Amelia Earhart – The Aviation Pioneer Lost Over the Pacific
On July 2, 1937, pioneering female aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan were nearing the end of their daunting 25,000-mile around-the-world flight when they needed to make a refueling stop on Howland Island, a two-mile-long speck of land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Visibility was poor, and radio transmissions were garbled between Earhart’s Lockheed Electra and the Itasca, a U.S. Coast Guard ship circling the island. According to radio logs released in November 2025, Earhart’s final communication to the Itasca was sent at 8:43 a.m., roughly 20 hours into the flight from Lae, New Guinea. Earhart and Noonan were never seen or heard from again.
Researchers from Purdue University are set to travel to the South Pacific to determine if a “visual anomaly” on a remote island is the wreck of Amelia Earhart’s lost plane. In 2020, researchers looking at satellite imagery identified a “visual anomaly” known as the Taraia Object in a lagoon on Nikumaroro, a small island in Kiribati about halfway between Australia and Hawaii. Nikumaroro is about 400 miles southeast of Howland Island, Earhart and Noonan’s planned destination. Dorothy Cochrane, who recently retired as curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, said the likeliest explanation is the simplest: Earhart ran out of fuel and crashed into the Pacific Ocean.
D.B. Cooper – The Only Unsolved Hijacking in U.S. History
On November 24, 1971, a man calling himself Dan Cooper bought a one-way ticket on a Northwest Orient flight from Portland to Seattle. During the flight, Cooper showed the flight attendant what looked like a makeshift bomb in his briefcase, telling her to communicate his demands to the pilot: $200,000 in $20 bills, four parachutes and safe passage to Mexico City. Authorities in Seattle exchanged the 35 passengers for the money and parachutes. Around 8 p.m., Cooper strapped on a chute, grabbed the bag of cash and jumped into the night somewhere above Oregon.
The discovery of a parachute possibly linked to D.B. Cooper has reignited the FBI’s investigation. It was the first action taken by the agency since it closed the case in 2016, pending new evidence. In 2021 and 2022, investigator Dan Gryder documented finding the parachute in an outbuilding on the McCoy family property in North Carolina in July 2022. Gryder and Rick McCoy traveled to Richmond, Virginia, in September 2023, where they met with FBI agents, who took the harness and parachute into evidence along with a skydiving logbook. As recently as 2023, people have come forward with what they claim is new evidence that can narrow down the search.
Jimmy Hoffa – The Union Boss Who Vanished from a Parking Lot
At 7 a.m. on July 31, 1975, Hoffa’s wife called her son and daughter to say that their father had not come home. Linteau went to the Machus Red Fox and found Hoffa’s unlocked car in the parking lot, but there was no sign of Hoffa. At 6 p.m., Hoffa’s son James filed a missing-person report. The former Teamsters president had been scheduled to meet with known mob figures that day, supposedly to discuss his attempts to regain union leadership.
Today marks 50 years since the disappearance of James “Jimmy” Hoffa, a case which remains one of the most well-known missing person investigations in FBI history. Regardless of the age of the case, the FBI Detroit Field Office remains committed to following all credible leads. The Hoffa investigation remains active, and our office continues to urge anyone with information to come forward. At the direction of the White House, the FBI is reviving a 50 year old cold case into the disappearance of former labor union leader Jimmy Hoffa, who was last seen alive outside of a Michigan restaurant on July 30, 1975.
Harold Holt – A Prime Minister Swallowed by the Sea
On 17 December 1967, Harold Holt, the 17th prime minister of Australia, disappeared while swimming in the sea near Portsea, Victoria. An enormous search operation was mounted in and around Cheviot Beach, but his body was never recovered. Holt had confidently entered the turbulent surf, telling his companions he knew the waters like the back of his hand. Those were among his last words.
Harold Holt’s companions watched from the shore as he entered the turbulent surf and was quickly pulled away by a strong undertow. The incident triggered one of the largest search and rescue operations in the nation’s history. It is generally agreed that Holt’s disappearance was a simple case of an accidental drowning, the only other plausible explanation being that he could have been attacked by a shark. Still, conspiracy theories emerged, with the most famous suggesting he was a spy collected by a Chinese submarine.
Glenn Miller – The Big Band Leader’s Final Flight
In 2017, a diary was discovered from the war time in the UK, where a young man recorded the tail number 44-70285 of a plane that flew over his house. That tail number was the plane Miller was on. The location of the sighting put the plane well off course, and flew into the channel due to bad weather. The legendary bandleader disappeared on December 15, 1944, while flying from England to France to entertain troops during World War II.
