WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:05.440 Imagine stepping off the sunlit streets of nineteen twenties Los Angeles, right, 2 00:00:05.839 --> 00:00:08.919 and you walk into this affluent bungalow where a crime 3 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:10.400 has literally just occurred. 4 00:00:10.519 --> 00:00:13.199 You'd expect order, I mean, you know, police tape, a 5 00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:14.560 systematic evaluation of. 6 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:17.960 The space, exactly, a meticulous cataloging of well, what belongs 7 00:00:17.960 --> 00:00:21.519 and what doesn't. But instead you walk into an absolute circus. 8 00:00:21.559 --> 00:00:24.280 I mean, people in tailored suits are just wandering through 9 00:00:24.280 --> 00:00:26.719 the room, casually picking up items off desks. 10 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:31.440 Yeah, reporters are shoulder to shoulder, actively moving furniture, moving evidence, 11 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:33.159 really just to get a better camera angle. 12 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:37.399 It's insane. And then a man confidently strolls right into 13 00:00:37.399 --> 00:00:40.439 the center of this chaos. He leans over the victim, 14 00:00:40.679 --> 00:00:43.240 announces to the room that he is a doctor, and 15 00:00:43.560 --> 00:00:45.759 get this, declares the cause of death to be a 16 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:47.000 stomach hemorrhage. 17 00:00:46.679 --> 00:00:49.479 Which is wild because he entirely ignores the fact that 18 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:51.960 there are glaring bullet holes in the victim's back. 19 00:00:52.280 --> 00:00:55.520 Right, he just ignores bullet holes idea. He just walks 20 00:00:55.560 --> 00:00:58.560 out the door, dissolving into the morning smog, never to 21 00:00:58.600 --> 00:01:01.039 be identified or seen again. It is a moment of 22 00:01:01.159 --> 00:01:05.280 pure I mean pure systemic failure. Welcome to thrilling threads. 23 00:01:05.319 --> 00:01:06.959 By the way, I'm so excited to get into this one. 24 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:10.280 Oh. Absolutely, it's the ultimate violation of the investigative process. 25 00:01:10.280 --> 00:01:13.480 And you know, from a psychological standpoint, that image of 26 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:16.719 the fake doctor walking away into the smog is exactly 27 00:01:16.760 --> 00:01:20.519 why this specific event still holds our attention over century later. 28 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:23.959 Human cognition just absolutely despises a vacuum. 29 00:01:24.040 --> 00:01:25.840 Yeah, we want that final puzzle piece, right. 30 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:26.439 Yeah. 31 00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:29.480 So today our entire mission is looking at ten of 32 00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:33.000 the most complex culturally embedded mysteries of the modern era. 33 00:01:33.400 --> 00:01:37.120 We've pulled from all sorts of sources, historical records, news archives, 34 00:01:37.159 --> 00:01:41.040 recent documentaries, sociological texts. We are looking at cases where 35 00:01:41.079 --> 00:01:43.920 the system broke down, where the narrative snapped, or where 36 00:01:43.959 --> 00:01:47.319 people simply vanished. So why do our brains latch onto 37 00:01:47.400 --> 00:01:48.640 these specific voids. 38 00:01:49.079 --> 00:01:51.719 Well, it really comes down to a well documented psychological 39 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:53.400 principle called the Zygarnic effect. 40 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:54.519 The Zygarnic effect. 41 00:01:54.719 --> 00:01:57.879 Yeah. So, in the nineteen twenties, a psychologist named Bluma 42 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:01.439 Zaygarnic noticed that weight years in a cafe could remember 43 00:02:01.480 --> 00:02:06.239 these really complex unpaid orders flawlessly but the moment the 44 00:02:06.280 --> 00:02:09.039 bill was settled, they forgot the details entirely. 45 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:11.680 Oh wow, so their brains just dumped the data once 46 00:02:11.719 --> 00:02:12.719 the task was done. 47 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:17.800 Exactly. Our brains are hardwired to prioritize uncompleted tasks or 48 00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:21.719 you know, interrupted narratives. When an event lacks a resolution, 49 00:02:22.360 --> 00:02:25.400 like when a killer isn't caught or an icon disappears 50 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:28.680 without a trace, it acts as a cognitive irritant. 51 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:30.520 A cognitive irritant, I like that. 52 00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:33.639 Yeah, it's like a permanent open tab in the cultural browser. 53 00:02:33.719 --> 00:02:36.639 We just cannot offload the data until the loop is closed. 