On a cold rain. Soaked night in May 1979 Campers
at Mount Rainier National Park. Sunshine Point, Campground
witnessed a puzzling. Seen a young woman, stumbled out
of the darkness with her dog rain dripping from her clothes.
She seemed dazed and incoherent muttering words, no one could
piece together concerned, campers offered help but the
woman wandered off into the wet Blackness with her faithful
canine at her side. By Dawn, her campsite was eerily
quiet. Her tent and belongings were
still there, but she and her dog had vanished.
It was as if the mountain itself had swallowed them whole that
was just the beginning. Over the years Mount Rainier's.
Breathtaking Wilderness has played host to a number of
chilling, disappearances Hikers climbers, Park employees, and
visitors have walked into the forests.
And foothills of this Majestic volcano never to return.
Each case is a story with no ending timeline that simply stop
leaving, Rescuers, and loved ones grasping for answers.
Today, we will journey into six of these true mysteries.
From Mount Rainier National Park spanning decades and
circumstances. Each story unfolds in the shadow
of the same towering Peak yet, each is uniquely baffling.
These accounts are told in a storytelling Style, with
suspense, twists and Vivid detail sticking only to known
facts and credible reports, We won't indulge Legends or
folklore know Bigfoot or Supernatural lore here, just
real events documented by Park Rangers, law enforcement and
family members. As we delve into each
disappearance, consider the Dual nature of Mount Rainier.
A place of serene natural, beauty, and unforgiving, danger.
By the end, you may find yourself eyeing.
Even the most peaceful Woodlands with a new sense of caution.
Now, let's step back in time to that rainy Memorial Day weekend,
in 1979 and uncover. What little we know about the
first Vanishing. The story of a young woman and
her dog, who walked into the mist and never returned.
Case 1 the Rainy Night Vanishing Elaine Robertson 1979 on
Memorial Day weekend in 1979 24 year.
Old Elaine Marie Robertson set out on a road trip from her home
in San Luis Obispo California to Mount Rainier National Park in
Washington, Elaine was an adventurous spirit, and had
decided to spend the holiday camping amidst, Rainier's
towering evergreens She drove her, 1968 Volkswagen van.
North likely eager to trade the bustle of California for the
crisp, Alpine are of the Pacific Northwest.
By the evening of Sunday, May 27th Elaine had made it to the
outskirts of the park, but something was clearly wrong.
That night under a Relentless downpour Elaine wandered into
the sunshine, Point campground near the Park's, Nisqually River
entrance. Other campers.
Observed that Elaine appeared disoriented even in coherent as
she moved through the campground with her dog, at her side.
She was drenched from the rain and perhaps shivering from cold.
Concerned by her condition. A few people tried to talk with
her but Elaine's words didn't make sense.
She seemed confused and possibly in distress.
Some later, described her behavior as if she were not
fully aware of her surroundings. Eventually Elaine and her dog
retreated to her Campsite in the Rainy.
Darkness campers could only hope, she would be okay through
the night. When the morning of May 28th
arrived, the storm had ease but an unsettling Discovery.
Emerged Elaine was gone. Her campsite was found abandoned
all her belongings were left behind in her tent yet.
Neither She nor her dog were anywhere to be found Park
Rangers were alerted that a camper had seemingly disappeared
overnight. Given Elaine's confused State
the night before. This immediately raised alarms.
A search was quickly organized in the Lush dripping woods
around Sunshine point. What Rangers found only
deepened, the mystery. Not far from the campground.
They located a Lanes, Volkswagen van parked about a mile away
from her sight. The van was intact suggesting
Elaine hadn't driven off. It appeared as if she had left.
The van walked to the campground with her dog and then somehow
vanished from the area on foot. But how far could a person go in
the dark rain soaked night, while disoriented and without
any of her gear? Searchers combed the vicinity
calling out her name and scanning the Riverbanks and
trails. They found no sign of Elaine or
her dog. It was as if they had evaporated
with the night rain. For days, Pierce County
sheriff's, deputies, and park rangers conducted, an extensive
search. They scoured the densely
forested Campground area and the Raging Nisqually River nearby
fearing that perhaps a lane might have wandered into the
river in the Darkness. if she had been suffering from
hypothermia or a mental health crisis, she might not have
realized the peril Sadly. No Trace was ever found not a
piece of clothing, not Footprints and not her dog.
It was as though the Rainy Woods had swallowed them whole
Elaine's disappearance baffled authorities in both Washington
and her home state. In fact, both Washington and
Oregon police opened investigations into her case.
Elaine had family ties in the Pacific Northwest which might
explain Oregon's involvement. They looked into her background
for any clues. Elaine had been described as a
free spirit. Some reports indicate, she may
have been going through personal struggles.
But nothing pointed clearly to why she became incoherent that
night. There was speculation.
Did Elaine possibly ingest something drugs, or wild berries
that cause disorientation. Did she suffer a medical issue
like a diabetic episode or a concussion?
Or was she simply exhausted in hypothermic leading to
confusion? Any of these could have caused
her to make a rational decision like fleeing her campsite with.
No gear. One alarming possibility, was
that Elaine in her delirium might have stumbled into the
Nisqually River. The river fed by glacial melt
was running high and fast that night, late spring rain,
combined with melting snowpack. if Elaine or her dog slipped
into those frigid Waters, they could have been swept away in an
instant The river's powerful currents could carry a body
Downstream possibly far outside the initial search area, but
without any evidence on the Riverbanks Searchers couldn't
confirm that theory. The dog's disappearance.
All, so added to the puzzle. A dog might instinctively avoid
Rushing Water. If something else happened to
Elaine on land one might expect the dog to stay near her
belongings or alerts someone unless it too was incapacitated
or loyal to the point of following her into Danger.
Another theory less likely but considered was Foul Play.
Did someone encounter a lane in her vulnerable state that night
and harm her? It's pure speculation.
No signs of struggle or violence were noted at her campsite, or
in her van Her valuables were reportedly Left Behind, ruling
out robbery. Campgrounds are normally
communal and relatively safe, but the cover of a stormy night
could conceal in the Ferry's actions yet.
There were no reports of Screams or disturbances that night aside
from the heavy rain, This Theory found little support with
investigators and there were no known suspects.
In the end Elaine Robertson's case went cold.
She was officially listed as a missing person and to this day
her case remains unsolved. Over the years, Elaine's family,
and friends have been left with nothing but painful uncertainty.
Her disappearance is one of the oldest unsolved, missing persons
cases in Mount Rainier's history.
And it continues to haunt those who remember that compassionate
outdoorsy young woman. For the park, Elaine's,
Vanishing was a sobering incident.
Here was a visitor who had in stray deep into the backcountry
or attempted a treacherous climb.
She was in a front Country, Campground close to roads and
fellow campers and still she simply disappeared Without a
Trace illustrating. How easily one can be lost.
Even in relatively accessible areas.
Elaine's Story set a precedent that Mount Rainier despite its
postcard. Beauty can hold dark secrets.
The image of the empty rain soaked tent at sunshine point
with camping gear left. Untouched serves as a grim,
reminder that not every Park story ends with a safe return
home. The mountain keeps the lanes.
Fate tightly guarded. All we know is that on that
stormy night in 1979 Elaine Robertson and her beloved dog,
walked into the Rainy darkness of Mount Rainier and they were
never seen again. Moving forward.
Nearly two decades. Our next case is all together
different. This time, the missing person
left behind an even more disturbing scene, a vehicle
found with its engine running in blood smeared inside, but no
sign of its driver. buckle up for the perplexing disappearance
of a woman named Ramona whose troubled journey into Mount
Rainier's, Wilderness led to a chilling mystery Case 2.
The bloody Jeep mystery Ramona Lynn Faye. 1995 On July 17th,
1995 h39 woke up in a fragile, state of mind.
Ramona lived in Spanaway, Washington a community.
Not far from Mount Rainier. She had long struggled with
schizophrenia, a serious mental health condition that summer
morning, Ramona experience to severe, psychiatric crisis.
In a moment of Despair, she attempted to end her life, She
cut her own throat with a sharp object before anyone could stop
her. Bleeding and likely in shock
Ramona, fled at about 8:30, a.m. she left her sister's home where
she'd been staying in her tan, 1984 Jeep and drove off.
Despite her injury, her family was alarmed and terrified for
her safety. Ramona in a state of mental
turmoil. And with a serious wound was
behind the wheel and heading, who knows where the direction
soon became clear Ramona drove, straight toward Mount Rainier
National Park, perhaps seeking Solitude or an escape in nature.
The drive from Spanaway to the parks.
Nisqually entrance is about an hour.
We can only imagine her state of mind on that drive in pain
bleeding. Perhaps determined to reach the
mountain. She loved or perhaps not
thinking clearly at all. Sometime later that morning,
Ramona entered Mount Rainier National Park, but as if her day
weren't already harrowing enough, Ramona's Jeep, got into
an accident in inside the park. It appears to have been a single
car accident. She ran off the road into a
ditch. The jeep was stuck and Ramona
wounded and alone had to seek help.
She managed to get a tow truck to pull her vehicle back onto
the road. It's unclear if Park Rangers
assisted or if a passerby did but someone helped get Ramona's,
Jeep out of the ditch. This incident suggests, she was
still alive and moving about despite herself inflicted
injury. One can picture the scene dense
Evergreens all around Ramona clutching her throat.
Perhaps while a tow truck winches her Jeep out of mud, a
surreal and tragic sight. After her Jeep was freed Ramona
kept driving deeper into the park, she headed farther in
toward the mountains in Terrier. By the afternoon of July 18th,
1995, her tan jeep was spotted again.
Under far more disturbing circumstances.
Around 5 p.m. on July, 18th Park visitors, and Rangers found
Ramona's Jeep abandoned outside a public restroom in the park.
The location was likely near one of the trailheads or picnic
areas where restrooms are available possibly Longmire or
Paradise area. The Jeeps engine was still
running. The drivers door was left wide
open and inside the vehicle was a gruesome scene.
A significant amount of blood smeared across the interior.
Those who discovered the Jeep must have felt a chill A car
left idling with no one around his alarming enough.
Add in a blood-soaked front seat and it becomes the stuff of
nightmares. Rangers immediately.
Recognized that this was Ramona's vehicle.
It matched alerts. That had been put out after her
family, likely reported her, missing an ill The blood was
presumably from the neck wound. She had inflicted upon herself
earlier that day. The fact that she'd bled so much
and still managed to drive was astounding and deeply worrisome
Park authorities, sprang into action, they searched the area
around the restroom and along nearby Trails for any sign of
Ramona. Sure enough Witnesses soon.
Came forward saying they had seen a Woman matching Ramona's
description on a trail or despite her injury Ramona had
apparently left her Jeep and wandered into the woods on foot
one. Can only imagine her condition
likely light-headed from blood loss adrenaline, keeping her
going perhaps singularly focused on disappearing Into the
Wilderness. This was a dire situation, A
severely injured person lost in mountainous Terrain.
Search and rescue teams, mobilized quickly.
Extensive searches were conducted over the following
days. Park Rangers volunteers and dog
teams combed the trails branching out from where the
jeep was found. They scoured the thick
underbrush Mossy Groves and Rocky outcrops given Ramona's
State. She might not have made it far
but shock and determination can carry a person surprising
distances. The Searchers had to assume she
was still alive and in need of immediate Medical Aid or that
her remains were nearby if she had succumbed.
Every Ravine and Thicket became a potential hiding spot.
Despite in all-out effort, no. Trace of Ramona FEI was ever
found. It was as if she had bled out
her troubles into that jeep and then vanished Into Thin Air in
the Mount Rainier Wilderness. Not a single article of clothing
nor her body nor any other evidence turned up.
The search of eventually had to be called off, when All Leads
were exhausted. Authorities concluded that given
her Grievous wound and the amount of blood lost.
Ramona likely did not survive for long in the wilderness.
Yet. Perplexingly her body remained
missing investigators pieced together what they could
Ramona's mental. Health struggle was well,
documented she had paranoid schizophrenia, which can cause
disordered, thinking and hallucinations.
She was also in a state of emotional crisis that day.
The fact that she drove to Mount Rainier after harming herself
suggests that the mountain held some deep significance for her.
Perhaps she saw a final communion with nature before
ending her life or she intended to hide where no one could stop
her pain. We may never know the evidence
strongly indicates Ramona was intent on unaliving that day.
Some of theorized that after abandoning her Jeep Ramona,
might have found a secluded spot in the woods to lay down and die
or even potentially ended her life by another act.
For instance, using a secondary method of the first attempt
hadn't been immediately fatal. The absence of her body might be
explained by predation, or the environment in a forest.
A deceased person can be quickly.
Obscured scavengers and the elements can scatter remain
surprisingly fast. This was sadly hinted at in
Ramona's case, from the get-go blood in the Jeep indicated.
She was Gravely wounded. So she may have collapsed not
far from it and over time natural processes, concealed her
Mountain lions, bears or even smaller scavengers like coyotes
could account for. Why not a trace was left.
If weeks or months passed before a thorough search of a
particular spot, another angle is the location of the Jeep
parked by a restroom implies a popular spot.
But in July 1995 midweek, perhaps it wasn't crowded.
If Ramona had wandered, a short distance off, a trail dense,
brush could easily hide her from View.
Searches are like looking for a needle in a haystack.
If the initial search grid missed her by even 100 yards,
she might never be found. For Ramona's family, the outcome
was heart-wrenching, they had feared, she would harm herself
and those fears were realized in the most unsettling way.
They at least have some understanding of her state of
mind and intentions. Which might provide a small
measure of closure. But without her body, there's
always that agonizing sliver of uncertainty.
Authorities have listed Ramona as presumed deceased, give the
circumstances but officially she remains a missing person.
Ramona. Phase disappearance is a stark
reminder of the complex interplay between mental health
crises and wilderness. In her distress she turned to
Mount Rainier's vastness as a final Refuge.
The mountain indifferent to human suffering.
Offered countless hiding places and ultimately kept Ramona's
secrets. Decades later, hikers in that
area, likely have no idea that somewhere under the ferns, or in
a Halo by a creek. The last traces of a woman's
life, might lie quietly returning to the Earth.
The image left in the minds of those who knew the case is
indelible. A blood streaked Jeep idling
empty in the shadows of giant cedar trees.
And Beyond it. An impenetrable Forest that
refuses to give up the truth of what became of Ramona Faye.
Her story illustrates that. Not all who go missing in
national parks are lost due to navigation, errors or accidents.
Some like Ramona walk into the wild with the intent to never
walk out. Leaving behind a mystery that
may never be fully solved. Our first two cases have been
tragedies with likely if unconfirmed ending's, but our
next story takes an even stranger.
Turn its not an apparent accident.
It involves a Park employee. A beloved mother and colleague
who vanished from right under the noses of her friends. and
when she was finally found the cause of her death was an
enigma, The year was 1996 and The Disappearance of Sheila,
Kearns would leave Mount Rainier staff shaken to their Core case
3 Longmire, Sheila Kearns 1996. In the summer of 1996.
Sheila Kathleen, Kearns arrived at Mount Rainier National Park
to work at the historic Paradise, Inn.
Sheila was 43 years old and she quickly became a cherished
member of the seasonal staff. Colleagues, later recalled that
she was beautiful kind and Incredibly careful in everything
she did. Originally from New York, Sheila
loved the outdoors and relished. Her job serving Park.
Visitors in the ins rustic Halls.
By all accounts, she was excellent at her work.
So much so that when the summer season ended the park hired her
onto the winter crew to keep operations running in the
offseason. This was a special opportunity,
as most staffed apart. When Paradise in closest, each
fall, as Autumn arrived Paradise, in closed to the
public on October 1st 1996 for the season the summer crowds
dwindled, and only a skeleton crew of Park, employees remained
to maintain facilities over winter.
Sheila was one of them. She moved into employee housing
near Longmire, a lower elevation area of the park that remains
accessible year-round. This housing was actually near
the old Longmire. Campground a community of cabins
and a community building used by staff for gatherings.
The vibe was close-knit. Everyone knew each other.
On the evening of October 4th 1996, the park staff held a
farewell dinner at Longmire for the seasonal employees who were
leaving and to celebrate those like Sheila who would stay on it
was a cheerful Gathering. Sheila was seen enjoying the
evening. Presumably excited and a bit
nervous for The Quiet, winter months ahead.
When the dinner concluded people drifted back to their quarters?
Sheila returned to her cabin at Longmire.
Campground, she likely went to bed or perhaps stayed up to
organize her new lodging. That was the last time anyone
saw her alive. The very next day Sheila missed
a morning shift or perhaps just didn't show up around the
community as expected. This was immediately unusual
because Sheila was as noted incredibly responsible and
careful. Co-workers checked, her cabin
only to find it. Empty, her belongings were
there. But Sheila herself was nowhere
to be found. Park Rangers were alerted, that
one of their own had possibly gone missing on Park grounds.
A search was launched almost at once.
At first people hoped Sheila had just taken an early walk or
drive and lost track of time. but as hours passed with no sign
of her, that hope faded, Searchers combed the Longmire
area calling out. For Sheila in the Evergreen
Grove's, around the housing area.
This wasn't deep wilderness. Longmire is a district with
roads building's in short trails.
If she had gotten lost or injured nearby, surely she would
be found quickly or she could call out for help.
But the search turned up, nothing that day or the next or
the next. It was as if Sheila had stepped
out of her cabin and simply evaporated into the crisp.
Autumn air of Mount Rainier, friends, and co-workers were
destroyed and perplexed. Sheila's disappearance hit the
Titanic. Park Community hard.
They trusted the mountain and each other and now one of their
own was gone under mysterious circumstances rumors and
theories swirled like the fall leaves, could Sheila have been
in an accident? Perhaps she went on a short hike
or down to the Nisqually River in fell.
But Sheila wasn't known for taking unnecessary risks.
Remember she was incredibly careful.
The more chilling possibility was that something or someone
had harmed her? As days turned to weeks, with no
trace of Sheila Foul Play became a lurking suspicion.
The fact that she vanished from within a residential area of the
park was alarming. If This Were a crime who could
the perpetrator be a stranger wandering?
The park another employee. It was Unthinkable yet.
Nothing was off the table. The case was a specialty complex
because it happened on Federal Land.
Giving jurisdiction to the FBI, the Seattle FBI field office
joined forces with Park Rangers to investigate Sheila's
disappearance. The winter of 1996 and 97 was a
tense and sorrowful one at Mount Rainier.
Snow Buried The Meadows of paradise and the cabins of
Longmire covering any clues that might have been left behind.
Seven long months passed with no answers.
Then as spring arrived in the snow Banks, began to recede the
mountain, revealed a grim Secret.
In late May 1997 near the long mere community building, a park
maintenance worker, stumbled on something on the forest floor
human remains. They were scattered as if
disturbed by animals and had clearly been there for some
time. The location was not far from
the employee housing, where Sheila had lived essentially in
the same general area. Rangers rushed to the scene and
soon The Remains were tentatively identified.
It was Sheila Kearns the woman who had vanished in October was
finally, found tragically still within the parks embrace.
This discovery answered one question where Sheila ended up
but it raised 100 more. Because of the condition of the
remains, the cause of Sheila's death could not be determined.
Animal activity had Disturbed, the site.
Scattering bones over a patch of ground.
It was impossible to tell if animals had merely scavenged
after death, or if perhaps an animal attack was the cause of
death in the first place. There were no obvious signs of
something like a gunshot or stabbing at least, none reported
publicly but Pathologists. And investigators were
essentially left with a clear answer was this a homicide, an
accident or even some medical issue.
Let's consider the possibilities.
One theory was an animal attack. Mount Rainier is home to black
bears and mountain lions. A solitary person walking at
dusk or at night could conceivably be stalked by a
mountain lion. If a cougar attacked, Sheila
near Longmire, it could potentially kill her and dragged
her. A short distance Into the Woods.
Cougars, often cover their kills, with leaves and debris to
save for later. Over winter, the body could then
become scattered by scavengers. This is possible but those who
knew Sheila felt it was unlikely.
For one, cougar attacks on humans are exceedingly rare and
none had been reported in that area.
All. So Sheila was found near a
building, not deep in the backcountry large, Predators
tend to avoid human developed areas.
Still, it couldn't be entirely ruled out without evidence.
Another more Sinister Theory, Sheila was murdered by a human.
Perhaps someone at that farewell dinner, or in the park had ill
intentions. If Sheila walked out side after
the party and met the wrong person, something terrible could
have happened. A criminal might have
overpowered her and left her body in the woods.
Assuming it would be hidden by snowfall and destroyed by
animals. This Theory gained some traction
because the idea of Sheila getting lost or accidentally
dying. So close to home seemed
implausible to friends. They described her as street,
smart and cautious. Murder would also explain why no
one heard from her and attacker could have incapacitated her
quickly. However, supporting evidence for
murder, was thin investigators. Did not publicly announced any
signs of Foul Play such as bullet, casings, weapons, or
suspicious DNA at the scene. The Remains had been out in the
open for months which would have degraded a lot of evidence.
If a murder, it's quite possible.
The clues were literally eaten or washed away.
The FBI did conduct interviews, notably a local journalist named
Dixie. Walter from the Eatonville
dispatch, took a special interest in the case and spoke
with many who knew Sheila. Over the years.
No suspect has ever been publicly identified.
This does not mean Foul Play didn't happen.
It simply means there wasn't enough evidence to charge
anyone. As of today, Sheila Kearns his
case remains unsolved and classified as an unsolved
homicide by many accounts. A third scenario, albeit less,
discussed is some kind of medical emergency or
misadventure. What if Sheila stepped out to
stargaze? Or get something from another
cabin and suffered a heart attack or stroke collapsing?
Where no one saw her? Or could she have slipped hit
her head and succumb to the elements?
Early October nights can be cold, but not usually fatal
unless one is incapacitated. If she did collapse and die
naturally animals could have later moved her remains this
scenario leaves a lot to chance and doesn't quite align with how
thoroughly people search immediately after you'd think
they might have found her. If she was just yards away from
housing. Yet.
It is technically possible that initial Searchers just missed
her especially if her body was concealed or Blended in with
foliage, The lack of closure, nodded everyone, the parks staff
had to resume work in greet summer, visitors in 1997,
knowing a disturbing truth. One of their colleague had died
under mysterious circumstances on Park grounds, and to killer,
whether human or animal, might still be at Large.
It cast a Pall over the usually cheerful camaraderie of seasonal
workers. Many of Sheila's friends have
kept her memory alive refusing, to let the case fade Local news
in Washington. Like King 5's unsolved North
West series Revisited. Sheila's story decades later
hoping to jog loose new Clues. They noted how unusual it was a
Park employee Vanishing, literally in the Park's front
yard. In these retrospectives Sheila's
co-workers remembered her. Fondly, the warm responsible New
Yorker, who found joy under Rainier's, Shadow some expressed
frustration that the investigation didn't yield
answers. The FBI's involvement means,
many details remain confidential.
Was there a suspect? They quietly cleared did any
witness. See or hear something odd that
night publicly? It's avoid.
So what do we have? She looks went missing on
October 4th 1996 after a staff Gathering.
Her remains were found May 1997 near her living area with no
determined cause of death. she may have been a victim of an
animal attack or a homicide or a freak accident, and we have no
proof of which This lingering uncertainty means her story
while technically not a missing person anymore since she was
found as far from solved. In the annals of Mount Rainier.
Sheila's death is one of its creepiest, Unsolved Mysteries, a
who done it or what do it with no answer.
For the viewers imaginations, picture a peaceful October night
in Longmire. Dim porch lights glowing, the
immense Mountain looming. As a darker Shadow against a
Starry Sky. A light, drizzle begins to fall
inside one cabin a light is still on.
Sheila's. As she unpacks for winter.
She steps out into the cool are perhaps to go to the community
building or just to stretch her legs.
She disappears into the night and somewhere between her cabin
and that community building something deadly, crosses her
path. No screams were heard the woods
stayed silent by mourning only unanswered questions remained to
this day when Parker's walked those grounds.
Some say they think of Sheila, it's hard not to knowing that
even amid colleys in buildings, danger found her Mount Rainier
for all its well-traveled paths, still had a dark side that
struck close to home. Sheila, Kearns is story reminds
us that Mysteries aren't confined to remote Peaks.
They can unfold right in our backyard under the glow of our
porch light. Our next case takes us out of
the 1990s and into 1999 a time, just before the New Millennium,
when technology was improving but still Limited in the wild,
it's the tale of a prominent journalist from New York who
came to Mount Rainier for a Day hike and stepped into Oblivion.
unlike the others, we've heard this missing person had dozens
of friends searching National media, attention and even
questions asked by the White House, yet he vanished just as
completely prepare for the perplexing disappearance of Joe
would case 4, the journalist who never returned Joe would Jr.
1999! Joseph Joe, Wood Jr.
Was not the kind of person you'd expect to go missing on a hike.
He was 34 years old and accomplished writer and book
editor from New York City, with an Ivy League education, and a
vibrant network of friends. In July 1999, Joe traveled to
Seattle to attend Unity 99. A national journalism conference
for writers of color. He was excited.
It was a gathering of thousands of talented people and Joe
himself was a rising star in the literary world.
He'd worked at the Village Voice and was now editing books for
the new press as well as writing a book about the
African-American family. On July 8th, 1999.
Midway through the conference, Joe decided to play hooky for a
day and experience the natural beauty of Washington.
He rented a car and drove about two and a half hours south to
Mount Rainier National Park. He was a city guy, but no novice
to the outdoors. Joe was an eagle scout and an
avid birdwatcher who always carried binoculars in a bird
guide, He'd even done some hikes before though mostly on the East
Coast. It was a sunny gorgeous
Thursday, perfect for a Day hike.
Joe wore a t-shirt, shorts and carried a light pack.
He told only one casual acquaintances at the conference
where he was going just a quick Day.
Hike at Rainier, In hindsight, that lack of detail notice would
prove critical. Joe arrived at Rainier's,
entrance around 12:30 p.m. a park entry receipt later,
confirmed the time. He drove to the Longmire area
and parked at the trailhead for Comet Falls.
One of the parks popular waterfall Heights.
The trail to Comet Falls is about 3.8 miles round trip
moderately steep leading to a spectacular 32 foot waterfall.
It continues beyond the Fall's toward a high country area
called Van Trump Park and eventually Mildred point.
Joe likely planned a few hours of hiking and bird-watching then
intended to head back to Seattle by evening.
Hiking up Joe met another solo hiker Bruce Gomez.
They chatted briefly on the trail Bruce later, recalled,
seeing Joe a black man in his thirties with round glasses and
a field guide in hand as they both ascended toward Comet
Falls, At around the 3.3 mile Mark near the Falls, Bruce
decided to turn back due to snow on the ground at that higher
elevation. It was July, but patches of
snow, still lingered in the high shaded areas.
Joe however, was Keen to continue.
He was presumably enthralled by the scenery perhaps aiming to
reach Mildred point, which offers a stunning View.
Bruce saw Joe press on Into the Wilderness of comet Falls and
then Bruce himself, headed back down.
That is the last confirmed sighting of Joe would, he was
never seen again, one article starkly noted.
Those seven words, encapsulate, the shock that was to come When
Joe did not return to the unity conference that evening, his
friends noticed his absence but were not immediately panicked.
Joe was adventurous, maybe he stayed longer in the park or got
back late but the days that followed raised alarms, he
missed his flight back to New York on July 11th, that was
completely out of character. By July 12th and ex-girlfriend
somoni sengupta. A New York Times Reporter who
was also at the conference became very alarmed.
She began calling everyone she could hospitals.
Police Park officials, To report Joe missing on July 13th.
A missing person report was officially filed in Seattle.
The next day July 14th, Park Rangers located, Joe's, rental
car, still parked at Longmire, untouched for days.
A full-scale search and rescue operation was launched almost
immediately. Now, picture the urgency Joe had
been missing for nearly a week in the wilderness by the time
Searchers began looking. It was a warm summer, but nights
can get cold up high and Joe had only light hiking clothes for a
day trip. The search teams felt the clock.
Ticking loudly park ranger's Mountain, rescue, volunteers,
dog, teams and helicopters. All converged on the south west
slope of Rainier. They scouted the Van Trump Creek
drainage the snow fields around Comet Falls and the dense forest
below leaving no stone unturned. On the morning of July, 15th
Searchers got their first and only Big Break.
Bruce gaumont saw newspaper, story about Joe's.
Disappearance and realized, he'd met the missing, man.
Bruce contacted the park and told them.
He last Saw Joe near Comet Falls continuing upward into snow.
This crucial info helped Focus the search on the right area.
The rugged terrain above 4,800 feet, search teams fanned out
over the ridges and Ravines where Joe might have gone.
They combed through Creeks. Gullies, probed snowbanks with
polls and scanned from the air. Joe was a relatively fit hiker,
but not a mountaineer. So they hoped he hadn't strayed.
Too far off Trail. However, that area Beyond Comet
Falls can be treacherous. Steep slopes hidden, drop offs,
and snow covered voids beneath. Can trick even experienced
hikers? Rescuers knew of Joe had slipped
into a concealed Canyon or hole. He might be nearly impossible to
spot. They pressed on diligently day
after day, the search continued by July 16th, the weather turned
on them rain and Chile fog. Rolled in the once.
Clear Mountain was now obscured by clouds, hampering helicopter
flights in soaking ground teams. Morale dipped.
Searchers knew that if Joe was injured and exposed, this
weather would worsen his chances of survival, Still, they
persevered. On July 17th, Joe's parents and
sister flew out from New York and went up to Mount Rainier.
It had now been nine days since he disappeared.
In candid meetings, the search leaders.
Gently told the family that hope was fading surviving that long
without shelter or supplies in such terrain was highly
unlikely. However, the search Crews
weren't ready to quit just yet. Perhaps spurred by the family's
presence and to break in weather officials extended the search
and extra day. On July 18th, they went out at
one more time with everything they had boots on the ground
dog. Sniffing helicopters peering
down at receding snow but no evidence of Joe was found
nothing. Not a footprint not a scrap of
clothing, not his distinctive binoculars.
It was as if he had stepped off the trail and been swallowed by
the volcanoes ancient crater though.
He wasn't that high up, the metaphor felt app to Searchers
who found zero Clues That evening, Sunday.
July 18th 1999. The painful decision was made to
scale back the search In an emotional meeting with Joe's
family and friends Rangers, explain their reasoning.
By their analysis, Joe likely suffered, a catastrophic
accident in the wilderness. he were mobile, he would have
likely found a way out or encountered searchers If he were
immobile injured, they should have found some trace of him
after so many days of intense searching.
The harsh terrain, they said gives little leeway for
mistakes. Without sufficient clothing and
food. Hypothermia was inevitable.
They explained, especially after the reign in cold, the
mountains. Verdict seemed final, the
reaction in that room was one of profound grief and reluctance
Joe's. Father talked, about dealing
with reality, bracing himself for the worst.
So many sengupta. Joe's, friend did something
quietly pointed. She hiked up to the spot where
Joe was last seen and buried in earring and a ring in the soil.
So Joe would not be alone. It was as if to Mark a memorial
on the mountain for him, a token of love Left Behind under those
towering Furs where he vanished many weped yet even as they face
reality, lingering questions, nodded at everyone.
Joe was experienced enough to know basic Trail safety.
How did he simply disappear on a Day?
Hike in good weather. Some friends could not shake the
idea of Foul Play. What if wood had been abducted,
could it have been murder? They wondered in hushed
conversations. Perhaps a stranger encountered
Joe on the trail. The park is generally safe, and
there were no reports of suspicious individuals.
Rangers responded to these theories by noting that a
struggle on the mountain would have left.
Signs Footprints broken foliage or sense for the search dogs,
they found none. All evidence, or lack thereof
pointed, toward an accident of nature indeed.
As Rangers, somberly pointed out Mount Rainier is perilous, even
for Day hike, hers. In fact, two other men had gone
missing on Rainier in the two months before Joe's
disappearance, those cases were separate, incidents Mountain
Misadventures, that all ended tragically.
Joe's story fit a pattern, the park, sadly new to Well One
Missed step near roaring waterfall.
One slide on a snowbank into a concealed Canyon and you can
vanish Beyond reach. The plan was to resume some
searching after snowmelt. Rangers will send a helicopter
in dog teams back up when the snow melts promised Park
officials. Joe's mother said we're going to
wait to see clinging to a threat of Hope, but summer came and
went and no Trace ever surfaced. Not that year, not in the
decades since Joe Woods, disappearance resonated far
beyond the park. National media covered the story
because he was a well known journalist.
The timing coincided with another headline grabbing event,
The Disappearance of John F, Kennedy Junior's plane in the
Atlantic just a day after Joe went missing.
The nation was captivated by JFK Junior's search which perhaps
over shadowed, Joe's a bit. But among black intellectual
circles and Joe's communities, his story was front and center.
There was an outpouring of concern, how could such a bright
light be snuffed out. So mysteriously friends from New
York hired a private investigator, a former NYPD
detective to double, check everything, not fully trusting
that an accident was all, there was to it.
This detective retraced Joe's steps, interviewed locals and
examined possible, Foul Play angles, but apparently found
nothing inconsistent with the official account.
Over time, Joe Woods case has become almost Legend.
Writers penned articles and even poems in his memory grappling
with the sudden void. He left a friend, the poet
Cornelius ID wrote of Joe and the mountain underscoring how
unbelievable it felt that someone so full of life could
just be gone. Another friend Adolf Reid
articulated the emotional riddle.
I find myself both straining to accept that Joe is gone and
feeling that to accept that is an act of betrayal.
He said it's a sentiment anyone who's lost someone to an
unresolved, disappearance can understand that unwillingness to
give up. As if hope were a tether,
keeping your loved one's memory alive.
The mountain hasn't given up Joe, perhaps somewhere in a
hidden crevice or under thick brush along Van.
Trump Creek, a piece of his story remains a bit of fabric, a
bone waiting, for the right moment to be discovered by a
stray hiker or receding. Glacier.
