Every year, millions of people travel away from the humdrum of their daily lives to unwind
or to discover and explore places that they have never visited before, usually returning
with a few tales to tell.
Some people, however, never return from their travels and their stories are forever lost
to mystery.
5.
Everett Ruess
Everett Ruess was born on 28 March, 1914 and from a very early age, he showed artistic
promise, turning his hand at clay modeling, writing essays and poetry at age 12.
He also kept a literary diary in which he would describe the places he had travelled
to.
At age 16, he won an award for his poetry while attending Valparaiso High School in
Indiana and at Hollywood High School; he would serve as Secretary-Treasurer of the school’s
literary club.
In 1930, Ruess travelled to Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks as well as the High Sierras,
returning there once again in 1933.
In 1931, he travelled by horseback and by burro, which is a small donkey, through Arizona,
Utah, New Mexico and Colorado while exploring the Colorado Plateau.
Then, in 1934, he told his parents that they would not be able to contact him for the next
two months, as he would be travelling through the Utah desert.
And so, on the 20th of November, he packed his supplies onto two burros and headed off
into the desert to explore.
Three months later, his parents would start receiving his mail which had not been collected
at the post office and they grew concerned.
They decided to write to the Escalante post office in Utah and their letter was read by
Garfield County Commissioner, H. Jennings Allen, who formed a search party with several
men from the area.
They would also be joined by Scouts and Indians who built signal fires and fired their guns
in hopes that Ruess would hear them and find his way back.
His two burros were found unharmed in Davis Gulch just off the Escalante River and a Shepherd
reported seeing him on November 19th near the intersection of Escalante Creek and the
Colorado River, a particularly treacherous area.
Upon searching that area, they found his campsite and the words “NEMO Nov 1934” carved into
the rock face, a reference to his favorite book, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
The mystery deepened when a gravesite was discovered near the town of Bluff, Utah after
an elderly Navajo claimed that Ruess was killed by two Native Americans who wanted to steal
his burros.
Bones and teeth that were unearthed at Comb Ridge matched Ruess’ size, race, facial
features and age.
In 2009, DNA tests confirmed that these were indeed Ruess’ remains but in 2010 it was
found that the DNA software was faulty and that the DNA actually matched to the family
of a man named Joe Santistevan.
The site of Ruess’ campsite and NEMO carving is now covered by Lake Powell and no further
evidence of his fate has ever been uncovered.
4.
Jim Sullivan
Jim Sullivan was born in Linda Vista, San Diego and grew up living in a government housing
project.
He was a high school quarterback and after attending shows by local blues groups, he
decided that he wanted to be a musician.
After marrying, he played in a rock band called The Survivors with his sister-in-law, Kathie
Doran before moving to Los Angeles in 1968.
His wife, Barbara, worked at Capitol Records and Jim played at clubs in Los Angeles including
The Raft Club in Malibu, quickly making friends with other prominent musicians like Lee Marvin
and Harry Dean Stanton.
He would also make an appearance in the movie Easy Rider and on the Jose Feliciano TV show.
With funding from his friends, he would record his first album called U.F.O.
It was released by a small record label in 1969 after being rejected by Capitol Records
and reissued by Century City Records in 1970.
He would record a second album called Jim Sullivan in 1972 but it was unsuccessful and
after his marriage began to fall apart due to his alcohol abuse, he travelled to Nashville
in 1975.
He left Los Angeles on the 4th of March, travelling alone in his Volkswagen Beetle and stayed
over at the La Mesa Motel in Santa Rosa, New Mexico after receiving a warning from a highway
patrol officer for erratic driving.
His room would remain unslept in, however, and he bought a bottle of vodka from the town
store before leaving.
The next day he was spotted on a ranch about 26 miles away from Santa Rosa.
Later that day, he would phone his wife to inform her that he was ok, which she found
strange as there was no reason to think that he wouldn’t be.
She pressed him for more details, but he simply replied: “You wouldn’t believe it if I
told you”.
She asked what had happened and he replied: “Forget it, just forget I said anything”
and that he would call her from Nashville.
His car was found abandoned at the ranch with his money, papers, 12-string guitar, clothes
and a box of his records still inside.
Thanks to the title of his first album, many people, including his wife, believe that he
was abducted by aliens out in the New Mexico desert.
3.
Ian Mackintosh
Born in Inverness in the Scottish Highlands, Ian Mackintosh was the son of a Governess
and a naval officer.
He would become a Royal Navy Officer in 1958 and in 1969, he married Sharron Carter, whose
father was also a Royal Navy Officer and they would go on to have 2 daughters before, ultimately,
divorcing some time later.
He published his first novel called “A Slaying in September” in 1967 and over the next
three years, he would publish 4 more novels.
