Decemystery (2024) 26: The Ghost Who Took a Pair of Socks

 

Here’s an odd story: I was looking through my Google documents to see if there would be an easy case to cover. As I’ve made explicitly clear a multitude of times throughout this month, I’ve been strapped for time—and this has been no more apparent than right now. I’m writing this on Christmas Eve; it’ll likely be finished tomorrow, the day before it goes up.

Anyway, while looking through old documents, I came across this one. I barely remembered, and I can’t even recall why it wasn’t deleted.

I’m serious; I have no recollection of this story outside of it briefly being considered for last year’s Decemystery duology. It isn’t on sustained_disgust’s Obscure Unsolved Mysteries Iceberg. I don’t recall telling any of my friends about it. It’s just here, in a document, with one sentence that was written on November 30, 2023. It reads as follows:

Okay, so I had no plans to cover another story from “It Happened To Me,” but I found one mere minutes ago that was way too good to pass up.

Well, a year later, I guess the story wasn’t as good as my younger self thought it to be.

Or maybe it is, and I didn’t give it a fair chance. Today, I want to find out with you, dear reader. This month has been filled with a lot of twists and turns, but none will be more unique than exploring a remnant from last year’s Decemystery duology that even I, the writer of these articles, forgot the origin of.

So, I invite you to accompany me over to the United Kingdom as we investigate a weird ghost story that sounds closer to a comedy short. This is the case of The Ghost Who Took a Pair of Socks. I’d tell you to hold onto your socks, but I don’t want to attract the specter we’re looking into.

Hey, where’d my socks go?

Decemystery (2023) 26: Boneless

 

I did say that today would have two stories about giant slugs. I only wish I’d been lying because this one is considerably more horrifying. Oh well, I’d rather delay this; the sooner we’re done with it, the sooner I won’t have this uneasy feeling in my stomach. Strap in, dear reader; this is the story of Boneless!

Decemystery (2023) 13: The Hole to Hell & The Vanishing Hotel

 

I’ve said this before, and I will say it again: introductions have become a nightmare for me to do. I swear that after I got COVID and the accompanying brain fog, my ability to begin write-ups died. I had an intro written, and it wandered off into a topic that had no relation to the actual story. It was absolutely mesmerizing to behold since it wasn’t intentional; it just happened like it was natural.

Oh well, whatever. My point is that this story had absolutely no right to be as hard to kick off as it was. So, rather than introduce it, I figured I’d complain about it like I was complaining to hotel management about room service not leaving a complimentary Fleshgait in my room. My jokes are as stellar as NASCAR officiating.

Anyway, enough rambling. Today’s Decemystery 2023 entry is one that I debated on covering until a friend of mine encouraged me to use it. So, if you happen to love this story, thank her. This, dear reader, is the tale of The Hole to Hell & The Vanishing Hotel!

Decemystery (2021) 31: Charles Jevington, the Man Who Befriended Aliens

 

This was originally intended to be the capstone entry for last year. However, when it became apparent that my depression was getting increasingly worse, and my desire to write was hitting rock bottom, I scrapped it and replaced it with what would become N.U.G.E.T.. In hindsight, I did like the story since it was really unusual and, in my eyes, is more than worthy of being a capstone entry. At the same time though, it annoys me that I broke my promise to not do any conspiracy theories for that year’s Decemystery.

Granted, I did make up for that with this year’s outing, but at the cost of having a lot of the same topics. I covered a ton of cryptids (which isn’t necessarily abnormal), unexplained events, and a fair few UFO/alien stories. I blame this mostly on me getting a very late start on writing Decemystery; the medication I started taking in October ended up causing me to stop writing for a solid month, so what should have started in August and ended by the end of September or middle of October ended up being dragged out from early November into December. So the statement in the T-Rex write-up about me spending time with the family wasn’t at all true.

Still, in spite of all of that, I still consider this year’s Decemystery to be the best I’ve done. It isn’t perfect, and there are a lot of stories I wish I had the time to do, but I still view it as something I’m truly proud of. It’s more or less what I had wanted last year’s Decemystery to have been. It featured a bunch of stories that I found truly intriguing, and it had me feeling extremely happy with each and every story.

