Roughly thirty-four percent of the United States’ 2.3 billion acres of land is covered in dense woods and forests, and over the years hundreds of people go missing in these secluded areas. (USDA ERS 1). In most situations, the missing persons are found, whether that is alive or dead. However, some cases have just remained unsolved under very bizarre circumstances. Why are these people disappearing out of thin air with absolutely no trace? And why are these some of the most experienced people when it comes to the land and surviving? Recently theories started to speculate around these weird occurrences:
Is there some type of other life out there that the government doesn’t want us to learn about?
Could it just be people getting lost or attacked by animals?
All these theories have plausible evidence to back them up. So, join along with this journey, and let’s see which theories have the best explanation!
Described to be one of the most diverse countries when it comes to scenery, the United States has just about every terrain found on the planet. From Maine to Hawaii, hundreds of different landscapes are found, some of them being famous tourist destinations as well as the Grand Canyon, along with the Smoky Mountains. Something so strange, yet so unique about the United States, is that even when just going from one state to another, every state is so different. Such as Colorado, and its western neighbor Utah, these two are completely different when it comes to geography. Utah’s rocky red desert is the total opposite of Colorado’s snowy, mountainous terrain. The United States has the fourth-largest landmass in the world with 1.9 billion acres of land, and about 6.1% of Earth’s landmass (The Largest Countries in the world 1). A whopping one-third of this land is densely forested and remains completely uninhabited (Smith 1).
Grand Canyon National Park has an unrealistic beauty to it that draws in an abundance of people every year. It has been one of the most popular tourist locations in the United States with about six million visitors every year (“Statista” 1). Despite its alluring beauty, Grand Canyon National Park is the number one most dangerous park. According to The Washington Post, deaths at the “Grand Canyon (134)” are extremely high compared to any other park (Howard 1). Most of these deaths are because trekking through this park is dangerous due to the rocky terrain, and massive drop-offs. According to Outside, a very popular lifestyle and traveling website stated that “The heat is a very real threat in the Grand Canyon, even to the most seasoned hikers, and can lead to death.” (6 Hazards to Avoid in the Grand Canyon 1). During the summers the heat has exceeded way over 100 degrees. Heat like this is what causes people to suffer dehydration, heat strokes, and heat exhaustion (Weather and Climate 1).
The Appalachian Mountains also share a taste of strange disappearances over the years. The Appalachian Mountains stretch from Alabama to North New York, but a specific famous park that resides in this area is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Lengthening over the states of Tennessee and North Carolina, this park has it all: long rivers, high mountains, and dense forest. Ranked number three on the list of the most dangerous parks, there have been many strange things that occur in this park (Howard 2). It has been stated that “The Smokies have seen many strange deaths and disappearances over the years” (Wilderness Disappearances 1).
National Parks are supposed to be family-friendly. Somewhere people go to escape reality and experience the relaxation of nature. So, when it comes to safety, the National Park Services, or NPS take it very seriously. When entering these parks there are several maps, clear trails, large signs, and rest stations found throughout the park, along with park rangers who roam around all day every day to make sure everyone is doing good. These precautions limit the
chances of getting lost; however, it doesn’t completely secure your safety. For some reason, even with all these precautions people still seem to completely get “lost” and are never able to find their way back. The strange thing about this is that there are hundreds of people in the park each day, so the odds of getting lost and not seeing anyone are slim.
Not only are these strange disappearances occurring in very isolated areas; areas deep within forest and high up on mountains where communications are limited. However, these events are also taking place in Nation Parks where hundreds of people are there daily. According to the National Parks Services, there are twenty-nine ongoing cold cases that have yet to be solved (Cold Cases 1).
Hundreds of people have gone missing within the United States National Parks; some are found, while others have quite literally disappeared off the face of the Earth. The Missing 411 cases are a series of cases that occurred under the same bizarre and similar event. These specific cases have raised eyebrows due to how they have disappeared under the same strange circumstances. Almost all these cases share similarities with ages, evidence, events in which they occur, and how they are usually found in places they have recently searched.
The first conspiracy suggests that there is another type of life form out there that the government doesn’t want us to know about. Many cases led people to believe this due to the strange way in which they were lost and either found alive or found dead (Missing 411: The Hunted). One of the most present cases was in 2015 when 82-year-old hunter Thomas Messick went missing in the Appalachian Mountains in New York while hunting with a group of hunters along with his two sons (1). They decided to all split up and set up camps so they could cover more grounds. When Thomas disappeared, he was no further than fifty yards away from the other hunters and had a supply of food, water, a walkie-talkie, batteries, and extra bullets (1).
