Subscriptions. This theory fits with what we don't know. Deer carcasses were strewn about the valley. He believed that this time they would be successful, as the weather was clear and the climbing conditions perfect, but Landers was about to become a strange unsolved mystery. But the skeleton is an extremely important discovery because it gives archaeologists an insight into Greeces darker side of history. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Have you visited the Great Smoky Mountains National Park? The high country of southern Australia is remote and beautiful and unpredictable, a place where visitors can be swallowed up without a sound. But a treasure as shrouded in mystery and notoriety as the Lost Dutchman's Mine can have no ordinary map such as you might find on a spinner rack at a gas station or by asking Siri to direct you to the ancient and mysterious Apache gold cache. At one point, David asked his mother for the car keys so that he could go get a box of cookies that he wanted to eat. We searched that exact area. Why couldn't he hear or see the people looking for him? Dennis, at the age of only 6, disappeared in the mountains without a trace in 1969, never to be seen again. He was sentenced to life without parole in 2006. The various stones have been named the Trail Maps, the Priest Map, the Horse Map (featuring a horse drawn with a disturbingly succulent butt), the Stone Crosses, and the Heart Map. These include people who may have wanted to intentionally vanish, though the cases of other missing people have . I had a very strange happening in the Smokey Mountains. Im Joe, a researcher of ancient knowledge and the unexplained. Derek Lueking disappeared about ten years ago. With 4 lifts servicing over 18 runs, 22km of XC and snowshoe trails, and the best view in northern Manitoba, there's plenty to explore at Mystery Mountain Winter Park. The weather was so mild that it was hard to believe that Thanksgiving was only two weeks away. Stay warm. The book is sold in visitor centers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and online at smokiesstore.org. In front of him, he saw a huge pile of gold nuggets against the canyon wall (you know, like mines have). It was also on the beer koozie he was holding. As many left their homes when they felt the tremor, they saw a blinding light on the mountainside. We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. The Mysterious Stories Blog - Read about strange, disturbing and mysterious stories from the outdoors, from around the world. And then just disappears off the face of the Earth. Somebody on Reddit has some theories which can be found here. However, the book notes that in many cases, a body is found. Deer carcasses were strewn about the valley. Speculation over the ancestry of these mountain folk has ranged from claims that they are descendants of the Lost Colony of Roanoke who fled to the Appalachian Mountains to theories . It was such a thorough search, and there were so many resources used, you wonder why we couldn't find him there. The Crazy Mountains of Montana have long been seen as a harsh, rugged range of wilderness with a sense of mystery. When Sayers did not contact friends and family at 6 p.m. as promised authorities were alerted and a search was carried out that would quickly expand to include hundreds of searchers, aircraft equipped with FLIR infrared systems, drones, and tracker dogs, but no trace of her was found despite a massive 3-week operation. His headless body was found months later, tied up in a blanket with his skull 30 feet away. The cattlemen who once roamed the rugged country stretching hundreds of miles northeast of Melbourne say it is an easy place to disappear if youre not careful, or if you want to. It was as if she had just evaporated into thin air. Three years later, the head of a Melbourne prison, David Prideaux, 50, went missing while hunting deer in the mountains. An escapee from a psychiatric ward who had homicidal tendencies was spotted around the area where Mr. Meyer had vanished. The first bodies, which were completely frozen, were found almost 1.6 kilometers (1 mi) away, next to the remnants of a burned-out fire. But in Thunder God's Gold, Barry Storm alleges that on his own search for the mine, he had barely escaped the fire of a sniper he called "Mr. X" who he believed was protecting the mine. Another strange disappearance here in the same area occurred on September 25, 1981, when 58-year-old Thelma Pauline Melton, often called just Polly by her friends, was hiking with two of her friends near the Deep Creek Campground. For example, Hope Collins, Trennys mother, writes a letter about coming to terms with her loss. Nahanni National Park, part of the Mackenzie Mountains region in Canada, has become known as the Valley of Headless Men and with good reason. To even get into the cave, he had to be a certified cave diver (this cave had a locked gate you had to show proof of your certification in order to get a key for the gate to go in). An early bizarre vanishing of this type was related by missing persons researcher David Paulides, author of the Missing 411 series of books concerning people who have disappeared under bizarre circumstances, and it happened in the summer of 1938, when 4-year-old Alfred Beilhartz was on a fishing and camping trip with his family at Colorados Rocky Mountain National Park. Camping and hiking are popular activities in the area. Top left: Conrad Whitlock, top right: Niels Becker, bottom left: Carol Clay, bottom right: Russell Hill. It was a well travelled route with good weather, yet at some point during the hike, at around 3PM in an area just below Clingmans Dome, it was noticed that Gibson was no longer with her group, and had somehow become separated from them or had wandered off. In some cases, you even get to hear from the families through published