There's little more unsettling than noticing a "missing person" flyer.
Even if we don't know the person who's picture we're looking at, we still can't help but get chills.
As our mind begins to wonder what could have happened to them, with a slight inclination to assume the worst.
But perhaps the most sobering thought we have when we read or hear about someone's mysterious disappearance is the thought that it could happen to anyone we know.
Or even us.
Redditor AmazingLaughsAndMORE was curious to learn about some of the most mystifying and unsettling disappearances or missing person cases the world has ever known, leading them to ask:
"What are some of the most bizarre, and unexplainable disappearances that you know about?"
Beatriz Wink
"Brazil, 2012. Aparecida do Norte, a city famous for a giant Catholic Temple."
"An elderly catholic couple was in town as tourists, they went shopping for souvenirs and, the husband waited in line to pay for items, as his wife waited outside."
"When he left the store, she had vanished."
"Fast forward, he called his family, which lived in another state."
"Police, church, investigators, no one has ever found one single clue to what happened to her."
"Cameras, cars, phone calls, hotels, nothing."
"As if she was lifted to sky in the blink of an eye."
"The husband is still alive, his adult children keep searching for her."
"One of theirs children even talked to drug dealers, searched forest areas, and nothing."
"The appalling detail is that there is literally not one single hint of her whereabouts."
"The couple is called Delmar and Beatriz Winck."- fernandoteruo
Jason Jolkowski
"Jason Jolkowski was a 19-year old from Omaha who disappeared without a trace in June 2001 on his way to work."
"What’s baffling about the case is how quickly it happened."
"He was called into work at a fast food restaurant for an unplanned shift, took a shower, started walking to a high school a few blocks away to meet a co-worker who offered him a ride, and just vanished somewhere on that walk."
"People go round and round on internet message boards about what they think happened, but there have never been any clues to substantiate what happened."- retrometro81
Lars Mittank
"Lars Mittank still got me f*cked up bro."
"He’s just seen on an airport security camera and then SPRINTS out and scales a fence, runs into the woods and is never seen again."
" Why was he running?"
" What was he running from?"
"Where did he end up?"
"The whole thing is so confusing."- ullrmad13
Kelly Disney
"In 1984, a girl named Kelly Disney went missing after having a fight with her boyfriend at a party."
"A pair of officers were among the last people to see her, and they said she told them she was walking to a friend's house."
"Her family searched for her, but the cops deemed her a runaway, so the case went cold."
"10 years later, someone finds a skull in a car at the reservoir where people went to party."
"He went to take it to the police station, but it was Saturday so they were closed."
"So what did he do?"
"He took it home and WASHED IT WITH DISHSOAP."
"They were able to confirm it was Kelly Disney's skull, and that there were signs of trauma, but it lead nowhere."
"Some locals believe it was the boyfriend."
"Others think there may have been a serial killer in the area, as 4 more girls went missing after Kelly."
"All of them went missing while walking at night, although two of the girls were taken together."- row-oak
The Missing Boy of Somosierra
"The Missing Boy of Somosierra."
"He disappeared in a truck wreck in Spain in 1986."
"You can still see traces of the accident on Google maps."- PowerlessOverQueso
David Glenn Lewis
"David Glenn Lewis."
"Disappears on Super Bowl Sunday in Amarillo, TX in 1993, with a freshly made sandwich in the fridge and the VCR set up to record the game."
"His wife and daughter return home from a trip a few days later to find him gone but his watch and wedding ring in the house."
"His car is found at the courthouse in Amarillo."
"Four days later he’s the victim of a hit-and-run as he’s walking on the side of the highway in Moxee, Washington."
"It takes over 10 years to identify his body and no one knows how he got there or why he was in Washington."
"There’s a lot of weird details in this one."
"He was a lawyer and had expressed fear to his wife that his life was in danger."
"Worth reading up on!"- meany_beany
Glen And Bessie Hyde
"Glen and Bessie Hyde."
"Back in the late 1920s, the newlywed couple attempted to kayak the rapids of the Grand Canyon, but both disappeared without a trace."
"Their kayak was found with much of their equipment in it, but the trail quickly went cold."
"50 years later, a kayaking guide was taking a group of tourists down the Colorado River and told them about the disappearance of the Hydes."
"An older woman in the group chimed in, claiming to be Bessie, and describing in detail how Glen had been abusive, and so she killed him, but she later recanted the story."
"A couple decades later, another woman known for rafting the Grand Canyon passed away, and her friends found the Hydes' marriage certificate among her belongings, leading to speculation that the late guide may have actually been Bessie under another name."
"Despite these theories and speculation, the case remains unsolved."
