Unfortunately, many people go missing almost every day. Some cases of disappearance are not just made public, but are actively discussed all over the world. In today's article, we will tell you about the disappearance of people whose cases are well known to many.
April Fabb 
The disappearance of a 13-year-old Norfolk schoolgirl has become one of the most notorious cases in British history. It happened on a quiet and calm April day in 1969. April decided to visit her sister, who lived in a nearby village. The girl rode a bicycle, because the weather favored this type of transport. April, 13, was last seen by a truck driver. According to the driver, he saw a girl driving along a country road at about 2:06 pm. Based on the data of the investigation, already at 14:12 April's bicycle was found several hundred yards from the same country road in the middle of the field, but there were no traces, any material evidence or biological material of the girl.
The investigation revealed the cards, telling the public that the alleged kidnappers had only 6 minutes to grab the girl and escape from the scene of the crime unnoticed. All searches for April were unsuccessful. The investigators did not understand how the kidnappers could do their job in just 6 minutes without any traces or evidence. Theodosia Barr Alston
Theodosia Barr
Alston was the oldest child in the family of disgraced US Vice President Aaron Burr. She later successfully married South Carolina Governor Joseph Alstor. Fate was not kind to this woman. Five years later, after her father was accused of treason, her beloved son dies. She was so blinded by grief that she could not get out of bed. Theodosia could not eat or drink anything for days, she did not communicate with anyone, but only occasionally allowed her husband into her room. A breath of fresh air for her was the news that her father was returning home from exile. This gave strength to the young woman, because she understood that she would meet a person dear to her.
On New Year's Eve 1812, Theodosia boarded a schooner called the Patriot, which was supposed to take her to New York to her father. Her husband, who had recently assumed the office of governor, was unable to accompany her due to his duties in connection with the war of 1812, which broke out at about the same time that Theodosia's son died. The schooner never reached its destination. Some have suggested that the ship was taken over by pirates, but most historians seem to believe that the Patriot sank in a major storm that was reported in the region at the time.
Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller is a famous American arranger, trombonist and leader of one of the largest swing orchestras of those times. From the late 1930s to the early 1940s, he was the most sought-after artist in America. After the United States of America entered World War II, Henry decided to join the US Navy but was rejected and instead decided to do everything in his power to help the army. In late 1944, Miller and two other military men boarded a plane bound for France, where he was going to organize a concert for the American military. But suddenly the plane disappeared from the radar somewhere over the English Channel. Search crews never found either the plane or the passengers. He just disappeared.
Amelia Earhart
The story of Amelia Earhart is probably the most famous missing person incident. Her exploits as a pilot made her a worldwide celebrity. In 1937, Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan embarked on a planned flight around the world. On July 2, Earhart began sending out radio messages indicating that they were low on fuel and were desperately looking for help. The US Coast Guard patrol vessel Itasca moved to the rescue. But the Itasca never found Earhart and Noonan's plane, so an attempt was made to set off smoke signals, in the hope that the pilots would be able to see the smoke, but all was in vain. After an official search by the US Navy and Coast Guard, as well as a private search funded by Amelia's husband, no serious results were found. Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan were declared dead in 1939.
Sergei Bodrov
Much is known today about how Sergei Bodrov died, but the very moment of his death can only be reconstructed according to the circumstances clarified during the investigation. In the early autumn morning of September 20, 2002, the group, having gathered in the lobby of the hotel, went to the mountains for location shooting. The day did not start right away, there was a rise ahead, and the vehicles had to wait a long time, in connection with which the start of work, planned for 9:00, was delayed until one in the afternoon. Then, as it turned out later, the shooting nevertheless began and continued until about seven in the evening, when it began to get dark. The film crew of Sergei Bodrov loaded the equipment and set off on the return journey. At a quarter past eight, a mudflow covered a huge area, its mass was several million tons of stones, mud, sand and ice, and the speed exceeded 100 km / h. The layer was thick and reached 300 meters.
They disappear into the mists of time, leaving no trace. Their disappearance is often associated with the most unthinkable reasons. And versions are put forward, each of which is more absurd than the other.
Someone believes that the missing people are prisoners of space aliens who are kept on one of the planets. However, such an opinion is unlikely to console relatives and not alleviate suffering. Sometimes they will wait all their lives for the return of loved ones who disappeared under mysterious circumstances and hope for a miracle ...
The Beaumont Kids: Went to the Beach and Didn't Come Back
Photo by Getty Images
Australia Day became cursed for Jim and Nancy Beaumont: the national holiday turned out to be a terrible tragedy for them. On January 26, 1966, they sent the children to the beach resort coast of Glenelge, hoping that the nine-year-old Jane, in the family tradition, would take care of the younger Arne and Grant. The children left by bus at ten in the morning to return home by noon. They didn't show up at the appointed time, and Nancy thought the kids were walking back from the beach and a little late. However, the feeling of anxiety did not leave her, and she panicked when more than three hours had passed.
Evening came, and the children did not return. Jim rushed in from work, along with Nancy, rushed to the search. Desperate, the poor parents filed a complaint with the police. The search for children was carried out throughout South Australia, but all attempts to find even the slightest traces were unsuccessful. The version that children could drown has not received evidence. In this strange and mysterious case, a certain blond, young man was allegedly seen next to Jane, Arna and Grant.
The behavior of the children seen in Wenzel's confectionery also remained completely incomprehensible. Here they bought some pies and a cake, paying with a one-pound note, although, as Nancy claimed, she gave eight shillings and sixpence for pocket expenses.