written letters. It involves a double murder that took place 103 years ago. Wikipedia can help you walk through the timeline. But Dennis is not the only young person to disappear in the mountains. There is no evidence that the Button Man had anything to do with the disappearances, or ever saw Mr. Hill and Ms. Clay at their campsite. Despite a massive ensuing search, Landers was never found, and it is a mystery how he could have so thoroughly disappeared within such a short amount of time under ideal climbing conditions on such an open landscape. Find out which popular steakhouse prepared each of these delicious bites of steak below (photos by Morgan Overholt/TheSmokies.com), Flapjack's Pancake Cabin has six locations around the Smokies (photo by Morgan Overholt/TheSmokies.com). What strange disappearances have you heard about? As is true of nearly any sufficiently old and popular legend, there are many variations on the tale of the Lost Dutchman's Mine, but most complete versions start with the Peralta family. With around 10 million visitors annually, it is perhaps no surprise that some people may get lost in the wilderness here, and many are, but they are typically located by dedicated rescue efforts within 48 hours. A ruse so the campers, who were not married to each other, could run away together? However, the greatest danger is said to be the violent Naha tribe of the mountains. The hikers reported that the boy had been forlornly sitting alone up there and had then suddenly moved out of sight, which the hikers mysteriously allegedly said looked as if he were being jerked back. At the time they could not figure out how such a young boy would be out there in the remote wilderness by himself or how he could have possibly climbed up onto that formidably high ridge. Very few things are more exciting than the prospect of rolling up your sleeves like Indiana Jones or Scrooge McDuck and uncovering a long-hidden hoard of gold and making the cover of all the papers. After DNA testing, the body turned out to be 21-year-old, Lucas Renoud. Although this is a possibility, many skeptics have claimed that it is nothing more than an accidental glitch.[4]. Join MU Plus+ and get exclusive shows and extensions & much more! Keith Leydon at home with research materials for his book on the unsolved murders of James Barclay and John Bamford. The students were hiking from the parking area towards a spot called Andrews Bald, and had separated into smaller groups based on how fast they could walk during the hike. Its easy to imagine that something could be lurking in the bush when night falls and fog covers the mountains of the Wonnangatta Valley. But they're even better known for something else: the legendary Lost Dutchman's Mine, a much-ballyhooed secret stash of wealth sought by daring adventurers known as "Dutch hunters." MU Plus+ Podcasts. At one point along their scenic hike, Jim claimed that he stopped to admire the scenery, and when he turned to look behind him after a mere minute, Barbara was nowhere to be seen. (Image credit: Public Domain) On June 4 . Dennis, along with his brother (Douglas), father (William) and grandfather (Clyde), started at Cades Cove and hiked to Russell Field where they camped overnight. In the meantime, her car remained abandoned at the trailhead and there was no activity on her phone. A complete search of the surrounding area would turn up no trace of what happened to the woman, and although Jim Ramaker had been the last person to see her, police never found any reason to suspect he had done anything to her. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. One day in 1913, when Bierce was in his 70s, he told his friends and family he was going to Mexico to join . It remains one of Vermont's most enduring mysteries. The following year saw arguably the most infamous missing persons case in Vermont history: the disappearance of Paula Welden. The Heart Map features not one but two pop-out hearts, including the so-called Latin Heart, which bears a number of inscriptions in not entirely accurate Latin. What does his disappearance have to do with Shannon Greens disappearance and Angie Dickens murder? We may never know, and Alfred Beilhartz has never been found. When President Lincoln created a reservation for the Apache along the Verde River, Thorne got his chance. The search began immediately after the boy wandered away from his brothers, and within days the National Guard and a team of bloodhounds had joined the search [source: Desert Sun ]. While I had heard of six-year-old Dennis Martin, I was unfamiliar with so many others who have seemingly disappeared without a trace in the Smokies. The witness who saw him go into the cave, a park employee, later admitted that he let him into the cave due to the fact that hed snuck his way in numerous times before, so he figured there was no harm in just letting him through seeing as hed sneak in anyway. They attract millions of tourists yearly from across the country and overseas. The range's notable peaks were Caradhras . I honestly think the real story has never been told to the public. There are rumors about what might have happened. Many other hikers saw Sayers at the peak that day. The show is great and highly recommended if you are interested in mysterious disappearances from the great outdoors. Locals, who say visitors now come to the mountains hoping for a run-in with the man of legend, worry about his safety. Exclusive shows & extensions. Here are 48 of the most bone-chilling tales of unsolved disappearances, perplexing deaths, baffling murder mysteries, and more. Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. He never returned from the cave, and his remains have NEVER BEEN FOUND despite extensive searching. He suggests that Adolph Ruth may have also gotten too close and fallen prey to this mysterious sniper (who apparently uses a revolver instead of, say, a rifle). What in the world happened to Jaryd Atadero? What is especially strange about this mountain is that a point on one of its faces is blacked out on Google Earth. The mountains are vast and beautiful. The book was first published in 1998 and then updated in 2009. They had met with another group visiting the area, ironically also named Martin. No cameras saw him leaving. Most of the Wonnangatta Valley is not accessible in the winter. To this day, there is no explanation for the mysterious goings-on in the Nahanni Valley. During her walk, she went to talk with older member of the group named Gerald Stuart, who she saw sitting on a log not far away. There is no official conclusion to the case, and most likely, there never will be. Grubb is a photographer and certified physical education teacher. With little else to explain the disappearances, attention has focused on the Button Man. The autopsy was inconclusive with no trauma or drugs detected and the death was put down to "natural causes". One thing there is evidence for is that maybe the Lost Dutchman's Mine is safer left to the realm of myth. The remains showed no obvious signs of trauma or injury, yet despite this the prevailing theory was that he had been attacked and dragged off by a mountain lion. And the FBI is looking for some random green car. There is no indication that the police consider him a person of interest. Was David Gonzales killed by a mountain lion, a murderer, or is there something stranger going on here? It rises around the picturesque mountains in the Siskiyou County at an altitude of over 4322 meters above sea level. It would not be until 4 years later that he would finally be found, when on June 4, 2003 his remains were discovered up in a remote, inaccessible area up a steep incline about 500 feet above the trail he had vanished on. What really happened is still unclear. The series of waterfalls is close to Lons-le-Saunier in the mountainous Jura region of France, near the border with Switzerland. Ive read books on this case and its still just as mysterious, as to who murderer Beth and what happened to Vivienne. This one bothers me because I feel like she did everything right. What is going on here? When he acquired a number of maps to old mines, Ruth became something of an amateur treasure hunter, and in an attempt to find a mine in California, had fallen down a ravine, permanently injuring one of his legs. Mysteriously, it also had a note instructing others to not look for him. There are reports of strange voices and shadows that emerge from the area, as well as various tales of sightings of aliens and lizard people, but you can Google that nonsense yourself. To me, this was the most interesting section of the book. What is surprising is just how many people have come to visit only to seemingly step off the face of the earth and never be seen again, often in very short order. While this seems logical, many skeptics continue to believe that something else took place on the mountain that night. AZ Central reports on the bodies of three more men found in 2011 who had been lost in 2010 while seeking the mine, one of whom had been lost and rescued the year before in the same search. Within this wilderness, a string of hikers and campers have met a fate similar to Mr. Hills and Ms. Clays in recent years. David disappeared for Owensboro, Ky in 1986. Also, tell them to contact the park if you do not return as expected at (865) 436-1230. As Jen Wolfe reports, many people in the area believe the Superstition Mountains were sacred to the local Native Americans, who believed it to be the home of the Thunder God, who housed a great treasure there that he would protect at all costs. They Just Might Be, Forget Loch Ness: It Was the River Ness That Terrified the Scots Centuries Ago, Bizarre Texas Cattle Mutilations Have Finally Caught the Attention of Mainstream Media, Five Bizarre and Creepy Haunted Places in Japan, Weird Accounts of Winged Humanoid Monsters. The book is broken up into three main sections: Those who vanished without a trace, the puzzlers and finally, deliberate disappearances. A New Theory Claims that the "Eye of the Sahara" is Atlantis. The authors are Juanitta Baldwin and Ester Grubb. They rented a scenic cabin for the night and Stacey put her things in her room and headed off on a short walk in the general vicinity, not planning to go far. The Dutchman terminology comes from the same mix-up of the words "Deutsch" (German for "German") and "Dutch" (English for "Dutch") that gives us such terms as "Pennsylvania Dutch.". Around the valley, the grandchildren of people directly or indirectly involved in the case are now in their 70s and 80s. Since that moment, the search for the Lost Dutchman's Mine has been on. Among the Berchtesgaden Alps on the Germany-Austria border lies the Untersberg mountain. In 1959, on Siberias notorious Dyatlov Pass (aka Death Mountain), nine young Russian students on a skiing trip disappeared and were later found dead under extremely mysterious circumstances. This is where the case gets weird. He gathered up as much as his non-Dutch arms could carry and later sold the nuggets for $6,000, presumably in 1870 dollars. Mallory and Irvine on Everest. In 2005 the tape magically reappeared. 