He was the co-creator of the acclaimed BBC series “Warship” which aired from 1973
– 1977 and would later create a spy drama series called “The Sandbaggers” which
is often cited as one of the greatest spy dramas ever created.
On July 7th, 1979, Mackintosh along with his girlfriend, Susan Insole and good friend and
pilot Graham Barber rented a single-engine airplane in Anchorage, Alaska and after a
test flight, set out towards Kodiak.
The weather on that day was clear, but with high winds and at 5:45pm, Barber sent out
a distress signal which was relayed by the air traffic controller at Kodiak Airport to
the US Coast Guard.
Ten minutes later, searchers were en route to their last known destination, arriving
there 30 minutes after takeoff, but there was no sign of the plane, debris or the passengers.
For three days, searchers continued to look for the plane, now presumed to have fallen,
but to no avail.
Controversy immediately followed Mackintosh’s disappearance with rumors surfacing that he
was a double agent for the Russian government during the Cold War and that he had staged
his disappearance to defect to the Soviet Union.
Mackintosh’s brother, Lawrie, would later state that, on the last occasion that he saw
him, it felt like he was saying goodbye for good and when Mackintosh’s ex-father-in-law
tried to find more information on the case, he was denied permission and told not to ask
any questions.
The plane was never found and its occupants remain missing 42 years later with no further
clues as to their true whereabouts ever being discovered.
2.
Lars Mittank
On the 30th of June, 2014, 28-year-old Lars Mittank boarded a plane in Germany with five
friends and travelled to the Golden Sands Resort for a summer vacation on the Black
Sea Coast in Bulgaria.
They booked in at the Viva Club Hotel and for the next week, they would enjoy the sun,
parties and night life of the area.
The day before they were to return to Germany, they were at a bar where Lars got into an
argument over football with other German tourists.
The argument got heated and a fight broke out, causing damage to Lars’ eardrum and
injuries to his jaw.
The following morning, he would tell his friends that the people who he had fought with had
hired four men to beat him up and he didn’t know which of the fights had caused his eardrum
to rupture.
He visited a doctor who prescribed antibiotics and told him that he shouldn’t fly for a
while, as it could aggravate his injury.
His friends offered to stay until he was fit to fly, but he insisted that he would be fine
and told them to head home, which they did, leaving him in a good and relaxed mood, according
to one of the friends.
He checked into a cheaper hotel called Hotel Color in Varna, which is close to the airport,
but located in a crime-ridden area.
From this point on, Lars started acting strangely with CCTV footage showing him pacing up and
down in the hotel lobby, checking the windows and hiding in an elevator.
He left the hotel at 1am the next morning during which time he phoned his mother, Sandra,
whispering that 4 men were following him and that they were trying to rob or kill him.
He said that he was hiding in a high place and was scared to move, as he could fall to
his death and that she should cancel his bank cards.
He then travelled to the airport where he consulted a doctor again and was advised again
not to fly, but he signed a waiver taking full responsibility for flying in his condition.
When a construction worker entered the examination room, Lars yelled that he didn’t want to
die there and ran out of the airport terminal, leaving all his possessions behind.
He is seen on CCTV, running across the parking lot, scaling a security fence and running
into the woods, never to be seen again.
1.
Ryan Chambers
In 2005, 21-year-old Ryan Chambers was on a gap year and he decided to travel to Chennai,
India with his friend, John Booker, who he had known since kindergarten.
His family was not thrilled with the idea of him being gone for 8 months, but they knew
he loved to travel and that John was a level-headed man who he could rely on.
On the 20th of June, the two men arrived in Chennai and although they were excited to
be there, they felt that the difference in culture was overwhelming.
Over the next two months, they started getting used to the country and travelled up the southern
coastline to the northern city of Rishikesh.
Here, they stayed at an ashram which is a place used for meditation, Yoga and other
spiritual practices.
They visited popular tourist attractions and at one point, had dinner with a local family,
seemingly having come to terms with the differences in culture.
On the 23rd of August, Ryan phoned home and told his family that he had seen everything
he wanted to and was ready to come home.
John offered to help him book his flights after noticing that Ryan had been restless
for the past few days, but Ryan said that he had changed his mind and would be staying
after all.
That night, he spent a long time writing in his diary, still seeming restless and as soon
as the ashram opened its gates at 5am, he left wearing only his shorts and leaving his
money, passport and phone behind.
When Ryan was nowhere to be found, his diary was checked and the last entry that he wrote
the previous night read: “If I am gone, don’t worry.
I’m not dead, I’m freeing minds.
But first I have to free my own”.
Searches turned up nothing, though a priest at a temple 6 miles away reported that he
had fed Ryan who was exhausted and distressed.
He tried to convince him to stay, but Ryan refused and left the temple, disappearing
forever.