At the same time though, I feel I definitely overused the ObscUrban Legend Wiki for stories. Because of that, if anyone thought that it was lazy of me to simply poach stories from there, I’m truly sorry. I put my heart and soul into each write-up, and I did everything I could to add to those stories, so I wasn’t simply parroting what was written there and calling it a day. I hope I didn’t upset anyone by not trying to find stories from other sources (be it a book, forum, or elsewhere).

So with all of that out of the way, let’s get into today’s story. It’s without a shadow of a doubt one of my favorite unsolved mysteries ever. I precisely remember where I first heard it, but I think it might have been when I was reading an article on Mysterious Universe. If it wasn’t there, it might’ve been something on a website like Listverse.

I digress though. The story in question is that of a man named Charles Jevington. His story is one of the most fantastical to ever be told. It’s a story of a mysterious disappearance, an equally mysterious return, friendship, extraterrestrials, astronomical revelations, and ridicule. So, to end off this year, let’s dive into the story of a man who befriended aliens.

Decemystery (2021) 30: Los Angeles John & Jane Doe (1921–1951)

 

Let’s be honest for a moment: teenagers do some really stupid things. There is absolutely no denying that—it’s kind of a part of being a teen (in my eyes at least). I mean, I did some stupid things. I rebelled against my parents, I acted like I knew everything there was to know, and I thought I could do and say anything I desired without consequences.

That, naturally, backfired, and I learned a lot of harsh lessons.

Lucky for me though, I’ve since learned my lesson (for the most part) and have become a better person. Well, I’ve at least attempted to become a better one. I sure as heck am not perfect by any stretch of the imagination and am still a deeply flawed human being, but I no longer try to pick fights with hornets and light fires inside my own home.

Yes, I actually did the latter one. Admittedly, I did that as a pre-teen, but I thought that fire wouldn’t burn as fast as it actually does.

Err, well, anyways: all of that brings us to today’s story. Teenage tomfoolery/stupidity is the name of the game for today. You see, the Los Angeles John & Jane Doe both made a big oopsy daisy and now have remained unidentified for upwards of a century. Let’s find out why.

Mystery: The Antarctic Godzilla

 

Let’s take a trip back to the middle of 2019. I’d just lost my girlfriend because of a gnarly break up, I was lonely, but I still had World of Warcraft to play. All was technically okay, except it totally wasn’t. Lucky for me though, I had an ace up my sleeve: writing. That’s why throughout most of 2019, I didn’t write a dang thing. However, I did have a plethora of ideas, one of which is the center of today’s story.

You see, back in 2019, I had been looking into these things called “Ningens”, which were reported by Japanese sailors. They’re basically aquatic humans that live in the Antarctic sea and are said to be really dang big (well over 10 feet/3 meters). If you want to know more, I did a rather short write-up on them for 2019’s Decemystery. It’s minimalistic, but I think it gets the point across somewhat well.

Anyways, while doing research on the Ningen, I came across another story which not only was reported by Japanese sailors, but also happens to take place in Antarctica. It’s called the Antarctic Godzilla, and it was originally slated to be covered during Decemystery 2019….

Then Decemystery 2020.

Then in this year’s Decemystery.

Finally, I decided to cover it today, because there’s honestly next to nothing in the way of information when it comes to this story. So let’s dive into this whale of a tale and see what the truth behind it is.

Spoiler: it isn’t actually Godzilla.

Decemystery (2020) 1: Jack the Stripper

 

This story is dedicated to my friend Maya. Thanks for helping me pick this story out.

Hello, dear reader! It’s that glorious time of the year again; December. I’ve been eagerly awaiting this month ever since New Year’s Day. Why exactly? Well, I’ve had numerous great ideas for what I suspect will be the most exciting, interesting, and unique Decemystery to date.

For starters, I didn’t want any conspiracy theories like last year. Sure, some of this year’s mysteries will have conspiratorial elements, but we won’t be having anything silly like Lord of the Rings being true or Project Blue Beam. Rather, we’ll have a lot more down-to-earth stories that will make for something a lot more enticing and even spooky.