Or maybe not. Maybe Rainier will hold this
secret forever. More than 425 fatalities have
occurred on Mount Rainier since 1897 climbing accidents,
drowning plane crashes, but nearly all of those bodies were
eventually recovered. Joe stands among the rare few
who are truly gone. In fact, Joe would became the
65th person. In the history of Mount Rainier
National Park to go missing without immediate resolution.
for those who loved Joe, every lush green image of Mount
Rainier, carries a tinge of pain, Unity 99 the conference.
He attended went on but was palpably marred by his absence.
At that conference. Ironically Joe had stood up and
asked a bold question to a politician showing his Fearless
journalism. He was never afraid to speak
truth. Yet in the end, he left behind
only silence in the mountains. How can a man go on a casual
hike on a warm cloudless day and never returned?
It's a question without a good answer.
One that Echoes whenever we set foot on an inviting Trail
without realizing, it might be our last Joe would story remains
one of Mount Rainier's most haunting on answered questions.
It reminds us that even a safe day hike can turn deadly with
one stroke of bad luck. And that closure is a gift.
Not all families, receive From the sultry days of 99, we moved
to a cold morning in 2010. A story set not in Lush forests
but on an icy Alpine slope near Mount Rainier's Summit.
This next disappearance happens in the thin air of 14,000 feet
where a climber's. Single fateful decision led him
to vanish before his teammates very eyes.
Strap on your crampons. We're heading up the mountain
with Eric Lewis. Case, 5 The Vanishing climber.
Eric Lewis 2010. In the pre-dawn darkness of July
1st, 2010, three climbers and neon parkas inched their way up
Mount Rainier's. Icy flank, among them was Eric
Lewis, a 57 year old experienced, climber from
Duvall, Washington, Eric was an Outdoorsman at heart.
Heeded Rainier before in its dangers.
On this Expedition he was attempting the Gibraltar Ledges
route a challenge in path to the summit.
That skirts, the massive Rock Promontory of Gibraltar Rock and
ascends near the precarious Nisqually glacier.
His climbing Partners were two men in their 20s.
Don stormed Junior and Trevor Lane.
Eric was the eldest and arguably the most experienced essentially
leading their unguided climb. They set out from Camp.
Muir the 10,000 foot base camp in the middle of the night rope
together for safety. All three wore harnesses
attached to the same line with roughly 30 feet of rope between
each of them, Eric was last on the Rope Trevor in the middle.
Don in front as Dawn approached, they had made Solid progress.
They were around 13,900 feet, tantalizingly.
Close to the 14,000 40011 foot Summit.
But as often happens on Rainier, the weather was turning ugly
fast. High on the mountain, the trio
in countered, ferocious winds in swirling clouds visibility
plummeted each man had to brace against 50 plus miles per hour.
Gusts threatening to pluck them off the ridge line.
Dawn, in the lead, decided to stop to reassess.
Trevor caught up to him and they huddled near a rocky section.
Probably shouting to hear each other over the wind, they
expected Eric to be coming up, right behind on the road. but as
they waited something fell off, The rope from Trevor trailing
down to Eric. Suddenly went slack or lighter
than expected concerned, Dawn, and Trevor began reeling in the
Rope to see what was happening with Eric.
To their alarm. When they pulled the Rope up, it
came back with no Erik attached, only a tide Loop, a butterfly
knot at the End, Eric was gone. Sometime in those moments of low
visibility, he had unclipped his harness from the rope and
disappeared Into the Storm. Dawn and Trevor were stunned.
Just moments before they had caught glimpses of Eric behind
them through the fog and then nothing.
Unclipping on a dangerous slope in a whiteout defied logic.
Why would Eric do that? The two climbers.
Immediately, feared the worst. Maybe he fell in the ropes.
Tug on them at caused it to break or come loose.
Or maybe he deliberately detached, but why?
heart pounding, donned downslope and shouted, Eric's name They
frantically searched the slope below thinking, Eric might have
slipped and was perhaps sliding or had self arrested somewhere
invisible in the cloud. Seeing no Trace.
They made a quick decision. Believing Eric, could have
somehow moved above them though. That seemed unlikely.
They climbed up to The Summit Ridge to see if he had gone that
way. At the top, the storm was raging
and Eric was not there either with Dread settling in Dawn and
Trevor realized they needed help.
They carefully turned back and descended to Camp, Muir as fast
as they safely. Could buy late.
After noon, on July 1st, they reached the camp and immediately
reported the incident to climbing Rangers.
The search for Eric Lewis began before nightfall.
Climbing Ranger, Tom Payne, and two guides sprang into action.
Heading up, slopes swiftly from Camp, Muir that same evening, to
check the summit area for Eric. They reached the summit by 8
p.m. scanning and calling out and fading light.
Nothing. They pushed themselves risking
the same bad weather but saw no sign of Eric or any disturbance
in the snow. That might indicate a fall.
By 10 pm, they had to return to Camp, Muir empty-handed.
By the next morning, July 2nd, a full-scale search was underway.
This was a big deal. Eric's disappearance at such
altitude, triggered one of the most extensive searches on
Rainier in recent memory, Over 40 people were involved.
Elite Mountaineers National Park Service.
Climbing Rangers and professional guides from
Rainier. Mountaineering Alpine, ascends
and IMG all joined in they scoured.
The Upper Mountain in coordinated teams, despite the
lingering harsh weather. The Army lent a Chinook, ch-47
helicopter, from Fort Lewis, which buzzed the mountains
flanks looking for any trace of a climber on the snow.
A smaller contracted helicopter. Also zigzagged low over
crevasses and cliffs mid-morning on July, 2nd Searchers, hit on a
crucial. Clue at about 13,600 feet, they
found Eric's backpack. It was lying on a steep slope
partially wedged in the snow inside it.
Contained his climbing harness, a snow shovel and full water
bottles that had frozen solid. Strangely the pack was left
behind with gear that could be useful.
This suggested Eric had deliberately dropped his pack at
some point not far above the pack, roughly 200 vertical feet
up Searchers found a small snow cave, Eric had dug.
It looked like an emergency shelter, scratched into the LIE
of a slope, maybe a place he hunkered down for a Time.
These findings were Eerie, they indicated Eric was alive after
separating from his team, trying to survive the search teams.
Redoubled their efforts focusing on this Zone around Gibraltar
Legends and the adjacent Nisqually and Ingram glaciers
One team painstakingly searched the entire Gibraltar, Ledges
root and the glacier edges. Another team searched the summit
crater steam. Caves people in emergencies have
taken shelter in Rainier's, volcanic steam vents before Yet
another team came from the opposite side.
Climbing up from the Emmons. Glacier route to join the hunt
ensuring no area was missed. They probed crevasses and snow
fields, looking for any hint of Eric, a boot protruding a piece
of clothing Blood on Ice. Nothing else turned up on Day 2
beyond the pack and Cave day 3 of the search saw.
Similarly, massive efforts. Ground teams skiing and climbed
all over the Upper Mountain. They shifted Focus slightly to
areas below where the pack was found.
Considering the possibility that Eric might have tried to sending
on his own and Fallen somewhere on the Nisqually Glacier side.
Rangers dropped into the gaping Nisqually icefall area.
Exploring crevasses that yawn like 100 foot deep blue gashes
in the ice. They even entered the
bergstrand, a huge crevasse at the head of a glacier under a
route called Gibraltar shoot. If Eric had tumbled into any of
these, finding him would be extremely difficult.
After yet another grueling day, no additional Clues were found
on July 3rd. By this point over 72 hours had
passed since Eric's disappearance. the search
leaders faced, the Grim reality, give the very cold, very windy
conditions on July 1st in two and the fact Eric apparently had
no tent, no sleeping bag, and had even shed his pack
surviving, even one night out there would have been miraculous
They had effectively scoured every feasible, area around his
last known location. The incoming weather forecast
was poor. Again, another front bringing
precipitation and high winds was due which would curtail any
further flights or safe ground searching With heavy hearts.
The search operation was scaled back.
And eventually suspended. Eric Lewis was never found to
this day. 15 years later, his body remains somewhere on Mount
Rainier slopes on recovered. His disappearance is considered
one of Rainier's Unsolved Mysteries though.
Unlike some others there is little doubt that nature was the
culprit. The official report from
accidents in North American climbing provides a thoughtful
analysis of what likely happened.
Eric's decision to unclip from the rope in.
Severe weather was the critical event.
Why did he do it? We can't ask him, but the report
speculates possible reasons, maybe Eric felt.
He was slowing. The younger climbers down and
chose to free them of himself. Maybe he needed to step aside to
address a personal issue, like Tangled gear or an urgent call
of Nature and thought he'd clip back in shortly.
Or perhaps he experienced a mental lapse due to hypothermia
or altitude illness. Hypothermia can cause
paradoxical Behavior. People do a rational thing like
shedding gear or wandering away. Altitude can Cloud judgment too,
whatever the cause Eric on clip and shortly thereafter likely
became lost and separated in the whiteout.
Given he dug a snow cave, he realized he was in trouble and
tried to survive. Perhaps during a break in the
storm, he decided to leave the cave and descend.
The discovery of his packs suggests, he may have been
attempting A desperate unencumbered descent. fast and
light as the analysis, put it noting that he had left vital
survival gear behind Sadly, ditching the pack meant, he had
even fewer resources to survive. At some point, Eric probably
fell maybe through a cornice or into a crevasse somewhere off
the side of Gibraltar, Ledges, or on the glacier below.
The fact that full water bottles in his pack were frozen.
Solid indicates sub-freezing, conditions up there.
Eric, endured extreme cold for hours the small snow cave shows,
he had the wits to shelter himself for at least a short
time. but with no sleeping bag and ferocious winds, even the
hardiest climber would have eventually succumbed to
hypothermia the analysis concluded that while the weather
was the main factor, the true reasons for Eric's actions will
probably never be known. Indeed, Eric Lewis essentially
walked off the rope and into Legend.
Fellow climbers. Still talk about this case, its
chilling because it was witnessed his Partners,
literally the Rope ghost slack and realized in that gut
wrenching moment that their friend was gone.
One moment he was there. The next he wasn't in
mountaineering circles. Its often said the mountains,
don't read your resume. You can be skilled prepared and
smart and still one strange decision or stroke of bad luck.
Can end you in subsequent years, Climbers, on Rainier's upper
slopes sometimes keep an eye out for any sign of Eric.
Glaciers, move and melt what's Buried one year.
Can Surface much later? Perhaps one summer, a rope team
will peer down a deep crevasse. On the Nisqually Glacier and
spot, a flash of neon Fabric or a bone solving the mystery at
last Stranger, recoveries have happened on mountains after many
years, but as of now, nothing has been found for Eric's
family. The lack of a body means no
closure. They must accept the mountain as
his grave. Friends imagine his final
moments the wind screaming snow. Slicing at his face, maybe a mix
of fear and resolved in his heart.
Perhaps when he stepped out of that rope he intended to make
things easier for his teammates or maybe he was just disoriented
Its tragic. Either way this story,
underscores, a key theme in all these cases.
The unpredictability of human decisions in life and death
Wilderness situations. Eric Lewis knew the rules stay.
Roped up. Stay with your team.
Yet in that critical Instinct. He broke them and it cost him
everything. His disappearance like the
others became a reminder of the parks dual nature, a place of
striking Beauty and potentially deadly dangerous.
Now, for our sixth and final case, we turn to one of the more
recent mysteries on Mount Rainier in 2020, amid a global
pandemic and modern technology at our fingertips.
You'd think disappearing would be harder than ever.
But as we'll see, even cell phones, social media alerts, and
extensive search and rescue coordination, couldn't prevent a
highly skilled young hiker from Vanishing Without a Trace.
This is the story of Dr. Sam dubal.
The professor who went for a weekend hike and never came back
case 6 on the loop, Sam Duvall 2020.
Dr. Sam Bharat. Duval was by all accounts, an
extraordinary individual at 33 years old, Sam had already
earned, an MD from Harvard Medical School, and a PhD in
anthropology from UC Berkeley. In the fall of 2020.
He had just started his dream job as an assistant professor of
anthropology at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Sam was brilliant, compassionate and adventurous.
A skuller who studied healing and conflict zones, and a nature
lover, who found solace on the trails.
His older sister. Dina described him as a humble
guy, a lover of Nature and someone who seeks to find
goodness in everyone. He was also an avid hiker
extremely fit and experienced having trekked in the Himalayas
and elsewhere. Seattle, with Mount Rainier,
looming on the horizon, was the perfect new home for his
Passions. on Friday October 9th 2020, Sam set out for an
overnight solo hike in Mount Rainier National Park His plan
was to hike. The mother Mountain Loop, a
roughly 17 Mile loop trail in the northwest corner of the
park. This Loop starting and ending at
the Mowich Lake trailhead traverses around mother Mountain
through dense. Forests Alpine lakes and
sections of the Wonderland Trail.
Its challenging but not considered extremely technical.
Something a hiker of Sam's caliber could comfortably do in
a day or two. He packed all the necessary
gear, attend sleeping bag, warm clothing, rain gear navigation,
tools, and plenty of food and water.
Importantly, he also carried a cell phone and charger.
Sam was well, prepared for the Autumn weather, which can be
unpredictable. He told friends, he expected to
be backed by Saturday, October 10th.
When Saturday evening rolled around and Sam hadn't returned,
initial concerned began to grow among his family.
By Monday October 12th with still no word from him.
Sam's family, reported him missing to park authorities.
This sparked one of the largest search efforts in Mount
Rainier's, recent history, under particularly challenging
conditions. And keep in mind, October 2020
was during the pandemic, which already complicated Logistics
and resources. The National Park Service
mobilized quickly. Within hours of the report
Rangers had located Sam's car at the witch Lake trailhead parking
lot. Confirming that he was somewhere
out there on the loop on October 12th and 13, quick response
teams of Rangers scoured. The initial portions of the
trail looking for any sign of Sam.
They found one clue early on a distinctive water bottle
believed to belong to Sam was discovered along the trail.
It was a promising yet puzzling. Fine.
Why was his water bottle dropped?
Did he lose it accidentally or discarded to lighten his load?
No one knew, but it at least confirmed he had been on the
trail by October 14th. The search swelled in size,
Dozens of mountain rescue volunteers from multiple
counties, search dogs, drones and helicopters from both The
NPS and the US Air Force joined the mission.
Over the next several days up to 70 people at a time, were
involved in ground searches. They faced rugged remote
Wilderness with dense, forests elevation 2000 to 5,000 feet,
terrain, that can hide a person very well.
The weather was not kind. Periodic inclement, weather
rolled in bringing fog and rain that grounded helicopters and
made searching slow and hazardous.
Still the teams pressed on determined.
Sam's family was very proactive throughout.
His sister Dina created a petition urging the park to keep
the search going beyond the typical time frame.
Emphasizing how well equipped and capable Sam was Sam has with
him, overnight gear, rain, gear, and snow gear, as well as a cell
phone, and a charger. She wrote insisting that, her
brother could still be alive if injured waiting for Rescue.
She also noted that Sam had recently completed, a hike, even
harder than this one and was in top shape.
In media interviews, Dina implored Searchers not to give
up. There is hope, Sam is fit, we
cannot abandon him during this critical time.
She said passionately and indeed the park did not abandon the
effort quickly. For nearly two weeks.
Extensive searching continued. They canvas the entire 17-Mile
Loop and many off-trail areas. Checking ridges, Ravines and
campsites. They called out using
loudspeakers. They looked for Disturbed.
Foliage Footprints anything. A fleur forward-looking infrared
device was used via helicopter to detect body heat at night,
but nothing popped up. It was as if Sam had vanished
into the Mist. During the search Sam's story
grabbed National headlines. His students and colleagues at
UW were distraught, the University's Department of
anthropology posted updates and hoped filled messages.
Sam's family maintained. Hope for his safe return.
One University statement read. Out in the fields search Crews,
shared that hope trudging through rain soaked under story
day after day, but hope alone can't move mountains. by October
23rd 2020 after 10 days of intensive, search, the
heartbreaking decision was made to suspend full-scale search
operations Extensive search efforts have not located Dr. Sam
Dubai, the parks news, release stated, solemnly, With winter
storms arriving in Earnest. Indeed significant snowfall was
imminent. Continuing a massive ground
search became too dangerous for Rescuers.
Park officials. Expressed how heavy this outcome
was on everyone's hearts. They vowed to keep the
investigation open and to follow up on any new leads or sightings
and to resume searching in better conditions.
If possible, Sam's family was devastated.
They weren't ready to quit. in media, they pleaded for the
search to resume whenever whether allowed Dina's petition
garnered, thousands of signatures urging the park and
Governor to allocate more resources for longer.
It was an agonizing balance officials had already given
extraordinary effort yet for the family.
It could never be enough until Sam was found.
The mystery of Sam Dubai's disappearance remains on solved.
What could have happened on that loop trail?
Here are some theories and considerations accident.
The mother Mountain Loop has some steep sections and tricky
stream. Crossings in October leaves can
be slippery, daylight is shorter, and there may even be
early snow at higher points. Sam could have slipped and
fallen down a slope or into a hidden crevasse or Canyon.
Perhaps a snow Bridge collapsed under him or he fell into a
river. If he fell badly, he could have
been injured or knocked unconscious in a spot hidden
from the trail. Searchers might have missed him
if he was obscured by foliage or in a deep ravine.
The dropped water bottle might hint.
He fell abruptly. Jolting it loose or that he was
fatigued dehydrated and maybe became disoriented getting lost.
Although Sam was experienced even, great hikers can make
navigation errors. Maybe a section of Trail was
obscured. If Sam took a wrong turn or
tried to shortcut, he could have ended up far off course.
However, a loop trail reduces that risk.
Even if you go, the wrong way, you often reconnect eventually.
Plus Sam had Maps or GPS still if fog set in, he might have
become turned around on an unofficial path.
Sudden medical issue. Its rare given his Fitness but
not impossible. Could Sam have suffered a
medical emergency like a heart attack or severe allergic
reaction? If so he might have collapsed
beside the trail, but surely Searchers would have found him
if he were near the trail and he had no known health problems.
That anyone has reported Wildlife encounter.
Mount Rainier has black bears and mountain lions.
Both typically avoid humans cougar attacks while extremely
rare can happen. One scenario if a cougar,
attacked it might drag prey off. Trail Searchers did keep this in
mind. Looking for drag marks or blood.
None was reported. And Sam being a, grown man is
not a typical cougar Target. It's a low likelihood Theory
Foul Play, Always a question when someone vanishes did
another person harm him in October 2020.
The park was relatively quiet due to both season and covid.
Still, there were other hikers around, but no evidence of Foul
Play was found his car wasn't tampered with his personal items
strewn about. Its hard to completely rule out
but there is no indication. This is a criminal case.
The area is remote criminals aren't typically lurking hours
from civilization. All so Sam was strong and aware.
It would be difficult to overpower him without a struggle
that left traces. The most plausible, explanation
leans toward an accident that left Sam, in an unrecovered
location. Perhaps he ventured off Trail
briefly and fell into an area covered by dense brush or into
one of the countless pits and gullies that dot the landscape.
By the time massive search efforts, came wind rain or even
an early snow could have obscured subtle signs.
October 10th through 11 did see some inclement weather that can
erase Footprints and scent Trails quickly.
It's worth noting. Sam's cell phone, never issued a
distress call Perhaps he had no signal in that area, quite
likely as parts of the loop have no reception.
Or if something sudden happened, he might not have had a chance
to use it. His phone's last known ping, if
any hasn't been made public as of now, Sam Duval is still
listed as a missing person. His family and friends have kept
his memory alive. They even established a memorial
award in his name, in anthropology.
They refused to let people forget that he still hasn't been
found every so often when hikers set out on the mother Mountain
Loop, some carry Sam story with them eyes, open for any sign, a
scrap of fabric, a piece of gear that might provide closure. in
an interview, Sam's sister reflected, on his character
saying he is a very fit and skilled hiker with tremendous
experience, including in the Himalayas She wasn't boasting,
it was the truth. That's what makes his
disappearance so hard to fathom. If someone like Sam can vanish
in Rainier's Woods, it underscores that no amount of
skill can make one infallible against Nature's Caprice.
Sam Duvall's case occurring in the era of modern technology
highlights that even today with all our advances nature can
still easily allude our attempts to conquer or even understand
it. Drones helicopters and
satellites, none could find Sam. It's humbling and it leaves us
with an unsettled feeling, a well-educated caring, young
Professor went for a casual overnight hike in a US national
park and disappeared Without a Trace.
As we conclude his story picture, the scene that
Searchers must have seen Sam's 10th.
Perhaps found still packed in his bag, wherever it lies, never
set up. The Majestic ancient trees of
Rainier standing silent guard over Secrets they witnessed
Autumn fog drifting through valleys concealing and revealing
shapes that may or may not be a missing man.
His story is still out there somewhere in those woods waiting
to be discovered six people. Six Lives, full of Adventures
dreams and loved ones. All intertwined, with the wild
Landscapes of Mount Rainier and all ending in unsolved
disappearances. We began with Elaine Robertson
in 1979, a young woman who walked into a rainy night and
was never seen again, leaving behind only questions and a
forlorn campsite. We followed Ramona Faye in 1995,
whose desperate flight into the park, left, a blood-stained
mystery that still chills anyone who hears it?
We delved into Sheila, Kearns in 1996 a dedicated Park employee.
Whose fate remains a riddle of Bones scattered near her home.
Her co-workers, still wonder if it was a tragic animal attack or
something more sinister, we traced Joe Woods, 1999 hike into
the pristine Forest that somehow devoured, him whole leaving,
avoid in the literary world and amount of grief for those left
behind We scaled the heights with Eric Lewis in 2010.
Glimpsing how quickly a Mountaineers confidence can turn
to catastrophe in a blizzard? One moment tied to friends the
next vanished Into the Storm. And we walked alongside Sam.
Duval in 2020. Marveling at how a man so
prepared. And so loved could go missing on
a simple Loop proving that even today with all our gear and
know-how nature can still humble us completely these stories,
span different, eras, different ages, different backgrounds.
Yet, they are united by the terrain of Mount Rainier.
And the enduring mystery of not knowing families and friends of
each missing person have had to live with that gnawing
uncertainty. Decades later some still lay
tokens on the mountain, like sengupta burying an earring for
Joe wood. So he would not be alone
gestures to cope with an absence that cannot be filled.
What do we take away from all this first, a profound respect
for Mount Rainier's dual nature. This mountain known by the
indigenous name. To Houma, is breathtaking Beyond
measures snowcapped, Peaks Wildflower Meadows.
Cascading Falls. But it is also in the words of
one writer, perhaps the most dangerous mountain in America.
It, lures us with beauty and then tests us with peril.
One misstep, one turn of weather or one moment of bad luck.
Can change everything the mysterious disappearances at
Mount Rainier National Park. Serve as a haunting, reminder of
the parks dual nature, a place of striking Beauty and
potentially deadly dangers. Second these cases remind us of
the importance of preparedness and caution.
Many of our six did everything, right?
And still met trouble. For hikers and adventurers,
listening. The lesson is not that you
should never go, but rather always tell someone your plan in
detail, carry the ten Essentials and then some respect your
limits and heed the mountains signals as one experience.
Northwest traveler put it outside, don't understand that.
When you go up there, your meeting nature.
You're going to meet its forces. The forces of nature are
powerful and indifferent, they don't bend to our schedules or
skill levels. Third were reminded how
agonizing and enduring the pain of uncertainty is for those left
behind Each of these missing persons had family and friends
who spent weeks months, even years searching speculating
hoping against hope. Imagine the parents of a missing
child in a campground or the siblings of a lost brother who
comb through every rumor on the internet for a clue.
The emotional toll is immense. And yet many of them channel
that pain into action petitions memorials, raising awareness the
human Spirit of not giving up. On our loved ones is perhaps the
one light in these dark stories. Finally, these Tales
collectively underscore a sobering truth.
There Are Places even today where humans can vanish Without
a Trace. National parks are often called
America's best idea, but they also contain some of America's
deepest Mysteries Mount Rainier. Alone has seen numerous people
go missing, who were never found.
Hundreds of people have died on its slopes and while most were
eventually recovered some remain out there part of the mountain
now. If you ever visit Mount Rainier
National Park in, find yourself at Longmire or Paradise or
wandering. The trails of Mauch Lake.
Pause for a moment, feel the ancient silence in the trees.
Realize that for all the park maps, ranger stations and search
helicopters, there are stories in those woods that we will
never fully know. The story of a young woman and
her dog disappearing into the Misty Knight.
The story of a ranger who said, goodnight to friends and never
said, good morning. The story of a climber's rope
going slack in a storm. These linger like ghosts on the
mountain. And yet people continue to
venture into Rainier's Wild Heart drawn by its Allure.
Perhaps that's fitting the mountain gives us wonder and
demands respect. It offers Revelation but guard
Secrets, each missing person's case is a cautionary.
Tale whispering to us to be careful, be prepared and be
humble in the face of nature. In the end.
Mount Rainier stands as it has for Millennia Grand and
indifferent it wears a crown of clouds, keeping its Mysteries
hidden just Out Of Reach for the families of Elaine.
Ramona, Sheila. Joe, Eric and Sam.
Every sunrise on Rainier, is both a Beacon of Hope and a
reminder of loss. They may never get the answers
they seek. But by sharing these stories we
honor the missing and perhaps learn vital lessons that could
keep others from the same fate. these six stories as sad and
Eerie as they are bind together in a final thought, the
Wilderness is not cruel or kind, it's simply Wild.
And in that wildness we find both the thrill of Adventure and
the risk of the unknown. So the next time you gaze at
Mount Rainier's, silhouette against the sky, remember the
souls who are now part of its Legend in their memory, stay
safe, stay prepared and always tell someone where you're going.
Because the mountain holds many secrets.
And it doesn't intend to give them up easily.
Rocky Mountain National Park is a place of breathtaking Beauty
and unforgiving wilderness. Since its establishment in 1915,
an Untold number of people have walked into these mountains.
Never to be seen again. Hikers set out on familiar
trails and vanish Without a Trace.
Children wander off and are swallowed by the wild, leaving
only Mysteries behind. In today's video, we're diving
deep into some of the strangest disappearances ever reported in
Rocky Mountain National Park Colorado.
These stories span decades from the 1930s to today.
And each one is as baffling as it is, heartbreaking will
explore 5 true cases of people who entered the park and simply
vanished. Some of these Tales are well,
documented others. Barely known but all are
mysterious Will follow the facts uncovered by official
investigations and hear The Haunting accounts from those who
were there. Will retrace search and rescue
efforts that sometimes uncovered disturbing Clues and sometimes
found nothing at all and will dive into the most compelling
theories. Could these people have
succumbed to the elements and survival situations, Fallen
victim to criminal Acts or is there something even stranger at
play in these mountains? Each story comes with twists,
turns and unanswered questions. Will lay out the evidence and
let you Ponder what really happened.
Stick with us to the end, you'll hear about a 4 year old boy, who
disappeared in broad daylight near a rocky stream and the
Eerie sighting of a child on a high cliff that fueled
Supernatural speculation. We'll talk about a young camper
whose remains were found. High on a mountain sparking
Rumours of a cover-up at a boy's Camp decades later and you'll
learn about a seasoned Trail Runner, who vanished on a 28
Mile Road just last year, despite one of the largest
church in park history, Before we begin a quick disclaimer,
these cases are real and involve unresolved disappearances and
deaths. Our hearts go out to the
families and friends of the missing.
Our goal is to share their stories and keep these Mysteries
alive in hopes that someday answers might emerge.
Now, get ready for some truly head, scratching Tales.
This is the story of the mysterious disappearances in
Rocky Mountain National Park. On a cool summer morning in 1933
Joseph Halpern and a close friend pitched, their tent in
the High Country of Rocky Mountain National Park.
Joseph was no ordinary 22 year old.
He was a graduate student from the University of Chicago,
brilliant in mathematics, chemistry and astronomy.
In fact, he'd spent the summer working at an observatory in
Wisconsin and he was known as a chess whiz.
This camping trip to Colorado was supposed to be a much-needed
break for the young scholar before.
The fall semester, surrounded by Jagged Peaks, and pine forests,
Joseph felt right at home in nature.
He and his friend set up camp near the base of Taylor Peak
boasting sweeping views of the parks.
Valleys the plan was simple. Enjoy a few days hiking and
climbing in the pure Mountain, Air One August afternoon, Joseph
decided to tackle tailor Peaks solo.
He told his friend, he wanted to see the view from the top and
perhaps takes some photos. Slinging on his sturdy Army
Surplus knapsack and dressed in a light blue shirt and brown
trousers, he set off the trail. Joseph was an experienced
Outdoorsman, so his friend wasn't too worried he'd be back
by evening. As Joseph disappeared up the
rocky path. There was no way to know it was
the last time. Anyone would see him?
Hours passed and daylight began to wane.
Joseph's friend grew uneasy when dusk settled in and Joseph still
hadn't returned. Perhaps Joseph had lost track of
time. Enjoying the Summit View.
Or maybe he decided to explore a bit off Trail.
The friend, waited watching the trailhead expectantly, as
Shadows, grew long. By Nightfall concerned to alarm.
Joseph Halpern was missing. The next morning, park ranger's
organized. A search, bad luck and bad
weather were about to make things much worse.
On the night, Joseph vanished, an early season snow storm swept
through the high elevation. Taylor Peak was now cloaked on a
layer of fresh snow. Any Footprints are Clues.
Joseph might have left were likely obliterated by the storm.
Rangers volunteers and even Civilian Conservation Corps
members combed the area for days fighting through snowdrifts and
biting Alpine wind They scoured the slopes of Taylor Peak peered
into Ravines and called out Joseph's name into the thin air.
But despite an extensive effort, no, trace of Joseph was found.
It was as if the young man had stepped off the trail and been
swallowed by the mountain. By the end of the official
search, the only conclusion authorities could draw was that
Joseph might have succumbed to the elements, perhaps injured in
a fall, and then caught in that surprise.
Snowstorm Yet the lack of any evidence.
No clothing scraps. No gear.
Nothing left. Everyone baffled.
Joseph's, heartbroken friend and family were forced to return
home without answers. It seemed the case would end
there. Another tragic, but
straightforward. Disappearance due to Nature's
wrath, but Joseph, Halpern story was far from over in the months
and years. After Joseph, vanished strange
reports began to trickle in from Far Beyond Rocky Mountain
National Park. In December 1933 for months
after his disappearance. Someone swore they saw a man
matching Joseph's description with the Civilian Conservation
Corps. CCC in Phoenix Arizona.
Could Joseph have survived and somehow traveled, hundreds of
miles, south, the CCC was a work relief program during the Great
Depression. If Joseph was alive, but
disoriented perhaps he fell in with a CEC group.
The sighting was uncertain and unconfirmed and park officials
were skeptical. Then the following year brought
an even more bizarre lead Detroit, Michigan 1935.
Two years after Joseph went missing.
A rumor spread that Joseph was spotted travelling with the
Lewis Brothers Circus in Detroit.
Yes, a circus. According to this account, a
driftor. Resembling Joseph had joined up
with the circus as it toured the country.
If true it meant Joseph had not only survived, but intentionally
walked away from his old life, to become a wandering performer,
the notion sounded outlandish. Joseph was an academic, not
exactly the type to run away and join the circus.
And yet multiple people claimed, they saw him there in 1935.
The sightings didn't stop there. In May 1935 around the same time
as the circus report. Another came from Alliance
Nebraska. A man Working With a Civilian
Conservation Corps unit near Alliance was thought to be
Joseph, possibly using the Alias Lewis hollenbach and going by
the nickname teacher. That nickname would fit a
scholarly guy like Joseph. This individual vanished before
authorities could verify his identity leaving only
tantalizing questions. Was Joseph Halpern, alive
wandering, the American West under a new name.
Or were these sightings cases of mistaken.
Identity hopeful imaginations seeing what they wanted to see.
Joseph's family. Didn't know what to believe.
On one hand, the harsh reality was that the mountains are
perilous? It was entirely possible.
Joseph fell into a concealed crevasse or off a cliff and his
body was simply hidden from Searchers under snow and rocks.
If that was the case, he likely perished on Taylor Peak and
remains there to this day eventually to be discovered by
some hiker or never found at all.
On the other hand, these persistent reports of a living
Joseph gave them a strange sort of Hope or perhaps just
prolonged the uncertainty. No physical evidence ever
surfaced to back up the sightings not a single
photograph letter or confirmed encounter materialized.
Investigators both in 1933 and in later decades, were left with
an open case and nothing solid to go on.
To this day Joseph, halpern's fate is unknown.
His case is one of the oldest unsolved disappearances from
Rocky Mountain National Parks early years.
Modern authorities, have collected DNA samples from
Joseph's, surviving relatives just in case any remains turn
up, that could be linked to him Decades of passed Without a
Trace. If Joseph died on the mountain,
Nature has kept her secret. Well if he somehow survived and
chose a new life, he never resurfaced to tell his story not
even as an old man seeking closure.
Theories and thoughts. Joseph, halpern's disappearance
leaves us with two main possibilities.
The first is the most straightforward Joseph likely
got into trouble on Taylor Peak. He could have slipped on a patch
of ice or loose Rock and fallen into one of the countless
gullies or hidden chasms in that rugged terrain.
The sudden snowstorm would have then covered any sign of him and
his remains may still lie somewhere on the mountain
scattered by Wildlife or hidden under talus in those days.
Search and rescue didn't have helicopters or high-tech gear
and missing hikers who fell in remote areas were often never
recovered. Sobering but plausible
explanation. The second theory is far more
intriguing that Joseph deliberately walked away from
his life. perhaps the pressure of graduate school and the
weight of expectations pushed him to a Breaking Point, some
have speculated that Joseph might have staged his
disappearance to start anew his intellectual Brilliance, could
have just as easily been channeled into survival and
subterfuge. If he didn't want to be found,
he might have traveled under false names.
Like the reported Louis hollenbach and kept moving.
