When we travel, we are often careless. I don’t want to create paranoia, but this is a fact: documents are often stolen, a wallet is snatched from your hands, and your life itself may be at risk. Over the past 20 years, the world has become a less safe place for tourists traveling abroad or even within their own country. We remembered 15 shocking and sometimes ridiculous cases of missing tourists. Unfortunately, these guys were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
1. Chris and Lisa
Dutch tourists Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon, aged 21 and 22 respectively, went missing in Panama in April 2014. The girls went to Panama on a humanitarian mission - social work with local children. One day they went hiking through a dense forest near the Costa Rican border and went missing.
Rescuers found their belongings in the forest. Among other things, they found cell phones with numerous attempts to call 911. The phones also contained numerous photos taken between 1:00 and 4:00 a.m., approximately every two minutes; the girls probably used flash to see anything in the pitch darkness of the forest.
Almost two weeks after this, fragments of human bones were found in the forest; DNA testing confirmed that these were Dutch girls. So far there is no definitive explanation of what happened to them, but most likely, not having time to leave the forest before dark, they panicked and fell off one of the many steep cliffs that abound in that area. Their complete remains have never been found.
14. Amber Tucarro
The missing person case of Amber Tucarro was later upgraded to a murder investigation. This is one of the worst kidnapping cases.
The girl was traveling from her home in Fort McMurray, Canada to Edmonton with her boyfriend and 14-month-old son on August 18, 2012. They planned to stay overnight on the outskirts of Edmonton to save on hotel costs and visit the city the next day.
But for some reason, Amber suddenly decided to hitchhike to Edmonton alone that night, leaving her son with her friend. She was picked up by an unknown driver and was not seen again until her body was found nearly two weeks later.
While she thought she was getting a ride into the city, Amber called her brother, who was in the Edmonton Correctional Institution, or rather, in a pre-trial detention center, where all telephone conversations are recorded.
After Amber's body was discovered, police released a recording of the minute-long telephone conversation, hoping that someone would recognize the voice of the perpetrator. It turned out that during the telephone conversation, Amber realized that she seemed to have been kidnapped and was being taken somewhere to the wrong place, she got scared and began to ask the driver where he was going. He says a few phrases in response, his voice can be heard quite clearly. However, to this day, no one has been arrested for the murder of Amber Tucarro, and the killer remains at large.
13. Lars
German citizen Lars Mittank, 28, was on holiday in Bulgaria when he got into a brawl on the beach and was hit in the head. He was taken to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a ruptured eardrum and given a prescription for medication. Under doctors' orders, Lars needed to avoid flying for the next few days and told his friends to fly home without him. Lars himself remained in Bulgaria, waiting for his condition to improve.
Then some inexplicable series of events begins: Lars called his mother from his hotel room, claiming in a panic that four men were watching him. He asked to call the bank and block his credit card. He spoke in a confused and chaotic manner: he believed that the medications prescribed to him were doing something wrong to him, affecting his ability to think clearly.
Lars was last seen on security cameras at the airport. He fled from the airport building into the nearby forest, abandoning his luggage; No one ever saw him again, and his body was never found.
12. Tom
22-year-old British backpacker Tom Billing went missing in the North Shore Mountains on November 25, 2013. Billings had planned an 8-week tour of North America, but his plans were interrupted by a fatal accident that occurred while attempting to negotiate a dangerous route.
Billings told two traveling companions that he planned to take a risky and difficult route into Lynn Headwaters State Park.
Tom was not reported missing for a week, and the alarm was only raised when he failed to arrive at his next destination.
His body was found almost three years later, in April 2016. He appears to have died of natural causes (such as exhaustion or dehydration).
11. Yuri and Natalya
Human remains were found on one of the beaches of Fiji Island in the Pacific Ocean. It soon became clear that parts of the bodies belonged to people from Ryazan who moved to the island five years ago - Yuri Shipulin and Natalya Gerasimova.
On the Fijian beach of Natadola Beach, police discovered the remains of Russians - body parts were scattered along the shore. Local media wrote that the remains were washed ashore by the surf, where the killers could have thrown them out after the massacre. A number of publications also draw attention to the fact that a chainsaw appears to have disappeared from the house of the murdered. According to journalists, it could have become the murder weapon.
The killers were not arrested in connection with this double murder, and some fragments of the couple's bodies have still not been found.
Fiji authorities are worried that the reputation of their paradise could be greatly damaged by such a brutal murder, because crime on the island is very low and such cases are extremely rare.
P.s.: the source does not explain what travel and dangers for tourists have to do with it.