54 00:02:36.879 --> 00:02:40.240 Okay, that makes perfect sense. It's not just morbid curiosity. Then, 55 00:02:40.439 --> 00:02:44.159 it's a biological imperative to resolve the pattern. It's like 56 00:02:44.199 --> 00:02:47.280 listening to a symphony where the orchestra builds, the tension mounts. 57 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:50.159 You know, you're leaning in for that final resolving chord, 58 00:02:50.520 --> 00:02:53.080 and the conductor just drops a baton and walks off stage. 59 00:02:53.159 --> 00:02:54.199 That's a great way to put it. 60 00:02:54.439 --> 00:02:56.800 You'd spend the rest of your life replaying that melody 61 00:02:56.800 --> 00:03:00.319 in your head, trying to generate the ending yourself. Today, 62 00:03:00.439 --> 00:03:03.919 we're really analyzing the mechanics of the unresolved, and there is. 63 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:06.719 No better place to start examining those mechanics than the 64 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:10.439 very foundation of the modern entertainment industry. The scene you 65 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:13.520 described a moment ago, the trampled crime scene, the Phantom Doctor. 66 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:16.360 That was the aftermath of the murder of William Desmond 67 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:18.599 Taylor on February first in nineteen twenty two. 68 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:21.560 Right, And you know, for those of you listening, you 69 00:03:21.639 --> 00:03:24.199 probably know who Taylor was. He was one of the wealthiest, 70 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:27.000 most powerful silent film directors of his era. 71 00:03:27.319 --> 00:03:28.000 Ah. 72 00:03:28.039 --> 00:03:30.240 But what I really want to dissect is the sheer 73 00:03:30.360 --> 00:03:33.199 structural breakdown of that morning. I mean, let me push 74 00:03:33.240 --> 00:03:34.719 back on the historical narrative for a second. 75 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:35.400 Here, go for it. 76 00:03:35.800 --> 00:03:38.080 I understand forensics in nineteen twenty two weren't what they 77 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:42.319 are today, obviously, But how does standard operating procedure fail 78 00:03:42.439 --> 00:03:45.479 so catastrophically that an unidentified man can just declare a 79 00:03:45.479 --> 00:03:48.520 cause of death and leave? Like did the concept of 80 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:51.759 a secure crime scene simply not exist back then? 81 00:03:52.039 --> 00:03:55.520 It existed in theory, sure, but in practice, Los Angeles 82 00:03:55.560 --> 00:03:57.919 in the nineteen twenties was effectively a company town run 83 00:03:57.960 --> 00:04:00.719 by the studios. Wow, okay, yeah, what you're seeing in 84 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:04.000 that bungalow isn't just bad police work. It's the collision 85 00:04:04.039 --> 00:04:08.439 of immense wealth, celebrity, panic, and a very pliant municipal authority. 86 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:12.120 The studio executives actually arrived at the scene before the 87 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:13.800 official homicide detectives did. 88 00:04:13.960 --> 00:04:15.919 Wait, really, the studio execs beat. 89 00:04:15.800 --> 00:04:18.720 The cops there they did, and the mechanics of the 90 00:04:18.759 --> 00:04:21.240 cover up, or at least the massive contamination of the 91 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:25.720 scene were driven entirely by corporate preservation. They were allegedly 92 00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:29.800 looking for compromising letters alcohol. Remember this is during prohibition 93 00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:31.519 and narcotics. 94 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:35.680 Because the ecosystem surrounding Taylor was incredibly volatile. Right, You 95 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:38.879 had his lover, a major actress with a highly publicized 96 00:04:38.920 --> 00:04:40.360 severe substance abuse. 97 00:04:40.120 --> 00:04:42.279 Issue, yes, Mabel Normand and then you. 98 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:46.800 Had another eventsly famous, younger actress whose infatuation with him 99 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:50.360 was an open secret. So the studio executives weren't acting 100 00:04:50.360 --> 00:04:53.199 as investigators at all. They were acting as aggressive public 101 00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:56.600 relations managers with total access to a federal crime. 102 00:04:56.360 --> 00:04:59.279 Scene exactly, and the context of why they were so 103 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:02.879 aggressive is cre rucil. Here, the studios were already in 104 00:05:02.920 --> 00:05:05.839 a state of absolute terror regarding their public image. This 105 00:05:05.959 --> 00:05:09.040 murder occurred directly in the shadow of the Roscoe Fatty. 