6. Their destination was the picturesque Sunrise Meadows area, where on July 25 they stopped to rest at a place called Sunrise High Sierra Camp, where there were accommodations at nine cabins situated along the rugged fifty-mile High Sierra Camp Loop at an altitude of around 9,400 feet above sea level. Is there Sufficient Evidence? In this case, not a single scrap of clothing, backpack, or any other equipment was ever found, and it remains a puzzling enigma. Dennis Martin is not the only person to have disappeared in the Smoky Mountains. Sometimes, the distances involved are incredibly long and could not have been traveled in the time lost. Over on Reddits r/truecrime forum, some dedicated true crime fans shared the most bizarre missing persons cases theyve heard of. Deering was owed $200 in a crack deal in 2000, so he doused a home full of children with charcoal lighter fluid and set the building on fire. MERRIJIG, Australia A blanket of fog hanging before him, Lachlan Culican saddled up his horse one autumn morning and set off into the remote high country of southern Australia to find two campers gone missing. Only one body was ever found, and he was apparently "squeezed to death" in a location filled with . On the dead boy's cranium were found a series of odd scratches that were assumed to be from a mountain lion, yet big cat experts pointed out that a cougar would have torn at the sweater and body near the neck and stomach, damage that was absent. Search and Rescue Sgt. Again, there are plenty of versions of the story, but the key detail is that a group of Apaches killed all the Peraltas but one. Thorne would spend years living among the Apache, tending to their sick and wounded, and garnering respect from tribal leaders. Founded in 2010, Thought Catalog is owned and operated by The Thought & Expression Company, Inc. For over a decade, we've been at the bleeding edge of media, pioneering an infrastructure for creatives to flourish both artistically and financially. Mysteries of the Smokies: Five missing people never found. . It wasn't until later that campers discovered a note in a bottle written by Ruth saying that he had (again) broken his leg and needed help. They claimed that they had seen a young boy perched up upon a high ridge in an area ominously called The Devils Nest, near the top of Mt. More Disappearances. It creates its own legends and its own mysteries.. He stayed there for three months, Mr. McCormack said, and his message when he returned was: Justice was done, and leave it alone., Theres people who know more, but theyre all dying, Mr. McCormack added, and Im not saying too much more either.. During a five-year period (1945 - 1950), five individuals, male and female, ranging in age from 8-years-old to 70+, vanished under mysterious circumstances. Mackinac Island is one of the most historic, beautiful and unique locations in the country. It is unknown just what happened to Stacey Arras and she has not been seen since. Baby Sabrina just basically vanished into thin air. She did not have access to the internet in her home- no chance she was trying to meet an internet stranger. The mountain is located in the Cascade Range in northern California. Multiple sources collaborate that he was staying at a hotel near Cherokee, North Carolina near the national park. Often, fugitives on the run hide in the thick growths of trees and fog within the more than half a million acres of land in the national park. I am amazed at how many teenagers were running away in the 1970s according to the police. It was an easy trail that Melton had been hiking for 20 years, so she knew the lay of the land intimately, yet as they were hiking at a leisurely pace she rounded a bend in front of her friends and seemingly stepped off the face of the earth. Before he had set off, the locals had told him to ignore any strangely acting animals as they were not of this world. Stacey told him she would explore ahead a bit and be right back. Legend tells of a young boy taken up Mount Lykaion as an offering to Zeus. He had seemingly just ceased to exist. She was uncomfortable enough to ask her boyfriend to meet her at the showing and he did, but he showed up late and waited outside. It should also be noted that it was April during the spring equinox. She was 183 meters (600 ft) from Igors body, making it appear as if they had been trying to crawl back to the tents. The wild, untamed expanses of the African continent are no stranger to dark mysteries. Likewise, the mine found its way onto TV, such as in a 1961 episode of the Western series Laramie, and more improbably, a 13-episode serialized story on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon Ruff and Reddy. According to legend, Khans tomb was a vast necropolis hidden deep inside the mountains and the builders of the tomb were executed to conceal the secret. More listening: Crime Junkie did an episode on Najal. Making the whole scene even more bizarre was that Melton was overweight, and suffered from high blood pressure and nausea for which she took medication, making it bizarre that she could have gotten so far away from her friends so fast. The second disappearance was a college student by the name of Paula Weldon, who had set a goal to hike Vermont's famed Long Trail and never returned. Welden was an 18-year-old student at Bennington College who decided to hike a leg of the Long Trail during Thanksgiving break when . Other times, he seems agitated and grills them about what they are doing. It was one of the longest and most extensive searches for a lost person in the park. Considering the difficulty of the terrain, the elevation, and the steep, treacherous climb up to the ridge on which the hikers had claimed to have seen the boy, park rangers came to the conclusion that it would have been impossible for the boy to have made the hike out there in the timeframe involved on his own, and that he could not have possibly climbed the ridge alone without specialized climbing equipment and experience. OPEN SATURDAY, APRIL 15 AND 16. 6 Disturbing Unsolved Mysteries In Virginia That Will Leave You Baffled. The only clue that was turned up was some witnesses who claimed to have seen the boy walking along a road near the campsite not long after he disappeared. It is also said that animals are often afraid to go near the mountain, with some halting and some attempting to turn around.

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