The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) tracks missing, unidentified, and unclaimed persons.
According to Wikipedia, the longest missing person’s case in U.S. history is Marvin Clark. Clark was born in Marion County, Iowa in 1852. He disappeared in Portland, Oregon in 1926 when he was 73-74 years old. Clark was traveling from his home in Tigard, Oregon to visit his daughter in Portland during the Halloween weekend, but he never arrived. His missing persons case is still open.
In 2021, there were 521,705 missing persons files in the United States, the highest reported number in any country. Statistically, Oregon, Arizona, and Alaska have the highest numbers of missing persons cases per 100,000 people. On average, 600,000 people are reported missing annually. One percent of the people who are reported missing in the U.S. remain missing each year. That’s approximately 6,000 people, but this number only includes people who were reported missing to NamUs.
Each year, 4,400 unidentified bodies are discovered in the United States. Approximately 40,000 bodies remain unidentified.
Some of the most famous true mysteries in the world are missing persons cases.
In honor of mystery month, I’m featuring thirteen unsolved true mysteries. What are your theories about these real-life mysteries? Why do you think they haven’t been solved?
The Roanoke Colony was an early English settlement attempt By Sir Walter Raleigh in the New World. In 1585, Settlers landed on Roanoke Island (present-day Dare, North Carolina). The settlers lacked adequate supplies and had trouble with nearby indigenous tribes. Governor Ralph Lane returned with the first settlers to England in 1586. Two weeks later , a supply ship arrived and also returned to England after leaving a small contingent there to guard Sir Walter Raleigh’s claim. A second expedition led by John White arrived in 1587 and set up another settlement. When the settlement was visited by a ship in 1590, all 112-121 colonists had disappeared including Virginia Dare, who is believed to be the first English child born in the New World. Historians have speculated that the settlers were either killed by Indigenous tribes, died of starvation and exposure, or moved to another island and assimilated with the indigenous peoples there. The settlement was fortified, but empty. The word CROATOAN had been carved into the palisade could have meant that the settlers moved to Croatoan Island. No settlers or their remains were ever found, and the mystery of the Lost Colony remains unsolved.
Amelia Earhart – In 1928 she became the first female passenger to cross the Atlantic Ocean by airplane. In 1932 she became the first woman to make a nonstop solo transatlantic flight, and she was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for her achievement. In 1937 Earhart attempted to become the first woman to complete a circumnavigational flight of the globe in a Lockheed Model 10-E Electra airplane with her navigator Fred Noonan. After making a stop in Lae, New Guinea, the next leg of their journey should have taken them to Howland Island, a tiny island in the central Pacific Ocean, where they intended to refuel. Their plane disappeared before reaching Howland Island. Historians believe Earhart crashed into the Pacific Ocean, but no traces of the plane were ever found. What do you think happened?
Edgar Allan Poe - After the death of his wife in 1847, rumors circulated about Edgar Allan Poe’s drinking and erratic behavior. On October 3, 1849, Poe was found delirious on the streets of Baltimore dressed in someone else’s clothing. He died at a local hospital on October 7, 1849. Poe never fully regained consciousness, but allegedly called out the name “Reynolds.” There was no one in his circle of acquaintances with that name. All medical records including his death certificate were mysteriously lost.
Doctors have speculated his death at 40 was caused by alcoholism. Some theorize Poe was the victim of “cooping,” a form of voter fraud where random citizens were abducted, taken to polling locations, and forced to vote for certain candidates. Many were forced to change clothing with other victims to alter their appearances at the polls.
Ambrose Bierce was an American Civil War soldier, author, journalist, and literary critic. His most acclaimed works include The Devil’s Dictionary and the short story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” In December 1913, Bierce reportedly went to Chihuahua, Mexico to gain first-hand experience of the Mexican Revolution by travelling with rebel troops. He was never heard from again.
Skeptics doubt the 71-year-old Bierce, who suffered from severe asthma, was healthy enough to make the trip. Letters from Bierce to his niece Lora indicate his intention to go and his desire to die in the pursuit of something instead of waiting idly for death to come. Bierce stated in his first letter, “To be a gringo in Mexico—ah, that is euthanasia.” His final letter was dated December 26, 1913.
Theories suggest Bierce was executed by Poncho Villa’s men, or he became ill and after his death, rebels buried him somewhere in Mexico. Another theory suggests Bierce settled in Mexico and lived the remainder of his life in anonymity. The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes offers a fictionalized account of his disappearance.
Agatha Christie disappeared in 1926 after her husband, Archie asked for a divorce. A heated argument ensued; Archie left to be with his mistress, Nancy Neele. Christie disappeared after leaving a note for her secretary saying she was going to Yorkshire. Christie’s abandoned car, expired driver’s license and clothes were later found at Newlands Corner. A newspaper offered a reward. One thousand police officers, 15,000 volunteers and several aircraft searched for Christie who was eventually found at the Swan Hydropathic Hotel registered as Mrs. Teresa Neele (the surname of Archie’s mistress).
Christie was diagnosed with Fugue State, probably caused by overwork and depression over the death of her mother the previous year and her husband’s infidelity. Fugue State, a rare temporary psychiatric disorder is characterized by reversible amnesia for personal identity. It often involves unplanned travel or wandering, and the establishment of a new identity.
Some angry fans labeled her disappearance a publicity stunt and others believed Christie was trying to embarrass her husband or frame him for her murder. Christie’s autobiography, published posthumously in 1977, makes no reference to her disappearance.
Barbara Newhall Follett - At twelve Barbara became a published author. Her novel. The House Without windows became a bestseller and Barbara officially became a child prodigy.
