Mysterious Disappearances That Continue to Baffle Analysts
With the rapid advancement of technology and modern equipment, police today can track down the whereabouts of fugitives or missing persons. However, in the past, this was not the case, and many instances of people disappearing mysteriously left authorities at a loss…
Let’s revisit some of the most mysterious disappearances in history, compiled from Cracked below.
1. Theater Mogul Ambrose Small
The first case involves Canadian theater mogul Ambrose Small. Living during the early decades of the 20th century, this man was well-known for owning most of the theaters in Eastern Canada.
He enjoyed a dream life with a relatively wealthy wife who inherited a brewery from her father. However, Ambrose Small was not an easy person to deal with; he was fond of gambling, women, and looked down upon the poor.
Portrait of Canadian theater mogul in the early 20th century
In 1919, Ambrose made a puzzling decision to sell all his assets, netting 1.7 million USD (approximately 34 billion VND at current exchange rates). Following this, he suddenly disappeared without a trace. Strangely, the money remained untouched, showing no signs of theft.
Although he vanished on December 2, 1919, his mysterious disappearance was not discovered until sometime later. This was believed to be due to his notorious infidelities, as he had previously gone missing for several days to be with his lovers. As a result, his wife, Theresa Small, only officially reported him missing to the police on January 3, 1920, quite some time after the incident.
Grand Opera House (Toronto) – a theater formerly owned by Ambrose Small
Ambrose’s wife became the prime suspect; however, due to a lack of evidence, she was proven innocent. In an effort to find the theater mogul, Canadian police even turned to psychics, yet no results were obtained.
Upon starting the investigation, police initially confirmed that Small had no motive to disappear. Additionally, the millionaire did not take any money with him and there were no ransom notes or evidence of kidnapping.
Mrs. Theresa Small later offered a $50,000 reward for any information about her husband’s whereabouts if he was alive and $15,000 if he was dead. Despite this, no one claimed the reward.
At that time, police also uncovered that in the two weeks prior to Ambrose being reported missing, his close assistant John Doughty had also vanished and had previously taken two checks worth $150,000 from the millionaire’s office on the very day Ambrose disappeared. Nevertheless, the assistant was ultimately convicted of theft with no evidence linking him to Ambrose Small’s disappearance.
Missing Person Notice for Ambrose Small
No news, no traces, no information; the disappearance of this millionaire ended in an incredible deadlock. Additionally, many theories arose regarding the millionaire’s disappearance, such as he being murdered and cremated in the opera house or that the police had assisted him in this disappearance, but none were verified.
In 1924, five years after Ambrose Small’s disappearance, he was declared dead. The case remained unsolved until it was completely closed in 1960, with the hypothesis that he had lost his memory and went into hiding. As for Ambrose’s money, it was all donated to the church.
Even to this day, more than 100 years later, the trace-less disappearance of Ambrose Small remains one of the most shocking events in Canada.
2. Judge Joseph Force Crater
Joseph Force Crater was a prominent judge in New York during the 1930s. He worked at the New York Supreme Court and was highly valued by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who later became President of the United States.
However, Joseph mysteriously disappeared at the peak of his career. At the end of July 1930, after a summer vacation with his wife in Belgrade, Joseph received a strange phone call, the contents of which he did not share with his wife.
He then went to Atlantic City with his mistress Sally Lou Ritz. He informed his wife that he would return to New York to take care of business and promised to be home by her birthday on August 9.
Things did not go as planned. On the morning of August 6, Joseph spent two hours in his office at the courthouse, after which he withdrew $70,777 (approximately 1.4 billion VND) from his personal fund. That evening, after watching a show at the Belasco Theater and dining with some friends, he suddenly vanished.
Joseph Force Crater’s wife and the missing person notice
Strangely, it was ten days after Joseph disappeared that his wife noticed and reported it to the police. With no trace and no evidence, the case was eventually closed.
No one knows if Joseph Force Crater is alive or dead, so the people of New York refer to him as “The Missingest Man in New York.”
3. Aviator Amelia Earhart
When mentioning Amelia Earhart, the world immediately envisions one of the most talented female aviators. She was the first to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross from the United States, recognized as the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Not only that, but she was also a writer and a pioneer in organizing the female pilots’ organization, The Ninety-Nines.
With her adventurous and daring personality, in 1937, Amelia announced her plan to fly around the world in a Lockheed Model 10 Electra. True to her word, her journey began that year. However, she disappeared while flying over the central Pacific Ocean, near Howland Island.
Suspecting that she had met with an accident, the U.S. government invested significant effort and money searching for her remains and her aircraft. Unfortunately, nothing was found, not even the smallest trace. In 1939, it was officially announced that Amelia Earhart had perished.
