The history of mankind is full of mysteries to which we, apparently, are no longer destined to find out the answer. Many of them are associated with mysterious incidents that did not have witnesses. The most famous of them, such as the mystery of the Dyatlov Pass or the history of the lost Roanoke colony, have become world famous and overgrown with countless conjectures and legends. However, these two cases do not end with the mysterious incidents that have actually happened in human history.
And today we decided to tell about less famous, but no less mysterious and exciting stories, the heroes of which were people who disappeared without a trace.
The disappearance of the lighthouse keepers
The lighthouse, located on the Scottish isle of Eileen More, is famous for the mysterious story of the disappearance of three strong men. This happened in 1900, when the chief caretaker of the lighthouse, Joseph Moore, took leave of his subordinates and sailed to the coastal station of Brasklite. So on December 5, First Assistant Superintendent Thomas Marshall, Second Assistant Superintendent James Ducat and Assistant Superintendent Donald MacArthur were left alone on the island.
Lighthouse on the island of Eileen Mor.
Ten days later, word came from the crew of the steamer "Arktor" to Brasklite station. The sailors reported that the light was off at the lighthouse in violation of all instructions. However, either out of carelessness, or because of the impending bad weather, no one swam to the island to check if everything was in order.
Joseph Moore sailed to the island only on December 26 after a violent storm, but did not find anyone at the lighthouse. The lighthouse doors and windows were locked, the keepers' waxed raincoats hung inside, the lighthouse lamps were filled, all the clocks were on.
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The only thing that disturbed the overall picture of order was the overturned dining table. The men were nowhere to be found, but Moore was sure that his subordinates could not leave the lighthouse at the same time, since this was strictly forbidden by instructions, and the missing were experienced and responsible people.
During the investigation of this loss, the tiny island was pierced meter by meter, but no traces of Marshall, Dukat and MacArthur were found. On this occasion, the most incredible versions are put forward: evil spirits, aliens and even fantastic birds are accused of disappearing.
The investigation adheres to a more prosaic version: presumably, anticipating an imminent bad weather, the men went to the rocks to secure the equipment, but were washed away by a sudden surging wave (which had been observed here before). Perhaps, they were forced to violate the instructions by their acute reluctance to finish the work under the squally wind and intensified rain.
Springfield Trinity
Another story about the disappearance of three people at once. This happened in the city of Springfield on June 7, 1992. 19-year-old friends Suzanne Streeter and Stacey McCall graduated from high school and had a great time at the graduation party. After the holiday, at about two o'clock in the morning, the girls went to Suzanne's home, where her mother Cheryl Levitt was at that moment. Nobody saw them again.
The girl's acquaintance Janelle Kirby was the first to be found missing, who looked into the house with her boyfriend: recent schoolchildren were going to spend the day at the water park, but Suzanne and Stacey did not get in touch. According to Janelle, the door was unlocked, the shade of the lantern above the porch was broken, although the light bulb survived. There was no one in the house, except for the Yorkshire Terrier that belonged to Suzanne and her mother. The dog was very excited.
Initially, Janelle and her boyfriend did not think that something serious had happened. They even without any malicious intent swept the glass from the broken lampshade from the porch, possibly destroying some of the evidence.
Suzanne and Stacy at the prom.
As a result, the alarm was sounded by Mrs. McCall, who had been unable to contact her daughter for a long time. She visited the Streeters' house and found Stacey's wallet and clothes. Mrs. McCall listened to the answering machine and, according to her, found a very strange message, but accidentally erased the recording.
The police reported the incident 16 hours after the disappearance. The guards did not find any signs of a struggle in the house. The investigation into the case was at a standstill until 2007, when hardened criminal Robert Craig Cox was arrested, who said that he knew something about the disappearance of the Springfield Trinity.
Investigators found out that in 1992 Cox lived in the same city as the disappeared and may indeed know something or be involved in the disappearance. However, Cox himself said that he would tell everything he knew only after the death of his mother. The case has not yet been solved.