Joining, transient groups, like the CCC, or even a traveling
circus, could have provided him food and shelter under the
radar. But why would a promising young
scientists abandoned everything? Was it a case of a mental health
crisis, a desire for adventure or something else.
Without any evidence of Foul Play No suspicious individuals
seen around him and no known personal problems.
The walk away Theory remains purely speculative, it's
extremely rare but not unheard of for a person to vanish
intentionally and never contact family again.
As the years rolled on Joseph Halpern, became something of a
legend among Rocky Mountain Rangers.
The brilliant student who vanished Into Thin Air.
His story isn't as well known to the public as some other
National Park Mysteries. But it continues to Fascinate
those who stumble upon it. If you hike near Taylor Peak On
A cold quiet day, you might feel the history in those Hills.
One can't help but wonder if somewhere under the Whispering
Pines or in an untouched crevice by the final traces of Joseph.
Or if Joseph himself lived out his days under an Open Sky
forever wandering. Story 2 Lost Innocence.
The Disappearance of Alfred bilhartz 1938 a 1938 photograph
of 4 year old Alfred Edwin bail horse whose Disappearance in
Rocky Mountain. National Park remains one of the
parks oldest and most haunting Mysteries.
In the Rockies is a time for Family, Fun and Freedom. in July
1938 the Beale Hearts, family, mom, dad and their 10 children
were on a holiday trip to Rocky Mountain, National Park, to
celebrate Independence Day weekend, Among them was Alfred
Edwin, bilhartz a bright and playful little boy just four
years old. The bail Hearts Clan had set up
camp near the Fall. River area of the park.
A place of babbling Brooks and Lush forests.
On July 2nd 1938, the family decided to go fishing along Fall
River, the morning sun filtered through the trees as Alfred
trotted, alongside his parents, and older siblings on a trail
that ran parallel to the water. Like many preschoolers Alfred
was energetic and curious, he kept up with the older kids as
best he could, but sometimes fell behind distracted by the
wonders of nature, as the family hiked near the riverbank
Alfred's. Parents would periodically
glance back to make sure he was keeping pace. one moment Alfred
was their trailing just a few steps behind the next moment he
was gone, it happened in an instant At around 8 a.m. not far
from where a creek known as Roaring River feeds into Fall
River. Alfred felt behind by a few
steps on the trail. And simply vanished from sight.
At first his parents thought perhaps he had just ducked
behind a rock or wandered a short way off the path to
explore something interesting. But after calling his name and
searching the immediate area, their initial annoyance turned
to panic, there was no sign of Alfred know responding giggle no
rustling in the bushes. Nothing the Beale Hearts family,
desperately scan, the surrounding woods and
Riverbanks. Could he have tumbled into the
Swift flowing Fall River? That was the first fear, a small
child could easily be swept away.
Or had he wandered into the woods, perhaps chasing a bird or
butterfly and gotten turned around.
After a frantic initial search turned up, nothing the family
race to alert Park Rangers. In 1938 Rocky Mountain.
National Park was still relatively wild and
underdeveloped, but the Rangers wasted, no time assembling a
search party within hours, dozens of volunteers, Civilian
Conservation, Corps members and park staff joined the effort to
find little Alfred The search for Alfred quickly, became one
of the largest in park history at that time.
Given the fear that he might have fallen into the river
Rangers took drastic action. They actually damned the Fall
River using sandbags and Boards. Creating temporary barriers and
diverting the flow. Then they painstakingly drag the
river for six miles Downstream hoping to find Alfred's body or
even a piece of his clothing. It was a grim task but the
family needed to know if the river had taken him.
Day after day Searchers, waited through cold water, peering into
every pool and under every law, astonishingly, they found no,
trace of Alfred in the river. Not a shoe not as little fishing
pole. Nothing This both relieved and
perplexed. Everyone.
If the river wasn't the culprit, then what was attention then
turned to the woods and Mountain sides.
Experience Bloodhounds were brought in given Alfred sent
from a piece of his clothing. The dogs managed to pick up
something they tracked, Alfred sent about 500 feet uphill from
where he vanished. This was strange, why would a 4
year old? Leave the trail and go uphill
away from the river. The dogs LED Searchers to a fork
in the path. And then the scent Trail.
Abruptly stopped it was as if Alfred had been plucked from
that spot leaving. No further trace for The
Bloodhounds to follow Searchers shouted.
His name into the forest, whistles blew the mountains
answered only with Echoes days passed and hope faded but then
an eerie lead emerged. About six miles from where
Alfred went missing and roughly 2000 feet higher in elevation a
couple of hikers. Reported something
extraordinary, They had been hiking along Old Fall River
Road, an old rugged road that climbs up the mountains when
they heard a child's faint cry. Echoing through the canyon.
scanning the heights, they spotted what looked like a small
boy, sitting on a high Rocky, ledge known as the devil's Nest
near the top of Mount chaplain It was an area.
So treacherous and remote that, no 4 year old should have been
able to reach it alone. Yet in the distance.
They saw a tiny figure that matched Alfred's description.
The boy was reportedly sitting eerily still at the edge of a
sheer drop off. The hikers called out but their
voices didn't care. Then as they watched in
disbelief, they claimed to see the child suddenly jerked
backward as if someone unseen grabbed him from behind and
pulled him out of view that startling detail, a boy who
looked like Alfred seemingly pulled by someone. is something
straight out of a parent's nightmare where these hikers
actually seeing Alfred if so, who was up there with him on
that perilous ledge The area nicknamed Devil's Nest, only
added to the chilling atmosphere of their report Rangers were
notified immediately. The very next day, a team of
skilled climbers. In Rescuers.
Braved the dangerous Cliffs to reach Devil's Nest on Mount
Chaplin. They combed every inch of that
High Ridge. No boy was there.
No Trace was found. If Alfred had somehow gotten up
there, he was gone. Now, the sighting, while taken
seriously ended up as another dead end for 10 days around 150,
men and women scoured. The park for Alfred, it was one
of the most extensive searches Colorado had seen.
They searched from dawn Until Dark covering some 50 square
miles of rugged. Terrain, forests Meadows,
Riverside and Alpine Street. the US Forest Service local
volunteers, and even the National Guard pitched in The
story of the missing blonde-haired boy was in
headlines Across the Nation. From Colorado to as far away as
California newspapers ran updates on the search.
Americans held their breath. Hoping for a miracle but no
Miracle came. By the end of those 10,
agonizing days in July 1938, not a single clue to Alfred's.
Fate had been discovered reluctantly, the massive search
was scaled back and eventually called off Alfred's devastated
parents were left with a gaping wound of uncertainty.
The park officially listed Alfred's, case, as a likely
fatality, due to natural causes perhaps a fall or exposure.
But privately Rangers admitted, they had no idea what happened
to him. In the following months, the
bail Hearts family, struggled to move forward and then five
months later in December 1938, the bail Hearts received.
Something that gave them a jolt of Hope and Dread.
They got a ransom note in the mail.
The letter, demanded 500 dollars.
A considerable sum in 1938. Roughly equivalent to over
11,000 dollars today. For Alfred safe return.
You can imagine the emotional Whirlwind could Alfred actually
be alive held by some kidnappers.
The note included instructions for how to drop off the money in
exchange for getting Alfred back.
Denver Police got involved and investigated this lead
thoroughly. Tragically it turned out to be
nothing more than a cruel Hope's.
Someone was trying to extort money from grieving parents, and
they likely had no actual connection to Alfred's.
Disappearance. The police were Furious the
Beale, Hearts, were heartbroken All Over Again.
The Ransom note writer was never caught but authorities,
dismissed, the note as a sick joke after determining the
details in it, didn't add up. Alfred's.
Father William bilhartz however, never shook the feeling that his
boy had been abducted. He clung to the belief that
Alfred might still be alive out there somewhere.
Perhaps taken by a person unknown.
With the river thoroughly searched and the devil's Nest
sighting, suggesting a human involvement, Mr. Bellhart wasn't
convinced, Alfred simply got lost.
In a newspaper interview, a year after The Disappearance Williams
said, he believed someday Alfred will come back.
It was a desperate Hope from a parent who had lost so much.
So what really happened to Alfred Biehl Hart's over the
years? Numerous theories have been
floated each as unsettling as the next.
Accident by Nature, the most straightforward explanation is
that Alfred fell into a hidden hole or mine shaft.
There were some old mining sites in the park or perhaps got stuck
in a narrow Canyon or crevice. The idea is that his body might
have been concealed in such a way that Searchers and even
Bloodhounds missed it. It's possible that the boy could
have climbed uphill explaining the dogs, tracking him 500 feet
up and then Fallen If he ended up in some inaccessible spot or
was covered by rocks nature, might have hidden him
permanently. River drowning initial Theory.
Now doubted Initially, everyone assumed, Alfred drowned.
But the exhaustive river search effectively ruled that out,
Still. Some wonder if maybe he fell in,
was swept far Downstream outside?
The search area and his body was never recovered.
However, given the steps taken dams and drags over six miles.
This seems less likely Wild animal attack could a mountain
lion or a bear. Have snatched Alfred A predator.
Could conceivably grab a small child quickly and silently.
A cat, for instance, might carry prey up into the hills maybe
even to alleged like Devil's nest.
Yet. There were no signs of struggle.
No blood and typically Searchers are dogs would find some Trace
if a predator was involved tracks, drag marks, Etc.
None were reported abduction by a person.
This Theory gained traction is actually after the devil's Nest
incidents, what if someone was lurking on the trail that day a
human abductor could explain why the dog's lost the scent
abruptly at a trail Fork. Perhaps Alfred was picked up and
carried in a vehicle or on Horseback from that point.
But how would a kidnapper get a child to such a high remote
location? As the devil's Nest as the
witnesses claimed? One scenario.
The hikers may have witnessed Alfred with his abductor on that
ledge. Perhaps the kidnapper was hiding
out in the park and accidentally got spotted then.
Quickly moved the boy If Alfred was taken it raises even more
questions, why was there never a legitimate Ransom demand or any
further contact. Aside from the hoax note.
Kidnapping, for ransom was not unheard of in that era.
The Lindbergh baby case was just a few years early but nothing
concrete ever surfaced. It's worth noting that in 1938
background checks and visitor logs were minimal.
A predator could have mingled with holiday, campers unnoticed
Supernatural or unexplained some in the Paranormal Community have
pointed to Alfred's case. As part of the so-called Missing
411 phenomenon, unexplained disappearances in national parks
that defy, logical explanation, The devil's Nest sighting in
particular fuels this. The idea of a child seemingly
teleported miles from where he vanished at a higher elevation,
that would take hours to reach is hard to rationalize.
Could Alfred really have traveled six miles and up steep
Terrain in mere hours. If not carried by a person or
animal it almost feels otherworldly.
This has led to Fringe speculation did Alfred stumble
into some kind of portal in the woods.
He snatched by something not quite human.
These ideas are not supported by evidence, but they demonstrate
how desperate for answers people become when a case is this
baffling. It doesn't help that the
location is literally called Devil's Nest.
A coincidence that adds a spooky lore to the story.
In truth, Alfred bilhartz his disappearance remains unsolved.
The park, officially closed. The case long ago, due to lack
of leads, no remains were ever discovered As time went on
Alfred, became a sad legend of the park.
A cautionary. Tale told to keep a close watch
on your kids in the wild. His name still sends a chill
down the spine of those familiar with Park Mysteries.
If alive today Alfred would be in his 90s.
One can only imagine the life. He might have lived.
But on that fateful July Morning, something happened to a
little boy in Rocky Mountain National Park that has never
been explained. The Disappearance of Alfred is
one of those stories that sticks with you, especially if you've
ever been responsible for a child.
One moment of distraction and everything can change.
Even now Campers at Rocky Mountain National Park,
sometimes tell stories around the campfire of a little boy's
ghost wandering. The river banks looking for his
family. Whether you believe such Tales
are not the real tragedy of Alfred bellhart is haunting
enough. Story, 3 Camp, saint-malo
secret. The Bobby Bishop case 1958 in
the summer of 1958, a 10 year, old boy named Robert Bobby.
Bishop waved, goodbye to his parents and headed off to camp.
This wasn't just any summer camp.
It was Camp, saint-malo a Catholic boys Camp nestled in
the Rockies near Estes Park Colorado, right next to Rocky
Mountain National Park, For a kid from Denver who was deaf and
wore a hearing aid, Camp was a big adventure and an opportunity
to just be one of the boys. Bobby was described as a sweet
energetic kid, who didn't let his hearing impairments slow him
down at Camp, saint-malo camper spent their days hiking fishing
and learning Outdoors skills under the watch of counselors
and Catholic clergy, who ran the camp in August 1958 as the
summer, session's near their end Bobby.
In the other campers were enjoying the Alpine paradise
around them. On August 15th. 1958 the camp
routine was underway when something seemed off with Bobby.
Another boy later reported that he saw Bobby looking extremely
upset shortly before he went missing.
A former priest functioning, as a counselor at the time.
Also confirmed. He had spoken with Bobby not
long before Bobby vanished. According to the camp,
director's public statements. Bobby had gone off fishing by a
Riverside on the camp property and failed to return When the
group headed back toward the lodge.
In the flurry of camp activities, initially only a
short time passed before someone noticed Bobby wasn't with the
others. Perhaps, he had simply lost
track of time, casting his line in the creek.
The realization soon sank in Bobby was missing.
The camp counselors and Priests initiated a search of the
immediate area calling out. For Bobby, they knew he couldn't
hear their shouts without being fairly close given his hearing
aid limitations When the boy didn't turn up after the initial
search Camp, Saint Malo staff contacted the authorities Rocky
Mountain National Park Rangers, local police and even military
personnel. Joined the search effort in the
rough terrain around the camp. For days, team scoured, the
forested slopes of Mount Meeker, the Towering 13, 900 foot
Mountain that looms of camp saint-malo. the search area
straddled, the border of the national park and church-owned
camplands At one point A large group of counselors and older
campers climbed up, Mount Meeker to about 11,000 feet elevation a
very challenging Ascent, desperately looking for any sign
of Bobby, they trekked through Treeline and into the rocky
Alpine zones shouting and scanning but found nothing not a
footprint, not a piece of clothing.
After exhaustive efforts, the search was unsuccessful and was
eventually scaled back. It was as if Bobbie had
disappeared off the face of the mountain, then about a year
later in June 1959, a break in the case.
Finally came though, it was a heartbreaking one.
Hike, hers. Moving through a rugged area
high on Mount Meeker. Several miles.
West of the camp. Stumbled upon something on the
ground there. Amid Boulders and Alpine Tundra.
They found human remains later identified as belonging to
Bobby. Scattered near.
The remains were shreds of clothing.
And one of Bobby's hearing aids confirmed to match the boys
gear. The location was incredibly
remote for a child roughly three miles from Camp.
Saint Malo at a very high altitude on the mountain.
This was a spot far beyond where anyone initially expected to
find Bobby. The County coroner and
investigators examined. What was left?
Given the condition of the remains and the brutal Mountain
environment. It was concluded that Bobby
likely died of exposure, essentially, he got lost climbed
way up the mountain and succumb to the elements.
Perhaps he wandered too far became disoriented, especially
since he couldn't hear Searchers or distant Camp noises to guide
him back. And kept going uphill instead of
returning downhill. Maybe he even saw the lights of
buildings or heard wind, and thought he was going the right
way when he wasn't. It's tragically easy for even
adults to become disoriented in the wilderness.
For a deaf 10 year, old boy, the odds were stacked against him.
With some of his remains found, the authorities, considered the
case closed at that time. Bob Bobby's grieving parents, at
least had partial closure. They could bury their son and
not live in the limbo of uncertainty, but the story of
Bobby's up does not end in 1959. In fact, decades later, his case
would be re-examined under a very dark shadow of Suspicion
for over 60 years. Bobby's file, sat mostly
untouched One, More Sad But straightforward tragedy in the
Parks history. Then in the 2000s and 2010s a
storm of Scandal, hit the Catholic Church regarding past
abuses by clergy. In Colorado, investigators and
journalists began digging into old.
Records of priests accused of abusing children.
Camp saint-malo. It turns out was staffed by some
of these clergy, back in the 1950s.
Shockingly. It was revealed that three
counselors from Camp saint-malo, men, who later became Catholic.
Priests were identified as serial, child abusers in the
years after Bobby's disappearance. this raised in
explosive question, had Bobby bizup really just gotten lost Or
had something else happened to him at Camp survivors of abuse
came forward to describe camp, saint-malo in that era.
As a place, where unspeakable things sometimes happen, behind
closed doors. Investigators started to wonder
if Bobby might have been victim to Foul Play.
Possibly at the hands of an abuser and that his death had
been covered up as an accident. But Bobby's body had been found
seemingly consistent with a boy lost in the mountains.
What evidence was there to think otherwise?
The answer to that came in 2020 over, 62 years after Bobby died,
when in astonishing piece of evidence surface.
Part of a human skull that was believed to be Bobby's kept
hidden for decades. Here's what happened a man named
Tom McCloskey was watching a documentary about unsolved
cases. Specifically about Bobby's
disappearance, Tom's father, Dr. Joseph McCloskey had been a
prominent member of the Catholic Community in Colorado and a
close friend of the priests who ran camp saint-malo in the
1950s. Dr. McCloskey had passed away
back in 1980. While watching this documentary,
Tom recalled, a rather horrifying Family, secret, his
father had a human skull fragment stored among his
personal belongings. The Elder McLaughlin had once
told family members that the skull piece came from the
missing boy at camp saint-malo. Tom realized with shock that
this skull piece was very likely part of Bobbie Bishops remains
hidden for all these years. Tom McCloskey handed this skull
fragment over to authorities in 2021.
The FBI and National Park Service reopened Bobby's case as
a suspicious death investigation.
If indeed a piece of Bobby skull had been kept as a sort of
Macabre suvenir or Relic by someone connected to the camp
that strongly suggests. That Bobby's death was not a
simple case of getting lost. Maybe Bobby did wander off
initially, but what if he encountered someone, perhaps one
of the camp counselors who harmed him?
Could the remains found on Mount Meeker?
Have been placed there to Stage an accident.
The idea is chilling. A 10 year old boy, might have
been abused and killed and the perpetrators covered it up by
scattering, his remains on the mountain.
Back in 1958, the camp leaders had immense Authority and
credibility and nobody would have questioned their account
that the boy wondered off while fishing.
Let's consider some facts. Bobby's remains were found in a
spot that had been heavily searched at the time yet,
nothing was found during the initial search.
Also its peculiar that a part of his Remains.
The skull piece was not with the rest but in the possession of
Dr. McCloskey, who was tied to the Camp's priest?
We have to ask, how would he get that?
One theory is that perhaps one Bobby's remains were first
discovered in 1959. Someone from the camp, maybe
present during the recovery kept a piece deliberately It sounds
goulish, but perhaps it was kept as a Keepsake for some Twisted
reason or to ensure certain evidence.
Never saw the light of day today.
The case of Bobby bizup is an open Cold Case, being actively
investigated by the National Park, Service Investigative
Services Brands. They have even labeled it
publicly as a suspicious death and solicited tips from the
public. Law enforcement has not
announced any conclusive findings yet.
DNA testing on the skull fragment was expected but the
results if done haven't been made public as of yet, the
Catholic archdiocese in Colorado and law enforcement have been
reviewing any records from the camp and the priests involved.
It's a Race Against Time as many of the people who were adults
in, 1958 are now very old or deceased. theories and
possibilities and Bobby's case now basically split into two
camps, tragic accident, original narrative, Bobbie simply got
disoriented and wandered off Camp property.
Being unable to hear. Well, he might not have realized
how far he was straying or heard people calling for him. kids
often think going uphill might lead them to a vantage point to
see home, Perhaps, that's what he did.
Climbing. Mount Meeker.
He likely succumbed to cold, or starvation animals could have
scattered his Remains, the skull piece might have been picked up
by Dr. McCloskey at some point out of curiosity or is a
misguided religious Relic. Some speculated he might have
seen it as a relic because the camp had a chapel, however,
that's very far-fetched and not how relics are normally obtained
in short. This Theory asserts there was no
foul play by humans. The subsequent Revelation are
coincidences or unrelated acts like an opportunistic hoax or a
weird Keepsake situation. Cover up of Foul Play.
Given what we now know about abuse at that camp, it's very
plausible that Bobby was harmed by an authority figure at camp
saint-malo. If say a counselor harmed, Bobby
on August 15th, 1958 accidentally or intentionally
they would have had strong motive to cover it up.
Imagine the scenario. Something bad happens to Bobby
and a couple of Staff Panic. They might have dumped his body
in the wild to make it look like he got lost.
In the chaos of the initial search, they might have even
moved the body further or made sure, it wouldn't be found
easily. Perhaps the reason nothing was
found during the search is because the remains were there
yet, or were well hidden. When the remains were found in
1959, maybe authorities only found part of Bobby and someone
McCloskey or an associate secretly held onto a piece of
evidence, the skull to ensure the cause of death couldn't be
determined or to satisfy some dark sentiment.
The presence of known abusers as counselors at the camp aligns
disturbingly with this Theory. Bobby could have been a victim
of abuse that ended in murder or manslaughter.
The fact that investigators reopened the case decades later
suggests, they find the scenario credible enough to pursue A
third Theory. Some have floated other ideas
like did Bobby, perhaps witness something, he shouldn't have
like abuse and was silenced or could an outsider, unrelated to
the camp, have abducted him and left his body on the mountain.
The camp was adjacent to the national park, open Wilderness
where anyone could roam However, no evidence of an outsider
exists, and it wouldn't explain the skull in McCloskey's home.
So these seem less likely What's a specialty heartbreaking is
that Bobby's parents likely. Never knew about these later
developments. They passed away without the
full truth to them. Their boy died in a tragic
hiking. Mishap now, more than six
decades later were left with the unsettling possibility that the
tragedy was compounded by evil and deceit.
The idea that a child's death might have been covered up to
protect, Predators is absolutely chilling but it's something that
sadly has happened in other contexts.
Today, if you drive on the peak to Peak Highway near Allen's
Park, you can still see the beautiful Stone Chapel of Saint
Malo, a famous landmark. The camp itself closed years ago
and much of the land has been integrated into Retreat
facilities or is just wilderness. the memory of what
happened to Bobby, however, casts a long shadow, Locals
still recall, the story and it remains one of Colorado's
enduring Unsolved Mysteries. The case underscores that
sometimes a disappearance isn't just a simple story of someone
versus nature. Sometimes there are darker human
Secrets involved. Bobby's story has been featured
on True Crime podcasts and news segments in recent years and
many people are hoping modern investigations will finally
confirm. What really happened?
As of now though The Disappearance and death of Bobby
remains officially on solved. A mix of tragedy and Scandal,
that is still unraveling. If there is any Silver Lining,
it's that Bobby's case. Reopened might ultimately
contribute to Justice or at least acknowledgment of wrongs
committed long ago in the meantime Camp.
Saint, Mao's secret hangs in the thin Mountain Air waiting for
the truth to emerge. Story 4 vanished without a
footprint, the James Pruitt? Mystery 2019.
In late February, 2019, Rocky Mountain.
National Park was a winter wonderland.
Sparkling snow fields iced Peaks and very few visitors.
It's the off-season when only the hardiest.
Hikers, ventured deep into the park.
One, such outdoorsmen was James Pruitt.
A 70 year, old man from Tennessee.
James was retired and he loved nature photography.
He had a trim build around five foot six and 150 pounds.
And despite his age he was fit and experienced in the outdoors.
In fact, James had come out to Colorado, to enjoy the Peace of
the Rockies, in Winter and capture some beautiful photos
with his Nikon Coolpix camera on February 28th, 2019.
James Pruitt, set out alone for what was supposed to be a Day
hike in Rocky Mountain National Park.
He drove to the popular, Glacier Gorge Trailhead on the parks,
east side, near Estes Park. Glacier Gorge is a stunning area
that leads to sights like Alberta Falls Mills Lake and
further up the icy basins below Longs Peak.
James did not register for any Back Country overnight trip.
This was just a day Excursion. So he hadn't obtained to
Camping, permit, or anything. He likely parked his car geared
up with some winter hiking Essentials.
He was reportedly wearing a dark blue jacket blue jeans, an
orange beanie and even had micro spikes on his boots for traction
on ice. Being cautious.
He also carried that nice camera of his to capture the scenery.
The exact destination James intended to reach that day.
His unknown. Perhaps he wanted to photograph
Mills lake or the Frozen waterfall at Black Lake or maybe
just take pictures of the snow late in trees. what we do know
is that sometime during that day, James Pruitt disappeared,
He did not return to his vehicle by evening and no one heard from
him. But because he was so low and
hadn't told anyone in exact plan, no immediate alarm was
raised that day. It wasn't until several days.
Later, March 3rd, that Park ranger's.
Notice something was wrong. Visitors aren't usually in the
park for multiple days without a permit.
So, when Rangers saw James's car still sitting in the glacier
Gorge parking lot for multiple days, they became concerned.
A quick check found that the car had been there overnight with no
permit and they traced it to James.
They then reached out to his family back home, who said they
hadn't heard from him since February 28th.
A sinking realization set in James was missing and likely had
been for several days in the brutal cold.
On March 3rd the park. Launched a major search
operation in the glacier. Gorge area for James Pruitt.
But they were already behind the curve.
James had vanished three days earlier and during those three
days, the weather had not been kind.
Over two feet of snow had fallen in the area since James embarked
on his height. This meant any Footprints or
Clues. He might have left on February.
28th were now buried under a thick blanket of fresh snow.
Searchers were essentially starting from scratch in a vast,
expanse of white. Imagine the scene teams of Park
Rangers volunteer search and rescue members from Larimer
County and beyond all on snowshoes are skis.
Fanning out from Glacier. Gorge trailhead.
They moved, slowly probing through snow with long poles,
looking for a body beneath, and scanning with binoculars, any
visible Terrain. Avalanches are a real danger in
that area and winter. So they had to tread carefully
They likely check the common destinations first.
The trail towards Mills Lake, the side Trail towards Lake hiya
or the lock Etc, looking for any sign that someone had left the
trail or ran into trouble. But the search for James was
like, looking for a needle in a haystack, except the haystack
could actively bury you due to Avalanche risk and the needle
left no Trace. The winter of 2019 was
particularly snowy, making the back country, both gorgeous and
hazardous. After several intensive days of
searching with no results at all, the large-scale hunt had to
be scaled back. By March 11th, 2019, the search
was put into limited continuous mode.
Meaning Rangers would keep an eye out during routine, patrols
and targeted searches, would occur when conditions allowed,
but they were not going to keep massive teams out daily and
dangerous conditions, without new Clues as spring and summer,
2019 arrived, Park staff, organized, additional search
operations. When conditions cleared up, they
returned to Glacier gorge in June July and even the fall
scouring areas that had been inaccessible during the winter
blizzards. They use dogs trained to sniff
out human remains. They used helicopters when
weather allowed to do aerial surveys. despite these efforts
not a single clue to James Pruitt's, fate was discovered
Its as if he stepped off the trail and into Oblivion.
The Disappearance of James Pruitt is perplexing because by
all accounts, he was not Reckless, he had gear for the
conditions microspikes for traction, appropriate clothing.
He was out there with a camera. Presumably to take tranquil
pictures, not to do some extreme mountaineering people.
Might wonder did James, perhaps suffer a medical emergency like
a heart attack or stroke on the trail.
It's possible at age 70, even a healthy person could have an
Abrupt Health crisis. If that happened, he could have
veered off the trail or collapsed in a spot that got
quickly buried by snowfall. Another possibility.
James might have ventured onto a frozen lake surface.
There are a few in that area and broken through the ice.
However, by late February Lake ice is usually thick and that
would likely leave some clue plus Searchers would probably
check that. Or he might have slipped into a
creek or under a tree. Well, the hollow under snow late
and branches and become hidden. The reality is winter, can hide
a body. So, well, that it might only
reappear, by chance months or years later during snowmelt, As
of now James Pruitt has never been found not even his
distinctive camera or any clothing was recovered.
The case remains open with the National Park Service and is
listed on missing persons databases.
With no evidence of Foul Play, The Assumption is, he got lost
or injured and succumbed to the elements somewhere in the
backcountry. Park officials have indicated
that sadly they presume he is deceased.
Giving the conditions he was in. So what are the theories in
James's? Disappearance.
Caught in a snowstorm. The simplest answer is that
James hiked out, maybe further than intended and got
disoriented as heavy snow began to fall.
Whiteout conditions can happen quickly and trails vanish on new
snow. He could have strayed off route
without realizing it. If night fell sunset, in late
fehb is around 6, p.m. temperatures would plummet with
no shelter hypothermia could set in quickly.
In hypothermia paradoxical behaviors occur people sometimes
shed clothes or crawl into tight spaces.
James might have left the trail to seek shelter behind a boulder
or in dense trees and then succumbed, His body soon.
Buried by drifting snow might remain in whatever hidden spot
he found. Two feet of fresh snow.
Effectively, hit a reset button on the landscape, burying all
tracks and possibly burying James fall or injury.
Glacier Gorge Trails, have some Steep drop-offs and areas where
a slip could send a person sliding into a ravine or hidden
crevice between rocks. Especially if covered by snow.
James could have ventured to a Scenic Overlook like above Mills
lake or near a frozen waterfall. Lost his footing on ice and fell
into an area that was not visible to search teams.
If he was wedged under snow or ice spring, meltwater could have
carried away, small Clues. Some of those areas are so
rugged that Searchers on foot could easily miss a person,
especially if partially concealed Avalanche, it's not
explicitly stated but Avalanches are a real Danger.
The glacier Gorge area includes slopes beneath Peaks like Longs
Peak and storm, Peak that can induce slide.
It's possible though. We have no direct evidence that
James triggered or got caught in a small Avalanche.
If so he could be buried under feet of snow and debris, which
would explain why nothing was found.
Avalanche debris can set like concrete hiding victims until
summer or sometimes forever. However, no obvious, Avalanche
debris, Fields with human signs were noted by Searchers or they
likely would have probed them. Intentionally disappeared.
There's always that question, did James Pruitt want to vanish?
At 70. Maybe he had some personal
reason to disappear into the wild but this is pure
speculation with nothing to support it.
His family was expecting him back and he had left personal
belongings in his car. It doesn't fit the typical
profile of a plan to Vanishing Act.
Plus Vanishing into Rocky Mountain, and winter is
essentially a Death Wish. Unless someone planned an
elaborate fake death and had an escape highly unlikely here.
Wildlife less likely in Winter, as bears are hibernating and
most animals are less. Active mountain lions are
around, but they leave signs. And a lion is unlikely to attack
an adult human in normal circumstances.
No evidence of animal predation was found tracks blood, Etc.
So, this is not a leading theory to this day, hikers and spring
and summer, who Trek the glacier Gorge Trails.
Our quietly advised to keep an eye out for anything.
A scrap of fabric, a piece of equipment that could be linked
to James. The park has not given up but
without new information, the mystery stands.
Its Eerie to think, how in modern times with all our Tech,
someone can still vanish. So completely One week James was
enjoying a snowy Trail. The next Searchers were
scratching their heads. Wondering how the parks seemed
to just swallow him whole The James Pruitt case highlights.
How even experience and preparation can meet their match
in Mother Nature. It also underscores a recurring
theme in these stories. Winter is unforgiving.
Had James gone on a summer day, perhaps he would have been found
injured on a trail or other hikers would have noticed him.
But in the Solitude of a Colorado winter, he was utterly
alone. For the family, the lack of
closure is torment. Every year as the Snows melt
there is a chance that a clue might surface.
A piece of clothing, carried down a creek or that distinctive
camera perhaps, but as of the current date, nothing James
Pruitt remains one of Rocky Mountain National Parks, most
confounding unsolved disappearances of the 21st
Century. Story 5.
Hi Alpine. Enigma The Disappearance of Chad
palange 2023. On a crisp fall morning in 2023,
Chad Williams pulled up to the north Inlet Trailhead.
On the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park.
At 49 years old, Chad was the picture of health and outdoor
prowess. A fit Trail runner from Fort
Collins Colorado, who had conquered countless miles in
these mountains. In fact, Chad was no stranger to
Rocky Mountain National Parks challenges.
He had successfully summited the formidable Longs Peak over 30
times in the past an experienced marathoner and Trail Runner.
He was known for pushing his limits yet doing so with
calculated skills, But on September 27th. 2023 Chad was
about to embark on one of his most ambitious solo Adventures.
Yet a roughly 28 mile route through some of the parks most
rugged terrain. This wasn't an official Trail
Loop you'd find on a map. It was a combination of
established trails and off-trail Alpine travel essentially a
grand tour of the High Country. Chad's planned route would take
him across the Continental, Divide weaving through Peaks and
passes. Potential waypoints on his
journey included, places like Lake Verna.
Deep in the Parks, West Side, Mount, Alice Chiefs head Peak,
and eventually across toward the east side near the Bear Lake
area. Chad was carrying minimal gear
dressed in a black ultra light running jacket, shorts or
leggings a gray fanny, pack and trail running shoes.
Importantly he had a personal GPS navigation device with him,
but it was not an emergency Beacon type, not something like
a spot or in reach that could call for help at the push of a
button. This device could track his
route and help him navigate but if he got into trouble it
wouldn't automatically summon Rescuers.
Chad started out from the East Inlet Trailhead near Grand Lake
on the morning of September 27th.
His vehicle was actually found parked at that East Inlet
Trailhead initial reports mentioned North Inlet but it was
essentially in that area on the west side.
He hit the trail running, literally.
His plan was to complete the huge Loop by Days End ending
where he began a testament to endurance running.
Around noon on September 27th. Chad managed to get a text
message out. Cell service is spotty in the
park, but from a high point, he caught a signal.
He texted that he was almost to the summit of Mount Alice.
Mount Alice at 13,310 feet is a remote Peak.
That would have been one of the cruxes of his route.
This text is the last confirmed communication.
