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Comments
Excellent piece. Thank you for providing this important information
"Something wicked this way comes........."
There is definitely something sinister & strange going on with these national/state parks. To include woods, forests, & deserts. Too many people are either found missing, or deceased. Unexplained cause of death. How come thereare no listings available to the general public? It appears the government, FBI, & other associated agencies know a lot more than what they are willing to reveal!!! Ask yourself WHY???
In August 2021, a family & their dog were found dead on a trail inside Yosemite National Park. A husband, wife, their one year old little girl, & the family dog. Again, "unexplained cause of death!" What is going on here? Why are these incident so hush-hush? What is being covered up? The lost of revenue generated by those who camp, fish, hunt, or hike would be tremendous. Yet, there is more going on here than meets the eye!
Great article. If it were my Loved one missing I sure would want to know about Other's gone missing in National Parks. I would want the support of those grieving. Also as a Safety precaution to other hikers to stay safe.
Great article highlighting some of the missing. There are thousands who have gone missing, not just in National Parks, but all over the world. I was glad to see this article about missing people in National Parks, specifically. My brother, Mitchell Dale Stehling, was a pretty good outdoorsman, and the hike to the Spruce Tree House is relatively short and simple. He was supposed to return in 30 minutes to an hour. Our family is still devestated five years later. That is because there are no answers for us, and it feels like we are in limbo....he is gone, presumed dead, yet we have no idea what happened or where he is now. So there is no death certificate, no grave to visit, no closure, period. My heart goes out to the families of missing people. There are no words to describe the confusion and grief. I am proud of my sister-in-law, Denean Stehling for continuing to bend the ear of the people in the Park System at Mesa Verde. I am also proud and grateful to David Paulides for including Dale's story in one of his Missing 411 books. Hopefully in time his body will be found and we can bring him home and lay him to rest. But he will never be forgotten. He was much loved by my family; he was my best friend in the world and yes, we have been grieving for 5 years. The park service says they have done a wonderful job in trying to locate him. That doesn't seem to be in line with what they told Denean a couple of years ago, and that is, "We have more important things to do than to search for your husband." How rude. How frustrating. How heartbreaking. We do the only thing left to do now, and that is to hope and pray. I miss my brother every day of my life.
i am so sorry for the loss of your brother, it would kill me if i did not know. We were overlooking half dome in Yosemite in 2000 and we kept hearing a helicopter,
which we love to ride in, circling below us. It was the Park service searching for the body of some poor soul who had jumped from where we were standing
earlier that sad day. The park rangers were very upset, and it was easy to see how much they cared aabout what had happened and finding the body to ease the
families pain. We have a huge amount of land that we nned to patrol and i believe not enough money is allocated to the Park Service. But please believe poeple DO care..
Why does the park take down any pictures you post of your love ones that are missing? Especially within the first mouth of their disappearance. They may do all they can but every hiker and every person that is in the area if they were aware could keep their ears and eyes open while they were on their journey through the park and that would give so much more coverage towards the search and rescue!
Marcy -
My heart breaks for you and your family.....I'm so sorry about that miserably rude person of NPS who told you they have more important things to do....like what????
Hopefully more and more folks will be made aware of these disappearances; and WHY there are so many...if you want anyting done; if you want answers, we must be our own detective/researcher.
im so sorry Marcy saying a prayer for your family
❤ I pray for closure and strength in your waiting
I am very sorry for your loss. Losing my brother yet not knowing what became of him would be excruciating.
I was watching missing 411 the odd part was I had not seen the episode with your brother's story. It came back to me in a flash about his story and the similarities to the other stories being told. So the latest update I read was they found his personal items but still have not found his body? It is hard enough losing a loved one but never finding remains would be devastating. I would think with all the technology they could look with drones? I hope you get some answers. I will keep you all in my prayers. I hope others will as well.
God be with you and your family, I'm so sorry for the loss of you're brother and how he just went missing may the lord be with you in these trying times in America.
They could get a working database created for free by a local college. That was one of the classes I had, Databases. The professor brought in several businesses who needed a functional databases, we made them and were graded on them. So they can get that done for FREE. Putting it on a website and maintaining it is probably less than $150 bucks a year with GoDaddy. Volunteer IT college students could maintain it, or anyone that knows how. It's not hard. It just seems like they just don't want to be bothered, or possibly too lazy.