10. Eliza
On January 26, 2013, Columbia University student Elisa Lam, originally from Vancouver, left the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles and went missing. 18 days later, her body was found under strange circumstances. The girl was going on a tour along the West Coast, planning to visit Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, San Diego and San Francisco. Her trip seemed to go smoothly, judging by the photos Eliza posted on social media.
Everything was fine before arriving at Hotel Cecil. It’s something like a hostel, where she shared a room with several neighbors, who immediately began to complain to the hotel administration about the girl’s strange, chaotic behavior, and the manager moved her to another room.
CCTV footage from February 1: Eliza squeezed into a corner in the hotel elevator, looks out into the corridor and quickly returns to the elevator again, as if she is hiding and afraid. Actually, this is the last that is known about her.
Eighteen days later, her body was found in a water tank on the roof of the hotel, the cause of death being drowning. It is still unknown how she got onto the roof (the door was locked), or under what circumstances she drowned. Her disappearance and death were hotly discussed in the media and social networks, everyone was scratching their heads and theorizing, but to this day there is no definitive explanation.
9. Gareth Crowe
In February 2016, 36-year-old British tourist, Gareth Crowe from Scotland, died while riding an elephant in Thailand. Crowe was on vacation with his family when the accident occurred.
Crowe and his 16-year-old stepdaughter, Eilidh Hughes, were riding on an elephant when the elephant's mahout climbed down to photograph them. The elephant began to ignore his commands and then threw Crow and Hughes off its back and trampled them. After which he ran away. The girl was hospitalized, and her stepfather died.
The driver blamed Crowe for the incident, saying he had teased and angered the animal. Hearing these accusations, Hughes completely denied them - there was no such thing!
A spokesman for the charity World Animal Protection said the tragedy was a reminder that elephants were never designed to ride. The animals are domesticated for the entertainment of tourists, but they are often under great stress, both physically and mentally. The elephant's owners caught it, but weren't sure what to do with it. We hope he won’t take tourists on rides anymore.
8. Anne
Chicago television producer Anne Swaney, 37, was visiting a farm in Belize while on vacation in January 2016, where she was killed. This was Annie's second visit to this farm, where she rode horses, and the owner of the farm described her as a very nice and friendly person.
That day, Anne went down to the nearby river to do yoga. When she did not return to the hotel, hotel staff notified police of her absence a short time later, at which time her personal belongings were found near the river.
Her body was found the next morning and an autopsy revealed that she had been strangled. Police say the motive for the attack is unclear. This place is located about a mile from the border with Guatemala, perhaps the criminal killed the girl and fled to Guatemala (the border is open there).
Belize's murder rate is ranked third in the world, although the area where Annie was killed is not considered to be particularly dangerous. The killer has still not been found.
7. Max Mendoza
American citizen and Arizona State University alumnus Max Mendoza visited Brazil in July 2014 to cheer on the FIFA World Cup.
The investigation claims that Mendoza and two of his friends went on a hike to the world-famous statue of Christ the Savior, and their path ran through the forests. At some point, Mendoza became separated from his friends and disappeared. The body was discovered by Brazilian police near the Waterfall of Souls: Max fell from a great height. How and why this happened - no one will ever know.
The police notified the US Embassy, and the body was quickly identified by its belongings. No signs of violent death were found; it was officially recognized as an accident.
Max was loved very much by his friends; they expressed their condolences on social media over the tragedy.
6. Denis
An Arizona woman, Denise Pikka Thiem, went missing on April 5, 2015. She quit her job to travel. Denise visited many countries such as the Philippines, Cambodia, Singapore and Vietnam, and then decided to go to Europe, on a pilgrimage - from El Camino de Santiago. Tens of thousands of people undergo this test of physical endurance and religious spirit every year.
Before and after Thiem's disappearance, numerous tourists and locals reported being disturbed by a strange girl who had strayed from her pilgrimage route. And then she disappeared.
Miguel Angel Muñoz, 39 years old, a hermit who lived in a shack along the pilgrim route, was detained on suspicion of murdering Denis. After being taken into custody and charged with Thiem's murder, Muñoz led police to her remains. Why he killed the American woman is not reported.
5. John and Robert
Back in September 2015, Canadian tourists John Riedel and Robert Hall were captured. They were captured at gunpoint by the Islamist militant group Abu Sayyaf.
Riedel and Hall were vacationing at the Oceanview resort, which is located on Samal Island in the southern Philippines.
The Philippine military said it was no accident and that the foreigners were the target of a raid by an Islamist organization. The Abu Sayyaf terrorists demanded a ransom for each captive, threatening death if their demands were not met. They posted several heartbreaking videos online of the captives' pleas, and Canadians appealed to their government and the leadership of the Philippines. But no one was going to buy them.