Anyone received from Chad? Later analysis suggests he
continued on from Mount Alice likely heading toward another
landmark called Stoneman pass or Bolder Grand Pass to cross the
Divide. At some point, Chad likely
descended toward the east side of the park, because another
text message ping. Unfortunately one that didn't
fully send or was just a location ping.
Placed him about seven miles from the Bear Lake area on the
east side. That could mean he was somewhere
near the Flat Top Mountain or descending into a drainage like
Glacier gourge or another route that would have put him within a
few hours of finishing his Loop. Then nothing.
Chad never returned to his car that evening when he didn't come
home friends and family knew something was wrong by September
28th. He was officially reported
overdue and missing. Park Rangers found his car at
the trailhead confirming that he hadn't come out of the
backcountry. This immediately triggered one
of the most intensive search and rescue responses in Rocky
Mountain, National Parks recent history within days.
Dozens of Searchers were on the case.
Highly trained Sr teams from Larimer County.
Grand County, Rocky Mountain, Rescue group, from Boulder and
others. Over 55.
People were actively involved at one point, the search area was
massive spanning from the west side where he started to all
across the Divide to the east side.
They focused on Mount Alice Boulder Grand Pass.
Mchenry's Peak, Arrowhead Chiefs head Peak, thatch, Top Mountain,
and down into areas, like Black Lake in.
Glacier. Gorge all places along or near
Chadds intended route. They also searched trails and
drainages on the West Side such as North Inlet in Easton turned
back or when another way. This search was high-tech and
well equipped. They use dog teams on the
ground. Hoping, the canines might catch
Chad's scent. They even closed off part of the
search area to avoid contamination.
So, the dogs could work better. They deployed air reconnaissance
helicopters and even the state of Colorado's multi-mission
aircraft with heat, sensing capabilities, overflow the area.
Drones were used where permissible to scan Cliff faces
and hard to reach spots with cameras.
Searchers even did something not commonly done.
They put up a fixed-wing plane with thermal imaging to fly at
night scanning for any heat, signature of a human body in
those cold mountains. despite this massive effort, no trace of
Chad polish was found Searchers didn't find a shoe a hat.
A water bottle. Nothing.
The only Clues were what they already knew his last known
location from his text at Mount Alice and perhaps some data from
his GPS device. If they could access the network
though, it seems that device did not send out live tracking to
others. The weather became a factor as
days passed by early October. The park was hit with early
snowstorms and fierce winds, especially high up.
This hampered further are searches Rescuers on foot
pressed on for about two weeks but ultimately by October 11th
2023 with no leads and worsening weather.
The large-scale search was suspended the investigation.
However remained open and active with Rangers continuing, patrols
and Analysis. The Disappearance of someone
like Chad rattled, the search teams.
Here was an individual. Who was extremely knowledgeable
about these mountains? He wasn't likely to make a naive
mistake. He had navigational tools
Xperience, Fitness familiarity. He even was carrying a device
that could show his location though again not signal for
help. It's the kind of case that makes
even seasoned Rangers. Say if he could vanish, anyone
could Now, let's consider theories and possibilities in
Chad's case. Accidental fall or Alpine
misstep. The route Chad was a tempting as
no joke, much of it is office, established Trails over loose,
Talus slopes narrow ridges and potentially snow or ice covered
sections. Late September at 13,000 feet.
Can definitely have ice. One misstep, even for an
experienced person could send him tumbling into a deep
crevice, down a steep coolar or into dense brush where he might
be invisible from the air. Given he was likely moving fast
trail running. A stumble could be catastrophic.
if Chad fell into a spot like a narrow chimney between rocks or
a crevasse in a glacier, The area near Taylor Glacier or
Tyndall. Glacier comes to mind which
isn't far off his route. He might be very difficult to
locate his dark clothing. Could also blend in with
shadows. If he fell, his outcome would
depend on the severity. It's possible.
He could have been incapacitated and later succumbed to cold, or
killed outright Whether exposure.
Though early in the day on the 27th, it was fine.
He texted at noon, Mountain weather changes rapidly.
Perhaps in the afternoon. A storm rolled in unexpectedly
could be fog hail or snow, flurries?
if visibility dropped, or if he got soaked and cold, even an
experienced Runner, could get hypothermic If for some reason
he needed to hunker down and wait say low visibility or night
fell before he finished, an ultralight jacket and running
shorts would not be sufficient for an Alpine overnight.
Especially if a storm came. He could have gotten to a point
where he couldn't safely continue like an unexpected
Cliff or cornice. And while trying to find a
detour lost the route in daylight Stranded in Lethal
conditions, he might not have made it.
His body would then be subject to the whims of nature
potentially buried by early snow.
Making it invisible until perhaps.
Next summer, medical emergency, we can't fully rule out.
The Chad might have had a sudden medical issue.
A twisted ankle, a severe cramp, or even a heart issue, though.
He was fit extreme exertion, at altitude can trigger things even
in healthy people. If he became immobilized without
the ability to call for help, remember his device wasn't an
emergency Beacon, he'd be in trouble. however, one with think
he'd have, at least tried to use his phone or device if he could
It's unclear if he had any cellular signal after noon,
likely not much as he dropped into a valley.
Lightning strike or rockfall Mount Alice and nearby Peaks
have brought exposed Alpine sections.
If he was up high in the afternoon, there's the freak
chance of being struck by lightning.
Fall is still storm season lightning could incapacitate or
even kill someone without leaving obvious traces for
Searchers to find later. Similarly natural rockfall is
common in freeze thaw Cycles, a falling rock or Boulder.
Could have struck him in a gully Foul Play.
Given the location and circumstances Foul Play is
highly unlikely. He was far off the beaten path
where few if any people would be There were no reports of anyone
else missing or suspicious in that area.
This is a case of wilderness mystery, not human crime by all
indications Supernatural or other as always when someone
vanishes. So completely some folks,
whisper about the Unexplained Could there be some kind of
weird Bermuda Triangle in the park?
He stumble onto something bizarre.
These ideas while perhaps intriguing for some have no
evidence and are more a reflection of our difficulty and
grappling with zero evidence. Realistically nature is plenty
capable of making a person disappear without needing
Supernatural. Help despite the search
suspension, the investigation for Chad remains open Rangers
continue to do targeted searches when conditions are favorable
for instance, during the summer of 2024, they likely Revisited,
some of the high routes once the snow melted looking for Clues
Climbers and hikers in the area have been asked to keep their
eyes peeled. Chad's family and friends have
been vocal in, keeping the public aware of his case.
They've noted that Chad was doing what he loved and was well
prepared and they hold out hope for answers.
In a tragic twist of fate, Chad's disappearance shares
similarities with another case in the Park from 2018, the one
we recounted earlier Runner, Ryan Albert near Longs Peak who
went missing and was found many months later on a glacier.
Ryan's body was eventually found by chance.
Perhaps the same may happen with Chad a climber might find an
item or during a low snow year. Someone spots something in the
talus. As of now though Chad Palace
remains missing one of the most confounding mysteries in Rocky
Mountain. National Parks recent history.
His case garnered national attention both because of the
extensive search and because it's perplexing for such an
expert to vanish in an area, he likely knew reasonably well.
It shows that no matter one skill level nature can still
deal and unexpected hand. The Disappearance of Chad also
underscores the value and limitations of Technology.
He had a GPS device but it wasn't enough.
Nowadays, many solo adventurers carry satellite Messengers, one
wonders. If things might have been
different, had he carried one? It's a stark reminder.
The Wilderness doesn't distinguish between a novice and
a pro when things go wrong. Theories recap.
The prevailing theory is that Chad likely had a catastrophic
accident somewhere along his route or encountered life,
threatening weather. And his body is in a location.
That's extremely difficult to find.
Possibly obscured by terrain or snow.
Each winter that passes. Can move debris, break apart
clothing and otherwise hide evidence.
But each summer, that comes offers a new chance that
something will thaw or shift and reveal a clue.
The park has a long memory, they don't forget about cases like
this. Decades earlier we saw how Rudy
motor a missing skier from 1983 was finally found in 2020.
When conditions revealed his remains, perhaps one day the
mountains will give up the secret of what happened to Chad
pollen as well, Reflections and theories, these stories of
mysterious disappearances in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Leave us with heavy hearts and lots of unanswered questions
from the Strange Case of Joseph Halpern in the 1930s who might
have walked away from his life. To the tragic disappearance of
little Alfred bilhartz in 1938, that still haunts the park with
Whispers of something uncanny. To the disturbing possibility of
a cover-up in, Bobby, Bishops, death.
Each tale reminds us how vast and Untamed these wild places
are and how human lives can intersect with mystery in an
instant Even in recent years cases, like James Pruitts and
Chad polishes show that the mountains can still guard, their
secrets fiercely, despite all our modern technology and
know-how now, we want to hear your thoughts and theories.
What do you think happened in these cases?
Did Joseph help her and start a new life under an alias or did
the mountain climb him after all?
Could Alfred have been snatched by a hidden kidnapper or was it
a tragic misstep, and a heartbreaking coincidence, that
hikers saw boy on a distant, cliff.
What's your take on the Bobby, bizup case, accident or Foul
Play? And in the modern cases, how do
you explain James Pruitt leaving?
No trace and Chad palange an expert Runner Vanishing on a
root he was prepared for Share your theories in the comments
below. Sometimes a fresh perspective
Can Shed new light on these cold cases.
Maybe you've hiked these trails and noticed something or perhaps
you have knowledge of similar disappearances, elsewhere, that
could be relevant. There are indeed many puzzling
cases in national parks. This is a community of mystery
lovers and caring Souls. So keep it respectful and
thoughtful. If you found this deep dive
engaging, and want to see more comprehensive storytelling on
strange, dark and mysterious true stories, please give this
video a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel.
We cover everything from baffling disappearances like
these to other unsolved crimes and Eerie occurrences around the
world. By subscribing.
You won't miss our next, big story.
And, trust me, we have some truly unbelievable ones in the
pipeline. Also, let us know which case in
today's video intrigued you the most Was it the historic Enigma
of Alfred bail Hearts? The chilling Camp, saint-malo
Revelation or the Ultra Modern mystery of Chad pollen.
Perhaps you have your own theories.
We have an mentioned. Drop them below.
Lastly, I want to acknowledge the families and friends of the
individuals we discussed. For them, these aren't just
stories. Their personal tragedies.
Decades later many are still searching for closure our hearts
go out to them. And we share these stories in
part to keep the memories of their loved ones alive.
The more people know about these cases, the better, the chance
that someday someone might come forward with a tip or a
discovery that can finally solve them.
Thank you for watching and joining us on this journey,
through the perplexing side of the Rockies. stay safe out there
whether in the mountains or in everyday life, and remember to
tell someone your plans when you head into the wild, You never
know. It might just save your life
until next time. Keep exploring keep questioning
and stay curious. The Grand Canyon, a place of
breathtaking Beauty and unfathomable depth.
Each year Millions stand on its rims or wander its Trails.
Humbled by Nature's grandeur. But hidden within its sheer
Cliffs and shadowed. Gorgeous are secrets that
refused to be found. Over the last 50 years, a number
of visitors to Grand Canyon National Park, have ventured in
and never come back. Their stories are among the
Canyons. Most chilling Mysteries
confirmed, missing persons cases that baffle investigators and
haunt loved ones decades later. Tonight in this documentary
style Journey, we delve into some of the most bizarre and
unexplained disappearances in the grand, Canyon's recent
history. These are not Legends or
campfire Tales but true cases of real people.
Hikers adventurers and tourists who vanished Without a Trace
Will hear from those Left Behind explore the circumstances of
each disappearance and travel from one case to the next as if
winding down the Canyons own labyrinthine passages.
Our tone will blend tension with empathy respect with curiosity.
in each story, we seek not only the suspense of the unknown, but
also, The Human Side, the hopes and fears of families, and
friends, and the dedication of Searchers who at times can only
scour, empty, canyons and wonder what happened Over half a
century Grand. Canyon National Park has seen
tragedy and mystery. From the remote forests on, its
fringes to the rushing Colorado River in its depths.
Each disappearance is unique yet.
All share the same Eerie outcome.
No definitive answers. As we move from case to case,
listen to the clues, the quotes, the context perhaps patterns
will emerge, perhaps only more questions, but together, we will
walk the timeline of these unsolved cases, Guided by the
voices of those who were there and the scant evidence left
behind Our journey begins in the summer of 2001, just outside the
Park. South entrance with the
mysterious Vanishing of a. Local teenager a case that would
foreshadow many of the Grand Canyon secrets to come.
Late June, 2001 in the pinewoods of Ky Bob National Forest just
south of Grand Canyon Village. 13 year old.
Justin little man. Richardson was hanging out with
friends on a warm summer evening.
Justin lived with his father in two Saiyan Arizona.
The tiny Gateway town by the park South entrance.
He was popular and adventurous known to wander the area that
night. He and three friends.
All much older between 18 and 21 slipped into the forest to party
reportedly under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
What began as teenage Mischief soon.
Morphed into a nightmare details of the night are hazy at some
point. The group of four became
disoriented among the trees in the darkness and split up trying
to find their way back. Two of the older teens got lost,
Justin and another friend managed to return to tusayan and
even enlisted help to search for the missing pair.
Unbeknownst to Justin. Those two had already been found
safe by Railroad employees near town.
But Justin himself would soon slip away at some juncture.
Perhaps still worried about his friends or confused by
intoxication. Justin went back into the woods
alone or with one companion and vanished.
When the alarm was finally raised Searchers, combed the
forest for Justin. They knew this rugged terrain
well a mix of Ponderosa, Pines junipers and Juniper scrub,
Criss crossed by dirt roads and Hiking paths.
This wasn't deep in the Grand Canyon but the high Plateau just
outside it Still the Wilderness, can be unforgiving for a 13
year. Old boy, especially one who may
have been impaired. Despite extensive efforts.
No trace of Justin was found that summer.
He had simply disappeared Into the Night.
In the aftermath rumors swirled, through the small community.
It emerged that Justin's friends, that night were hardly
ideal companions adults, providing a young teen with
methamphetamine and booze people wondered had something sinister
happened out there. Justin had a history of running
away from home in the past but this felt different, there were
unconfirmed reports that some evidence turned up later.
Indicating, Justin might have briefly made it back to a local
Lodge, the Mochi Lodge after the forest search.
If true, that raised even more questions, why would he leave
again? Did he encounter Foul Play?
Officially Justin remains missing to this day, nearly 24
years later. The cocoa Nino County Sheriff's
Office, eventually suspected Foul.
Play in his case, even labeling him a likely homicide victim,
despite the lack of a body. Perhaps the dangerous crowd.
He fell in with that night knows more than they ever admitted.
In the words of one investigator years later, it appears
something devastating happened to Justin in these Woods a
tragedy Beyond just getting lost. his disappearance though
while outside the parks formal boundaries shook, the Grand
Canyon region, It was a haunting reminder that even on the
fringes of this natural wonder dark human Mysteries can unfold.
For Justin's family, the canyon country that was their home
became a place of Heartache. A boy with his whole life ahead
of him. Had simply evaporated the
forests around to science still hold just in secret and perhaps
Somewhere Out There the truth lies buried Justin, Richardson's
name would later. Join a Cold Case, roster of
Grand Canyon Mysteries. The first of the new century
Little did anyone know that it was a harbinger of similar
unexplained disappearances, that would occur within the park
itself in the years to come? After Justin's, Disappearance in
2001, nearly a decade passed before another baffling case
emerged. But in 2011, the Grand Canyon
would again become the backdrop for a perplexing Vanishing.
This time, involving a young man on a cross-country Journey.
Adam Clayton, Lial Jones, 2011 the deserted car at the south
rim. Early May 2011 Grand Canyon
Visitors Center parking lot on the south rim.
Park Rangers notice in abandoned light.
Blue Oldsmobile Delta. 88 unattended.
It had been there at least overnight. inside the car, they
find something strange and itinerary marked with a route
through Denver and various California cities There's no
sign of the driver. A check of the registration
leads them to the family of Adam.
Clayton Lial Jones. Adam was a 23 year old from Gulf
Breeze, Florida. At the end of March 2011, he
left home without warning, telling relatives, he was
heading west. He took almost nothing with him,
not even a change of clothes, just as laptop computer and his
wits. He didn't own a cell phone, a
fact that would frustrate efforts to trace him for over a
month. His family heard, nothing then
came the call from the park service in early May Adams.
Car had turned up at the Grand Canyon, parked at The Visitor
Center Keys, gone, Adam was nowhere to be found Try to
imagine the scene a Dusty sedan sitting among tourists Vehicles
along expired. Parking ticket on the dash.
Rangers walking the rim Trails calling out Adam's name peering
over the edge at the sheer. Drop offs near Mather point in
The Visitor Center area. Did anyone see a loan young man
arrived here? Some visitors recalled, perhaps
a slim brown-haired fellow matching Adams description, but
nothing concrete. It was, as if Adam parked
stepped into the grand Canyon's vastness and vanished Into Thin
Air. The clues Left Behind were
maddeningly, sparse The itinerary suggested Adam
intended to visit Denver in California yet here he was in
Arizona. Had he followed his planned out
at all, why the Grand Canyon? His family who filed a missing
person report. Once his car was found were
stunned, Adam had no known connection to the canyon.
If he wanted to hike, he had taken no gear.
If he intended harm to himself, he hadn't said goodbye Park
officials treated the area as a search Zone but found no
evidence of Adam along the popular south rim viewpoints.
Days of helicopter flyovers and ground searches in early.
May yielded nothing no clothing. No Footprints, leading off
Trail. It's a Adam simply walked to the
rim took in the awe-inspiring view, one last time and vanished
over the edge or into the crowd. Unnoticed his disappearance
remains unsolved To this day, not a single confirmed sighting
has surfaced. Adam Jones became one of the
Canyons ghosts a name on the missing person roster with no
closure for his loved ones. His parents were left to imagine
countless scenarios. Did he deliberately disappear to
start a new life? Did he fall victim to an
accident in the canyons unforgiving?
Terrain? Or did something else happen
between Florida and Arizona that ended at the Grand Canyon.
Without a cell phone or Witnesses.
Adam's story is a void. Investigators could only surmise
that he arrived at Grand Canyon around late April based on when
the car was first noticed. After that, nothing nobody has
ever been found. in the words of one report, he hasn't been heard
from or seen since The Grand Canyon had swallowed, another
soul. The mystery of Adam Jones would
stand alone for a few years. But 2015 was a coaching and it
would prove to be one of the most haunting years in Grand
Canyon history with not one, but multiple puzzling,
disappearances. The Haunting year of 2015,
messages River and missing guides by 2015, Grand Canyon
National Park was averaging hundreds of search and rescue
incidents each year. Most had Happy Endings or at
least clear conclusions. But in 2015, two young men,
vanished in very different circumstances leaving behind
Erie. Echoes one left a cryptic
message of spiritual farewell the other left.
No, Trace at all, save a life jacket.
Bobbing on memory surface. Drake Kramer 2015, back to
Mother Earth. February 1st 2015, a cold Sunday
on the south rim, 21 year old Drake, Kramer of San Antonio,
Texas is checking out of the Bright Angel Lodge, one of the
historic hotel's perched at the Canyon's Edge.
He's been on a solo trip. Exploring national parks.
Drake is an avid Outdoorsman a geology student who loves
nature. But as he departs, the lodge
something is off. Instead of heading home, Drake
sends an unsettling text to his father.
He said he was at the Grand Canyon and he needed to be back
with Mother Earth and set his soul free.
Drake's father, Robin immediately knew something
wasn't right. That cryptic message received on
Monday, February 2nd, the family.
At that point, we really started getting worried Robin.
Later told ABC News explaining how they frantically called Park
authorities to report Drake, missing the translation.
They feared was clear Drake was expressing a desire to be at one
with nature possibly in death. Park Rangers launched a search
within hours. They found Drake's silver Mazda
sedan park near the bright angel Trailhead, but Drake was gone
over the next week. Rescuers scoured miles of trails
below the south rim and flew helicopters over the canyon
searching for any sign of the young man.
There was no Trace no Footprints leading into the snowy Woods, no
reports from hikers. Who might have seen him on a
trail? Nothing.
Back in Texas Drake's family refused to give up.
In the year following his disappearance, they organized
their own trips to the Grand Canyon to keep the search alive.
Robin and Drake, stepmother, Brenda Kramer distributed,
Flyers magnets anything to jog. Someone's memory.
All we can do is spread his picture and hope that somebody
will recognize him a little ray of sunshine will help at this
point. Some evidence emerged.
Drake's Facebook post hinted at his deep.
Love for wild places. At one point he had written wish
I could stay during an earlier Grand Canyon visit It seemed
Drake was searching for something in nature, perhaps
piece. The prevailing Theory became
that he likely took his own life in the canyon slipping off a
ledge into one of the countless side chasms where a body might
never be found. Park officials noted that he was
believed to be suicidal and indeed, the search was
eventually scaled back to limited continuous mode Rangers,
keeping an eye out, but with no active leads.
Yet in the midst of Despair, Drake's, father, found reason to
doubt the suicide Theory. He clung to a heartfelt letter
Drake had left behind which Brenda even had tattooed on her
arm. In it, Drake wrote.
I truly love and cherish every soul I met.
And will meet in my lifetime Love Drake.
To Robin. It doesn't seem to me like
someone who's going to kill themselves.
He said holding onto hope. In media interviews a year
later, Robin expressed a painful uncertainty.
I don't know if he's out there trekking around, trying to find
himself. I don't know if something
happened to him until there's proof.
Otherwise I have to believe he still is alive.
That hopes sustains them but reality has been cruel.
As of today, Ten Years Later, Drake Kramer remains missing his
fate unknown. The canyon has yielded no clues.
his disappearance came a mid-winter quiet with fewer
tourists around making it chillingly plausible that he
could slip away unseen Whether Drake ultimately found the
communion with nature, he saw it is a question.
Only the Grand Canyon can answer.
His story, Blends sorrow with mystery, the tension of not.
Knowing if this was a young man's tragic, final act or an
accident on the unforgiving cliffs, either way the canyon
kept Drake's Soul among its depths Morgan Hymer 2015,
vanished in the Rapids. Now we shift to June 2015, deep
within the Grand Canyon itself. picture the Colorado River at
Mile 200 and 213 near a landmark called pumpkin Springs, a
turquoise pool etched in Orange travertine On June 2nd, a
commercial rafting trip is 6 days into its 8-day Journey
Through The Canyons Roaring Rapids.
Among the crew is Morgan. Hymer a 22 year old River guide
from Cody Wyoming Morgan is in his element here, blonde
athletic, and confident leading Adventure Seekers through one of
the world's greatest river Canyons.
That afternoon the group pulls a Shore near pumpkin springs for a
hike or a swim accounts vary. Morgan is last seen around 4
p.m. wearing his dark colored life, jacket PFD, a blue plaid
shirt Chaco sandals and a maroon baseball cap.
He also carries a purple water bottle.
There's nothing unusual until the moment.
Everyone realizes Morgan is no longer with them.
One minute he was there. The next he's gone.
A fellow guide radio's, the alarm at 8 p.m. when Morgan
hasn't reappeared. The location is remote far from
the tourist crowds accessible only by river or a strenuous
Backcountry hike. The National Park Service
mobilizes. A search at first light on June
3rd, Three ground teams fan out along the Riverbanks.
While a river Patrol searches. The water itself, they searched
late into the night amid 100 degree heat, thick stands of,
tamarisk bushes and boulders that create countless hiding
spots. The swirling Colorado, still
powerful, even at Summer's, lower flows is a constant
presence, cold deep. And indifferent day after day,
the search widens. 14 miles of river and 4.
Miles of Shoreline are meticulously checked over six
days. Helicopters, scan from above and
every rafting party on the river is alerted to watch for any sign
of Morgan. The hope of course, is that he
simply lost or injured upriver, or in a side.
Canyon, a waiting rescue, but not a single clue.
Emerges Morgan Had vanished Without a Trace in the middle of
a group trip. Something nearly unheard of How
could a fit capable guide disappear?
So suddenly If he'd fallen into the river, surely his life
jacket or helmet would be found Downstream.
If he'd wandered Inland, why didn't the ground teams find
Footprints or clothing? There were no, shouts heard no
struggle witnessed as the days passed, the mood, among the
Searchers turned Grim on June 8th.
The Intensive. Search was scaled back to
continuous, but limited mode Rangers would keep an eye out
during routine patrols, but the full-scale effort had to
conclude Grand Canyon Chief Ranger, Bill Wright at admitted.
No additional Clues. Were guiding further search
efforts. In the Parks incident.
Log in press releases, the dry language couldn't mask the
perplexity. Despite a nearly week-long
search no additional clues about his whereabouts have been found
Morgan. Hymer had simply disappeared
into the canyon some who knew him.
Found it hard to accept. He drowned He was last seen
floating in calm water with that life vest on.
One theory is that perhaps he climbed onto Shore and up a side
Canyon alone and suffered a Fall ending up in an inaccessible
crevice. other speculated, he might have been swept into an
underwater cave or rapid while swimming But these are just
theories. The fact remains Morgan was
there and then he was gone. For Morgan's family and fellow
guides, the canyon, they loved turned into an enigmatic voice.
Friends described Morgan as a careful passionate guy.
Not someone prone to taking Reckless risks.
The group, he was leading could only report that one moment
Morgan was chatting and walking near the water's edge.
And the next moment silence. In a blink, the Colorado River
had claimed one of its own or so.
It seemed decades from now veteran River Runners will
likely still speak of Morgan Hymer.
The young guy who went missing on a routine hike by the river.
A reminder that the Grand Canyon can guard its Secrets even in
plain sight. By the end of 2015, the Grand
Canyon had two new Unsolved Mysteries on its hands.
The poignant case of Drake Kramer with his spiritual
goodbye, and the bewildering disappearance of Morgan Hymer in
the river's depths. Both men were the same age yet.
Their stories could not be more different except for the aching
void left behind. The year would go down as one of
the most disturbing in park memory.
But unfortunately, the pattern did not stop there.
The Canyon's baffling trend of Vanishing can continue into the
next year and Beyond, Floyd Roberts 2016 lost in the land of
heat and Shadow. June 2616.
The Western Grand Canyon swelters under an excessive heat
warning in this remote section of the park on the sheave with
Plateau, even the cactus seemed to wilt by after noon.
It's against this harsh backdrop that 52 year old, Floyd e
Roberts and two companions embark on a multi-day.
Backpacking track. Floyd is no novice.
He's an Air Force, veteran and a high school computer teacher
from Florida. He's been hiking, the Grand
Canyon with his best friend, Ned Bryant for decades.
This trip was meant to be another grand Adventure.
A nine-day route through rugged Canyons, slated to end at
separation Canyon on the Colorado River.
It was day one. June 17th, 2016.
Spirits were high as Floyd Ned and Ned's daughter.
Madeleine trekked, through scrubby, terrain near a dry
Waterhole called kelly tank. but that afternoon, as temperatures
soared above 100 degrees, the group made a fateful decision,
Faced with a steep hill they split up Ned and Madeline went
over the top while Floyd opted to Contour around the base of
the Hill meeting on the other side.
It was a simple plan among experienced hikers, yet, when
Ned in his daughter, reached the other side, Floyd Floyd wasn't
there minutes passed, then an hour. concerned mounting, they
backtracked calling Floyd's name in The Empty desert Aire, they
even laid out bright sleeping bags on bushes to Signal their
camp and waited through the night.
No, sign of Floyd. by morning, fear set in Ned hike to Higher
Ground until he found a sell signal and called for help.
The official search began on June 18th riots, search and
rescue teams from Grand Canyon in neighboring, counties even a
specialized hell attack crew from Mesa Verde converged on
this extremely remote area. The search Zone, spanned over 10
square miles of brutally rugged, canyons in mesas.
Planes and helicopters buzzed low over Ravines ground teams
scoured under ledges. Despite the deployment of at
least 15 personnel and volunteers, including some of
the most skilled Canyon hikers. Nothing was found in those first
critical days. Ned Bryant was beside himself
with worry. In a brief heart-wrenching
Facebook. Message to his wife from the
field. He wrote I am very worried.
Everything was going perfectly until the split.
Helicopters. All after noon, couldn't find
him. Those words carry the weight of
a man, watching a best friend of 40 years slip into Oblivion.
Ned had introduced Floyd to the Grand Canyon back in the 90s.
They had made wonderful memories here.
Now that same Canyon had seemingly swallowed Floyd with
without leaving a clue. Everything was going perfectly
until the split helicopters. All after noon, couldn't find
him. How could this happen to a
prepared hiker? Floyd had been carrying two
gallons of water, a week's worth of food, and a detailed map of
their planned route that Ned had made.
He wore a long-sleeved, red shirt, jeans, Nike hiking shoes.
A large blue backpack, highly visible attire.
Yet, no, item of his was discovered.
Over six days Searchers combed the Canyons branching from Kelly
tank places named Trail Canyon, 214 Mile Canyon, and the ever
ominous separation Canyon did Floyd perhaps misjudge his path
and descend into the wrong. Canyon The extreme heat was a
merciless Factor above 110 degrees in the shade.
If any shade could be found dehydration and heat stroke can
incapacitate even the fittest by June 24th after an intensive
operation. The Park Service had to admit
defeat Floyd Roberts was still missing.
The search shifted to limited continuous mode like others
before it. A missing persons investigation
State open, but with no leads, there was little to go on Beyond
circulating flyers and urging hikers in that seldom visited
area to keep watch. Floyd's photograph a friendly
looking man with salt and pepper hair and glasses.
Now stared out from bulletin boards at South Rim, trailheads,
a silent plea for information for Ned and his family.
The pain was immense. Ned's wife, Heidi Bryant
expressed the agony of helpless waiting.
All I can do is wait for the call.
She said, as day after day passed with no news.
The call as of today, as never come.
Floyd Roberts, the third remains missing in the Grand Canyon
backcountry. Perhaps one day, a hike or a
Rancher will find a son. Bleached clue a piece of
clothing or gear in some hidden ravine.
But for now Floyd has become part of the Canyon's lore The
Experience, Canyon Trekker, who vanished on day.
One of a grand hike leaving his best friend to replay that
moment of the split again. And again wondering what might
have been His case reminds us that even preparation and
experience can be overmatched by Nature's.
Unforgiving extreme the sheave wits Plateau with its Maze of
side, canyons and mesas gave Floyd no mercy and so far no
answers. The Vanishing of 2017, two men,
two Mysteries. 2017 would bring two new Mysteries to the canyon
mere weeks apart Unlike earlier cases deep in the backcountry or
on the river, these incidents unfolded at the very rim of the
Grand Canyon where thousands of visitors roam each day.
One man disappeared after failing to check out of his
lodge. Another's car was found at a
popular overlooked with no sign of its owner.
The canyon it seems does not discriminate.
It can take lives in the backcountry Solitude or in the
midst of well-traveled tourist. Hubs Travis M Butler 2017, the
unchecked checkout. August 1st 2017 to say in
Arizona, its check out time at a Best Western Hotel, just outside
the park. The cleaning staff knock on the
door of room. 209, where 37 year old?
Travis M Butler from Ohio. Had been staying no response.
Travis a Solo Traveler was due to leave that day, but his bed
is still slept in his belongings.
Still in the room. He's nowhere to be found, Travis
Butler, had driven across the country to visit Grand Canyon.
He arrived in Late July and by all accounts was excited to see
the sights surveillance cameras likely captured him coming and
going from the hotel in to Sion, but nothing seemed to miss. yet
on August 1st, he didn't check out his scheduled Soon, the
authorities were notified of a missing guest.
The rental car Travis was driving, a blue Nissan.
Maxima also turned up abandoned inside the park near the South
Rim its exact location. According to later, reports was
a long Desert View Drive. Not far from the renowned Lipan
Point overlook consider the scene in point is a spectacular
Viewpoint where the canyon opens wide and the green ribbon of the
Colorado River can be seen far below tourists come for sunrise
and sunset here. Travis's car sitting lonely in
the parking pull-out might have drawn.
Notice after a day or two Rangers, ran the plates and
realized it belonged to the man missing from Tucson.
They now had a starting point for the search.
For days, ground teams and helicopters searched the area
around life in point. They hiked along the rim into
drainages the cliffs for any sign of a body or belongings,
but like so many before him Travis Butler had vanished Into
The Ether. The search was intensive, But
ultimately fruitless. By the end of the summer, the
park announced. It was reducing the scale of
active searching for Travis. His case too transitioned into
continuous, but limited mode. What could have happened, Travis
was an avid photographer. Some said, did he venture too
far to get that perfect shot and lose his footing?
There are sheer drops of hundreds of feet at Lipan point
and a fall could easily be fatal and concealing?
Or did Travis decide, impulsively, to hike down a bit
on an unofficial route and succumbed to heat or an accident
out of sight. We know he was alone which meant
no one could pinpoint. His last steps, the only
Testament to his presence, was that car in the Overlook lot and
his untouched hotel room back in two Saiyan.
Travis's family back in Ohio were left in bewilderment.
One day he is posting updates about his cross-country
Adventure, the next silence. The Nomis, missing persons
database would later note, the bare facts.
Travis Butler was last seen in to say in on August 1st 2017 on
route to Grand Canyon and never seen again as the Charlie
project Which documents missing persons succinctly puts it the
circumstances of Butler's disappearance are unclear.
His case remains unsolved in an eerie coincidence.
Travis's disappearance four shadowed another just six weeks
later, As summer turned to fall, yet another visitor, to the
canyon went missing. This time leaving behind a
vehicle and little else. Jong Hyun J-1 2017, the car at
Moran, Point, September 17th 2017, south rim of Grand Canyon.
Park Rangers come across a white, Toyota Camry parked at
Moran point. A Scenic Overlook named for the
painter. Thomas Moran.
The car had apparently been there overnight.
Curiously records show. It was previously spotted near
the new hands Trailhead. Not far away.
Moran point isn't to campsite, It's a viewpoint.
Visitors seldom, leave cars there for long.