"There's a podcast called National Park After Dark that discusses all kinds of deaths, disappearances, and other such events in national parks around the world, and I would highly recommend their episode on this case."- MasteringTheFlames
Disappearing Scout
"The kid was never seen again."
"They searched with hundreds of people for weeks and only ever found 1 of his socks about a half mile away."
"What kills me is that the camp site was so close to the lake, we're talking almost within sight, his dad even watched him walk most the way and reminded him which path to take."
"There have been a few podcasts and stuff about the case but unfortunately no closure."
"Such a great family and it kills me that this happened."- USCplaya
Unexplained Death In Louisiana
"To be fair this did happen fairly recently, July 2022, but my cousins mother died."
"She's not my aunt because this is a 3rd cousin but yeah."
"Heres some backstop before I explain what happened."
"This is in a very small town in Louisiana, I have a cousin and he has a little brother."
"Their mother was addicted to drugs and would sleep around with married men to get some drugs, most people in this town were addicted to drugs, not sure why, so she would sleep around A LOT, there's that."
"I also only know her fate because my mom told me because I talk to my cousins."
"Anyway onto the actual story."
"After I hadn't heard about her in years my mom comes to let me know that she was found floating in a river on the edge of town."
"She hardly had any skin and what was left of it was all puffy and sh*t."
"For the record this was mostly caused by the fact that corpses decompose faster in water."
"So they couldn't identify her by facial features or fingerprints."
"Someone had taken all her teeth out before so they couldn't check her teeth but of course, DNA was still present."
"Thats how they figured put it was the mother of my cousins."
"Nobody is sure what happened to her, no one knows what killed her."
"And yes murder cases usually do take a while to solve but quite the mystery to me."- Galaxy_Wolf_16
Malaysia Airlines 370
"In March 8th 2014, Malaysia Airlines 370 carrying 227 passengers was supposed to go from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, China."
"Everything was going normally, but some minutes after entering Vietnamese air space, and making contact with Ho Chi Minh City."
"It disappeared from all radars in Malaysia and Vietnam."
"And by looking some data it had appeared that it deviated from its path and flew to the Indian Ocean, where it last signal was received."
"Many researched were conducted, but nothing was found."
"The only clues we have are some pieces of the airplane that ended up washing in shores of African countries."- TheBreadCat
Henry McCabe
"Henry McCabe and the creepy voicemail."- Wilsson02
Disappearing Best Friend
"This is a personal story."
"I had a friend, who I'll call David, who I had known since our family moved to a new house when I was 7."
"We were neighbors, but went to different schools."
"We became friends quickly after our shared love of Lego Star Wars and Outer Space."
"Everyday after school, and I'm talking LITERALLY everyday, I would ask if we could hang out."
"I was politely told no about eight out of ten times, but I still tried asking anyway."
"Flash forward to the penultimate day of fourth grade, and I ring his doorbell, but no one answers."
"I didn't think much of it, so I just went back home."
"The next day I was super pumped to hang out with David, as it was his last day as well, and his parents said that he would be able to hang out that day."
"I once again, rang their doorbell, and got an answer this time."
"Although, I didn't recognize who it was, but I later found out it was David's uncle."
"When I asked if I could come inside to hang out, he nervously laughed and said no and then closed the door.'
"I got really bummed and felt betrayed."
"A couple of hours later, I saw cop cars arrive at David's house."
"The next hour is a bit fuzzy, but from what I can remember, my parents told me to go to my room and they went out to see what was going on."
"I was really tired and fell asleep after that, and when I woke up it seemed like everything had gone back to normal."
"I walked down the stairs and saw my parents at the dining room table, seemingly waiting for me to come down."
"In unison, they asked me to come sit down with a somber-sounding tone in their voice."
"When I sat down, they explained to me that on the third to last day of school, David disappeared."
"I know it sounds weird that they just said that to a nine year old without sugar coating it, but by this time I had learned about concepts like death and disappearances and was pretty desensitized to it."
"The rest of that day was weird."
"Hell, that summer was weird."
"I prayed at night hoping that David would return, but he never did."
"It wasn't until I was 13 when I learned how truly bizarre the case was."
"It was like he completely vanished without a trace."
"This was suburbia too, might I add."
"No forest, No hills, just houses."
"There was no place you could go without somebody seeing you."
"There was also little to no media coverage about it."
"His parents were questioned, but it was clear they had no idea what happened to him."
"His mom was especially distraught, rightfully, and ended up moving out when I was 11."
"That house has gone through several owners since, but it doesn't feel the same without him."
"I'm now almost 16 and miss him everyday."- signi678
It's sad to think that the fates of all of these people remain a mystery.
Sadder still for all their families, who never have, and likely never will, get the closure they deserve.