Mystery Unexplained Missing Persons Cases

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grizzlym said:
I'd like a thread on how popular culture has basically created a whole set of cultural assumptions that are now indistinguishable from the reality.

Berlitz's book basically created the whole Bermuda Triangle 'myth' and was amazing in shaping he whole public perception of what was going on.

Even today, real research into the phenomea has to confront and dispel the baseless assumptions and perceptions that were created.
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so was it all a myth?
 
sammm said:
so was it all a myth?
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Most famous case was flight 19, the squadron that was lost but they worked out from the radio traffic that the leader pilot got disoriented. I think he assumed one of his navigational display was faulty and incorrect when it wasn't, and everything went to s**t from there. Flew them into the ocean until they ran out of fuel. Tragic. History did a good doco on it.

There's a couple of other strange accounts but the whole "Bermuda Triangle" thing is just a myth.
 

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DIG said:
Most famous case was flight 19, the squadron that was lost but they worked out from the radio traffic that the leader pilot got disoriented. I think he assumed one of his navigational display was faulty and incorrect when it wasn't, and everything went to s**t from there. Flew them into the ocean until they ran out of fuel. Tragic. History did a good doco on it.

There's a couple of other strange accounts but the whole "Bermuda Triangle" thing is just a myth.
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yep very similar to the number 87
just got out of hand and became bigger myth
 
anyone here watch Forensic Files?? By far my favorite Criminal investigation show! I have an episode on my Foxtel IQ that I haven't watched yet but was reading the description and it was creepy. I'm now too freaked out to watch it. The description said that this guy in the 70s murdered his mother, wife and kids and before he fled the scene he put on funeral music. Lets just say that after reading that, I had a hard time sleeping last night. :confused:
 
emuboy said:
Another interesting, but obscure maritime case
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Another one from the Barrier Reef in 2007. I think I would have had a hard time accepting the coroners report if I was a member of their family because it just seems hard to believe that all three would wind up in the water in the same time. :shrug:
In the scenario he laid out, the coroner said one of the brothers attempted to free a fishing line that had become wrapped around the yacht's propeller when he fell overboard. The other brother fell in while trying to rescue him.

Mr Batten tried to drop the sails so he could turn around and go back for his two friends but a change in the wind's direction caused the yacht's boom to swing and knock him overboard.

"Once the three men were in the water there was very little chance they could get back on the boat," he said. "It would be beyond their reach in seconds. From that point, the end would have been swift
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaz_II

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/aug/09/australia
 
For me, the Marie Celeste case has a couple of big clues, but the biggest is the missing lifeboat. If all lifeboats were on board it'd be baffling but we can start with one clear piece of evidence: some to all of the crew got aboard the missing lifeboat at some point, and didn't return. That's not in dispute due to the lifeboat being missing.

The 2nd piece of evidence was the frayed rope trailing behind the boat. It's not a stretch to suggest that for some reason the crew felt the need to leave the ship and be tethered to it, because of some danger on board, however the rope has failed, and all were lost at sea.

As to reasons they had to abandon ship? The large amount of alcohol they had in the hold and the evidence of an explosion seem very plausible reasons.
 
Duritz said:
For me, the Marie Celeste case has a couple of big clues, but the biggest is the missing lifeboat. If all lifeboats were on board it'd be baffling but we can start with one clear piece of evidence: some to all of the crew got aboard the missing lifeboat at some point, and didn't return. That's not in dispute due to the lifeboat being missing.

The 2nd piece of evidence was the frayed rope trailing behind the boat. It's not a stretch to suggest that for some reason the crew felt the need to leave the ship and be tethered to it, because of some danger on board, however the rope has failed, and all were lost at sea.

As to reasons they had to abandon ship? The large amount of alcohol they had in the hold and the evidence of an explosion seem very plausible reasons.
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Yep, the Hitler channel did a doco on this which elaborated on exactly what you said:

Basically:

An investigation was conducted to determine what happened to the Mary Celeste, but it bore no answers. Ever since, maritime observers have put forth a number of theories, from piracy and seaquakes to a waterspout or mutiny. The most plausible explanation posits that several of the barrels of alcohol began emitting strong fumes. When Briggs ordered the hold to be opened, the fumes rushed out, panicking Briggs and his crew. They rushed into a lifeboat, but, failing to tie it securely to the ship, were blown away from the ship by a strong wind.

I'm not saying definitively it's "case closed" but it seems a decent theory.
 

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DIG said:
Yep, the Hitler channel did a doco on this which elaborated on exactly what you said:

Basically:

An investigation was conducted to determine what happened to the Mary Celeste, but it bore no answers. Ever since, maritime observers have put forth a number of theories, from piracy and seaquakes to a waterspout or mutiny. The most plausible explanation posits that several of the barrels of alcohol began emitting strong fumes. When Briggs ordered the hold to be opened, the fumes rushed out, panicking Briggs and his crew. They rushed into a lifeboat, but, failing to tie it securely to the ship, were blown away from the ship by a strong wind.