Unfortunately, a few months later, in April 2016, Canadian authorities confirmed that John Riedel was dead and his family was mourning his senseless death. In turn, almost a year after their capture, in June 2016, Robert Hall was also executed.
4. Bo Solomon
Study abroad programs are highly regarded, and prestigious education at the world's best universities is an excellent choice. However, Bo Solomon's foreign education did not end well. He went to Rome to study at John Cabot University.
In July 2016, 19-year-old Solomon from Wisconsin went missing shortly after arriving in Rome.
His roommate reported the American's absence, and officials began searching for him. Three days later, Solomon was found dead in the Tiber River. CCTV footage helped identify the three men who led Solomon to shore after robbing him. The criminals are wanted, but young Bo cannot be returned.
3. Spouses from the Czech Republic
On July 26, 2016, a young couple from the Czech Republic set out on a twenty-mile trek that usually takes about three days. The trekking took place in an area that is famous as a tourist attraction, but in severe winters, as a rule, only experienced, properly equipped climbers go there.
On the second day of the hike, a man died after falling down a steep slope. The woman, frightened and confused, survived in the cold for three nights, and then found a hut. She suffered minor injuries and frostbite and decided it was better to stay in the hut rather than try to find help.
Almost a month passed before the couple's abandoned car was found and the alarm was raised and a search began for them. And the woman lived that month in fear and loneliness, eating what she found in the hut.
2. Lane
This tragedy shocked the whole world. On June 14, 2016, the world famous Disneyland Park in Orlando generated chilling headlines around the world with the death of 2-year-old Line Graves from Nebraska. The boy was standing in about knee-deep water, at a shallow depth, when he was attacked by an alligator, which instantly dragged him under the water. Graves' father tried but was unable to save the boy, suffering injuries to his arms.
The boy's body was found only two days later.
The investigation found his body completely intact, with minor wounds, and concluded that the cause of death was drowning.
Alligators are not uncommon in the area, but attacks on humans have never occurred in Orlando before. This story served as a terrible lesson for both the park administration and all parents.
1. Madeleine
Four-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappeared in Portugal in 2007 under mysterious circumstances. Her parents put her to bed in the hotel room, and they went to a party with friends. When they returned, they did not find their daughter there, while the other two children were in their cribs and did not hear anything.
At first, the parents searched on their own, then they turned to the police. A few months later, the first suspects were detained, allegedly associated with a pedophile ring. However, there was no evidence against them. The detainees were released, and suspicion fell on the parents themselves. But soon the Portuguese police again admitted that there was no evidence.
At the same time, various private investigators began to speculate on the incident, every now and then declaring their own investigations, the threads of which lead to various secret societies of pedophiles: Belgian, French and even pan-European.
Recently there were reports in the media that the remains of the most wanted girl on earth, Little McKen, were allegedly discovered in the Australian city of Wineark. But no confirmation has yet been made public.
The search for the child has reached a truly global scale. Various celebrities (for example, David Beckham), writers and musicians got involved in the cause. However, to no avail, and Madeleine McKen's case remains open to this day.
Madeleine has a special feature: the pupil of her right eye seems to “flow” onto the iris. Her parents do not lose hope - someday the baby will be found.
At the very end of the 90s of the last century, an expedition of the famous anthropologist David Waddle set off into the jungles of Thailand. Having reached the densely forested hills to the north-west of the mouth of the River Kwai, she found herself in front of a swampy plain, outlined on one side by impassable swamps infested with snakes, poisonous spiders and other evil spirits, and on the other by a river - and went deeper into it.
And - disappeared without a trace...
What remains, however, is Vodla's diary, which he kept shortly before his fateful journey, in which it was mentioned about this valley and about some mysterious cave, which was so notorious among the local residents that it took considerable effort to extract from them at least some vague information not what about the cave, and even about the valley itself...
In the footsteps of the missing expedition
In search of the missing expedition of David Waddle, the National Association of Anthropologists of the United States equipped another expedition - this time under the leadership of two scientists - Peri Winston and Roy Clyde, experienced researchers who spent many years in the jungles of Indochina...
Following Wodle's diary entries, the Winston-Clyde expedition reached the threshold of the valley mentioned in the diary. This valley evoked an unaccountable horror among the local inhabitants - and, in general, for good reason: eerie things really happened in it. Local legends say that long ago in these
a tribe of cannibal sorcerers lived in the region...
Winston and Clyde, despite the persistent warnings of the natives, nevertheless decided to move on - after all, it was already the 20th century - for whom ancient superstitions evoked only a skeptical grin. In addition, upon return, they had to report to the National Association of Anthropologists - and, if Clyde and Winston had put forward fear of semi-mythical beliefs as the reason for the aborted expedition, their scientific reputation would have been seriously damaged...