106 00:05:08.839 --> 00:05:11.519 Arbuckle trial, oh right, which was a massive. 107 00:05:11.240 --> 00:05:15.079 Scandal, a huge scandal that had just decimated the moral 108 00:05:15.160 --> 00:05:18.319 standing of Hollywood in the eyes of Middle America. Investors 109 00:05:18.360 --> 00:05:21.399 were literally threatening to pull out. So when Taylor was 110 00:05:21.399 --> 00:05:25.199 found murdered, the studios didn't want justice, They just wanted containment. 111 00:05:25.839 --> 00:05:28.439 But the irony is that their attempt at containment created 112 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:32.160 a century long scandal. And here's the part that I 113 00:05:32.199 --> 00:05:35.800 find so fascinating about how we process history. Think about 114 00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:40.240 the physical geography of that bungalow today, It's totally changed, 115 00:05:40.439 --> 00:05:44.240 radically changed. This location fundamentally altered the trajectory of the 116 00:05:44.279 --> 00:05:47.879 movie business. It directly led to the draconian morality clauses 117 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:50.920 in studio contracts that govern the lives of actors for 118 00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:53.160 the next forty years. And if you go to that 119 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:56.480 exact spot right now, it's a generic strip mall parking 120 00:05:56.480 --> 00:05:58.759 lot you pull in to buy a coffee, where the 121 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:02.600 foundation of Hollywood's darkest era was laid. It just highlights 122 00:06:02.600 --> 00:06:05.199 how quickly Hollywood paves over its own dark history. 123 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:08.439 It really highlights the strange paradox in our culture. We 124 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:12.240 meticulously preserve the mythologies of these mysteries, but we eagerly 125 00:06:12.279 --> 00:06:16.439 pave over the physical realities. The geography is disposable, but 126 00:06:16.839 --> 00:06:18.600 the narrative is eternal. 127 00:06:18.360 --> 00:06:21.519 Which perfectly bridges us to another Los Angeles narrative that 128 00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:25.759 was entirely manufactured by the media, obscuring the physical reality 129 00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:27.639 of the victim. I'm talking about the nineteen forty seven 130 00:06:27.720 --> 00:06:28.879 murder of Elizabeth. 131 00:06:28.439 --> 00:06:32.240 Short Ah, the Black Dahlia case. It is arguably the 132 00:06:32.279 --> 00:06:35.600 most infamous unsolved murder in the history of Los Angeles County, 133 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:38.600 and you know, it represents a profound shift in how 134 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:40.480 the American public consumed true crime. 135 00:06:40.680 --> 00:06:43.480 Right, everyone knows the brutal baseline, a young twenty two 136 00:06:43.560 --> 00:06:47.040 year old aspiring actress found gruesomely murdered, cut in half, 137 00:06:47.240 --> 00:06:50.399 her face carved, and posed in a vacant lot. But 138 00:06:50.439 --> 00:06:52.839 I want to bypass the sensationalism for a minute and 139 00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:56.040 look at the actual mechanics of that investigation. The LPD 140 00:06:56.199 --> 00:06:58.600 archives show they inviewed over one hundred and fifty. 141 00:06:58.319 --> 00:07:00.240 Suspects, a staggering number. 142 00:07:00.360 --> 00:07:03.319 And dozens of people actually walked into police stations and 143 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:07.079 falsely confessed to the murder. How does a police department 144 00:07:07.120 --> 00:07:11.160 functionally operate when the public is intentionally flooding the system 145 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:12.000 with white noise. 146 00:07:12.279 --> 00:07:15.439 Well, the short answer is they don't operate functionally, they suffocate. 147 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:17.040 Yeah, I'd imagine. 148 00:07:16.600 --> 00:07:19.079 When you look at the mechanics of a massive dragnet 149 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:23.279 in nineteen forty seven, without digital databases or DNA profiling, 150 00:07:23.879 --> 00:07:29.399 every single confession required physical manpower to verify alibis, check 151 00:07:29.399 --> 00:07:32.079 handwriting against the taunting letters sent to the press, and 152 00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:32.879 track movement. 153 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:34.519 It must have been a logistical nightmare. 154 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:38.040 The LAPD was fundamentally paralyzed by the sheer volume of 155 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:41.279 false leads. But we really have to ask why so 156 00:07:41.399 --> 00:07:43.959 many people confess to a crime they didn't commit. 