Unfortunately it is not that simple since this is federal land. They have to follow federal laws. Park Rangers work very hard to protect the people, animals and the land and they don’t get enough support from Washington DC or the people. If you think the Park Service or any Land Agency should have more support for the land and the people the visit then please contact your congressman and tell them.
Not a bad idea to propose it to them! Be a great project if they actually accepted that kind of offer.
However, based on what I have read, including the comments of the loved ones of persons reported missing, and the efforts of researchers such as David Paulides, I am inclined to think that the reason for the lack of a public database and the obvious resistance to creating one, is not just apathy or laziness or lack of technical ability; but primarily political. The brass simply doesn't want the negative press and the damage to the reputation of the NPS that could result if these incidents featured more prominently in the public consciousness because it would cause fear and would result in a decline of visitors and revenues, which could threaten the entire bureaucracy. Like a black eye for management, because it would also open them up to criticism ("Why aren't you doing a better job at ensuring the safety of park visitors, Mr. Superintendent of the Park Service?") Who wants that kind of scrutiny and liability? That's the kind of thing that can end careers. So there's that political/self-preservation dynamic operating...and despite the fact that the NPS is funded with many sources including substantial federal funding from Congressional appropriations, I can appreciate that the fees and the concessions and all of that kind of thing must be a significant portion and probably looked on as a metric of management success.
As an aspiring park adventurer (I have visited many Western parks during my life, but it is my dream and goal to visit ALL of the parks in the system after retirement), I have to say I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand, I really like the idea of full transparency...a complete view into every serious incident involving serious injury, loss of life, or disappearance reported in the system. I believe that it is usually not possible to have too much information and I think because the public pays for these parks, we deserve to have that information. And on the other hand, I appreciate that these spaces are wilderness and inherently they are dangerous. Even in the modern era, and perhaps especially in the modern era, there are few places so bereft of human presence as the further reaches of national parks. Heck, even in State or County parks it is possible to go to places where you will not see another human the entire time you are there...and that means that when it comes to safety, and security, you're on your own. It is just you and Nature and all of its predators, including the most dangerous ones (other humans).
But I think if nothing else, knowing the full extent of the actual hazards that have occurred in parks allows visitors to take them as seriously as they should. Personally I don't need the information in order to be cautious - I really just need it to be better informed as to the nature of the risks. I've always been a cautious person, and I never hike the backcountry without survival items: GPS, water, first aid kit, whistle, emergency shelter, fire tool, and a weapon. If I am in a wilderness area, that includes not just weapons useful against humans but against animals as well (bear spray). Despite taking these precautions, which others have deemed paranoid (or which may even be prohibited in that place), there is still a possibility of accidental injury and death...which is why in addition to carrying a first aid kit I have practiced self-rescue techniques. Of course, there are many situations imaginable in which neither weapons nor first aid kits will be of any use, and I have to believe that of these certainly inexplicable disappearances, many or possibly most, are simply due to unfortunate accidents and natural causes, and not to foul play, malice or animal predation. But some of those situations, such as getting lost and dying due to exposure, are preventable or avoidable.
That being said, you can't be too prepared, or too informed....so its good to try to be both. Some find this a chore...but I find it very relaxing. Knowing that I have done all that I could have to be prepared and safe....brings me tranquility and peace of mind and allows me to focus simply on enjoying my experiences rather than worrying about what might happen. IF something happens, I will deal with it the way I have been trained to and have prepared for. And that's all I can really do. If I still wind up dead or injured despite all of that effort, well, c'est la vie. You can't avoid EVERY risk that exists in the world. You have to live your Life too.
Terrific piece. Difficult to visualize how folks can be lost without a trace in some of these places.