At a general meeting of the group, it was unanimously decided to move forward.
However, difficulties immediately began - the local guides, even despite the huge reward, flatly refused to accompany the expedition - and Winston and Clyde had no choice but to set off on a further journey at their own peril and risk.
Anthropologists were primarily interested in the same mysterious cave that was discussed in David Wodle’s diary - in which, according to him, cannibal priests performed their magical rites...
Plain of Fears
Having gone deeper into the valley, it was decided to set up camp - it was already getting dark, and it would hardly be advisable to set off on a further journey, looking at the night...
On this, their very first night in the ominous valley, the expedition members heard some strange sounds - from the direction of the southwest. They heard these sounds all night - most of all they resembled the dry clicking of castanets or, in the words of one of the group members, the “fractional clicking of many hammers”...
Having closed the camp in the morning, the expedition moved on - and by noon, having traveled several miles to the southwest, they discovered the desired cave. Of course, it was this cave that David Waddle had in mind when describing it. The cave - from which, apparently, the night sounds were coming...
After examining the surrounding area, scientists came to the conclusion that no human foot had set foot here for many years. However, the mysterious night knocking noise came from here - and if it was made by people, their traces would definitely remain on the soft swampy soil - which, no matter how closely they looked, were not found...
Dispersing within the radius of the cave and continuing their search, members of Winston-Clyde’s group soon stumbled upon the last stop of the missing expedition. The bodies of Vodle and his companions were almost completely decomposed - the remains were identified only by documents and fragments of equipment preserved in the pockets of half-decayed clothes with the initials of David Vodle. What’s strange is that they all died a violent death - their skulls and chests were broken by some kind of blunt instrument. The bodies were in completely unnatural poses... “and horror,” Roy Clyde, one of the group leaders, later claimed, “horror that seemed to gushing even from their completely empty eye sockets”...
Further inspection showed that none of the valuable things - such as the impressive gold ring with a monogram on Vodla's ring finger, etc. - none of this was taken, and this led to the idea that the lost expedition became the victim of some kind of inhabitant there is a large predator here or even a whole flock of its kind...
Redoubling caution as a result, Winston-Clyde's group continued to explore the surroundings of the cave - soon approaching it directly.
Having penetrated the cave and illuminated its space with powerful flashlights, the researchers discovered in it many dead people, or rather, skeletons - in a wide variety of poses. Some of them lay on the floor, others were leaning against the walls, and others were suspended on rusty hooks from the ceiling. The group members were struck by the fact that the skulls and chests of the dead were broken in exactly the same way as those of David Waddle and his companions. However, there was no smell of crime here anymore - the overwhelming majority of these skeletons were of ancient, and some were almost of antediluvian origin...
Nevertheless, this new discovered circumstance made the Winston-Clyde group even more wary...
Awakened Horror
Another camp was set up some distance from the gloomy cave...
And again, with the onset of midnight, they heard the familiar fractional knocking - and this time much more clearly and closer. The sounds came from the cave - now it has become completely clear...
Excited to the limit by the latest, rapidly alternating ominous events, the expedition members did not sleep all night, holding their weapons at the ready...
In the morning, Winston and several members of his group headed to the cave. Having again illuminated its interior with flashlights, people were convinced that everything in it remained the same. And - again, no trace of the mysterious night visitors...
Taking a closer look, Peri Winston and his companions suddenly discovered one incredible circumstance that involuntarily plunged them into awe - most of the skeletons, if not all, were already lying in a different position - completely different from the day before. But who would drag all these dead people from place to place at night... and why? And most importantly, where are the traces of these strange night visitors?..
And - another nightmarish sight suddenly revealed itself to them: the remains of David Waddle and his companions, which they had interred the day before about a mile and a half from the camp, were right there in the cave, leaning against the walls in a row. The raised skulls of the dead were
turned in their direction and seemed to smile mysteriously...
After consulting with Roy Clyde, Winston and several volunteer companions decided to spend that night directly at the entrance to the cave. Having stocked up with thermoses of coffee and whiskey, armed with large-caliber pistols and taking with them a movie camera with a night surveillance system, Winston and his men set off in the deepening twilight to the silent mouth of the cave. The other members of the expedition remained in the camp - it’s alarming to wait until the morning for them to leave...
And again, with the onset of midnight, the tense silence exploded with a fractional clatter - the invisible “castanets” sounded again. “Castanets” - or... “Bones,” breathed the shocked Roy Clyde in the darkness; “Only bones can sound like that...”
