In the history of mankind - both ancient and modern - there have been many cases of inexplicable and irrevocable disappearance of people, both individuals and crews of cars, ships and aircraft, as well as entire military units.
No less mysteriously and without a trace sometimes disappear cars, sea, river and aircraft, and even trains. True, the results of investigations into the majority of such disappearances make it possible to express more or less plausible assumptions about their nature and "mechanism". However, there are such incidents, which are completely impossible to explain from the standpoint of common sense. Here is one of these cases and will be discussed below.
Missing local landmark
At first, no one considered this incident, which happened in 1956, mysterious - neither the owners of the yacht, nor the insurance company, nor the detective invited to investigate the case. And the thing was that a large - the size of a barge - luxury pleasure yacht one night without a trace disappeared from its "water basin".
The missing yacht was the largest vessel in the vast Sardis Dam reservoir, built 10 miles from the town of Batesville in northern Mississippi. The local residents considered the reservoir a great place for recreation and fishing. True, some did not like it when such a whopper rushed around the water, scaring away the fish, with a noisy, merry audience on board.
Of course, the ship was insured for a large sum. It was owned by several co-owners, including the famous writer William Faulkner, who lived in Oxford, a town located near the reservoir.
On the eve of that night, one of the hosts had been sailing his guests all day. In the evening, she was anchored about 150 meters from the dam, and she was clearly visible from the shore. The next morning it was discovered that the yacht was not at the berth.
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Situation assessment
A day later, detective Stan Reynolde arrived to investigate the incident, an experienced specialist with 25 years of experience, well known in New Orleans, Los Angeles and Atlanta. Local authorities greeted him kindly, but did not show much interest in what had happened.
Yes, and the detective's work seemed routine - it is not difficult to find a ship that sank in a lake or hidden in coastal thickets. In a unit of engineering troops stationed nearby, he got hold of a plan with the relief of the bottom of the reservoir and its depths. Having studied the plan, as well as the area around the reservoir, he decided that the yacht should be within its limits - on the water or under water.
The only ramp that existed at that time for raising ships to land and launching them into the water was clearly visible from all sides. The river feeding the reservoir was too narrow and shallow, and it is simply impossible to lift such a vessel up in a secluded place along the steep bank and drag it off-road on a swampy and densely wooded area.
The beginning of an unsuccessful search
In the nearest flying club, Reynold hired a light plane with a pilot, and they, flying at low altitude, methodically surveyed the entire surface of the reservoir and the coastal zone. And nothing was found anywhere. If the yacht sank at a shallow depth, it would be visible from above. Moreover, if the yacht sank at all, some details of its equipment would certainly remain on the surface of the lake - wooden furniture, utensils, life-saving equipment.
Even if the topside of the yacht burned down to the very waterline, its burnt pieces would float in the water, finally, just firebrands and coals. But it was not possible to find anything like that anywhere.
After this failure, the detective, as they say, "stuck". Reinolde made an agreement with a local old-timer, an expert on these places, and on his boat they explored the whole lake together. The deepest places were wiped out by cats - small four-legged anchors. However, they raised from the bottom only sunken branches and various debris.
In this situation, the only version did not contradict common sense: at night the yacht was pulled out onto land by the ramp. But this would require good lighting and powerful winches, and the operation itself would make a lot of noise. Reinolde interviewed local residents whose houses were located near the ramp. None of them saw or heard anything unusual that night.
At dusk, the detective went to the dam and talked to the fishermen who settled on it. Many fished here that night, and remembered seeing a yacht anchored near the dam before dark. But everything around was quiet and calm - no explosion, no fire, no noise. And they all bite well.
Failures Continue
The story, which at first seemed simple and boring, became completely incomprehensible. More and more facts spoke for the fact that there were no yachts either on the lake or in its depths. But how could she disappear from there? Even if a way was found to extract it from the water without using a ramp, then where this happened, clear traces should have remained: deep furrows in the coastal soil, broken branches and trunks of young trees. But there were no such tracks anywhere along the coastline.
The detective examined the ramp again carefully. If the attackers managed to drag the yacht along it so that the surrounding residents did not see or hear anything (which is unlikely), or secure their promise to keep what they saw and heard in secret (which is even less likely), then they faced another problem.
To transport the yacht, they would need a trailer with a platform trailer, and its driver would have to obtain permission to transport oversized cargo. But no one applied to the traffic police department for such a permit, and such a road train did not pass by the checkpoint located where the only road leading from the dam merges into the highway.
Alien intrigues?
So, the yacht could not be taken out of the reservoir. Hence, she sank, and previous attempts to find her at the bottom were unsuccessful. It was necessary to undertake a new one.
The next morning, a diver began to examine the bottom in all the deepest parts of the lake. After a few hours it became clear that the yacht was not at the bottom of the lake.
It remained to assume that that night, in the dark and completely silently, some aircraft caught the yacht with ropes and carried it away from the lake by air. But there were no vehicles capable of doing this at the time.
So, in essence, nothing ended the investigation of this strange incident. The insurance company refused to reimburse the ship owners for the damage they suffered. She referred to the fact that insurance does not apply to the case when his object disappears under unclear circumstances.
It remains only to add that in the 1950s, people often reported their UFO sightings. And Reynolde thought that the yacht could be dragged away by some alien spacecraft. Moreover, he soon became aware of a case confirming this possibility. Off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in the Pascagula area, two fishermen were abducted from a boat at night. They claimed that the aliens carried them to their spacecraft, thoroughly examined them, and then returned them back to the boat. The fishermen were reputed to be honest and respectable people, they successfully passed the lie detector test.
So, maybe the same aliens, far ahead of the earthlings in the development of technology, were able to stealthily and quietly steal a huge yacht from Lake Sardis? But why? And what happened to her then?
There are still no answers to these questions …
Vadim Ilyin