Especially not without note, running the license plate
Rangers identified the owner 45 year old John 1 of Los Angeles,
California friends called him? Jay he had no overnight
Backcountry permit. No known hiking plans in the
canyon in fact no one even realized Jay was missing yet.
He hadn't told anyone he was going to Grand Canyon at all.
To this day, we do not know what Drew him there.
But on September 17th 2017, his abandoned cars signaled, that
something had gone wrong, a search was launched focusing on
the network of trails accessible from Moran point and new hands.
The new hands Trail is an infamously rugged, route down to
the Colorado River. Moran Point has steep trailers,
terrain below it. Did Jay attempt, a solo hike
down one of these or did he wander to the edge and fall?
The possibilities are many and Grim Rangers looked for
Footprints broken brush. Any clue, but none was found
Jong. Hyeon, Juan had vanished as
completely as if the Canyons Red Rocks opened up and swallowed
him. His family and friends were in
disbelief. One day Jay was in Los Angeles.
The next Park officials were calling to say, only his car had
been found. No signs of struggle.
No note, no Witnesses. Official reports noted that one
had no known plans in the area and his current whereabouts are
unknown. Despite exhaustive efforts he
has not been located. As with Travis Butler's, case
investigators, were left with almost nothing to go on.
Two men, a month and a half apart each on solo visits.
Each leaving a vehicle in plain sight and then Vanishing.
By late 2017, Grand Canyon National Park.
Had an uncanny roster of unresolved disappearances from
2015, through 2017 alone. At least five individuals, had
gone missing and never been found Drake Morgan.
Floyd Travis and Jay the parks Investigative Services Branch,
essentially the detectives of the National Park Service had
their hands full Cold Case, flyers for each were circulated,
and tips, trickled in occasionally, but none led to
breakthroughs it was almost as if a strange curse hung over the
canyon those years leaving Rangers and families equally
mystified Charles Lyon 2021. The Vanishing tourist. in June
2021, after a brief lull and disappearances during 2018-2020
the canyon claimed another Charles Lyon a 49 year old
traveler from Tyler Texas, checked into the very same Best
Western in Tucson that Travis Butler.
Had stayed in. It was June 10th, 2021 and
Charles was on a road trip by himself.
He was last seen that evening at the hotel, the next day, June
11th, his car, a silver. Subaru was found abandoned along
Desert View, Drive on the south rim not far from more endpoint,
ironically near the area where J wants car had been found four
years, prior Desert View, Drive is a 25 mile Scenic Road along
the Canyon's Edge leading to Desert View Watchtower.
Charles's vehicle, was discovered near LeeAnn point,
the same vicinity as Travis Butler's disappearance.
The Coincidence was not lost on Park authorities, they quickly
initiated a search for Charles. Hoping this would not be a
repeat of 2017. For days Rangers search dogs,
drones and helicopters canvas the area.
The summer of 2021 was blisteringly hot on June 15th,
at the rims soared to 113 degrees.
Time was of the essence as one news report warned, but despite
the urgency and extensive search.
No. Trace of Charles, Lyon turned
up. this case was a frustrating because Charles was a mainstream
tourist, not an Intrepid, hiker pushing into unknown Canyons,
How could someone disappear essentially from a parking area
in a popular part of the park yet?
It happened. By September 2021 after weeks of
fruitless effort the park formerly.
Scaled back, the operation as they had with others.
Charles's face joined the gallery of missing persons.
The Investigative Services Branch kept the investigation
open. But no clues have surfaced as of
today. His family stunned, and grief
stricken has remained relatively private.
One can only imagine their anguish.
Tyler, Texas is a long way from the Grand Canyon and the sheer
distance likely compounded their helplessness Charles Lyon
described as a big man, 6 foot 3, with a gentle demeanor,
simply vanished into the Wilds. He loved to explore.
Whether he fell suffered, heat exhaustion and wandered off, or
encountered Foul Play rare, but not impossible, even in National
Parks remains unknown. His disappearance is a stark,
reminder that, even a casual trip to a Viewpoint can turn
deadly under the right conditions.
Secrets of the canyon Reflections and unfound, clues.
The stories we've heard Justin Adam Drake Morgan.
Floyd Travis. J Charles.
Span decades and differ in details.
Yet they Converge on a common theme.
The grand Canyon's ability to guard its secrets This
Magnificent, Chasm carved by water and time seems at times to
open up and erase people from the Earth.
It's no wonder that. Grand Canyon National Park is
often cited as a place with an outside number of missing
persons cases. Search and rescue experts will
tell you. There's nothing Supernatural at
work. It's simply the Canyon's
vastness and treacherous Terrain.
With sheer Cliffs hidden caves and extreme environments from
scorching inner Canyon heat to rim top snow the canyon can hide
a body or evidence for years and indeed sometimes it eventually
gives them back in September 2021.
Amid the search for Charles Lyon an unexpected Discovery
underscored this point. Cruise while looking for a
different missing man, a Hungarian tourist who tragically
fell to his death. Stumbled upon human remains in a
remote area below the rim. It turned out to be a separate
individual entirely the body believed to be Scott Walsh.
A 56 year old man who had stepped off a south rim, shuttle
bus and vanished back in 2015. For six years, Walsh's remains
lay hidden about 600 feet below, Pipe Creek, Overlook camouflage
by the rocks and blended into the landscape.
Searchers weren't expecting to find him there at all.
It was pure chance that the helicopters spotted something
Parks person, Joe, Baird later remarked on this uncanny
incident. It happens every once in a while
here. During searches that we end up
finding people. We weren't expecting in other
words, the canyon keeps its own Counsel on when and if it will
reveal the missing Scott, Walsh's identification, brought
a sad Solace to his family and a glimmer of hope to others, hope
that maybe eventually answers surface.
Each of the cases we explored remains open.
The national park services, Investigative Services, Branch
continues to solicit tips on these missing persons.
To this day flyers with Morgan hymers.
Smiling face still adorned bulletin boards.
Floyd Roberts's name is still known to Canyon hikers.
Who keep an eye out for any hint of his gear.
The families of Drake Kramer and Justin Richardson still pray for
miracles or at least the discovery of remains to lay
their loved ones to rest. In the shadow of these
Mysteries, the Grand Canyon is still the Grand Canyon
eternally, vast gorgeous and indifferent.
Millions, visit safely, but a few Each decade walk into its
wild heart and are never seen again.
Is it simply misadventure a slip on loose Rock here?
A dehydration collapsed there in most cases like likely, yes.
The strangest thing about these disappearances might ultimately
be nothing Supernatural at all, but just bad luck in a big
place. Yet listening to these stories,
one cannot help but feel a sense of awe and unease.
There's a reason where drawn to them, they remind us of the
fragility of life and the enduring mystery of nature, as
we conclude our journey through these cases.
Let's take a moment to reflect on the people behind the names
Justine, a boy who wanted to fit in with older friends, lost in
the woods under tragic circumstances.
Adam a young man possibly seeking purpose on a solo.
Odyssey ending at the world's edge with questions lingering.
Drake, a free spirit torn between his love of life and a
yearning to transcend. It leaving behind grieving
parents in a hunting message, Morgan, a passionate guide
swallowed by the river, he loved without a ripple of explanation.
Floyd a seasoned hiker who took a wrong turn into Oblivion with
best friends who never stopped looking to the Horizon for him.
Travis a traveler, whose vacation turned into a mystery.
His hotel room left as a time capsule of an abruptly
interrupted life. J a man who may have sought
Solace or Adventure at the canyon and met an unknown fate.
Beyond the safety rails. Charles a father and husband who
simply vanished on a summer morning, reminding us.
It can happen to anyone anywhere, even on a routine
sightseeing trip. For each of them dozens of
people family, friends Park Rangers, volunteers have shed,
Sweat, and Tears in the search efforts, In each case, a piece
of the Grand. Canyon story has been written in
sorrow. The sun, has set on our journey.
And as the last Light, Fades over the grand, Canyon's walls,
the darkness below reminds us of the unknown. if you visit the
canyon and find yourself at a quiet Overlook, you might feel a
presence, not ghosts, perhaps, but the weight of untold stories
lingering in the air, the missing are still there in
spirit, part of the Canyon's Mystique.
We end with the hope that someday the canyon will give up
its secrets. as Joel, Baird noted, sometimes those Secrets
emerge when least expected Until then, we remember the name. we
support the ongoing searches and we tread carefully both
physically and in telling these tales with respect for the
canyon and those its taken This has been Canyon of mysteries,
bizarre disappearances in Grand Canyon National Park.
Thank you for listening and may these stories ensure that the
missing are never forgotten. Safe travels whether on the
trail or in life's journey and take care in the wild places for
they are as powerful as they are beautiful.
Yellowstone, National Park, a landscape of breathtaking
Beauty, geothermal wonders and Untamed Wilderness.
Also Harbors, unsettling secrets.
Over the decades, a handful of visitors, and even Park staff
have vanished Without a Trace in these wildlands.
While most lost persons are eventually found safe or
recovered. A small number of
disappearances. Have never been solved.
The reasons are is buried and mysterious as the park itself,
treacherous terrain deadly, Wildlife natural hazards.
And some Whisperer perhaps, stranger forces at play?
In a park visited by over 4 million people a year, it seems
impossible that anyone could simply disappear forever.
Yet, deep in yellow Stones. 2.2 million Acres of wilderness.
There are places where humans step in and never step out.
Yellow Stones sheer scale and harsh conditions can turn a
simple misstep or Misfortune into a life or death crisis.
Former Park Rangers note that many vanishings likely stem from
accidents. People.
Wandering off Trail falling into geothermal Springs Swift rivers
or succumbing to the elements Accidents happen, but I think
criminal activity is probably exceedingly exceedingly.
Rare says retired Ranger Richard Jones.
Wild animals too, might leave. Little evidence behind If you
die off in this part of the country, your body is not going
to stay around Long. John's ads noting that bears
wolves coyotes and other scavengers can quickly scour any
remains yet the unsolved cases invite theories Beyond ordinary
accidents, in this documentary style exploration, we delve into
real life disappearances in Yellowstone, focusing on Modern
cases, mostly post 2000, loaded with Erie, twists and unanswered
questions. Will recount each case in
chilling detail blending. True Crime investigation with a
touch of horror along the way will hear from Park Rangers
search and rescue experts and family members of the missing
whose interviews shed light on the agony of not knowing And
will examine the swirl of speculation that surrounds these
cases from plausible scenarios like bear attacks to more
outlandish, theories of government cover-ups and
Supernatural forces lurking in the forest.
Brace yourself for a journey into Yellowstone's most
disturbing Mysteries. Each story stands on its own.
A Boy Scout swallowed by a river, a hiker's foot boiled in
a hot spring entire camps found deserted yet together.
They form a haunting question, how can people vanish?
And one of the most popular parks on Earth and what really
happened to them, Case 1, the antler Hunter, Dan Campbell
1991. Our first case takes us to the
remote hell, Roaring Creek Trailhead April 1991.
A 42 year old Outdoorsman sets off into the Yellowstone
Backcountry and is never seen again.
Dan Campbell was an avid Outdoorsman from Montana known
to friends as a seasoned Hunter of shed elk.
Antlers On April, 4th 1991, Campbell's girlfriend, dropped
him. And his trusty dog.
Freckles at the hell Roaring Creek Trailhead on the Park's.
Northern Fringe. He planned a four-day Trek,
northward to Jardin Montana, Scouting For prize.
Antlers shed by elk and activity illegal inside the park, but
tempting, due to the lucrative black market for antlers when
Dan failed to show up at the Rendezvous point on April 8th,
his girlfriend reported him missing Park Rangers initiated
what's known? As a bastard search first
confirming that Dan was truly missing and not simply delayed
once verified Yellowstone, mobilized ground teams horseback
Searchers and helicopters to comb the rugged area.
Spring weather bedeviled The Searchers sudden.
Snowstorms dumped up to a foot of snow obscuring, trails in any
tracks. For weeks, they scoured seven
different zones of the park fighting through drifts and
scanning from the are finding no trace of Dan or his dog.
Not a single piece of clothing gear or any sign of an attack
turned up. It was as if man and dog had
vanished Into Thin Air. Interview park ranger.
We threw everything. We had at that search one,
Ranger recalls helicopters. Canine teams dozens of us on
foot, but the snow kept coming. We'd see cougar tracks Bear
Tracks, but nothing of Dan. It was frustrating, an eerie
with no body or evidence, theories began to swirl
investigators. Learned Dan, had been deeply
involved in the competitive antler hunting scene, which in
the 1990s, had a dark side, Infamous antler Wars between
poachers were described in outside magazine, rival, horn
Hunters, staking out territory with semi-automatic weapons and
threats of violence. Could Dan have crossed paths
with the wrong people. One possibility.
Was that Dan fell into one of the areas?
Countless hidden Ravines or even an old mine shaft relics dot
that region or that he surprised a grizzly bear and was killed.
A fatal Wildlife attack, could leave little to recover if
scavengers scattered remains. But no torn clothing or blood
was ever found. Others speculated Dan might have
slipped into the Yellowstone River, or a creek.
And been swept away, though. His route was mostly Upland or
suffered a medical emergency in a remote spot.
A severe injury could mean succumbing to hypothermia
overnight. The weather was still winter
like at high elevations. Some whispered that Dan facing
personal pressures might have faked his disappearance.
Rumors surfaced that he had deaths he wanted to escape.
Did he staged a Vanishing act to start a new life?
Those who knew him found this out of character and Dan left no
evidence of such planning. Bank accounts on touched Etc.
Dan's family, gravitated to a darker theory that he met with
foul play at the hands of illegal antler poachers.
In fact, Dan's Brother. Bill Campbell launched his own
investigation, Bill told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.
That 14. Other horn Hunters were known to
be in that area. The day, Dan disappeared and one
reported hearing two gunshots echo through the woods This
chilling detail raised, the Specter of Dan being shot,
perhaps over territorial dispute or theft.
Bill Campbell's push led to some investigation by authorities
Records later revealed that by July 1991.
Both a private investigator hired by Dan's family and
Montana's criminal investigation Bureau were on the case.
The local sheriff did find two men who had been horn hunting
illegally near Yellowstone's boundary at that time.
He confiscated their camping gear, and even some spent rifle
cartridges, suspecting, they might be connected.
However, in a controversial move, the sheriff returned the
gear to the men. Before any forensic testing was
done on the evidence. No fingerprints, no ballistic
analysis, a potentially critical lead was lost.
Dan's three brothers were outraged and later sued the Park
County Sheriff's Office. Claiming the investigation was
botched. The lawsuit was eventually
dismissed, but it left lingering questions.
Had crucial evidence literally slipped through investigators
fingers, quote. Family member.
In the absence of answers you grasp at anything, one of Dan's
Brothers, said, in a later interview, we heard a report of
gunshots in the area. We know there were unsavory
characters out there after those antlers.
We absolutely believed Dan ran into trouble.
Human trouble out there. So this day no remains or
belongings of Dan Campbell or his dog freckles have ever been
found. His disappearance remains an
open Cold Case, the only official Yellowstone missing
person case listed in the National Park Service database,
from that era. The hell roaring Wilderness
keeps its secrets. Well, A sudden blizzard, a
hidden Canyon. Or a deadly human confrontation.
34 years later. Dan Campbell's, fetus, still
unknown locked in Yellowstone's, vast expanse.
His family still wonder wonders and an empty file remains on the
park shelf labeled missing, Daniel Campbell 1991.
Case, 2, Boy, Scout lost to the river.
Luke Sandberg 2005 Our next case jumps to the mid-2000s and
highlights. The raw power of yellow Stones
environment. In June 2005, a Boy Scout Troops
summer Adventure, turned into a nightmare when 13 year old Luke.
Sandberg was Swept Away by the Yellowstone, River in full view
of his friends and never seen again.
Seen setting. June 24th, 2005.
Luke Sandberg of Helena Montana was on a camping trip with six
fellow Scouts and three adult leaders camped near the northern
boundary of the park not far from Gardiner.
The boys were playing by the Yellowstone.
River pushing logs into the Swift water for fun around 11.
A.m. Luke was helping shove one,
particularly large log. When it suddenly swung around
and clipped his legs. Knocking him off balance
directly into the icy Taurus. The adults and Scouts watched in
horror as Luke was swept into the fast-flowing current, his
head still above water, as he was carried toward a stretch of
Rapids. Within moments, the 13 year old
disappeared from sight around a Bend.
The river swollen with late, spring snowmelt and estimated at
only 50 degrees, Fahrenheit was extremely dangerous.
On swimmable as Incident Commander Tim Reed, later told
Luke's family. A scoutmaster raced Downstream
along the bank, but could not keep up. in the space of a
minute, the Yellowstone River had taken Luke Rescue efforts
began immediately. Park Rangers County, search and
rescue and even local volunteers mobilized along a 14-mile
stretch of the river Downstream For three days, they scoured the
rivers Banks shallows and log jams on foot by boat.
And from helicopters, Tragically the rivers force and opacity
yielded, almost nothing. The only clue was truly
heartbreaking. One of Luke's sneakers was found
caught. On a snag about five miles
Downstream the next day and the other shoe discovered the
following day a little further along.
Aside from those tennis shoes which family confirmed were
Luke's, no other traces of him was ever found.
By the third day, hope had faded.
At a tearful meeting with Rescuers Luke's relatives
acknowledge the Grim reality. The family has come to the
acceptance of not finding Luke alive.
His Aunt Jeanie, lay told the search teams her voice cracking.
The search shifted from Rescue to recovery, but even that
recovery never came in the days. After one can imagine the Eerie
Stillness by the river at night. The same spot bustling with
Scouts laughter, just 48 hours before now quiet, except for the
Roar of Rapids, the Yellowstone River with its bone-chilling
cold and Relentless current seemed to Simply swallow a 13
year old boy whole Experience. Rangers were stunned that even a
body? Never surfaced.
One explained that the rivers underwater terrain full of deep
holes, rocks and snarled tree, trunks can easily pin and hold a
body underwater indefinitely. Canyon Waters were so turbulent.
That recovery. Divers could not be safely
deployed. Expert, quote, Incident
Commander, the conditions were just too extreme.
The water was high and fast essentially unsurvivable.
Incident Commander Tim Reid reported He briefed Luke's
family that survival was unlikely after minutes in those
Rapids, given the cold shock and hydraulic forces.
Though, Luke's fate is not a mystery in the sense of lacking
a cause it's almost certain. He drowned the total absence of
his remains lends, this case an unsettling aura.
Yellowstone in this instance. Did what nature often does?
It kept its silence To this day. Hikers, along that stretch of
the Yellowstone River, occasionally pay silent respects
at the water's edge, knowing somewhere in that Wild River
lies. The boy who never came home from
his Scout trip locals, have since told quiet, stories around
campfires saying, Luke Spirit lives on, in the Yellowstone
River. Some of his fellow Scouts.
Now, adults recount that when they return to that, site years
later, they felt a sudden chill in a sense of presence as the
river rushed by Rationally. We know what happened.
An accident. A tragic force of nature.
But the horror in this story is how unforgiving Yellowstone can
be. A fun moment, turned fatal in a
little heartbeat. It's a sober reminder that even
shallow looking Waters. Can hide deadly currents.
And unlike most crime Tails, there is no culprit.
But nature itself, a no closure for a family besides of empty
sneakers, case 3, the Unseen Predator, Bruce Pike 2006, just
one year after Luke's, disappearance Yellowstone saw
another. Vanishing one that would receive
almost no publicity at the time alone.
Camper from Texas drove into the park and was never heard from
again. In early August 2006 Bruce
Parker Pike age, 47 left his home, state of Texas for a solo
trip to Yellowstone. Little is known about his
journey whom he met, or what he did, when he arrived.
What we do know is that on August 2nd, 2006, Bruce was last
seen at the Indian Creek Campground in Yellowstone.
This small rustic, Campground sits amid forested.
Terrain in the Northwest section of the park.
A place frequented by both tent, campers and Wildlife.
When Bruce failed to return from his vacation, his family alerted
authorities. Rangers soon, discovered his
vehicle abandoned at Indian Creek, parked and empty.
Inside the car. Nothing seemed obviously amiss.
But Bruce Pike was gone a search of the vicinity turned up?
No sign of him. It's unclear how extensive the
search was, as his disappearance.
Oddly never made national headlines or Park press
releases. In fact, investigators later
noted that Bruce's case does not appear to have been published by
the media or recorded, in park news releases at all.
He was in essence a quiet. Missing person known mainly to
law enforcement and missing person databases contacts and
theories. Indian Creek is known among Park
regulars for its Scenic Beauty and its frequent bare activity.
Both black bears and Grizzlies roam that area drawn by streams
and pine forests. Historically, there have been
enough bear encounters there, that the campground occasionally
closest for safety. For instance, Rangers recall an
incident in 1986 when a camper was injured by a mother Grizzly
defending her, cub near Indian Creek, prompting a temporary
closure. More recently in 2019, black
bears in the park rated Campsite in that region, even biting a
woman through her tent. In one case given this backdrop.
One leading theory is that Bruce fell victim to a bear attack
that left little evidence. a hungry or threatened bear can
attack and then drag remains far from a campsite Scavengers could
scatter traces in a matter of days.
However, no blood torn clothing or disturbed.
Campsite was reported in Bruce's case at least not publicly.
If Bruce had gone for a Day hike from the campground and suffered
an accident, say a fall or medical emergency, his remains
might have been similarly scavenged or remain hidden in
dense Timber Yellowstone's. Terrain has countless Nooks were
a person could lie undiscovered, could Bruce, have deliberately
disappeared He was far from home with a vehicle left behind
making an intentional, Vanishing difficult unless he had outside.
Help. There's no known indication.
He wanted to disappear. By all accounts, he was an
ordinary visitor on vacation. The lack of information itself
is haunting. Few details are available.
In Pike's case notes, the Charlie project, which tracks
missing persons. Texas authorities even assisted
suggesting they looked into his background and found.
No obvious red flags. Picture the Indian Creek
Campground dappled in late summer, sunlight.
Tent, stand empty in the afternoon as campers hike, or
fish. Alone car sits at a site keys
still in the ignition perhaps, but its owner has vanished.
Did something stalk Bruce Pike in the woods leaving only
silence behind. Without Witnesses, Bruce's fate
is pure conjecture. The bear attack Theory, stands
out because of the locations history, one can imagine Bruce
taking an evening stroll, crossing paths with a quietly
foraging Grizzly fattening up for winter, a startled charge a
struggle and then the forest resetting to calm is nightfalls
with nobody around to see or hear a thing.
Park investigators impounded Bruce's vehicle and notified
Texas law enforcement. They kept the case open, but
nothing new ever surfaced. As of the latest records, Bruce
Parker Pike remains missing, one of just a handful of people to
vanish in Yellowstone and never be found interview, missing
persons expert. A National Park Service, agent.
Later commented, on cases like Bruce's When someone goes
missing and there's no evidence where essentially looking for a
needle in an endless Haystack, he said, unless a hiker stumbles
on a scholar, something these cases can remain unsolved
indefinitely. For Bruce's family, the lack of
answers is the hardest part. Did he suffer?
Was it quick? Will they ever know?
Yellowstone's authorities, quietly closed, Active search
operations after a time. But Bruce's file isn't closed.
It's classified as lost or injured missing unsolved.
In local lore, Bruce's story is sometimes recounted as a
cautionary tale around campfires.
Don't Wander from Camp alone, at dusk an old Ranger.
Might warrant. Remember that fellow from Texas?
He went into those woods and never came out.
Case, four, the plunge into the abyss.
Nicholas Masters 2009. Yellowstone's Grand Canyon area
draws. Millions to its stunning
waterfalls. But in June 2009, it became the
site of a disturbing and very public disappearance.
Nicholas Jeffrey mustard a 20 year old from Utah, vanished
after leaping into the Yellowstone, River in front of
shocked onlookers. Unlike other cases, this one had
witnesses to the critical moment yet.
The aftermath was equally unsettling as Nicholas's body
was never recovered June. 16th 2009 tourist packed the
observation decks at the brink of the lower Falls, a majestic
308 foot waterfall that Thunder's into the Grand Canyon
of Yellowstone. Around 4:20 p.m. without
warning. A young man later identified as
Monster climbed over the railing on one of the viewing platforms.
Gasps and screams rang out. As he stood momentarily on the
edge and then jumped forward into the void, In an instant, he
was swept up in the Torrance of the Yellowstone River, which was
raging with approximately 6,000, cubic feet per second of water
flow at that time, swollen by heavy runoff.
He plunged over the Towering lower Falls disappearing in the
mist and turning Waters below. Bystanders were frozen in
disbelief. Some scrambled to alert Park
staff. It was an apparent suicide
committed in one of the parks. Most scenic and deadly
locations, Rangers responded immediately Within hours teams
repelled into the canyon Downstream of the falls.
They carefully searched the Riverbanks and Eddies at the
base of the waterfall. They found only a few personal
items, some of Nicholas's clothing, snagged in an Eddie
about a quarter mile Downstream. A shoe here.
A piece of fabric there swirling and calmer Pockets while the
main current roared by Tragically Nicholas's body
itself. Was nowhere to be seen given the
tremendous force of the waterfall in the depth of the
Canyon Pool, which can exceed 30 feet, Searchers knew the odds of
recovery. Over the next days they scoured
further Downstream by helicopter and on foot but nothing else was
ever found Park officials announced that the individual
who jumped was likely mastered a visitor from Salt Lake City and
that evidence pointed to a deliberate Act.
This wasn't an accidental fall, it was witnessed as an
intentional jump, making it a heartbreaking but closed case in
terms of cause of death. Yet even as the factual
narrative is clear, the Eerie element Remains the Grand Canyon
of Yellowstone. Claimed another soul that day
and in a very literal sense consumed him, The idea of
Vanishing into a thundering waterfall, has a primal horror
to it, those who were there, reportedly had nightmares of the
scene the young man's final fateful leap replaying in their
minds. One can imagine Nicholas's last
perspective standing on that ledge with the deafening sound
of the falls. Looking down into the swirling,
Abyss known aptly, as Abyss pool at the base.
It's a terrifying. Panorama rainbows in the missed
but also the certainty of death below, then the step into
emptiness. A park spokesperson set of the
event. This is a tragic situation.
We conducted extensive search operations but give the force of
the falls and River. It's not surprising.
We could not recover him. The canyons ruggedness and the
rivers power. Essentially erased, Nicholas
master Unlike other disappearances Foul Play or
accident aren't factors here. However, in hushed
conversations, some visitors pondered Supernatural angles,
the Native American lore of the area includes water spirits.
Could something have lured him? Others recall that yellow
Stones. Canyons have seen past suicides
or attempts did an unseen pattern or energy contribute?
These musings Edge into the Paranormal but they underscore
how unsettling the event was for Witnesses.
For our purposes. Nicholas's story.
Adds a sobering dimension. Not all Yellowstone, Vanishing
are mysterious and cause, but even when the cause is known,
the park can still keep the body as its Secret.
The waterfall gave no answers. Back case 5 the mysterious Lexus
Stewart Isaac 2010. Early Autumn of 2010, brought
one of Yellowstone's, most perplexing, disappearances, a
case brimming with unanswered. Questions in odd Clues, Stuart
Isaac, a 48 year old man from Maryland.
Embarked on a solo cross country drive that September destination
Yellowstone. National Park.
Stuart was not an experienced Outdoorsman which made what
happened, all the more baffling. Stuart left his home in
Burtonsville. Maryland on September 6th 2010.
Leaving behind a note for his family saying he was going on a
cross-country road trip. There was no specific mention of
Yellowstone, but on September 24th, he phoned a high school
friend in Guam, an unusual call for him and chatted for two
hours. During this call.
Stuart mentioned, he was on route to Yellowstone, surprising
his friends since they rarely talked on the phone and usually
only email or texted, That call would be the last time anyone
heard from Stuart, Isaac. Two days later on September 26th
2010, tourists driving along the Grand Loop Road, the main
circuit through Yellowstone, noticed a car, parked in an odd
spot at Craig pass. A high mountain pass between Old
Faithful and West thumb. the car, a black 2009 Lexus with
vanity plates, reading bellec was found abandoned on the
roadside Rangers responded and discovered.
The Lexus was unlocked keys still in the ignition and no
sign of the drivers Stewart, notably.
Craig pass is not near any Visitor, Center, or obvious
trailhead. It's a pull-out area with no
services. Sitting at around 8,200 feet,
elevation amid, forests and Meadows.
There were no hiking trailheads in the immediate vicinity of
where the car was found. For a man with no experience
hiking or camping, it was extremely odd that he'd stopped
there. Yellowstone Rangers launched an
extensive search around Craig pass.
They combed the woods nearby Shoshone Lake Shoreline and the
trails miles away thinking perhaps he wandered, despite the
lack of trails, nothing no Footprints, no clothing scraps,
no scent for dogs to follow. It was as if Stuart walked into
the forest, a short way in the trees, swallowed him whole
investigators dug into his background for Clues.
Stuart was a native of the Pacific island nation of Palau a
stocky Man. 5 foot 8 about 220 pounds with three tattoos and no
known Wilderness interests. He had left on this trip alone.
The phone call to Guam was puzzling.
He suddenly reached out to an old friend almost as if for a
final conversation and the friend later noted how unusual
in lengthy the call was Possible scenarios self-harmed intent.
Some who study the case, wonder if Stuart chose Yellowstone as
the final stop in a plan to end his life. he may have driven to
that Serene remote pass left, his keys, perhaps symbolically
leaving his life behind, and then walked off into the
Wilderness to succumb, to the elements or take his life in
another manner. The two-hour farewell call could
be interpreted as him tying up loose emotional ends.
However, no note was found beyond the trip note at home and
no evidence of self-harm was discovered in the search area.
Accident or disorientation. Its possible Stewart stopped at
Craig pass, simply because something caught his eye, maybe
a beautiful spot or even wildlife.
If he walked into the woods and got turned around, he could have
quickly gotten lost. With no Trail, the dense
Lodgepole Pines can become disorienting.
If he kept walking, he might have gotten so deep.
That initial search grids missed him.
If he had a medical emergency out of sight of the road, his
remains could have been scattered by Animals by the time
searches found out far enough. Foul Play or strange encounter?
This is more on the speculative side.
There were no signs of struggle at the car and robbery seems
unlikely the car and presumably valuables in.
It were intact could he have met someone on the road who harmed
him? It's a remote area for a crime
and nothing suggests foul play, except the sheer mystery.
One Fringe Theory, Craig pass has geothermal features and some
creeks. Could he have stepped or fallen
into a hot spring or hidden fumarole?
Unlikely, right by the road but Yellowstone has taken lives in
such ways more on that in the next case. authorities from
Maryland, even joined the investigation, but by winter of
2010 Stewart, Isaac had vanished Without a Trace No remains have
ever been found. His Lexus recovered from the
park stood as a silent token of the mystery a modern comfortable
car left in a primitive landscape, like a scene from a
Twilight Zone episode. Family and Legacy Stewart's
family straddling, cultures from Palau to Maryland were left
puzzled and devastated. To them.
There was no obvious reason, he'd go missing intentionally.
He wasn't in trouble with law or money.
As far as known the unresolved Nature's at them on online
forums and a Reddit thread dedicated to strange
disappearances armchair detectives debate Stewart's
case. Intensively, it has many
ingredients of a Missing, 411 case, a term popularized for
bizarre, Wilderness disappearances out of character
Choice. Solo trip, non hiker in Wild
area. An Abrupt Vanishing and no
evidence. Despite a thorough search quote,
friends impression. He wasn't the type to go hiking
at all. One friend said when
interviewed, when I heard his car was found way out there, I
just couldn't make sense of it. Stuart didn't even like camping.
Stuart, Isaac remains one of Yellowstone's strangest, cold
cases. His name is often listed
alongside Dan Campbell and Bruce Pike as the Park's big three
unsolved Missing Persons of recent decades.
The empty Lexus with the vanity plate, bellec still haunts
anyone who hears this story a riddle on the roadside that
might never be answered. Case, 6, the Shoshone Lake.
Vanishing, Kim crumbo 2021. Yellowstone's.
Most recent high-profile disappearance is A Tale of Two
Brothers, a deadly storm and lingering on certainly in
September 2021. 74 year old Kim crumbo.
A decorated Vietnam veteran and seasoned wilderness.
Explorer disappeared during a canoe trip.
On Shoshone Lake. The parks second largest lake.
His half-brother 67 year old Marko Neil was found dead, but
Kim was never found. This case is poignant because
Kim crumbo was no ordinary Park Visitor.
He was a former Navy. Seal Park Ranger and
conservationist who by all accounts, new how to handle
himself in Wild places. On September 12th, 2021 Kim, and
Mark set out on a four-night. Backcountry canoe trip to
Shoshone Lake a remote Lake accessible only by Trail or
paddle. Both were experienced, boaters,
and outdoorsmen, especially Kim, who spent decades running rivers
and fighting for Wilderness preservation.
They plan to Camp fish and enjoy the late summer.
Solitude the lake, however, can be treacherous with whether
Shoshone sits at high elevation and is known for sudden,
winstorm that whip up frigate waves.
When the Brothers fail to return as scheduled on September 19th,
a family member reported them overdue Yellowstone Rangers
launched a search. On September 20th, they made a
grim Discovery Mark O'Neill's body on the east.
Shore of Shoshone Lake not far from one of their campsites.
He was wearing a life jacket but was lifeless, the canoe was
missing later. Found overturn, not far from
Mark's location. There was no sign of Kim and
autopsy later, determined, Mark died of hypothermia.
This suggested that the brothers encountered severe conditions
likely capsizing in cold water. September nights in Yellowstone.
Often dropped below, freezing and Shoshone.
Lakes water temperature would cause incapacitation in minutes.
If one ended up in the drink. Massive search for Kim.
The search for Kim crumble was one of the largest in recent
Park history. For over three weeks, Crews,
combed the area using helicopters boats, with sonar
ground teams, dog teams, and even divers.
