44 Baffling Facts About Mysterious Disappearances
Whatever happened to Jimmy Hoffa? Has anyone ever escaped from America’s most impenetrable prison? Is it possible to fake your own death? Where are my keys? Okay—this list won’t help with that last question, but we’ve compiled the most astounding, the most baffling, the most head-scratching-est facts about strange disappearances. But we can’t guarantee that after reading this list won’t leave you with more questions than you did before.
Mysterious Disappearances Facts
44. "Croatoan"
Led by Governor John White, more than 100 settlers arrived at Roanoke Island, North Carolina in 1587 to establish the first permanent English colony in the New World.
White departed for England for more supplies later that year, and when he finally did come back in 1590, nobody was home. The entire colony had vanished without a trace, leaving only a message that read "CROATOAN"
etched into a post and the letters “C-R-O” carved into a tree. Archaeologists have suggested that the colony was assimilated into the native tribes; "Croatoan" was the name of both an island and a tribe in the area.
43. Disappear Like Water
The first recorded mysterious disappearance is that of Lao Tzu (also spelled Lao-tse or Laozi). A figure of legend, the details of his actual life are unclear and unverifiable. Lao Tzu is credited as the founder of Daoism (also spelled Taoism) and writer of the religion’s foundational text, the Tao Te Ching and its central tenet, wu wei, which can be translated as “not doing anything,” “not forcing,” or “flowing with the moment.” His teachings favored inner knowledge and balance with the universe, thus he never established any formal school and was anti-authoritarian. It is said that as he saw his society become more and more corrupt, he dressed as a farmer and rode across the border on a water buffalo, never to be seen again.
42. Maybe The Tooth Fairy?
We’ve heard of losing one’s baby teeth, but this is ridiculous. In 1981, the National Museum of American History discovered that a set of George Washington’s false teeth were missing from their collection.
The teeth of America’s first President were on loan from the Maryland Dental School and had been kept in a locked storage room at the time they disappeared.
The bottom plate dentures showed up a year later, in an employee-only area, but the top half remains missing to this day.
Contrary to popular lore, Washington’s dentures were not wooden, but instead were made of gold and ivory—this means that, beyond their historical value, the teeth had material value and may have been melted down to be sold as scrap.
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