Norfok Regiment: 267 disappeared without a trace
The story of his disappearance on the battlefield during the First World War is one of the most mysterious and enigmatic. On August 25, 1915, a whole British regiment, along with officers, who stormed the positions of the Turkish army near Gallipoli, entered the forest and disappeared from sight. No shots were heard, not the slightest rustle: 267 people disappeared without a trace. Reports from the British company stated that the regiment had been swallowed up by a mist of unknown origin. But this hasty conclusion only confused the situation. Of course, it was easier to blame the Turkish military for this dark matter: they say, they killed a bunch of people in an unknown way. However, none of them even knew about the existence of such a unit. The British, being victorious, began searching for the Norfok Regiment.
At first, they were very lucky: on the battlefield they found cockades, boots, shoulder straps of military personnel, which confirmed their belonging to the missing unit. And having found hundreds of corpses in one village, they hastened to say that the regiment had died heroically in battle. Although even with the naked eye one could notice some inconsistencies. For example, it seemed that the dead were thrown from a great height. This was evidenced by numerous fractures on the corpses, their dispersion throughout the territory.
In the early 70s of the last century, when the archives of the mysterious disappearance of the Norfok Regiment became public, a real boom began in the scientific world. Each of the scientists put forward his own hypothesis of a historical incident. But all, figuratively speaking, outdid British ufology. They claimed that the cloud of unknown origin was a UFO. Like, aliens killed part of the regiment, and took the other with them.
April Fabb: went to visit her sister on a bike and disappeared
Photo by Getty Images
All Britain was excited by this tragic event. A thirteen-year-old girl from Norfolk went missing in broad daylight. April 8, 1969 April went on a bicycle to visit her sister in a nearby village. The truck driver was the only witness who saw the girl for the last time. She seemed to have sunk into the water, disappearing without a trace. April Fubb's bicycle was found near the field. The police searched the entire area, but the search did not bring results.
Investigators would later try to link this case to the disappearance in 1978 of a young girl, Janet Tate, in which, according to police, notorious child killer Robert Black was involved. However, this version had to be abandoned: there was no direct evidence of his involvement in the disappearance of April. The case of the missing girl is still the most mysterious in the history of Britain.
The Sodder children of Fayetteville: Disappeared from their room when the fire started
It happened on Christmas Eve 1945. Maurice, Martha, Louis, Jenny and Betty Sodder strolled nonchalantly through the night streets, not at all worried that they were too late. Meanwhile, their other brothers and sisters and their parents slept peacefully in their beds. But in the middle of the night, the mother suddenly heard loud sounds that came from the roof. In a moment, she suddenly realized that the house had been set on fire. The smell of smoke and fiery glow forced the woman to raise her family to their feet. They got out to escape the fire.
Then the parents began to look for a ladder to get to the top floor and rescue Betty, Jenny, Maurice, Martha and Louis from the fiery captivity. However, the search ended in failure. When firefighters arrived, only the remains of the house were smoldering. But it was not possible to find the bodies among the ashes. The heartbroken parents explained to the police that apparently someone had kidnapped the children and set fire to the house to cover up the crime.
The investigators could not give an intelligible answer to many of the questions that were asked of them. And, in all likelihood, they put the mysterious case on the shelf. In 1968, my parents received a strange photograph in the mail. It showed a young man, and on the back of the photo was the caption: "Louis Sodder." The poor parents believed until their death that it was their missing son, despite the fact that the police were never able to identify the man.
Nicole Maureen: disappeared in her own house without leaving it
Photo by Getty Images
It is incomprehensible to the mind, but an eight-year-old girl disappeared without leaving a huge building with 20 floors. True, one of the tenants claimed to have seen Nicole approach the elevator. On July 30, 1985, the girl, having received parting words from her mother, left the apartment. She hurried to the pool, and her friend was already waiting for her. But after a while they called the apartment - Nicole's friend was standing on the threshold and asking why she was late and did not leave the house.
The best police forces in Toronto were involved in the search for the girl. They searched literally every floor of the house, trying to find traces of the presence of Nicole Maureen. Even today, the authorities have been forced to admit that the case of the disappearance of the girl has not moved a single step. This recognition, of course, did not console the parents, who also spent a lot of effort in search of their daughter.
Barbara Bolik: disappeared when her friend turned away
This case defies any explanation at all. An elderly woman from Corvallis, Montana, was known to be a big fan of hiking in the mountains. And one day, together with her friend Jim Ramaker, who came from California, she went on another trip. The picturesque places spread out under one's feet seduced Barbara Bolik's companion with their beauty. For the sake of this spectacle, he paused for a moment, and when he turned around, he did not see Barbara. Jim searched every corner of the path he had traveled, but he did not find her. He sounded the alarm and called the police, who also could not find any trace of Barbara Bolick.
It was as if the woman had sunk into the ground. Naturally, suspicion first fell on Jim Ramaker. But the investigation proved that he had nothing to do with Barbara's disappearance. And until now, this story is full of secrets and mysteries: it’s hard to imagine that the person you saw a minute ago suddenly dissolves into space and disappears from your field of vision forever.
Dorothy Arnold: went shopping and didn't come back
Photo by Getty Images
With a book in hand and a bag containing half a pound of chocolate, she went for an easy walk in New York's Central Park to disappear from this city forever. It happened on December 12, 1910. Bright beauty Dorothy Arnold left the house to choose a new dress for the next ball. The young society girl and wealthy heiress was the pride of the local society. In addition, she was considered an aspiring writer. True, someone doubted her talent, but everything was written off by Dorothy's beauty, which attracted almost all enviable suitors in New York. Strangely, the parents announced the disappearance of their daughter only six weeks later. Perhaps in this way they wanted to avoid unnecessary noise, but it turned out the opposite. The whole city was shocked by this news.
