From the E-Verse Vault: Top Five People who have Vanished
by Ernie on 10/08/07 at 9:31 am
For Friday, I’ve decided to do another lost top five list from the vault. Enjoy.
E-Verse’s Top Five People Who Have Vanished:
1. Harold Holt: Then prime minister of Australia, was last seen by friends diving into the ocean, but he never came back up. Notable for possibly being the only world leader to be eaten by a shark.
2. Ambrose Bierce: This author and satirical lexicographer has a question mark placed after 1914 as his date of death. One of his last letters home from Mexico included this ominous statement: “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.”
3. Jim Thompson: Famous westerner who lived in Thailand and vanished one day in Malaysia. His Bangkok house is now a tourist attraction
4. Amelia Earhart: The famous aviator and women’s rights advocate went missing on July 2nd, 1937 and was declared legally deceased in 1939. A host of urban legends and unsupported claims persist to this day, including the theory that she was a spy for FDR captured by the Japanese, that she lived many years after under an assumed identity, and even the rumor that she was compelled to make anti-American radio broadcasts for the Japanese as one of the aliases of “Tokyo Rose.”
5. Peking Man: The first Homo erectus skeletal remains found in China by scientists, it has enormous scientific importance. Defying probability, these lay undisturbed and well-preserved for 130,000 years in Zhoukoudian Cave, were dug up in 1927, revolutionized the history of human evolution, and were then lost a mere 14 years later, during World War II.
Any others? Send in comments or e-mail me at everse @ everseradio .com
PF
Aug 10th, 2007
In an ironic twist (potentially someone with an interesting sense of humour), the City of Malvern just outside Melbourne named a swimming centre after Harold Holt. http://www.stonnington.vic.gov.au/lifestyle/sport/aquatics/haroldholt
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Criss Cros
Aug 10th, 2007
Wasn’t there some weird happenings with Agatha Christie? I suppose it was more of a temporary disappearance but an interesting story none-the-less.
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Ernie
Aug 10th, 2007
Wikipedia has this interesting entry on Agatha Christie’s disappearance:
“On 8 December 1926, while living in Sunningdale in Berkshire, she disappeared for ten days, causing great interest in the press. Her car was found in a chalk pit in Newlands Corner, Surrey. She was eventually found staying at the Swan Hydro (now the Old Swan hotel) in Harrogate under the name of the woman with whom her husband had recently admitted to having an affair. She claimed to have suffered amnesia due to a nervous breakdown following the death of her mother and her husband’s infidelity. Opinions are still divided as to whether this was a publicity stunt or not. Public sentiment at the time was negative, with many feeling that an alleged publicity stunt had cost the taxpayers a substantial amount of money.”
It seems there was a 1979 film called Agatha, starring Vanessa Redgrave as Christie. Apparently it recounts a “fictionalized” version of the author’s disappearance. However, other media accounts of the alleged event exist. If anyone knows more about it, please write in.
Incidentally, Agatha Christie is the best-selling author in France. 40,000,000 of her books have sold in French, beating out Zola, her nearest contender, with a mere 22,000,000. She is considered by the Guinness book to be the best-selling author of all time, with one billion books in English and another billion in other languages!
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Ernie
Aug 10th, 2007
Another E-Verser writes in:
I would like to add the notorious Arthur Craven (1881-) to the list. Although he was purported to be living in Philadelphia as recently as 1951, that sighting came via a priest so I would take that information with a grain a salt. (Does anyone trust a religious son of a bitch?)
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Ream Stroller
Aug 11th, 2007
I believe you spoke about the disappearance of Antoine de Saint-Exup
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PF
Aug 13th, 2007
I think it was the Television episode (#8), well done. There’s another one linked to an ironic naming convention as the Lyon airport now goes by Saint Exupery International Airport.
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The Divagator
Aug 15th, 2007
Weldon Kees?
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Ernie
Aug 16th, 2007
My mom writes in with another vanishing person, one of my forebears:
“Another disappearing person, although not famous, is your great grandfather Wallace Kurtz. How I would love to know where he went in 1927, why he left, and where he died. According to his cousin ‘he had a life of his own.’ Just a little piece of family history.”
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