Great Disappearances

[Chris]

Actually I thought Dr. Who solved that as an alien invasion which he defeated.

Yes, with an early Schermuly.

But seriously, here's Mike Dash's article "The Vanishing Lighthousemen of Eilean Mór":

http://www.mikedash.com/assets/files/Vanishing%20Lighthousemen.pdf

[Ginger]

This case has fascinated me for years, but I've long had the suspicion that all is not what it might seem with regard to investigations since 1937.

It does seem rather counterintuitive to me that the only piece of the airplane left on the beach would be an aluminium cover for the navigation window, one which could be traced not just to that type of plane, but to that very plane. It's not outside the realm of possibility that they wanted a piece of metal, and that was easiest to pry loose, but still...

[Ginger]

Mike Dash's article "The Vanishing Lighthousemen of Eilean Mór":
http://www.mikedash.com/assets/files...hthousemen.pdf

Oh, thank you! That's far and away the most detailed account I've ever read of that incident!

[sdreid]

One I recently noted as a 50th anniversary was the disappearance of brothers Allan and Terry Westerfield, ages 7 and 11 respectively. They were dropped off in front of a North Carolina theater on September 12 of 1964 and never seen again. It is presumed that they were abducted and murdered but nothing has ever been found.

[PaulB]

This book should be on everyones book case.

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Rob

What a damned handsome fellow!

[Mayerling]

Re: Fang Rock episode

Yes, with an early Schermuly.

But seriously, here's Mike Dash's article "The Vanishing Lighthousemen of Eilean Mór":
http://www.mikedash.com/assets/files...hthousemen.pdf

All I recall Chris was that Tom Baker was Dr. Who at the time, and the plot dealt with the survivors of a wrecked yacht and the lighthouse crew. It was some time ago (about 1990) when I saw the episode - and I haven't been following the series much in recent years (and through several new versions of the good "Doctor". I don't think the invaders were Daleks.

Jeff

[Rosella]

Thanks for the post on the missing lighthousemen, a new mystery to me. It certainly looks as if all three ventured out to help each other (perhaps one got into severe difficulties first) with storm damage perhaps, and were swept away.

In the case of the Westerfield brothers' disappearance, I believe there was some question as to whether they had actually entered the cineama in question. Their stepfather (who supposedly dropped them off that afternoon) seems to have been a person of interest to the police, but they could never get the evidence to charge him.

[Mayerling]

This book should be on everyones book case.

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Rob

I would agree with the bit in the biographical blurb (and you right, he is a handsome fellow), that many times details are dropped that would explain a situation leading to a vanishing that occurs. Years ago I wrote an article on the disappearance of Walter Powell, that Member of Parliament from Malmesbury, who vanished in December 1881 in his balloon "Saladin". The full story was far more interesting than the bits that were pushed together by Charles Fort and other writers regarding the incident. Powell, with the brother of another member of Parliament (a Mr. Agg-Gardiner), and a young military officer, were in the balloon on what initially was a beautiful day, but the weather got really bad. The storm that arose was quite violent. Still, there was a moment when the balloon was close enough to the ground for several men to hold onto it's anchor rope, and Agg-Gardiner and the officer jumped out (the officer breaking a limb). Powell apparently froze, and the party on the ground were unable to hold onto the rope. Once they dropped it he was stuck and doomed. Most of this was left out of any discussion of the incident by the commentators like Fort and Wilkins. It actually became a matter of where and how exactly Powell died, not an issue that he entered another dimension or was whisked away by an 1881 UFO or anything like that.

I concluded that Powell's interest in aviation was a tragic loss to the nation in the next twenty to thirty years, as he had a fairly safe seat in Parliament, and had he lived he would have become a crusader for government backing of aviation projects (for example, Sir Hiram Maxim's flying machine of the 1890s, or even better the work of Percy Pilcher (killed in a gliding accident with the "Hawke" in 1899). Pilcher wanted to get a gasoline engine attached to the "Hawke" and (had Powell been an active voice in the government in the late 1890s) he might have gotten government assistance.

Of course my conclusions were my own opinions, but I felt fairly secure about them once I knew who Powell was and how he developed his interest in ballooning. But none of that appears in most accounts of his unfortunate disappearance (read demise).

Jeff

[Mayerling]

Yes, with an early Schermuly.

But seriously, here's Mike Dash's article "The Vanishing Lighthousemen of Eilean Mór":
http://www.mikedash.com/assets/files...hthousemen.pdf

Excellent article on the tragedy - and a sensible one. I did think of a possible area of further probing on a side issue - Donald MacArthur was substituting for one William Ross, who was home on sick leave at the time. One wonders what Ross's thoughts were of the tragedy, as he would have been the third dead man if he had not been on sick leave.

