Disappearing People

23rd Mar 2021

There are numerous mysteries in this world that have no reasonable explanation, no logical answer. Countless books have been written on this subject, be it the Bermuda Triangle, spiritual experiences or aliens, to name but a few.
However, there is one particular topic that I, personally, haven't come across much before – the mystery of vanishing people.
It seems as if accounts of people disappearing from sight in one place and magically reappearing on another part of the planet go back a long way.
Several theories have been proposed, suggesting a link between ancient ley lines and these disappearances.

Ley lines are straight lines drawn between a number of primitive sacred structures and historic sites, and in the early part of the 20th Century, followers of this idea declared that ancient orders purposely built constructions along these lines. In fact, later societies such as the 'Earth Mysteries' movement, were under the firm belief that these markings define 'earth energies', and act as guides for extraterrestrial spacecraft.
Consequently, there is a theory connecting the vanishing people enigma to ley lines. The notion is that, under optimal conditions, the lines provide access to another dimension. That would be one interpretation.
One of the earliest recorded cases, and also one of the most intriguing, is the story of Sister Mary of Agreda, in Soria, Spain. Between the years 1620 to 1631, she constantly told her superiors about her 'flying' visits to Central America, where she worked to convert the Jumano Indians to Christianity.

This was received with much scepticism and was highly criticised, especially as Sister Mary provided details of a round world which revolved on a polar axis – something which was considered heresy and was very frowned upon in those days.
However, her accounts of the 'flights' were positively confirmed during the 1630s. Actually, this is one of the most solid fragments of historic evidence for this kind of phenomenon. Apparently, the job of converting the Mexican Indians was assigned to Father Alonzo de Benavides. In 1622, the latter wrote a letter to the Pope and also to King Philip IV of Spain, protesting that his duties had already been accomplished – by someone else. According to the Indians, a mysterious nun, who they called “lady in blue” had arrived before Father Benavides, and she had been dispensing crosses, rosaries and a chalice which they used for Mass. Could this be Sister Mary?
When Father Benavides returned to Spain in 1630, he learnt of Sister Mary's exceptional declarations and decided to talk to her. Gradually, after some intricate questioning, he noted her accurate information of Indian lore and customs, and detailed description of their villages. Only a handful of travellers knew this and she had never met any of them.

In fact, her superiors signed statements confirming Sister Mary had never left the convent! Even more astounding, the chalice used by the Indians had actually come from their own convent!
There have been a great number of similar incidents, the first one as early as 1593. A man was teleported from Manilla to Mexico City in October that year, but he was unable to remember anything or to explain how he got there.

In 1655, a man was put on trial, found guilty of a crime against the Godly order and burnt at the stake in Portugal. This unfortunate fellow had been minding his own business in Goa when he was involuntarily whizzed off; a few moments later he found himself in his home country, Portugal, where he was consequently sentenced to death!

In a few occurrences between 1678 and 1845, the people involved claimed their abductions had been perpetrated by fairies. In the case of Dr Alan Moore, there were, in fact, two witnesses who swore that this event happened in front of their very own eyes.
In 1926, famed crime-writer Agatha Christie vanished for eleven whole days. On the evening of the 3rd December, she walked out of her house and drove away. Her car was found abandoned some time later, but there was no sign of Agatha. An extensive manhunt was organised comprised of at least 1,000 policemen plus civilians. Even famous authors Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy L. Sayers joined in the search. Despite the thorough undertaking, no one was found.

However, I believe this case doesn’t quite conform to the criteria of this article. I feel Agatha Christie went missing of her own volition. It appears she was very unhappy with her marriage (her husband was having an affair and had threatened to leave her), and her mother had recently died.

After eleven days of intensive searches, she was finally located at a hotel in Harrogate. She was safe and well. However, Agatha claimed she couldn’t remember anything from the past eleven days and that she had no idea how she got there.
In my opinion, all the facts point to mental breakdown, especially as the name she had used to register at the hotel was none other than her rival’s name – Theresa Neele, her husband’s mistress. What’s your opinion?

However, in almost every eventuality, there is one unequivocal common factor – a time/space irregularity. Nevertheless, in many occurrences, the people concerned are, apparently, completely oblivious of a definite loss of time.

Take the story of Arthur and Mary Guirdham from Bath, England. Whilst on holiday in Yorkshire, they decided to travel to a town 15 miles away. On their drive back at the end of the day, they remarked on the warm, pleasant evening and opted to drive slowly.

After about five minutes, they observed a signpost telling them they were only three miles from their destination; which was impossible, unless they had been driving at over 100 miles an hour, and that was not the case.

The Guirdhams were understandably puzzled, and checked their map to verify that they hadn’t unwittingly taken a shortcut, or maybe made a mistake with their calculations. The signpost was not wrong. A couple of miles further on, the couple drove into the town where their hotel was located. They had covered twelve miles in under five minutes. Could they possibly have traversed a time warp without even being aware of the change?

Another fascinating testimony is the event in 1906 surrounding a ten year-old boy and his sisters aged eight and seven. One day the three children went into a field near their home and subsequently vanished. A very thorough search was conducted over three days and, finally, on the fourth day, the three children were discovered, asleep in a ditch in the same field where they had disappeared; this location had been frequently travelled over during the search and nothing had been found. The children had no recollection of where they had been. In fact, they had no idea that three days had passed, and were not particularly hungry either. Perhaps these children could be deemed blessed – some people vanish and never return …

A very peculiar case is that of Benjamin Bathurst. This courier for the British Foreign Office was involved in the war against Napoleon.
On the 29th November 1809, he was outside an inn near Berlin, getting ready to climb into his carriage. He informed his valet that he would inspect the horses first. Supposedly, he walked round to the front by the horses’ heads and vanished. They never saw him again!

Still, the strangest tale has to be the one about the semi-transparent magician.
The account was relayed by well-respected US broadcaster L.J. Knebel, who declared he is “one of the most sceptical men in the business” and he possesses tape-recordings of the experience.
Mr Knebel had gone to the Paramount Theatre in New York to watch his friend, magician William Neff.
During the show, he noticed that something odd was occurring to his friend. As he looked, “it seemed that Neff’s body was becoming minutely translucent”, and over some time, gradually, “you could see the traveller curtain clearly behind this transparent figure”.
Knebel was astounded but it was clear his friend had not even noticed this metamorphosis!
Then it looked like Neff started to reappear. He wrote: “Gradually a rather faint outline, like a very fine pencil sketch of Neff, appeared again”.
Evidently, William Neff was unable to do this at will, and was not aware of it when it happened. According to the magician, this bizarre event had actually taken place twice before – on stage in Chicago and at home in front of his wife, who was, naturally, petrified with fear. He admitted that he hadn’t felt any physical alteration on any of these instances. Smooth interdimensional travel, perhaps?

So, is all that we see the extent of what exists? Or is there a myriad of complexities beyond the box that we call the 3rd dimension? I believe anything is possible if you can imagine it, don’t you?