Until the morning, no one slept a wink, peering and listening in the direction where Winston and his companions were - and from where, still in the same monotonous rhythm, the clicking of the nightmarish “hammers” was heard. However, no other sounds were heard - no noise, no shots, no screams - nothing. However, by morning, none of those who had gone to the opening of the cave came back...
Heading to their overnight location, Clyde and the remaining members of his expedition saw with horror the mutilated corpses of Peri Winston and his companions at the very entrance to the crypt. Their unnaturally twisted bodies floated in pools of blood, and their skulls and chests were crushed in a manner already familiar to them...
Escape
The departure of the remnants of Winston-Clyde's group was more like a stampede - having taken the remains of their dead colleagues, they immediately left the deadly plain. There were no longer anyone willing to look into the cave for the last time... however, one of Roy Clyde’s companions, who was following in the rearguard of the retreating expedition, claimed that at the last moment he nevertheless illuminated the entrance to the cave with the beam of a powerful electric flashlight...
It would be better if he didn’t do this, was his summary on this matter. What he saw there almost prompted him to hastily move from the rearguard to the vanguard: the beam snatched out of the darkness a section of the interior of the crypt. The dead who were there last time again changed their poses, and on the bones of the ancient skeletons he clearly saw fresh, dried blood...
...A detailed report on the expedition, under pressure from the FBI, was never made public - apparently due to the ongoing investigation - which, however, only confirmed the version of what happened provided to the investigative authorities by the remaining members of the Winston-Clyde group...
Not long ago, a message appeared in the US media that another expedition was being prepared for the location of the mysterious cave - with a partial list of its participants. Along with anthropologists, it includes psychologists, analysts and even psychics. The composition of this group will be significantly expanded, and it will also be much more thoroughly staffed compared to the previous ones.
This, the third expedition, will go to the mouth of the River Kwai, apparently, already under the patronage of the military department...
In September 2007, the plane of the famous traveler and record holder Steve Fossett disappeared in the mountains of Nevada. He set 116 records at sea and in the air, for the first time in the world he circumnavigated the Earth in a hot air balloon and made a non-stop flight around the planet in an airplane. Conquered 400 mountain peaks. The purpose of Stephen Fossett's last flight was to find a level area to set a land speed record.
Today, few people know that he had a predecessor - Percival Fosset, also a famous traveler who lived at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Whether they were relatives or namesakes, God knows, but the fact that they were relatives in spirit is certain. Only Percival Fossett was engaged not in records, but in the search for Atlantis. Like Steve Fossett, he also disappeared on his last expedition in the jungles of South America.
The expedition goes into the jungle
In April 1925, the expedition of Colonel P. H. Fossett left for the wild jungle of the Brazilian province of Mato Grosso. It consisted of only three people - Fossett himself, his son Jack and cameraman R. Reimel. The expedition did not return and its search led nowhere. The purpose of the expedition was to search for dead cities lost in the wilds of Brazil - the remains of the world's most ancient civilization, and perhaps even Atlantis itself! This was his main meaning of life and its goal. The fact is that abandoned cities were found in Central America, but not in South America.
Colonel Percival Fossett was neither an amateur nor a novice in the jungle. Having begun his service in Ceylon, in 1893 he discovered mysterious writings carved into the rocks there, unlike any known alphabet. This is how his interest in the ancient world arose, which further intensified when, on instructions from the Royal Geographical Society, he demarcated the borders between Bolivia, Peru, Brazil and Paraguay in 1906-1911. Work was often carried out in places where there were white spots on the maps and where no white man had ever set foot. The enthusiastic researcher carefully collected and recorded Indian legends about lost cities and treasures, and worked in the archives of South American capitals.
Dead cities in the wilds of the Amazon
“Exploration of the interior spaces of this continent began soon after Columbus’s expedition. Numerous detachments of land pirates—bandeiristas—were sent into the interior of the continent.
“Wandering through the impenetrable forests of the Amazon and Orinoco basins, bandeiristas sometimes found not gold, but dead cities abandoned by someone unknown and when. So, back in 1841, in the public library of Rio de Janeiro, a report was found from one of the treasure hunters, the nameless native of the state of Minas Gerais. In 1743, he, along with a small detachment of Portuguese and 300 Indians, went in search of the legendary silver mines. They wandered in the green hell of the tropical forest for 10 years! And all to no avail. The decision had already been made to go out into populated areas and stop searching when their detachment reached an unfamiliar mountain range.Then the path lay through a gorge, in which there was an ancient pavement, and in the valley lay a majestic dead city.
