Talking About Mysteries & The Unknown in English - Spoken English Lesson

Hi, I’m Molly. Welcome to Oxford Online  English! In this lesson, you can learn to  

talk about mysteries and things we can’t explain. Do you like a good mystery? Perhaps you read a  

book, saw a film, or watched a documentary  about something which can’t be explained? 

Think about the last mystery that had  you wondering...what happened there?! 

In this lesson, you’ll learn about describing,  

responding to and speculating about mysteries.  You’ll also hear about some interesting ones. 

Also, do you want English subtitles  while watching this video?  

Click the ‘CC’ button in the bottom right now  to turn on English subtitles if you need them. 

Now, let’s look at useful language that will  help you talk about exciting mysteries. 

Ever heard of Dan Cooper? An unknown criminal who hijacked an airplane in the 70s? 

No, never heard of him. I just watched a fascinating documentary  

about him on YouTube. His crime is still one of  the greatest unsolved mysteries in US history! 

Okay, so what happened? Well, the story of Dan Cooper is an intriguing  

one. So this guy, Dan Cooper, hijacked a plane  full of passengers flying over the U.S. No one  

knows who he was and the case has baffled the FBI  for over 50 years. Why did he do it? Terrorism? 

For money! During the flight, Cooper said he had a  bomb in his briefcase and demanded parachutes and  

$200,000. The plane landed in Seattle and the  passengers were exchanged for the money. Now,  

this is where the story gets really interesting! Go on. 

The plane took off again for Mexico with  instructions from Cooper to fly at 10,000 feet.  

At some point during the flight, they think  Cooper jumped out of the plane with all the cash. 

Okay, so this guy escaped with the money?! Well, that’s still unexplained. There are  

theories about what happened to him but  the case remains a mystery to this day. 

So that’s it? They must know  more about what happened? 

Well... You’ll hear more about  

what happened to Dan Cooper later, in part three  of the lesson. But now, let’s look at the useful  

language you heard to describe the mystery. A great way to introduce a mystery you want  

to talk about is to say: ‘Ever heard  of...?’ or ‘Have you heard about...?’ 

These mean you’re going to tell  the listener something of interest. 

When you introduce a mystery, you might also  use phrases like ‘no one knows’ or ‘no one  

knows for sure’. For example: ‘no one knows  for sure who Jack the Ripper really was.’ 

‘No one knows where Cleopatra’s tomb is.’ 

Can you think of anything else  ‘no one knows’ the answer to? 

Next, you heard some adjectives beginning  with U-N in the conversation which described  

the mystery of Dan Cooper. Can you remember them?  

There were three; what were they? 

You heard ‘unknown’, ‘unsolved’ and  ‘unexplained’. You can use these words  

to talk about situations we can’t explain. One of these words is commonly used together  

with the word ‘mystery’ to make a  collocation. Do you know which one? 

‘Unsolved mystery’ is a common  collocation. For example,  

the Dan Cooper incident is an ‘unsolved mystery’,  because we still don’t know what happened. 

Correct use of collocations is a great  way to expand your communication skills  

and express yourself more clearly. There are  other useful collocations with the word ‘mystery’. 

For example, to describe a situation where  there are unexplainable elements, you can say:  

‘There is an air of mystery to it’, or,  ‘The situation is shrouded in mystery’. 

If a mystery *has* been solved, then you  can say the mystery has been ‘cleared up’. 

If it looks like the mystery will stay unsolved,  you can say it will ‘remain a mystery’. 

Let’s look at other adjectives  from the conversation. 

‘Fascinating’ means that something  is extremely interesting.  

What was the last unsolved mystery  you thought was fascinating? 

‘Intriguing’ has a similar meaning to  ‘fascinating’; if something is intriguing,  

it’s interesting and it makes you feel  curious. You want to know more about it. 

‘Mysterious’ describes something you find hard to  explain. You can use it with many different words:  

a mysterious noise, a mysterious stranger,  a mysterious disappearance, and so on. 

Finally, you heard the speaker say: ‘The case has baffled the FBI for 50 years’. 

‘Baffled’ means extremely  confused about something. 

Got it? Don’t forget that you  can review any part of the lesson  

which you find difficult! Let’s  move on to our next mystery. 

Have you heard of the Mary  Celeste? The ghost ship? 

Ghost ship? No. What is that? It was a ship, found drifting in the  

middle of the Atlantic Ocean, totally empty. Sounds interesting! Tell me more! 

Well, this has baffled historians for over a  hundred years. The ship left New York in December  

1872, sailing for Italy. They found it  a month later with all the crew missing! 

Hmmm... Okay, so something happened on  board, and everyone abandoned the ship? 

Well, it’s not that straightforward. When they  found the ship, there was nothing wrong with it.  

What’s more, there were plenty of supplies and  all the crew’s possessions were still on board. 

How could that be? No one knows for sure,  

but there are some interesting theories  as to what might have happened. 

Such as? Some people believe  

pirates killed the crew. Others suspect that  two of the crewmen killed the rest of the crew  

because their possessions weren’t found. The passengers were murdered?  

This is giving me the creeps. Other theories suggest mother nature, a storm  

maybe, caused the crew to abandon ship, but that  doesn’t explain why they left everything behind. 

Yeah, that’s so weird. Some people believe there  

must be a supernatural explanation, and  the crew were taken by aliens, ghosts  

or some other type of creature from the deep! Creatures from the deep? Surely not!  