I'm not saying definitively it's "case closed" but it seems a decent theory.
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Some key facts are addressed in that theory, in which "aliens" are not. IE, the boat, the frayed rope, the damage to the rail (perhaps by a door blown open from the hold, the empty barrels (different wood) from the full barrels, etc.

Conspiracy?

I'm a frayed knot.



























I'll see myself out.
 
emuboy said:
Jerrold Potter, Illinois USA, 1968: The case of Jerrold Potter, a businessman who was flying with others as part of a Lions convention, is very strange. Potter got up to use the lavatory, but never returned and was never seen again. An investigation found an external door had been tampered with, but not fully opened, and doing so mid-flight would have been a near-impossible maneuver, creating great chaos if successful. The investigation found no reasons for homicide or suicide, and his body was never found along the flight route.


Martha Wright, New Jersey USA 1975: While driving to New York in heavy snow, Mr and Mrs Wright agreed to stop in the Lincoln Tunnel to clear the windows. They stepped out of the car, and that was the last Mr Wright ever saw of his wife, in a case that left everyone involved dumbfounded.
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These two appear to be urban myths and may have originated from some paranormal novels in the 50's and 60's (maybe Frank Edwards). From what I can gather there are no independent mentions of these people/cases only on top-ten lists/unexplained occurrence websites.
 
Nightrain said:
These two appear to be urban myths and may have originated from some paranormal novels in the 50's and 60's (maybe Frank Edwards). From what I can gather there are no independent mentions of these people/cases only on top-ten lists/unexplained occurrence websites.
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I remember reading about the Jerrold Potter and Martha Wright cases in books years ago. I can't say with certainty what the origins of these cases were, but there must be some truth in them.

Anyway, of the cases I listed the Springfield Three women - Sherrill Levitt, Suzy Streeter & Stacy McCall definitely existed, and their disappearances in June 1992 are seriously strange, if you are interested in the very odd missing persons cases over the years. I have never heard of any missing persons case where every theory proposed always has a major flaw that makes it improbable. The Bennington Triangle people also definitely existed, and that case defies explanation too.

There was another odd case in Western Australia in about 2007, where a young woman and her boyfriend, along with the woman's daughter and a man who lived across the street from them all vanished from a South West town. I think the last positive sighting of the woman and her partner along with the child was looking at cars to purchase in town. Does anyone else remember this case?
 
emuboy said:
I remember reading about the Jerrold Potter and Martha Wright cases in books years ago. I can't say with certainty what the origins of these cases were, but there must be some truth in them.

Anyway, of the cases I listed the Springfield Three women - Sherrill Levitt, Suzy Streeter & Stacy McCall definitely existed, and their disappearances in June 1992 are seriously strange, if you are interested in the very odd missing persons cases over the years. I have never heard of any missing persons case where every theory proposed always has a major flaw that makes it improbable. The Bennington Triangle people also definitely existed, and that case defies explanation too.

There was another odd case in Western Australia in about 2007, where a young woman and her boyfriend, along with the woman's daughter and a man who lived across the street from them all vanished from a South West town. I think the last positive sighting of the woman and her partner along with the child was looking at cars to purchase in town. Does anyone else remember this case?
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One of Western Australia's greatest mysteries has gained international exposure as Australian Federal Police try to re-ignite new leads into the case of missing Nannup mother Chantelle McDougall and her daughter Leela.

The 30-year-old and her six-year-old daughter went missing in October 2007, together with partner Gary Feldman, 45, and friend Antonio Popic, 40.

Gary Feldman, as we know him now, claimed to be some sort of religious guru and he enticed them into his little flockthat way.

Mr Feldman was only ever known in Australia as Simon Kadwell, a false alias he picked up from England before emigrating in 2000. He was also Leela's father.

Since their disappearance, he has been linked to a sect based on a doomsday book calledServers of the Divine Plan, which calls on "servers" to take up their positions on Earth before the world's imminent end and rebirth.
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http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/i...nnup-family-disappearance-20110525-1f4dm.html

The guy is dodgy to say the least.

The Springfield 3 were probably abducted, the how and why is pretty mysterious though. The Bennington Triangle is really interesting, not sure what was going on there. The Wright and Potter cases pop up everywhere, but it's always the same few lines, not sure if these are genuine or not.
 
emuboy said:
Anyway, of the cases I listed the Springfield Three women - Sherrill Levitt, Suzy Streeter & Stacy McCall definitely existed, and their disappearances in June 1992 are seriously strange, if you are interested in the very odd missing persons cases over the years. I have never heard of any missing persons case where every theory proposed always has a major flaw that makes it improbable.
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Was an interesting read - had never heard of this case, but looks like a straightforward unsolved kidnapping/murder?

emuboy said:
The Bennington Triangle people also definitely existed, and that case defies explanation too.
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Also interesting, but I could only find newspaper articles on three of the disappearances (apparently no real proof any other disappearances took place), and only two were in the triangle. Freida Langer (1950), who's body was found in a previously searched area and Middie Rivers (1945). The little boy was tracked to a highway allegedly - the newspaper also seemed to hint about possible parental involvement.
 