What is even harder to understand, in the case of Smoky Mountain disapearances, The little boy mentioned at the beginning of this article was playing with two cousins, and in front of several adults. The boys gathered for a moment, then split up with two going in one direction, and the other going the other. The adults realized the boys were planning to circle behind them, and were right. After a couple minutes, the two came charging from the rear, and yelling. Dennis was never seen again, though the family started calling and looking for him within five minutes of when he was last seen. Main search lasted nearly two months, with as many as 1400 people in a day, looking for him. Also, one teen, and one older lady disappeared on well marked trails, on bright clear days. Both within short distances from trailheads.
I have all the Missing 411 books. As I spend a lot of time in the woods, these books were eye opening to me. Now I never go into the woods alone. When reading the book, Missing 411 Hunters, the very last case shocked me to say the least. I often wonder if anyone high up in the National Park Service Adminstration really knows what is going on, and, who or what is taking these people?
YES! They DO know what's going on! Do you realize how much money rides on the perception that these parks are safe!? Millions, upon millions! They know, thats why they won't give David paulides certain case files. It amazes me how ignorant and naive people are about our government institutions! It's also why you don't read about the details like missing clothing, and footwear in the newspapers when these poor souls are found.
If you perish in the wild (especially in the desert), Mother Nature is very efficient in obliterating any trace of your remains. Crows, coyotes, and other wildlife can work much faster than any recovery party. At a certain point, what are you wasting all that time and money looking for?
Once again, NPS buries inconvenient data through exorbitant FOIA request fees. They tried to do this to me once, but thanks to NPT coverage, they relented. I hope that happens here. No reason for not releasing that info.
I wish that legitimate-ish platforms like this site and Outside would stop interviewing that kook Paulides. He's done a bunch of work because it might feed into his pet conspiracy theories. Especially the ones about Bigfoot (sometimes mentioned in his FOIAs). In the meantime, it sells books.
Also, if you look at FOIA, there are specific carve-outs for active law enforcement investigations. Is it sometimes abused because a clerk can't be bothered? Maybe or even likely. But it isn't some mysterious stonewalling. A FOIA for records where the law enforcement agency considered possible foul play but didn't charge anyone seems to be protected as long as those suspects are named. Gee, I wonder if that might have happened in some missing persons cases?
hello,
Don't understand why you are calling David Paulides a "kook"? HE is the one who is bringing light to this subject. He has not ONCE given a theory as to what it is.......in the books.
I don't think BF is responsible for ALL of these instances, but it can be related to a few thru eyewitness testimony. Just because you don't believe in BF, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Good luck to you,
and people, DO NOT GO INTO THE WILDERNESS ALONE, EVER!!
Yes, I also don't understand the vitriol here. I don't think he is a kook. He could be eccentric, but I don't think he's insane or anything. Remember, he was a police officer. They pass a mental health screening, they are trained observers, they are taught to be analytical (or they are analytical people before ever being trained as cops). I know cops are just people, most are certainly just normal average people, but the point is, I think his interest in the unknown is certainly in line with the training and personality of a good police officer. Whether he has less or more credulousness than the average person is hard to say as well. Look at what percentages of Americans harbor supernatural beliefs, or subscribe to religious dogma that is far more incredible than a theory that a previously unknown species exists (as a matter of fact unknown species continue to be discovered at a fairly regular rate).
I have read only one of his 411 books, but nothing in the books would lead me to question his sanity or mental stability.
I took a little road trip recently down to Santa Barbara, and on the trip we passed not one, not two, but THREE "Psychic Reader" businesses. I have to be honest here, I feel that a sincere, well-researched belief in the existence of a Sasquatch-like creature is more defensible and reasonable than belief in psychics or astrology, or homeopathy (the latter two of which are proven outright frauds with no scientific basis).
I believe something is in the mountains an entity of some sort of power that is intelligent beyond us. Or it could be a Sasquatch of some sort, there are different varieties, some are brutal some are not.
I lived on Ponepe in the Eastern Caroline Islands. I've heard several stories about people that have gone missing, suicides, that Have gone mad, seeing "ghosts" all centered around Nom Midol* log cabin stacking of basalt log built by "giants" not by the locals. In WWII the Japanese stayed out of the area. The allies never landed on this island to over take. The locals are deathly afraid of ghosts. To this day no one walks around certain trees at night. Don't play jokes on them that could scare them. They might go insane or die.