157 00:07:43.879 --> 00:07:46.959 Right, And I think it leads directly to the media's interference. 158 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:50.439 The press didn't just report the facts of Elizabeth Short's death, 159 00:07:50.759 --> 00:07:53.160 They actively engineered a pulp fiction narrative. 160 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:56.319 Decisily. They took a few isolated details her preference for 161 00:07:56.360 --> 00:07:59.040 wearing black clothing and the recent release of a popular 162 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:01.879 in nineteen forty six film noir called the Blue Dahlia, 163 00:08:01.959 --> 00:08:04.720 and they synthesize them into a brand, the Black Dahlia. 164 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:06.519 So cross, what do you think about it? 165 00:08:06.519 --> 00:08:09.000 It really is the editors of the major Los Angeles 166 00:08:09.079 --> 00:08:12.360 papers explicitly instructed their reporters to frame her not as 167 00:08:12.399 --> 00:08:16.399 a tragic, transient young woman, but as a mysterious, sultry 168 00:08:16.519 --> 00:08:20.800 fem fatale. They blurred the line between the cinematic fiction 169 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:24.160 and the city produced and the visceral reality of the crime. 170 00:08:24.360 --> 00:08:28.160 It's an incredibly cynical, almost predatory form of storytelling. I 171 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:30.639 always picture the staging of her body in that lot. 172 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:34.320 The killer deliberately placed her near the sidewalk, posed in 173 00:08:34.360 --> 00:08:37.799 a highly theatrical manner. It was designed to be discovered, yes, 174 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:41.399 actually designed to be photographed. The killer essentially acted as 175 00:08:41.399 --> 00:08:44.200 a macab movie director, setting up a shot with truth 176 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:48.080 being stranger and far more terrifying than fiction, and the 177 00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:51.399 Los Angeles press Corps just happily served as his distribution network. 178 00:08:51.759 --> 00:08:55.840 It is the ultimate toxic symbiotic relationship. The killer needed 179 00:08:55.879 --> 00:08:58.879 an audience to validate the act, and the newspapers needed 180 00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:02.759 a spectacular news narrative to sell additions, and in the process, 181 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:06.639 the actual human being Elizabeth Short was completely erased, replaced 182 00:09:06.639 --> 00:09:08.320 by a permanent cinematic ghost. 183 00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:12.080 That performative element is what makes it so unnerving, and 184 00:09:12.120 --> 00:09:14.919 it's a dynamic we see repeated when the mystery involved 185 00:09:14.919 --> 00:09:18.480 someone whose entire life was a performance. Let's look at 186 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:20.519 a case where the media didn't need to invent the 187 00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:24.559 cinematic narrative because the victim was already Hollywood Royalty. The 188 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:26.440 death of Natalie Wood in nineteen eighty one. 189 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:29.919 The circumstances surrounding Natalie Wood's death off the coast of 190 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:32.919 Santa Catalina Island remain one of the most heavily scrutinized 191 00:09:32.919 --> 00:09:34.399 events of the late twentieth century. 192 00:09:34.440 --> 00:09:37.000 She was only forty three, right, yes, just forty three. 193 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:39.879 She was on a production break from the film Brainstorm, 194 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:42.200 aboard a yacht with our husband Robert Wagner, her co 195 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:44.840 star Christopher walk In, and the boat's captain. 196 00:09:45.240 --> 00:09:47.320 No, I want to look at the legal and forensic 197 00:09:47.360 --> 00:09:51.120 paralysis of this case. The official coroner's ruling was eventually 198 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:56.240 listed as drowning and quote other undetermined factors. That specific 199 00:09:56.279 --> 00:10:00.840 phrasing other undetermined factors seems like a massive strung srual loophole. 200 00:10:01.639 --> 00:10:05.039 How does an investigation actually proceed when the medical examiner 201 00:10:05.080 --> 00:10:07.480 officially declares ambiguity. 202 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:11.039 Legally that phrasing creates a perpetual holding pattern. When a 203 00:10:11.080 --> 00:10:15.279 medical examiner states undetermined factors, they are acknowledging that the 204 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:18.720 physical evidence, such as the fresh bruising found on her body, 205 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:21.840 cannot definitively be categorized, meaning. 