The entrance to it was framed by three arches made of huge slabs. Some writings were carved above the central arch. Then they saw a street with two-story houses, then a square, in the center of which stood a huge stone column, and on it a statue of a young man. One of his hands rested on his hip, and the other pointed to the north. One of the majestic buildings with wide steps was obviously a palace. Everywhere adventurers encountered intricate stone carvings, bas-reliefs and sculptures, wall paintings and mysterious inscriptions. Only the central part of the city was preserved; the rest lay in ruins
Another evidence of the presence of lost cities in the jungle is the report of the commandant of Fort Iguatemi about the dead city discovered by his people in 1773 in the forests near the Rio Pequeri River. It had a regular layout, stood on both banks of the river and was surrounded by a wall and a moat. Local Indians even knew its ancient name - Gaira, and claimed that it was built in ancient times by white people.
The Lost Expedition
Archival research and direct communication with savages during topographical expeditions convinced Fossett of the reality of these messages and pushed him to create an original theory. He believed that South America originally consisted of several islands, one of which was Brazil. Over time, the islands connected, and where the plains were now located, there once were sea straits. White settlers who came from the north created an ancient civilization on this continent, which is 50-60 thousand years old. White aliens were associated with the ancient cultures of Egypt, Western Asia and Atlantis. Gradually, this ancient civilization degraded, and frequent earthquakes accelerated the death of cities. They were abandoned, and the population went into the forests. These were the mysterious white Indians, rumors of whose existence often reached Percival Fossett.
Thus, well prepared for travel through the jungle and armed with his theory, Fossett undertook several small expeditions into the interior of the mainland. Surely he managed to find something, since in his letters to London he said that he now knew the exact location of the dead city mentioned in the 1753 report.
Percival Fossett's expedition disappeared in the jungle in 1925. Then news began to reach that he and his companions were captured by the Indians, and even became their leader. The colonel's wife, Nina Fossett, believed until the end of her days that her husband and son were alive and would definitely return. In 1933, in the area where Fossett's group disappeared, his theodolite compass was found completely intact. And in 1934, the dog he took with him to guard the camp returned to the hacienda from which Fossett set off. However, numerous searches undertaken for the missing expedition yielded nothing. Fearing persecution by robber gold miners, Fossett did not tell anyone his route and warned that his journey could last 2-3 years. Therefore, the search began too late, and it was unknown where to look.
Thus ended the journey of one of the tireless explorers of South America, who erased many blank spots from its map. Not a single work on the geography of this continent is published without mentioning his name. Fossett's services were highly appreciated by the governments of many Latin American countries. Following Fossett's stories during conversations with him, Arthur Conan Doyle wrote his famous "The Lost World", introducing him into the story under the name of Professor Challenger.
Whether he found the lost city - the dream of his life, or died without achieving it, probably no one will know. However, the search for lost cities in the jungles of Brazil should be continued, and there, perhaps, traces of Fossett, an extraordinary geographer and romanticist, will be found.
A new survival thriller, “Deadly Path,” has appeared on ivi, and we have collected several more stories about people who returned from the wild alive, although all circumstances were against it.
Deadly trailBody at Brighton Rock, 2019
If you don't think you're cut out to be a ranger, you probably are. An inexperienced and uncollected employee of the national park, Wendy, while walking around a tourist route, loses her way, loses her map and ends up somewhere many kilometers from the base, not knowing how to get back. To top off the misfortunes, the girl finds a corpse at the foot of the cliff. She radios about the discovery, and as it is getting close to sunset, she is told not to go anywhere and to keep an eye on the body all night.
JungleThe film is based on the memoirs of Israeli traveler Yossi Ginsberg, set out in his book “Lost in the Jungle. A true, heart-wrenching tale of adventure and survival." Together with two friends and a strange guide, he went on a hike through the Amazon jungle, and at one point they found themselves separated and forced to go out to the people one by one. By the way, not everyone survived.
Life of PiLife of Pi, 2012
After a shipwreck, Boy Pi finds himself on a boat in the middle of the ocean with a tiger, an orangutan, a zebra and a hyena. The strange voyage will last many days, and Pi has two versions of how events unfolded.
At 6 feet deep6 Below: Miracle on the Mountain, 2017
One snowboarder, filled with internal contradictions and problems with drugs, decided to ride a wild track in a snowstorm and, of course, got lost. He wandered around the mountains for a whole week before rescuers found him, and this is the real story of Eric Lemarque.
SurvivorThe Revenant, 2015
Hugh Glass was mauled by a bear during a hunting expedition. Friends, fearing the Indians, left him with his son and one of his comrades, but he cowardly killed his son, and left Glass himself to die alone and rushed to civilization away from the savages. The only thing he didn't take into account was Hugh's vitality.
No one knows how it all really happened, but Michael Punk used facts from the biography of a very real hunter, Hugh Glass, for his novel The Revenant.