This was further verified when the diary location was cross checked with a fisherman’s account from the 80’s, of finding plane wreckage in the channel. The coordinates of the discovery were logged by the trawler. Those coordinates being in direct line with Reading, where the young airplane enthusiast was. As of 2023, plans were being drawn up to go out and salvage the location, but as yet this has not taken place.
Percy Fawcett – Lost in the Amazon Jungle
British explorer Percy Fawcett vanished in 1925 while searching for a legendary lost city he called “Z” deep in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil. Fawcett was convinced an advanced ancient civilization once thrived in the jungle, and he departed on his final expedition with his son Jack and Jack’s friend Raleigh Rimell. The three men were last seen entering the jungle near the Xingu River, after which they simply vanished.
Despite numerous rescue expeditions and decades of searches, no conclusive evidence of Fawcett’s fate has ever been found. Indigenous tribes in the region later reported sightings of a white man matching his description, but these accounts were never verified. The mystery of Fawcett’s disappearance has inspired countless books and films, cementing his status as one of history’s most enigmatic explorers. Some believe he was killed by hostile tribes, while others think he may have gone native and lived out his days in the jungle.
Theodosia Burr Alston – The Vice President’s Daughter Lost at Sea
Theodosia Burr Alston, daughter of Aaron Burr, disappeared in early 1813 while on a voyage on the schooner Patriot from South Carolina to New York. Despite being in ill health and grieving the death of her young son, she yearned to see her father, who had recently returned from a self-imposed European exile. There are various theories about her fate – she may have been captured or murdered by pirates, or, more likely, the ship may have been destroyed in a fierce storm off Cape Hatteras.
The daughter of the third vice president of the United States was an educated, accomplished woman who tragically disappeared during one of history’s most mysterious maritime incidents. The Patriot set sail shortly after the end of the War of 1812, but neither the ship nor any of its passengers were ever seen again. Over the years, various theories emerged, including claims that she was captured by pirates and sold into slavery, or that she washed ashore and lived among Native Americans. Her disappearance remains one of early America’s greatest unsolved mysteries.
Ambrose Bierce – The Writer Who Walked into a Revolution
American author Ambrose Bierce was known for his cynical stories and journalism about the Civil War. In 1913, at age 71, he traveled to Mexico to witness the country’s revolution as an observer with Pancho Villa’s army. His last confirmed contact was a letter he wrote from Chihuahua on December 26, 1913. After that date, Ambrose Bierce was never seen or heard from again, and his disappearance remains unsolved.
The famous satirist and short story writer simply disappeared during the chaos of the Mexican Revolution. At more than 70 years old, he told friends he was heading to Mexico to join Pancho Villa’s revolution. After a few letters from the frontlines, he was never seen or heard from again. Some believe he was killed in action, while others suspect suicide. His fate continues to puzzle historians and literary scholars alike.
Frederick Valentich – The Pilot Who Reported a UFO
Australian pilot Frederick Valentich disappeared on October 21, 1978, during a training flight over the Bass Strait between Melbourne and Tasmania. His last radio transmission to air traffic control described a strange aircraft hovering above him. He reported that it had a green light and was moving erratically, and that it wasn’t an aircraft. His final words were that the unidentified object was approaching from the east, followed by strange metallic sounds.
Neither Valentich nor his aircraft were ever found, despite an extensive search. The case became one of the most famous alleged UFO incidents in history. Skeptics suggest he became disoriented and crashed into the sea, while believers maintain he encountered something unexplained. The Australian Department of Transport investigation concluded the reason for the disappearance could not be determined, leaving the case officially unsolved.
Oscar Zeta Acosta – The Attorney Who Inspired Fear and Loathing
Oscar Zeta Acosta, the Chicano lawyer and activist who inspired the character Dr. Gonzo in Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, disappeared in Mexico in 1974. The last known contact was a phone call to his son in May 1974, during which he mentioned boarding a boat full of white powder. He was never heard from again and was declared legally dead in 1980.
Acosta had become increasingly paranoid and erratic in the months before his disappearance, reportedly fearing for his life due to his activism and legal work. Thompson himself believed Acosta had either been killed by drug dealers or had simply decided to disappear and start a new life. Mexican authorities conducted a limited investigation but found no evidence of what happened. His disappearance remains one of the most intriguing mysteries in American counterculture history.
