# Who are some famous people who 'disappeared'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 29, 2005, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-famous-people-who-disappeared/301718 "2005-04-29T15:27:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-famous-people-who-disappeared/301718/61 "2005-04-30T21:36:01Z")
Jack the Ripper. Sure, it’s hard to say that he disappeared when he was never identified in the first place; but it’s odd to think that a serial killer would just stop at five victims. Aleister Crowley had an interesting theory: Jack killed them in a pentagram pattern as part of an invisibility spell. But then, Crowley was usually full of shit. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-famous-people-who-disappeared/301718/62 "2005-05-01T01:17:27Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > The Twelfth Imam of the Shi‘ah, Muhammad al-Mahdi, was last seen in the year 872 as he walked down the stairs into a cellar in Samarra’, Iraq. He was 4 years old. His father had just been assassinated. His disappearance was called _al-ghaybah al-sughra_ (the lesser occultation). For the next 67 years, he communicated with his faithful followers through a series of spokesmen. But in 939, when the last spokesman died, he was not replaced. Er, maybe I’m just an intolerant idiot or something, but… :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-famous-people-who-disappeared/301718/63 "2005-05-01T02:01:49Z")
As for the “Lost Tribes of Israel,” they didn’t vanish into thin air. They were conquered by the Assyrians, and the survivors gradually intermarried and intermingled with the Assyrians to the point where they were no longer Israelites, for all practical purposes. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-famous-people-who-disappeared/301718/64 "2005-05-01T02:33:23Z")
A British diplomat, Sir Benjamin Bathurst, mysteriously disappeared in Perleberg, on November 25, 1809 ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-famous-people-who-disappeared/301718/65 "2005-05-01T03:08:46Z")
Wasn’t there a general in WW2 who went missing? I remember hearing on the History Channel that after Allied forces landed in Italy, one general just wandered away from the beachhead and was never seen again. Supposedly, he’s the only general to ever be declared MIA. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-famous-people-who-disappeared/301718/66 "2005-05-01T03:50:17Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Did somebody already mention D.B. Cooper, also famous pretty much because he disappeared? Yes, post #3. But the name he registered under was Dan Cooper. “D.B.” was a reporter’s error. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-famous-people-who-disappeared/301718/67 "2005-05-01T05:18:03Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > As for the “Lost Tribes of Israel,” they didn’t vanish into thin air. They were conquered by the Assyrians, and the survivors gradually intermarried and intermingled with the Assyrians to the point where they were no longer Israelites, for all practical purposes. And of course some decided to check out [Africa](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/israel/familylemba.html). (I know, these technically aren’t the lost tribes, but still interesting.) ---
**Author:** ![mailman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@mailman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mailman)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-famous-people-who-disappeared/301718/68 "2005-05-01T12:16:42Z")
The guy who wrote “The Treasure of Sierra Madre” known only as **B. Traven** is really more of an actual disappearance I believe. He was involved in the screenplay for the famous Bogart/Houston film, and may have even been on set. Somewhere along the line though, he vanished. Lots of rumors abounded. One rumor even said that he WAS Ambrose Bierce. He wrote a few other books worth reading as well. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-famous-people-who-disappeared/301718/69 "2005-05-01T15:58:56Z")
B. Traven died of prostate cancer in Mexico City on March 26, 1969. This had to be established by his widow and his estate so that the proper copyright terms on his works (death + 50 years at the time) would be observed (if date of death was not known, the copyright terms would by default go to 75 years from publication, which in all cases would be a shorter term). Traven’s date of death is listed in numerous reference works, including _The Oxford Companion to American Literature_, _The Penguin International Dictionary of Contemporary Biography from 1900 to the Present_, _Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century_, and _Twentieth Century Authors_. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-famous-people-who-disappeared/301718/70 "2005-05-01T22:18:01Z")
Carlos Fuentes’s novel _El Gringo viejo_ fictionalized a theory about how Ambrose Bierce met his end during _la revolución_. It was made into a movie, _Old Gringo_, with Gregory Peck and Jane Fonda. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-famous-people-who-disappeared/301718/71 "2005-05-01T23:25:12Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > Close Encounters aside, 5 of the same model plane (avenger bombers) have been found in roughly the correct area of where flight 19 could have been. It turns out that the found planes were not Flt. 19, based on tail fin ID number, just another flight that had crashed. Doesn’t speak well to the quality of the plane. Doesn’t say anything about the quality of the plane. When five airplanes on one flight all go into the drink, it’s almost certainly due to navigational error leading to fuel exhaustion over the ocean. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-famous-people-who-disappeared/301718/72 "2005-05-01T23:33:50Z")