When weather allowed They face deteriorating, whether the cells
with early snow and freezing temperatures, hampering efforts
over, 100 Personnel from Yellowstone, other national
parks, counties, and volunteer organizations, joined the
operation. Superintendent Kamali noted the
extensive interagency help and expressed heartfelt sympathies
to the family yet. Despite all this Kim crumble was
never found by October 8th 2021 with heavy snow coming the
parks, scaled back. The search to limited recovery
efforts, pending new information.
Kim's, disappearance remained under investigation but without
leads This case garnered a lot of media attention because of
Kim's background. Friends described him as a
legend of a man who had survived far worse in his life.
The idea that he could be taken by a storm shocked many.
Some of Kim's colleagues in the conservation Community, openly
speculated something sinister might have happened. they
couldn't believe a Navy SEAL could succumb to Nature, so
completely We got messages saying.
No way. This was an accident.
Kim's wife, Becky crumble recounted.
However, Becky herself does not subscribe to conspiracy
theories. After visiting Shoshone Lake in
seeing how fast conditions can turned, she said it was a fluke
thing. An act of nature, they survived
a whole lot in life. But they didn't survive this
one. What likely happened a
reconstruction based on evidence and Survivor experience suggests
that one day, possibly September 18th, the brothers were caught
in a sudden wind storm on the lake.
The cold water swamped or flipped their canoe.
Mark, wearing a life jacket managed to get to shore, but was
soaked and wined Kim, perhaps also in a life jacket, not
confirmed. Either tried to swim or got
separated from the boat farther out.
If Kim made it to shore he never reached help.
Hypothermia would have said in quickly if he was wet and
exposed just as it did for Mark. The heartbreaking scenario is of
Kim's struggling to save his brother or vice versa and
neither fully succeeding chilling detail.
In a Salt Lake, Tribune interview, Becky described being
on the lake with a fischels after the incident and
witnessing how quickly the situation became dangerous.
The water went from calm to perilous in minutes.
Kim Son. Daniel said, if I was in a pinch
in a wild place, and I had one person to call upon it would be
Kim crumbo. Emphasizing how skilled his
father was this makes Kim's Vanishing even more haunting.
Even the best can be bested by Nature official stance,
superintendent, Charlie stated. All of us at Yellowstone.
Extend our deepest sympathies, we will continue search efforts
as long as conditions allow. By winter 2021, the search was
paused. Come spring.
Thaw Rangers again, quietly checked the shoreline and flew
over when possible. But Kim's body has never
emerged. It's possibly resting on the
lake bottom or hidden in the dense Lodgepole.
Forests around it, the case remains open but inactive
pending any new evidence. Kim crumbo is honored in
conservation circles as a passionate advocate for wild
wolves and rivers. And now tragically as part of
Yellowstone's lore. His story is recounted as both
an inspiration to always respect nature.
No matter one skill and as a ghost story, some say on a quiet
morning at Shoshone Lake, you might feel a stiff breeze and
imagine Kim's. Spirit still paddling onward.
One with the Wilderness he loved as his family wrote In A
Remembrance. Case 7 foot in the hot spring,
the fate of ilhan Road 2022. Our next story blurs, the line
between tragic accident and Macabre mystery in the summer of
2022 Yellowstone tourists made a Gastly Discovery at the fame
West thumb geyser Basin a human foot still in a shoe floating in
a steaming hot spring. Park investigators eventually
identified the victim as ilhan row, a 70 year old man, from Los
Angeles but the circumstances of how he ended up in the hot
spring remain enigmatic Discovery.
On the morning of August 16th, 2022, a park.
Concession employee spotted something drifting in the Parks
Abyss pool, one of yellow Stones deepest, Hot Springs over 50
feet deep with water temperatures around 140 degrees
Fahrenheit. It was a shoe with part of a
foot inside. Rangers quickly closed off the
area and began an investigation. No, immediate signs of other
remains were visible in the pools.
Clear, but, superheated water for weeks, the incident puzzle,
the public. Finally, in November 2022, DNA
analysis confirmed, the foot belong to ilhan Road.
He had been reported missing by family who last heard from him
in Late, July 2022. It turned out that Mr. Roe had
been traveling alone and was last seen on the morning of
July, 31st 2022, near West thumb right around the time
authorities now, believe he perished.
What happened to Ilan Road? Officials never definitively
announced how Mr. Rowe ended up in Abyss pool, but Foul Play was
not suspected. The likely scenarios are either
an accident or a suicide. He may have wandered off the
boardwalk, a grave but not unprecedented mistake.
Park Records show over 20 people have died from hot spring
injuries over the last century. Or intentionally entered the
lethal Waters. Clues emerged as investigators
searched Rose rental car found parked near the Basin inside.
They found personal belongings, a laptop, some family,
photographs park maps, a substantial amount of cash. 400
and 447 dollars. And most poignantly a small book
of handwritten poems. The poems hinted at inner
turmoil, suggesting Mr. Robe might have been troubled.
These items painted a picture of a solitary traveler, who perhaps
came to Yellowstone, seeking peace, or an escape. the fact
that he left these Treasures behind in his vehicle wallet,
full of money on touched could indicate he wasn't planning to
return on the other hand accidents in thermal areas do
occur. People, sometimes venture too
close slip on the oily wet ground and fall in.
But usually, there is evidence to Disturbed ground clothing,
left on the rim. Screams heard as the water
causes agonizing Burns. In Mr. Rose case.
No one reported witnessing an incident.
It's possible. He intentionally jumped or fell
in during very early morning. When few were around or at
night, though, the Basin is closed at night.
Gruesome aftermath Abyss. Pools.
Scalding water, likely dissolved much of the body.
Its horrifying to imagine, but such Hot Springs can effectively
consume human remains. In the weeks, after the foots
Discovery, geologists noted Eerie fatty deposits appearing
on the surface of the pool. Consistent with the liquefied
remains of a human body, rising to the top as the water cooled
slightly. This detail reads like something
out of a horror novel. The Pool slowly giving up
ghostly evidence of what it had taken.
The loan foot protected by the shoe likely separated as the
rest of the body deteriorated in the caustic water.
It floated due to gases in the decaying tissue eventually
coming to the surface for the employee to find in the wake of
the chilling. Discovery of a human foot adrift
in a Yellowstone. Hot Springs investigators delved
into the life of ilhoon road, trying to answer the burning
question. What brings a man to such an end
interviews with Mr. Rose family were sparse in media but one can
imagine their shock, he was an older gentleman.
Presumably, on a sightseeing trip to one of his favorite
places perhaps or maybe fulfilling a lifelong dream, The
poetic Journal hints that yellow Stones Grandeur might have had a
spiritual significance to him. This case ignited, all sorts of
theories online. Some Park goers whispered about
the thermal pool killer completely unfounded.
There was no sign of Foul Play, but the imagination runs wild
others, Drew parallels to a famous historical incident in
1981. A young man named David Kerwin
to a hot spring to save his dog and died from terrible Burns.
Could row have similarly acted on impulse or to retrieve
something? No dog or dropped item was noted
so probably not. There's all the Grim possibility
did roaches this method as a form of suicide. if so it's an
unusually painful and dramatic choice, but perhaps symbolically
meaningful to him, Some cultures C Hot Springs, as portals are
cleansing pools. Was there a deeper motivation?
We can only speculate Park officials officially treated as
an accidental death, unless further info emerges.
They use the opportunity to once again, warn visitors to stay on
boardwalks in geothermal areas. Abyss pool with its deceptively
peaceful, Blue Water. Now had a horrifying chapter in
its history. Visually, this story is
chilling. Imagine Early Morning Mist over
a neon blue spring. The camera pans and then the
floating shoe with a foot. It's a scene that would fit in a
horror film yet. It happened in real life in
Yellowstone. The idea of dissolving in an
acidic hot pool is a visceral nightmare.
For Park staff who had to retrieve the foot and test the
water for remains it must have been gruesome work.
Ilhoon Rose case while likely an accident or suicide remains one
of the strangest disappearances because only a fragment of him
was ever found. It reminds us that Yellowstone's
Beauty can be deadly and that behind every caution.
Sign is a story. Like this case, 8, the Eagle
Peak mystery Austin. King 2024, our final case brings
us to a very recent and still unresolved disappearance one
that was unfolding even as of late 2024.
Austin King a 22 year old Yellowstone.
Concessions employee in, Avid hiker went missing in September
2024, in the remote Backcountry of the parks, south east corner,
Case combines the classic Perils of wilderness with the emotional
intensity of a family refusing to give up.
Hope. Background Austin was working a
seasonal job in Yellowstone. And like many Park employees,
took advantage of free time to explore the wilderness.
In mid-september 2024, he set off solo to tackle Eagle Peak.
The highest mountain in Yellowstone at 11,372 feet,
located, in a rugged seldom, visited area near the
Southeastern boundary He planned a seven-day back country trip,
which included, summiting Eagle Peak.
And then hiking out to the southeast arm of Yellowstone
Lake for a scheduled boat pickup on September 20th.
Impressively, Austin did reach the summit of Eagle Peak.
On September 17th. We know this because he managed
to call and text friends and family around 7 p.m. that
evening after summiting. He described being exhausted but
thrilled he made it despite terrible weather on the way up.
In fact, Austin signed the mountain Summit, register
leaving behind and Eerie note about the conditions.
I can't feel my fingers and my glasses are so fogged from the
ruthless weather. I endured rain sleet hail and
the most wind I have ever felt. I could not see Eagles for most
of the day, due to the fog. His handwriting was wobbly
suggesting how physically taxed he was that line.
Ruthless weather would prove ominous after that, final
contact on September 17th. Austin, never made it to his
boat pickup on September 20th. The boat operators waited then
left when he didn't show Park Rangers were alerted.
That he was overdue at first light on September 21st and
organized search began. This search would rapidly grow
into one of the biggest since Kim Trumbo's Eagle Peak is
extremely remote. It's in a roadless area that
many described as one of the most inaccessible landscapes in
the lower 48. The terrain is amazed of steep
ridges dense, forests and deep Alpine.
Drainages. Searchers had to be flown or
backpacked in. Over the next 11 days, more than
100 people scoured, the mountains and valleys for
Austin, they used helicopters. Drones searched dogs trackers on
foot and spotters with high-powered scopes In total
they covered over. 3,200 miles of ground in, are searching an
astonishing scale, what they found, only deep in the mystery.
Austin's Campsite in the upper Howell Creek area.
North of Eagle Peak was discovered at the site, they
found his tent and some belongings importantly, his
heavy gear, and some personal items were there, which
presumably he cashed to lighten his load for the summit push.
It seemed he had planned to return to that camp after
summiting. The Searchers also found the
summit register entry. He left confirming.
He had made it to the top and the conditions.
He faced However, there was no sign of Austin himself.
No Footprints leading away. No obvious.
Clue like a dropped pack or clothing beyond the camp.
The area by then had seen significant snow.
They mentioned six foot drifts on parts of Eagle Peak from
storms, right after he summited By October 2nd with winter
conditions, intensifying Yellowstone, officials made the
tough decision to transition from a rescue to a recovery
operation. The active search was scaled
back though, Rangers indicated, they'd keep an eye out in Spring
Austin's. Father, Brian King.
Could not bear to let the search end.
In mid-october with Park resources, limited he organized
a private search team of volunteers.
They raise funds for a helicopter and combed the area
again, just before a major snowstorm.
However, due to safety regulations, the park did not
approve. Some of the helicopter use in
the high mountains, which frustrated the family.
Still volunteers went in on foot while weather allowed Austin's.
Dad was quoted. We felt it was very important to
use these next two days before new snowfalls Were not mad.
Just disappointed. We couldn't use the helicopter
more. We're still going to fight and
look for Austin. A powerful clue did emerge
Austin's noted in the summit. Register was essentially a
message in a bottle about the extreme weather.
He confronted. It's possible that to sending
from Eagle Peak in those conditions, foggy, windy, and
later snowing. Austin got disoriented,
visibility was awful. He described not seeing the
mountain for most of the day. On the way down.
Perhaps he lost the root or took shelter in succumb to
hypothermia as night fell on September 17th, the phrase I
truly cannot believe I am here. After what it took to be here,
he wrote speaks to how challenging the ascent was
Surviving the climb only to have the storm intensify.
Could mean he faced even worse on The Descent exhausted and
likely wet. Given the evidence, the leading
theory is Austin, unfortunately died from exposure or an injury
while trying to return from Eagle Peak.
But because it's an open case, more colorful, theories have
been floated too. Wildlife encounter.
Could have bear or mountain, lion have taken him by surprise.
The area has Grizzlies, but no evidence like torn gear or
tracks was found. Its late enough in season, that
bears were around. But if he died of exposure
first, Scavenging could occur after fall into a crevasse or
Canyon. The mountains.
There are littered with Talus slopes and drop offs.
He might have fallen into a spot where Searchers could see him
now covered by snow. Something Supernatural.
Among the more Fantastical ideas.
Some point to the Native, American legends around these
sacred mountains or the fact that Eagle Peak sits near the
edge of Yellowstone's boundaries.
Maybe he walked out of our world into another one.
Might say poetically, when reason fails.
What makes Austin's a specially haunting is that?
It's so recent. As of this video, his family is
likely still waiting for spring 2025 snowmelt to resume the
search. They cling to Hope slim as it
may be that perhaps he found some way to survive or that, at
least they will find his body and gain closure.
Cam shawli, the park superintendent emphasized, that
extreme terrain, limited, even the parks capabilities.
At this time, the park has limited resources to respond to
Eagle Peak. If something were to go wrong.
We deeply sympathize with Austin's family.
It was a perfect storm of conditions that stymied all
efforts. Austin stood on Yellowstone's,
highest Summit Victoria's only to face a greater battle on the
way down. One he may not have won.
His story is still being written by those who search for him.
Perhaps one warm day next summer, a hike, her will spot a
clue a bit of bright Fabric in the brush or a weather notebook
by a log and the Mystery will resolve Until then Eagle Peak
keeps its silence. As our journey through
Yellowstone's, Vanishing comes to a close.
We are left with both answers and questions.
We've seen cases of clear tragedy.
A boy caught by a river. A man leaping into avoid and
cases of enduring mystery where loved ones can only speculate at
what Bethel their missing family member.
Each story carries an element of Horror.
Some from the unforgiving force of nature, others from the human
imagination. Filling in the blanks.
Many of these disappearances share patterns, yellow, Stones
Wilderness is often the prime suspect.
Raging Rivers freezing nights sudden storms scalding thermal
pools and wild animals. These are the Agents of chaos.
That strike without warning. As former Ranger Lee Whittlesey
documented in his book, death in Yellowstone, the parks history
is filled with people, underestimating nature, and
paying the price. Even in modern times with GPS
and organized search teams, when someone goes missing in certain
parts of the park, the odds of finding them can be daunting.
Search and rescue experts emphasize how tiny a human is in
2.2 million Acres. The cases of Dan Campbell Bruce
Pike in Stuart, Isaac underscore.
That if someone parishes off Trail wildlife, in the elements
can erase almost all trace of them in days.
As Kevin Greene, a paramedic who has worked searches in
Yellowstone. Put it Most people are found but
when they're not it's like they vanished into another dimension.
The park is just that vast summary of his accounts,
speculation and theories Revisited.
Beyond the natural explanations. We entertained a range of
theories. Government cover-up, is the
National Park Service hiding the true number of missing persons.
Officially Yellowstone does not keep a public list, they defer
to a Nationwide database. This opacity has fueled
conspiracy theories, some believe Parks minimize publicity
around disappearances, like, Bruce Pikes case, which got no
media attention at the time to avoid scaring, visitors or
hurting tourism. Could there be any truth to
that? It's hard to say, In fairness,
most missing are found and the truly unsolved cases are few.
But the secrecy or lack of data, makes it easy for imaginations
to run wild. Paranormal or Supernatural from
Bigfoot. Kidnapping to interdimensional
portals. The internet is Rife with
fantastic explanations. Especially tied to the Missing
411 phenomenon. While there's no concrete
evidence of anything Supernatural in our cases, the
remote, and primeval of Yellowstone can definitely give
one Goosebumps when Dennis Johnson vanished in 1966.
With, Without a Trace, even a psychic was consulted.
Who claimed the boy, drowned or fell in a canyon though.
Nothing was ever proven Absent evidence, some will imagine
Forest Spirits or Cryptids at play these theories might sound
far-fetched. But on a moonless night camped
out in Yellowstone's Backcountry one might start to wonder if
there's something watching from the dark.
Human dangers. Could any of these missing
people have encountered, dangerous humans.
While exceedingly rare in National Parks, it's not
impossible. The Dan Campbell case raised
that suspicion with antler poachers possibly involved.
No evidence materialized but it reminds us that even in Eden
humans can pose threats Yellowstone's vastness could
conceal a crime more easily than an urban area.
However, every official we heard from stressed that murder or
Foul Play in these cases is unlikely or unsupported by
facts. Hearing from the families, Luke
sandberg's Aunt accepting, he's gone the crumble family
grappling with Kim's. Fate, Austin, King's, father,
pushing on in hope we are reminded that these are not just
spooky stories. They are real people's lives.
For each missing person, a family, Waits and worries often
in agony for years. True Crime often highlights the
pursuit of justice but in these Wilderness cases there is often
no perpetrator to hold accountable.
No clear ending just the ambiguous loss.
That lingering uncertainty is its own, kind of horror a
psychological one. Yellowstone.
The world's first national park is a place of Wonder, but hidden
in its Wonder are Tales of warning, the mountains rivers
and geysers that Inspire. Awe can also instill Terror as
we've seen in the Untamed wild humans are vulnerable a wrong
step, a sudden storm or a moment's bad decision, can make
the difference between an epic Story of Survival and a mystery
that endures forever. Finally, we acknowledge the
resiliency of those who continue searching.
Park Rangers and volunteers risk, their own safety and
dangerous conditions to bring closure.
Family members become Advocates keeping memories alive.
These Yellowstone, disappearances, both solved and
unsolved, remind us that despite our smartphones satellites and
science. There are edges of the map where
the unknown still rains. The next time you visit a
national park, take in its beauty but also heated
dangerous. Stay on the trail tell someone
where you're going and respect the power of nature, because if
you don't, the Wilderness might just keep you.
Yosemite National Park. Nearly 1,200 square miles of
towering. Granite walls, ancient Sequoias
and deep valleys. It's a place of unmatched
Beauty. Where Nature's Grandeur can
Inspire. Awe, and fear.
With over 750 miles of trails, winding through remote
Wilderness, Yosemite is a hiker's paradise that can
quickly turn into a search and rescue nightmare when someone
goes missing. Through The Years, dozens have
vanished Without a Trace in this vast Park leaving behind only
questions and enduring Legends. Tonight, we delve into some of
yosemite's most haunting missing person cases, real stories,
blending, True Crime investigation, with the Eerie
unknown, where fact, meets folklore amid.
The Whispering Pines, Our Journey Begins on a summer
afternoon, in 1981 high, in the Yosemite backcountry.
The Vanishing of Stacey Ann arras 1981. 14 year old.
Stacey Ann arras was on the trip of a lifetime.
On July 17th 1981. She and her father had ridden
mules with a group of campers to the remote Sunrise, High Sierra
Camp, nearly 9,400 feet above sea level.
After hours on the trail, the group arrived and settled in
among the Alpine, Meadows and shimmering Lakes.
Eager to explore. Stacey told her dad.
She wanted to stretch her legs with a short hike and takes some
photos. She grabbed her camera and at
her father's insistence swapped her sandals for sturdy hiking
boots. An older gentleman from their
group. 77 year old Gerald, Stuart agreed to walk with her
at first. The two set off from Camp toward
the nearby Sunrise Lakes. Only a few hundred yards away
over a slight Ridge. Not far from Camp, Gerald grew
tired, and sat down to rest on a boulder, telling Stacey to go on
ahead and come back soon. Stacey promised she'd return in
just a few minutes and can continue down the gentle Trail
toward the closest lake Cameron and hand.
A tour guide at the camp. Saw her silhouette in the
distance. A teenage girl in a white
windbreaker and maroon striped shorts.
Walking along the Lakeside Trail.
That guides casual Glimpse would become chillingly significant
because Stacey arras was never seen again.
When Gerald finished resting and returned to Camp without Stacy,
the others grew concerned. She had only gone to take a few
pictures, where could she be? Camp members hiked out to search
calling her name into the still evening air.
They found no sign of Stacey it except for one Erie.
Clue. The cap of her camera, lens
lying on the trail, leading to the lake.
It was as if she had vanished mid-stride leaving.
Only that small piece of plastic behind over the next nine days,
yosemite's largest search and rescue operation to that date
unfolded. Hundreds of volunteers and
Rangers scoured, the rugged, terrain around Sunrise Lake's.
Helicopters buzzed overhead for more than 40 hours of flight
time. Search dogs sniffed the dry,
Dusty ground and even scuba divers.
Probed the cold lake waters yet. Nothing was found not a shred of
clothing, not a footprint, not a body. as Yosemite
superintendent, Robert Benoist told reporters at the end of the
exhaustive, search Stacy just seems to have disappeared
Another Park official admitted that Foul Play had not been
ruled out and unsettling acknowledgment, in the pristine
Wilderness. Benoits, Yosemite
superintendent, 1981. She just seems to have
disappeared. The mystery of Stacey, eris's
disappearance has only deepened with time.
Investigators noted, she had been having some family or
School troubles. And missing her boyfriend before
the trip leading some to wonder if she might have run away
intentionally. But Parks woman Linda Abbott was
skeptical pointing out. Stacy's last conversation with
her. Father, was about switching from
flip-flops to boots. If she had planned on walking
off, she wouldn't have gone off. And thongs Abbott said, Stacy
left with no supplies and only intended a short stroll.
It seems unlikely, she intended to vanish on purpose, especially
not into extremely rugged terrain.
Could she have gotten lost or injured?
Possibly the High Sierra camps. Sits a Midas of granite slabs,
forests and Alpine. Lakes at 9,000 feet elevation a
fall into a hidden crevice or beneath dense.
Brush could conceal someone One Searcher, noted there are
countless spots where a body could slip in or hide in that
area. If Stacey was hurt, she might
have crawled under a rocky ledge or into a hollow log to escape
the frigid, 40 degrees, Fahrenheit night, making her
even harder to find. Despite these theories search
dogs never picked up her scent, perhaps due to dry conditions
and lack of wind to carry the smell. it's as if the Wilderness
itself swallowed her whole Rumors and speculation have
swirled around the Stacey arras case for decades.
With no body ever found. Some can't help.
But Wonder did something or someone take her.
In the years, after this case, became one of the most talked
about in National Park Mysteries.
Internet forums and authors latched onto the puzzling
details. A former police investigator
known for the Missing 411 books. Often cites Stacy's
disappearance as a prime example of an inexplicable Wilderness,
Vanishing Fueling the entry, the National Park Service initially
refused to release the full case file on Stacy, reportedly over
2000 pages of reports and interviews.
The NPS only released a handful of photos and basic info, citing
privacy, and ongoing investigation concerns.
To sum this, secrecy hinted that there might be more to the
story. Was their evidence of a crime.
A sighting that was kept quiet or simply bureaucratic caution.
We don't know. And that vacuum of information
has been filled by theories. Everything from a hidden, serial
predator in the park to Sasquatch and Supernatural
forces has been suggested by armchair Detectives.
For Stacey's family. However, these speculations mean
little compared to the painful reality that she never came
home. Over 40 years later, her
disappearance remains unsolved a 14 year old girl who walked
around a corner on a sunny afternoon and stepped straight
into Legend. Yosemite with all its natural
Glory. Kept her secrets, Stacey
Harris's story would become a cautionary, tale told around
campfires. A reminder that even a short
walk in this Wilderness can end in Uncharted Darkness.
As baffling as the arrows cases, it was not an isolated incident.
The 1980s saw other inexplicable disappearances in Yosemite, each
one leaving investigators scratching their heads.
Just a few years after Stacey vanished, another young visitor
would set off on a hike and never returned. the day hiker,
who never came back, Timothy John Barnes 1988, On July 5th,
1988 Timothy John Barnes a 25 year old college graduate.
An avid Outdoorsman laced up his boots for a solo Day.
Hike, in Yosemite, High Country. It was the tail end of the
Fourth of July weekend. And Tim had told friends, he
planned a trek to the Polly Dome Lakes, a cluster of remote
Alpine ponds north of Tenaya Lake.
He headed out that morning from the Murphy Creek Trailhead
around 9:00 a.m. wearing a white T-shirt with a red f on it,
Grace sweatpants, and carrying a yellow day pack, The trail to
Polly Dome. Lakes is not a specialty long
roughly four miles one way, and by all accounts Tim was in good
health and spirits. He was last seen on the trail
that morning. And when he failed to return by
evening, the alarm was raised. Searchers combed the Tenaya Lake
area for days but Timothy Barnes had vanished Without a Trace.
There were no tracks, no clues, no calls for help.
Heard. Just like Stacey seven years
earlier. Tim seemed to have been
swallowed by the wilderness. The Polly Dome Lakes, sit in
rugged country, Granite domes thick Conifer, forest and steep
Ravines Define the landscape. One theory was that Tim might
have stepped off Trail and fallen into a hidden Fisher or
Canyon where his body could remain concealed.
There are also deceptively deep snow melt pools and Creeks, even
in summer. A slip into cold water, could
incapacitate a person quickly. Yet extensive searches turned
up. Nothing definitive.
Tim barnes's disappearance though less publicized than
eresus Disturbed, those who followed yosemite's Mysteries.
How could a strong 6-3, Young Man, simply vanished on a Day.
Hike in good weather. Friends and family were left
grasping for answers. some wondered if Tim might have
deliberately gone off grid but like many missing person cases
nothing in his background suggested, a plan to
disappearance Foul Play wasn't entirely ruled out, but there
was no evidence of robbery or struggle on the well-traveled
trail. In the end, Tim Barnes joined
the list of Unsolved Yosemite Vanishing, another name on a
growing roster of hikers who walked into the woods and never
walked out. From The High Sierra camps to
the shores of Tenaya Lake. The 1980s in Yosemite left, two
families with agonizing questions.
Unfortunately, the decades to come would bring even more cases
of the mountains, keeping their own.
Next, we turn to a case that unfolded in the mid-2000s
involving and experienced Backpacker in an isolated corner
of the park and what would become one of the most extensive
search operations in Yosemite history.
Lost on the hetch, hetchy trail, The Disappearance of Michael
Allen feisty 2005. June 15th, 2005 a Wednesday.
Michael Allen feisty age 51 set out for a solo.
Backpacking journey in the quieter Northwest reaches of
Yosemite Michael was known obvious.
He was an avid experienced hiker and Backpacker who relished
Solitude in nature. His plan was ambitious, but
clear, start at hetchy Reservoir, hike, passed
Rancheria Falls and up toward till mounted by Lake Vernon,
then returned via an area known as beehive Meadows.
It was a lightly traveled route, far from The Busy Yosemite
Valley, the kind of Trek Michael loved.
Carrying a backpack with camping gear and Provisions, Michael
headed into the Wilderness under Fair summer, Skies, he signed a
Wilderness permit indicating, he'd exit by June 19th, four
days later, sometime that day park officials believe, Michael
deviated from his planned path. Instead of sticking to the
Valley Trail, he turned North onto the Pacific.
Crest Trail spur toward tiltil Mountain.
Why he changed course isn't known perhaps drawn by a Scenic
Viewpoint or the call of Adventure that decision would
Place him in extremely rugged, hazardous terrain, few hikers
Venture into Michael never returned on June 19th as
scheduled By June 21st, when his Wilderness permit had been
expired for two days, his family grew alarmed and notified Park
authorities. A large search and rescue
mission was launched in the Hatchy Back Country.
Not long after Searchers found a critical clue.
Michaels backpack discovered on a steep slope near till
Mountain, just off the trail. This was not on his original
route. It was well north of where he
intended to be an immediately. Raise red flags.
The pack was intact with most of his gear except a few items, a
water bottle, a camera and a topographical map were missing
it appeared. Michael had set his heavy pack
down, perhaps to take a lighter Excursion to Snap photos or
Scout ahead. Carrying water mapping camera
and then something went terribly wrong.
Friends of Michael later noted, he was unlikely to leave his
pack behind and wander far. It was very out of character.
The fact that he did suggested an emergency or an unplanned
detour search teams focused on the area around the pack.
What they faced was daunting sheer Granite walls, dense
vegetation and treacherous drop-offs in every direction.
This part of Yosemite is not forgiving one wrong step could
send a hike or tumbling into a ravine hidden from View.
Despite the challenges Yosemite authorities through everything,
they had into the search. Over the following week.
Search and rescue crews, K-9 units, helicopters and ground
teams combed the till Mountain Area.
The effort became one of the costliest searches in yosemite's
history. The parks spent an estimated
452,000 dollars looking for Michael Fishery.
In fact that year, you'll Yosemite accounted for one
quarter of all Sr. Expenses Nationwide largely due
to the fissure research, Yet despite this massive operation.
No trace of Michael himself was found the search was stymied by
the rugged landscape. As one report later, summarized
it was as if Michael had vanished with only his backpack,
recovered. Despite a search operation that
cost half a million, the most expensive ever undertaken in
yosemite's history. No remains have ever been found
in the absence of answers theories emerged.
The most likely scenario investigators believe is that
Michael suffered a fatal accident in that hazardous
terrain. Perhaps he climbed somewhere to
snap a photograph or get a better View.
His camera was with him and he slipped on loose Rock.
A fall in that region could send a person into a crevice or under
thick brush, where they might be nearly impossible to spot from
the are, there are all so black bears and even mountain lions in
Yosemite but no evidence pointed to an animal attack and such
remains likely, would have been found Whether wasn't a major
factor, it was early summer and storms, were not reported at
that time but cold nights and exhaustion could have taken
their toll if he was injured. Michael's family, including
siblings who spoke out afterwards, largely accepted
that he probably had a mishap. One of his brothers later wrote,
I firmly believe he was not adequately prepared for his
hike. Please, if only for the sake of
those waiting, for you at home, do not attempt even a Day hike
without being adequately prepared.
A poignant reminder from someone who knew the pain of losing a
loved one to the wilderness. To this day, Michael Fisheries
body has never been located. His name endures on yosemite's
list of the missing a case classified as lost or injured
missing. Yosemite search coordinator.
Matt Stark reflected on the case in one interview saying they had
scoured likely areas multiple times and we just don't know.
It's like he went into another dimension out there, a quote
illustrating how baffling it was even to veteran Rangers though.
In truth, the explanation is probably terrestrial.
The Feisty disappearance underscores a sobering reality.
Even expert hikers can disappear in yosemite's vast Back Country.
The parks Beauty demands respect a single misstep or moment of
bad luck out there. Can mean a person is gone
forever hidden by the very scenery that draws us in.
By the mid-2000s yosemite's unresolved cases included,
veterans and newcomers alike. Teenage campers solo adventurers
day Trippers. Each disappearance was a story
cut off too soon. In the next case, the setting
shifts to a popular trail near Yosemite Valley where an
ordinary group outing turned into an enduring enigma A hike
to Upper Yosemite Falls. The George penca mystery 2011.
June 17th. 2011. George Penta a 30 year old
husband, and father, from Hawthorne, California, joined a
church group Excursion to Yosemite.
George wasn't a seasoned hiker, but he was excited to experience
the Park's Majesty with about 20 fellow church members.
That afternoon the group tackled the upper Yosemite fall Trail, a
steep path, that climbs to the top of North America's tallest
waterfall. It's a challenging hike, but a
well-traveled one. A stone StairMaster with
breathtaking views, Witnesses, say George was struggling with
the climb as they neared. The top of the trail.
He wasn't feeling well around 3 pm, George decided to turn back
early rather than continue to the very top of the falls.
He told his companions, he'd meet them back at the trailhead.
The group split with most pressing on, while George began
to sending Solo in the broad daylight of late afternoon.
At some point on his way down, Georgia apparently took a wrong
turn possibly onto an unofficial side path.
When the rest of the church group finished, the hike in
reached the bottom George was nowhere to be found.
Theresa, Mundo Georgia's cousin from what I understand, he took
the wrong trail back. They all thought they were going
to meet up with him. That's when they reported him
missing. A massive search.
Ensued around Yosemite Falls and the surrounding areas once Park
Rangers were alerted that evening.
The search teams were perplexed. The upper Yosemite fall Trail is
well-defined and popular, especially on a summer day.
If George had simply turned around, he should have passed
numerous other hikers. But there were no confirmed
sightings of him after he separated from his group.
Over the next several days, Rescuers scoured, the trail
nearby Ravine, and even the base of the waterfall in Georgia's
family, rushed to Yosemite to assist.
And to wait any news As the days passed with no sign of him,
their concern and Desperation grew.
I am very nervous. He's not experienced in hiking.
His cousin. Teresa said, at the time voice
shaking, there are mountain lions out there is he sleeping?
Okay? Is he dehydrated, is he
starving? Everything is going through my
mind. In Deed the hazards in that area
are real Beyond Wildlife. There are countless sheer, drop
offs near the Falls. A slip could send a person
plummeting, hundreds of feet. Additionally, even in June, the
granite can be slick and spots from mist.
Did George Venture near the waterfalls Edge for a view and
stumble or did disorientation lead him off Trail into one of
the Steep Creek. Drainages, Theresa Mundo, there
are mountain lions out, there is he dehydrated is he starving.
Everything is going through my mind.
Despite exhaustive efforts George Pinta was, never found.
not that summer not in the many searches and Even Cold Case
investigations since he simply vanished on a sunny day on a
busy Trail. A trail thousands of people hike
every year without incident. Yosemite's Deputy Chief of
operations said that it was as if George stepped off the trail
and into a different world. His disappearance, coming after
he willingly separated from the group, is a stark reminder.
Staying with companions can be a lifesaver in Wilderness areas.