Active searches for the girl only gave rise to versions, but did not bring positive results. It was rumored that Dorothy could have fled to Europe, trying to get rid of excessive parental care. But this assumption was immediately dismissed: the appearance of a young beauty here would not have gone unnoticed.
Maura Murray: disappeared at the scene of the accident
A few days before the incident, the parents drew attention to the strange behavior of their daughter. The girl seemed to be afraid of someone, but she did not dare to tell about her fears. On February 9, 2004, University of Massachusetts student Maura Murray sent an email to faculty and employers saying that she was forced to leave due to the death of a family member. Although in reality this did not happen. Why Maura did this remains a mystery. And on the evening of February 9, the girl had an accident, crashing into a tree. And two days earlier, she broke another car. The bus driver who witnessed the accident offered to help Maura. However, she refused. Worried about the fate of the girl, the driver still called the police.
Photo by Getty Images
He was one of the most famous travelers of his time. The intrepid explorer Colonel Percy Fawcett has traveled to almost every corner of Brazil and Bolivia where no man has gone before. And he was obsessed with the idea - to find the lost city of Zet in the Amazon jungle. Percy even came up with a theory that his traces must be looked for in the Mato Grosso region of Brazil. With his dream of the possibility of a sensational discovery, Fawcett captivated his eldest son Jack and his friend Reilly Rimmel.
In 1925, they set off on a journey to disappear forever into the wilds of the Amazonian jungle. Several expeditions were sent out to find traces of the brave explorers. Of course, each of the participants was well aware that he was risking his life, finding himself face to face with wild nature, fraught with many dangers, with tribes of local aborigines who were not always friendly to strangers. And hundreds of people died, and unraveling the mystery of the disappearance of Colonel Percy Fawcett. One can only assume that they fell victim to a tropical disease, attacked by predatory animals, or were killed by the natives.
Annette Sagers: Disappeared a year after her mother went missing
This story, with a certain mystical touch, is still considered one of the most mysterious in America. Judge for yourself: Corrina Sagers Malinoski, a 26-year-old resident of Berkeley County (South Carolina), disappears first. The statement about her disappearance was received by the police on November 21, 1987. The woman's car was discovered near the Mount Holly plantation. But this fact did not give the police a single chance to find even the slightest trace of Korrina. And almost a year later, in early October, her eight-year-old daughter Annette Sagers disappears.
By a strange coincidence, the school bus stop was across from the ill-fated Mount Holly Plantation. Annette disappeared before the bus arrived, leaving a note with the following words: “Dad, mom is back. Hug your brothers for me." Experts have established that the handwriting belongs to her. However, this circumstance did not affect the results of the search for the mother and daughter of Sagers. They are still listed as missing, and the hope of finding them is fading every day. It is worth noting that in 2000, a call from an unknown person to the police excited the investigators. After all, the stranger reported that Annette was buried in Sumter County. But it was not possible to find her grave, and the case of the disappearance of the girl is still considered unsolved.
As soon as a person or a group of people disappears without a trace, the construction of the most different, sometimes supernatural versions of what happened begins. The people in this collection have disappeared once and for all, and their stories have already grown into legends and rumors.
Hundreds of thousands of people disappear every year in the world, in Russia alone, about one hundred and twenty thousand people disappear a year - think about it, this is a whole city, and a rather big one at that.
Of the 120,000 people who went missing last year alone, the majority are men - almost 59,000. 38 thousand are women, 23 thousand are minors and small children.
But here's what is surprising, according to statistics, even traces of a quarter of the missing are never found - these people simply disappear ...
I bring to your attention a selection of the most mysterious and inexplicable disappearances of people recorded in history.
1763 England, Shepton Mallet. Owen Parfitt, 60, was sitting in a wheelchair in the yard of his sister Suzanne's home. When the weather began to deteriorate, Susanna and her neighbor went out into the yard to help her brother return to the house. But he was not there. Owen's coat lay lonely in the armchair. Where could a person who was actually unable to move independently go?
The most famous disappearance in the world is the disappearance of British Ambassador Benjamin Batust in Germany, which occurred on November 25, 1809.
1809 Germany. British diplomat Benjamin Bathurst (1784-1809), who disappeared between Berlin and Hamburg. With his companion, they were heading to Hamburg. On the way, they stopped to dine at a hotel in the city of Perelberg. After eating, the men returned to the crew waiting for them. The nobleman left a little earlier than his servants to the horses and no one ever saw him again. There was an assumption that the French could have kidnapped him. It was then decided that he had been stolen to demand a ransom. But until mid-December, no ransom demand and news of the fate of Batust were received. Then for the search his wife came in. At first, she identified all the corpses found since November 25, but did not recognize them as her husband. Then Batust's fur coat was found in the annex of the house of the peasant Schmidt. On November 16, two women brought Batust's trousers, which they found in the forest, to the police. Police decided that Batust disappeared on his own initiative.Later it turned out that Batust left the fur coat in the hotel, and the mother of that peasant took it away when she found out about the disappearance, she worked at that hotel. In March 1810, Mrs. Batust searched all the neighborhoods of the city of Perleberg with a detachment of solbats and dogs. But she didn't find anything. In April 1852, the hotel building was demolished and a skeleton was found near the stable gate. The back of the head was pierced with a heavy object. But to find out who this person was before was not possible at that time. Although it was determined by the teeth and crowns that the person was not poor.
