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The Disappearance of Percy Fawcett and Other Famous Vanishings
Popular beliefs, significant facts, and plausible theories behind ten of the most mystifying disappearing acts in history.
Adventurers, celebrities, political figures, unwitting victims and visionaries with one thing in they vanished into thin air. This collection features ten cases that became the stuff of tantalizing speculation and investigation, inspiring everyone from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to Ian Fleming to Stephen King.
Whatever happened to Percy Fawcett? In 1925 he ventured into the Amazon jungles searching for the mythical Lost City of Z and never re-emerged. Aviator Amelia Earhart? She embarked on her historic flight and didn't return. Like these two notable figures, there have been others just as New York's Judge Crater who stepped into a taxi and was never seen again; travel writer Richard Halliburton, known for his headline-making stunts--and one in 1939 that made him legend; and Lionel Crabb, the British frogman whose fate became a Cold War mystery. Here too are the unsolved vanishings of Roger Tichborne, heir to a fortune and cause c�l�bre of Victorian England; Philadelphia toddler Charley Ross who, in 1870, was the first kidnap victim to receive nationwide attention; activist and Columbia University professor, Jes�s de Galindez; writer Ambrose Bierce; and Czar Alexander the First, shadowed to this day by rumors of a faked death.
The most beguiling stories that a century of history has to offer--some being investigated to this day, some forgotten--they are all real-life mysteries still waiting to be solved.
Adventurers, celebrities, political figures, unwitting victims and visionaries with one thing in they vanished into thin air. This collection features ten cases that became the stuff of tantalizing speculation and investigation, inspiring everyone from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to Ian Fleming to Stephen King.
Whatever happened to Percy Fawcett? In 1925 he ventured into the Amazon jungles searching for the mythical Lost City of Z and never re-emerged. Aviator Amelia Earhart? She embarked on her historic flight and didn't return. Like these two notable figures, there have been others just as New York's Judge Crater who stepped into a taxi and was never seen again; travel writer Richard Halliburton, known for his headline-making stunts--and one in 1939 that made him legend; and Lionel Crabb, the British frogman whose fate became a Cold War mystery. Here too are the unsolved vanishings of Roger Tichborne, heir to a fortune and cause c�l�bre of Victorian England; Philadelphia toddler Charley Ross who, in 1870, was the first kidnap victim to receive nationwide attention; activist and Columbia University professor, Jes�s de Galindez; writer Ambrose Bierce; and Czar Alexander the First, shadowed to this day by rumors of a faked death.
The most beguiling stories that a century of history has to offer--some being investigated to this day, some forgotten--they are all real-life mysteries still waiting to be solved.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
138 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 14, 2017
21 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 2, 2020
A short review of some of the ideas, thoughts, etc. about what might have happened to these famous people who vanished along with a list of the facts of their disappearances. Some I have read about before like Tsar Alexander. All are interesting and some have had books written about them that I'd like to read to find out more about the person.
April 4, 2024
If you are familiar with these cases then you'll notice that there is a ton of information due to the short lengths of the chapter. Because of this you just get the bare facts which are chosen to make the stories more mysterious than they are. With these kinds of books those issues are expected so are not the reason for the one star review. The one star is because of the writing and editing was really bad in places.
November 25, 2017
While I'm no fan of political nor mob disappearances, I didn't mind some of these short reports. The person who gave this to me promised it had a supernatural vanishing in it. I didn't find one, but I did find the Charley Rose kidnapping, The story of Roger Tichborne, Amelia Earheart and the vanishing Sphinx of the North fascinating. The only problem with these books- there isn't enough info in them which can not be helped. I read this over time during a busy Thanksgiving break. It was a nice, but scary way to spend the holiday.
May 7, 2019
Collection of articles originally published in 1961, when some of these stories were relatively recent. Some are well known, at least by name (Amelia Earhart, Judge Crater, Ambrose Bierce), and some I'd never heard of before. Clapp provides summaries of what is known about these "vanishings" and throws in speculation, but none of these cases has a solid answer, even today. Entertaining, but brief.
July 8, 2022
I love a good missing persons' story. Ambrose Bierce really fascinates me along with Judge Crater. If you like that sort of thing, then this book is for you.
November 25, 2020
Nothing exciting here......some relatively interesting collection of stories people of vanished people, but no earth shattering reveals.
January 3, 2024
Why would a book on disappearances, first written in 1961, be republished in 2017 without any updates to any of the cases. Not only that, why republish at all with many of the cases mentioned not even footnotes in the minds of people some 60+ years later.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews