Wasn't there a thread a few months ago discussing disappearances on the Appalachian Trail from miscreants that prey on the hikers?

quote:

Originally posted by 18DAI:
I'm not sure about all the theories concerning the possible causes of the missing people. BUT it is troubling the number of missing, in parks all across the country and the fact that the National Park Service claims it "...doesn't keep records..." of incidents involving people going missing. WTF?

Where did the NPS say that?

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
People are idiots.

Yup.

I volunteered for the Park Service and worked for a couple of summers. Nothing would surprise me as far as human behavior. Fishing violations, interactions with bears and poaching. At that time bear gall was a delicacy and the bears would be killed just for that. Domestic disturbances were routine. There are plenty of places to dump a body if so desired.

It is curious when people have disappeared maybe a few hundred yards from the parking lot. When nobody coming up or down trail in that time recalls them being there and organized search and rescue doesn’t find them. And years later nobody has found any trace.

quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog:

quote:

Originally posted by 18DAI:
... and the fact that the National Park Service claims it "...doesn't keep records..." of incidents involving people going missing. WTF?

Where did the NPS say that?

David Paulides cites that response by NPS to his many freedom of information requests.

quote:

Originally posted by ElToro:
It is curious when people have disappeared maybe a few hundred yards from the parking lot. When nobody coming up or down trail in that time recalls them being there and organized search and rescue doesn’t find them. And years later nobody has found any trace.

Or find little children numerous miles from where they disappeared in terrain that defies logic.

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:

quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog:

quote:

Originally posted by 18DAI:
... and the fact that the National Park Service claims it "...doesn't keep records..." of incidents involving people going missing. WTF?

Where did the NPS say that?

David Paulides cites that response by NPS to his many freedom of information requests.

quote:

Originally posted by ElToro:
It is curious when people have disappeared maybe a few hundred yards from the parking lot. When nobody coming up or down trail in that time recalls them being there and organized search and rescue doesn’t find them. And years later nobody has found any trace.

Or find little children numerous miles from where they disappeared in terrain that defies logic.

Since 2012 NPS and other DOI Agencies have used a centralized datsbase: https://www.dni.gov/index.php/...porting-system-imars

Prior to that record keeping was localized to each unit/park. Depending on when and how the FOIA request was processed, I feel the information presented by the author is a stretch of the truth. Prior to IMARS was CIRS and prior to that were hard copy report forms. Records have and will be kept.

The other variable would be if a park has delegated the SAR and other emergency services to an outside agency and if the park does not have law enforcement staff to do the investigation, then yes, the park or NPS may not have it's own record of the incident but the responding agency would.

I read an article several years ago about a young child who disappeared in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. If I’m remembering correctly the little guy was with his family and another family in a clearing where the kids were playing with a ball and the little guy ran into the woods when the ball rolled in and he never came back out. The family starting searching for him immediately and search screws covered the area very thoroughly but they never found him or anything relating to him such as clothing. One of the theories was he was carried off by a bear or mountain lion but some of the expects who were involved in the search did not believe this was the case.

The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America's Wildlands by Jon Billman, 2020.

We were at Zion NP last fall when a lady disappeared for about 6 days. It was also during he time a microbe had polluted hte river and people were told not to drink the river water.

She was "found" about 5 or 6 days later. The stories that surfaced did not make a lick of sense.

Not a generic "missing people" book, but The Last Season, by Eric Blehm is a good read.

Not that it's a book, but there's a big exhibit at the top of Mt. Washington about all the people who have gone missing or died on the mountain.