Just because something vanished, doesn’t mean it can’t be found. Gone examines the greatest disappearances in history, and the theories they spawned. If it's gone, we're looking. Gone is a production of Cutler Media and part of the Parcast Network. Starting April 23rd, new episodes will release every other Monday.
Cooper orchestrated one of the most daring hijackings of all time when he successfully held his fellow passengers ransom for $200,000 in 1971, before parachuting to an unknown fate. Though some clues have surfaced over time, no definitive answers exist explaining what happened to Cooper, at least not to the satisfaction of the FBI. What happened to Cooper and how did he seemingly vanish into thin air?
Famously declared the eighth wonder of the world, the Amber Room was a set of incredibly ornate amber wall panels that may be worth over $500 million dollars today. German forces stole the panels from Russia in October, 1941 and Hitler himself ordered the panels moved in January, 1945. But little is known about their whereabouts since. Were they stowed aboard a sunken Nazi ship? Hidden in a salt mine? Or destroyed by the Russians themselves?
Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell was instrumental in ousting the monarchy during the English Civil War. But soon after his death, the monarchy was restored. As a show of power, Cromwell’s corpse was disinterred, and his head cut off, piked, and displayed atop Westminster Abbey. But in the late 1600’s, the head fell off Westminster Abbey and disappeared...
Many of the world’s most priceless paintings were stolen by the Nazis. Most were either recovered or eventually resurfaced. But Raphael's "Portrait of a Young Man" has never been found. Was it left behind in a cave or cellar for safe keeping? Is it floating on the black market? Or was it destroyed entirely?
In the Lambayeque Valley in Northern Peru lies the ruins of Túcume. Founded approximately in 1100 AD, the city of was a thriving population center with thousands of inhabitants. But around 1530, it was completely abandoned. Who were these inhabitants and where did they go?
In August of 1983, Korean Airlines flight 007 deviated off course and disappeared from radar. Some believe it was shot down by the Soviets. Others believe it was on a government spy mission. Korea, the US, and Japan all publicly demanded an investigation, but it would take ten years to learn the truth.
Nefertiti was queen alongside Pharaoh Akhenaten. While the remains of other ancient Egyptian royalty have been found, the location of Nefertiti’s tomb remains a mystery. Is it still hidden in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt? Could her remains have already been found in a mummy whose identity has yet to be confirmed? Or did Nefertiti ever exist at all?
In 1983, the Jules Rimet Trophy, the original World Cup trophy, disappeared from a bullet-proof glass case on the ninth floor of a building in Rio de Janeiro. How was the trophy stolen? Was it an inside job? Or was the real Jules Rimet Trophy even on display?
Edward Teach, better known by his nickname Blackbeard, was a pirate who was killed in November of 1718, but whose treasure was never found. Did it sink to the bottom of the ocean with his ship? Is it buried it in a chest on an island off the coast of North Carolina? Or was there ever any hidden treasure at all?
When Christopher Columbus returned to Spain from the New World, he gave his original log to the Sovereigns at royal court at Barcelona. Then Queen Isabella ordered the log to be copied. The original has not been seen since. Was it sequestered by the Spanish crown? Hidden by the Vatican? Sold off? Destroyed? Or simply...misplaced?
Alcatraz Maximum Security Penitentiary is one of the most infamous prisons in American history. Located in the treacherous waters of San Francisco Bay, the island facility was surrounded by rocks and sub sixty-degree water. It was deemed to be inescapable. But in June, 1962, three men would carry out a plan months in the making, and seemingly disappear into thin air. How did they do it?
During World War 2, inventor Nikola Tesla died in a New York hotel room while working on a project known as “Tesla’s Death Ray.” When he was found, the prototype and most of Tesla’s notes were missing. Who got to Tesla’s room first? And what happened to the Death Ray?
In May of 1990, Vincent van Gogh’s Portrait of Dr. Gachet, sold at auction for 82.5 million dollars. The buyer would die six years later. In 1999, the Metropolitan Museum of Art sought out the new owner to borrow the painting for an exhibit, but they couldn't find one. After numerous conflicting leads and dead ends, it was discovered that the painting was gone.
