Books have many purposes, for example, they inform us, teach us and amuse us. Many people find solace when reading a book. That is the role of a book. We get to understand a lot of things when we read a book. But not all books are understandable. In fact, there are many books that are themselves mystery, full of confusing and unknown content. These books when you read them, all they do is just puzzle you by its content, which may hint at something extraterrestrial or very strange.
These books describe some forgotten histories or bizarre and fantasy worlds. These books have not been read by anyone because they use cryptic languages that are yet to be cracked.
Check out the 10 most mysterious books in the world:
10. Dead Sea Scrolls
According to Qumran Caves Scrolls, the Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 981 different texts. These scrolls were discovered between the years 1946 and 1956 in Qumran Caves – eleven caves. The scrolls were discovered in the close vicinity of some Hellenistic-era Jewish community at the Khirbet Qumran, eastern of the Desert of Judea, and a modern-day West Bank. The eleven caves are located some 2 km (1.2 miles) inland the northwest shorelines of the Dead Sea, thus the famous name ‘the Dead Sea Scrolls.’
The belief is that the Qumran Caves Scrolls are from the last three BCE centuries and the first CE century. The bronze coins that were found at the same sites also support the paleographic and radiocarbon dating done on the scrolls. Additionally, some manuscripts found on the Judean Desert location date as back as the 8th century BCE and as late as the CE 11th century.
Most of the texts on the Dead Sea Scrolls are written in Aramaic and Hebrew and few in Greek. The texts are written on papyrus, parchment and one on copper.
It is believed that the scrolls were written by a priest from Jerusalem or another unknown Jewish sect.
9. The Red Book
The Red Book was written by Swiss psychoanalyst and modern-day Freud, Carl Jung, who spent about 15 years analyzing his own unconscious before writing the Red Book. Many mental professionals are of the opinion that the book was Carl Jung’s breakdown.
Before start writing the Red Book, Jung entered what he termed as his “mythopoetic imagination” and willfully took part in his own created fantasies, as well as recording and remarking on them after each and every encounter. According to Jung, many religious and historical figures appeared to him along his journeys within, and forced engagement from everyone that appeared to him, and explain why they were appearing to him and what their purposes were.
The book was kept from the public for close to 80 years, and become public in 2009.
8. Codex Mendoza
The origin of Codex Mendoza is more like a plot from an adventure novel, only that the Codex Mendoza itself is so mysterious and never been entirely cracked.
The book follows closely on the long and gory defeat of the Aztec Kingdom. The Spaniards seized the Mexico region and made it the property of their king and put the one Antonio de Mendoza as their first viceroy. As the new Aztec ruler, Mendoza commissioned the history of the people of Aztec and sent it to Spain via ship.
But on the way to Spain, French pirates captured the ship and killed everyone aboard. The pirates then looted everything the ship was carrying.
The Codex Mendoza was carried to France as a result and was found in 1553 by one of the advisors of the king. For over a hundred years, the Codex Mendoza wandered across Europe, surfacing from one place to the other. Finally, the book disappeared until 1831 when it again resurfaced in a storage chamber at the Library of Bodleian.
Codex Mendoza is broken into three parts. The first parts highlight the lineage of the kings of Aztec, the second part lists all the towns in Mexico that pay the empire of Aztec taxes, and the third part describes the day-to-day life in Aztec.
The images on the book were hand-painted by the slaves under the directions of the Spanish leaders.
7. Oera Linda Book
This book was written in Old Frisian and it supposed to bring light to the mythological, historical, and religious subjects of remote antiquity from 2194 BCE and 803 CE.
The manuscript of the Opera Linda first came to public awareness in the 1860s. Jan Gerhardus Ottema published the Dutch version of the book in 1872 and described it as “genuine.” Heated public controversies followed about the translated version, but later in 1879, it was universally accepted as the recent translation of the manuscript.
Controversies still followed the book and in the 1930s, it was revived due to Nazi occultism. This book still attracts controversies and still been viewed in esotericism and the literature o “Atlantis.”
Nobody has a clue about the author of the book despite it having the title similar to a person’s name.
6. The Smithfield Decretals
The collection texts of Smith Decretals are details about the canonical law, ordered by Pope Gregory IX in the 13th century. Although it is clear who, when and why the book was written, the bizarre illustrations used in the decretals saw the book lifted to a mystical status.
The Smithfield Decretals features numerous illustrations of homicidal giant rabbits, fighting between unicorns and bears, medieval Yoda, as well as peculiar animals and human practices.
5. Book of Soyga
This is a 16th century Latin dissertation on magic, and one copy was in possession of John Dee, an advisor to Queen Elizabeth. The book disappeared after the death of the scholar. Everyone had a feeling that the book will be irrecoverable. But in 1994, two manuscripts of the book were found in a British Library in Sloane as well as the Bodleian Library, under the title “Aldaraia sive Soyga vocor” by one of Dee scholar, Deborah Harkness.
The version from Sloane is labelled as “Tractatus Astrologico Magicus,” though the difference between the two manuscripts is very small.
4. The Urantia Book
The writing dates of this book are assumed to be some point between 1924 and 1955. The book surfaced in Chicago, Illinois, the United States, and no one knows who wrote it – at least no one who is still alive.
According to the book, Urantia is the planet earth. The content of the book ranges from God, Jesus to the meaning of life, to science, and philosophy. According to the Urantian, Jesus was born through traditional conception rather than Immaculate Conception, and also, he never performed any of the miracles stated in the Bible.
The book first appeared in the public domain courtesy of two doctors, and also a wife and husband Lena and William Sadler. The two doctors claimed that a neighbour reported to them that her husband constantly fell into a weird and very deep sleep. The husband would also frequently speak things he claimed were from another dimension. So he started writing as opposed to speaking them, and that is how the book came to be.
3. The Codex Seraphinianus
The Codex Seraphinianus is a comprehensive guide to a fake world. The book’s author is Luigi Serafini, an Italian artist, and was written in the late 70s and was published in 1981. Despite the author of the book being an Italian, this book is written in an unknown language. It contains over 300 pages and is loaded with drawings depicting animals, plants, machines, maps, humans, humanoids, food, buildings, and games.
No one knows what the book is all about, though the author Mr Serafini claims the book doesn’t carry any hidden message.
2. Rohonc Codex
Up to this day, it is not known who wrote the Rohonc Codex. It came to light in the 1800s the city of Rohonc, Hungary. Rohonc is now Rechnitz, Austria. The book surfaced after a kind man contributed his library to the Hungarian Academy of Science. Rohonc was written on a 16th-century paper but no one has been able to decode its meaning.
The book also features cartoon drawings depicting different religious as well as battle scenes.
1. The Voynich Manuscript
The manuscript was bought by Wilfrid Voynich – a Polish antique books merchant, in 1912. The 120-page book is written in a coded language no one has been able to crack to this day. The Voynich Manuscript is believed to date back to the 15th century and is filled with illustrations of various animals, herbs, astrology, people, and maps. Many believe the book may have written by a physician.