This is a list of people who disappeared mysteriously prior to 1910, or people whose deaths or the exact circumstances thereof are not substantiated. Many people who disappear end up declared dead in absentia, and some of these people were possibly subjected to forced disappearance.
This list is a general catch-all; for specialty lists, see lists of people who disappeared.
data-sort-type="isoDate" width="12%" | Date | data-sort-type="text" width="15%" | Person(s) | data-sort-type="text" width="8%" | Age | data-sort-type="text" width="15%" | Missing from | Circumstances | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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data-sort-value="-700-01-01" | 1324 BC | Zannanza (prince of Hittite Empire) | Unknown | En route to ancient Egypt from Hittite Empire | Zannanza was sent by his father, Hittite king Šuppiluliuma I to wed Egyptian queen Ankhesenamun but never arrived in Egypt and never returned to the Hittites. Ancient Egyptian officials reported no knowledge of Zannanza's whereabouts while Šuppiluliuma I accused them of foul play. Circumstances escalated into conflict. | [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
data-sort-value="-700-01-01" | 700 BC | Romulus (the founder and first king of Rome) (Romulus is a legendary character and not all information about him is necessarily historical) | At least 60 | Campus Martius, Rome | While Romulus was reviewing his troops in the Campus Martius (near where the Pantheon is now), a sudden storm with lightning and thunderclaps arose. A thick, black cloud hid him from view and no one saw him again. Some nearby observers said that he had been swept away by the tempest. Livy and Plutarch say Romulus's generals may have used the opportunity to assassinate him. | [2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
data-sort-value="-524-01-01" | 524 BC | Lost Army of Cambyses | Various | Western Desert of Egypt | A legendary army of 50,000 men sent by Cambyses II into the Siwa Oasis in Egypt. According to Herodotus, they had gone halfway across the desert when supposedly a giant sandstorm buried them all as they were never seen again. | [3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Late 4th century BC | Laozi (Laozi is a legendary character and not all information about him is necessarily historical) | Unknown | Didao, State of Qin, China | The Ancient Chinese philosopher and writer who reportedly wrote the Tao Te Ching and founded Taoism, is thought to have disappeared sometime in the late 4th century BC and was never seen again. | [4] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
53 BC | Ambiorix | Gaul, Belgium | Ambiorix was, together with Catuvolcus, prince of the Eburones, leader of a Belgic tribe of northeastern Gaul (Gallia Belgica), where modern Belgium is located. According to the writer Florus (iii.10.8), Ambiorix and his men managed to cross the Rhine and disappeared without a trace. | [5] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Catuvolcus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
30 BC | Alexander Helios | 10 | Egypt | Helios and Philadelphus, sons of Cleopatra and Mark Antony and the younger half-brothers of Caesarion, left Egypt for Rome, after which their fates are unknown. | [6] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ptolemy Philadelphus | 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
data-sort-value="108-01-01" | 108–164 | Legio IX Hispana ("9th Spanish Legion") | Various | Roman Empire | The Roman legion stationed in Roman Britain, following the Roman conquest of Britain in 43 AD, disappears from surviving records without explanation in the second century. There are multiple conjectures regarding what happened to it and why no record of its fate has been found. Many references to the legion have been made in subsequent works of fiction. | [7] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
data-sort-value="0683-08-26" | August 683 | Saf ibn Sayyad | Unknown | Northern outskirts of Medina, Umayyad Caliphate (modern-day Saudi Arabia) | Saf ibn Sayyad, an alleged claimant of prophethood during the time of Islamic prophet Muhammad, reportedly disappeared during the Battle of al-Harra and was never seen again. | [8] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
