Buzz
Whenever something noteworthy takes place, there’s always someone eager to gather, catalog, and sell anything even slightly connected to it. Spend a brief time browsing auction sites, and you can find items as unusual as cigarette butts smoked by Elvis, hair snatched from Marilyn Monroe’s brush, or even tissues that an actor once used to blow their nose.
Despite this collector’s obsession, we've still managed to lose some truly significant treasures. These are items so culturally valuable that calling them “priceless” barely does them justice. Items like...
10. The Vanished da Vinci Manuscripts
If there were a contest for the "greatest genius in human history," Leonardo da Vinci would have a strong case for the title. In addition to creating the world’s most iconic painting, he also invented concepts like scuba diving equipment and the helicopter. Much of his finest work is captured in his manuscript books, where he outlined ideas for cars, hang-gliders, and even geology... but nearly 80% of these invaluable books are lost forever.
Upon his death, the majority of da Vinci’s manuscripts were inherited by his pupil, Francesco Melzi. Sadly, when Melzi passed away in 1570, his belongings were looted, and most of da Vinci’s works were stolen. Only about one-fifth of them are known to have survived. Given the brilliance we've seen in the surviving fragments, it's impossible to fathom what groundbreaking ideas could have been in the rest. To put their worth into perspective, in 2001, a single rushed sketch by da Vinci fetched £8 million at auction in Britain.
9. The Lost Original of Hamlet
You’re likely familiar with Hamlet, arguably Shakespeare’s most renowned play. It stands as the apex of English literature, a work that future generations of schoolchildren will continue to study for centuries to come. However, Hamlet is not entirely original; it’s an adaptation of an earlier play by Thomas Kyd called the Ur-Hamlet, an unbelievably important piece of writing that, unfortunately, has been lost to time.
In 1589, fellow playwright Thomas Nashe launched a harsh critique of Hamlet, dismissing it as awful. The issue here is that Shakespeare’s Hamlet wouldn’t be staged for another decade, suggesting that someone else must have performed it first. This someone is generally believed to be Thomas Kyd, another playwright whose life remains largely a mystery, aside from his undeniable influence.
The Ur-Hamlet was likely Kyd’s most influential play. Finding it would reveal how much Shakespeare borrowed or adapted for his own version. At the very least, it would offer insight into how history’s most renowned playwright shaped his masterpiece. But all that remains are references, with no known surviving copies and little hope of discovering more evidence.
8. The Lost Ending of the Bayeux Tapestry
The Bayeux Tapestry is a medieval masterpiece illustrating the Norman Conquest of England. Spanning 70 meters (230 feet), it’s the most famous tapestry in the world. It chronicles the final years of the last English king before William the Conqueror’s invasion, depicts Halley’s Comet, and possibly features the first recorded image of a kebab... yet its final segment is missing, likely lost to time.
Little is known about this missing section, though it is believed to have been approximately 3 meters (10 feet) long and portrayed the crowning of William the Conqueror
7. Lewis Carroll’s Diaries
The creator of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, had a deep passion for keeping diaries. The Lewis Carroll Society reports that he maintained a continuous journal from the age of 10 until just a month before his death. Each entry is detailed and provides crucial insight into his life and works. The problem, however, is that at least a third of these diaries are now missing.
Some of the missing entries encompass key events in Carroll’s life, most notably his relationship with Alice Liddell, the young girl who inspired the character of Alice in Wonderland. It's long been speculated that Carroll may have had romantic feelings for Alice, with a significant falling-out with her parents in June 1863 adding weight to this theory. Unfortunately, the diary from that period has vanished, its pages destroyed by a relative of Carroll. If these pages were to be discovered, they could either protect or damage his legacy—offering a rare glimpse into the complex mind of one of the most influential Victorian writers.
6. Lincoln’s Lost Speech
On May 29, 1856, in a humble building in Bloomington, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln took the stage and delivered a 90-minute speech that ignited passions. This address not only helped form the Illinois Republican Party, but it also launched Lincoln into national prominence, ultimately influencing the trajectory of the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the shaping of modern America. Strangely, no version of this speech is known to have survived.
We have a general sense of what the speech covered, and there are some scattered notes from attendees. But a complete and faithful record of Lincoln’s words from that night? It simply doesn’t exist. Much like a broadcast fading into the airwaves, Lincoln’s fervent speech vanished after being spoken.
The speech, which expressed some firm views on slavery, might have been intentionally suppressed by Lincoln in order to avoid charges of extremism. For whatever reason, it remains one of Lincoln’s most important speeches—ironically, the one you’ll never have to study.
