Not to sound like a braggart, but there aren’t very many things in this world that genuinely scare me. I don’t have any phobias, I don’t worry about serial killers when I leave the house at night, I’m not terrified of being eaten by animals when I go into the woods (though I remain cautious), and when things go bump in the night, ghosts and demons do not come to mind. In other words, I’m no scaredy-cat.
But I have a confession to make. There is only one thing that keeps me up at night from time to time. It’s the stories from the book series titled “Missing 411.” That title may sound innocuous, but I assure you that if you read some of the stories within, you’d lose sleep too.
The books are written by former San Jose Police Detective David Paulides. He’s spent thousands of hours researching numerous cases of people going missing in America’s national parks and national forests. However, the cases he talks about are not ordinary. To be frank, they are downright bizarre, and they defy all explanation. These are cases that can’t be explained as being caused by accidents, animal attacks, or even criminals.
Even people whose minds are a little too open, and jump to conclusions like “aliens did it” or “it must be Bigfoot,” are often at a loss for words when they hear about these cases. In fact, Paulides makes a point of not trying to pin a suspect for these missing people. These stories are just too baffling to jump to any conclusions. They kind of make your brain hurt when you think about them.
Most of the cases involve children, and they have many chilling similarities. The kids often disappear out of thin air, sometimes just a few feet away from their parents, and close to numerous witnesses. Sometimes they are found several days later in perfect health, with no memory of the events that transpired. Other times they are found dead, vast distances from where they went missing, over terrain that most adults would struggle with, and in inclement weather.
Some of these people vanish, only to show up hours or days later in areas that search and rescue teams had combed over numerous times before. Sometimes, they’re never found, even though the plausible search area is small and there are an abundance of professionals looking for them.
But it’s the similarities in these cases that leave you dumbfounded. They’re so random and yet so consistent. These people almost always disappear right before record breaking storms show up, almost as if the “thing” that’s taking them knows that it’ll stifle search efforts. The missing are usually children, and they’re always wearing bright clothing. There are physical features of the landscape that show up all the time as well. These people often go missing around berry bushes and granite rocks, and when they’re found, it’s usually in dry creek beds. There are also certain parks that are hotspots for this activity, such as Yosemite National Park, which has racked up a shocking number of disappearances.
When you read one of these stories, you know it’s strange, but when you find the similarities between all of them, of which there are hundreds, you can’t help but feel that that something incredibly mysterious and scary is at work here.
What makes these cases extra spooky, is the reaction of the National Park Service, law enforcement, and the media. As strange as it may sound, the Park Service doesn’t keep any official record of the people that go missing in their lands, which is totally unheard of. In some of these cases, evidence has been withheld from the families by the police and the media, or they’ve been outright lied to.
But after reading these stories, you almost can’t blame them. When you see how they investigate them and respond to scrutiny, you get the sense that even they have no idea what’s going on.
Fortunately, people like David Paulides are working hard to raise awareness. He’s appeared on numerous radio shows, podcasts, and newscasts, both mainstream and alternative. A cursory Youtube search will yield hundreds of chilling interviews with him. Right now he’s working on a documentary and is trying to raise money on Kickstarter for the project. Check out the trailer that his production team has made (which features a few familiar faces) and good luck getting any sleep tonight.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlnclGc9jZ0&w=560&h=315]
This article was originally published at Ready Nutrition™ on July 19th, 2015
It seemed odd and totally wrong that the trailer seemed to place the blame on the rangers. Really! If you have ever been to the parks there are thousands and often tens of thousands of people visiting each day and only a handful of rangers. They are not body guards, they take your entrance fees and answer questions. It is YOUR job to take care of yourselves and if you bring children to the parks WATCH them.
It didn’t place the blame on the rangers for not being body guards, it placed the blame on the ranger for hiding the truth and telling lies.
To be expected from those gonewiththewind, willful ignorance the norm these days.
you cannot blame the Rangers but the culture of secrecy fostered by the NPS which keeps their lips sealed-whistleblowers face loss of employment and pensions and no doubt Obama would find a way to lock some of them up
It’s not about the rangers,..it’s about the bureaucracy that hides behind the rangers and treats it’s citizens as ignorant when they themselves are unable to draw a conclusion and face reality. Nothing to see here,..move on please.
Government = a dysfunctional leper begging for money in one hand and picking your pocket with the other.
I had the same feeling reading all 3 of Paulides books. One caveat though: I don’t think “most” of the missing are children. Paulides identifies certain time frames, and geographic areas, where certain types of people have gone missing, and there are sometimes strings of all boys, or all older people (either gender), or all girls, etc. I don’t know the stats, buts is about 50/50 kids, adults, it seemed to me. Paulides did say the ages are heavy on the very young and very old, and relatively few in their 20s-40s. Yet there are plenty of examples of that age group too.
Paulides is interesting to listen to on shows like C2C and others. He has several books now on the same subject for parks in other sections of the country. I get the idea he wants to put the finger on Big Foot doing these kidnappings, but he never comes out and says that. The cases are what I’d call “High Strangeness” and defy explanation, especially the ones involving toddlers who somehow travel MILES before being found. There is something weird going on in the vast national parks!
Had a co-worker/friend in SF. He spent weeks helping his friend look for his wife in Yosemite. They were hiking and she was there one minute, gone the next. Poor her but the poor guy…everyone looked at him like he killed her and hid the body. I would not let my girlfriend and her friend hike in that park without a small form of protection. Not afraid of the bears, just people.
Do they ever know what happened to her?? I have heard that drug cartels are using them to grow marijuana, so maybe that could be part of some of the disappearances…but the children thing is scary. Unless the cartels take them and sell them. God, I hope not.
No, a complete disappearance. As an isolated incident, it’s easy to jump at a simple answer, that he killed her or she ran out on him. But after the more famous case of the mother and daughter, I never completely trusted my adventurous gf being in the woods 18 miles from anywhere.
The very very last thing drug farmers want is to attract law enforcement
That makes sense. What do you think it is then? I have been reading sites about it and it’s hard for me to even think it could be anything other than demonic/supernatural. I’m gonna get the books and I need to listen to the Coast to Coast AM interview about it lol. It’s scary!
I would just follow DPs advice tho why 2 or more people staying close together are any safer or why having a transponder/emergency device makes you safe is beyond me as some of these victims like James McGrogen clearly came across a formidable force which totally overcame him so why would this force be discouraged by a group or an electronic device? And if a supernatural force ,why only the forests? Doubt i would camp esp with kids. I would like to know the months incidents happened and if we are perhaps food sometimes?The puzzling Bennington disappearances all happened in i think Oct and Nov
What are “DUMBs”?
Deep underground military bases.
thanx
Its the government. Obama and his thugs are sending them to Africa to be slaves
Thanks John Doe. I’ve been thinking the same thing over the last couple years.