Had someone been with him? Perhaps the outcome would be
different. Georgia's case also highlights
how easy it is to get disoriented one wrong, turn on a
Switchback especially if you're feeling unwell or hurrying and
you might end up in an area where each Direction looks the
same among the rocks and trees. To this day visitors standing.
Atop Yosemite Falls, hearing the Roaring water and feeling the
dizzying height. Sometimes.
Ask a ranger about the story of a man who disappeared here.
The Rangers might mention George's name, and caution
hikers, not to stray from marked paths.
George pencas family has no closure only the memory of a
joyful trip to the mountains that ended in unending,
uncertainty. His mother who was waiting at
home. Never saw her son again.
His church Community was devastated.
The Investigative Services branch of the National Park
Service. Still considers his case open
and his profile remains on their cold cases page like others,
George's, missing presumed dead. But without evidence, the
mountain keeps its secret. The Mysteries continued into the
2010s and Beyond, older, hikers. Solo Backpackers International
visitors. Yosemite's missing, span all
ages and walks of life. In some cases, Clues eventually,
surface years later offering partial answers in others,
bizarre twists, deep in the mystery.
Our next story, involves a visitor from overseas, who
vanished, and another case of a backpack, found long, after the
hiker disappeared, In August 2000 Ruth, Ann Rupert a 49 year,
old experienced, Backpacker planned a multi-day trip in
yosemite's High Country. She reportedly postponed her
start by a day due to an infection and was last seen
around Curry Village and the Yosemite Medical Clinic on
August 14th 2000. Witnesses thought, Ruth Ann
might have decided on a shorter Day hike possibly from Yosemite
Valley up. The Yosemite Falls Trail towards
the area of Foresta. When she didn't return an
intensive, search began. Again, nothing was found at the
time. Years passed.
Then in 2008 8 years later, Hike's deep in the back country,
near a remote stream called fireplace Creek.
Stumbled upon an old weathered backpack.
Park officials later confirmed at belong, to Ruth Ann.
The pack was found far off any main trail on a route that could
lead from Yosemite Falls toward Foresta.
But of Ruth Ann herself. No Trace was ever recovered.
Her fate remains unknown. Did she succumb to injury or
exposure after losing her way? The discovery of her pack after.
So long was a poignant reminder, that the Wilderness can guard
its mysteries for years, only offering tiny pieces of the
puzzle over time. Going back further.
There's the case of Deacon Canadian.
A 20 year old medical student. From Cambridge University
visiting Yosemite in the summer of 1972, On July 24th. 1972
Deacon was staying in Curry Village when he asked to Park
employee for directions to Half Dome.
He set out, presumably to hike, the famous Granite monolith.
A strenuous all-day hike. He never returned despite
searches, the young Englishman was never seen again.
His disappearance. Now, over 50 years old is barely
remembered except in park archives.
Was he not adequately prepared and fell victim to the elements.
Did he encounter a stranger with ill intent on the trail?
There were no clues to say his Pentax 35mm.
Camera was noted in reports as something he carried.
Perhaps, like, Stacey Eris, he had been hoping to capture
yosemite's Beauty on film, instead, he became part of its
lore. by the 2020s Yosemite had accumulated, a long list of
Unsolved missing persons, from the earliest, recorded case of a
man named Shepherd who vanished near Glacier Point in 1909 to
the recent cases we've discussed The National Park Service
maintains a Cold Case roster and Yosemite features prominently as
one journalist put it. Sadly, thomasin is not the only
person who has disappeared Without a Trace in the massive
Park. Now, we turn to one of the most
recent and peculiar disappearances, a case that
blurs, the line between survival ordeal and Twilight Zone
mystery. This one involves a solo camper
in 2020, a series of strange, sightings in even Whispers of
the Paranormal. Ghosts in the wilderness, The
Strange Case of Sandra johnsen Hughes 2020.
The summer of 2020 was unlike any other the world was in the
midst of a pandemic and people sought solace in nature.
Sandra johnsen Hughes age, 54 was one such soul.
An experienced Outdoors woman who had recently moved from
Hawaii. Back to California.
Sandra embarked on a solo camping trip.
In late, June, 2020. She headed into the Sierra
National Forest, just on Yosemite, Southern Fringe near
an area called Johnson Meadows. Those who knew her said she was
a skilled survivalist. Someone comfortable alone in the
wilderness. She had even studied to be a
park ranger in her younger days. This was supposed to be a
peaceful Retreat into nature but it would turn into one of the
most bewildering Mysteries. The region has ever seen Sandra
last made contact with her family on June 26th 2020 letting
them know roughly where she was camping.
Not long. After things, took a bizarre
turn on July 1st, other campers in the Johnson.
Meadows area came across a scene that set off alarm Bells and
abandoned campsite disheveled and strewn with gear.
Belongings were scattered about as if someone had left in a
hurry or an animal had rifled through.
Among the items were personal documents, a folder.
Containing, a birth certificate, and Social Security card.
Identification papers. You wouldn't normally leave
behind in the woods. The campers alerted.
The Madera County Sheriff. The name on the documents Sandra
johnsen Hughes. Authorities began searching
around the campsite fearing. Something had happened to
Sandra. Then on July 4th 2020, a break
or perhaps another mystery. On a dirt road, not far from the
camp Searchers found Sandra's, silver Saab, 9, 5 car crashed
into a tree down a ravine. It looked like the car had
rolled at low speed into a creek bed, after hitting the tree.
But there was no sign of Sandra at the crash site at least not
anymore as investigators soon. Learned Witnesses had seen
Sandra shortly after the crash other campers driving the remote
roads on July 4th in countered. A Barefoot woman with a bruise
on her face walking away from a minor car accident.
It was Sandra. They offered to help but she
refused to assistance saying she was fine.
She even lingered around the area of her rekt car for a bit
seemingly and no distress before walking off into the forest with
her camping gear. Sheriff.
Tyson Pogue, Madera County. After she had crashed the car.
There were people there that witnessed it offered to help.
She declined help. So, all indicators are that she
didn't want to be found or helped.
Those were the last confirmed sightings of Sandra Hughes a
bruised barfoot camper strangely rejecting help and Vanishing
into the woods on Independence Day.
Sheriff Tyson Pogue leading the search later remarked in
perplexity. That after that point she
seemingly just kind of disappeared.
Rescuers were left with puzzling fragments a ransacked campsite a
crashed car. And a woman who walked away on
her own accord, the search intensified Given Sandra's
experience in the outdoors, some hoped, she might be deliberately
laying low or trying to self-rescue.
But days turned to weeks with no contact a bloodhound team
attempted to track her scent from the crash site unclear
results. Then over a month later, a
startling possible sighting, August 9th, 2020 to Hunters
reported seeing a woman leaning against a tree near an isolated
Road in that same area near Portuguese.
Overlook she matched, Sandra's description, but looked thinner
and Crucially, the woman didn't cry out or approach the hunters.
She simply Slipped Away into the woods almost like an apparition.
By the time they realized, she might be the missing.
Camper and alerted authorities. There was no Trace Back Country
searched teams kept at it through July in August scouring,
ridges and creek beds. Finding only one tangible.
Clue be on the car. Sandra sleeping bag.
Discovered about 2.5 miles inside yosemite's boundary north
of where her car crashed. How did it get?
There was Sandra moving northward deeper into Wilderness
shedding equipment. It raised more questions.
As if the case, weren't Eerie enough, a layer of Legends soon.
Crept in The Creek Fire erupted in September 2020, burning
through parts of the search area and complicating efforts.
By 2021 with no leads. The case was cold.
That's when an unusual tip came in the gorba family from a
nearby Town reported that their young son had been playing in
the woods. Not far from where Sandra
vanished when he claimed to have spoken with a nice lady in the
meadow who was dead. The child innocently described
talking to a ghostly woman, who resembled Sandra?
He said she was a dead Woman in a Black Dress who needed help,
but then vanished The story was chilling.
A child with no knowledge of the case.
Seemingly describing a spirit, local law enforcement to their
credit, didn't dismiss it outright.
Sheriff poll, even personally went out with the family to the
spot to investigate, this ghost sighting determined to leave.
No stone unturned news report. The gorba family, of course,
gold told Fox 26 News, their son, talked, with a ghost
described as a dead woman in a meadow not far from where he was
disappeared. Nothing came of the ghost search
but the tale only cemented Sandra hughes's.
Disappearance as modern folklore.
On social media and podcasts people speculated wildly.
Did Sandra purposefully disappear to start a new life
Off the Grid unlikely. She had close family ties and no
known reason to vanish. Did she suffer a head injury in
the car wreck that left her confused causing her to shun
help and wander until she perished?
This is a strong possibility, according to authorities, given
her odd behavior. Or as some internet sleuths
Wonder did something or someone chase her out of that.
Campsite leading to the crash and her fearful Retreat into the
wild, the disarray of our camp, possibly caused by animals or
panic and her apparent wish, not to be found hints at a mine, not
an a normal State, whether from injury or trauma, Three years
later in 2023. Sheriff Pogue remarked.
That Sandra's case, remains one of only two unsolved missing
persons on file in his County. And it haunts them.
One of the hardest things with this case is just really the
lack of Clues. Beyond that she seemingly just
kind of disappeared. He said the landscape itself
changed after her disappearance. The creek fires aftermath and
heavy snows have altered landmarks, forcing Searchers to
almost have to research areas since everything looks
different. Now yet, they haven't given up.
I think all of us, hold out. Hope that maybe somehow she's a
live out their Pogue admitted. I don't think the evidence
supports that. It's been a long time.
The Hope For answers indoors even as logic suggests, a tragic
end. Sheriff Pogue.
We don't know what her mind frame was.
We found a campsite a sleeping bag, but beyond that she
seemingly just kind of disappeared.
The Disappearance of Sandra. Johnsen Hughes is a cocktail of
fact. And The Unexplained, a real
woman with real survival skills, vanished That's the fact.
The rest, the sightings the ghost stories are pieces.
That might never form a complete picture.
Her case shows how even in the 21st century with helicopters
GPS and cell phones, Sandra oddly had none of those on her.
She was a bit old school. A person can still step off the
map. And when that happens in
yosemite's realm, sometimes all that's left are Whispers in the
trees. Into the unknown theories,
Legends and reflections. Having heard these stories.
Stacy Eris Tim Barnes, Michael visserie, George, Penzey, Ruth,
Ann Rupert, dickran, najeon, Sandra Hughes and others.
We are left with a deep sense of wonder and unease, how can so
many people disappear in one National Park without closure.
Over 200, disappearances have been documented across US,
National Parks and Yosemite is often at the Forefront of
discussions. Due to the concentration of
baffling cases here. Let's examine the Plaza's
explanations and then the more unconventional theories that
surround these cases natural hazards.
The most straightforward answer is often that yosemite's terrain
is unforgiving. Falls from Cliffs or into
hidden. Fishers can hide victims,
effectively. some bodies may be lodged in places extremely
difficult to access or c Wildlife Scavenging can also
scatter remains for example, someone who falls and dies could
be subject to animal activity, that spreads bones making the
person effectively vanish, In many of these cases, the likely
scenario is an accident followed by exposure to the elements.
Upper Yosemite Falls Tenaya Canyon the High Sierra
Backcountry. These are not gentle places, In
fact, Tenaya Canyon not far from where Tim Barnes.
Vanished has such a bloody history of accidents, that its
nicknamed, the Bermuda Triangle of Yosemite.
According to Legend Chief Tenaya of the Ahwahnee, Chi tribe,
cursed that canyon in the 1850s vowing that bad things would
happen to those who wander their disrespectfully.
Whether One Believes curses or not it's undeniable that many
hikers have met Dyer Fates in Tenaya Canyons treacherous
terrain slipping on its Slick Granite or being caught in
sudden. Storms drowning in Nature's
concealment yosemite's, rivers and lakes can also claim lives
quietly. A number of names on yosemite's
missing list. Such as Nelson, Paisley,
Christine, Fuente's Jerome, older jazz, in 1970, were last
seen near water waiting or swimming before they vanished.
The Merced Rivers. Powerful currents have swept
people away. Sometimes bodies wash out months
later but other times they become wedged underwater or
swept into inaccessible, gorgeous, If a missing person's
body ended up in a remote River Canyon it might never be found
or not for a long time. Stacey eris's search.
For instance, noted that a lack of Summer, thunderstorms made
search dogs, less effective. But on the flip side, a sudden
storm can also erase tracks and move a body far from the point
of disappearance. Voluntary, disappearance and
mental health. Some have posited that a few of
these cases might involve people who intentionally went off the
grid, either to end their own life or start a new in the
absence of evidence. This is hard to confirm in
Stacey's case, nothing strongly indicated, she ran away.
She was a young teen without resources to survive
independently. In Sandra's case, there was
speculation about her mental state, due to Rod actions.
Maybe after her head injury, she wasn't thinking clearly or less
likely she consciously decided to live off the land in
definitely if so she has done an incredible job of aiding
detection. Rangers note that stress or
minor injuries can cause disorientation?
High altitude can all in induce confusion or altitude sickness.
One Reddit account, discussing Stacy Eris noted, the
possibility that being at 9,400 feet could have affected her
judgment or stamina criminal Foul Play While yosemite's
Wilderness seems vast and empty. It is not beyond the reach of
crime. The park has seen murder before.
The most infamous example is the case of Cary Stayner, the
Yosemite killer who in 1999 murdered Four Women in or near
the park? In February 1999 Carol's son,
her teenage daughter, Julie and their friends sylvina Palazzo
disappeared. While sightseeing near Yosemite,
their car was later, found burned and their bodies
discovered victims of stainers brutality.
That same year, a young naturalist Joey Armstrong was
killed by Stayner near her cabin, by the park. those
crime's initially looked like missing person cases until
evidence proved otherwise Could any of our unsolved
disappearances have actually been covert crime?
It's not impossible alone hike, her could be vulnerable to a
human predator in a remote area. However, there's no direct
evidence of this. In the cases, we covered.
No suspect, no hints of Foul Play like blood or signs of
struggle. Still investigators have not
ruled it out in some instances. As they said with Stacey Foul
Play has not been ruled out. A human perpetrator would have
to be careful and lucky to leave.
No Trace, but it's not outside the realm of possibility.
Now, Beyond The Logical lies the mystical.
Yosemite with its cathedral-like Grandeur has inspired myths and
legends for centuries. The native Ahwahnee.
Chi people had Rich stories about the spirits of this land,
As we confront The Unexplained, some of those old Legends
resurfaced. Spirits and curses.
We mentioned the curse of Tenaya Canyon, a reputed curse by Chief
Tenaya after his son was killed which some say brings Misfortune
to hikers. In that Canyon there's all the
legend of pohono. The spirit of the bridal veil
Falls. The all on itchy warned that an
evil wind spirit dwells in the beautiful bridal veil waterfall
which they named pohono. Meaning puffing wind According
to lore, the spirit beckons, unsuspecting people to the
Cliff's Edge with its enchanting, missed causing them
to fall to their deaths. It was said that one should
never linger too, close to the swirling base of bridal, veil in
the evening light, or you might inhale, the Spirit of Peoria and
be Bewitched into peril. Folklore like this while not
literally explanatory adds a chilling backdrop to yosemite's
real dangers. Essentially cautionary tales
wrapped in the Supernatural. Bigfoot and Cryptids.
The dense forests of the Sierra. Nevada are not exempt.
From Bigfoot, lore. Over the years, campfire,
stories and a few reported sightings have floated around of
large hairy, humanoid creatures in the Yosemite backcountry.
Could a Sasquatch. Be stalking.
The park abducting loan hikers. It sounds far-fetched and there
is 0 hard evidence. But in the realm of Internet
theories, this comes up. Proponents of this idea to
patterns, they perceive in some Missing 411 cases.
People Vanishing from right under other's noses or searched
dogs behaving. Oddly as if scared or unable to
track ascend, They Muse that a stealthy Forest creature could
be involved. There is no official support for
this theory, of course, but it contributes to Yosemite spooky
reputation. Paranormal and portals others
wonder if there's something even more other worldly.
Perhaps portals to another dimension hidden in yosemite's
electromagnetic Cliffs. Or UFO activity in these remote
mountains. If that sounds like the plot of
a science fiction movie, it basically is but it underscores
how inexplicable some of these disappearances feel when Michael
Fisheries brother said it's like Michael stepped into another
dimension. He meant it metaphorically. yet
a fringe of enthusiasts, take it, literally questioning if
certain places on Earth have vortexes where people can slip
through the cracks of reality, Again, no evidence.
But the very absence of evidence in these cases is what breeds
such speculation. It's important to distinguish.
Clearly between fact and fantasy in our stories tonight.
We presented confirmed details. What Witnesses saw?
What Searchers found or didn't find what officials have said on
record. The quote, from Rangers
Sheriff's and family members are very real expressions of
confusion and heartache. The supernatural elements and
conspiracy theories. We've touched on are not proven
or endorsed by the authorities. They live mostly in Whispers,
And on the internet serving to add an eerie Aura to the parks
Mysteries. As fascinating as they are.
It's critical to remember that at the core of each case is a
real human being who went missing.
And for their loved ones, questions of Bigfoot or curses
are usually far from their mind. They want answers, that can be
acted upon, they want remains found.
They want closure. So what is it about?
Yosemite that gives these disappearances such resonance,
perhaps it's the parks dual nature, breathtaking Beauty and
utter wildness coexisting. One moment, you're standing on a
Vista feeling on top of the world.
The next you could be lost in a maze of trees where every
direction looks the same. The scale of the landscape is
humbling. As search and rescue veterans
often say, nature is in charge, not us.
Yosemite's Granite walls have seen.
Countless Generations passed through from Native American
tribes to Pioneer explorers to today's tourists snapping
selfies at Glacier Point. Most visitors leave with nothing
but great memories, but a tiny on Lucky fraction and counter
that unpredictable edge of nature, a slip, a sudden
illness, an unseen danger. And they don't come back in an
interview, a Yosemite Ranger once reflected on a missing case
saying the mountain doesn't care, how prepared you are.
It's a blunt truth, even those who did everything right can
have bad luck and sometimes even the most exhaustive searches
fail, simply because the Wilderness is vast, and humans
are small. For the families and friends of
the missing Yosemite is now a place of Heartache as well as
Beauty. Many of them still visit or
participate in Memorial hikes, keeping the flame of Hope alive.
For example, Joel Thomas's family.
Joel is a 31 year old army reservist who vanished on a solo
hike, out of hetchy in September, 2021, held a memorial
service for him, but still technically cannot declare him
dead for years. As one post noted though it's
unlikely. He is alive without proof of his
whereabouts. Joel is considered a missing
person. In the state of California, it
can take five years to get a death certificate for a missing
person that bureaucratic limbo shows how even legally these
cases, linger. Joel's wife and young son, Must
Go On Without answers a scenario.
Sadly familiar to too many in yosemite's long history.
Some Mysteries do eventually resolve Human remains have been
found by accident a hiker in 1976 discovered bones that
solved a decade old disappearance, for instance, or
a thawing Glacier in the High Sierra.
Might one day. Give up a secret.
There is always a chance that tomorrow someone will find a
clue. A piece of clothing, a weathered
ID card, or even a skeleton under a log.
The Park Service certainly hasn't forgotten.
Cold Case investigators, periodically.
Revisit these files and The NPS even features.
Many of them on its website, hoping new information might
surface. As of the latest update, at
least 13, people are still listed as missing and presumed
dead in Yosemite their cases open.
Their stories continue to Captivate and caution in equal
measure. Yosemite National Park is a
place of Wonder cascading waterfalls, Granite Cathedrals,
and starlets Skies, but it's also a realm of Untamed nature
where Mysteries abide. The stories we've shared tonight
of people who stepped into yosemite's Grand landscape and
never returned. Remind us that there are corners
of this world where humans do not have all the answers as you
pack your gear for your own Adventures.
Take these lessons to heart. Be prepared, tell someone your
plans respect the land and its power and when you walk among
yosemite's ancient forests and cliffs, remember those who
walked here before and never left Their Spirits memories and
unanswered questions live on in the hush of the Pines and the
Roar of the falls. Thank you for joining us in this
journey, through yosemite's Mysteries.
Stay safe. Stay curious.
And until next time, good night. In the dead of night or the
light of day, people can vanish Without a Trace.
And sometimes What's Left Behind is more disturbing Than The
Disappearance itself. From frantic last words on a
phone line to cryptic messages. Scrawled on billboards, the
world's creepiest unsolved disappearances are riddled with
bizarre clues that only deep in the mystery.
These are not just ordinary missing persons cases.
Each is a chilling tale with details so strange and
unexplainable that they sound like the plot of a horror novel.
we will delve into 11, such cases, stories of individuals
who stepped out of the ordinary and straight into the unknown.
As we journey through each disappearance, pay attention to
the Eerie evidence, and unanswered questions that
connect them. One case features a terrified
traveler sprinting out of an airport.
Claiming people wanted to kill him.
Another a young man whose final exclamation on a cell phone call
is followed by silence. You'll hear about an abandoned
car, containing a live puppy, and a lipstick smeared message.
A mysteriously wiped computer that hides, its owner's secrets
and an ominous phone call from a missing child, pleading for
help. Each story unfolds with its own
unsettling, twists, unexplained, sightings odd, personal items
left behind in inexplicable places and hints of dark
conspiracies lurking in the background.
Prepare yourself for a long haunting exploration of these
Mysteries. The tone is for boating, the
details are perplexing and the truth is maddeningly.
Elusive This journey will take us from deserted highways and
college campuses to cruise ships and quiet suburban homes.
Each stop offering a glimpse into a nightmare that remains
unresolved. These creepy enigmatic
disappearances will send a chill down your spine and leave you
questioning how such things can happen in our world.
Now dim the lights, if you dare, and let's step into the shadows
of these unsolved cases. Beginning with the inexplicable,
Vanishing of a young man named Lars Mateo.
Lars Metang the tourist, who vanished Into Thin Air?
It was supposed to be an enjoyable summer, Getaway on the
Black Sea Coast. But for 28 year old Lars matang.
A German tourist in Bulgaria, the trip turned into a nightmare
that defies explanation in July 2014, Lars was vacationing with
friends at the popular Golden Sands resort near Varna.
The week had been full of typical holiday fun beach
outings. Nightlife laughter.
But in the final days of the trip, something went very wrong.
Lars got into a minor altercation at a bar over a
football. Soccer dispute.
He was a fan of SV, werder, Bremen, and exchanged.
Heated words with some rival fans.
Later that night, he vanished from his friends only to
resurface the next morning with an unsettling story.
He claimed he'd been attacked by a group of locals hired by the
men from the bar. He said, he'd been beaten
suffering, a possible, fractured jaw, and erupted eardrum.
Because of the Year injury, a resort doctor advised him not to
fly immediately. Lars insisted his friends.
Go home without him as scheduled promising.
He would be fine alone for a couple more days until he could
safely fly left on his own. In a foreign country Lars began
to behave strangely, he checked into a cheap hotel in Varna to
wait for his ear to heal, but that night, he became extremely
paranoid. He called his mother in Germany
in a hushed, urgent tone and whispered that people were
trying to kill him, begging her to cancel his credit cards.
On the hotel. Security cameras.
Lars can be seen pacing, the Halls nervously peering out.
Windows and hiding in an elevator as if evading someone
unseen. Around 1 a.m. he abruptly left
the hotel without his belongings.
Only to return an hour later. Still agitated.
By dawn on July 8th, Lars was determined to catch a flight
home. He texted his mother that he was
headed to the airport. At Varna airport.
Lars visited, the airport medical office to have his ear
checked one. Last time, he was acting anxious
and erratic The doctor Kosta kostov later, recalled that Lars
seemed nervous and paranoid. As the exam was underway.
A construction worker entered the room.
The airport was undergoing, Renovations.
And something in, Lars snapped his face filled with Terror.
I don't want to die here. I have to get out of here.
He suddenly shouted before bolting out of the doctors
offices. Without any warning Lars
sprinted out of the terminal, abandoning his luggage, passport
wallet and phone, airports security cameras.
Captured him in his yellow t-shirt darting past bewildered
Travelers. The footage shows Lars running
at full speed out of the building and into the parking
area. Then climbing a fence and
disappearing into a field of tall, grass that borders a dense
forest. In those few moments Lars
mittank a young man on his way home vanished Into Thin Air.
Despite exhaustive searches of the area, no, trace of Lars was
found beyond that chilling, CCTV video.
It's as if the forest swallowed him up his distraught mother
flew to Bulgaria to Aid the search but came up empty-handed.
Over the years. There have been numerous
reported, sightings a hitchhiker matching.
His description here a transient man, resembling him there, but
none have ever been confirmed the bizarre circumstances of
larsa's case have spawned countless theories.
Did he suffer a mental breakdown or hallucinations possibly
induced by medication or an undiagnosed condition?
Some doctors speculated that an antibiotic he'd been prescribed
Asif proesel can rarely cause psychotic side effects though it
was unclear if he even took any pills.
Or was Lars truly being followed and threatened as he believed.
If so, who were they and did they ultimately catch up to him?
Could criminals have been after him or was it?
Paranoia taking hold one Theory posits that Lars in a panic
might have fled into the woods and accidentally died from
exposure or an injury. His body somehow missed by
Searchers in the thick terrain, Bulgaria's summer.
Heat can be brutal and without his wallet or passport, he may
have succumbed to the elements Yet hope lingered for years,
that Lars might still be alive. Perhaps wandering with amnesia
or hiding out. The internet latched onto the
Erie Airport, footage, making Lars mate tanks.
Something of a legend dubbed, the most famous, missing tourist
on YouTube, due to the millions of views of his last known
moments. His case is frequently shared by
armchair detectives and True Crime, aficionados all haunted
by the sight of that. Lone figure fleeing as though
pursued by invisible demons. to this day, the fate of Lars mate,
tank remains a chilling enigma Was he truly endangered from
outside forces? Or was he running from delusions
born in his own mind? The image of Lars sprinting out
of an airport eyes. Wide with terror is a scene
straight out of a nightmare one that ends without answers.
As we leave the mysterious forests of Varna behind our
journey of unsettling, disappearances continues.
Next we head to North Carolina where another young man's fate
is entangled with a set of Clues.
So bizarre, they sound like fiction.
Zebb Quinn, the car with lipstick in a puppy.
On a winter night. In the year 2000 zebb Quinn
clocked out of his shift at a Walmart in Asheville.
North Carolina and met up with a friend for what should have been
a routine errand. The 18 year old Quinn had plans
to go check out a Mitsubishi Eclipse.
He was thinking of buying And his co-worker Robert Jason Owens
offered to come along in a separate car.
It was January 2nd, just after the New Year.
The two young men drove off in separate vehicles.
Into the chilly evening keeping in touch via their car
headlights and presumably occasional stops.
Sometime around 9:15 p.m. while on Route Zeb flashed his
headlights indicating he needed to pull over.
He told Owens that he had gotten a page.
This was 2000. When pagers were still used and
had to return a call. Zeb drove to a nearby.
Gas station to use a payphone. According to Owens, when Zeb
returned, from the phone, he seemed agitated and said he had
to cancel their plans and head home.
He supposedly sped off rear-ending, Owen's truck
Accidentally In His Rush. That was the last time.
Anyone saw zebb Quinn in person when Zeb failed to show up for
work the next day or contact his family, he was reported missing.
The story took an even stranger, turn two weeks later when his
Mazda Protege was discovered abandoned in the parking.
Lot of a local restaurant. The sight that greeted
investigators was utterly perplexing.
The cars headlights had been left on and the doors were
locked. Insight police found, zeb's,
pet, Labrador, mix puppy alive and unharmed sitting in the
vehicle. Perhaps most bizarre of all a
large drawing of Two Lips like a cartoonish lipstick kiss and two
exclamation points had been scrawled in pink lipstick on the
cars back. When Shield the odd graffiti in
the presence of the puppy which did not belong to Zeb.
It was not his dog immediately signaled that this was no
ordinary abandoned and run scenario.
It looked almost like a message or a cruel prank.
Investigators also found a hotel key card in several empty, drink
bottles in the car, but those Clues LED nowhere.
The unsettling condition of zeb's, car left family, and
detectives equal parts, baffled and Disturbed.
Why would someone leave a live puppy in a missing man's vehicle
and scribble lipstick markings on the glass.
Some wondered if it was a calling card from an abductor or
killer meant to taunt, the police.
Others thought it could be an elaborate hoax to mislead
investigators. Suspicion naturally, turned
toward Robert Jason Owens. The last person to see Zeb
alive, Owens told police about the page that Zeb supposedly
received and his abrupt departure.
Interestingly phone records later, showed that Owen's
himself, had placed a call to zeb's pager around the time they
stopped at the gas station. Owens claimed.
This was at zeb's request to test the pager, but it added a
whiff of premeditation to the story. furthermore, the day
after Zeb vanished Owens was treated for a head injury and
broken ribs, which he said were from a second car accident, he
got into But no report of such an accident was filed.
Over time, these inconsistencies painted Owens as a person of
interest. Years went by with no sign of
Zeb Quinn's whereabouts. His disappearance became one of
Asheville's most infamous cold cases.
Rumors swirled. Some people whispered that Zeb
had been in a secret relationship and this might have
been a crime of passion. Others suspected a drug deal,
gone wrong, or a kidnapping. peculiar clue of the lipstick
kiss had amateur, sleuths crafting theories about jealous
lovers or Psychopathic Pranksters Through it all zeb's,
mother never gave up seeking answers.
A breakthrough or at least a shocking development.
Finally came 17 years later. In 2017 Robert Jason Owens was
indicted for Zeb, Quinn's murder.
Owen's, it turns out had gotten into other trouble with the law.
He was convicted for an unrelated, double homicide of a
couple in 2015. Facing charges.
Owen struck, a plea deal in zeb's case in 2022 admitting to
being an accessory after the fact According to what emerged
in court Owen's, alleged that Zeb had been killed as part of a
murder For Hire plot. The story Owens told was that a
third person, the jealous boyfriend of a woman whom Zeb
had a flirtation with had ordered.
His uncle to kill Zeb and Owens had only helped dispose of the
body. If this account is true, it's a
twisted tale involving a love triangle in a contracted hit,
which would make the bizarre scene with the car and puppy and
even more perplexing. PostScript Was the car staged to
throw off investigators perhaps by Owens or others involved?
Or were those details? The puppy the lipstick, an
unrelated red herring introduced by someone who found the car to
this day zeb's body has never been found and many in his
communities. Still wonder, which parts of
Owen's story are true. Officially the case is
considered solved with Owen's conviction as an accessory, but
without a body and with so many odd on answered questions, it
feels far from resolved in the Public's mind.
The image of that lonely Mazda with its headlights, eerily
aglow a sad puppy waiting inside and a mysterious lipstick,
message on the window, remains seared into the memory of all
who followed the case, It's a scene as haunting as any horror
movie only this one was real. As we leave the puzzle of zebb
Quinn behind, we moved to another baffling, disappearance.
Next, we'll drive down a dark Rural Road in Minnesota, where a
young man's frantic phone call to his parents, became the last
trace of him. Brandon Swanson The Vanishing
after the oh shit call. Not long after high school
graduation in Spring 2008, Brandon Swanson of Marshall
Minnesota was enjoying a night out with friends, to celebrate
the end of the College semester, the 19 year old had attended a
couple of small Gatherings on May 13th 2008 and into the early
hours of May 14th, he decided to head home.
Passed midnight. Brandon drove his Chevy Lumina,
down the rural back roads that cut through endless fields.
It was dark and remote Southwestern Minnesota, is
Farmland as far as the eye. Can see with occasional small
towns, dotting the map, Sometime after 1:38, a.m.
Brandon missed a turn and his car, jolted into a ditch.
He wasn't hurt. But the car was stuck frustrated
and stranded in the middle of nowhere.
Brandon grabbed his cell phone and called his parents for help.
Brandon told his mother and father, Annette and Brian
Swanson that he believed, he was near the town of Linn, a short
drive from their home. They agreed to come pick him up.
So Brandon stayed on the line and tried to guide them by
flashing his cars headlights. Out on those Country Roads.
However, it was pitch-black his parents drove around, trying to
find him, but neither they nor Brandon could spot each other's
lights in the distance. The situation, grew more
frustrating As Time passed. Cell reception was spotty
causing some dropped calls but Brandon always called back and
reconnected. Determined to find a
recognizable Landmark Brandon decided to leave his car and
walked toward lights. He could see what he thought was
the town of lined. He kept talking to his father as
he walked described what he saw and trying to figure out where
he was. Brian his father drove to the
parking. Lot of a known bar and lined
where they plan to meet. For about 47 minutes.
Father, and Son stating contact via phone as Brandon trudged
along gravel roads in the dark early morning.
Understandably, both were a little on edge.
The rural night can play tricks on your senses and Brandon was
disoriented by the miscalculation of his location.
Then shortly after 2:30 a.m. as Brandon was speaking.
He suddenly interrupted himself, mid-sentence and exclaimed.
Oh shit. The exclamation was abrupt and
alarmed as if he had been startled or had lost his
footing. immediately after that, the line went silent at first
Brian thought, his son might have dropped the phone or that
it died, but repeated attempts to call Brandon back when
straight to voicemail Brandon Swanson was never heard from
again after that brief Cry of alarm. when morning came and
there was still no sign of Brandon, his parents reported
him missing Initial law enforcement response was
frustratingly slow. The first officer reportedly
suggested that it wasn't uncommon for young men Brandon's
age to stay out all night and that he might turn up later on
his own. But Brandon wasn't the type to
run away or ignore his parents calls.
The discovery of something crucial change.
The tone cell phone records showed that Brandon had not been
near Lind at all during that call.
In fact, his phone had pinged closer to a town called porter
about 25 miles from where he and his parents thought he was.
acting on this new information, Searchers eventually located
Brandon's abandoned Chevy nowhere near Lynn but off a
gravel road by taunting along the yellow Medicine River This
deepened, the mystery Brandon had been mistaken about his
position likely due to the flat landscape and darkness.