After the flight, no one would ever see Amelia Earhart again
In December 2010, the story of Amelia Earhart gained renewed attention when a group of university students discovered the remains of a young woman on Nikumaroro Island (Phoenix, Kiribati). DNA testing was conducted, but there was still not enough certainty to conclude whether it was indeed the famous Amelia Earhart. Thus, her whereabouts remain a mystery.
4. The Air Force Lieutenant Who Disappeared in Midair
In 1953, Lieutenant Felix Moncla was stationed at Kinross Air Force Base in Michigan. During one of his shifts, Moncla observed an unidentified flying object (UFO) appearing on radar.
He quickly took off in an F-89 Scorpion interceptor to investigate the incident.
Lieutenant Felix Moncla and an image believed to be of the UFO.
Ground radar observed Moncla’s aircraft flying at a speed of 800 km/h, heading directly towards the unidentified object. As he got closer, both the aircraft and the UFO suddenly vanished.
A rescue team was dispatched to search for Moncla, but they reported no signs of a collision or debris.
As of now, Moncla and his aircraft have never been found.
5. Ghost Passengers on the MV Joyita
Like the Titanic, the MV Joyita was dubbed “unsinkable.” However, this claim was shattered when the ship capsized and sank in 1955 while traveling from Fiji to Vanua Levu.
All 25 passengers and crew mysteriously disappeared.
Long after, the ship was found in the South Pacific. Four tons of cargo, medical supplies, wood, and food had “vanished without a trace.”
It was discovered that all lifeboats had disappeared, and blood-soaked bandages were found.
The MV Joyita was later found.
Scientist David Wright believes that a pipe on the ship was corroded, causing it to gradually sink. This was like a ticking time bomb leading to the disaster.
David theorizes that due to insufficient space on the lifeboats, some people swam with life jackets. One by one, they drowned or were eaten by sharks.
However, the disappearance of those on the lifeboats remains unsolved to this day.
6. Pilot Disappears with UFO
The disappearance of Frederick Valentich shocked many due to the terrifying audio recording found. Frederick Valentich was known as a light aircraft pilot.
In 1978, while on his way to King Island, Australia, Frederick reported seeing a UFO approximately 300 meters above his plane.
Specifically, Frederick stated: “A strange aircraft is hovering above me again. It is hovering and it is not an airplane.“
Pilot Frederick Valentich.
Shortly after, his plane began to malfunction and disappeared from radar. Upon reviewing the audio recording, analysts noted unexplained metallic sounds in the last 17 seconds.
During that same week, around 10 UFO sightings were reported to the Royal Australian Air Force.
7. The Hijacker Who Disappeared from the Sky
D. B. Cooper is the name given to the most famous hijacker of all time.
On November 24, 1971, this unidentified man hijacked a Boeing 727 while flying between Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington.
He demanded a ransom of $200,000. After receiving the money, Cooper parachuted out of the plane without leaving a trace.
The hijacker known as D. B. Cooper.
Many theories have been proposed, but none have provided evidence. Recently, a girl reported that on the night of the hijacking, she saw her uncle, Cooper, severely injured.
She provided her uncle’s fingerprints on the guitar. However, the fingerprint analysis has yet to convincingly prove that this was the mysterious hijacker.
8. Mysterious Disappearances in the Bennington Triangle
The Bennington Triangle is a region in southwestern Vermont (Northeast USA) surrounded by Glastenbury Mountain. This area has been the site of numerous mysterious disappearances over 30 years, from 1920 to 1950.
A location within the Bennington Triangle.
On December 1, 1949, veteran James Tetford reportedly vanished from a crowded bus on the way to St. Albans. Fourteen other passengers testified that Tetford had been dozing off and suddenly disappeared when the bus reached its final stop. A lengthy investigation was conducted, but Tetford’s whereabouts remain a mystery.
On December 1, 1946, 19-year-old Paula Welden disappeared while taking a walk. She was last seen after falling and rolling down the Long Trail on Glastenbury Mountain. Upon investigation, nothing unusual was found.
In October 1946, 8-year-old Paul Jepson disappeared from a farm. His mother had let him play near a pigpen while she tended to the animals.
A while later, she could not find her son. A widespread search was conducted, but it yielded no results.
These are just three of at least six unexplained disappearances over 30 years in Bennington.
9. Group Disappearance at Stonehenge After Lightning Strike
A group of hipsters held a ceremony to celebrate the cosmic cycle in 1970 at the famous site of Stonehenge.
They camped overnight, lighting a fire and smoking marijuana. Around 2 AM, a thunderstorm struck the Salisbury plains.