5. The Ending Of Orson Welles’s Second Film
In 1942, hot on the heels of *Citizen Kane*, Orson Welles sought out a new project and turned to a nearly forgotten but award-winning novel called *The Magnificent Ambersons*. What he produced was a cinematic masterpiece that modern critics have even declared superior to *Kane*. Remarkably, they say this without having seen the full film—because nearly a third of it was destroyed by the studio.
Despite *Kane*'s status as a critical success, it had been a box-office flop, leading the executives at RKO to conclude that Welles was incapable of directing a profitable picture. When he presented his deeply emotional, 132-minute tribute to the America of his youth, the studio decided to take drastic action. While Welles was abroad in South America filming another project, more than 40 minutes of *Ambersons* were cut from the final release and quietly dumped at sea.
The lost footage included most of the second half of the film, along with its original, more fitting conclusion. Although the first half and a newly crafted ending remain, the full potential of what could have been one of the greatest films ever made is now lost to history.
4. The Second Half of Dead Souls
Nikolai Gogol's *Dead Souls*, originally conceived as a trilogy, was set to be a monumental work, yet only the first part was published. The plot revolves around a swindler who buys up the 'souls' of deceased peasants in a bid to amass wealth. Despite Gogol's ambition for this project to embody the essence of Russia, the planned masterpiece was never completed. The second part was written but later destroyed, and part three remained unwritten.
In the final years of his life, Gogol came into contact with a spiritual guide named Father Matthew. Shocked by the moral implications in Gogol’s works, Father Matthew persuaded him to destroy *Dead Souls*, believing it would save his soul. After burning his own manuscript, Gogol was struck by remorse, spiraling into depression, refusing to eat, and dying soon after.
Today, only rough drafts of some chapters remain, leaving behind little of the grand vision Gogol intended for *Dead Souls*.
3. The First Work of Western Literature
If you’re going to lose something, it might as well be something monumental. This seems to be the reasoning behind the disappearance of the *Margites*, an ancient comedic epic written by the Greek poet Homer.
Ancient sources suggest that Homer composed *Margites* prior to the more renowned (and surviving) *Iliad* and *Odyssey*. It was evidently a remarkable work, with Aristotle in *On the Art of Poetry* claiming that it essentially birthed Greek comedy. Given that the *Iliad* is often hailed as the 'first great book' and the inaugural work of Western literature, the honor should likely have belonged to the lost *Margites*.
In other words, discovering this lost comedy wouldn’t just grant us a new work by one of history’s greatest authors. It would require us to reevaluate the entire Western literary canon, beginning with it. In their list of missing books, the Smithsonian referred to it as the greatest work 'you’ll never have a chance to read,' a fitting epitaph for the very first work of Western literature.
2. Kafka’s Last Love Letters
Franz Kafka may very well be the most significant writer of the 20th century. A reclusive Czech Jew who delved into the themes of human alienation amid vast, complex bureaucracies, Kafka’s works might be the most analyzed in the world. Modern scholars regard every single line he wrote as precious, with even his memos published in collections. Yet, some of Kafka’s most vital correspondence remains lost: 35 love letters exchanged with Dora Diamant shortly before his death.
In 1933, nine years after Kafka’s death, Diamant was residing in Berlin and still had the letters in her possession. Unfortunately, 1933 Berlin was an exceedingly dangerous place for Jews. One night, the newly-empowered Nazi party raided her home, seizing or destroying nearly everything inside. Diamant was forced to flee the city, leaving the letters behind. It is now believed that they were most likely destroyed by the Nazis, although some theorize that they were stored in a Soviet archive until the late 1980s following World War II. Either way, they are now lost to history.
1. The ‘From Hell’ Letter
The *From Hell* Letter is an ill-spelled note that Jack the Ripper is believed to have sent to the London police in 1888. It was delivered in a package that also contained half of a human kidney. This letter is considered to possibly be the only legitimate correspondence from history's most infamous serial killer. However, at some point, the police managed to misplace both the letter and the kidney that accompanied it.
The consequences of this loss are enormous. For one, modern forensic methods could have confirmed whether the kidney belonged to one of Jack’s victims, which would have helped to authenticate the letter. Furthermore, there’s the possibility that some forensic trace could have been left on the paper, potentially leading us to the solution of the Whitechapel murders. Instead, this crucial piece of evidence was likely either stolen or discarded, leaving us just as puzzled as the Victorians were.