In 1920-1950. in Bennington, Vermont, strange disappearances have repeatedly occurred. From 1945 to 1950, not far from a place called Long Pass, seven people disappeared without a trace. The body of only one of them was found.
"Bennington Triangle" is a phrase first used in 1992 by author and folklorist Joseph Seatrow to refer to an area in southwestern Vermont. The exact boundaries of this anomalous zone are unknown, but it includes the cities of Glastonbury, Woodford and Somerset - once quite large industrial settlements abandoned by people in connection with the decline of the lumber industry in the region.
The first documented case of the disappearance of a person in the area occurred on November 12, 1945. On this day, 74-year-old Middy Rivers, who led a group of 4 hunters, went missing. He moved a little away from his comrades, after which no one saw him. The search party found only a rifle cartridge in a nearby stream. It may have fallen out of Middy's pocket when he leaned into the water to quench his thirst or wash his face. No traces of a struggle or other objects of the man could be found. Middy Rivers was an experienced hunter and fisherman who knew the area well and couldn't just get lost.
On December 1, 1946, 18-year-old student Paula Jean Welden disappeared on a campaign. She was the eldest daughter of renowned engineer, architect and designer William Archibald Welden, and her disappearance attracted a lot of public attention. The FBI got involved. Witness interviews yielded little results: a group of hikers saw Paula on the Long Trail route in the evening. Detectives suggested that the girl was crossing the forest, but with the onset of twilight she got lost. The FBI, police and search parties combed the entire district, but did not find even a hint of the missing student.
In 1949, veteran James Tedford disappeared in the same region, returning home by bus from a trip to relatives. According to witnesses, the man was last seen on the bus at the last stop in front of Bennington, but at this point James's tracks are lost. The transport came to the city with his luggage, but without him. On the seat, next to the veteran's belongings, was an open brochure with the bus schedule, where James had disappeared - a mystery.
On October 12, 1950, 8-year-old Paul Jepson went missing while riding in a truck with his mother. At one of the stops, his mother was briefly distracted, during which time Paul disappeared. The search engines did not find any trace of the boy, although he was wearing a bright red jacket that was easy to see. With the help of dogs, we managed to follow his trail to approximately the same place where Paula Welden was last seen 4 years before.
On October 28, 1950, the last officially confirmed disappearance of a person happened. Freida Langer, 53, and her cousin set off on a hike from a camp near Somerset. After she stumbled and fell into the stream, she told her brother that she would go back to the camp to change. This was the last time she was seen alive - the woman never made it to the camp. In the next two weeks, 5 search expeditions were undertaken with the participation of aviation and more than 300 searchers, with no results. However, on May 12, 1951, the remains of Freida Langer were found at a site that had been carefully explored by searchers 7 months before. Due to the long period of time that has passed since her death, the cause of it could not be established.
According to one version, the missing were killed by a maniac who committed his crimes at a certain time of the year, when his mental illness worsened. According to another version, sectarians were involved in the case.
1971, England. Another disappearance in one of the most mysterious places in the world - the famous Stonehenge. At that time it was not protected from outsiders and a group of hippies decided to camp near these charming stones
Several people decided to spend the night in the center of the structure, setting up tents there. A storm broke out during the night. Suddenly, a bright blue flash lit up Stonehenge. Two witnesses, a farmer and a policeman, rushed to Stonehenge, thinking to find the wounded there. But no one was found. Young people were never found - neither alive nor dead ...
Dorothy Harriet Camille Arnold (born Dorothy Harriet Camille Arnold; 1884, New York, USA - went missing December 12, 1910, ibid.) - American socialite and heiress of a perfume company.
The disappearance of Dorothy Arnold caused a lot of controversy and rumors in American society and became one of the most mysterious in US history.
At 11 am on December 12, 1910, Dorothy Arnold left her room, located on the second floor of the Arnold house, and went down the stairs. Before her daughter left, Arnold's mother offered to keep the girl company, but Dorothy politely refused. When Dorothy left, she did not take any luggage with her, and from the money the girl had only $ 25 in cash, while her monthly allowance, appointed by her father, was $ 100. The day before, she had withdrawn $36 from the bank to join her friends for lunch.
On the way west along Fifth Avenue, Dorothy met several people she knew. Subsequently, they all recalled that Arnold was in a great mood and was heading towards the Park and Tilford candy store on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 27th Street. The last place Arnold came to the attention of people that day was the bookstore at 26 Brentano Street. Here she bought a humorous book of epigrams by Emily Calvin Blake, Notes of a Busy Girl, which she also paid for with a family loan, and met with her girlfriend, Gladys King. She waved goodbye to Gladys. It happened at two o'clock in the afternoon, and since then no one has seen her. King later recalled that before parting, Dorothy told her that she was going to walk home through Central Park. However, there is a further version of events, according to which Arnold, after leaving the bookstore, went to a nearby travel company, where she inquired about the schedules for the departure of steamships from New York to Europe. She also asked the firm's staff about pricing and sales schedules, but ended up leaving without purchasing a ticket.
Subsequently, all versions, starting from memory loss due to trauma, as well as murder and suicide, were refuted. The disappearance remained unsolved, despite the fact that Dorothy's parents spent about $ 100,000 searching for it, which at that time was a huge amount.
One of Britain's greatest unsolved mysteries is the disappearance of three lighthouse keepers on the Scottish island of Flannan in December 1900.
