulcanelli as an
old man in his 80s but now the Master had grown younger: he was a man in
his 50s. The reunion was brief and Fulcanelli once again disappeared
leaving no trace of his whereabouts. At this time, Fulcanelli would
have been 114 years old.” [
Source]

D. B. Cooper (aka “Dan Cooper”) is a pseudonym given to a notorious
aircraft hijacker who, on November 24, 1971, after receiving a ransom
payout of $200,000, leapt from the back of a Boeing 727 as it was flying
over the Pacific Northwest somewhere over the southern Cascades.
Cooper has not been seen since and it is not known whether he
survived the jump. In 1980, an eight year old boy found $5,800 of soggy
$20 bills washed up on the banks of the Columbia river. The serial
numbers matched those of the ransom money which had been noted to make
it easier to track Cooper later.
Cooper escaped from the plane by jumping off the rear airstair with a
parachute leading aviation authorities to add stricter measures about
the design of planes to prevent it from happening again. In addition,
this event caused airports to install metal detectors for the first
time.

The Count of St. Germain (allegedly died February 27, 1784) was a
courtier, adventurer, inventor, amateur scientist, violinist, amateur
composer, and a mysterious gentleman; he also displayed some skills
associated with the practice of alchemy. He was known as ‘Der
Wundermann’ — ‘The Wonderman’. He was a man whose origin was unknown and
who disappeared without leaving a trace. In 1745, Horace Walpole wrote
of him:
…the other day they seized an odd man, who goes by the
name of Count St. Germain. He has been here these two years, and will
not tell who he is, or whence, but professes that he does not go by his
right name. He sings, plays on the violin wonderfully, composes, is mad,
and not very sensible. He is called an Italian, a Spaniard, a Pole; a
somebody that married a great fortune in Mexico, and ran away with her
jewels to Constantinople; a priest, a fiddler, a vast nobleman. The
Prince of Wales has had unsatiated curiosity about him, but in vain.
However, nothing has been made out against him; he is released; and,
what convinces me that he is not a gentleman, stays here, and talks of
his being taken up for a spy.
Since his death, various occult organizations have adopted him as a
model figure or even as a powerful deity. In recent years several people
have claimed to be the Count of St. Germain.

The Man in the Iron Mask (died November 1703) was a prisoner held in a
number of Jails (including the Bastille) during the reign of King Louis
XIV of France. The true identity of the man is unknown because no one
ever saw his face which was hidden by a black velvet mask. Fictional
retellings of the story refer to the mask as an “Iron” mask. The first
records that mention the prisoner are from 1669 when Louis XIV’s
minister placed the prisoner in the care of the governor of the prison
of Pignerol.
According to the letter that accompanied him, the man’s name was
Eustache Dauger. The letter instructed the governor to prepare a cell
with multiple doors – to prevent anyone outside from listening in. The
prisoner was told that if he spoke to anyone of anything other than his
immediate needs, he would be killed. The Governor was the only person
who was to see the prisoner, and he provided him with his daily food.
When the prisoner died, all of his belongings were destroyed. To this
day, no one knows who he was.

Gil Perez was a Spanish soldier who suddenly appeared in Mexico City
on October 26, 1593. He was wearing the uniform of the guards of the
Del Gobernador Palace in the Philippines. He claimed to have no idea
how he had managed to appear in Mexico. He stated that moments before
finding himself there, he had been on sentry duty in Manila at the
governor’s Palace. He told them that the governor (Don Gómez Pérez
Dasmariñas) had just been assassinated.
Two months later, news arrived from the Philippines by ship. They carried news that confirmed that the governor
had
been killed and they verified other aspects of Perez’s story.
Witnesses confirmed that Perez had indeed been on duty in Manila just
before arriving in Mexico. In addition, one of the passengers on the
ship recognized Perez and swore that he had seen him in the Philippines
on October 23. Perez eventually returned to the Philippines and resumed
his life – which was uneventful until his death. You can read a more
indepth article on
Gil Perez here.
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Green Children of Woolpit

The Green Children of Woolpit were two children who appeared in the
village of Woolpit in Suffolk, UK, in the 12th century. The children
were brother and sister and they had green colored skin. Their
appearance was normal in all other areas. They spoke an unrecognized
language and refused to eat anything other than pitch from bean pods.
Eventually their skin lost its green color. When they learned English
they explained that they were from the ‘Land of St Martin’ which was a
dark place because the sun never rose far above the horizon. They
claimed that they were tending their father’s herd and followed a river
of light when they heard the sounds of bells – finding themselves in
Woolpit.
Some of the more unusual theories proposed for the origin of the
children are that they were Hollow Earth children, parallel dimension
children, or Extraterrestrial children.