Very frightening and mysterious. Does anyone have an idea ...is there FBI jurisdiction here?
I don't mean to sound harsh, but among all the possible explanations to many of these disappearances, particularly those that seem absolutely incomprehensible, has nobody ever considered it's the parks guards who know best the place and circumstances, and are aware of groups and solo hikers? Linking this to the lack of cooperation and obscuantism of the responsible departments involved, this idea sounds to me far more sensible than U.F.O., Bigfoot, and other such theories.
In the Fall of 1996, on the very last day for that year that Yellowstone National Park would be open to the public, my daughter and I had a one time chance to visit the park sights. I recall it was a beautiful day and we made the best of things in the time allowed us. At one point we sat on a big bolder taking pictures of ourselves with the sight of one most frequently photograped YSP waterfall in the background.
There were very few people we encountered during our visit, so when during our photo shot break time, it was obvious when a man walked up to stand near us and observe the falls with us. He stood just to the right of the bolder and closer to the view of the falls. Being I was visiting my college age daughter for just 2 days we spent our time enjoying the natural beauty of the park while also catching up on things. wed just come thru our first big separation. It was when we prepared to leave, we suddenly realized we never saw the man depart, and he would have needed to pass in front of us to leave the area. I recall we questioned what could happened to him. We even looked about to see if he’d taken some path or something. There were no paths, trails or possible other routes out due to a very sheer drop off that led to the river. We even strained to see if we could see anything down below, but nothing was visible, no were there skid marks that he might have slid ad fallen, nor had we heard anything. It was as if he just disappeared. We figured we must have just missed seeing him depart during our conversation with each other and enjoying the view.
back in the car, we decided we would tell the park rangers before leaving the park. Then a short distance down the road while making our way back to the park exit gate before closing at dusk our rental car suddenly became totally surrounded by a very large herd of bison. The huge animals were literally on all four sides of us, even pressing against the car. We could move no faster than the huge animals crept along as the afternoon sky was losing sunlight. The time restraints and scary experience with the bison weighed on us so we did not think of trying to locate a ranger to report the situation with that man after passing thru the exit gate and there being no rangers about. Unfortunately I had to leave my daughter at her dorm room in Rexburg and head several hours back to Salt Lake City that same night for some job training That would begin the next morning.
it may seem odd to readers that I would report this all now, but they are details i had not thought of for years until recently hearing reports about the many missing people in our national parks. My hopes are that should someone have been searching for a missing man in Yellowstone during that time frame, hopefully this might provide some answers. Sadly we can no longer recall enough of what this man looked like to provide a description of him, other than to believe he appeared to be in his 20s or 30s. I want to believe he was think, about 5’9” and wearing a hat.
Victims missing clothing is fairly common in death by hypothermia and is called 'paradoxical undressing':
"Between 1978 and 1994, a survey of cases of death by hypothermia turned up only 69 clear results. The deaths were roughly evenly split between outdoor and indoor deaths. In 25% of the cases, the description of the bodies list that they were either partially undressed or fully naked. Overall, the victims began taking off the clothes on the lower half of their body – taking off pants and shoes before going on to their shirts and jackets. When outdoors, the clothes formed a rough trail behind the body. As people froze, and took off their clothes, they kept walking. "
https://io9.gizmodo.com/why-freezing-to-death-makes-you-want-to-get-nake...
Questions How many of these people been know to have their cell phone on them ? Why did not they dial 911 it would have gave GPS location to police department? Even if the phone is off the phone company can pick up the phone ping to tranigle the location between cell towers . Police and ranger helicopters should have mobile cell phone ping direction finders for rapid response . Like in alien abductions people were hytonize to find out what happen what about the missing who survived but cannot remember ? Were the cell phones found with the body ? If the body and cell phone found in area that been search a dozen times and continuous scan for celll phone ping signal how did the phone appear at this location without being pick up enroute ? Why we never hear of spotting plane of seeing circling vultures over some type of dead body , and sending a team to investigate human or animal ? Thanks for listening with a open mind .
