Failures in rock masses are one of the leading causes of recurrent disasters like landslides, rock falls, instability during tunnelling, dam foundation failures, etc. As the frequency of such catastrophic events increases, thorough forensic investigations of such failure events are essential to obtain representative information of the failure regions and improve the understanding of the factors controlling the stability of rock masses. This paper reviews reported case studies on forensic investigations of rock failures to assess the various tools and techniques employed to inspect the different types of failures. The importance of detailed forensic investigations to developing a better understanding of the factors responsible for the instability of rock masses is also highlighted in this paper. The review of these failure observations can also aid as a guide for selection of appropriate mitigation measures to avoid such disasters that cause significant socio-economic losses.