The day after Christmas, a transport ship arrived on the island. To the crew's surprise, the lighthouse keepers, as usual, were not waiting for them at the island's small dock. After sounding the signal and launching flares, they did not notice any activity on the island. Ultimately, the ship's crew sent a replacement lighthouse keeper, Joseph Moore, to check.
As he approached the door, he saw that it was not locked. As he stepped carefully, he also noticed that two of the three waterproof jackets usually kept in the front room were missing. When he reached the kitchen, he found the remains of food and a chair lying on the floor. The kitchen clock has stopped. The lighthouse keepers were nowhere to be seen.
Further investigation unearthed a discouraging last entry in the lighthouse log. The entry for December 12 was written by a curator named Thomas Marshall. In it, Marshall claimed that such strong winds hit the island that were worse than anything he had seen in his life before. Although the lighthouse was strong enough to survive any storm, Marshall wrote that the head keeper, James Dukat, was very quiet. The third keeper, William MacArthur, was an experienced sailor and a known hardy brawler who liked to get rowdy in taverns. The entry in the registration log noted that at that moment he was crying.
Further records said that the storm continued to rage for days on end. Safe in the lighthouse, the three men began to pray nonetheless. The last entry read: “The storm is over, the sea is calm. Thank God".
At the same time, the main version is still a death during a storm, which may have been provoked by some kind of accident, and the bodies were washed into the sea during bad weather.
The Parisian doctor Bonvillain was extremely surprised when he did not find his patient Lucien Busier in the office. In 1867, a mysterious disappearance happened in Paris in the office of Dr. Bonvilina. The victim was his neighbor Lucien Busier, a tall young man. That evening, Lucien went to the doctor to consult about a weakness that had appeared in him. The doctor ordered the young man to undress and lie down on the couch, while he himself went for a stethoscope. After a minute's absence, the doctor returned to the patient, but found only his things lying on a chair. The patient himself was nowhere to be found. He was not at home either, where the doctor went to take the clothes. Searches for concerned relatives also failed.
In the United States, the story of how the soldier James Thetford disappeared is known. The event took place on December 1, 1949 in the presence of eyewitnesses. Thetford, along with fourteen other passengers, was on a bus from Albany to Bennington. Everyone saw that he sat down in his place, read the newspaper and fell into a slumber. The bus ran non-stop for an hour. Nobody paid any attention to Thetford. When the bus arrived at its destination, one passenger was not in the cabin. Just disappeared James Thetford. His place turned out to be empty, and under the seat they found a bag with personal belongings and a newspaper that he was reading. How the passenger disappeared from the non-stop bus remained a mystery to everyone. The police investigation yielded no results.
According to materials:
http://esoreiter.ru/index.php?id=0815/08-08-2015-123249.html&dat=news&list=08.2015
http://www.rg.ru/2008/10/28/fantomi.html
http://mishanya.com/bravovonqueen/b49z5Fy
http://darkbook.ru/publ/ssha/benningtonskij_treugolnik/7-1-0-188
http://kartcent.ru/tainstvennye-ischeznoveniya-lyudej/#ixzz3itX15BR0
http://nekropole.info/ru/Doroti-Arnold
http://muz4in.net/news/10_strannykh_tajn_kotorye_tak_i_ostalis_nerazgadannymi/2014-05-28-36220
Thousands of people go missing, and the cases of these disappearances become truly discouraging, when investigators have virtually nothing to work with - situations in which no one has seen anything and there are no reasonable explanations.
Photo from the parking lot
In August 1989, a frightening Polaroid photo was discovered in a Florida parking lot. It depicted a girl and a boy, bound and with their mouths sealed, in a small, dark room. Before the photo was found, a silent white van was seen at the site.
Two families came to identify the people in the photo. Nine-year-old Michael Henley disappeared on a camping trip with his father. 19-year-old Tara Kaliko disappeared while riding a bike. Pieces of her Sony Walkman were found, but Tara and her bike were gone.
Kaliko's mother was sure that her daughter was in the photo - the same hair and, it seems, the same scar on her right leg. Some time later, Henley's remains were found in the mountains, where he went missing. But the disappearance of Tara Kaliko is still a mystery, and no one has ever revealed the appearance of the ill-fated photograph.
The girl who disappeared from her own bed
On February 14, 2000, nine-year-old Asha Degree packed her satchel in the middle of the night and left the house. Her brother, who slept in the same room, said he heard a noise coming from her bed, and at 6:30 Asha's mother discovered it was missing. The police believe that the girl left the house of her own accord, but Asha was a shy, quiet girl, and such a disappearance was not like her.
Several drivers saw Asha wandering along the highway early in the morning in strong wind and rain. When one of them stopped to make sure she was okay, Asha ran off into the woods.
During an emergency search in a barn nearby, candy wrappers and Asha's hairpin were found. Over a year later, her satchel was found wrapped in sacks at a construction site, but Asha herself was never seen again.
What happened to Johnny Gosh?
Johnny Gosh was 12 years old when he disappeared during a morning paper break in 1982. His father found his wagon abandoned, and a neighbor claimed to have seen him being chased. But the police had few leads, and his whereabouts could not be traced.
Fifteen years later, two men knocked on the door of Johnny's mother, Norina. One of them claimed to be Johnny. He had long hair and a mole on his chest. Noreen was sure it was her son. She said that he seemed scared and looked at the second man for approval during the conversation. They spent an hour and a half together, and the men left without saying where they were going.
No one could tell if the one who visited Noreen was really Johnny, and despite some unconfirmed reports, no one has seen him since.