If he was walking toward what he thought was lend, he might
actually have been heading toward an entirely different set
of Lights. Despite massive search efforts,
including hundreds of volunteers trained dogs.
And later even search teams over multiple years.
No, trace of Brandon, has ever been found the leading theory is
that Brandon may have fallen into the yellow Medicine, River
that night Perhaps the oh shit. Was uttered as he accidentally
slipped into a creek or river bank in the dark and cold water.
The river was high that spring and could be treacherous.
However, extensive searches of the water and surrounding area
failed to find his body. Not a shoe, not his phone.
Nothing. It's as if the Earth opened up
and swallowed him after that. Anguished exclamation Some have
speculated about other possibilities.
Could Brandon have stumbled upon something or someone in those
desolate fields, for instance, fallen down an unmarked, well,
or been the victim of Foul Play. There's no evidence of a crime
but the complete lack of evidence of anything as
perplexing. Brandon's disappearance led to
changes in Minnesota law. His parents lobbied for
Brandon's law which was passed in 2009.
Requiring authorities to take missing adult cases seriously
and begin investigations promptly.
Even if the person is over 18, The Swansons who heartbreakingly
had to drive home night after night with an empty backseat,
turned their tragedy into advocacy, to help other
families, yet for them. And for those who have followed
the case and Eerie Cloud, hangs over that stretch of Rural Road.
The mental image is chilling alone, young man on a dark
night, breath visible. In the cold are walking toward
distant Lights, Under the vast Starry Sky when something unseen
causes him to gasp. Oh shit in Terror and then he is
gone. The unresolved ending to
Brandon's story continues to torment.
All who seek to understand it. As we leave this dark Minnesota
road behind our path leads next to a college campus where
another young man stepped out for a moment and never returned
and where a computer is erased data provides a Sinister hint at
what might have happened. Joshua gaman, the college party
and the erased hard drive. On a cold November night in
2002, Joshua guimond walked away from a small gathering of
friends at his college campus and into Oblivion, Joshua was a
20 year old student at Saint John's University in
Collegeville Minnesota. A quiet campus surrounded by
woodlands and lakes. On the night of November 9th,
2002. He had been at a dorm apartment
party with friends enjoying a few drinks and card games.
Sometime near midnight, Joshua stepped out of the Gathering.
Possibly to walk. Back to his own dorm a short
distance away. He left without saying anything
unusual. Maybe he intended to use the
bathroom or get some air or simply head home.
The path back to his dormitory would have only taken a few
minutes crossing a short bridge by a lake.
But Joshua never made it back. By the next day, when friends,
realized he hadn't been seen and missed a planned meeting alarm
Bells, rang the search for Joshua began combing, the campus
nearby woods and the Waters of the adjacent stump flake, but
nothing was found. The initial assumption was that
Joshua might have fallen into the lake while walking back
since a bloodhound did pick up his scent near the bridge, over
the water. yet, repeated Dives turned up, nobody As days turned
to weeks, the simple accident, Theory became less certain and
more puzzling. Clues emerged.
Joshua was dorm room had been left in a normal State.
His car still parked on campus jacket.
In his room, notably his glasses, which he wore to see
were found in his apartment. Meaning, he ventured out that
night without them, which was uncharacteristic.
There was no sign of struggle anywhere along the path.
He likely took the case was growing cold.
When months later and almost Sinister Discovery was made
regarding Joshua was computer. Someone had accessed Joshua's
personal computer after he went missing and wiped out important
data from the hard drive. Specifically investigators,
determined that files in the web browser and other pieces of data
had been erased using a disk cleaning program.
And the record showed this happened days after Joshua
disappeared at a time. When Joshua himself obviously,
wasn't there to do it. In other words, someone with
potentially something to hide had been in his dorm room.
And on his PC, this Revelation blew open the range of theories.
It suggested that perhaps Joshua hadn't simply fallen in a lake.
Maybe Foul Play was involved. Possibly by someone.
He knew on campus investigators, digging into the recovered
computer data found that Joshua had been engaging in online
chats. In the time, leading up to his
disappearance, he had been using a fake persona online posing as
a woman named Ashley to chat with men on services, like Yahoo
personals. It was speculated that Joshua,
who was known as a politically active, and straight-laced
student might have been exploring his identity or
sexuality in secret. One theory is that he arranged
to meet someone, he met online that night and encountered a
predator. Lending Credence to this
possibility. Was another odd campus incident
around the same time, frame. Students had reported seeing an
unknown man in an orange Pontiac.
Sunfire car cruising around, dropping off male passengers,
late at night. when security approached one of the men being
dropped off, the man bolted away, which seems suspicious
after Joshua vanished, that vehicle was investigated.
But the driver, didn't provide helpful information.
And the car was later destroyed, a strangely timed disappearance
of a potential lead. To complicate matters.
Joshua's disappearance happened in an era when a string of young
men in the midwest, had gone missing under mysterious
circumstances. Some linked dubiously by the
so-called smiley face killer Theory.
Joshua's case Drew comparisons to these incidents though.
Nothing. Conclusive tied them together,
another angle, Joshua was an ambitious student in the
political science club and he had been researching scandals
involving the University's personnel.
In fact, Saint John's University was embroiled in a clergy of
abuse Scandal around 2002 and Joshua.
Had openly expressed anger about it.
Some wondered if he stumbled upon information.
That put him in danger, though. Police found no hard evidence of
this. As the investigation dragged on,
Joshua's parents became increasingly frustrated with the
lack of answers. Over the years, tips would
dribble in a possible sighting here, a random idea there, but
nothing panned out. 20 years later, the case remains unsolved
but the presence of that white computer data hovers over it
like a dark cloud. Who sat down at Joshua's desk in
the days after he vanished. And what were they trying to
conceal? Perhaps it was some well-meaning
friend removing personal information but if so why not
come forward. The silence is telling Joshua's
story is a mix of college innocence and deeply disturbing
possibilities. One can imagine the once
bustling dorm Now Quiet. The glow of Joshua's computer
screen as files disappear. One by one leaving behind, only
questions, with those questions in mind, we move on to another
disappearance that of a bright young television news, anchor,
who vanished on her way to work, leaving behind a scene of
struggle and Years later a truly creepy message on a billboard.
Jody Houston Truitt the anchor woman and the cryptic billboard
in the pre-dawn hours of June 27th, 1995 in the small city of
Mason City Iowa. 27 year old Jody who's Intuit was running
late for work. Jody was a popular local TV news
anchor for the morning show at cam tea.
She lived in an apartment not far from the station.
That morning when she didn't show up on time to the studio, a
colleague called her. Jody answered the phone
apologizing and saying she'd overslept and was on her way.
But Jody never arrived at work concerned, co-workers alerted
police. When officers went to Jodi's,
apartment complex, they found a chilling scene in the parking
lot near Jodi's parked car, where her personal items
scattered as if there had been a struggle.
A hairdryer earrings. And one of her red high-heeled
shoes lay on the ground. The car key was bent still stuck
in the door. Lock of her Toyota Miata.
Suggesting someone snatched her just as she was about to get in
the car, it was immediately treated as an abduction.
Neighbors reported, possibly hearing a scream at around 4
a.m., but no one saw the attacker.
Jody's and true at vanished with a trace of her beyond the
Disturbed evidence at the scene. The Abduction of a well-known
local. Television personality sent
shockwaves through the community.
Was a familiar friendly face on TV every morning.
And now she was the center of a terrifying mystery.
Massive searches and investigations ensued police and
volunteers scoured surrounding areas, lakes and Parks.
Over time a few potential leads emerged, including a white van
seen in the area that morning and Persons of Interest.
Such as a friend, an older male acquaintance who had spent time
with Jody, socially were questioned.
But nothing concrete ever materialized.
It was as if someone had been lying and wait for her that
morning and executed a swift brutal kidnapping.
The case, grew cold, but Jodi's, family and friends, kept her
memory alive and the story periodically surfaced in the
media keeping locals wary, that a kidnapper was still at Large.
Years passed with no answers until something bizarre and
Macabre occurred in early 2020 almost 25 years after Jodi's.
Disappearance unknown individuals vandalized.
A billboard dedicated to finding Jody with a cryptic.
Message spray painted across it. The billboard which featured
Jody's photo and The Plea. Someone knows something is it?
You was defaced on New Year's. Eve, with the words, Frank
Stearns Machine Shed, emblazoned in, large yellow letters This
strange graffiti immediately grabbed attention.
Frank Stearns was the name of a now, retired, Mason City police
officer who had long worked on Jody's case and machine sheds
seemed to imply. Some kind of location was this a
clue? Aunt investigators treated at
seriously. The vandalism happened in the
middle of the night Witnesses. Later came forward saying they
saw two individuals dressed in black who quickly climbed a
ladder to spray paint the message and then vanished into
the dark. The cryptic phrase LED some to
speculate. Was someone suggesting that
evidence or Jody herself could be found in a machine shed
belonging to or connected to Frank Stearns?
Or was it accusing the former investigator of something?
The authorities publicly stated that Frank Stearns was not
considered a suspect and he himself said he had no idea what
it meant. This was not the first time
Jodi's case, had encountered strange turns in the late 2000s,
a Mason City police officer turned whistleblower claimed she
had heard that certain local authorities.
Might have been involved in Jody's abduction, implying a
cover-up. Those allegations were
investigated but never substantiated and the officer
was dismissed. The graffiti on the billboard
felt like a ghost from those rumors hinting at some hidden
truth behind Jody's fate. It reignited, public interest
and New Leads were sought. But as of today, nothing
definitive has come from the Machine Shed message.
The billboard itself was cleaned and reprinted, but the Eerie
memory of those spray painted words, lingers and true.
Its case remains one of Iowa's most haunting Unsolved
Mysteries. Here was a vibrant young woman
with a successful career snatched in her own apartment
parking lot. Likely by someone who knew her
routine. Decades later there's no body,
no crime scene Beyond scattered belongings and no answers, only
theories and Whispers. Some suspect a stalker became
obsessed with Jodie from watching her on TV.
Others think it could have been someone.
She knew who harbored a secret Grudge or infatuation.
The passage of time without answers is cruel, but her loved
ones, continue to seek closure. Occasionally fresh attention
like the billboard incident breathes, new life into the
case. Raising hopes that a guilty
conscience or a slip of the tongue, might one day on Revell
the truth. Until then the image of that
lonely red shoe by Jody's car and the Eerie graffiti calling
out from a billboard serve as reminders that this story isn't
over. It's a chilling.
Thought that somewhere out there.
Someone knows exactly what happened that June morning in
1995. As we leave Jody's case with its
Silent Scream in the night. In its cryptic, message years
later, we come to another perplexing.
Disappearance our next story takes us to Columbus Ohio where
a young man entered a bar and seemingly never came out leaving
behind one of the most baffling surveillance videos ever seen.
Brian Shaffer. The man who never left the bar.
Brian Shaffer was a 27 year old medical student at Ohio State
University and on the night of March, 31st 2006.
He decided to celebrate the start of spring break with
friends. Brian had just finished finals
and despite feeling a bit rundown from studying, he hit
the town in Columbus, Ohio. He and his friend Clint went bar
hopping that evening having a shot or two at each spot,
enjoying the live music and campus bar scene.
Around midnight. They ended up at a popular bar
in the South Campus, Gateway called The Ugly Tuna saloona.
security cameras, recorded, Brian and Clint riding an
escalator up to the bars entrance at about 1:15 a.m. on
April 1st laughing and in good spirits Inside, they met up with
some other friends at around 1:55 a.m. shortly before closing
time. CCTV footage, captured Brian in
the bars hallway, chatting with two women then waving to them as
he turned to re-enter the main bar area and then Brian vanished
off camera. When the Ugly Tuna closed
Patron's, filtered out into the night Clinton others.
Waited outside for Brian, but he never appeared.
At first, they assumed he might have left earlier, or found
another way home, but Brian Schaeffer was never seen again.
The investigation into Brian's disappearance quickly zeroed in
on the incredible puzzle posed by the surveillance tapes.
The bars entrance was under video surveillance, and Brian
was clearly seen going in. Strangely, there was no footage
of Brian ever coming out. police insecurity reviewed the tapes
framed by frame, every person who entered was accounted for
leaving except Brian It was as if he evaporated inside the bar.
The Ugly Tuna was located on the second floor of a building
accessible by one escalators and a freight elevator the ladder.
Not generally for public use There was a back exit under
construction at the time but it wasn't a normal route for
patrons. If Brian left through that
construction area he might have avoided a camera but it would
have been hazardous and convoluted yet.
No other trace of him was found in the building either.
Columbus Police were flabbergasted.
How does a grown man disappear from a crowded bar with a single
camera catching where he went Brian's family and girlfriend
were devastated. He had planned a trip to Miami
with his girlfriend that following Monday.
And in fact, she kept calling his phone in the days after
hoping he dancer in a spooky detail.
One time, the phone actually rang and pinged a cell tower
briefly, but it was later thought to be a glitch in the
system rather than a real connection.
Extensive searches were conducted in the area dumpsters
Alleyways roofs underground tunnels.
Even the sewer system in case, Brian had accidentally gotten
into a restricted area or met with Foul Play after leaving.
Nothing turned up. It was as if Brian had walked
into an invisible portal over the years.
Numerous theories, emerged, one theory.
Is that Brian? Grieving the recent death of his
mother might have decided to run off and start a new life.
However, he left behind his car, his glasses and other essential
belongings. And he was about to graduate med
school, making this seem unlikely with without at least
contacting someone eventually. Another theory posits that Brian
might have been the victim of a crime after leaving the bar.
Perhaps a robbery or attack. And that somehow, the cameras
missed him exiting or he exited in disguise.
Some speculated, he could have changed clothes or put on a hat.
The area around the bar was heavily searched though and no,
signs of a struggle were found. One focus of Suspicion was
Brian's friend, Clint the last known person with him.
Clint lawyered up and even refused a lie detector test
which raised eyebrows. Some wondered if an altercation
or prank had gone wrong, but there's no evidence implicating
Clint Beyond his refusal to be further questioned.
There was also speculation about the smiley face killer and
alleged serial killer targeting young men in the midwest but
nothing concrete ties to Brian's case beyond the profile of the
victim. As years passed Brian's.
Father, tragically died in an accident never knowing what
happened to his son. In a heartbreaking, twist.
Someone posted a message on line and remembrance of the father.
Using a nickname, that only Brian would typically use
briefly stirring, hope that Brian might still be alive
Incognito. It turned out to be a cruel
hoax. to this day, Brian Shaffers, disappearance as one
of the most famous modern Mysteries Investigators still
scratch their heads at the lack of video, evidence of him,
leaving that bar. The phrase he never left.
The bar has almost become Legend in True Crime circles.
Symbolizing an utterly confounding case.
Was Brian somehow hiding in the bar that night and then slipped
out later. Unseen.
Did he fall victim to a perfect storm of blind spots, and
security cameras and misfortune? Or did he choose to vanish on
purpose? Achieving a disappearing act
that has held up all these years?
None of the possibilities are very satisfying or easy to
believe. Brian's empty seat at the
medical school graduation and the unanswered call of his name.
Remain a somber reminded that behind this bar magic trick of a
case lies. A real family's grief.
As we Ponder, how a man could be their one moment and gone.
The next are Journey continues. We now turn to a case at Sea.
The Disappearance of a young woman from a cruise ship and the
Sinister clues that surface in the years, after she went
missing, Amy Lynn Bradley lost its Sea and the photographs from
hell. in March 1998, Amy, Lynn Bradley was on what should have
been a dream vacation, a Caribbean cruise with her
parents and younger brother, The 23 year old recent college.
Graduate from Virginia was enjoying the Sun and sea aboard.
The Royal Caribbean cruise ship wrapsody of the Seas.
They had departed from Puerto Rico and were en route to the
island of Curacao. Amy was a strong swimmer, a
former lifeguard, and an all-around vibrant young woman.
Excited for a new chapter in life.
But in the early hours of March 24th 1998 somewhere off the
coast of Curacao that dream vacation became a family's worst
nightmare the night before Amy. And her, brother had gone out to
the ships dance club. There are photographs of Amy
from that evening, showing her smiling, and having fun.
She was last seen around, 5:30 a.m. lounging on the cabin,
balcony after leaving the dance club with a member of the ship's
band. When her father checked, the
cabin at 6:00 a.m. Amy was a sleep on the balcony
but by 6:38 a.m. when he looked again, Amy was gone.
The only sign of her was her flip-flops she'd left behind.
The Bradley searched the ship frantically, alerting the crew
within an hour yet. Contrary to what one might
expect. The crew did not immediately
issue a ship-wide alert or lockdown.
The ship docked and Curacao and passengers disembarked which
deeply worried Amy's family. As they feared, she could be
taken off the ship, a massive search of the vessel and the
waters turned up. Nothing.
There was no evidence. Amy had fallen overboard and her
family insisted. She was far too good.
A swimmer for that to happen without her, making it to
safety, or her body. Being found, it began to seem
more and more like Amy had been removed from the ship against
her will. Over the months and years that
followed the Bradleys received multiple disturbingly leads.
So suggesting that Amy might have been kidnapped and sold
into human trafficking. tourist and Curacao, and August 1998
reported seeing a woman on a beach who looked like, Amy, With
the same tattoos. Being led by two men.
In 1999, a US Navy sailor visiting a brothel in Barbados
reported an encounter with a distressed woman.
Who told him her name was Amy and begged for help claiming she
was being held captive. Unfortunately, he waited until
after returning to the US to report this.
And by the time of officials checked, the brothel owner,
claimed ignorance and Noemi was found the most chilling evidence
arrived in 2005. Amy's parents were emailed an
image found on an escort service website, a photograph of a
scantily clad woman who strikingly resembled Amy In the
photo, the woman who went by the name Jazz has the same
distinctive tattoos. Amy had a Tasmanian Devil
cartoon on her shoulder, a son on her, lower back, a Chinese
symbol on her ankle. The Bradleys were convinced.
It was her this suggested, that Amy had possibly been forced
into sexual slavery. The FBI investigators pursued
these leads, but the trail was frustratingly.
Vague the idea that a young woman could be kidnapped from a
cruise ship and forced into a sorted.
Underworld is the stuff of nightmares and for Amy's family,
it has been a torturous reality to consider Over the years, they
have worked tirelessly with authorities appearing on talk
shows and even Dr. Phil to publicize.
Amy case indeed, the 2005 photo was shown on Dr. Phil shocking
viewers despite extensive investigations and even rewards
offered, Amy remains missing. Royal Caribbean initially
maintained that such an abduction was unlikely.
Suggesting, perhaps she fell overboard, but evidence
increasingly disputes that Amy's case has led to discussions
about cruise ship security and the dark networks of Caribbean
human trafficking. For those who hear Amy story,
certain images are hard to shake the thought of her alone on that
balcony. As Dawn broke perhaps approached
by someone, she thought she could trust the Eerie photo of a
woman who might be Amy Eyes heavy with sadness, forced into
unspeakable circumstances and the pain in her parents voices
as they hold on to hope that maybe just maybe she still alive
out there waiting to be rescued. Amy Lynn Bradley's disappearance
stands as one of the creepiest. Unsolved travel Mysteries.
A case that makes you think twice about the dangers lurking.
Even in Paradise. As we disembark from Amy story,
our journey isn't over. Next, we step back onto land
into the case of a troubled woman, whose disappearance Left
Behind gruesome and confounding Clues, including a, severed
finger and neatly folded clothes in a freezer.
Diana. Augusta a severed finger and
close in the freezer. April 1998, Pasco County
Florida. Diane Louise, augat, 40 years
old walked out of her sister's home and into a mystery.
That grows more, Macabre the deeper you.
Look, Diane had led a troubled life.
She suffered from bipolar disorder and had been struggling
since a recent divorce and losing custody of her children.
She lived in a group home and had a history of wandering off,
but she always returned her checked in.
On April 10th 1998, Diane left her sister's house in Hudson,
Florida and never came back. What followed were a series of
bizarre and unsettling clues that seemed straight out of a
horror film. Three days after Diane
disappeared. On April 13th, her mother's
answering machine recorded a brief frantic message.
On the playback. There was the voice of a woman
clearly believed to be Diane's voice.
Pleading help before allowed scuffle is heard and then
Diane's voice yells hey give me that as the call abruptly cuts
off. The number was traced to a motel
in Odessa Florida, but by the time police checked, the room
was vacant. Then two days later on April
15th, a chilling Discovery. A pastor by found a severed,
human finger on the side of US Route. 19 not far.
From where Diane was last seen. It turned out to be the tip of
Diane's, right? Middle finger cleanly, Cut Above
the knuckle and Witnesses reported.
Seeing a second finger at the scene though, only one was
recovered. This gruesome, find raised the
stakes dramatically. It seemed to indicate Foul, Play
an atoning element as if someone was leaving breadcrumbs.
But the strangest clue was yet to come.
On April 18th a week after Diane vanished.
The manager of a convenience store in Odessa went to check
the stores outdoor freezer inside.
She found a plastic bag filled with neatly folded women's
clothes. Shockingly the clothing was
quickly identified by Diane's family, as belonging to her.
The freezer was outside, the store accessible to anyone as if
someone had deliberately placed the bag there to be found.
Why fold the clothes so neatly and hide them in a freezer, it
was a baffling and creepy gesture.
Perhaps the person responsible was toying with investigators.
Or perhaps there was a twisted logic only.
They could understand despite these tantalizing and horrifying
Clues a desperate voicemail, a severed finger and carefully
folded clothes. No further trace of Diane August
was ever found. The authorities were stumped.
One working theory, was that Diane had become entangled with
a dangerous individual or group possibly related to drug
activity. She had occasionally fallen in
with a rough crowd. The clues might have been meant
to scare or send a message, the phone call suggested, she was
being held captive at least for a short time.
The finger suggested violence or punishment and the clothes in
the freezer. Some speculated, it was symbolic
preserving evidence on ice or practical hiding bloody clothes,
or simply cruel theatrics by the perpetrator over the years.
Diane's case, went cold, but those Left Behind.
Can't forget the horrifying trail.
That was left. Her mother year after year,
hoped for answers, that never came.
That disembodied finger matched to Diane via fingerprint is
perhaps one of the most cards in any missing person case.
It says, as if the darkness, that plague Diane's life Coleman
at one final Wicked Game. Sometimes people talk about the
Perfect Crime as one leaving no Clue's.
In Diane's case it's almost the opposite Clues were left yet.
They only deep in the Enigma. What happened in those last days
of Diane August's life remains unknown.
But it surely wasn't anything. Good?
As we step away from The Haunting fragments of Diane
Story, the echo of help me still ringing in our ears.
We move on to another disappearance with Erie
overtones. This time the setting is an
apartment in New Hampshire in 1980 where a teenage girl
vanished from her home and left. Behind a mystery involving
unscrewed light bulbs and strange phone calls.
Laureen, Rahn lights out in the hallway.
On the night of April 26th, 1980 14 year old Lorraine, an Ron was
at home in her family's third floor, apartment in Manchester
New Hampshire. Maureen's mother Judith was out
of town at a tennis tournament. So Lorien had invited a
girlfriend over to spend the night.
The two teens along with a male friend hung out in the
apartment, drinking a little wine and listening to music.
Later that night, the male friend left and Lorena.
Her girlfriend decided to sleep with the friend, taking Lorena's
bed and Lauren sleeping on the couch in the living room.
Sometime around midnight neighbors later reported hearing
voices and Footsteps in the up stairs hallway.
What nobody knew then was that something ominous was brewing?
Judith, Ron returned home in the early hours around 1:30 a.m. and
immediately sensed something was off.
The hallway that led to their apartment door.
Was unusually dark. someone had unscrewed all three light bulbs
in the corridor leaving it Pitch Black Startled, Judith entered
the apartment and found it silent.
The visiting friend was asleep in laureen's bed but Laureen was
nowhere to be found. At first groggy and Confused the
friend assumed Laureen might have just stepped out or was in
the bathroom but she wasn't. The front door was slightly,
ajar outside, Judith noticed that the screen window in the
kitchen, which led out to the fire escape was also open a
sense of dread descended. It looked as if someone had
intentionally created darkness in the hallway, entered the
apartment and take in Lorene, while her friends, slept police
were called and an investigation launched but in 1980 forensic
techniques were limited. There were few concrete Clues.
What was clear was that Lorraine did not take any of her personal
belongings. She left behind her purse money
and clothes. Given the unscrewed Hall way
lights detectives believed it was likely an abductor had
prepared, the scene to conceal their actions, possibly someone
who knew the building or even a neighbor.
The case quickly went cold for lack of leads, but then a series
of strange phone calls injected new Intrigue into Lorena's
story. In the months after The
Disappearance Judith. Noticed several unexplained
charges on her phone bill. Three calls had been placed from
her apartment's phone to a number in California.
Two of the calls were to a motel in Santa Ana, California and one
was to a teen assistance, Hotline in Los Angeles.
Judith didn't know anyone in California at the time.
And certainly Lorraine didn't either, at least not to anyone's
knowledge. It looked like someone perhaps
the abductor used home, phone to dial out west, possibly as a way
to check in with accomplices or some central figure.
A couple of years later, more bizarre developments.
Judith received a call from a woman who claimed to possibly
have information on Lorraine. This person said that a woman.
She knew in California went by the name Lori and might be
Lorraine. The lead never panned out
solidly. Additionally, Judith reported
that every year around the anniversary of Lorraine's,
disappearance, she would receive a brief phone call in the middle
of the night. Just silence or faint breathing
on the other end as if someone was taunting her.
Whether those calls were praying for something more Sinister
remains on known. Over time investigators
considered, a disturbing Theory. Could Lorena have been abducted
into a child trafficking or pornography ring.
The involvement of California and the call to a teen hotline,
which was rumored to be associated with a.
Now deceased Doctor, Who was implicated in a child
pronography business gave weight to this possibility?
Perhaps someone took Lorraine across the country.
However, no confirmed. Sightings of her have ever been
made. Decades.
Have passed with no answers. Laureen's case sits among the
annals of creepy unsolved disappearances because of those
inexplicable touches. The carefully unscrewed light
bulbs, that suggests a careful predator and the Mysterious
phone Trail leading 3,000 miles away with no clear explanation.
Her mother eventually moved away from the apartment.
But likely, never from The Nightmare of that night, To this
day. No one knows what truly became
of Lorena Ron. Was it a local culprit?
Who snatched her in the dark or a far, reaching criminal Network
that spirited her away? The darkness in that Hall way
remains symbolically as the lack of light shed on her face.
As we move on our next and penultimate case, also involves
a young woman and a big city, The Disappearance of Corinna
slusser who was swept up in a dangerous world and send cryptic
cries for help before Vanishing. Corinna slusser a traffic teen
and a trapped message. In 2017, 19 year old Corinna,
slusser left her small, Pennsylvania Town, seeking
excitement, and Escape in New York City.
What she found instead was a nightmare under the bright
lights. Corinna had been a cheerleader,
a pretty blonde. Teenager with a winning smile,
but she fell in with a rough crowd before graduation and
became entwined, with an older man who promised to take care of
her. By the summer of 2017, she had
moved to NYC specifically to the Bronx expecting a fresh start.
But that man turned out to be a pimp who allegedly lured her
into the world of sex trafficking Corona was last seen
on September 20th, 2017 leaving a cheap motel called The Haven
in Queens. After that day, she vanished
into the underbelly of the city. In the lead up to her
disappearance, Karina had shown signs of being in trouble.
In August 2017, she had filed a police report against a pimp.
The same man who brought her to New York for assaulting her.
He had stolen money from her and choked her and she managed to
get a restraining order. The danger she was in was very
real. After she went missing her
family and authorities feared, she had been coerced or
kidnapped by a sex trafficking ring in retaliation for going to
the police. As the investigation unfolded, a
disturbing timeline came to light.
Karina had been active on social media and on September 10th, 10
days before she disappeared. She posted a final photo on
Instagram with a cryptic caption that hinted at a change in a new
home. It was odd enough to catch her
friends attention even before they knew anything was wrong.
Then after Corinne is disappearance, her mother
received unusual texts, and even an attempted extortion.
In April 2818, someone contacted Karina's mother demanding, a
7,000 Ransom claiming to have Karen, a captain in another
state. The extortionist even arranged a
meeting point at a parking lot in North Carolina.
Desperate her mother Sabina was prepared to go but law
enforcement suspected. It was a scam or a dangerous
trap, and warn her off the next day.
The cruel messenger taunted her saying remember this day because
it's the day you almost got her. it was a devastating blow, a
heartless hoax or perhaps a genuine warning that slipped
through their fingers, authorities eventually cracked
down on the trafficking ring, that ensnared Karina A man named
ishii woni along with others was arrested and later convicted for
sex trafficking. he had been one of the individuals Karina was
last known to associate with Through recovered messages and
evidence investigators pieced together that Corinna had been
advertised online for sex services in the period leading
to her disappearance. They suspect that after the
police report incident she may have been moved, were sold to
other traffickers. There was also an eerie digital
clue. Karina's phone, which her mother
got back from police, had all the texts and call logs wiped
clean. As if someone deliberately
deleted every message remotely It was as if someone wanted to
ensure nothing on that phone. Could help find her.
Additionally, an anonymous letter was mailed to her mother
with a possible sighting of Corona in Queen's after she
vanished. But like many leads, it led
nowhere concrete. Despite multiple arrests of
those involved, in trafficking Karina herself has never been
found her. Disappearance highlights the
terrifying reality of modern day slavery.
Hiding in plain sight. One day, she was a teenager
posting selfies and texting her family and the next.
She was gone with only a trail of cryptic posts and chilling
messages remaining. The Instagram post Karina left
showing a girl in a black cap. In city traffic became a
haunting symbol of her case. Did she know she was in danger?
Was it a coated Cry for Help? We may never know. for her
family, each of Hope a text, a ransom demand, a rumor turned
into heartbreak As we leave. Karen as tragic tale, we turned
to our final case. One of the young girl taken from
her home in the middle of the night and a shocking phone call
that suggested, she was still alive and in terrifying
circumstances. And the net, Kaya dito, a
child's cry on the line. Our last case takes us back in
time and into the quiet suburb of Gallup.
New Mexico on April 6th 1986 9 year old Anthony dito was at
home with her mother and younger sister's, it was a Saturday
night. The family had reportedly had
some friends over early in the evening. by 3 a.m. everyone was
asleep or so it seemed According to Antoinette's younger sister,
there was a knock at the door in the dark hours of that morning.
Antoinette went to answer it and the sister heard a man's voice.
Say its Uncle Joe. The family did have an Uncle
Joe, but he later said, he wasn't at their house that
night. As soon as anthonette opened the
door, the sister says, two men grabbed her and carried her away
Into the Night. The little girl was gone by the
time, the mother awoke. at first Anthony's mother, Penny told
police she had no idea what happened She'd been asleep and
only discovered Anthony at missing.
In the morning, the only clue from the house was that the
front door was left? Slightly open authorities
launched a search? Suspecting a kidnapping For a
year, there were no major breaks.
Until something bone-chilling occurred.
In April, 1987, the Gallup Police Department received a
frantic phone, call from a young girl.
I'm onthe, net. I'm in Albuquerque.
The girl cried pleading for help.
Before the dispatcher could get any useful details, an angry
adult Voice Was Heard shouting. who said you could use the phone
followed by the sound of a scuffle and the girl screaming
The line then went dead. The call was too short to trace.
However, it was recorded. And when investigators played
the tape for Antoinette's family Penny gasped, she was certain,
the voice was her daughters recognizing the way she said her
name. She did not recognize the male
voice this 40. Second phone call injected.
Both hope and Terror into the case.
Hope that anthonette might be alive and Terror at the thought
of what she was enduring. The story made national news and
leads began to surface. There was a reported sighting in
1991 in Carson City Nevada. A waitress claimed that a couple
came in to the restaurant with a timid teenage girl.
When the girl deliberately dropped a utensil the waitress
picked it up and the girls squeezed, her hand only for the
waitress to later. Find a note under the plate
saying, help me call police scrawled on a napkin By the
time, she realized the trio had left.
The waitress was struck by the girls, resemblance to the age
progressed photos of Antonette. If that was indeed anthonette.
It meant she had been held captive for years by that point.
Another potential clue came when antonette's younger sister, who
had been a witness finally admitted five years later that
she did see her sister being taken by two men that night
after initially, being too scared to say.
So this corroborated, what police suspected that the
abductor was someone familiar to the family, given the Uncle Joe
Roos. The FBI considered Penny the
mother as well. She even took a polygraph which
she reportedly failed. Leading to Whispers that she
might have known more than she let on, possibly about who took
Antonette. But no charges were ever filed
and Penny died in 1999. Still not knowing what became of
her child. Anthony Nets case remains one of
the most heart-wrenching unsolved disappearances.
The image of a little girl, snatched from her home is
disturbing enough. But the added layer of that
desperate phone call, a tiny voice reaching out from what
sounded like the depths of hell is truly haunting.
Gallup police, still keep the case, open and age progressed
rendering of Anthony at surface every few years, to remind the
public that she could still be out there a woman.
Now, in her late 40s, who was a child was calling for Rescue?
Some believe she was likely sold or forced into some kind of
trafficking situation which unfortunately aligns with the
other clues of her being seen in captivity others.
Hold on to the sliver of hope that maybe the call was a hoax
though her family doubts that and that she was raised by
someone else unhurt and unlikely scenario given everything.
As we conclude this journey through these creepy unresolved
disappearances. We are left with the realization
that behind each of these stories are real people.
Families friends entire communities left in agonizing,
limbo. The bizarre details.
We've recounted from mysterious phone calls to inexplicable
evidence are the breadcrumbs that keep these cases alive in
the Public's imagination. Perhaps, one day someone will
come forward. A new piece of evidence will
emerge. Or a deathbed confession, will
crack? One of these cases wide open
Until then these 11 stories remain open-ended Tales of
Terror and mystery. A sobering reminders that
sometimes truth really is stranger and far more
frightening Than Fiction.