I think the 'missing 411' cases are overblown by amateur sleuths

I looked into five of those national park disappearances over the last 2 years and found three had clear evidence of animal attacks or falls that rangers documented. The online theories ignore those reports entirely - has anyone actually read the official NPS case files on these?

2 comments

2 Comments

juliashah1mo ago

Man I feel personally attacked because I still get lost in my own neighborhood sometimes. But yeah, those online forums have a way of spinning a simple bear attack into a whole conspiracy novel.

garcia.tyler1mo ago

A buddy of mine used to work as a trail guide up in Glacier National Park for a few summers. He said they'd get the occasional missing hiker and 9 times out of 10 it was someone who wandered off the trail to take a photo and slipped down a ravine or got caught in a rockslide. One time a guy vanished for three days and the online forums were full of wild theories about caves and government coverups. Turned out he'd taken a shortcut, fell into a creek, and was just sitting there with a twisted ankle waiting for help. Rangers found him pretty quick once they looked at the actual terrain.