206 00:10:21.559 --> 00:10:23.200 They don't know if it's from a fall or a 207 00:10:23.240 --> 00:10:24.480 fight exactly. 208 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:27.240 It could be the result of an accidental fall from 209 00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:30.399 the yacht or the result of a physical altercation prior 210 00:10:30.440 --> 00:10:35.399 to entering the water. Without a definitive forensic categorization of homicide, 211 00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:39.720 the district attorney lacks the foundational block to file criminal charges. 212 00:10:40.200 --> 00:10:43.360 The burden of proof is inherently compromised by the coroner's 213 00:10:43.399 --> 00:10:44.279 own documentation. 214 00:10:44.759 --> 00:10:47.159 But this is where I struggle with relying purely on 215 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:50.960 the physical evidence, especially in a water recovery scenario where 216 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:54.320 evidence degrades by the minute. We have to weigh the 217 00:10:54.360 --> 00:10:58.320 physical ambiguity against stark behavioral anomalies. 218 00:10:58.559 --> 00:10:59.960 You're referring to her fear of water. 219 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:04.759 Yes, Wood sister Lana have been incredibly vocal for decades 220 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:10.320 about Natalie's severe, lifelong phobia of deep, dark water. From 221 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:13.720 a behavioral profiling standpoint, the idea that a woman with 222 00:11:13.720 --> 00:11:16.519 a paralyzing fear of the ocean would willingly climb out 223 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:18.639 of a secure yacht in the middle of a cold, 224 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:21.399 pitch black night, in a nightgown to tie down a dinghy, 225 00:11:22.120 --> 00:11:24.919 while it fundamentally contradicts her established. 226 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:28.159 Psychology, and that psychological contradiction is exactly the friction point 227 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:31.639 that prevents the public from accepting the official narrative. We 228 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:35.679 are evaluating a classic locked room scenario, but mapped onto 229 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:36.519 the open ocean. 230 00:11:36.759 --> 00:11:38.200 Oh, that's a brilliant way to phrase it. 231 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:41.120 You have a finite isolated environment the yacht. You have 232 00:11:41.159 --> 00:11:43.960 a fixed cast of characters. There is nowhere to run. 233 00:11:44.440 --> 00:11:47.240 Yet the physical expanse of the ocean washes away the 234 00:11:47.279 --> 00:11:51.279 connecting data points. The ambiguity of the coroner's instructions keeps 235 00:11:51.320 --> 00:11:53.080 the public eternally suspicious. 236 00:11:53.320 --> 00:11:55.360 It's not just a locked room. It's a locker room 237 00:11:55.399 --> 00:11:57.759 balanced on a moving fault line where the evidence is 238 00:11:57.799 --> 00:12:01.000 dissolving by the second on of the other people on 239 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:04.200 that boat, combined with the behavioral impossibility of her actions, 240 00:12:04.759 --> 00:12:07.039 creates a void that is impossible to ignore. 241 00:12:07.320 --> 00:12:09.600 But you know, while the ocean absorbed the specifics of 242 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:12.399 what happened on that deck, it also highlights a broader theme. 243 00:12:12.679 --> 00:12:16.960 The ocean, the wilderness the sky. These are geographical voids, 244 00:12:17.399 --> 00:12:19.960 and when public figures cross into them and don't return, 245 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:22.840 the mystery operates on an entirely different scale. 246 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:26.559 Absolutely, we move from the confined spaces of Hollywood yachts 247 00:12:26.840 --> 00:12:30.279 to the absolute vastness of the globe. Because sometimes people 248 00:12:30.360 --> 00:12:34.000 vanish entirely, leaving no trace behind but their immense legacy. 249 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:37.039 And there is no greater example of vanishing into a 250 00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:41.360 geographical void than Amelia Erhart in July of nineteen thirty seven. 251 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:44.759 To fully grasp the magnitude of Amelia Erhardt's disappearance with 252 00:12:44.799 --> 00:12:47.759 her navigator Fred Noonan, we really have to strip away 253 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:51.480 the historical distance and look at her contemporary cultural footpunt 254 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:54.279 in nineteen thirty seven. She wasn't just a famous aviator. 