Basmajan Garabed (Garig) Krikor
Garig was born in Jerusalem on December 20, 1947. In his student years, he migrated to the homeland of his ancestors in Yerevan, entered the institute and plunged into the study of ancient languages. And in 1972 he managed to get to France, where he stayed forever.
Krikor was a poet, but he was not remembered for his poetry. Bohemia knew him as a fanatical collector: in addition to a huge number of paintings, he was the owner of one of the world's largest collection of icons. For the public, Garig was a generous philanthropist (thanks to his huge fortune). And learned people considered him a qualified art critic. In general, the audience loved him.
Even Soviet patriots and pioneers treated him condescendingly, despite his flight. After all, Basmadzhan opened the Gallery of Russian Art on Raspay Boulevard in Paris and often donated masterpieces of Russian artists to the Soviet Union, which he himself bought at auctions for serious money. Therefore, when he disappeared without a trace in the sultry summer of 1989, many of those who knew him sounded the alarm.
In 1989, the millionaire received another invitation from the USSR Ministry of Culture. At such a high level, it was planned to transfer 5 unique canvases to the Soviet Union. Garig agreed. He just needed to take several paintings from Russia.
On July 27, Basmadzhan arrived in Moscow at the Rossiya hotel and began to prepare for official events. He still had time to meet old friends, which he did. The son of his old friend and his wife visited the 703rd luxury room of the hotel. They remembered the past, planned the future … In the midst of the meeting, Garig caught himself. And muttering that he had a meeting with "important people", he jumped out of the room.
At the same time, Basmajan did not forget to assure his friends that this would not last long, and they could stay and wait in the room. Haykaz Kochar, the same guest, saw his father's friend with his eyes from the window of the 703rd. He noted that there was a suspicious person at the entrance. A moment later, beige Zhiguli drove up to the hotel. A collector immediately jumped out of the building. Another moment, and the car, having relished a start, rushed off into the distance. Together with her, the suspicious type evaporated. The man and his wife waited for a family friend until the evening, but Basmadzhan Garabed Krikor did not return.
Promotional video:
The investigation was carried out by the special services of different countries. The strangeness of the case was added by a mysterious call on August 1 to the hotel "Russia". An unknown man asked the duty officer if Mr. Basmajan's things had arrived. After receiving a positive response, incognito asked to book room 703 for the collector for another week.
There were many versions. The most popular are murder and kidnapping. While the investigation was underway, it turned out that the disappeared was far from respectable, as many believed. It turned out that he was buying antiques in the USSR and illegally exporting them to Europe. He was engaged in speculation and financing of dubious organizations in his historical homeland, which was very displeasing to the Azerbaijani criminal world. Therefore, the most likely reason for his disappearance is abduction. True, the mafia had a hand or the KGB is unknown.
Agatha Christie
As befits a detective writer, Agatha Christie had a secret of her own.
Her husband Archibald Christie was a military man. She doted on him. And he, a scoundrel, fell in love with another woman and left his wife. The nerves of the writer, who recently survived the death of her mother, could not stand it. Christie had a nervous breakdown, and the doctors placed her in a hospital, however, soon Agatha was released under the bail of a certain relative.
The author of numerous cunning plans naturally escaped. On December 3, 1926, Agatha Christie disappeared in her car in an unknown direction. And she didn't even take the dog with her, which she never left. The car was found 14 miles from the house. Everything indicated that a fierce struggle had taken place in the cabin. The writer's husband was suspected of murder and arrested.
For several days, more than 500 people searched for the famous writer, but in vain. Most were convinced that she had committed suicide. Even Arthur Conan Doyle was looking for her. True, his method would certainly not have been approved by Sherlock Holmes. The writer got hold of Agatha Christie's glove and went with it to the occultist. He assured that her mistress was alive. But I could not determine the location. Still would.
On December 14, she showed up at a sanatorium in Harrowgate. The investigation never found out where she was. The writer herself also did not reveal the secret, even in her 600-page autobiography. Doctors think that she herself does not know, since at the time of her loss she was in a state of passion.
Sigismund Levanevsky
Sigismund Levanevsky, a Soviet pilot and one of the first heroes of the USSR, was a participant and initiator of several super-long flights over the North Pole. Levanevsky received the Hero's Star as a participant in the operation to rescue the crew from the Chelyuskin steamer. It is noteworthy that Levanevsky did not save a single person due to problems with the plane, however, Stalin personally added him to the list for the award. Since then, Levanevsky has a reputation as the leader's favorite, and all his life he tried not to disappoint him, performing more and more new deeds.
