Which Real Life Mystery Do You Find Most Fascinating?

[LifeIsBrutal]

Mine is D. B. Cooper. He hijacked a beong 727, stole $1.25 million in today's money, and parachuted down to earth with it. His identity is unknown and it's unknown if he survived the plunge to earth.

Oh and I forgot. A historian eventually found a photo of the dead German soldier and he looks very like Carl. They could be the same man, only difference I’d the German is much thinner.

Ruth Wilson. Her mother was my favourite primary school teacher, she taught me for three years running. She often pops into my head. Very strange circumstances.

Picnic At Hanging Rock is a novel not a real case.

Oops - should have refreshed before posting .

Blanche
The film is haunting and has a surreal quality, I guess the impression it was based on an actual incident adds to its impact. The Springfield three case is really strange and tragic. Two girls, Suzie and Stacey, who just graduated high school go to a party and are supposed to be staying there overnight, but decide to return to the home of Suzie Streeter. There is evidence they arrived at Suzie's house, but the next morning both girls and Suzie's mum have vanished. It must be devastating for the families to not know what happened.

@covetingthepreciousthings there is a podcast called crime Junkie and they do a show every week looking at unusual missing person/murder cases and they do a show on the Delphi Bridge, they play the voice clips and link to lots of info.

Sysk podcast has Great episodes on Marie Celeste and Malaysian flight M370 (?)

You might all also appreciate the podcast The Creep Dive , it investigates odd stories

I'll have to look up some of these podcasts, thanks for the recommendations

What happened to Kathleen Peterson? Did Michael kill her or was it the owl ?

It's ok Netflix at the minute - the Staircase

Marion Barter who went missing from Australia over 20 years ago. There's a very good podcast called The Lady Vanishes.

Ruth Wilson - missing Surrey school girl. I'm a bit fascinated by this case. She was 16 years old. Spent the day in the local library instead of being at school. Apparently researching how to disappear. Ordered some flowers to be delivered to her step-mother two days after her disappearance. Some say that was an, 'up yours' gesture. She used a taxi to take her to a location on Box Hill at around 4.30pm. The taxi driver saw her standing, waiting as he drove away. Ruth was not wearing a coat, even though it was October.

She had recently read her mother's death certificate which recorded her death as suicide by hanging. She did not die as a result of accidentally falling downstairs which is what she had been led to believe all her life. (OK, information had to be kept age appropriate until then, I suppose.)

There's an interesting YouTube documentary done by a retired detective who asked the father to take part. Ruth's father declined saying that it was, 'complicated.' The retired detective found it odd that her father is so nonchalant about her disappearance. Some parents go to their grave wanting information about their missing child.

I suspect Ruth will reappear sometime in the future when her father has died. Personally, I think she was on to something. Basically, did her Dad have more to do with her mother's death than he's letting on ?

So why go missing ? Who was helping her ? Police ruled out her known boyfriend. What about the sighting of her in a nearby corner shop a year to the day of her disappearance ? So, she stayed local. Or not ?

Lee Boxell. Posters of his face are on bill boards where I live in the Midlands. Part of an initiative to find him, or information about him even now.

He was a young teenage who went missing from London/Essex a good few years ago. He might have gone to some sort of, 'youth club' run by someone who turned out to be a paedophile.

Where is he now ? If he died, where's his body ?

The burning of Evelyn Foster - unsolved case from 1931. A young woman gave someone a lift in her car and was found dying (having been badly burned). It took place in Otterburn, Northumberland and is fascinating.

A man was found guilty and hung for an alternative crime. As the noose was being put around his neck, he muttered, 'ought to burn.' Was that judgement on himself or did he say, 'Otterburn ?'

Ruth Wilson disappearance. Booze and pills and a note were found together elsewhere on Box Hill. Was this to do with her disappearance or not ?

Answers on a postcard please...….

*JonBenet Ramsey.

I'm convinced it was an inside job anyone reading the ransom note could figure that out. And likely an accident rather than some plot but I would like to know exactly what happened. If Patsy had lived she probably would've spilled the beans but I don't see John or Burke opening up. Wonder what the older son thinks.*

The long rambling ransom note is interesting to say the least. I saw a t.v. documentary about her death. The sum of money demanded is precisely the amount of the father's bonus that he was due from work. Also, the sophisticated vocabulary matches his industry/level of education. I don't know who's guilty but I believe it has been covered up by the family.

I thought for a long time that it was her brother, Burke. I've always wondered if he will tell his story one day. As a PP has remarked, I too wonder if, 'the girl that went missing on holiday', her siblings will tell their story one day, as thoughtful adults.

Andrew Gosden - very sad. Again, the level of planning that he put into his disappearance.

Going to school in his uniform that day. Then coming back to the house when he knew the house would be empty. Catching a train to London. The last sighting of him is cctv footage of him leaving the train station in London.

He wasn't being bullied and his parents are at a loss to explain why he disappeared.

Unfortunately, I think things went wrong shortly after his arrival and eventually he fell prey to wrongdoers. It's anybody's guess where he is now or if he's alive.

jack the ripper

Ben Smart and Olivia Hope disappeared on New Year's Eve/New Years' Day whilst on holiday in New Zealand.

They have not been found either dead or alive.

There's not enough evidence to charge the prime suspect, either.

Jon Benet Ramsay
Lee Boxell
Andrew Gosden
Lord Lucan
Jack the Ripper
The Unmentionable

So many. It's heartbreaking reading some of these.

Unfortunately, I think things went wrong shortly after his arrival and eventually he fell prey to wrongdoers

Agreed. I think he was catfished and went to meet someone who was not who he thought they were. Horrific.

I know Jack the Ripper is still ultimately a mystery but his motives aren't.

Some psychopath who regarded women driven by poverty and misanthropy to prostitution were worthless.

Anyone read 'The Five'? Amazing book.

With the Ruth Wilson disappearance I think it’s possible she just took off and changed her identity and made a new life

Mysoginy even

I love this thread - mine would be The Zodiac, Jack The Ripper and the killer(s) of Tupac & Biggie