255 00:12:54.279 --> 00:12:58.399 She was a pioneering icon of technology, feminism, and American exceptionalism. 256 00:12:58.480 --> 00:12:59.480 She was a megastar, a. 257 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:02.639 Global mega star. Her attempt to circumnavigate the globe was 258 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:04.879 the equivalent of a modern crude mission to Mars. 259 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:07.840 Right, the stakes were global, But let's dive into the 260 00:13:07.879 --> 00:13:11.120 mechanics of her disappearance near Holland Island. Because the US 261 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:13.720 government didn't just throw up their hands, they launched the 262 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:17.399 largest American search history at the time. We're talking battleships, 263 00:13:17.559 --> 00:13:22.799 aircraft carriers sweeping massive grids of the Pacific, and yet mechanically, 264 00:13:23.440 --> 00:13:26.879 how do you search for a highly modified Lockheed Electra 265 00:13:27.240 --> 00:13:30.519 in an ocean that size using nineteen thirties technology. 266 00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:35.000 It was an exercise in staggering logistical difficulty. The radio 267 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:39.159 communications between Erhart and the Coastguard cutter Atasca were plagued 268 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:42.279 by frequency mismatches and poor signal strength, so. 269 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:45.200 They were practically flying blind trying to find her exactly. 270 00:13:45.720 --> 00:13:48.519 Once she went silent, the searchkin was established based on 271 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:51.840 her last known line of position, but the ocean currents, 272 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:55.279 cloud cover, and the limitations of visual spotting from searchplanes 273 00:13:55.519 --> 00:13:58.799 made it statistically improbable to find its submerged aircraft. They 274 00:13:58.840 --> 00:14:02.759 were looking for a needle and a fluid constantly shifting haystack. 275 00:14:02.440 --> 00:14:05.879 And because they found nothing, not an oil slick, not 276 00:14:05.960 --> 00:14:09.360 a piece of landing gear. The human brain, as we 277 00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:13.320 discussed with the Zegarnic effect, absolutely refuses to accept a 278 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:16.840 sudden silent stop. We can't accept that a titan of 279 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:20.120 progress just ran out of gas and sank. So the 280 00:14:20.120 --> 00:14:23.720 cultural narrative splintered into these wild speculative avenues. 281 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:27.080 The theories range from the plausible to the fantastical. The 282 00:14:27.159 --> 00:14:30.200 most enduring alternative theory presented in the sources is the 283 00:14:30.279 --> 00:14:34.000 Japanese capture hypothesis. Oh right, the idea that she veered 284 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:37.200 off course, crash landed in the Marshall Islands, and was 285 00:14:37.240 --> 00:14:41.080 taken prisoner by the Japanese military as a suspected spy. 286 00:14:41.399 --> 00:14:44.519 This theory gained massive traction because it fed directly into 287 00:14:44.519 --> 00:14:48.000 the pre World War II geopolitical anxieties of the era. 288 00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:51.279 It's fascinating how we weaponize our anxieties to fill the 289 00:14:51.320 --> 00:14:54.240 gaps in the story. Decades later, pop culture was still 290 00:14:54.240 --> 00:14:56.080 trying to resolve that. You have that famous episode of 291 00:14:56.080 --> 00:14:59.240 Star Trek Voyager where they find her in cryostasis, having 292 00:14:59.320 --> 00:15:01.600 been abducted by a aliens and taken to the delta quadrant. 293 00:15:01.720 --> 00:15:03.960 Right, I remember that it sounds absurd, but it speaks 294 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:07.200 to a deep psychological truth. We'd rather believe she was 295 00:15:07.240 --> 00:15:10.399 taken by extraterrestrials than except she died a lonely, mundane 296 00:15:10.440 --> 00:15:13.799 death in the water. Her disappearance didn't just lose a pilot, 297 00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:17.559 It froze an American icon in time forever. By never 298 00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:21.159 being found, she bypassed the indignity of aging or failure. 