Why Are So Many People Missing From American National Parks?

America, what was once an untamed and vast land, has now been civilized and populated. Throughout this large country still lies its crown jewels of untamed wilderness, its national parks. But amidst the unspoiled and stunning lies something darker. Since the establishment of the National Park System in 1916, landscapes of mountains and forests, over a thousand Americans have vanished without a trace. And puzzling further, is why aren't more people talking about this? This strange phenomena leaves us with many questions, just one of those being, just where have these people gone? And in many cases, it's difficult to say since there are no physical traces left. It's as if these people have vanished into thin air and no one can plausibly tell us as to why that could be. One example that's all too common of this was the case of John Devine. John Devine was a 73-year-old man who disappeared in Olympic National Park in northern Washington State in 1997. He was an experienced hiker who knew the area well. He had been camping with his friend Greg Baltzer that fateful day, and they had split up down two different paths, with the idea being that they'd reconvene later that afternoon. Devine vanished. Over the next week, multiple search parties combed the forest and found no trace of him, no footprints, no clues at all as to where his whereabouts could be. A search helicopter was brought in to help aid the efforts, but was shortly grounded after weather conditions deteriorated. And just as mysterious as Devine's disappearance, the pilot signaled that he would wait five minutes before attempting another takeoff, when all of a sudden the helicopter shot up vertically. And crashed into the side of a nearby mountain, killing all three of the aircraft's occupants, and due to this tragedy, all efforts were ceased, and to this day, John Devine has never been found. The National Park Service leaves these disappearances to local law enforcement agencies, and consequently because of this, there is no federal database of missing persons. However, there are civilian databases that attempt to find patterns as to what could be causing this. Many people are indeed recovered, both dead and alive after they go missing. Many of the death cases can be explained by things such as animal attacks, Exposure to the elements and a mixture of both while the person is lost. But despite the large amount of people that are never recovered, there is another disturbing trend as well. They are often found thousands of feet away from where they vanished and in higher altitudes. And strangely but fortunately, the trend is also seen among people who are found alive as well. In January 2019, a three-year-old boy named Casey Hathaway disappeared near his grandmother's home in rural North Carolina. As his family and neighbors desperately searched for him, the temperatures dropped below freezing, and they were forced to call off the search. Three days later, Casey was found alive, entangled in briars a quarter mile away from where he went missing. He had traveled over 4,000 feet in elevation from the time he went missing. to when he was found, and his family were indeed lucky to find him. In most cases where the individual was never found, I can only imagine losing a family member to the unknown. It certainly has to be one of the most traumatic things a human being can endure. In the majority of the states, a person isn't legally classified as deceased until they've been missing for seven years. So for many survivors, that's almost worse than recovering a body. Because closure isn't an option. The reason for these disappearances continues to be an enigma, in what the Department of Justice refers to as the nation's silent mass disaster. And everything from aliens to wormholes to the paranormal has been proposed to be causing it. Although none of these theories have been proven, these happenings are certainly very disturbing and unsettling, and something that should be discussed more along with other missing person cases. Let us know if you've heard of any such cases and what your thoughts are down in the comments below. It also really helps us out when you leave us a like and subscribe with the bell. And if you've watched this far, make sure to tune in next Sunday for a brand new mystery, and remember to question everything, and we will see you next time.