Apology. I am very sorry there have not been any updates in a long time. I am extremely tired, and I can barely even function at all these days. The only thing that helps me is allergy shots. This is a very bad time of year for me.
Ray Crowe book review of David Paulides’ latest Missing 411 book.
Book Review, 4th Paulides Missing 411-The Devil’s in the Details
Once again Dave Paulides has published a blockbuster of a book about the sad stories of missing people. Disappearances seem to occur in clusters, and Dave has included a large United States wall map showing where the poor people vanished. It’s revealing – the east and west coasts are almost darkened with missing cluster tags. This time around, Dave has gone international, including lists of missing people from six continents.
As in earlier books, the little preteens seem to be the largest group targeted by some entity that concentrates on kidnapping and leaving the victims often either dead or alive, and missing articles of clothing or shoes without any indication of molestation. Usually the victim has no idea what occurred, is dazed, or can’t communicate what happened to them. Dave mentions that the last-in-line of hiking groups often disappears, and comments on the number of missing people found at the base of steep cliffs, near water or swamps, in brier patches (victims often found with horrible scratches), having traveled many miles or having unknowingly traveled uphill.
Often their pets disappear with them and either come back confused or never do return. Search dogs cannot find their scent of the missing, and bloodhounds and cadaver dogs appear baffled. And in so many cases, an area previously searched multiple times eventually turns up a victim that’s in plain sight.
The first book chapters cover another large batch of missing people, running the total from the 411 books up another 174. On May 18th, the release date of the book, Dave was a guest on George Knapp on Coast-to-Coast radio, and he mentioned that his total was up to 1,240 now. I wonder what that would amount to in the number of gallons of shed tears?
Look at “Devil’s Detail,” an introductory page that has a long listing of place names with the word devil in them. Other significant detailed charts and statistical information elsewhere in the volume highlight fascinating cases that boggle the mind: Little 7 year old Jack who in two days managed to get 50 miles from where he was lost. And he was found in good condition! How can that be?
Another 11 people were found 20 or more miles from where they had disappeared. Not all of them were as lucky as Jack.
Many other interesting listings are tabulated: Weather conditions turn inclement when lost; occasions when the first or last in a line of hikers vanishes; there are those that turn up missing and were last seen inside of a home (in one case a house alarm failed to ring) or from a locked car with no inside door handles (go-figure that one out), the puzzling cases of the disabled who go missing, and the “climbers”-those that when lost go uphill, often being found on top of a barren peak (20 in four books climbed 1,000 feet or more). These and several other “Devil’s Detail” categories are listed under Dave’s final “Conclusions” chapter.
Impossible cases are cited, like 2 year old Ryan, sleeping with his sister Shawna next to the wall. On awakening, his family discovered that he was gone, only to be later found dead under a dock at a nearby lake.
And then there was the mystery of Megumi. Hiking on a well used trail in New Mexico, when lost she simply dialed 911 on her cell phone (needed to triangulate). She was forwarded to the non-emergency dispatcher…not once but seven times! Unbelievable! It has never happened before or since! Finally routed correctly, search teams found Megumi. It started to snow! A helicopter was called in for evacuation of the cold and weak graduate student in physics, nanotechnology and optics. The tail rotor of the helicopter hit a tree! In a debris field 800 feet down the 12,000 foot mountain, the bodies of the pilot and Megumi were found. It appears that at times the well-educated are targeted!
What’s happening to all these people? Dave wisely doesn’t speculate. It’s just too crazy. In one case you think a Bigfoot kidnapped them. Then in the next a UFO abducted them, or they vanish into a dimensional hole or orb, or the culprit is an entity that reaches through from a black hole, grabs them and transports them for miles, dragging them unmercifully through briers. I can only scratch my head and ponder. Don’t know how much just plain old bad luck is involved either.
One can only offer a silent prayer for all the unfortunate missing people, past and present, especially the children…the poor little babies, Amen. And those left behind to suffer: wives, siblings, mothers, grandparents, girlfriends…all of those and more. I feel saddest of all for them.
Ray Crowe, May 26, 2014
