One of the oldest and most bizarre unsolved disappearances in America dates back to 1587, when a little more than a hundred English colonists tried to establish a settlement on Roanoke Island (off the coast of present-day North Carolina). Colony governor John White tried to go by ship back to England to stock up for the settlement. He only managed to make it back three years later because of a naval war, returning to Roanoke, where the colonists, wife, and family had been living. But by the time he came back, no one was there - only the word "Croatoan" carved into a post. Did an unknown tribe of Native Americans called Croatoan murder the colonists? Did they try to sail away on their own and perish? Did Spaniards murder them? No one has ever been able to figure it out.
Kyron Horman
Seven-year-old Kyron Horman disappeared from his Portland, Ore., elementary school on June 4, 2010, the day he was returning home from a science fair. His stepmother, Terri Moulton, was the last person to see him alive, but she also failed a polygraph test about her knowledge of the events of the day—twice. Kyron's case drew publicity partly because Moulton, who hated the child and blamed him for the breakup of her marriage, allegedly hired someone to kill her estranged husband, who in turn didn't do it. The case remains unsolved.
Madeleine McCann
A kid missing is every parent's worst fear. The McCann family – Kate and Gerry McCann (above) - lived this nightmare in 2007, when an abductor took their three-year-old Madeleine while the British family was on holiday in Portugal.
What lies behind the mystery of Madeleine? Speculation surrounded the case, questioning how a couple could leave their toddler and her younger twin siblings at the rental apartment when they went out for dinner. The pressure mounted on the public, and the police started suspecting the parents; at one stage, the Portuguese police even suspected them.
Several other suspects emerged over the years, including a recidivist named Christian Brueckner, but Madeleine is still missing. Brueckner finally confessed to being near the resort at the time of the young girl's disappearance, but he would never confess to anything.
Jimmy Hoffa
Jimmy Hoffa, the president of the American Teamsters labour union, served from 1957 to 1971. Hoffa was an effective leader of a large, influential union, but the successful president became entangled with the mob and went missing from a Detroit parking lot where he was to meet with some powerful mob bosses in 1975. Authorities have theorised that someone murdered and dismembered Hoffa with acid to hide his remains, but he has never been found.
Flight 19
What is Flight 19? In December 1945, five US Navy bombers named Flight 19 took off from Florida on a normal three-hour training mission. They flew out of Ft. Lauderdale, and when they got halfway through the flight, their compasses malfunctioned and a storm loomed on the horizon. Baffled by his own malfunctioning compass and the storm brewing on the horizon, the flight leader guided his planes to sea, lost contact and they were never found.
Flying Tiger Line Flight 739
On March 16, 1962, a military charter flight operated by the Flying Tiger Line went missing over the vast expanse of the Western Pacific Ocean with 107 people on board. The plane, which was flying from Guam to the Philippines, was never found, and the search for its remains eventually went cold.
Missing Chinese billionaires
Jack Ma, the Alibaba co-founder, emerged from hiding three years after vanishing, but he is not the only Chinese billionaire to disappear in recent years. Tech banker Bao Fan, businessman Guo Guangchang, and bank chairman Yim Fung are just some of the others who have gone missing. And while the magnates have reappeared, speculation has arisen about the reason for the bizarre disappearances, which some have linked to criticizing the Chinese government.
Jamison family
Meet the Jamisons—couple Bobby and Sherilynn and their six-year-old daughter, Madyson, disappeared in October 2009 from their home in Eufaula, Oklahoma. Around a week later, an anonymous tip led the police to search the area, and they soon found the Jamisons' vehicle and their belongings (including the family dog) in a secluded location where they planned to purchase land. They also discovered that the vehicle contained over $30,000 in cash despite the Jamisons having little money and being on disability. People uncovered their remains three years later at the same location, but many theories range from murder to something more sinister regarding their still unsolved deaths.
FAQ's
Q1: What happened to aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart in 1937?
During an attempt to circumnavigate the globe, Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan vanished over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island. Despite massive naval searches and decades of theories—ranging from a crash in the ocean to landing on a remote atoll—neither the plane nor their remains have ever been found.
Q2: How did an entire settlement vanish in the Lost Colony of Roanoke?
In 1587, over 100 English settlers established a colony on Roanoke Island, North Carolina. When supply ships returned three years later, the entire population had vanished without a trace, leaving behind only the cryptic word "CROATOAN" carved into a wooden post.
Q3: What makes the 1966 disappearance of the Beaumont Children so haunting?
Three young siblings—Jane, Arnna, and Grant—disappeared from Somerton Beach in Adelaide, Australia, on Australia Day. Witnesses saw them playing near a tall, blonde man, but despite one of the largest police investigations in Australian history, no trace of the children was ever discovered.
Q4: Who was D.B. Cooper, and did he survive his 1971 plane leap?
After hijacking a Boeing 727, extorting $200,000 in ransom, and ordering the plane toward Mexico, a man using the alias D.B. Cooper parachuted out of the rear door into a stormy night over the Pacific Northwest. He was never seen again, and the FBI closed the unsolved case in 2016.
Q5: What happened to former Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa in 1975?
Hoffa vanished from a suburban Detroit restaurant parking lot after heading to a scheduled meeting with two high-ranking mob figures. Declared legally dead in 1982, his body was never recovered, giving rise to decades of unverified mafia hit theories and urban legends.
