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HERE ONE MINUTE, GONE THE NEXT
By Christina M. Schumacher |
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Periods of time in history seem to bring popularity to unusual, unexplainable phenomena. There is Bigfoot, UFO's, the Bermuda Triangle, the Lochness Monster, Crop Circles, Crying Statues, and the list goes on. Each of these phenomenons has its day in the sun, so to speak, then fades off, only to be touched on briefly in the public or discussed in private circles.
One phenomenon that continues, however, is missing persons. Though some missing persons do return, there is a database full of missing persons who have been gone for years. These people were living happily amongst family one day, then were suddenly gone the next. There's even a fiction television show called "Without a Trace" that offers a photo of a real missing person with each episode in the hope of, somehow, finding these people alive and well.
The fact is, for all the missing people, rarely do we hear a news story unless there is proof of an abduction, murder or some other equally horrifying atrocity. But, what about people who really have disappeared without a trace with no explainable outside influences? These stories can be found in small local newspapers at a time when freedom of speech really did exist and the stories could be shared as they happened rather than masked or hidden behind some unknown agenda.
One of these stories took place in 1854 in Selma, Alabama. Orion Williamson, a farmer, stepped off his front porch to go across the field to bring his horses from the pasture to the barn. His wife and child stood at the porch railing watching him go and two neighbors waved at him as they rode by in their buggies. Orion Williamson disappeared before the eyes of four witnesses. He was there, then suddenly gone.
His family and the two neighbors immediately went out to see where he had gone, thinking that he may have fallen in a hole. However, the field was normal in all ways - no holes, no caves - just a field.
Help was brought in - townspeople and dogs - but no sign of Orion was ever discovered. Orion Williamson disappeared without a trace, before the eyes of loved ones and friends, and never returned.
Another farmer, David Lang, disappeared from Gallatin, Tennessee in exactly the same way in 1880. His wife, and two visitors - a judge and the judge's brother-in-law - watched David walk across the field where he disappeared right in front of them. As in the case of Orion Williamson, the Lang field was searched, but found to be, again, just a field. David Lang was never seen again.
Before the disappearance of these two men, life was as normal as it had always been. There were no strange lights in the sky, no sudden winds, no unexplainable darkness, no odd mists - nothing. So, where did these two men vanish to?
Just as strange are the disappearances of three boys - 16 year old Charles Ashmore of Quincy, Illinois in 1876, 11 year old Oliver Larch from South Bend, Indiana in 1889, and 11 year old Oliver Thomas from Rhayader, Wales in 1909.
Though the years are different, the circumstances around the vanishing of these three boys was eerily similar. All three, on Christmas Eve, were on their way to the family well to fill a bucket with water to bring to the house. None of them ever made it to the well. Their footprints, in the snow, stopped halfway to the well.
The only variance in the three stories is that Charles Ashmore was never heard screaming anything before his disappearance. He was just gone too long so his father and sister went to look for him. He was never found.
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I’ve had many unexplainable experiences throughout my life since I was a young child. Several of them happened when I was about 9 or 10 years old, and I will relate one of them here.
My father had a career in the Navy, and so I spent most my childhood growing up in Honolulu, Hawaii. While living there, our whole family would often take trips to the beach to spend the day swimming. One weekend my parents decided we’d spend a few days camping at a beach called "Bellows Beach". Bellows Beach is one of the more popular ocean recreation areas on the east shore of Oahu. It’s usually always crowded with swimmers, body surfers and campers. We especially loved it because it had shallow waters and a small shore break.
After a long car ride to get to the beach, we found our favorite spot and set up camp. We spent the first day, until late that night, swimming and playing. I shared a small pup tent with my brother, Ron, who is two years younger.
We went to sleep that night and I slept soundly until I was awakened very early the next morning by my brother shaking my shoulder, wanting me to hurry and get up. He wanted to go swimming before crowds of people showed up. I looked around and saw the rest of the family was still asleep in their tents. So, Ron and I ran down to the water and jumped in. The sun had just come up and we had the whole beach to ourselves – not a soul in sight! Ron brought along a big inner tube to hang on to while we played in the water. I suggested to Ron that we keep going out past |
where the waves begin to form. The waves were always ferocious and we didn’t like getting caught up in them. So we started to move further out into the water. A while later I saw we were quite a ways from shore and the water was over my chin and I had to bounce on my tiptoes. Ron was inside his tube floating a few feet away from me, and we were chatting back and forth with each other.
Suddenly, I felt the water turn ice cold. I couldn’t figure out why the water turned from warm to ice cold so quickly. As I was wondering about this, I was suddenly pulled underneath the water. I opened my eyes to look around me but couldn’t see anything except blackness. I was instantly terrified. At first I was more frightened of what might be in this darkness around me. Then I noticed I was swiftly being sucked further down into this blackness. I began struggling, trying to swim my way back up to the surface, but I seemed to be getting no where. Then I started struggling with all the strength I had in me. Looking up, I could see the surface of the water sparkling like little diamonds. I managed to get pretty close, but was just unable to reach it. Continuing to take huge kicks through the water, I stretched both my hands towards the surface, which I could almost touch, taking forceful arm strokes. After about a minute or so, I began to tire and found no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t reach the surface. I let go of my struggling and gave up. The last thought I remember thinking was, "Gee, it sure doesn’t hurt to drown!"
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