Maura Murray
In February 2004 More Murray turned 21 years old. After her birthday, she left the campus of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, saying she was going home. She told the teachers that one of her relatives had died. However, she did not warn her friends about her departure. On the evening of the same day, her car drove into a snowdrift in New Hampshire. A passing driver offered to help her, but she refused. Nobody saw her again. The police later found her car, locked and empty. In the car were booze and a road map to Burlington, Vermont. The story got more complicated: it soon became clear that none of Mora's relatives had died and that she had emptied her bank account before she disappeared. At the same time, Mora's acquaintances remembered that a week before the disappearance, she had an accident and for several days someone called her, and the call obviously stressed her out a lot. Maura's boyfriend stated that he received a voice message from her number on the phone, but only heavy breathing and sobs were heard on it. The case of the disappearance of Maura Murray is still unsolved.
Zeb Quinn
In January 2000, 18-year-old Zeb Quinn, along with his friend, Robert Jason Owens, went to look for a new car. They were driving in two cars, but on the way Quinn suddenly stopped. After informing Owens that he had received an urgent call and that the inspection of the car was canceled, he turned around and drove back. He was not seen again. Quinn phoned work two days later, saying he was ill - but the boss could have sworn he could hear Owens' voice. As it turned out, Owens' call was made from his aunt's house, but at that moment the owners were not at home, and none of them, as they said, did not send him any messages. Quinn's car was found two weeks later with a painted rear window and a live puppy in the back seat. Quinn himself was never found, but 15 years later, Owens again became involved in a criminal story, being accused of murdering a married couple. The police believe that Quinn was killed by Owens, but no evidence or traces could be found.
The missing trinity from Fort Worth
Rachel Trlica, 17, went to the mall with her friend Lisa Wilson, 14, to buy Christmas presents, December 23, 1974. As they were leaving, Lisa's neighbor, Julia Moseley, aged 9, asked to come with them as well.
Rachel's car was found later that day in the parking lot of a Sears mall. The car was locked and there were gifts inside, but the girls were gone. The next day, a letter arrived to Rachel's husband Tommy. In it was written:
“We just had to leave. We're going to Houston. See you in about a week. The car is on the top deck of Sears. With love, Rachel."
It was written in a child's handwriting, and Tommy said it wasn't Rachel's handwriting. The girls were never found.
Lost at sea
The Disney Wonder cruise ship set sail off the coast of Mexico in 2011 when crew member Rebecca Coriam, 24, apparently vanished into thin air.
Security cameras captured her at 5:45 a.m. talking on the phone, and the conversation seemed to upset her. A colleague stopped and asked if everything was fine, she replied: "I'm fine." One slipper was found on deck, but the girl disappeared without a trace.
Just a few hours before, she had written to her mother that she would call the next day. Instead, she was contacted by Disney, saying that Coriam was missing. The captain suggested that she could be washed overboard by a wave, there were versions that she may have jumped off. But parents suspect something more terrible.
The case was never solved.
What happened to Susie Lamplough?
Susie Lamplug, 25, a realtor from London, went missing in 1986. She was to show the house in Fulham to a client, Mr Kipper. Later there were witnesses who saw her at this house. According to their stories, she loudly quarreled with some man, after which she got into the car. Later, the police found her car two kilometers from this house. Susie's wallet was in the car, but the keys were nowhere to be found. Suzy was never found, although there were plenty of versions. So, the day before, a prisoner convicted of rape with the prison nickname Kipper was released from prison. Also, around the same time, a female real estate agent was brutally murdered in Birmingham - perhaps the maniac who did this also attacked Susie. However, neither evidence nor Susie's body has yet been found.
Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman: girls who vanished into smoke
In 1999, two 16-year-old girlfriends celebrated the birthday of one of them, Ashley. On this occasion, Lauria stayed with Ashley to spend the night. At 6 a.m., a fire started in the house. Despite the efforts of firefighters, the house burned to the ground. But the remains of the girls were not there. At the site of the conflagration, only the remains of Ashley's mother, and then her father, were found. What happened to the girls remains a mystery. It is known that Ashley's family had problems with the law: for example, Ashley's father was a drug dealer, and six months before the incident, her brother was shot while trying to escape from the police, and his parents were thirsty for revenge. Therefore, some family friends suggested that the police were involved in the case, who decided to destroy evidence of their guilt in the death of Ashley's brother, and Loria was just an accidental victim. Perhaps what happened is connected with the father's drug business, or maybe the girls themselves set fire to the house and went on the run - who knows? No proof of at least one version has yet been found.
The Mystery of Glen and Bessie Hyde
In 1928, newlyweds Glen and Bessie Hyde disappeared while on a trip down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon and were never seen again. They were last seen alive during a photo shoot in the studio of a photographer named Emery Kolb. After they failed to reappear, a search party was sent out to look for them, and despite the fact that all of their belongings were found, the bodies themselves were not found.
There were several other strange details in this story. In 1971, a woman who identified herself as Bessie was rafting and told others that she drowned Glen in the river and destroyed the remains. When questioned, the woman quickly retracted her story. Five years later, a male skeleton was found in the home of photographer Emery Kolb. After analysis, it was proven that the skeleton was too young to be Glen, and what really happened to the couple is still unknown.
Lost village in Brazil
In 1923, more than 600 people disappeared from the village of Auer Verde, Brazil, and there is still no explanation for this. Travelers who entered the city found that all buildings, including presentable houses, were abandoned. There was no sign of an ambush or kidnapping - just a blackboard with "No Escape" written in chalk.
