10 Disappearances That Can't Be Explained

Top 10 Disappearances That Can’t Be Explained

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 10 Disappearances That Can’t Be Explained

For this list, we’ll be looking at unsolved cases about people who have vanished under mysterious or downright inconceivable circumstances.

Which of these theories do you believe? Make sure to sound off in the comments below!

#10: Frederick Valentich

Frederick Valentich’s disappearance on October 21, 1978 over Bass Strait, Australia, isn’t easy to explain. The 20-year-old pilot was flying at 4,500 feet when he reported seeing an unidentified aircraft flying near him. He stated that it seemed to be playing a game with him, and in his last transmission, claimed that it was hovering over him - and that it wasn’t an aircraft at all. The pilot and his plane were never found. Ufologists proposed that aliens had abducted him, while a 2013 review suggested he mistook planets and the star Antares for an aircraft; perceived the horizon as tilted due to sunset; and put his plane into a graveyard spiral. We may never know for sure.

#9: The Crew & Passengers of the MV Joyita

Five weeks after it was reported missing in October 1955, the American merchant vessel MV Joyita was found deserted and drifting in the South Pacific. The life rafts were all missing. The ship had carried 16 crew members and nine passengers for an anticipated 48 hour trip. While there was some damage to the boat, as well as broken glass and bloody bandages, it wasn’t enough to require the passengers to abandon ship. Why would they have left a ship in working order, and without enough life jackets for all on board? Most theories focus on the idea that the captain was injured, through an accident or even mutiny, leaving others to make a dubious decision.

#8: Rebecca Coriam

Cruise ship disappearances aren’t unheard of, but the circumstances around this one make it especially confounding. 24-year-old Rebecca Coriam worked as a part of the youth activities team on the cruise ship Disney Wonder, which at the time was sailing off the Pacific coast of Mexico. On CCTV footage, Coriam was seen looking upset while talking on the phone in the early morning hours of March 22nd, 2011. A few hours later, crew were alerted to her disappearance when she didn’t show up for work. The coastguard searched the waters, but nothing was found. There’s speculation that she may have jumped or slipped overboard, and insinuation that Disney knows more than it let on. But the evidence made public is inconclusive.

#7: Legio IX Hispana

The unsolved disappearance of even one person can be mystifying. But in this case, thousands of men disappeared. Legio IX Hispana, or the 9th Spanish Legion, was an experienced legion of the Imperial Roman Army made up of roughly 5,000 men. Records show the legion in Britain, but their activities after around 120 CE are unknown. Historians have speculated that they may have been annihilated in a war with the Brigantes, a Celtic tribe in northern Britain. Or else they may have been redeployed to a base in the Netherlands, and perished in a later conflict, such as the Bar Kokhba revolt in Judea. However, historians have yet to agree on what really happened.

#6: Flight 19

What started as a routine training mission for five naval planes in December 1945 turned into disaster and fueled theories about the Bermuda Triangle. Partway through the exercise, lead pilot Lieutenant Charles Taylor became disoriented after departing from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Taylor said that his compasses were malfunctioning and he no longer knew their location. After failed attempts to find their way, they started to run out of fuel, and Taylor indicated that they may need to land in the ocean. When search planes were dispatched to search for the missing men, one of them also vanished. Witness accounts indicate that this plane exploded mid-air, but debris from the search plane and the original five aircrafts has never been found.

#5: Maura Murray

On February 9, 2004, 21 year old nursing student Maura Murray crashed her car into a tree on Route 112 near Woodsville, New Hampshire. By the time police arrived, Murray was gone - and was never seen again. Murray had been acting oddly prior to her disappearance. She’d crashed her dad’s car a few days before; lied to her supervisor about a death in the family, saying she’d be out of town for a while; and packed up her belongings in her dorm. Before leaving, she’d looked up directions to Vermont, but no one knows why she’d be going there or if it’s connected to her disappearance.

#4: The Lost Colony of Roanoke

Led by explorer and painter John White, over 100 English colonists established a settlement on Roanoke Island in 1587. A previous attempt had failed due to lack of supplies and conflict with the indigenous population. In 1588, White left his family and the settlement to get supplies from England, but his return was delayed for two years due to the Anglo-Spanish War. When he finally came back, he found everyone gone. The only clue was a word etched onto a wooden post: “Croatoan” - the name of a nearby island and of a local tribe. Due to poor weather however, the heartbroken White had to abandon the search. Some believe the colonists were killed, others that they assimilated into Native American communities; but no one knows for sure.

#3: First Lieutenant Felix Moncla & Second Lieutenant Robert Wilson

After a 30 minute chase at speeds of 500 miles per hour, pilot First Lieutenant Felix Moncla, Second Lieutenant Robert Wilson, and their aircraft disappeared and were never seen again. On November 23, 1953, a F-89C Scorpion jet was scrambled to investigate an unidentified object over Lake Superior in restricted air space. They chased the unknown aircraft as it frequently changed course until the radar blip of the Scorpion jet converged with the blip of the unidentified object at approximately 8,000 feet over Michigan. Right after this, the aircraft vanished from the radar altogether, followed shortly after by the unidentified object. Extensive searches were conducted by both US and Canadian forces, but no evidence of the Scorpion or its occupants were ever found.

#2: The Crew of the Mary Celeste

In early December 5th, 1872, a passing vessel found the brigantine merchant ship Mary Celeste abandoned in the Atlantic Ocean 400 miles east of the Azores. The ship had set out on a voyage from New York to Genoa, Italy on November 7th of the same year with 11 people on board including the captain, Benjamin Briggs, his wife, and their daughter. When the Mary Celeste was found, the lifeboat was gone, but the ship was undamaged, and still had six months worth of food and water. Without any evidence about why the occupants may have left and no sighting of any of the passengers since, the disappearance of 11 people from a well-stocked and seaworthy ship has left us with over a century of questions.

#1: Amelia Earhart

Famous as the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean solo, Amelia Earhart set out to complete another amazing feat by circumnavigating the globe in 1937. During this attempt, Earhart, along with her navigator, Fred Noonan, vanished. After completing a majority of their mission, they left New Guinea on July 2, 1937. Due to radio transmission issues, Earhart was unable to locate her next planned stop, Howland Island, and ran out of fuel. Eventually, Earhart’s radio transmissions ceased, and a search began. She and Noonan were never found. Did they crash and sink into the sea? Survive for a time on nearby Gardner Island? Her final fate remains a mystery.