The Earth is a mysterious place. There is much going on around us every day that goes unexplained. For all our advanced technology and scientific understanding, there are events that occur, more or less, on a regular basis for which (as yet) we have no answers. Here is a list, in no particular order, of 10 of the most perplexing, documented phenomena that have baffled us for years - in some cases, decades and much longer.

4. Ball Lightning

In January 1984, ball lightning measuring about four inches in diameter entered a Russian passenger aircraft and, according to the Russian news release, "flew above the heads of the stunned passengers. In the tail section of the airliner, it divided into two glowing crescents which then joined together again and left the plane almost noiselessly." The ball lightning left two holes in the plane.

Ball lightning is another natural phenomena for which science has yet to come up with a full explanation. The problem for scientists is that the manifestation of the phenomenon is so rare that it is almost impossible to study. Attempts have been made to recreate it artificially in the laboratory, but an actual specimen of naturally occurring ball lightning has yet to be captured for study. This may be impossible since the phenomenon is fleeting - floating about for awhile and then fading away or exploding with a loud pop.

What makes ball lighting so fascinating and puzzling is its strange "behavior." Witnesses have said that it moves about as if with a kind of intelligence, following patterns on walls or furniture, and seeming to avoid obstacles. More mysterious still is its ability to pass through solid objects. Sometimes it leaves holes, as with the airliner above, but it has also been seen to pass through window glass and even walls without even leaving a mark.

3. Unexplained Hums

Citizens in Britain and portions of the Southwestern U.S. have been complaining about a maddening hum that just won't go away. And researchers have been unable to pinpoint its source. Not everyone can hear the low-pitched hum, and those who do say that it seems artificial in nature - and is driving them crazy. In 1977, a British newspaper received nearly 800 letters from people complaining of loss of sleep, irritability, deteriorating health, inability to read or study because of the incessant hum.

Most famous in the U.S. is the Taos Hum. There the annoyance was so acute for the "hearers" in Taos, New Mexico that they banded together in 1993 and petitioned Congress to investigate and help them find the source of the noise. No conclusive causes were discovered. One prevailing theory holds that the hum is created by a military communications system used to contact submarines.

2. Cattle Mutilations

"We were passing down this road, and there was a thunderstorm a coming up behind us. We smelled this animal as we come by. We came back to check on it, and found it was mutilated. We examined it and its sexual organs was taken out. Its eyes were taken out, and its eyelashes were taken out. Well, there wasn't no predators. Couldn't have been killed by a predator cause all the surgical work was done by an expert..." Such was the report of rancher C.E. Potts in 1990.

The report is typical for the phenomenon, which began to be documented in the early 1970s when reports came in from ranchers in Minnesota and Kansas. The mutilations were like nothing they had ever seen with their cattle; they seemed to have a surgical precision that ruled out predators (whose work ranchers were quite familiar with). The selectivity is also unusual: often only the eyes, tongue or sexual organs have been removed, and quite often there is an unexplained absence of blood from the scene. Theories to explain the mutilations include Satanic cults, aliens, government experiments (unmarked black helicopters are sometimes seen in the vicinity) and bizarre diseases. As yet, however, no conclusive answers have ever been found.

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