Missing 411: The Devils in the Details by David Paulides

Missing 411: The Devils in the Details Reviews

• 
  Lea

  
  
  I will probably regret burning through this series so quickly -- hopefully
  David Paulides is hard at work on the next Missing 411 book.
  
  This book contains a couple of more well-known disappearances, such as that of Keith Reinhard, who went missing in Colorado in 1988. Mr. Reinhard moved to Silver Plume, Colorado, after taking a sabbatical from his job as a sportswriter for the Chicago Daily Herald. He was primarily interested in working on a novel, as well as running a small antiques shop, but after renting a storefront that had been formerly leased by a man named Tom Young (WHO DISAPPEARED MONTHS EARLIER!?!) Reinhard became interested in investigating Young's disappearance. Same town, same building, same landlord . . . same fate? There are various theories as to what happened to Keith Reinhard -- as well as Tom Young -- which the author explores in this book.
  
  Another odd case is the disappearance of Megumi Yamamoto -- she became separated from her boyfriend during a hike in the Pecos Wilderness in New Mexico. Ms. Yamamoto was able to use her cell phone to dial 911 for help -- however, her calls were routed SEVEN times to the nonemergency dispatcher, who was incapable of triangulating her cell signal in order to find her. After her calls were finally routed to the correct dispatcher and they were able to locate her, emergency services sent a helicopter to pick her up -- which was then hindered by various events, such as rescue team members refusing assignments and the necessary permission for landing in the Santa Fe National Forest not receiving approval from forest managers. By the time rescuers reached her, Yamamoto was in poor condition, and snow has begun to fall. During liftoff, the helicopter crashed, killing Yamamoto and one of the two rescue personnel on board. From start to finish, this poor woman seemed doomed.
  
  There are more cases of people being found alive recounting seeing "bad people" hiding in bushes -- so strange and chilling -- as well as stories about searchers hearing people calling for help, but being unable to locate them. (Some people are then found deceased in a different area -- so this isn't an issue of someone being lost down a hole and remaining hidden to searchers.)
  
  One of the more perplexing stories was that of Joe Carter, who disappeared on Mount St. Helens, Washington, in 1950. A member of the National Ski Patrol, Carter would have been an experienced skier and outdoorsman. While on a ski trip with a group of friends, Carter went ahead of the party in order to take photos of the other skiers. When no one saw him on their way down the mountain, they assumed he had gone ahead to the bottom. After the group realized he wasn't there, a search party was formed. Here is the description (from an article in the Longview Washington Times) on what they found:
  
  " . . . Carter evidently took off down the mountain in a wild death-defying dash, 'taking chances that no skier of his caliber would take, unless something was terribly wrong or he was being pursued,' says Lee, who was the first searcher to reach Carter's ski tracks. He jumped over two-three large crevasses and evidently was going like the devil. When Carter's tracks reached the precipitous sides of Ape Canyon, the searchers were amazed to see that Carter had been in such a hurry that he went right down the steep canyon walls. But they did not find him at the bottom of the canyon as they expected. 'We combed the canyon, one end to the other for five days.' "
  
  Joe Carter was never found.
  
  
  The author includes several interesting charts at the end of the book, analyzing many of the common elements throughout this series.
  
  My only VERY MINOR complaint is that I had thought this book would include more detailed information on the place names where many of these people went missing.
  Mysterious America: The Ultimate Guide to the Nation's Weirdest Wonders, Strangest Spots, and Creepiest Creatures by
  Loren Coleman looks at this subject in depth -- I expected something similar from this author. (If you're interested in exploring those ideas, please do read Coleman's book!)
  
  Highly recommend, and hopefully there will be more on this subject from this author soon.
  
  
• 
  Katherine Addison

  [library]
  
  So. Of course I'm fascinated by David Paulides' Missing 411 series (which I found through the documentary that came out this year). Fascinated and yet brutally skeptical.
  
  Missing persons is a horrifying and baffling phenomenon, and while I appreciate the sheer quantity of data Paulides has collected in this and the 5 other Missing 411 books, I do not appreciate his sensationalist, faux-scientific, and disingenuously "neutral" approach to the material. Paulides is a former Bigfoot researcher, and while I do believe that he is sincerely appalled by the number of people who go missing in our national parks, I also believe that he recognized the inconclusive and bizarre anecdotal evidence as perfect to supply as fodder to every conspiracy theorist under the sun. (He admits in the introduction to this book that it works, too.)
  