A few were from mid-air collisions, actually 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-famous-people-who-disappeared/301718/73 "2005-05-02T02:29:57Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Er, maybe I’m just an intolerant idiot or something, but… :dubious: This is how the story goes: > [@Muhammad Husayn Tabataba’i](#): > > The Imam chose as a special deputy for a time ‘Uthman ibn Sa‘id ‘Umari, one of the companions of his father and grandfather who was his confidant and trusted friend. Through his deputy the Imam would answer the demands and questions of the Shi‘ah. After ‘Uthman ibn Sa‘id, his son Muhammad ibn ‘Uthman ‘Umari was appointed the deputy of the Imam. After the death of Muhammad ibn ‘Uthman, Abu’l Qasim Husayn ibn Ruh Nawbakhti was the special deputy, and after his death ‘Ali ibn Muhammad Simmari was chosen for the task. > > A few days before the death of ‘Ali ibn Muhammad Simmari in 329/939 an order was issued by the Imam stating that in six days ‘Ali ibn Muhammad Simmari would die. Henceforth the special deputation of the Imam would come to an end and the major occultation (_ghaybat-i kubra_) would begin and would continue until the day God grants permission to the Imam to manifest himself. —Muhammad Husayn Tabataba’i, _Shi‘ite Islam_, p. 210-211. So, according to the traditional account, the imam predicted the death of his last spokesman and announced in advance that there would be no replacement. Obviously these spokesmen had to have a very high degree of trust reposed in them by the believers, because there was no independent verification of what they said. They could have smothered the imam with a pillow and buried him in the cellar years ago for all anyone knew. The only detail in the story that doesn’t fit that scenario is the prediction of Simmari’s death a few days before it happened. I guess this put Simmari in the position of foretelling his own death. The background for _why_ the imam would feel a need to disappear: none of the previous eleven imams had died a natural death. They had all been murdered for political reasons. Wouldn’t you go into hiding if you were next in line? By this time, the senior Shi‘ite management must have decided that it was just too hazardous to continue the line of imams, so a way out was found. Step one: remove the 12th from public view. Step two: Extend his imamate indefinitely. This way you don’t get a 13th, and no more murders too. Removing the 12th when he was a little boy helped, since he didn’t have any sons to continue the line. If he never died, one may hope he will return someday. Like King Arthur, or Frederick Barbarossa. I know, it looks kind of a shaky premise to base one’s faith on, but somehow it has had an enduring appeal to centuries of Shi‘ites, don’t ask me to explain how. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-famous-people-who-disappeared/301718/74 "2005-05-02T14:34:01Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > Che Guevara didn’t actually disappear; it was pretty clear he had been killed by the Bolivian army in 1967. It was his body that wasn’t found until 1997. Speaking of the Bolivian army, also among the disappeared are [Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid](http://www.bolivia.freehosting.net/Butch.htm). Their biopic presumes the Bolivian army got them, which is probably true, but to my knowledge this [has never been conclusively established](http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/outlaws/cassidy/8.html?sect=17). And [Joshua Slocum](http://www.joshuaslocumsocietyintl.org/jshistory.htm), the first man to sail around the world alone (1895-1898), disappeared at sea in 1909. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-famous-people-who-disappeared/301718/75 "2005-05-02T14:45:47Z")
> [@+MDI](#): > > The planes found weren’t from the same flight. There was a documentary on this subject on UK TV the other night. Amazingly, they’re five independent crashes over a period of a few years from '43 onwards. I did not know that. Amazing that they all ended up in the in the same area. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-famous-people-who-disappeared/301718/76 "2005-05-02T15:07:48Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > I did not know that. Amazing that they all ended up in the in the same area. Maybe not too amazing. Given how many green pilots must have been learning to fly torpedo bombers in that area in the Forties, there must have been a heck of a lot of crashes. ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-famous-people-who-disappeared/301718/77 "2005-05-02T15:32:15Z")
Philip Kramer, Iron Butterfly bass player, dissappeared in 1995. Over four years later they found his van at the bottom of a ravine, skeletal remains nearby. There’s still a bit of controversy over whether it was an accident or suicide. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-some-famous-people-who-disappeared/301718.md?page=3)