Random History's Best Kept Secrets (14 items)

(#7) The Manhattan Project Cost Billions, But Remained Secret

From Redditor /u/derdody:

Considering the size and cost, [how was] the Manhattan Project [kept secret?]. The toughest part? Hiding 3 billion 1940s US dollars from Congress and especially the war efficiency guru Harry Truman. Yes, there were holes (Fuchs, etc), but damn if they didn't pull the thing off. No question about that, right or wrong.

Even before it entered World War II, the United States began undertaking an ultra-expensive, ultra-secret initiative code-named the Manhattan Project. The goal was to create a weapon more destructive than anything ever built, one to combat Nazi Germany, where the US correctly feared Hitler was trying to develop one of his own. It had to remain top-secret, despite employing 130,000 people, being conducted in 30 different sites, and running up a bill of over $2 billion dollars - the equivalent of at least $27 billion today.

Shockingly, the United States developed an atomic bomb with near perfect secrecy.
(#9) No One Can Fully Crack The Secret Of Egyptian Hieroglyphics

From Redditor /u/Attican101:

Even though we have figured out one form of the hieroglyphs being the base system for taxes etc there are other meanings to each glyph we have no idea of and can only guess at.

For centuries, Egyptian hieroglyphs presented a mystery, a code that could not be cracked. In the 1820s, the Rosetta Stone helped scholars learn some hieroglyphic symbols, revealing they were not an alphabet at all, but rather symbols that could represent sounds or words.

While modern scholars have unraveled the secret of many symbols, some remain a mystery.
(#8) George Washington
- US President
From Redditor /u/chevdecker:

The Culper Ring, a network of spies hand-picked by George Washington to spy on the British in the Revolutionary War. Took over 150 years for anyone to figure out who any of them were.

George Washington was a general, the first US president, and the leader of a secret spy ring. The Culper Spy Ring, founded by Benjamin Tallmadge, provided invaluable intelligence information for the general as he battled the British troops during the American Revolution. By getting close to loyalists in the colonies and enemy forces on Long Island, the spies discovered and passed on intelligence regarding British troop movements, enemy fortifications, and secret British plans to attack the French army.

Washington, also known as Agent 711, may have won the war thanks to his spies.
(#4) Genghis Khan
- Notable Figure
From Redditor /u/GoGoButters:

The location where Genghis Khan was buried [is unknown]. Legend has it that his funeral escort killed anyone they passed in order to conceal the burial site. There are speculations on the where Genghis Khan was buried, but no one has found it.

Conqueror Genghis Khan died over 800 years ago, and despite many searches, no one has located his tomb. And the Mongol ruler wanted it that way: he asked for a secret burial, even ordering his army to hide the location by killing anyone they passed during his funeral procession.

According to legend, his soldiers rode 1,000 horses over the grave to make sure no one would discover it. And while most agree his tomb resides in Mongolia, that still leaves a space roughly seven times the size of Great Britain to search.

Among Mongolians today, there exists little interest in uncovering the tomb. Many people consider searching for Khan's grave a sign of disrespect - he never wanted to be found, and they wish to honor the conquerer's final request.
(#1) A Solid Gold Buddha Once Hid In Plain Sight

From Redditor /u/Brackto:

The "Phra Phuttha Maha Suwan Patimakon," a nine-foot tall stucco Buddha statue, was actually solid gold underneath.

For over 600 years, a 9-foot-tall stucco Buddha statue sat in Bangkok, Thailand. Known as the Phra Phuttha Maha Suwan Patimakon, it was so heavy that it sat outside for years, with a simple tin roof covering the statue. Then, in 1955, the statue was accidentally dropped while being moved to a new location. Pieces of the stucco broke off, and the shocked onlookers realized the entire Buddha was solid gold.

Worth an estimated $250 million, the statue may have been covered with stucco to protect it from Burmese invaders back in the 1700s. The ploy worked in that case, as no one noticed for centuries.
(#11) Tutankhamun
- Notable Figure
From Redditor /u/ConneryFTW:

[No one knows] where King Tut was buried. To my knowledge he's the only Pharaoh whose tomb wasn't plundered (until modern times).

King Tut died over 3,000 years ago, but his tomb evaded archaeologists until 1922, when Howard Carter uncovered his burial chamber in Egypt's famous Valley of the Kings. Archaeologists mistakenly believed they found every pharaoh's tomb, but Tut's proved unsullied by looters.

Why was King Tut's tomb untouched for millennia? One theory claims the tomb wasn't designed for a pharaoh at all, but when Tut died suddenly as a teenager, it was used for his burial.