  I want to find a copy of Robert Koester's
  Lost Person Behavior, which Paulides quotes in order to triumphantly prove that the cases he documents are all outside the bell-curve of "normal" disappearances (whatever a "normal" disappearance might be--Paulides doesn't say, and I frankly don't think the beast exists), because from the
  interview with Koester I found online, it looks to me suspiciously like most of the things Paulides cites as "unusual" (by which he means paranormal, even as he strenuously insists that he is putting no interpretation on the facts whatsoever) are, while mysterious, actually common and even explicable. Some of them aren't even mysterious. More people go missing from wilderness areas. More people go missing when they're alone or when (if they're with a group) they've lagged behind or run ahead. In many cases where a person is not found, bad weather has moved in immediately after they disappear. (I also want to find someone who actually works with bloodhounds, because Paulides sets up as "normal" the idea that bloodhounds can track anyone, anywhere, anytime, and never lose a scent. Thus it is "unusual" when the bloodhound can't find a scent, or loses it after a short distance. But I would like to know what actual normal looks like in tracking with bloodhounds, because I know bloodhounds, while amazing, are not infallible4.) Common sense and logic can provide, with less than ten seconds' thought, why these factors might correlate across a large number of cases. But Paulides simply, willfully refuses, in every case, to accept a logical explanation. He frequently asserts that his cases defy logical explanation. And, of course, because he's made it programmatic that he draws no conclusions and offers no theories, he's permanently off the hook himself. Which is shoddy and, as I said, disingenuous: heads I win, tails you lose.
• 
  Shannon

  Excellent book. I not only recommend reading ALL his books, but also listen to his podcasts and follow his webpage and social media accounts. These are books that terrifying, mysterious and haunting. They stay with you. These aren't scary stories. These are true accounts of murder and abductions that have been going on for a very, very long time by malicious forces. Read these books.
• 
  Camille

  An interesting read - but it certainly doesn't provide any evidence of some strange phenomenon in our National Parks. Rather it is an author trying to twist the facts to support his preconceived ideas. I posted my review on my blog, so I won't recreate it here.
  
  
  https://wineandhistory.wordpress.com/...
• 
  Shelly

  This is another book of unusual missing persons cases by David Paulides. The information is intriguing, but I do believe some of the cases can be explained by mundane abduction or murder. While I have enjoyed and am fascinated by all of the "Missing 411" books, I will say that typographical errors cause some of the entries to be difficult to understand and some time lines difficult to follow. I would be interested in reading a follow-up book that details some of the theories as to what/who is causing these disappearances in wilderness areas.
• 
  Quinn

  Scarier than the average horror novel, IMO.
• 
  Art

  This is the fourth book in the Missing 411 series. Paulides pulls together missing person cases from all around the globe. Most of these individuals disappear in rural areas, often near national parks. Some disappear and nothing is ever found. A few are located. However, most are unable to say what happened to them. Some are just too young to be able to articulate what happened, others have vague recollections. Many are found deceased, often missing clothing and footwear. An odd find considering the rough terrain where the bodies are often found. After reading these books, I'd recommend those heading into the great outdoors carry a firearm. Like other books in the series, the author allows the cases to speak for themselves. He doesn't speculate on who or what may be involved in these disappears.
• 
  Susan

  If you like this genre, it's a 5-star read. I found some of it scary. Earlier versions of Missing 411 (there are 4) have less detail and are less subtle about suggesting the paranormal, but this version has longer, more detailed stories and is not pointing as obviously to "alien abduction" and other absurd notions as explanations. Still, some of the stories are pretty spooky when you consider the vast unlikelihood that the victims could be in the place or condition they're actually found in, whether alive or dead. Like the 2-year-old who presumably removed his own clothes and was found at an elevation twice as high as the one he was lost at. There is no explanation for many of these disappearances.
• 
  Deyth Banger

  "June 22, 2017 – Finished Reading
  June 22, 2017 –
  70.0% "The stories are going to shock you..."
  June 22, 2017 –
  50.0% "The movie speaks for itself"
  June 22, 2017 –
  50.0% "A lot of cases of disappearances have been reported..."
  June 22, 2017 –
  50.0% "The question is "How did it happen?"
  
  ...
  