data-sort-value="0774-01-01" | 774 | Vijayaditya II | Unknown | Vātāpi | Vijayaditya II, son of Kirtivarman II, was crown prince of the Badami Chalukya dynasty until its destruction in 753 by the Rashtrakutas. He narrowly escaped a grim fate at Vātāpi (now Badami) by fleeing south with his wife to Ganga territory, where he lived for many years by the grace of the Ganga king Sripurusha. He departed on a journey north in 774, after which his whereabouts are unknown. | [9] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
data-sort-value="809" | 809 | Rafi ibn al-Layth | Unknown | Greater Khorasan | A Khurasani Arab noble who led a large-scale rebellion against the Abbasid Caliphate in the years 806–809. Al-Layth voluntarily surrendered to the governor of Khurasan, al-Ma'mun. He was pardoned, and his ultimate fate thereafter remains unknown. | [10] |-|data-sort-value="825-01-01"|825|Nasr ibn Shabath al-Uqayli|Unknown|Baghdad|Al-Uqayli was the leader of a rebellion of the Qays tribe during the civil war of the Fourth Fitna. Nothing is known of his whereabouts following his surrender to the seventh Abbasid caliph in approximately 825.|style="text-align:center;"|[11] |-|data-sort-value="1021-01-01"|13 February 1021|Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah|36|Cairo, Egypt|The sixth Fatimid caliph and 16th Ismaili imam rode his donkey to the Mokattam hills for one of his regular nocturnal meditation outings and failed to return. A search found only the donkey and his bloodstained garments.|style="text-align:center;"|[12] |-|data-sort-value="1177-09-27"|27 September 1177|Master Philip|Unknown|Middle East|Pope Alexander III sent his personal physician, Master Philip, to find and establish diplomatic contact with the mythical priest-king from the East, Prester John. The route that Philip took is a mystery. He was never heard from again.|style="text-align:center;"|[13] |-|data-sort-value="1183-01-01"|1183|Renier of Montferrat|20–21|Italy|A Lombard noble of the House of Montferrat, brother of the famous Conrad (king-consort of Jerusalem) and Boniface (crusader king of Thessalonica), and son-in-law to Byzantine Emperor Manuel Komnenos, was assumed poisoned along with his wife during a coup and the subsequent power struggle in Constantinople. Chroniclers describe his wife's death, but not his.|style="text-align:center;"|[14] |-|data-sort-value="1203-04-01"|April 1203|Arthur I, Duke of Brittany|15–16|Rouen, France|The 4th Earl of Richmond and Duke of Brittany between 1196 and 1203, Arthur was captured by his uncle King John's barons on 1 August 1202, and imprisoned in the Château de Falaise in Falaise, Normandy. While there, John ordered him to be castrated, but Arthur's guard Hubert de Burgh could not bring himself to let this happen, so he leaked news that Arthur had died of natural causes, which Brittany didn’t believe as they suspected he had been murdered. Arthur disappeared in April 1203 after being transferred to Rouen Castle. Several stories existed about his fate, but he is generally believed to have been murdered by John.|style="text-align:center;"|[15] |-|data-sort-value="1398-01-01"|1398|Gearóid Iarla|62–63|Kingdom of Desmond, Ireland|Gerald FitzMaurice FitzGerald, also known by the Irish-language Gearóid Iarla (Earl Gerald), was the 3rd Earl of Desmond, lord of Munster, and Norman-Gaelic poet; he disappeared in 1398.|style="text-align:center;"|[16] |-|rowspan="2" data-sort-value="1402-01-01"|13 July 1402|Jianwen Emperor (Zhu Yunwen)|25|rowspan="2"|China|rowspan="2"|Missed in Jingnan rebellion, a civil war in the early years of the Ming dynasty of China between him and his uncle Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan. The campaign ended after the forces of the Prince of Yan captured the imperial capital Nanjing, with Yunwen and his family disappearing, presumably dying in the fire.|rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|[17] |-|Zhu Wenkui|6|-|data-sort-value="1412-01-01"|1412|Owain Glyndŵr|~58|Wales|The last native Welsh person to hold the title Prince of Wales, Glyndŵr instigated the Welsh Revolt against the rule of Henry IV of England in 1400. Although initially successful, the uprising was eventually defeated, but Glyndŵr disappeared and no one knows what became of him after that.