The tallest statue in the ancient world welcomed travelers with its likeness to the sun god Helios. After it was destroyed by an earthquake, tourists still came from far and wide to see the rubble. Then one day, the pieces of the 108-foot tall Colossus of Rhodes were suddenly gone. Where did they go?
After being kidnapped and spending 12 years as a slave, Solomon Northup disappeared again on a warm summer’s night in Canada in 1857. Was he murdered? Abducted and sold into slavery a second time? Or did he become a spy for the Union army during the Civil War, and never return?
This immaculately jeweled throne served as the seat for the Mughal emperors in India before it was stolen in 1739 by Persian emperor Nadir Shah. Some estimate that the throne would be worth more than a trillion dollars today!
Home to possibly 700,000 books, including works by Homer, Plato, and Socrates, this ancient library in the heart of Egypt was destroyed thousands of years ago. Is there any hope we will find these valuable manuscripts?
A testament to its owners wealth and power, the brilliant diamond survived exiles of kings and the fall of empires. After the assassination of its final owner in 1747, all records of the diamond virtually disappeared. The stone which rose from the dirt of a dried riverbed in India and became of the world’s most puzzling precious stones has been displaced ever since.
John F. Kennedy’s brain went missing after he was assassinated in 1963. His brain wasn’t buried with his body and it hasn’t been seen since 1965. Was his brain taken by his younger brother to hide evidence of JFK’s drug use and mental illnesses? The missing component could provide evidence that Kennedy was not shot from the back by Lee Harvey Oswald, but from the front. Assassinations Podcast - Thank you Kate and Bill for joining today's episode!
Myth and history intertwine in searching for the whereabouts of a sword that is 1.8 million years old. Since 660 BCE, the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi has been passed down from emperor to emperor. Nobody can identify what the sword looks like, but the Japanese government claims it resides in the Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya. Parcast - If you enjoyed this episode, check out our new show MYTHOLOGY! Subscribe today for more tales of mythical heroes, gods, and creatures!
Before he disappeared into thin air, this French artist was set to release one of the most anticipated inventions of the late 19th century: the moving picture camera. Louis Le Prince, known as the Father of Cinema, vanished under suspicious circumstances in 1890, leaving behind a slew of possible suspects.
The son of the governor of New York, and one of the wealthiest families in the world, Michael Rockefeller was on an art-collecting expedition in Dutch New Guinea when he went missing in 1961. He was last seen trying to swim to shore after his boat capsized. What followed was a 10-day rescue mission in shark-infested waters. Did Rockefeller make it to shore only to be eaten by a local tribe? Or is his body forever lost at sea?
This legendary trove of gold and precious jewels was a figurative and literal representation of the Aztec Empire's wealth. The treasure also had the value of high art that showed the empire's impressive reach and influence in the 1500s. However, all good things come to an end and the fall of the empire marks the moment Montezuma’s treasure was never to be seen again.
In 1944, a Japanese submarine was sunk by Allied forces in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Fifty years later, declassified documents indicated that the wreckage may contain two tons of Japanese gold worth more than $25 million today. Does the treasure remains at the bottom of the ocean among the wreckage of the I-52.
In 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis fled with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gold. What happened next has been debated by historians and treasure hunters over the last 150 years. Did Davis squander what remained of his country's treasury in a desperate attempt to keep the Confederacy alive? Or, is it possible that the gold is still out there, waiting to be found?
Most people consider the Dodo Bird to be synonymous with human-driven extinction. First discovered by Dutch sailors in the late 1590s, it would be completely wiped out in just over 60 years. The pursuit of the last remnants of this iconic creature continues to this day, with an incomplete composite skeleton selling recently for just under half a million dollars.
Since the first Europeans set foot in South America in the late 1400s, explorers have been captivated by, El Dorado, the mythical city hidden within the jungles of the Andes Mountains. After centuries of expeditions and countless lives lost in the pursuit, no man has actually ever laid eyes on this fabled city.
