Time and time again, planes, trains, cars and other vehicles go missing and leave nothing but a mystery to follow. These 10 are the eeriest vehicular mysteries, as chosen by our readers.
10.) MV Joyita Shipwreck
Five weeks after its mysterious disappearance in the South Pacific, the MV Joyita was found partially submerged more than 600 miles off-course from its originally planned course without any of its crew, equipment, life-saving vessels and much of its cargo gone.
Where’d the crew and the cargo go? How did the boat travel 600 miles off-course? Some theories say that it could’ve been the Soviets, some say it was the Japanese and some say it was all for insurance fraud. Unfortunately, it’s a mystery we’ll probably never know the answer to.
Suggested By: Berang, Photo Credit: katoamisen jälkeen via Wikipedia
9.) 2003 Boeing 727-223 Disappearance
After sitting stationary on the tarmac at Quatro de Fevereiro Airport in Angola for 14 months, two men who had been previously doing maintenance on the aircraft reportedly boarded this Boeing 727-223, registration number N844AA. With its lights and radio transponder off, the plane began taxiing without any communication or permission, then entered a runway and took off.
It was never seen again.
Suggested By: TheAnswerIsAlwaysCitroën, Photo Credit: RuthAS via Wikipedia (N844AA in 1989)
8.) The Philadelphia Experiment
In the summer of 1943, the U.S. Navy destroyer escort USS Eldridge was at port in Philadelphia testing new equipment. While in port, there were claims from the general public on multiple occasions that she had gone temporarily invisible. Yes, invisible. In her place was only a greenish haze.
Rumor has it that when she reappeared, several of her shipmen were either infused within her structure or suffering from intense nausea. In addition to these claims, there were also people claiming that during a test later in the year, the USS Eldridge had disappeared into “a flash of blue light” and had been transported, yes transported, to Norfolk, Virginia.
Believe what you want.
Suggested By: Em-a-il, Photo Credit: NARA via Wikipedia
7.) James Bond’s Missing Goldfinger Aston Martin DB5
After its appearance in the James Bond Goldfinger movie, the Aston Martin DB5 with chassis number DP216/1 spent decades being on display around the world. But while in storage in Florida in 1997, the car been stolen right out of an airport hanger. Fifty-one years after the release of Goldfinger and 18 years after the theft, the car has yet to turn up.
Suggested By: reverborocket, Photo Credit: WPTV NBC5 via autoblog
6.) Tybee Island Mid-Air Crash
When a United States Air Force F-86 fighter plane collided with a USAF B-47 bomber that happened to be carrying a Mk15 nuclear bomb during a practice exercise, the crew on the bomber had requested to drop the nuke in a safe location over the Wassaw Sound so that in the event of a harsh emergency landing, there would be no concerns that the nuke would detonate.
Guess what? They dropped it, it didn’t detonate. But from then on, the bomb was forever missing.
Suggested By: tdi-enthusiast, Photo Credit: PD-USGOV via Wikipedia
5.) The Mystery Of The Blimp L-8
When a U.S. Navy L-8 blimp crashed in-flight above land and no one was found to be piloting the aircraft, people were concerned. An investigation found that two of three life jackets were missing, the vessel had never sent any distress signals and that a briefcase with classified information still properly locked away and secure inside the aircraft. So where did the two passengers go?
Suggested By: VAXcat, Photo Credit: Blimp Info via Jalopnik
4.) B-47 Broken Arrow Disappearance
After starting on a (presumably) controlled descent to meet its refueling aircraft during a trans-atlantic journey from Florida to Morocco, a B-47 was never heard from or seen again. The refueling aircraft never saw the B-47 and it is has been assumed that the aircraft went down somewhere in the Mediterranean. Down with it went its crew and two containers of various nuclear weapons.
Suggested By: kernow, Photo Credit: Getty Images (Different B-47 shown)
3.) The Missing Airmen Of Flight 19
On December 5th, 1945, the five Avenger Torpedo bomber aircraft designated as ‘Flight 19” had gone out for overwater navigation training out of Fort Lauderdale, FL and never returned. It was imagined that they had either run out of fuel or suffered from disorientation and were no longer able to pilot their aircraft.
That, or the Bermuda Triangle just swallowed them whole.
Suggested By: DennyCraneDennyCraneDennyDrane, Photo Credit: Anynobody/NARA via Wikipedia
2.) James Dean’s 550 Spyder “Little Bastard”
After James Dean’s death, his wrecked Porsche 550 Spyder “Little Bastard” was put on display for a traffic safety exhibit with the California Highway Patrol. That is, until the whole exhibit was mysteriously burnt to the ground, with the car making it out safe and sound (which was also very mysterious).
Then while being transported to another exhibit for display, the car rolled off the transporter and killed a man. When the CHP decided they were done with Little Bastard, it was sent back to its owner, George Barris, but for whatever reason, Little Bastard never made it there.
Where the hell did it go? Where the hell is it? And is it really cursed?
Suggested By: Ghoulardi, Photo Credit: Getty Images
1.) Amelia Earhart’s Disappearance
An obvious pick, but one of the most prevailing mysteries of all time.
Amelia Earhart, know for her famous transcontinental flight in 1932, later planned on performing and completing a flight of the whole world. The route set for this flight had mainly planned for Earhart to follow the line of the equator around the whole earth, which would tally up to about 29,000 miles in air travel.
After nearly 22,000 miles of rather successful air travel, Earhart continued on from Lae, New Guinea with a distance of 2,556 miles ahead of it toward Howland Island. After only about 800 miles covered, the aircraft and its occupants were never seen or heard from again.
Suggested By: SolamenteDave, Photo Credit: Getty Images
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Top Photo Credit: MGM/Goldfinger