1) DB Cooper
A number of movies, TV show plots, songs, and books have
been based on the legend of this man. On Thanksgiving Eve, 1971, DB purchased a
ticket under an alias, Dan Cooper, and then proceeded to skyjack Flight 305 of
the Northwest Orient Airlines (later changed to Northwest Airlines, now part of
Delta Airlines) which was bound for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Right
after the flight took off, Cooper told a flight attendant that he had
explosives in his possession and demanded $200,000 and four parachutes in
addition to a refueling truck when they landed at SEA-TAC.
Authorities paid the ransom and gave Cooper the parachutes. After refueling began, he said he wanted the plane to take him to Mexico City. About thirty minutes into the flight, he parachuted from the plane at an altitude of 10,000 feet near Mount St. Helens in Washington state (almost ten years before Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980 blowing away a large portion of the volcano).
Not only was he never found, his real identity remains a mystery. It's not even known whether he survived the jump. In July 2016, a two-part special was aired on the History Channel about DB Cooper, where they named Robert Rackstraw as the man behind the mystery. The FBI declared in the same month that they were no longer pursuing him. Rackstraw, a 72 old year man living on a boat in San Diego Bay claims he considered filing a defamation suit against the television channel, but it has never been filed. 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 flying exploits made her
well-known. In addition to her aviation popularity, she was also a teacher,
author, fashion designer, magazine editor, and cigarette spokesperson. In 1937,
Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan embarked on a trip around the world. On
July 2, Earhart sent a radio message asking for help saying they were
dangerously low on fuel over the Pacific Ocean. The US Coast Guard sent a cutter,
the Itasca, but they were unable to locate the plane. The cutter sent up smoke
signals, hoping the pair would see them, but it was no use. Neither the plane
nor the two people were found. Earhart's husband funded a private search, but
it failed to produce any results. In 1939, Earhart was declared dead in
absentia.
There have been numerous theories as to what happened and 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 in the Pacific ocean and subsequently sank. Even after the intensive searches at the time, in 2012 researchers spent another $2.2 million dollars trying to prove Earhart had crashed on a tiny island. Nothing was ever proven.
3) Jimmy Hoffa
Jimmy Hoffa was president of the Teamsters Union for over
ten years. He was corrupt, involved in organized crime, and went to prison in
1967 while remaining president of the Teamsters. However, he resigned his post
in 1971 in order to gain release as well as a pardon from then President Nixon.
Hoffa was last seen outside a Detroit restaurant where he supposedly met with
two organized crime bosses. After his disappearance, he was declared dead in
1982. The circumstances which surrounded his disappearance and subsequent
apparent death are still a mystery to this day.
It's believed that he was killed by mobsters the day he disappeared, although a body was never found. There were many stories circulating about his disappearance. According to one mob source, Hoffa was put in a shallow grave on a vacant lot about twenty miles from where he was last seen. The source claims this was supposed to have been a temporary location, but Hoffa's body was never moved. Another often repeated theory says he was buried in what is now the end zone of the NY Giants football stadium.
4) Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson was a famous English explorer for which towns,
bridges, rivers, bays, and straits have been named, even though it seems he
must not have been a very nice fellow to work for. While exploring, his crew
(who were starving, half-frozen, and homesick) became so restless they mutinied
due to being unwilling to continue the search after being trapped for several
months in ice. The crew put Hudson, his teenage son, and seven other crewmen
who were loyal to Hudson in a small boat and set them adrift. They were never
seen again.
The remaining crewmen who made it back to England were arrested and charged with the murder of Hudson. They escaped without being punished due to lack of details surrounding their captain's death. However, it's generally believed that he and the eight others who were marooned with him died while aboard the open boat, a scenario which was immortalized by the painter John Collier.
5) Theodosia Burr
Alston
Theodosia Burr Alston was the eldest child of Thomas
Jefferson's Vice President, Aaron Burr. In addition, she was also married to
South Carolina's Governor at the time, Joseph Alston. Aaron Burr was disgraced
after being formally accused of committing treason. Five years after the fall
of her father, 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 to be
allowed to return to the US after being exiled to Europe.
In 1812, Alston boarded the Patriot, a schooner with an intended destination of New York. She was to be reunited with her father on that New Year's Eve. She traveled alone due to her husband, who had only recently been sworn in, being unable to accompany her due to his duties as governor. The schooner never made it to its destination. Some believe the vessel capsized or sank due to a major storm which had been documented to be in the area at the time. Others believed it was captured by pirates. Whatever happened to it, neither the vessel nor its passengers were ever seen again.
6) Heinrich Muller
Heinrich Muller is considered to be among some of the most
disgraceful people of the twentieth century, if not of all time. He joined Nazi
Germany's state police, the Gestapo, in 1933. He quickly moved up the ranks to
chief and in 1939, he formally joined the Nazi Party. Part of Muller's acts
included helping to advance false information used in the justification of
invading Poland as well as helping to carry out the Holocaust.
Muller was last observed on May 1, 1945, which was a day before Hitler took his own life. No one knows what happened to him, but most believe he died around that time. Hitler's pilot, Hans Baur, claimed Muller had said that he knew the Russian's methods and that he had no intention of allowing them to take him prisoner. From that day on, there hasn't been any sign of him. He is the highest ranking member of the Nazi party who wasn't known to be captured or killed, his whereabouts remaining a mystery.
7) Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller was the best-selling recording artist from the
late 1930s to the early 1940s, making him one of the most iconic big band
leaders ever. Miller volunteered to join the US Navy after the US entered World
War II, but he was turned down. He then tried to volunteer for the army and,
eventually, was accepted into the Air Force. On December 1944, Miller and two
others were to fly to Paris, France, in order to make arrangements for his band
to play concerts for US troops.
His plane disappeared while flying somewhere over the English Channel. Neither Miller, the other two occupants, nor the plane were ever found. In 2014, the Chicago Tribune reported that the most likely cause of their disappearance was a plane crash caused by a faulty carburetor. The carburetor in question was said to have been defective when used during cold weather and had a history of icing up and causing crashes.
8) Frank Morris
Of the 36 inmates who had tried escaping Alcatraz over the
29 years it was in operation as a federal penitentiary, 5 are still listed as
missing, but presumed to have drowned although no bodies were ever found. Of
the others, 23 were captured, 6 shot/killed, and 2 drowned. Of the 5 missing, Frank Morris is the most famous.
Morris grew up an orphan, spending most of his formative years in foster care. At 13, he was convicted of his first crime. He continued to break the law and was arrested for many crimes by the time he reached his late teens, such as armed robbery and narcotics possession. Morris was considered extremely intelligent at the time, ranking in the top two percent of the general population with an IQ of 133. He served time in several prisons and was eventually sent to Alcatraz in 1960.
Morris and 3 other inmates planned their escape, but only Morris and 2 brothers, John and Clarence Anglin, were able to carry out their plans. Prison officials believe the 3 drowned, but evidence over the years points to their survival. In fact, a letter was sent in 2013 to the San Francisco Police Department, claiming the writer was John Anglin. He went on to claim that he, his brother, and Morris had all escaped from Alcatraz in June 1962, albeit barely. He said he was 83 years old and had cancer. He went on to explain that Morris had died in 2008 and that his brother had died in 2011. However, the letter couldn't be verified, but it's been proven that an escape could have succeeded at the time. Clint Eastwood portrayed Frank Morris in the 1979 movie, Escape From Alcatraz.