Upon his disappearance, they recalled hearing a strange noise. During the interview, Thomas's son said, “It'd be hard to explain because......But it was different.” (Missing 411; The Hunted). During this time, however, they disregarded it until they called quits on the hunt and all gathered at the truck, where Thomas did not show up (1). They started searching for him immediately and searched for three hours before it got dark and came up with nothing (1). Over the next couple of months, many agencies searched every square inch of the park, using thousands of volunteers, hundreds of search dogs, planes, and helicopters with infrared, and they never found anything, not even a backpack or a phone (1). Thomas was a former Army veteran, an experienced hunter, and a hunters safety instructor; meaning he was a very knowledgeable person when it came to experience in nature (1).
One of the strangest parts of Thomas’s disappearances was that FBI Agents showed up at the site a couple of days after he was officially reported missing. This is strange because the FBI rarely gets involved with missing person cases, especially missing adults, unless the disappearance happens to a famous figure. While at the scene they rarely spoke, and Thomas’s wife Beverley reported that they told her “Something isn’t right with his case”, and “until they make a discovery, they’ll never know” (Missing 411: The Hunted). An interesting side note is that another elderly man by the name of Fred Drumm went missing ten days after Thomas under almost the same situation and in the same exact area (1). As, of 2021 they have yet to find Thomas and Fred’s remains, not even their guns, a bow, or backpacks. They quite literally left the face of the Earth. Fred’s case is barely ever talked about, and it is assumed this because having two similar cases happen in the same area would get people to speculate something. The FBI knows things that the public will never know, so did something catch their eye about the case that they wanted to keep hidden?
Another strange experience was in Sonora, California 1971 when 4 friends Warren and Lewis Johnson, Bill McDowell, and Ron Morehead went camping in an area where 3 people previously disappeared. They did this same trip annually, and usually heard strange noises, but the 1971 trip changed their lives (Missing 411: The Hunted). During this specific trip, they caught voice recordings of a group of something unidentified conversating, mocking, and screeching outside the Hunters Camp. The group sent the audio to Scott Nelson, a Crypto linguistic expert, and a Navy Veteran. Scott Nelson studied the recordings and stated that “Their Frequencies go way above, and way below the abilities of Humans” (1). He concluded that the audiotape is evidence of an uncharted intelligent lifeform. The 1971 audio was later sent to a specialist at the University of Wyoming where it was proven that there was no indication of pre-recording or re-recording (1). Over the past couple of decades, many people have reported strange alien, UFO type sightings, and the United States government has been very suspicious with their vague answers (1). Seeing the government dismiss and deny the idea of other lifeforms out there leads to the belief that they are trying to hide and keep this idea away from the public eye.
The other theory states that there is nothing suspicious about these people’s disappearances, and there is nothing out there in the parks preying on these people (Rezny 1). These hunters and travelers are just getting lost within the forest or being killed by the predators that inhabit the area; and these theories about these cases are just plain dumb. The argument behind this theory is that there are so many dangers in National Parks, the risk of falling because of all the steep rocky terrain, the deadly heat in the summers, and the risk of an animal attack.
While this is the most plausible theory, there isn’t a bunch of evidence that backs it up when it comes to these cases. A problem with this theory is that most of these cases involve hunters and young children. Hunters carry guns and would easily win against any animal, and the young children would scream and fight, but in these cases, they never hear anything. In the Thomas Messick case, they just concluded that an animal probably got him, but there was so much evidence missing. The search team stated that “it was like he was plucked off the Earth” (Missing 411). If an animal got him there would be at least something left; he was carrying guns, a bow, a backpack, and had many articles of clothing. Something should have been found; you’d think that if he was being dragged away by an animal, at least one thing would be left behind as evidence.
Specific cases that have repeatedly occurred in western National Parks, is the disappearance of small children. Jaryd Atadero is a three-year-old that
disappeared under the noses of eleven people. The search for him lasted days upon end, but nothing was found, so they concluded that he died from an animal attack (The Disturbing Death of 3 year old…). Four years later evidence turned up on a slope of the mountain. The top of his cranium, jacket, pants, and shoes were found on the slope of a mountain. Not only was it strange that he was found in an area they searched, but that his shoes and clothing were perfectly fine. Shoes were perfectly preserved with no scuff marks while his clothes were torn up by birds and rats using the material for their nest. Other than that, there was no evidence no sign of an animal attack, no sign of animal DNA, and no blood. However, they still concluded that his death was an animal attack. This makes absolutely no sense, even Jaryd's father said, “I don’t believe an animal is the cause for his death.” (Missing 411). Another concerning thing about this story is how the media altered what happened. Almost like they were trying to cover something up, but what exactly are they trying to cover up?
To this day, all the 411 cases happening in National, and State Parks have remained unsolved, and that’s why these conspiracies have formed over the past couple of decades. There is obviously something bad happening to these people. The argument, however, is exactly how they are being killed. Is there really something foreign out there capturing these people, or are they getting lost or attacked by animals? After looking at two of the most sought-after conspiracies, it seems like there could possibly be something living among us.