|style="text-align:center;"|[18] |-|data-sort-value="1453-01-01"|29 May 1453|Constantine XI Palaiologos|48|Constantinople|The last Byzantine emperor during the final hours of the Siege of Constantinople, Constantine XI Palaiologos disappeared during the fighting and most likely died.|style="text-align:center;"|[19] |-|data-sort-value="1463-01-01"|January 1463|François Villon|~32|Paris, France|The fate of the French poet and criminal after January 1463 remains unknown. A Paris court banished him from the town on 5 January 1463; after this no certain facts about him and his life and whereabouts exist.|style="text-align:center;"|[20] |-|rowspan="2" data-sort-value="1483-01-01"|Mid-1483|Edward V of England|12|rowspan="2"|London, England|rowspan="2"|The Princes in the Tower, Edward V of England and Richard of Shrewsbury, sons of King Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville, were placed in the Tower of London (which at that time served as a fortress and a royal palace as well as a prison) by their uncle Richard III of England. Neither was ever seen in public again and their fate remains unknown. The remains of four children that have been found could be the princes, but they have not been subjected to DNA analysis to positively identify them.|style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"|[21] [22] |-|Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York|9|-|data-sort-value="1487-01-01"|June 1487|Francis Lovell, 1st Viscount Lovell|30–31|Oxfordshire, England|Lovell, a rebel Yorkist knight, was last seen alive fleeing from the Battle of Stoke Field after defeat by the Lancastrians. In 1488 he was granted safe conduct in Scotland by King James IV but there is no evidence he was ever in the country. (A skeleton found at one of his mansions at Minster Lovell, Oxfordshire, in 1708 was believed, without evidence, to be his.)|style="text-align:center;"|[23] |-|data-sort-value="1526-08-29"|29 August 1526|George Zápolya |37–38|Mohács, Hungary|Brother of John Zapolya, George was relegated to the political life besides his brother. He was engaged to Elisabeth Corvinus, daughter of John Corvinus, in 1504, but the last surviving member of the Hunyadi family died in 1508. He was commander of the Hungarian Royal Army, along with Archbishop of Kalocsa Pál Tomori, at the Battle of Mohács, where he disappeared and presumably died. Court chaplain Miklós Tatai believed that Zápolya murdered King Louis II of Hungary, who escaped from the battle, in the house of the vicar in Dunaszekcső. Historians do not accept this report as credible.|style="text-align:center;"|[24] |-|4 August 1578|Sebastian of Portugal|24|Ksar el-Kebir, Morocco|The King of Portugal from 1557 to 1578 and an example of the king asleep in mountain legend, Sebastian was likely killed during the Battle of Alcácer Quibir, but his body was never identified.|style="text-align:center;"|[25] |-|data-sort-value="1590-01-01"| 1590|Roanoke colonists| Various|Roanoke Colony, North Carolina, U.S.|The Roanoke colonists, including Ananias, age 27–30; Eleanor, age 19; and Virginia Dare, age 2 or 3, the first English child born in a New World English overseas possession, disappeared becoming known as the Lost Colony. On 18 August 1590, their settlement was found abandoned. The settlement was located on Roanoke Island, currently part of Dare County, North Carolina. A carving on a tree suggests they went to the local Croatoan Island, but this was never confirmed.|style="text-align:center;"|[26] |-|data-sort-value="1628-01-01"|1628|David Thompson|39–40|Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.|The founder of the New Hampshire colony in 1623, Thompson moved his family to an island in Boston Harbor (today called Thompson Island in his honor) in 1626 becoming the first European settlers of Boston, Massachusetts. He disappeared in 1628. Some historians theorize he was the victim of foul play while others suggest he accidentally drowned in Boston Harbor.