She had a fiercely independent spirit and at thirteen she signed up as a “cabin boy” on a ship bound for Novia Scotia to experience the sea firsthand. Her second novel is a pirate story, The Voyage of the Norman D., which was published in 1924 at the age of fourteen. It also received critical acclaim. It seemed Barbara’s life couldn’t get any better, but that same year her father left his family for a younger woman. Barbara continued to write and travel, determined to carry on without her beloved father.
She completed two more manuscripts, The Lost Island and Travels Without a Donkey.
When she was eighteen, Barbara hiked the Appalachian Trail with Nickerson Rogers. They later traveled through Europe together. Barbara kept writing articles and made notes for future manuscripts. In 1934 Barbara and Nickerson married and settled in Brookline, Massachusetts. By this time, Barbara’s manuscripts had fallen out of favor, and she was receiving regular rejection slips for the first time in her life. Barbara tried to fill the void by studying interpretive dance, but she struggled with depression. In 1937, she began to express unhappiness in her marriage, and by 1938, she suspected her husband of infidelity.
According to Nickerson Rogers on December 7, 1939, Barbara left their house after a quarrel with $30 in her pocket. She was never seen again. Rogers waited two weeks to notify the police of her disappearance. Barbara had a habit of running off unexpectedly. He claimed not to have been worried and had fully expected her to return once she calmed down. Since reports of her disappearance were filed under her married name, the media did not know of her disappearance until 1966. In 1952, her mother Helen grew tired of waiting for a break in the case. She insisted the police reinvestigate Nickerson Rogers’ involvement in her daughter’s disappearance. To this day no one has been able to prove or disprove that Barbara was the victim of foul play. A body was never found, and no date of her death has ever been established.
The fate of Barbara Newhall Follet Rogers remains a mystery. She simply disappeared without a trace much like her beloved character Eeperslip.
Antoine de Saint Exupéry was a French writer, poet, journalist, and aviator. He was the author of The Little Prince. He was a pilot for the French Air Force during World War II despite having reached the maximum age for pilots. During a reconnaissance mission over Corsica on July 31, 1944, his plane disappeared. Debris from the plane, which presumably crashed, was discovered near Marseilles in 2000, but the cause of the crash remains a mystery.
Solomon Northup was an American abolitionist and the primary author of the memoir, Twelve Years a Slave. He was a free born man of mixed race living in New York. He was lured to Washington D.C. where slavery was legal, by the promise of a job as a musician. Once there, he was drugged and kidnapped into slavery. He spent twelve years as a slave in Louisianna before he was freed. He lectured on behalf of the abolitionist movement after writing his memoir. In 1857, he seemed to disappear. Some people speculated he had been kidnapped again, but others argued that he would have been to old to be valuable to kidnappers in the slave trade. Whether he voluntarily left the limelight or was forced out, no details are known about his death. The last record of Northup was in 1863. He’s believed to have died in 1864.
Craig Arnold was an American poet and professor. Arnold went missing in 2009 while on a solo hike to explore an active volcano on the small island of Kuchinoerabujima, Japan. Japanese rescue workers searched for Arnold for six days. After that, an international non-government agency took over the search. His trail was found near a high cliff, and he was presumed to have fallen to his death.
Daniel Lind Lagerlöf is a Swedish director, producer, and screenwriter. On October 6, 2011, he disappeared during preparations for the filming of a movie in the Tjurpannan nature reserve. Lagerlöf was scouting a planned filing location with two crew members. The group split up and Lagerlöf failed to show up at their agreed rendezvous location later in the day. Authorities believe he was caught on slippery rocks by large waves of water and pulled out to sea near the steep cliffs. There were no witnesses and as of 2024, no remains have been found, but he is presumed dead.
Frederick Valentich was a twenty-year-old Australian pilot who disappeared during a training flight over Bass Strait. On October 21, 1978, Valentich informed Melbourne air traffic control that he was accompanied on his flight by an aircraft approximately 1,000 feet above him and his engine was running rough. Valentich later reported the object above him was not an aircraft. That night there were unsubstantiated claims of a UFO sighting in that general vicinity. Moments later his aircraft seemed to disappear. Officials speculate Valentich became disoriented and mistook the reflection of his own lights for an aircraft. Search and rescue teams covered a 1,000 square mile area, but found nothing. Five years later, an engine cowl flap with serial numbers matching part of the serial number for Valentich’s plane were found washed ashore on Flinders Island.
Jimmy Hoffa was an American labor union leader and president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He allegedly had ties to organized crime and served time in prison for jury tampering, mail and wire fraud, and conspiracy. After he was released from prison, Hoffa attempted to regain his leadership role with the Teamsters. Hoffa disappeared on July 30, 1975, after meeting with two known mafia figures. The next day his unlocked car was found in the parking lot. To this day, his body has not been found, and no arrests have been made.
D.B. Cooper – On November 24, 1971, D.B. Cooper boarded Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 in Portland, Oregon. During the flight to Seattle, Cooper handed flight attendant Florence Schaffner a note. At first she assumed the passenger was trying to get her phone number or ask for a date, so didn’t look at the note. Then he allegedly stated, “Miss, you better read that note, I have a bomb.” Cooper hijacked the flight and demanded $200,000 in cash and four parachutes upon landing in Seattle. Cooper released the passengers and ordered the pilot to refuel the aircraft and begin a flight to Mexico City. Thirty minutes after the start of the flight, Cooper opened the aft door of the aircraft and parachuted into the wilderness of southwestern Washington. Cooper’s true identity has never been discovered. In 1980, some of the ransom money was discovered along the riverbanks of the Columbia River near Vancouver, Washington. To date, it is the only unsolved case of air piracy in the history of commercial aviation.
Sources:
Missing Persons information: www.namus.nij.ojp.gov