299 00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:25.600 That is a critical observation. The mystery guaranteed her immortality, 300 00:15:26.360 --> 00:15:29.840 and we see a strikingly similar phenomenon just seven years later, 301 00:15:29.879 --> 00:15:33.679 involving an artist whose cultural footprint was equally massive, the 302 00:15:33.720 --> 00:15:35.960 disappearance of Glenn Miller in nineteen forty four. 303 00:15:36.440 --> 00:15:38.799 People today might hear big band music and think of 304 00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:43.320 like quaint historical background noise, but we have to contextualize 305 00:15:43.320 --> 00:15:46.679 Glenn Miller for a modern audience. In the early nineteen forties, 306 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:50.000 his music was the absolute dominant frequency of global culture. 307 00:15:50.120 --> 00:15:50.720 He was mass. 308 00:15:50.840 --> 00:15:53.279 He was pulling numbers that rivaled what the Beatles or 309 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:56.399 Bob Dylan would do decades later. He was the soundtrack 310 00:15:56.440 --> 00:15:57.960 of the Allied war effort. 311 00:15:57.799 --> 00:16:03.639 And his disappearance involves a fascinating intersection of fame, military bureaucracy, 312 00:16:03.720 --> 00:16:07.840 and sheer mechanical failure. He boarded a UC sixty four 313 00:16:07.879 --> 00:16:11.519 to a Norseman aircraft in England, bound for a newly 314 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:15.759 liberated France to arrange performances for the troops. But the 315 00:16:15.799 --> 00:16:17.799 specifics of that flight are crucial. 316 00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:20.679 Let's talk about those specifics. Because this wasn't a heavily 317 00:16:20.679 --> 00:16:25.279 guarded military transport, he actually bypassed his official casual flight orders. 318 00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:28.519 He was anxious about setting up the logistics for his orchestra, 319 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:31.039 so he hitched a ride on a lightweight, single engine 320 00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:34.320 utility plane in the dead of winter. Why was that 321 00:16:34.360 --> 00:16:37.039 specific aircraft so dangerous in those conditions? 322 00:16:37.279 --> 00:16:39.960 The Norseman was a reliable bush plane, but it had 323 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:43.879 a known vulnerability in its carburetor design in cold, damp weather, 324 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:47.279 precisely the conditions over the English Channel in December. The 325 00:16:47.320 --> 00:16:48.720 carburetor was highly. 326 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:51.000 Susceptible to icing, so it just freeze up in midair. 327 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:53.960 Yes, the intake would freeze over, joking off the fuel 328 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:57.679 air mixture to the engine, resulting in catastrophic failure. The 329 00:16:57.720 --> 00:17:00.519 prevailing forensic theory is that the engine simply stole and 330 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:02.639 the plane plunged into the freezing channel. 331 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:06.839 But the part that absolutely blows my mind is the 332 00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:10.400 timeline of the military response. I mean, listener, let's do 333 00:17:10.440 --> 00:17:14.119 a thought experiment here. Think about a modern pop megastar. 334 00:17:14.759 --> 00:17:18.039 If they bored a private jet today and drop off radar, 335 00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:22.240 the global media alert happens within six minutes. The absolute 336 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:24.880 global meltdown it would cause on the internet would be 337 00:17:24.960 --> 00:17:29.920 unprecedented instantly. But when Glenn Miller disappeared, the military didn't 338 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:33.079 even realize he was gone for three full days. I 339 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:35.319 know there was a war on, but how does the 340 00:17:35.400 --> 00:17:38.839 chain of command lose their single greatest morale asset and 341 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:40.319 not notice for three days. 342 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:42.759 It speaks of the absolute chaos of the moment. He 343 00:17:42.839 --> 00:17:46.079 vanished on December fifteenth. The very next morning, the German 344 00:17:46.200 --> 00:17:49.039 Army launched the Arden counter offensive, what we now know 345 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:50.480 as the Battle of the Bulge. 