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People vanish all the time, and we usually find out what happened to them eventually. Usually, not always. Jimmy Hoffa and Amelia Earhart are the most famous unsolved missing persons cases in the modern era. But there are many others who left us with far more questions than answers. Here are six you may not be familiar with.

Colonel Percy Fawcett was a British citizen who became a worldwide adventurer. He is thought to be one of the inspirations for the character of Indiana Jones. On several expeditions to South America, Fawcett became intrigued by the legends of a lost city, which he called Z. Over time he became obsessed with the idea of setting up a commune in the lost city where he own son would be a diety. In 1925, he led an ill-equipped expedition into the Mateo Grosso jungle in Brazil. None of the group was ever seen again. There are many possible explanations: death by illness, wild animals, or hostile tribes, or they may have just become hopelessly lost. Some theorize they were abducted by aliens or ended up in an underground kingdom. Some believe Fawcett lived out his life in an isolated tribe.

Glen Hyde and Bessie Haley were married in 1928. For their honeymoon, they set off in a homemade boat on the Colorado River. Bessie was to be the first woman to ride the Grand Canyon. Their boat was found about a month later, but the Hydes were never seen again. Some think that they capsized in the rapids and drowned, but no trace of their bodies were found. Others believe that Bessie killed Glen and started her life over elsewhere.

Joseph Force Crater was a justice on the New York state Supreme Court and was associated with organized crime. It was suspected that he was appointed to the court due to his involvement with the corrupt Tammany Hall Democratic organization. He left his wife at their summer home in Maine on August 3rd, 1930 to go to New York City on business. He was last seen at a restaurant on August 9th. Judge Crater hailed a taxi and was never seen again. The taxi was never traced. A search began on August 25th, when Crater did not show up for work. Some think that Crater fled the country to avoid trouble with authorities or the mob. His wife Stella insisted that he must have been murdered, but no conclusion was ever reached.

Ettore Majorana was an Italian theoretical physicist who worked with both Werner Heisenberg and Neils Bohr. Majorana began to develop a theory of neutrino masses while still in his twenties. Around 1933, he began suffering from illness and became a recluse. In 1937, Majorana was appointed a full professor at the University of Naples just a few months before his disappearance. He was only 31 years old in 1938 when he vanished during a boat trip from Palermo to Naples. Suicide, murder, and voluntary disappearance are all possibilities, but no one knows for sure.

Lloyd L. Gaines applied for admission to the University of Missouri’s law school in 1935, but was rejected because he was black, and the state’s laws did not support integrated education. With the help of the NAACP, Gaines appealed his rejection all the way to the US Supreme Court. The case, heard in 1938, was the first ever to address educational opportunities for African-Americans. The Court found for Gaines, and ordered Missouri to admit him or find a comparable law school within the state in which to place him. The state hastily put together a “separate but equal” law school in St. Louis. Gaines and his team from the NAACP were prepared to argue that the new school was anything but comparable to the University, but Gaines did not show up for the court hearing. He was last seen on March 19, 1939 in Chicago. He had told some people at the fraternity house where he was staying that he was going out to buy stamps. No trace has ever been found. Gaines was granted a posthumous honorary law degree from the University of Missouri in 2006.

Sean Flynn was the son of actor Errol Flynn, and a photojournalist who covered the war in Vietnam. He and another photojournalist, Dana Stone, were captured by communist fighters in Cambodia and were never seen again. At least one source says Flynn was executed after a year in captivity. He was declared dead in 1984.
In researching this article, I found many other stories that you may soon see in a followup.
wouldn’t it be crazy if Sean Flynn were still being held in some underground POW camp?
it’s entirely, though unlikely possible. hmm.
posted by Em on 7-24-2008 at 5:32 am
“Over time he became obsessed with the idea of setting up a commune in the lost city where he own son would be a diety.”
Probably should be “…his own son would be a deity.”
posted by KJ on 7-24-2008 at 6:39 am
Can’t wait for the follow-up. Very interesting!
posted by bas on 7-24-2008 at 7:07 am
Check out Harold Holt, the Australian prime minster who went swimming and never came back.
Recaptcha: Ellery Frohman. Did she go missing too?
posted by Steve on 7-24-2008 at 7:17 am
I guess these are all lies since my reCaptcha is ” con- sites “
posted by bucsfan on 7-24-2008 at 7:32 am
I’ve heard of several of these and thought that there was some evidence (or something) within the past 10 years that Bessie Hyde did kill her husband.
Judge Crater is infamous in this area. Was probably bumped off.
And sadly, I’d bet my eye teeth that Mr. Gaines was killed by some **** (Fill in your own curse word) who didn’t like the idea of a black man going to law school.
Really looking forward to your follow up.
posted by beth on 7-24-2008 at 8:48 am
I recently watched “Apocalypse Now” for what seems like the 437th time (give or take) and decided to do a little online research into the film afterwards. Turns out Dennis Hopper’s character was based on Sean Flynn.
This random bit of trivia was brought to you by the color blue and the number 4.
posted by SpaceMonkeyX on 7-24-2008 at 9:19 am
If they ever make a movie about Ettore Majorana, I think Javier Bardem should play the lead.
posted by adrienne on 7-24-2008 at 10:00 am
this same subject with different people was on cracked.com today
posted by nelson on 7-24-2008 at 10:03 am
And what about Ambrose Bierce? The civil war veteran and author that disappeared sometime around 1914…
posted by Daniel on 7-24-2008 at 10:16 am
I second the suggestion of Ambrose Bierce. I enjoy the writings of “Bitter Bierce” and the story of his disappearance in Mexico is an interesting one indeed…
“Good-bye — if you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags please know that I think that a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease, or falling down the cellar stairs. To be a Gringo in Mexico—ah, that is euthanasia!” - Ambrose Bierce, in one of his last letters
posted by KevinS on 7-24-2008 at 12:05 pm
What, no DB Cooper?
posted by Noah on 7-24-2008 at 12:25 pm
Don’t forget about Ian Mackintosh, the guy who wrote the British TV series “The Sandbaggers.” The show ran for a few seasons in the late 70s, then Mackintosh disappeared while flying or something like that. The show was shelved after that, because they thought no other writer could do it justice.
posted by Kelly on 7-24-2008 at 4:49 pm
Though there is some evidence, so it’s not entirely unsolved, I always thought the disappearance of Antoine de St. Exupery was sad.
posted by gibson8or on 7-24-2008 at 9:08 pm
Ran across a fascinating article on latimesblogs.latimes.com about one Dr. George Ripley Fuller, a physiologist at UCLA who disappeared May 31, 1956.
posted by Nessuno on 8-15-2008 at 4:16 pm