The idea of extra-long flights in those years, sorry for the pun, was in the air: France was planning a flight from Paris to Khabarovsk, the Poles wanted to fly from Warsaw to Krasnoyarsk
In 1932, Andrei Tupolev developed an aircraft designed for long distances. Levanevsky immediately turned to Stalin to give the go-ahead for the flight Moscow - North Pole - San Francisco. In August 1935, a test flight took place towards the icy continent. Sigismund was in for a failure: with the necessary landing, his ANT-25 burned down.
After the accident, Stalin summoned all the participants to his office with explanations. At this meeting, Levanevsky stood up, called the designer of the ANT-25 Andrey Tupolev a pest and accused him of making such bad airplanes on purpose. From surprise, Tupolev collapsed under the table in front of everyone. The designer fainted from fear.
The scandalous meeting did not put an end to the expedition. Moreover, the organizers were allowed to travel to the United States and look for a plane capable of such a flight. But the Yankees did not have anything better. As a result, Levanevsky made the next attempt on an experimental Soviet aircraft DB-1 (long-range bomber "Academy"). The route was also changed. The pilot first had to fly to Alaska, and from there go to New York. On board the plane were furs, caviar, some valuable painting as a gift to the US government and, according to rumors, gold.
The flight was harsh. Over the Barents Sea there were strong clouds, the temperature was minus 35 and a powerful headwind was blowing. The pilots could not make out the surroundings, the cockpit windows were densely covered with frost.
After passing the pole, Levanevsky reported that the rightmost motor had failed. “Iceing up,” it sounded then. "We are going down" … "Everything is all right," the last message was received and the Yakut station, exhaling, reported excellent news to the Kremlin. As it turned out - in vain. More board DB-1 did not get in touch.
According to one version, Levanevsky managed to fly to the coast of the United States (local Eskimos heard a noise similar to the noise of a motor boat). On the other - the plane deviated from the course and fell in Yakutia into Lake Sebyan-Kyuel, in 1982 an expedition was organized there by the newspaper "Soviet Russia".
Richie Edwards
Guitarist for the Manic Street Preachers was creative to the tip of his guitar, and was regularly depressed, drunk and drugged with unicorns and sexy mermaids. Therefore, he often disappeared. Now in a binge, then in a rehabilitation center, and even in a clinic.
But one day he really disappeared. In 1995, before a grand tour in support of the new album, he and another band member threw a grand party in a hotel room. At seven in the morning, having come to his senses a little, Richie remembered about some case, to which he immediately went. I arranged to meet with a friend at the airport. But he did not appear.
He checked out of a hotel in London, then he was seen at his apartment in Cardiff (Wales), then at the bus station in Newport. On February 14, a car was rented in his name, and on February 17 it was found abandoned near the Sauverne Bridge, a popular suicide destination. This does not prevent Richie's fans from believing that their idol is alive, just tired of fame. However, after his disappearance, the group's fame only increased.
Vladimir Alexandrov
Back in 1972, Academician of the Computing Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences Nikita Nikolaevich Moiseev noticed the young scientist Vladimir Alexandrov and took over his patronage. And then he hung up on him a problem that at that time was considered unsolvable. The beginner needed to understand the idea of modeling the dynamics of large atmospheric blocks. Instead of, like many others, just pretending that he understands the topic, Vladimir genuinely fired up. And so he succeeded in resolving the dead-end problem that he led the work on modeling the global climatic consequences of a nuclear war. This brought him worldwide fame. In the world he was known as the author of the theory of "nuclear winter".
It was after his research and calculations that the danger of nuclear weapons was no longer perceived by the world as, for example, a possible attack by aliens that are capable of exterminating all life on Earth. Humanity clearly saw what would happen in the event of a war between the USSR and the USA, which would develop into a nuclear catastrophe.
The government of the Union did not doubt the devotion of the scientist, therefore, he regularly approved his trips to all kinds of international conferences, where Aleksandrov made fiery and frightening speeches. A big plus was the fact that he was fluent in English (for some reason with a Texas accent). In 1983, he convinced the whole world that even the use of only 30% of the nuclear weapons available at that time would put the life of all mankind under a big and fat question.