  They gone and they were never found 1 year... then 2...3....4...5....6.... 7... and how did it happen that?"
  June 22, 2017 –
  50.0% "It's based on true events, stories and that's what's awesome for this whole novel."
  June 22, 2017 –
  50.0% "The story is mind bending"
  June 22, 2017 – Started Reading"
  
  
  - Oh, beloved god all of them are missing... and people are suffering... and are fulfilled with grief.
• 
  Kimberly Briere

  Awesome Book, just like the others in the Series, Missing 411 (Eastern) (Western) United States! Always hike/climb and camp with others. Do not go in the Woods Alone!!
  
• 
  Cat Jenkins

  This is a tough one to rate. I didn't like it. It scared me. But that means it was powerful. So... give the Devil his due...
  
  If this were fiction, I would say "How repetitive! Find another way to say things!" But this isn't fiction. It's deeply researched and documented reality. I couldn't finish it and ended up bouncing around checking locations and years and, in one horrible instance, people who were friends of a friend. I was nervous and jittery and something about this topic is talking to me on a level I don't want to access any more deeply.
  
  I began reading this, my first 411 encounter...and likely my last..., because I stumbled across tales from Skinwalker Ranch. It boggled my mind that such a place existed and I wondered why researchers hadn't descended on the place in droves to figure out what was going on there. Well...it turns out the owners sold the ranch and fled. The new owners? The U.S. government. That's when I began to wonder about odd occurrences on government-owned land. Is there another layer to the national parks we assume are simply kept as havens for the wild and playgrounds for the nature-loving? A friend pointed me toward this volume of the 411 series.
  
  So... wow... I'm going to find something fanciful to take my mind somewhere else now.
• 
  Taddow

  David Paulides continues to bring us more cases of strange disappearances from the USA and around the world using the same presentation format that he used in his previous books. In addition to the individual entries, he includes a section at the end where he presents complied tables from all his books to date documenting details, such as distances the missing covered before they were found, whether a missing person was an "intellectual" and other strange coincidences of note.
  
  If you enjoy Paulides' work then you'll find this book to be more of the great work you'd expect. To those that have not read any books in the series I encourage you to give it a go. The format may get repetitive but I think it's a proper way to relay the information that Paulides is trying to share to the masses about these strange occurrences in the wilderness.
• 
  Jeremy Maddux

  READ THIS NOW!!! It offers crucial pieces to the puzzle of random disappearances. People disappear every year around the world and it is accepted as just mysterious disappearances. Something unnatural is going on. Just the facts here.
• 
  Bookfan53

  This is the third book I have read in Mr Paulides series, named Missing 411. Yet again there are a number of disturbing disappearances that carry many of the hallmarks of the previous books I have read. Although I do feel that some of the cases may be down to crime, or perhaps just some people getting lost in the wilderness. There is another strange section of people whom, quite frankly, it's very difficult to get an explanation of how, where and when they vanished. The cases I find most upsetting are the children and I can never read those cases without taking a break. They are heartbreaking, but at the same time inexplicable. Many of these people know the area they hike/ visit very well, some have compasses or maps. I am at a loss to discover how you can possibly go missing using a map and compass. It still seems to happen though. I am going to read another book in the series. I just wish these books were made more available in the UK. Although they are cheaper to buy on Mr Paulides own website, it is extremely expensive to get them shipped to the UK. I wish there was a cheaper method to obtain the books in the UK. I have had to save up to buy mine.
• 
  Sonic

  These books are incredibly difficult to rate. I still maintain that this guy needs an editor or two, ...
  
  It is difficult to say "I Liked" a book about people going missing. But it is good that someone is looking into this phenomenon, ....
• 
  Donna Knight

  This is the fourth in the series and it didn’t disappoint. Like the others, it was a Christmas gift from my son. David Paulides went into even greater detail than he did in his previous books. And these disappearances can’t be explained. I was surprised to see the story of someone from my area who disappeared and survived. But for many there’s simply no rhyme or reason. 18 month old children can’t walk15 miles in one day. I highly recommend this book.
• 
  Michael Delaware

  David Paulides is to be commended for the tedious research he has done with his Missing 411 books. In this new edition, he provides even more cases from North America and all over the world. This book will make you rethink your paradigm about people who disappear in the wilds. This book will make you grow eyes in the back of your head when you enter the woods, and be a thousand times more attentive about keeping track of the people in your group.
  
  The author has opened a door to an issue that deserves more national attention, and hopefully someone in Congress will push for full cooperation and disclosure from the National Parks and law enforcement agencies to provide records of withheld cases so that this mystery can be solved.
• 
  galacticctzn

  fascinating,,highly recomended. :)
  
  
  http://wheredidtheroadgo.com/show-arc...