The missing crew of the Mary Celeste
The melodious sailing ship Maria Celeste was 12 years old when it was handed over to the new captain Benjamin Briggs. On November 5, 1872, a ship under his control left the New York port of Staten Island and headed for Genoa, Italy. On the ship, in addition to the captain, were his wife, two-year-old daughter and a crew of seven sailors.
The ship was supposed to deliver ethanol belonging to Meissner Ackermann & Coin to its destination, but the sailboat never arrived in Italy. Four weeks later, the ship was discovered by the captain who knew Briggs personally, David Reed Morehouse, who commanded the brig "Dei Grazia".
The ship appeared to Morehouse intact, there was not a single person on board. Everything testified to the urgent evacuation of people from the ship: there was no boat, the compass was broken when they hastily tried to remove it from the wall. However, the reasons that led people to leave the ship are unclear.
The captain's untouched jewels and the remaining undisturbed oil can, left by the captain's wife on a sewing machine, refuted the version of a pirate attack or a storm. The cargo was almost completely intact (only nine barrels were missing), the ship's log remained on board, the last entry in which, dated November 24, reports that the ship is approaching the island of Santa Maria.
The most plausible version of what happened was expressed by a distant relative of Briggs: he suggested that the alcohol was packaged leaky and slowly evaporated, which, when an accidental spark appeared, provoked a micro-explosion in the hold. Fearing a repeated, stronger explosion, the captain urgently evacuated the crew, tying the boat to the Maria Celeste with gear to hoist one of the sails.
However, when the wind picked up, the ship rushed forward, and the tackle, tied to the crowded boat, strained and torn. Perhaps then the boat was overturned by a wave, and all its passengers were killed.
Carolina Sagers Milonski and her daughter
On November 21, 1987, the owner of a Summerville store in South Carolina discovered that his subordinate, Carolina Sagers Milonsky, had not shown up for work. The man could not contact the worker and went in search of her.
Before reaching Carolina's house, the boss discovered her car. The closed car was parked near the plantation where the woman's husband worked. To be on the safe side, the chief called the police and reported the disappearance of the person.
Law enforcement officers found out that the last time Caroline was seen was when she was driving along the highway at about 11 o'clock in the afternoon. The police were unable to obtain any more information. No signs of a struggle were found near the car, and a study of the plantation also yielded no results.
There was no change in the case until another disappearance occurred on October 4, 1988: this time, Caroline's 11-year-old daughter from her first marriage, Annette Sagers, disappeared.
The police suggested what the matured Annette should look like, and made up her modern composite.
The last girl was seen by her stepfather. At about seven o'clock in the morning, she was waiting for the school bus at the very plantation where her mother had disappeared. When the driver arrived to pick up the schoolgirl, Annette was gone. The girl's stepfather did not know that his stepdaughter was missing until he realized that she had not returned from school. Then the man went to the bus stop, where he found a note with the words: “Dad, mom is back. Hug the boys. Boys were girls' brothers.
The examination established that the note was indeed written by Annette. Until now, this piece of paper remains the only piece of evidence in the disappearance case. As a result, this story was overgrown with legends: some locals assume that Carolina was abducted by aliens and returned for her daughter, others think that Annette was taken by the ghost of her murdered mother.
Modern users put forward more pragmatic versions. According to one of them, the woman's husband is involved in the disappearance of Carolina and Annette (however, the investigation has no confirmation of this theory), according to the second, Carolina ran away with her lover and returned after a few months for her daughter.
The disappearance of five children from their own bedroom
On Christmas Eve 1945, Virginia innkeeper George and Jenny Sodder were at home with their nine children. It was already ten in the evening, but the older sister Marion gave the kids toys, and they did not want to go to bed. Leaving the younger children under the supervision of the older ones, George and Jenny went to rest, asking the young company not to stay up late and taking with them two-year-old Sylvia, who was already noticeably nodding.
