I have always been fascinated by weird history, particularly mass disappearances. Mankind’s history is littered with unexplained events. Whole villages, planes, or boats disappear without a trace.
Everyone knows Roanoke, right? In 1585, a colony of English settlers established a colony on an island in current-day North Carolina. Life was not easy for the settlers, who faced starvation, brutal weather, and uneasy interactions with the local Native American tribes. The settlement’s governor, John White, undertook a resupply mission back to England in 1897, leaving over 100 people behind. Due to the Anglo-Saxon War, he was unable to return until 1890. Upon his arrival, he found no one left. The settlement had been abandoned, with only the word “Croatoan’ carved into a beam. There was no sign of the settlers. Popular theories of their disappearance included acclimation into local tribes or a massacre. To this day, there is no definitive proof of what happened to these people.
Another famous disappearance is the ship, Mary Celeste. In 1872, Mary Celeste departed New York for Genoa. A month later, the brigantine was discovered hundreds of miles off-course along the coast of the Azorean Islands. There was no sign of the crew. The ship was still seaworthy, but her lifeboat was gone. Her cargo was untouched, as were the captain’s and crew members’ personal belongings. Though multiple theories abound, no evidence has been found of why or how they disappeared.
And the Bermuda Triangle? We have all heard stories of missing ships and planes. Did you know there are similar areas in Alaska and Japan with occurrences of the same type of disappearances?
What caused all these disappearances? What caused the multiple mass disappearances throughout history? Looking at them from an author’s point of view, could they be connected?
All of this has been a really long segue to my book recommendation, Phantoms by Dean Koontz. Published in 1983, this is a classic story by one of my favorite authors. (I just had a bit of an existential crisis when I realized this book was published 41 years ago!) The book starts with a doctor, Jenny, returning to her small mountain town after picking up her younger sister. Upon their return, the two find the town deserted. Well, deserted except for the mutilated corpses of some of their neighbors. The town is silent.
This was long before cell phones and the internet, so Jenny has a hard time getting word that they need help. Help does arrive in the form of a local sheriff, his deputies, and a government investigation team. The book covers a few days as Jenny and the others explore the town, trying to piece together what happened to the citizens. Koontz manages to deliver a surprising villain.
I know lots of people do not like Koontz’s books. It is popular in some literary circles to deride his books as simple or cliché. I personally love the way he tells a story. He can make me cringe and feel nervous without being overly flowery in his descriptions. He can inject a sense of urgency into his writing that makes me keep reading. He usually ends up surprising me as well.
So, for a throwback classic, I highly recommend Phantoms by Dean Koontz. After you read it, I bet you start researching mass disappearances on your own!
“Phantoms is gruesome and unrelenting…It’s well realized, intelligent, and humane.”—Stephen King
They found the town silent, apparently abandoned. Then they found the first body, strangely swollen and still warm. One hundred fifty were dead, 350 missing. But the terror had only begun in the tiny mountain town of Snowfield, California.
At first, they thought it was the work of a maniac. Or terrorists. Or toxic contamination. Or a bizarre new disease.
But then they found the truth. And they saw it in the flesh. And it was worse than anything any of them had ever imagined…