Lost in the iceHuxley, the pilot of a crashed plane, survives well in the icy Arctic desert and calmly awaits help from the mainland. But one day a helicopter crashes near him, and the surviving woman needs medical attention, so the hero calculates the chances, ties the wounded woman to a sled and sets off on a dangerous journey towards civilization.
127 hoursThe film was based on the autobiographical book of a young rock climber and lover of walking in the caves of Aron Ralston. One weekend in 2003, without telling anyone where he was going, he went for a walk into the canyon. At one point, gaping, he stumbled and fell into a crevice.
The moral of the film is simple - if you like dangerous adventures alone, tell your relatives or friends your route.
ImpossibleImpossible, 2012
EverestEverest does not forgive mistakes, greed and thoughtlessness, and Everest does not forgive generosity and selflessness. There are laws that can be called inhumane here. However, hundreds and hundreds of people are trying to conquer this height. On that ill-fated day in the spring of 1996, two commercial expeditions set out to climb at once, which included both experienced climbers and tourists who had no experience in conquering eight-thousanders.
Three years ago, the media wrote one after another about the girls who disappeared in the Panamanian jungle. But neither officials, nor rescuers, nor journalists have yet been able to give a clear answer to the question of what happened in April 2014. The versions put forward by the police, upon careful examination, crumbled almost faster than the sand from the beaches of Bocas del Toro (this is where the students first vacationed) in their hands. Incredible, but true: the more the authorities knew, the more strange this case seemed. Evidence designed to shed light on what happened only added to the mystery of this tragedy.
Two pretty students from Holland wanted to improve their Spanish in the summer, and at the same time relax a little in Panama - you must admit, this desire looks absolutely harmless and is in no way associated with extreme sports. But no one could have predicted how this trip would end. If we omit the details and present only the essence of the events, we get literally the following: the girls went to the mountains, recording their ascent on camera, and then something inexplicable happened, which led to their death.
This plot somehow reminded us of the story that happened to Dyatlov’s group at the Mountain of the Dead. Alas, despite the fact that the police have at their disposal a technical arsenal that operatives never even dreamed of in Soviet times, this has not brought the investigation one step closer to the solution...
So, Lisanna Frohn and Chris Cremers from the small Dutch town of Amersfoort carefully planned their trip to Latin America.
Their vacation began at the Bocas del Toro resort, where the friends simply relaxed - swam, sunbathed, flirted with guys and posted beach photos on social networks.
Two weeks passed, on March 29 the girls moved to Boquete - away from the ocean and closer to the mountains, to begin studying at language courses. However, soon after their arrival it turned out that Spanish classes would start a week later. Lisanna and Chris decided to spend the free time exploring the picturesque surroundings - the jungle was just a stone's throw away - and met guide Feliciano Gonzalez, from whom they ordered and paid for two tours. It was he who sounded the alarm when his clients did not show up for a meeting on April 2.
Apparently, they were quite athletic (Lisanna, for example, played volleyball for the student team), but extremely frivolous girls, dressed only in tops and shorts, taking with them one small backpack with a minimum of things for two, thought that they could climb the trail "El Pianisto", which is approximately 6 km long, to the famous Baru volcano and on its own. However, many did just that, because no special equipment was required.
According to the workers of the cafe located at the beginning of this very difficult journey, the Dutch women still took with them a guide dog named Blue, specially trained to find the way home. However, an hour later the husky came running to the establishment alone. Meanwhile, several people told the police that they saw the tourists returning from the route, but no one remembered where they went next. An attempt to time the movements of Lisanna and Chris was, to put it mildly, unsuccessful.
The extensive search operation would later be called the largest in the history of the country. Experts from the Netherlands, equipped with the most modern equipment, also joined the search for the missing. Hundreds of people were interviewed on both sides of the Cordillera, and three helicopters and numerous search dogs were deployed. A group of volunteers under the leadership of the same Gonzalez combed the jungle along with police and rescuers, Chris’s parents also arrived, and also began to look for their daughter and her friend, but, alas, all to no avail. It seemed that Fron and Cremers had disappeared without a trace.
At first, the investigation focused on the version that the girls simply got lost, because the path in the jungle leading from the outskirts of the city to the observation deck at an altitude of just under 2000 meters above sea level ended at the top only in guidebooks, but in fact went down the slope mountains towards the Caribbean. And it was not at all like the beautiful sidewalks and pedestrian paths in the Netherlands, although it was clearly visible. The main thing was not to leave the path. But the girls did just that...
