1 - Children of the Sodder family
In 1945, on Christmas Eve, members of the Sodder family, Italian immigrants who lived in Fayetteville, West Virginia, were asleep when a fire started in the house, and five of the ten children who lived there were trapped upstairs. However, after firefighters extinguished the fire, no trace - as charred bodies or even bones - was discovered in the rubble.
And a succession of strange details came to light during the investigations ... The Sodder failed to call the fire department because the phones were not working, and the children's father tried to approach his truck from home to access the upstairs, but the vehicle would not start. In addition, witnesses reported seeing strangers prowling the residence before the fire, and like a bomb artifact was found in the garden.
Not to mention that fateful day before the fire, the family was visited by two strange men - one of them introduced himself as insurance broker - they made direct threats to Sodder because of antifascists comments that the father of the family would have done the city. Interestingly, this same broker participated in the process that determined the cause of the fire as accidental.
Later, the waitress in a roadside diner and a hosted hotel in Charleston woman told authorities that they had seen the children accompanied by a group of men apparently Italians do not let anyone near the small. After 20 years, the children's mother received a photo that allegedly showed one of her children had grown up, but none of them - not their bodies - were never found.
2 - Phantom Airship
In 1942, Lt. Ernest Cody and the officer Charles Adams were patrolling the area of San Francisco in a blimp L-8 when warned by radio that they were on their way from the Farallon Islands to investigate an oil leak. A few hours later, the aircraft was spotted outside informed the city of Daly route and, after spending about scraping some houses, the G-8 crashed to the ground.
The witnesses of the accident rushed to help the military, or even Cody Adams were on board. While investigating the case, the Navy concluded that no parachute or life raft was missing - just a few jackets had disappeared - the radio and the engines did not have any type of crash. And beyond the door of the gondola being wide open, there was nothing wrong with the aircraft, and no signs of struggle.
Even today no one knows what happened to the two soldiers - if they were captured by Japanese soldiers or Nazis, jumped to his death along the promenade, were abducted by aliens ... - and the crash of the airship became a ghost one of the more bizarre mysteries of World War II.
3 - Ben Padilla
Although we have the impression that the disappearance of aircraft is commonplace, especially after the extensive coverage we had on the subject during the year, the truth is that these events are relatively rare - and always very intriguing. This is the case involving Ben Padilla, a mechanic from US planes off the map with a Boeing 727 in 2003.
The disappearance happened after Padilla went to Angola to oversee the renovation of an old 727. During a test in which the aircraft was taxiing down the runway only to test the operation of the engines, the Boeing - occupied by the US and a Congolese named John Mikel Mutantu - took off toward the Atlantic disabled transponder and without asking permission or communicate with the tower.
The aircraft was carrying thousands of gallons of diesel and although Padilla had a pilot's license, none of the men on board had enough to fly a 727. As far as we know, experience Mutantu even possessed qualification. Witnesses said that before taking off, the plane down the runway zigzagged erratically, suggesting that there was some kind of struggle in the cockpit.
The case was investigated by various security agencies since, due to the burden of Boeing, it was feared that the disappearance could be linked to a terrorist mission. However, despite this, curiously the FBI closed the case suddenly and without explanation in 2005, nor Padilla, 727 Mutantu or seen again. One theory is that the owners of Boeing decided to order the plane to get the insurance money, but the mystery remains.
4 - The trio of Flannan Isles lighthouse
The last case of our list today is about the disappearance of three men who were caring for a lighthouse on Flannan Islands, off the coast of Scotland, which occurred in 1900. The trio - consisting of Thomas Marshall, James Ducat and Donald MacArthur - should remain in the tower for 14 days, however, the passage of boats Local realized that the headlight was not working, and soon a team was sent to investigate.
As you know, at that time the headlights were essential to help guide vessels near the coast and should always remain in operation to prevent accidents. However, when the team reached the lighthouse, the researchers found a locked and inside the tower door, they encountered unmade beds and a meal left untouched on the table.
At first, the researchers imagined that the three men could have been washed out to sea during a heavy storm that had hit the area. But the case was dismissed after being found information recorded in the book of records well after the storm. Furthermore, the trio was well seasoned, and it is very strange to think that men have left together, ignoring the rule of never, ever leaving the lighthouse alone.
Plus, why they locked the door to the lighthouse, if he was in an uninhabited place? The most widely accepted theory today is that a huge and unexpected wave has hit the spot and brought the three men away, but who knows if the Loch Ness monster did not pay a visit to the trio during dinner?
source: Fatos Desconhecidos
