People go missing every day, but some are more well-known than others. Taking that up a notch, some people are solely famous based on their disappearances. Unfortunately, despite efforts to find these people who mysteriously disappeared, some are never found.
Needless to say, that leaves a few question marks surrounding their last days and final disappearance. Some of these vanishings have been subject to massive search parties, media sensationalism, wild speculation, dead ends, false accusations, and TV shows. With that in mind, here are 20 people who mysteriously disappeared in no particular order.
1. DB Cooper
Anyone who’s ever watched the comedy movie Without a Paddle knows who DB Cooper is. Well, on Thanksgiving Eve, 1971, DB purchased a ticket under an alias, Dan Cooper, and then went on to skyjack Flight 305 of the Northwest Orient Airlines, bound for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Right after the flight took off, Cooper told a flight attendant that he had explosives in his possession. He then demanded $200,000 and four parachutes in addition to a refueling truck for when they would land at the airport.
Authorities paid the ransom and gave Cooper the parachutes. After refueling began, he told the pilot and crew he wanted to be dropped off in Mexico City. However, about thirty minutes into the flight, he jumped from the plane from ten thousand feet. Not only was he never found, but Cooper’s real identity also remains a mystery, and no one knows whether he survived the jump.
In July 2016, a two-part special was aired on the History Channel about DB Cooper. On the show, they were speculations that he was actually called Robert Rackstraw. Nonetheless, the FBI declared in the same month that his was a closed case. The actual Rackstraw was a seventy-two-year man living on a boat in San Diego Bay. He claimed that he considered filing a defamation suit against the television channel but never did. Whether or not he is DB Cooper remains a mystery.
2. Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart is probably the most famous missing person in history. As both a pilot and a passenger, her exploits in flying made her very well-known. In addition to her exploits in aviation, she was also a teacher, author, fashion designer, magazine editor, and cigarette spokesman.
Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan decided to embark on a trip around the world in 1937. However, on July 2, Earhart sent out a radio message asking for help. Apparently, they were dangerously low on fuel over the Pacific Ocean. The US Coast Guard sent a cutter, but they were unable to locate the plane. They proceeded to send up smoke signals, hoping they would see the smoke, but it was no use. The plane nor the passenger aboard were ever found. Earhart’s husband funded a private search but failed to produce any results. In 1939, Earhart was declared dead in absentia.
There have been numerous theories as to what happened. In fact, the resulting searches became the most intensive and expensive in American history at the time. The most common belief is that her plane ran out of fuel, and she had no choice but to ditch it in the Pacific Ocean. Even after the intensive searches at the time, in 2012, researchers spent another two point two million dollars trying to prove that Earhart had instead crashed on a tiny island. However, nothing was ever proven and the pilot simply mysteriously disappeared.
3. Harold Holt
Harold Holt was the 17th prime minister of Australia and rose to power in 1966. After being prime minister for less than two years, Holt went for a swim at one of his favorite swimming spots. Unfortunately, he mysteriously disappeared. There was a major search party sent out, but he was never found. In addition, there was no formal inquiry into his disappearance — ever.
At the time of the incident, Holt was taking pain medication for a shoulder injury. Though Holt was a skilled swimmer, it is believed that he was either swept out to sea or that he was eaten by a shark. His death was eventually ruled as an accidental drowning. In fact, the location where he went swimming was known for strong rip currents. An exhaustive search yielded zero results as his body was never found. In fact, a slang expression was coined after his disappearance, “do a Harry Holt“, which meant to bolt or disappear abruptly.
4. Jimmy Hoffa
Jimmy Hoffa was a union official presiding over the Teamsters for 10 years upwards. He was corrupt, involved in organized crime, and went to prison in 1967. He did all this while retaining his presidency over the Teamsters. However, Hoffa resigned in 1971 in exchange for his pardon and release from President Nixon.
Before he mysteriously disappeared, Hoffa was seen outside a Detroit restaurant where he supposedly met with two crime bosses. He was finally declared dead in 1982. But the circumstances surrounding his disappearance and apparent death are still a mystery to date.
Though his body was never found, it’s been established that he was killed by mobsters the day he disappeared. There were tons of speculations about his disappearance. An interesting one was from a mob source. They claimed that Hoffa was buried in a shallow grave on a vacant lot 20 miles from his last seen location. It was supposed to be a temporary location, but his body was never moved. Nonetheless, that theory was never proven.
5. Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson was a famous English explorer that towns, bridges, rivers, and bays were named after. Nevertheless, he wasn’t a very nice fellow to work for. On one of his expeditions, his crew was so neglected that they mutinied. They put Hudson, his teenage son, and seven other crewmen in a small boat left adrift. They were never seen again after the ship left them behind.
The crewmen who made it back to England were arrested and charged with Hudson’s murder. But they escaped without being punished due to the lack of details surrounding their captain’s death. However, it’s generally believed that he and the eight others marooned with him died while aboard the open boat.
6. Azaria Chamberlain
Perhaps the most infamous missing persons case in Australian history is that of Azaria Chamberlain. It was this case that made the phrase “a dingo ate my baby” so famous. In 1980, a nine-week-old Chamberlain disappeared while her parents were camping in the outback.
Her mother, Linda Chamberlain, was actually tried and convicted of murdering her infant daughter and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison. However, after serving three years, a piece of the baby’s clothing was found in a dingo’s lair. Eventually, her mother was exonerated, but it wasn’t until 2012 that Azaria’s death certificate was legally changed. A coroner issued an amendment to back the Chamberlains’ initial claims that their baby girl had been taken from their tent by a dingo in the middle of the night.
7. Sean Flynn
Sean Flynn was the son of actress Lili Damita and Errol Flynn. Flynn himself tried his hand at several careers before settling on photojournalism. Searching for outstanding images, Flynn often traveled with special forces units as well as irregulars operating in remote areas. He was known for going to extreme lengths, including dangerous ones. In April of 1970, during the Vietnam War, Flynn was on assignment in Cambodia with another photojournalist, Dana Stone.
The two were apparently captured by communist guerrillas, but what happened after that is a mystery to this day. Flynn’s mother paid huge amounts of money trying to locate him but to no avail. Neither of them was either seen or heard from again. Flynn was eventually declared dead in absentia at his mother’s urging in 1984.
8. Oscar Zeta Acosta
Oscar Zeta Acosta was a controversial writer and activist. He’s best known for being friends with another controversial writer, Hunter S. Thompson. The pair were veterans of the US Air Force. Acosta was well known for his novels written in the early 1970s and his portrayal in Thompson’s book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as Dr. Gonzo.
Acosta disappeared while traveling in Mazatlán, Mexico, in 1974. His son Marco was probably the last person to speak to him. According to him, his father phoned him from Mazatlan, saying he was about to board a boat that was “full of white snow.” Marco further speculated that knowing his father, he probably got smart or mouth, which then resulted in a fight and his death.
According to Thompson, Acosta suffered from an amphetamine addiction in addition to a predilection for LSD. Speculations surrounding his disappearance claim that Acosta was either killed by drug dealers or politically assassinated. Some even say that he overdosed or had a nervous breakdown.
9. Theodosia Burr Alston
The eldest child of former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr was Theodosia Burr Alston. In addition, she was also married to South Carolina’s Governor at the time, Joseph Alston. Five years after her father’s disgrace and arrest, she lost her son. She went into such deep mourning that it affected her health. The only bright spot for her was that her father was allowed to return to the U.S. after being exiled to Europe.
In 1812, Alston boarded the Patriot, which was a schooner heading for New York. She was to be reunited with her father on New Year’s Eve and traveled alone. However, the schooner never made it. Some believe the vessel capsized or sank due to a major storm that had been documented to be in the area. Others believe it was captured by pirates. Whatever happened, the vessel nor its passengers were ever seen again.
10. Solomon Northup
Soloman Northup was believed to have been born in New York sometime in the early 1800s. Although he was black, both his parents were free. Northup married Anne Hampton sometime in the late 1820s and had three children. Years later, in 1841, Northup believed he had been offered work as a fiddler in Washington, DC, albeit temporarily. However, it turned out to be a ruse, and he was kidnapped and sold into slavery.
After more than 10 years of slavery, Northup finally gained his freedom thanks to the efforts of a sympathetic carpenter from Canada. He turned his experiences as a slave into a memoir and titled it Twelve Years a Slave. In addition, he also became a traveling lecturer, supporting the abolition of slavery. In 1857, he traveled to Canada, where he mysteriously disappeared. Some believe he was kidnapped again. Others argue he would have been too old by then and was more likely killed for his beliefs and subsequent lectures in favor of abolition.
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