|style="text-align:center;"|[27] |-|rowspan="2" data-sort-value="1629-11-16"|16 November 1629|Wouter Loos|24|rowspan="2"|Kalbarri, Western Australia, Australia|rowspan="2"|Wouter Loos played a critical role in the mutiny of the Batavia, which shipwrecked off the coast of Australia in 1629 during its maiden voyage en route to Batavia (today Jakarta), capital of the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia). Started by Jeronimus Cornelisz, it is one of the bloodiest mutinies in history. After Cornelisz was captured, Loos was elected as the new leader of the mutineers. Most participants in the mutiny were captured, tried and executed; however, the trial decided that the crimes of Loos and a cabin boy named Jan Pelgrom de Bye were not serious enough to warrant their executions. They were instead marooned on mainland Australia (exact location is uncertain), given some supplies and instructed to make themselves known to the people who lived there. They were never heard from again.| rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|[28] [29] [30] [31] |-|Jan Pelgrom de Bye|18|-|data-sort-value="1653-01-01"|October 1653|Erdeni Bumba|Unknown|Horchin, Mongolia|The first empress consort of the Shunzhi Emperor, disliked by her husband for various reasons (chief being Shunzhi Emperor's infatuation with his favored concubine Consort Donggo; but also due to her connection with the emperor's mother Empress Xiaozhuangwen and Dorgon, who both supported their match). In October 1653, she was demoted to Consort Jing, and left the Forbidden City. She was allegedly pregnant at the time of her departure, and that she gave birth to a son. Extant historical records are blank as to her eventual fate.||-|data-sort-value="1661-01-01"|4 July 1661?|René Ménard|56|Taylor County, Wisconsin, U.S.|A French Jesuit missionary, Fr. René Ménard, disappeared while traveling by canoe with a Native American guide from the area of present-day L'Anse, Michigan (on Lake Superior) to deep within the Wisconsin interior. The goal of the voyage was to minister to a Huron village. After encountering a series of river rapids, Ménard and his guide agreed that he would walk along the river’s edge while his more-skilled companion navigated the boat downstream. His guide traversed the rapids successfully, yet Ménard was not seen at the agreed point nor ever again. Years later, his cassock and breviary were discovered in a Dakota village, far from his last known site.|style="text-align:center;"|[32] |-|-|data-sort-value="1692-01-01"| 1692|Abigail Williams|11–12|Salem Village, Massachusetts, U.S.|Abigail Williams was one of the first girls to make accusations of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts, eventually leading to the start of the Salem witch trials. After her final appearance in court in 1692, Williams appears to disappear from the historical record, and her eventual whereabouts and fate remain unknown.|style="text-align:center;"|[33] |-|data-sort-value="1704-01-01"|24 May 1704|Laurens de Graaf|~51|Louisiana Territory, U.S.|Laurens de Graaf was last known to be near Louisiana where he was to help set up a French colony near present-day Biloxi, Mississippi. Some sources claim he died there while others claim he died at different locations in Alabama.|style="text-align:center;"|[34] |-|data-sort-value="1758-01-01"|1758|Khe Pandjang|Unknown|Bali, Indonesia|Pandjang was a leader of Chinese rebels fighting against the Dutch East India Company during the Java War. He escaped capture after the defeat of the rebellion, and was last seen in Bali in 1758.|style="text-align:center;"|[35] |-|data-sort-value="1792-01-01"|February 1792|James Harrod|50–54|Harrodsburg, Kentucky, U.S.|An early explorer of the areas west of the Appalachian Mountains prior to their settlement by European-Americans, James Harrod never returned from a trip to western Kentucky from Harrodsburg. Theories about his fate range from murder at the hands of his companions or Native Americans in the area, to accidental death or a desire to abandon his wife and family.|style="text-align:center;"|[36] |}1800 to 1899
1900s
See also
References |
. Mike Dash . 2002 . Batavia's Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Meeting . Batavia's Graveyard . New York City, United States . Crown Publishers (Penguin Random House) . 9781400045105 . Epilogue: On the Shores of the Great South-Land . 235–258 .