Now, when deciding on what to do for the first story, I wanted something nobody would see coming; a story that could kick start something truly memorable. After consulting the friend I dedicated this story to, the victor was the humorously named Jack the Stripper—though the official name for the case is the Hammersmith Nude Murders. So come, let us begin to round out the year with some good old fashioned mysteries. Decemystery 2020 begins now!

Decemystery (2019) 5: Giant Jellyfish

Don't touch the tentacles.

Jellyfish are some of the most peculiar creatures on the planet. With no brain to speak of (save for Box Jellyfish, which do have a brain), they float around to the ocean’s current. The largest one on the planet, stretching at a whopping 120 feet long, is the Lion’s Mane Jellyfish. However, what if there was a larger one? Well, as luck would have it, sightings of such creatures exist. So today, let’s take a gander at the reports of Giant Jellyfish.

Mystery: The Man from Taured

*Looks at Butterfly* Is this Taured?

Reading like the start to a science-fiction novel, The Man from Taured is a brilliant tale that's somehow not a work of fiction. It happened, though exactly what the reality behind it is ranges from the outlandishly fantastical to the completely mundane.

Mystery: The Flatwoods Monster

Looks like a frail grandmother.

My head hurts. I have a fever that's over 100. Unsurprisingly, I'm really sick. So with that said, this is the perfect time for some low effort writing—which I want to apologize for if you want something more in-depth. Though I don't trust myself to write anything of substance without devolving into nonsensical ramblings.

Now then, I'm pretty sure that most of you—if not all of you—are familiar with creatures such as Biggest and the Loch Ness Monster. The legendary cryptids of the world; the monsters that have defined an entire field of study: Cryptozoology. While some argue that those two aforementioned creatures are nothing more than mere myths, there are those who have dedicated years, decades, or sometimes their entire lives to discovering the truth behind those creatures.

While both Bigfoot and Nessie are fascinating stories, I want to take some time to go far down the cryptid food chain to discuss a less known creature. One whose existence, although likely mundane, became the mascot for the town it was seen near. That creature is simply known as The Flatwoods Monster.

Decemystery 28: MV Joyita

The wreck of the MV Joyita.

The third and final ghost ship story I'm gonna cover this month. I was hesitant to cover this one as I wanted the Ourang Medan to be the ghost ship finale, but I'd say that the MV Joyita is a pretty good one to end on too.

Decemystery 20: James Dean and The Little Bastard

James Dean with his car, the Little Bastard.

When I put this miniseries together, I wanted to focus on more obscure or lesser known mysteries. However, things changed and I'm not one to (normally) pass up a request. That, combined with time restraints (caused partially by laziness) have made me bend the rules a bit. So fasten your seat belts. It's time we discuss legendary story of James Dean and the Little Bastard.

Decemystery 14: The Phantom Whistler of Lousiana

A portion of a newspaper article on the spooky whistler.

Ah, Louisiana. A place of culture and spirit. The home of Mardi Gras and The Big Easy. Beneath its cultural flare however, Louisiana has had a pretty rough history. Back in the 1910s, the state's most famous city—New Orleans—was terrorized by an axe wielding maniac who became known as “The Axeman of New Orleans”. That’s a story for another day though. For now, we’re taking a trip thirty years beyond that into the swell year of 1950. The Cold War was going on, the swell nature of the neighborhood was at an all-time high, and the Civil Rights movement was at the forefront of the news whenever the Soviet Union wasn’t threatening to nuke us into oblivion.

However, within the confines of Paradis, there was a little story that was about to be birthed. One that to this day remains a little gem in the cavalcade of unsolved mysteries. It is simply known as The Phantom Whistler of Louisiana.

Decemystery 7: The Boy in the Box

This case is the one that really got me into unsolved mysteries after many years of not having read about them. I can't say for certain what it was that intrigued me. What I can say for certain is that the photo of the Boy in the Box is one of the most unsettling photos I've ever seen and that I'm going to share it with you now to give you nightmares and/or break your heart.

This image has haunted me for years. I can't say for certain why, but it's always made me uneasy.