The assumption that the Dutch women were kidnapped was also considered. The police expected that the criminals were about to demand a ransom for them. However, this did not happen. At the end of the month, it seemed that the entire country, with the possible exception of the jungle, was plastered with advertisements announcing a hefty reward for any information about the missing students.
A version was also put forward that the girls were torn to pieces by wild animals, among the alleged killers were predators, the same puma or jaguar.
Terrible finds
Only 2 months later a new trail appeared in the case, leading to the other side of the Cordillera ridge. The Indians found a backpack belonging to the girls on the bank of a mountain river. Experts could not figure out how he ended up about 20 kilometers from the beginning of El Pianisto. Its contents appear to have remained intact: swimsuits, two pairs of sunglasses, money, documents, a camera and mobile phones. The police had special hopes for gadgets.
Two months later, further upstream, fragments of girls’ bones and boots with feet were discovered. On a large stone lay neatly (!) laid out denim shorts that belonged to Kremers.
In other words, experts had enough materials to understand the causes of the tragedy. But it was not there!
Fingerprints that did not belong to their owners were found on the girls’ smartphones, some of them were repeated. According to one source, about 10 people picked up the phones. According to others, no less than 30. Moreover, these were people of different genders and ages. Attempts to call 911 were recorded in the devices' memory. The phones were turned on and off many times. Moreover, during the last dialing, the gadgets were not unlocked.
But this fact fades when you learn about the photographs taken by someone on the night of April 8th. Over a three-hour period, 90 photographs were taken (!), 87 of them in complete darkness, without flash, although with the lens open. The remaining three still show something. The scariest and most mysterious shot is Chris's red hair, shot in close-up.
And if the first two uninformative photographs depicting the soil were published in the press immediately, the girl’s parents decided to show the third only six months later - on the air of one of the TV shows. However, we never saw the entire frame. Whether they purposefully covered his upper right corner (if so, why?) is unknown.
The discovered bone fragments also look extremely suspicious. They are too white, as if they had been specially cleaned. The police's assumption that the hip bone was chewed off by predators seems too incredible (no traces of teeth were found on it).
This tragedy is still discussed on many Internet forums, trying to put forward at least one coherent version that would fit all the evidence. But there are several points that prevent this from being done.
Firstly, questions are raised by the fact that the testimony of eyewitnesses who claim to have seen the girls returning openly contradicts the data stored on electronic devices. Let’s say that gadgets can also “lie”; not all of them always set the correct date and time of shooting on the camera. But why should witnesses mislead the investigation? Is it possible that they were trying to buy time to transport pretty white girls to Costa Rica and sell them into sexual slavery?
Another topic for heated discussions is frequency of emergency calls. Why did the girls dial the coveted number for several days at the same time? Did they have access to smartphones in other periods, and if not, why not?
Either found by chance, or a thrown backpack with neatly folded things It seems to be meant to evoke the idea that the students were killed not by people, but by animals who did not need documents and money. But why then are there no traces of teeth on the found bone fragments?
Even if the girls did not immediately understand that climbing to the top in the tropics was not much like an easy pleasure ride, but even a few hours spent in the jungle should have been enough to realize the idea that it was not worth taking off your clothes there. What made Chris take off her shorts and only wear her underwear? Where did the students actually die - near the river or did someone bring body parts and leave them on the shore?
Why didn’t Chris’s parents want to show that same shot for so long? Is it possible that the covered fragment depicts something very important, giving the key to solving a terrible mystery?
The simplest assumption is that the girls died as a result of their injuries, because it is so easy to slip and fall on wet stones, but this version in no way explains the fact that only fragments of bodies were found.
American journalist Jeremy Crete of The Daily Beast has been following this case from the very beginning. It was he who recently came into possession of previously unpublished photographs, which show that the girls were trying to send SOS signals. But the available information still does not confirm the official version of the accident.
“We had less than 10% of one person's body, and less than 5% of another. This is too little,” a forensic anthropologist from Panama, who preferred not to give his name, said in a conversation with Crete in May 2017. Moreover, this expert generally considers the existing set of body fragments “extremely strange.” He claims that the complete absence of marks on the bones proves that the police were mistaken in passing off the incident as an accident. The journalist himself is firmly convinced that a serial killer is operating in the tropics, because women continue to disappear in the same places.
Another expert from the Panama Institute of Medicine, which trains coroners, agrees with Jeremy: “Whoever committed this terrible crime was incredibly smart and left almost no trace. It will be very difficult to catch him." According to this criminologist, the Panamanian authorities do not undertake to investigate this case, realizing that it is almost impossible to find the real criminal. “It’s easier for them to ignore the incident or write it off as an accident, so as not to fall on their face,” the specialist concluded.
What do you think happened in Panama in 2014?
