It turns out that there are more places than the Bermuda Triangle where people tend to go mysteriously missing – we have our own share of mysteries on the highways right here in North America.
#4. Interstate 80
I-80 runs east and west through the entire United States and is home to its fair share of mysterious disappearances. One example is Patrick Carnes, a WWII veteran who was stopped by a police officer on the highway the night he went missing – along with his dog – and was said to have been headed to a hotel. His car was found on the side of the road in perfect working order.
Photo Credit: Facebook
Another is 73-year-old Nan Dixon, who was on her way to visit her brother but never arrived. Her car was also found near the side of the road and contained some evidence of foul play. The case was never solved and her body was never found.
Photo Credit: The Charley Project
A third woman, 62-year-old Judith Casida, disappeared around the same mile marker in 2006.
#3. Appalachian Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Over 10,000 people visit the park every year, but some who were driving or hiking along the Appalachian trail never emerged again.
In 1969, a group of families was camping in the park for Father’s Day when 6-year-old Dennis Martin disappeared without a trace. A search by over 1,300 people turned up nothing and his disappearance remains unsolved.
Photo Credit: The Charley Project
Seven years later, Trenny Lynn Gibson vanished, too. She was with a large group of fellow students and teachers, all hiking along the same trail. A group was in front of and behind Trenny, yet no one saw her disappear and her body has never been found.
Photo Credit: Trenny Lynn Gibson
They’re far from the only people to have gone missing in the park under odd or mysterious circumstances, but the police have never found anything to link the incidents together.
#2. Yosemite National Park
There are almost too many people who have gone missing in the park to count. There’s 14-year-old Stacy Arras, who went for a short walk and was never seen again. Likewise, Timothy Barnes vanished on a hiking trail in 1998, and David Paul Morrison went missing that same year. In 2000, 45-year-old Kiran Bark disappeared.
Photo Credit: National Park Service
A woman named Ruthanne Ruppert never returned from a hike near Yosemite Falls. Eight years later, her backpack was found in a drainage ditch but no other evidence was ever recovered.
In 2011, George Pensa disappeared while with a group, also hiking near Yosemite Falls. Then, there’s 74-year-old Peter Jackson, who rented a camp and then vanished. His car and his tent were there, but the man was just gone.
Photo Credit: National Park Service
There have been so many disappearances in Yosemite that some have taken to blaming supernatural phenomenon like spirits or Bigfoot. Who knows what’s going on up there, but it definitely sounds like something is…off.
#1. Trail of Tears (The Canadian Iteration)
It’s got nothing to do with the forced removal of Native Americans, but along the Canadian so-called Trail of Tears – officially Highway 16 – 21 girls have disappeared since 1969. The disappearances (and deaths) began with Gloria Moody in 1969 who went missing after attending a party in Williams Lake and was found the next day. They ended (for now) with Madison Scott, who was camping in 2011 near Hog’s Back Falls and never appeared at home the next day. Her tent and car were found, but Madison has never been seen again.
Photo Credit: Help Find Madison Scott
The intervening years have seen vanished women like Shelley Anne Bascu in 1983, whose clothes were found on a riverbank, and Delphine Nikal and her cousin Cecilia Anne, who were both last seen on Highway 16.
Photo Credit: Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The similar disappearances of Lana Derrick, Nicole Hoar, and Tamara Chipman have inspired local authorities to post signs warning women about the dangers of hitchhiking and camping in the area.
The bottom line seems to be to trust your instincts, and don’t always go boldly where people have vanished before you.