Secondly, I was wondering if the story may have influenced a current author coming to the end of his career. The French writer, Jules Verne, would publish (as the last completed novel he wrote in his own lifetime - several would be completed by his son Michel after he died) "The Lighthouse at the End of the World", about a lighthouse tragedy in the waters of the Straits of Magellan. This book was published the year Verne died (1905), and the death of two of the members of a lighthouse crew is due to a ship or latter day pirates and ship wreckers, not to rough seas or high waves. Yul Brynner and Kirk Douglas made a movie version of the novel, "The Light at the End of the World" in the 1970s.

Jeff

[Chris]

All I recall Chris was that Tom Baker was Dr. Who at the time, and the plot dealt with the survivors of a wrecked yacht and the lighthouse crew. It was some time ago (about 1990) when I saw the episode - and I haven't been following the series much in recent years (and through several new versions of the good "Doctor". I don't think the invaders were Daleks.

The alien was a Rutan. A sad reminder of how inferior the series is currently, for all the technical wizardry and media hysteria:

http://cdogzilla.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/horror-of-fang-rock-dont-fire-until-you.html

[Harry D]

Wouldn't the lighthouse keepers bodies have been swept back to shore?

[Harry D]

The case of Jared Negrete sounds like a tragic accident. My guess would be that he got bored waiting and tried to join the rest of the troop. Where he was is a dangerous place. On the other hand, he's been missing for more than two decades. You have thought his remains would have been found by now, but rock crevices can hide a lot.

Indeed, Paul, although I'd argue he was scared rather than bored, being left alone in the middle of the wilderness, like that. I'm betting that wasn't Scout Law! It's amazing that they were able to retrieve his camera so soon into the search but haven't been able to find any trace of Jared since.

Also, what was the deal with the "selfie"? They weren't exactly the rage back in 1991, so why did he decide to photograph himself? Apparently it was taken at nighttime when Jared was separated from the troop. From what I've read the photo itself is quite haunting but for the life of me I cannot find it online.

[Ginger]

Another spooky case from Ohio is that of Melvin Horst. He was four years old, and had been playing with some friends in a vacant lot near his house, just after Christmas of 1928. He left them to go home for dinner, and never arrived. The toy he'd had with him while playing with his friends was found in the front yard of his house (some sources say on the front porch), so whatever happened to him happened when he was just a few steps from safety.

The case generated an unusual amount of attention, and resulted in a dramatic sequence of accusations, arrests, an overturned conviction, and much ensuing drama.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/h/horst_melvin.html

[Ginger]

Also, what was the deal with the "selfie"? They weren't exactly the rage back in 1991, so why did he decide to photograph himself?

Just speculation, but I wonder if he was losing hope of being rescued, and wanted his parents to have a last picture?

[Mayerling]

Indeed, Paul, although I'd argue he was scared rather than bored, being left alone in the middle of the wilderness, like that. I'm betting that wasn't Scout Law! It's amazing that they were able to retrieve his camera so soon into the search but haven't been able to find any trace of Jared since.

Also, what was the deal with the "selfie"? They weren't exactly the rage back in 1991, so why did he decide to photograph himself? Apparently it was taken at nighttime when Jared was separated from the troop. From what I've read the photo itself is quite haunting but for the life of me I cannot find it online.

Not quite the same thing but it reminds me of how the experts on Mount Everest show more interest in finding Andrew Irvine's camera (hopefully with the film in it still developable) rather than his body. They did find Mallory's body over a decade ago, but the camera might settle the issue of whether George Mallory did indeed reach the summit in 1924.

As for missing camera film that is subsequently found - best example are the pictures of Saloman Andree and his two companions in the 1897 balloon flight from Spitsbergen to the Arctic circle (the intention was to get to the North Pole). Despite some messages the balloon and it's three aeronauts "disappeared", and their remains were not found until 1933 on White Island in the north of the Soviet Union/Russia. The film was found in the camera, and some of the pictures (including one of the crashed balloon) were developed.

If you really want to consider a long shot (at this point - 99 years) read A.A. and Mary Hoehling's book "The Last Voyage of the Lusitania" (1958), where they mention some movie cameraman on the sinking liner was taking film of the panic-stricken passengers and the sinking deck, insisting these were "the greatest pictures ever!" Naturally he did not survive, and the camera and it's contents never turned up (would it have survived under water? I doubt it!).

Jeff