And this was very inconvenient for the nuclear powers. The defense ministers of these countries actively tried to convince their compatriots that in the event of such a war, the Earth would not be in danger. It will be the same war as any other, only a little brighter and hotter. But unlike Aleksandrov, they had neither proofs, nor even theoretical calculations …
In 1985, Aleksandrov was again sent on a business trip over the hill. As always, successfully speaking at a scientific conference in Cordoba, Spain, the scientist went to rest at the hotel. A few hours before his flight to Moscow, he decided to walk the streets of sunny Madrid and disappeared forever. How, where and why it was not possible to find out.
The story itself is very confusing. How could a prominent nuclear scientist disappear without a trace. Anyway, to leave the hotel without being accompanied by comrades from the KGB.
Dorothy Arnold
More than 100 years have passed since the disappearance of the American socialite, but the mystery has not been solved. Neither money nor hundreds of journalists helped to find Dorothy Arnold, who loved her very much for her regular news stories, or serious family ties.
The girl's father was an American perfume mogul Francis Arnold. And he was probably very proud of his daughter. Because she loved to study. She graduated from a prestigious college and even mastered several languages. Not socially it somehow … Besides, Dorothy differed from other socialite bums in decent behavior. The girl did not allow herself any love affairs (as it was believed before the disappearance), although she was at the most suitable age for this. The future heiress of millions was 26 years old.
On December 12, Dorothy woke up at 11 am. After putting herself in order, the girl went down the stairs from her room to the first level of a huge apartment in Manhattan. Told her mother that she was going to get a cocktail dress for the upcoming party at her sister Marjorie's.
Dorothy had $ 61 with her. Apparently the party for the socialite was very important if she intended to spend more than half of the monthly allowance on a new thing. Her father gave her $ 100, which was very good at that time.
On that day, the girl met with several acquaintances. Then she took a walk to the pastry shop. Then I went to the bookstore. Came out of it with the book "Notes of a Busy Girl". Then she went to a travel agency, where she asked about flights from America to Europe. Since then, no one has seen her again.
Dorothy's family went to the police only six weeks after the loss. Before that, the best private detectives were looking for the girl: hospitals, morgues, as well as all the reservoirs of Central Park were examined. Also, the police were instructed to find a certain man named John Grisham. As it turned out, a month before her disappearance, Dorothy fled from her parents to Philadelphia, where she lived for a week with 40-year-old engineer John Griscom. When the couple ran out of money, the girl pawned jewelry in a pawnshop. This allowed the police to reach Griscom. He was at that moment in Italy. A relative of the Arnolds went to his hotel and began to threaten if John did not tell him where Dorothy was. He replied that Dorothy was depressed because of that. that several literary magazines refused to publish her story. Griscom guessed. That she could have committed suicide.
Then two more versions appeared. One: Dorothy slipped, fell and lost her memory. And another: a socialite had an unsuccessful abortion, from which she died, and her corpse was buried (one former criminal said that he was paid $ 150 to dig a grave in the basement of an apartment building and buried in it a girl who looks like the wanted rich woman).
After the completion of the case, which ended in nothing, it became known that Francis Arnold's search for his daughter cost 100 thousand dollars.
Owen Parfitt
All his life the sailor Owen Parfitt traveled the world, even was captured by pirates. Because of what, Shepton Mallet returned home to his native village with numerous wounds. The elder sister Susanna took over to look after him. Yes, it was not difficult. The 60-year-old former sailor spent most of the day in a wheelchair on the porch of the house. He loved to talk about his adventures sincerely.
June 7, 1763 should have been as boring and endless as the previous few years. By the evening it became clear that a hurricane was about to happen. The sky was covered with clouds and the wind cleared in earnest. Farmers were in a hurry to remove the hay and drive the fussing chickens. Children and wives helped them. Owen's sister, looking out the window, put down her knitting and went to her brother to take him to the house. The woman on her own was not capable of this. To cope with this enterprise she was always helped by a neighbor, for whom she went. The old man shouted after her not to hurry. He wanted to catch the rain.
When the women, talking, walked to the house, they clearly saw a man in a carriage on the porch. At some point, they got carried away and, turning to each other, stopped. When the elderly ladies continued on their way, they were surprised to notice that on the porch there was only an empty wheelchair with Owen's overcoat hanging from the armrest.
The lengthy search for the former sailor ended in vain. Numerous neighbors assured that they had not seen any strangers.
Max Viltovsky