346 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:50.799 Wow. 347 00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:53.519 It was one of the largest, most chaotic and bloodiest 348 00:17:53.559 --> 00:17:57.240 battles in American military history. The entire command structure was 349 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:01.279 thrown into a state of sheer existential panic. Bureaucratic travelogs 350 00:18:01.319 --> 00:18:04.279 for a band leader were immediately deprioritized in the face 351 00:18:04.319 --> 00:18:07.119 of massive troop casualties. By the time they realized he 352 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:09.640 hadn't arrived in France, a trail was entirely cold. 353 00:18:09.839 --> 00:18:12.160 It's a brutal reminder that fame is not a shield 354 00:18:12.200 --> 00:18:15.920 against the mechanics of war or nature. Erhart and Miller 355 00:18:15.960 --> 00:18:20.599 were both universally adored operating with government or military resources, 356 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:23.839 and the elements still swallowed them. But that creates an 357 00:18:23.880 --> 00:18:27.680 interesting contrast with our next case, because while Erhart and 358 00:18:27.720 --> 00:18:30.599 Miller were engaged in their celebrated professions, when they vanished, 359 00:18:30.920 --> 00:18:34.400 Shawn Flynn actively stripped away his privilege and intentionally walked 360 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:35.039 into the void. 361 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:39.319 Yes, Sean Flynn's disappearance on April sixth, nineteen seventy is 362 00:18:39.359 --> 00:18:42.839 a radically different psychological profile. He was the son of 363 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:46.680 Eryl Flynn, the ultimate Hollywood swashbuckler. Shawn had the wealth, 364 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:49.839 the lineage, and the striking looks to live a highly insulated, 365 00:18:49.880 --> 00:18:53.359 pampered life in Los Angeles. Instead, he traded the sound 366 00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:56.559 stages for the jungles of Southeast Asia. He became a 367 00:18:56.599 --> 00:18:57.920 high risk photojournalist. 368 00:18:58.279 --> 00:19:01.240 He and CBS correspondent Danis Stay were covering the conflict 369 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:04.079 in Cambodi and Vietnam, and they didn't just get caught 370 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:07.319 in the crossfire. The historical records show they made a conscious, 371 00:19:07.720 --> 00:19:12.440 highly calculated decision. They were riding motorcycles, saw a makeshift 372 00:19:12.519 --> 00:19:16.359 Viacom checkpoint down the road and deliberately approached it, hoping 373 00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:17.680 to get an exclusive interview. 374 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:21.000 That decision is the crux of the mystery. It represents 375 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:24.680 the ultimate interception of journalistic cubris and the harsh reality 376 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:27.720 of a symmetrical warfare. In a combat zone like that, 377 00:19:27.799 --> 00:19:30.279 the traditional rules of engagement or the protection of the 378 00:19:30.279 --> 00:19:34.279 press simply do not apply. They approached a heavily armed, 379 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:36.480 highly suspicious gorilla force, and. 380 00:19:36.440 --> 00:19:39.160 They were completely absorbed by the jungle, never seen again. 381 00:19:39.519 --> 00:19:42.240 What strikes me is the aftermath. His mother spent a 382 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:47.200 vast fortune over decades funding private search missions. She heared, mercenaries, trackers, 383 00:19:47.319 --> 00:19:51.279 exhausted every geopolitical contact she had, and it yielded nothing. 384 00:19:51.559 --> 00:19:55.279 Because a geographical void like the Cambodian jungle doesn't respect 385 00:19:55.279 --> 00:19:58.599 your last name or your bank account. The sheer density 386 00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:01.920 of the environment, combined and with the extreme political instability 387 00:20:01.960 --> 00:20:04.839 of the Khmer Rouge regime that soon took power, made 388 00:20:04.920 --> 00:20:09.480 forensics impossible. Flynn disappeared not as a pampered celebrity, but 389 00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:12.279 as a daring journalist seeking truth in a war zone. 390 00:20:13.160 --> 00:20:16.480 Despite the extensive searches, the jungle kept its secrets. 391 00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:20.200 The jungle is a geographical void. It's a physical space 392 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:23.920 that hides people. But from those who vanished into the wild, 393 00:20:24.119 --> 00:20:26.759 we shift to those who vanished in plain sight, hidden 394 00:20:26.799 --> 00:20:30.079 by modern institutions, and that brings us to the public 395 00:20:30.119 --> 00:20:32.000 absence of Shelley Misscabage. 396 00:20:32.039 --> 00:20:34.319 To understand the gravity of her ABSs, we have to 397 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:38.440 establish her baseline visibility. Shelley Misscavage is the wife of 398 00:20:38.519 --> 00:20:42.440 David Misscavage, the leader of the Church of Scientology. For years, 399 00:20:42.440 --> 00:20:44.640 she was not just visible. She was a central, high 400 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:48.039 ranking executive within the organization. She was a church's contact 401 00:20:48.039 --> 00:20:50.880