As the family member of an NPS employee who works at one of the parks in the top 10 list of SARs, the stories I've heard of people who openiy defy the recommendations for safe hiking and transits of the park makes me wonder why the numbers aren't higher. The stories of such stupidity and the risks that these people's lack of judgement places on NPS employees is totally unacceptable, not to mention the costs that the NPS incurs to rescue or recover these people. I believe that those who make such poor decisions should be charged for the costs. It might not prevent all of these incidents from taking place, but if it saves one person's life, it's a good policy.
I know of one such case where my family member risked their job by defying park policy to assist a hiker in distress. It cost them a day of work due to the physical effect it had on them, yet was totally preventable had the hiker used good judgement and not exceeded their abilities that day. Even worse, the conditions for their rescue were such that the NPS could only medivac the hiker and not my family member, the NPS employee, which was also a reason for the effects on their condition.
Darwin takes care of those who make poor decisions, but it's unfair to put the lives of our NPS employees at risk due to someone else's stupidity.
I agree with the general sentiment of the post but hate that phrase. If we truly lived by that standard, the world would come to a stand still.
There is something in those parks also in canada 50 hikers have gone missing have you heard about the slendermans forest is now apart of a national park heh maybe Siren head or Cartoon cat probly they killed the hikers
Never happened.
There was a rather well-covered case of a family of three with an infant and dog that died in Sierra National Forest in August 2021, but that was outside of Yosemite National Park. And the latest report indicates that they died of heat stroke and possible dehydration. It was over 100 deg F that day and they started late in the day. Nothing really all that mysterious about those circumstances. And they were found 2 days later.
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article255157607.html
I have been a seasonal park ranger for the last eight summers at 4 different parks, including Yosemite, Rocky Mtn and Grand Teton. During those 8 summers I witnessed dozens of SARS. in every case the rescue Rangers worked themselves almost to exhaustion trying to find the missing persons. The problem is, you can make not so bright decisions in normal life and usually get away with it. In a wild National Park nature doesn't care about you when you make careless decisions, she will kill you without hesitation. We in the parks try to drive home this information, but most visitors ignore the advice, much to the detriment of some of them.
Like it or not some of these people were likely taken prey by Cougar, Grizz or Black bear & devour'd...!
Mentioning David Paulides as a source in this article really strains its credibility, as he uses these cases to enrich his own pocketbook with sensationalist books, many which stretch the truth and even make up stuff. Here's part of a Wiki page about him, which also says: While working as a court liaison officer in December 1996, Paulides was charged with a misdemeanor count of falsely soliciting for a charity.
David Paulides is a former police officer who is now an investigator and writer known primarily for his self-published books dedicated to proving the reality of Bigfoot, and establishing the Missing 411conspiracy. Missing 411 is a series of books and a film, which document cases of people who have gone missing in national parks and elsewhere, and maintain that these cases are unusual and mysterious, contrary to data analysis which suggests that they are not actually statistically mysterious or even unexpected.
Kyle Polich, a data scientist and host of the Data Skeptic podcast, documented his analysis of Paulides' claims in the article "Missing411" and presented his analysis to a SkeptiCamp held in 2017 by the Monterey County Skeptics. He concluded that the allegedly unusual disappearances represent nothing unusual at all, and are instead best explained by non-mysterious causes such as falling or sudden health crises leading to a lone person becoming immobilized off-trail, drowning, bear (or other animal) attack, environmental exposure, or even deliberate disappearance. After analyzing the missing person data, Polich concluded that these cases are not "outside the frequency that one would expect, or that there is anything unexplainable that I was able to identify." This presentation was discussed in a February 2017 article in Skeptical Inquirer, a publication of the CSI. In the article, Susan Gerbic reported "Paulides... gave no reason for these disappearances but finds odd correlations for them. For example, two women missing in different years both had names starting with an 'A' with three-letters, Amy and Ann." Polich concluded in his analysis: "I've exhausted my exploration for anything genuinely unusual. After careful review, to me, not a single case stands out nor do the frequencies involved seem outside of expectations."
86 SAR at Bryce Canyon!? It's only a small place
Should these parks even be open to the public if you cant find missing people, over a hundred years and noone knows where the bodies go. It sounds dangerous to just let families get lost and die and act like its a normal Sunday, its not right its putting money before your own fellow man, sad and disgusting.