One of the popular theories was that all the villagers fled because of the political situation in Brazil, as they were afraid of conflict with the guerrillas. While this theory is plausible, no one can understand how it is possible not to find 600 people living somewhere else. Conspiracy advocates advocate alien abduction, but again, this is just another mystery that will never be solved.
The Disappearance of Dorothy Arnold
Dorothy was born into a wealthy family, was an enviable heiress and socialite, as well as a writer. In 1910, at the age of 25, Dorothy disappeared from the busy streets of New York and never returned.
Not a single person saw Dorothy on the day she disappeared, and her family did not notice anything unusual about her behavior. When she did not return home that evening, the family began asking friends if they had seen their daughter. Investigators found it highly unusual that her parents contacted a lawyer before they reported her missing—six weeks passed before they finally called the police.
There have been many theories surrounding her disappearance. One was that Dorothy was rejected by several publishers and may have committed suicide, others believe she was murdered by her wealthy parents who disapproved of her writing career. Her own family believed that Dorothy was killed while walking in Central Park. Whatever the truth, it is unlikely that anyone will ever know.
Amelia Earhart's last journey
Amelia Earhart was a pilot who won the hearts of many for her passion for life and desire to travel the world. She became the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Before her last flight, she wrote to her husband: “Please know that I am aware of the danger. I want to do this because I want to do this. Women should try to do what men do. When they fail, it should only become a challenge for others."
In 1937, during an attempted round-the-world flight, Earhart disappeared from radar in the central Pacific near Howland Island. Many believe that she crashed and fell into the ocean, which is the most plausible, but that hasn't stopped people from coming up with even more mysterious theories.
It was believed that Earhart could spy on other countries during the flights, and the Japanese captured her. There were other versions, for example, that Earhart did not like her fame, because she was naturally shy, and changed her personality. The strangest theory is that she was abducted by aliens during a transatlantic flight.
Mystery of Mary Celeste
In 1872, the Mary Celeste was found floating and deserted in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the Azores. The last entry in the captain's journal had been made ten days earlier. There are many mysteries surrounding the ship, but the facts are that it sailed from New York and planned to reach Genoa.
The captain, his wife, their two-year-old son, and a crew of seven disappeared from the derelict ship, but left behind all their personal belongings for an unclear reason. Pirates were ruled out as an explanation, since all of the cargo, mainly alcohol, was on board. Some have claimed that the alcohol fumes caused everyone on board to become drunk and fall overboard - however, this cannot be proven as a fact. There is another theory that a giant squid attacked the ship, but it was also debunked, since the ship itself suffered little damage.
Whatever happens on this journey, no one will ever know about it.
The disappearance of Sergei Bodrov Jr. and his film crew
In September 2002, the process of filming the film The Messenger was interrupted by a colossal block of ice that buried hundreds of people forever. The search for the missing was carried out for several years, but turned out to be inconclusive. Rescuers managed to find only a few corpses. Many admirers of the talent of Sergei Bodrov for a long time believed in his salvation, hoping that by some lucky chance he still survived. But the scale of the tragedy, the power of the glacier and time have shown the opposite: Bodrov can no longer be returned.
It's no secret that inexplicable things constantly happen in the mountains: either someone disappears without a trace, or supernatural beings or strange strangers appear. This could have happened to the crew as well. But 15 years have passed, and the mystery has not been solved.
In some cases, people are killed or they accidentally die, and there are no witnesses at the place of their death. But still, in most of these cases, it is almost impossible to find a logical explanation.
Here are 20 of the most famous and mysterious disappearances in human history.
1 Flight MH370
One of the greatest mysteries of the 21st century is the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 en route from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Beijing International Airport in China on March 8, 2014. Despite the most diverse versions and theories of what happened, this mystery still remains unsolved and what happened defies any logical explanation.
2 Lost Eskimo Village
One cold November night in 1930, a tired Canadian hunter, Joe Labelle, who was looking for shelter from the cold, accidentally stumbled upon one of the most mysterious places in the history of mankind. The once prosperous Inuit village on the shores of Lake Angikuni, passed by Labelle repeatedly on his travels, has vanished without a trace. All the inhabitants, as if in a hurry, suddenly left the village, leaving their affairs unfinished - somewhere on the hearth food was still being prepared, and in some houses the hunter found unfinished clothes with protruding needles. The Eskimos simply disappeared from this place in the most inexplicable way.
3 Springfield Trinity
The Missing Springfield Three - Three girls are still considered missing. Cheryl Levitt (47), her daughter Susie Streeter (19) and Susie's friend Stacey McCall (18) disappeared from the Levitt home in Springfield, Missouri. Susie and Stacey celebrated their high school graduation the day before and arrived at Cheryl Levitt's house around 2:00 am after a party. The police were unable to solve the mystery of the disappearance of the girls and the investigation is still ongoing.
4 The Missing Girls In Dunes Park
Forty-nine years ago, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, three girls left their belongings on a crowded beach and, in their swimsuits, went for a walk on Lake Michigan, an hour southeast of Chicago. It happened on the afternoon of July 2, 1966, in Dunes National Park, Indiana. From that day on, they are considered missing - no trace of the girls has ever been found.
5. Spartacus
Despite numerous scientific hypotheses that this warrior was killed in battle during the Spartacus Rebellion, the body of one of the most famous slaves of antiquity, who led the uprising, has never been found, and his fate remains unknown.
6. Tara Grinstead
Tara was a high school history teacher in Oquilla, Georgia, USA. She went missing under mysterious circumstances on October 22, 2005. In February 2009, a video of the serial killer appeared on the Internet. In the video, accompanied by the caption "Catch me killer", a man tells the details of the murder of sixteen women, including Tara Grinstead, according to local authorities. However, the video was later determined to be fake, and neither police nor the Georgia FBI found any suspects in Grinstead's disappearance.
