Conspiracy
The definition of conspiracy is "the act of conspiring together"
(To conspire is to plot)
The definition of conspiracy theory is "a theory that explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot by usually powerful conspirators"
Mystery
Mystery has a few definitions, the two I'm focusing on are: "something not understood or beyond understanding" and "profound, inexplicable, or secretive quality or character"
My obsession with the bizarre started earlier than most, and I can give credit for this to my parents. I grew up with a father who got me into fantasy and sci-fi at a very young age. Star Wars, Star Trek and Piers Anthony's Xanth novels as bedtime stories.
My mom and I bonded over true crime and the supernatural. She has a love of ghost stories and the two of us spent many an afternoon watching reruns of the original Unsolved Mysteries TV show.
By 4th grade you could say I was already obsessed. Every morning at school I would go down to the library, grab a stool for my four ft. tall self, and go to the one shelf with all the books on ghosts and urban legends. Any breaks from lessons would become an opportunity to read about everything from bigfoot to alien abductions to the disappearance of the Mary Celeste. At one point I even gave a PowerPoint presentation to my 5th grade class about UFOs, just because I could.
I was a strange kid.
In this large, chaotic world there will always be unknowns, that's a given. But what's the point in searching, regardless of whether or not an answer is acquirable?
Curiosity is a wonderful thing (as long as one is smart about what to look into and what to leave be). Searching leads to discoveries. It might not be an answer or solution you were looking for, but you'll rarely not find something. Curiosity also fuels inspiration. Our minds work to fill in blank spaces, our imaginations create scenarios in an attempt to explain or understand the impossible.
Sometimes it takes a crazy answer to solve a crazy problem.
And what's beautiful is that answers can come from the strangest places.
The Dyatlov Pass Incident.
For anyone who doesn't know about this tale I highly recommend watching one of the many case studies detailing the strange and tragic event. In short,