Anyway, I’ve heard enough. Monsters  from the ocean freak me out. 

A great way to show interest in a mystery  story is to tell the person you’re interested.  

Can you remember how I did this? 

Look at some phrases you  heard. Can you complete them? 

Pause the video and think about your answers.  If you want, you can also go back, listen to the  

dialogue again, and find the missing words. Did you get all four? Let’s check. 

The listener also responded to  ‘pirates killed the crew’ and ‘crewmen  

killed the crew’ by echoing this with a  question: the passengers were murdered? 

These phrases show the speaker that you are  listening and interested in what they are saying. 

Let’s do some practice. We’re going  to use the conversation from part one.  

If you haven’t watched part one, that’s  okay. You can still complete this task. 

Imagine: someone is telling  you a story about a mystery. 

See if you can respond show more interest  using the language you’ve just seen. 

Read and repeat the responses that you see on  the screen. Then, to make it more difficult  

for yourself, you can rewind, close your  eyes, and try and respond without looking. 

Ready? Here we go. 

His crime is still one of the greatest  unexplained mysteries in US history. 

The case has baffled the FBI for over 50 years! 

They think Cooper parachuted out  of the plane with all the cash. 

Nice job! Now try it again but this time  don’t read the responses. Also: focus on your  

intonation. Intonation is essential to express  interest. If you say ‘Really. I’m intrigued now’,  

you won’t sound interested. You need  intonation: ‘Really? I’m intrigued now!’ 

Learning how to respond to  mysteries and stories with interest  

will help you in your everyday conversations too. 

Next, you will learn how to speculate about  a mystery. You speculate when you talk about  

something you don’t know about; maybe you have an  idea, or you just want to guess about what happened. 

Using past modal verbs is a good way to do  this: you can use the modal verbs ‘must’,  

‘might’, ‘may’, ‘could’ and ‘can’t’  to speculate about the past. 

So, let’s go back to the story  about the mysterious Dan Cooper. 

While you listen to this conversation,  

think about these two things.  What are the speakers sure about? 

And, what are the speakers unsure about? Got it? Let’s listen. 

They must know more about what happened? Well... for starters, they know so little  

about the man that Dan Cooper  might *not* ‘ve been his real name 

Okay. So did they figure anything out? So many things are uncertain.  

As the plane was flying over the Washington  mountains at night, he probably parachuted  

out. They’re not completely sure. You mean he *could*’ve hidden 

on the plane and escaped later? Possibly, but police searched the  

plane and didn’t find him. So he *must*’ve jumped out! 

But he *can’t*’ve survived the jump from 10,000  feet into the mountains! Did they find his body? 

No body or parachute was ever found. They did find  a bag containing $6000 in a river. It may have  

belonged to Cooper but even that wasn’t certain. Wow. Great story! I wonder what really happened  

to him? Maybe he’s sitting on a beach in  Mexico right now laughing at all of us? 

Haha...maybe. So, the speakers gave their  

ideas about what happened to Dan Cooper. What were  they sure about and what were they unsure about? 

If you are unsure yourself, go back  and listen to the conversation again. 

Firstly, let’s look at the  things they were *sure* about  

and how they used past modals to communicate that. 

Can you fill in the blanks  with the modal verbs you heard? 

He *must have* jumped out! 

This means the speaker is certain that  Cooper *did* jump out of the airplane. 

He *can’t have* survived the jump. 

This means the speaker is certain  that Cooper *didn’t* survive the jump. 

Why is the speaker so sure Cooper  jumped out of the airplane? 

Because the police didn’t find  Cooper when they searched the plane. 

Why is the speaker so sure that  Cooper can’t have survived the jump? 

Because the speaker assumes it’s impossible  to survive a jump into the mountains. 

You can use ‘must have’ or ‘can’t have’ to talk  about things in the past where you don’t know  

for a fact, but you’re sure about what happened.  You use logical deduction to reach a conclusion. 

Now, let’s look at the things the  speakers were *unsure* about. They said:  

Dan Cooper *might not have* been his real name. 

He *could’ve* hidden on the plane. It *may have* belonged to Cooper. 

The speakers in these cases are not sure. You  can use ‘might have’ ‘could have’ or ‘may have’  

to talk about something in the past which  you think is possible, but you’re not sure. 

So, if you say ‘He could have hidden on  the plane’, you mean that it’s possible,  

but not certain, and either way you don’t know. What do *you* think happened to Dan Cooper?  

Pause the video and make two sentences you are  sure of and two sentences you are unsure of. 

Now, listen to me say these sentences again  and repeat after me. He must’ve jumped out. 

He could’ve hidden on the plane. Which words are stressed? And, which sounds  

are missing? Listen more than once if you need to. The modal verbs ‘must’ and ‘could’ are stressed. 

For past modals of deduction, the  modal verb is usually stressed.  

This is because the speaker wants to  emphasize their logical conclusion or guess. 

The missing sound was the ‘h’ sound in have. 

The ‘have’ is pronounced in its weak  form so you shouldn’t make the ‘h’ sound. 

What do you think happened to Dan Cooper or  the Mary Celeste? Comment below and tell us  

what you think happened in these famous unsolved  mysteries. Use the language you learned today. 

Thanks for watching! See you next time!