For centuries, historians believed that Egypt, Babylon, and Assyria were the only great Kingdoms of the ancient middle eastern world. But the early 20th century yielded the discovery of ruins that might indicate the existence of a fourth kingdom: the Hittites.
In 1955, the fishing vessel MV Joyita vanished off the coast of Samoa along with all 25 people on board. A massive search yielded no results, and the ship was deemed lost at sea. But then, over a month after it vanished, the MV Joyita was found, six hundred miles off course, and without a single living soul on board. To this day, no one knows what happened to the crew and passengers of the MV Joyita.
In 1975, Jimmy Hoffa, one of the most powerful Union leaders in the country, went to a meeting with the mafia in a suburb of Detroit. He was never seen again, and his body had never been recovered.Parcasters - Jimmy Hoffa's relationship with organized crime figures factored heavily into his disappearance.
In 1891, the ceremonial mace that, by law, was required to be present at every convening of the Victorian Parliament, vanished from its holding case. Police investigated the theft for over a year and never came close to finding the mace or deducing who had stolen it.
In December of 1812, the daughter of disgraced former Vice President Aaron Burr, boarded a ship in South Carolina to travel north to see her father. Theodosia Burr Alston was never seen again.
The Ninth Roman Legion and its 5000 soldiers was famous across Rome in the 1st century BCE. But by 200 CE, the Ninth had vanished from nearly all historical records, and to this day no one has ever confirmed what really happened to all those men.
In 1785, a stunning and expensive diamond necklace was stolen from the Crown Jewelers in Paris, France. The Cardinal who was charged with the theft thought he was working on the orders of Queen Marie Antoinette. In reality, he was victim to a daring, complex con job that seemed to unveil all that was wrong with the nobility class in pre-Revolution France.
In 1939, author and former child prodigy Barbara Newhall Follett stormed out of her apartment after a fight with her husband. The 25-year-old was never seen or heard from again.
Officially, Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first man to ever fly to space in 1961. But is it possible he was just the first man to go to space and return alive?
Genghis Khan was one of the most powerful warlords in medieval Mongolia, and one of the most feared military generals in all of history. Despite his reputation, no one knows today where the legendary figure was buried after his death in 1227.
In the early 1900s, archeologists unearthed a treasure trove of early human bones in the land near modern day Beijing. It was the most significant paleontological discovery ever made at the time. However, when the Second World War struck Asia, they vanished without a trace.
For thousands of years, biblical scholars have considered the likely existence of the Lost Tribes of Israel. Assumed to have gone extinct at some point in the 8th century BCE, there is some evidence that survivors of the tribe may have lasted until at least after the crusades.
When famed violinist Erica Morini died in 1995, she didn't know a terrible truth. Her violin - a Stradivarius worth millions of dollars - was gone. To this day, it has never been found.
Australia’s Prime Minister disappeared while swimming in the sea near Portsea, Victoria. Although a massive search operation was set up around Cheviot Beach, his body was never recovered.
An English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, Henry Hudson was best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the northeastern U.S. On a dreaded expedition, most of his crew mutinied. Hudson, his son, and seven others were cast adrift—never to be seen again.
World famous aviatrix Amelia Earhart was at the height of her career when she embarked on an ambitious global circumnavigation in 1937. But then, somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, she disappeared.
History and legend has it that the Biblical Ark of the Covenant was a sacred container built to house the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. But just as it’s depicted in film and TV, the Ark’s whereabouts are the subject of mystery and countless theories.
On February 19th, 1977, Helen Brach checked out of the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. Her physician recommended “she lose a bit of weight and get more exercise.” The socialite widow of candy magnate, Frank Brach, was never seen again.
Hidden in the jungles of Honduras, the Lost City of the Monkey God was a legendary settlement. Some people claim it’s a make-believe city invented by gold-hungry conquistadors. Others believe it’s a real city that somehow disappeared.