Jenny woke up around 1 am smelling the smoke. She ran out of the bedroom and realized that the house was on fire. Unable to get to the phone, she woke her husband and Marion, who was dozing on the sofa in the living room, asking her to take little Sylvia outside. Jenny then started screaming to wake up the children whose bedroom was upstairs, but only the two older boys came down to her. Nobody else saw the rest of the kids.
Their bodies were also not found. Parents refused to believe that five of their children died in the fire, and suggested that the kids could have been kidnapped by the Sicilian mafia. Seven years after the tragedy, inconsolable parents set up a billboard near their home with photographs of their children and a request to inform them of their whereabouts.
According to the head of the family, they had reasons to suspect that the children had been kidnapped: shortly before the incident, a man came to him trying to get a job. Looking at the electrical panels, he said that one day they would cause a fire. The owner of the hotel had invited experts from the electrical company the day before, who checked the wiring and concluded that it was in excellent condition, so he turned a deaf ear to these words.
After that, an insurer approached George, offering to insure the entire Sodder family. When he was refused, he promised George that all his children would die and that this would be a payback for the hotel owner allowing himself to speak rudely about Mussolini (George really often criticized the politician).
What really happened that night at the Sodders' house is still not known.
Bennington Triangle
Such a strange name was given to the forests located around Mount Glustenbury in Bennington County, the American state of Vermont. In this place, as in the famous Bermuda Triangle, people disappear without a trace. At least five Americans are known to have disappeared in the Bennington Triangle and left no trace.
The first disappearance occurred in 1945. The 74-year-old forester Middie Rivers and four hunters made his way through the forest between a hiking trail and a motorway. At some point, Rivers went a little ahead, and the satellites lost sight of him. Nothing is known about his further fate. According to the hunters, the experienced forester simply could not get lost.
A year later, 18-year-old sophomore Paula Welden disappeared in this forest. The girl went for a walk along the Long Trail hiking trail, but she never returned. Paula was the daughter of a famous architect, so her disappearance was the reason to organize a hitherto non-existent Vermont police unit. Until 1947, investigators from New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut were conducting searches, even the FBI was involved.
Paula Welden.
Almost no trace of the girl was found. Although later a suspect appeared - one of the local residents, who, according to rumors, once in a drunken stupor admitted that he knew where the girl had gone. However, since Paula's body was never found, there was no trial over this man.
Three years later, there was perhaps one of the most mysterious disappearances in the Bennington Triangle. James Thedford was returning home by bus from relatives. He was last seen in the back seat of a bus, where his belongings and an open brochure with a transport timetable remained. It was at the penultimate stop of the route. However, James never arrived at the terminal. Until now, no one knows what happened to him and how this is possible.
According to police, only one person has gone missing in the Bennington Triangle over the past 50 years, so today it can be called a calm place.
A year after the disappearance of James Tedford in the Bennington Triangle, 8-year-old Paul Jephson disappeared. He rode in a truck with his mother. At some point, the woman stopped the car and was distracted for a few seconds. This time was enough for the boy to evaporate. Volunteers and policemen combed the entire forest for Paul, but found no clue. Moreover, the boy was wearing a bright scarlet jacket, which is easy to spot.
Sixteen days later, 53-year-old Frida Langer disappeared in the Bennington Triangle, having gone on a hike with her cousin. She fell into a stream and got wet, which is why she left her companion for a while and headed to the campsite to change. No one saw her again.
This ends the cases of mysterious disappearances in the Bennington Triangle.
All these stories make people puzzle over what happened for more than a decade. Someone finds it easier to write off what is happening on mysticism, the more persistent continue to dig in the archives, hoping to find the answer.
But no matter how many years pass, these stories will not be forgotten, because human nature will not allow to disappear without a trace that which once awakened such burning curiosity in the mind.