7. Richie Edwards
Rock music fans have probably heard of Richie Edwards, a Welsh musician and rhythm guitarist for the alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers, popular in the 1990s. It is known that Edwards liked to deliberately injure himself, suffered from depression, alcoholism and anorexia. In 1995, his car was found abandoned in a place known as "suicide's last resort."
8. Harold Holt
Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared without a trace on December 17, 1967. Despite being regarded as one of Australia's top labor ministers, Holt has gained widespread notoriety due to his mysterious disappearance. Harold Holt went missing while swimming in Cheviot Beach, Victoria on December 17, 1967, but his body was never found. Many believe that he was probably killed because of his support for the US involvement in the Vietnam War, however this version remains unconfirmed.
9. James Thetforth
Ex-serviceman James Tetforth disappeared on December 1, 1949 from an overcrowded bus. Thetford, along with fourteen other passengers, was on his way to his home in Bennington, Vermont. He was last seen dozing in his seat. When the bus arrived at its destination, Thetford had evaporated, although all his belongings were left in the trunk, and the bus schedule lay on an empty seat. Since then, Thetford has never been seen again.
10 Martha Wright
In 1975, American Jackson Wright was driving with his wife from New Jersey to New York. After passing the Lincoln Tunnel, Wright stopped the car to wipe the fogged windows. His wife Martha got out of the car to wipe the rear window. When Wright turned around, he did not see his wife. According to the man, he did not hear or see anything unusual, and the subsequent investigation did not reveal any evidence of a violent death. Martha Wright simply disappeared.
11. Connie Converse
Connie Converse was a talented songwriter and performer of her generation, and she performed on the New York music scene in the late 50s. However, the singer never received wide public recognition. In 1974, when she was about fifty years old, a crisis came in her personal and professional life, and Connie fell into depression. One day, Connie wrote farewell letters and, having sent them along with lyrics and other records to all her friends and relatives, left in an unknown direction. She was never seen again.
12. Caesarion
Caesarion was the eldest son of Cleopatra and probably the only son of Julius Caesar. He was also the last king of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt, who ruled the country for eleven days before being assassinated on the orders of Octavian, who later became the Roman Emperor Augustus. However, the exact circumstances and place of his death remain unknown to this day. According to the Greek historian Plutarch, he was not killed, but was sent to India by his mother.
13. Constance Manziarli
Adolf Hitler's personal chef and nutritionist, who went missing while fleeing Berlin after the Soviet invasion and the fall of Nazi Germany. Despite speculation that she was shot by Soviet soldiers in the Berlin Underground, or that she committed suicide with cyanide, some conspiracy theorists believe that she is still alive, as Constance's body has never been found.
14. Amelia Earhart
The famous American pilot was the first woman in the world to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, but her airplane was lost during a round-the-world flight near Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean in 1937. Her disappearance is still fraught with many mysteries that none of the historians have been able to solve.
15. Adolf Hitler
The death of one of the most famous madmen of the 20th century, Adolf Hitler, is still shrouded in mystery. According to the generally accepted version, on April 30, 1945, after active street fighting, when Soviet troops were on their way to the Reich Chancellery, Hitler shot himself, and his wife Eva Braun swallowed a capsule of cyanide. Their corpses were burned, and the remains were never found, and this fact gave rise to many theories about the subsequent fate of Hitler and his wife.
16. D. B. Cooper
The legendary hijacker D. B. Cooper became famous as the mastermind of the most unusual robbery in the history of mankind. After receiving a $200,000 ransom, he parachuted out of a Boeing 727 flying at an altitude of 4 kilometers in the Oregon area on November 24, 1974. After extensive searches, the police found neither Cooper himself nor any trace of him.
17. Lieutenant Felix Moncla
On the evening of November 23, 1953, the most mysterious event in UFO surveillance occurred - Air Force radars near Lake Michigan, Wisconsin in the United States spotted an unidentified flying object. The F-89C Scorpio fighter was immediately raised to intercept it from Kingross Air Force Base. The aircraft was flown by First Lieutenant Felix Monkla, and Lieutenant Robert Wilson was the fighter's radar operator at the time. As ground operators subsequently claimed, the fighter approached an unidentified object, and then both of them, merging together, disappeared from the radar screens. A search and rescue operation was organized, but the wreckage of the aircraft could not be found.
18. Ghost ship "Joyta"
The merchant ship Joyta, carrying twenty-five passengers and crew, mysteriously disappeared in the South Pacific in 1955. The drifting ship was soon discovered in very poor condition, with rusted pipes and a working radio, which, due to damaged wiring, could only send distress signals within a radius of three kilometers. So far, nothing is known about the whereabouts of the passengers of this ship.
19. Ninth Legion "Hispan"
The Ninth Legion mysteriously disappeared into foggy Britain during a military campaign. No traces of weapons indicating that the legionnaires could have been destroyed in battle were found - the five thousandth army seemed to be swallowed up by the earth.
20. Disappearance of Valentich
The "disappearance of Valentich" in 1978 is one of the most unusual events in the history of Ufology. The mysterious case of Friedrich Valentich is considered one of the most famous mysteries in Australian aviation - before the plane disappeared into the sky, the pilot managed to report on the radio that he had seen a UFO. Many representatives of the UFO subculture, as well as Valentich's father, believe that the man was abducted by aliens and may even be still alive.