The ceremony celebrating the cosmic cycle held in 1970 at Stonehenge.
A farmer and a police officer reported witnessing lightning strike the Stonehenge stones, bathing the entire circle in a blinding blue light.
They ran over, thinking the hipsters might be dead. However, upon arrival, they found no one, despite having heard a loud scream earlier.
There is almost no additional information regarding this mysterious incident.
10. The Disappearance of Flight MH370: The Greatest Mystery of the 21st Century
On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 vanished while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia, to Beijing Capital International Airport, China.
Many theories have been proposed, including conspiracy theories. However, these theories lack concrete evidence, and this mystery remains unsolved.
Image believed to be of MH370.
What we know so far is that several transmitters on the plane were manually turned off, and the flight changed course sharply.
During this time, there were no calls from passengers or crew members, nor were there any signals sent by the pilots. The wreckage of the aircraft has still not been found.
11. The Mysterious Disappearance of an Entire Village
In 1930, on a cold night, Canadian fur trader Joe Labelle was shocked to discover that the Inuit village near Lake Anjikuni had vanished without a trace.
What remained were just huts filled with clothing and food (indicating the villagers did not leave voluntarily), a graveyard with several graves that had been dug up and cleared, and a sled dog pack buried under the snow and left to starve to death.
The Inuit villagers disappeared overnight.
Labelle then reported to the police; however, the investigation into the disappearance of the entire village, comprising over 2,000 people, yielded no results.
Even stranger, on the night the village disappeared, someone also reported seeing a blue light running along the horizon.
Some people suspect that Labelle’s story was fabricated. Others have pointed out that this story is similar to one in a fictional book titled “Stranger than Science” by Frank Edwards.
12. The Ninth Roman Legion – The Gallant Army That Vanished Without a Trace
By the 2nd century AD, the Ninth Legion (Legio IX Hispana) had become one of the most feared armies in the history of the Roman military.
Established around 65 BC, the Ninth Legion consisted of over 4,000 of the bravest and fiercest warriors who fought and won numerous victories in conquests from Africa and Spain to Germany and Britain.
Legio IX Hispana became one of the most feared armies in Roman military history. (Illustrative image).
However, in 109 AD, while campaigning in what is now called Scotland, the entire elite legion mysteriously vanished.
Most historians believe that the disappearance (due to being defeated in battle) of the elite legion is not mysterious at all. However, due to a lack of evidence, all explanations turn into legends.
One of the most widely circulated legends at the time was that the thousands-strong legion was annihilated by the fierce warriors of Scotland in 117 AD.
This legend has also been the subject of many films, books, and later television shows. Due to the absence of archaeological evidence, the truth about the disappearance of the elite Roman legion remains undiscovered.
13. Lost Colony – The Mysterious Fate of Hundreds Challenges Historians and Archaeologists
Considered one of the most perplexing mass disappearances in human history, the fate of the settlers in the Lost Colony remains a puzzle for historians and archaeologists.
Legend has it that in 1587, 117 settlers from England, led by John White (1540 – 1593), arrived at Roanoke Island on the coast of North Carolina to establish a new life in the promised land.
Ironically, upon arrival, they faced strong opposition from the indigenous people. John White decided to return to England to seek military assistance.
It took three years, in 1590, for John White to return to Roanoke Island. The reality he witnessed was astonishing: over 100 people, including men, women, and children, had vanished without a trace.
What John White found was only the word “CROATOAN” carved into a tree. Believing it to be a message from his compatriots before they migrated to the nearby island of the same name, John White and the English troops decided to search for them. However, storms thwarted his noble intention before he returned to England shortly thereafter.
John White’s return meant that the truth about the “disappearance” of hundreds of English settlers has never been clarified. Did they really migrate to another island? Or were they exterminated by the indigenous people from the beginning? These questions remain unanswered for over 400 years.
14. USS Cyclops – Disappeared Without a Trace in the Deep Ocean
USS Cyclops was one of the largest fuel ships in the U.S. Navy. It was last seen on March 4, 1918, when docking in the West Indies on a journey from Brazil to Baltimore, carrying 10,800 tons of manganese ore (used in munitions production) along with more than 300 passengers and crew members.
USS Cyclops never arrived in Baltimore (the port city of Maryland, USA), as the massive ship and 306 people completely vanished without a trace in the deep ocean. No one understands what happened!
Did USS Cyclops sink due to overloading or was it attacked by a storm? All remain a mystery! (Illustrative image).
Led by an experienced captain, the disappearance of the USS Cyclops sparked much controversy at the time.
Despite all-out search efforts day and night, the fate of the USS Cyclops remains completely shrouded in mystery.