Nightrain said:
Was an interesting read - had never heard of this case, but looks like a straightforward unsolved kidnapping/murder?



Also interesting, but I could only find newspaper articles on three of the disappearances (apparently no real proof any other disappearances took place), and only two were in the triangle. Freida Langer (1950), who's body was found in a previously searched area and Middie Rivers (1945). The little boy was tracked to a highway allegedly - the newspaper also seemed to hint about possible parental involvement.
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Haven't looked into it, but Paula Welden seems to be fairly well documented, her wiki page has her missing person poster and cites newspaper articles from 1946 in the references. Not sure the story of James Tedford who supposedly disappeared from a bus is credible. The other 4 could possibly be coincidences, there may have been a killer who killed the two women at least.
 
Nightrain said:
Was an interesting read - had never heard of this case, but looks like a straightforward unsolved kidnapping/murder?]



The Springfield Three case was probably an abduction, but the who, what, why, when and how presents a problem. For example, the porch light at Mrs. Levitt's house was broken, but the light was still shining mid morning when the first family/friends arrived to see what was happening. Given there were no other signs that anything else was out of place to suggest a break-in or forced entry, it implies that the women either opened the door to somebody they knew, or were victims of a confidence trick, such as a young man knocking on the door begging to be let inside to call an ambulance as his wife was in labor. But if this is what happened why try and disable the light, when the objective would be to convince the women to open the door as there was no danger to them? A dark porch, the light disabled may have roused suspicions. If the perpetrators wanted the cover of darkness to abduct the women, why didn't they simply flick the switch when they got inside? If the women had left willingly with their abductor/s, why didn't they take personal effects and lock up? Why were their purses all together in a row? There was no sign of a robbery, violence, nor did any neighbors see or hear anything odd. And if the person/s responsible wanted to divert attention from the house, why didn't they take the personal effects and lock up to achieve this?

Numerous explanations have been put forward, with all theories having major flaws. The Springfield Three in a way reminds me of a Cold Case episode, defying explanation for so many years. Maybe the team from the Cold Case TV show could investigate the Springfield Three case, and it would end with the case solved, the people responsible arrested and the ghosts of Sherrill, Suzy and Stacy appearing to Lily Rush before vanishing, with either "Runaway Train" by Soul Asylum or "The End of The Road" by Boyz 2 Men (both hits in 1992) playing over the last segment? But I doubt even the Cold Case squad could solve this mystery.
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Kilroy said:
A one-legged man from Korumburra named Walker is on the run.
How the f**k does that work? o_O

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/la...-victoria-police/story-fni0fega-1227209540226
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On the hop?

I think there are some fairly prosaic explanations for a lot of unexplained disappearances.

- disappearances at sea ( a la Marie Celeste and the lighthouse ) are always going to have freak weather conditions and the sheer size of the ocean as number one suspect.

- young women or kids going missing from their homes a la the Springfield group, is, sadly, often going to be due to them being the number one targeted group for sex crimes. History has shown there are a small number of random killers out there, and some of them don't leave any trace.

By that standard, if the hubby is to be believed Martha Wright is the weirdest one of all, but I'd like to know if he could pass a lie detector test.
 
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Mead said:
On the hop?

I think there are some fairly prosaic explanations for a lot of unexplained disappearances.

- disappearances at sea ( a la Marie Celeste and the lighthouse ) are always going to have freak weather conditions and the sheer size of the ocean as number one suspect.

- young women or kids going missing from their homes a la the Springfield group, is, sadly, often going to be due to them being the number one targeted group for sex crimes. History has shown there are a small number of random killers out there, and some of them don't leave any trace.

By that standard, if the hubby is to be believed Martha Wright is the weirdest one of all, but I'd like to know if he could pass a lie detector test.
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I agree that freak weather conditions at sea could cause disappearances such as the Marie Celeste, Flannen Island Lighthouse and the 1918 disappearance of the USS Cyclops which vanished en-route to Baltimore from Barbados.

The Springfield Three, however, is a case where every piece of evidence contradicts another making it impossible to form a solid theory to fit all the facts, and if indeed the three unfortunate women fell victim to abduction and homicide, it must also rate as one of the world's most bizarre murder mysteries. It is like they simply vanished from the face of the planet. Maybe the three women were awoken by strange lights in the sky that summer night back in JUne 1992, went outside to investigate, and were beamed up into the saucer-shaped craft that hovered overhead? Or maybe they were awoken by an eerie glow in the kitchen, went to see what was happening, and were sucked into the light to another dimension? As outlandish as these theories are, no logical, Earth-bound theory holds water either.
 
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