In the winter of 1922, Hadley Richardson boarded a train from Paris to Switzerland where she would reunite with her husband, Ernest Hemingway. She packed every piece of his work in a small suitcase, which was then stolen from her at the Gare De Lyon.
In November 1928, newlyweds Glen and Bessie Hyde took a honeymoon boat trip down the Colorado River. They vanished somewhere in the Grand Canyon a month later, and a long search found no trace of the couple. Forty years later, new evidence emerged that made the couple's disappearance a permanent legend.
Depicting the Norman invasion of England in 1066 C.E., the Bayeux Tapestry is an intricate work of medieval craftsmanship—with a final section that has been missing since at least the 18th century.
It was allegedly discovered by German immigrant Jacob Waltz, who made himself rich and then died before he could show it to anyone. Prospectors have since been searching for the “Lost Dutchman Goldmine” for more than a century.
He was a fiery lawyer and an important figure in the Chicano civil rights movement during the 1960s. But after a long battle with drug addiction, Oscar Zeta Acosta mysteriously vanished during a trip to Mexico in 1974.
He was one of the most celebrated poets of his time. Throughout his lifetime, Walt Whitman would write down his musing in his notebooks. These were donated to the Library of Congress upon his death. But sometime in the 1940s...they vanished.
We are thrilled to bring you a brand new episode of Gone today and for the foreseeable future. We thank you for your patience during this unprecedented time. They vanished while on assignment in war-torn Cambodia in 1970. Despite numerous efforts to find out what happened over the last half-century, Sean Flynn and Dana Stone's ultimate fate remains a mystery.
On December 6th, 2009, a Utah woman named Susan Powell went missing. The married mother of two seemingly had no reason to run away. But just beneath her families' perfect facade things were beginning to crumble.
The Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee are a wonderful place for a family to spend a weekend—but the woods can also be unforgiving. And on June 14th, 1969 a family learned that the hard way when 6-year-old Dennis Lloyd Martin went missing.
It’s a fortune in gold coins supposedly stolen by South Africa’s last President of the Transvaal Republic, Paul Kruger. Since it’s disappearance in 1900, treasure hunters from all over the world have searched for the missing gold. But no one has successfully located the rumored cache, worth over 200 million dollars today.
On October 7th, 1949, a young aspiring actress named Jean Spangler went missing in Los Angeles. But while Jean's life appeared wholesome and idyllic to her coworkers, it was far from the truth...
High in the Austrian Alps sits picturesque Lake Toplitz: a serene lake that holds a dark secret. In the waning months of World War II, Nazi forces dumped dozens of large wooden crates into its depths—crates that many believe hold millions of dollars worth of gold.
In 1933, a small plane touched down in the desert just outside Farmington, New Mexico. It made sixteen trips over the U.S.-Mexico border, each time carrying a ton of pure gold. Legend has it that the gold is still there, buried in the harsh landscape, waiting…
He’s known for crafting ingenious works of literature like Hamlet, Othello, and Macbeth. But some historians believe one of Shakespeare’s greatest comedies may have been lost to time. Known simply as Cardenio, the play was performed at least once in 1613 before it vanished.
In 1935, infamous bootlegger and New York crime boss Dutch Schultz was gunned down in an upscale steakhouse. As Schultz lay dying in a hospital bed, he told police detectives about his five-million-dollar stash of loot in Upstate New York. The hunt was on.
In August 1980, three-month-old Azaria Chamberlain went missing in Australia's Northern Territory. Her mother, Lindy, claimed a dingo snatched her baby—but authorities and the media weren’t so sure.
On March 5, 1918, the Navy collier USS Cyclops sent its final message from off the coast of Barbados, stating it was on schedule to arrive in Baltimore on March 13th. But the ship never made it. No one ever heard from—or saw—the USS Cyclops ever again.
In 1930, New York State Supreme Court Judge Joseph Force Crater withdrew the equivalent of $78,000 dollars from his bank accounts and promptly disappeared. Authorities tried to track down the missing judge, but friends and family feared the worst: that Crater knew something, and was murdered for it.