Gimme The 411

"Lets talk about mysterious disappearances. A man named David Paulides wrote a book detailing the many missing people related to forests and strange locations. Known as The 411, David was hoping to shed light on a pattern and solve the mystery. No matter the cause always use the buddy system friends. Story starts at 33 minutes."

Presented by: Cristina
Category: Disappearance

Content warning: Missing children.

After being removed from the San Diego Police Department, a man named the David Paulides became a Bigfoot researcher. During the course of his study, he was approached by a park ranger about Stacey Arras, a 14 year old girl who had disappeared while hiking in Yosemite National Park, never to be seen again alive or dead. After a large search, the only trace of her was her camera's lens cap. It was considered unlikely that she'd been attack by the animal or that she had left the park by any means. Her unexplained disappearance became the basis of Paulides Missing 411.

The Missing 411 is a collection of disappearances in the national park system in the United States. The cases are specifically the ones that have a mysterious edge to them. In many cases, people go missing after only a few minutes, such as the case of Dennis Martin. In other cases, people disappear and die while having the means to help them. Jame McGrogran was experienced in the outdoors and had a satellite phone with him that he never tried to use.

In the cases where people are found alive, they mystery does not become clearer. People (and remains) are often found miles away from where they were last seen and up inclines that would be difficult for them to reach on their own power. Children who are found report being followed or helped by hairy men. Women report being followed by strange men. Steve Kubacki lost 14 months of memory when he found himself in another state and in another man's clothing.

Paulides creates a profile of people more likely to go missing, such as young men in good health, religious people and Germans. While the data is likely accurate, he doesn't seem to take into account that these are generic enough to be meaningless or from the self-selected group most like to be exploring the wilderness.

Takeaway: Never go out in the woods alone.

Trivia

 * Patreon Skit: A traveler explaining their homeland.