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People Witnessed Spontaneously Vanishing

Min Bannister

Possessed dog
Joined
Sep 5, 2003
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5,963
There have been a few stories of people being seen in a field, falling over and vanishing before they hit the ground haven't there? Scarey.:eek:

They're meant to have been taken by the fairies I think.
 
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Min - there are 2 that I remember. One a farmer in a field, one a runner on a road. Both are supposed to "haunt" the areas in which they disappeared.
 
With the power of Google, I found both stories at the first shot! Sorry its come out a bit rubbish

theshadowlands.net/vanish.htm
Link is obsolete. The version of this webpage quoted here can be retrieved at the Wayback Machine:

https://web.archive.org/web/20050307171340/http://theshadowlands.net/vanish.htm


Next is an account of a man who disappeared in full view of 2 witnesses in 19th century England. It was September 3, 1873. A man named James Worson had accepted a challenge to race in record time from the town of Leamington to the town of Coventry, a 20-mile trek. He had been basting of his foot skills and then asked to prove them, so with sporting good spirits he set about to do just that. Two friends, Hammerson Burns and Barham Wise, followed behind in a horse-drawn gig. Burns brought alonghis camera. As the three traversed down the country road all were in high spirits. The day couldn't have been prettier. Worson was never out of their sight and would often turn around while running to exchange some friendly words with the two riders. Running in the middle of the road, Worson suddenly appeared to stumble and pitch forward, having time enough for only one short, piercing scream. Wise later said, "It was the most ghastly sound ether of us had ever heard." But as Worson pitched forward with that terrible cry, instead of falling to the ground as he appeared to about to have done, he completely and totally vanished in mid-fall before ever striking the ground. The road itself told the story and Wise took the pictures to prove it. There, in the soft dirt, were Worson's footprints. They led down the middle of the road, looked as if the runner stumbled, and there they disappeared. When the two men returned to Leamington with their incredible story, search parties were formed to scour the entire area from Leamington to Coventry, but not one shred of evidence was ever found of James Worson, nor would there ever be in the years to follow. The bloodhounds used in the search were strangely reluctant to approach the spot where Worson disappeared. He was never seen or heard from again. At least, not in his old earthly body, for if reports are to be believed, for many years after James Worson's tragic and unbelievable disappearance, a ghostly runner with an eerie green glow would be seen making the trek from Leamington to Coventry on black lonely nights on the empty road. What happened to James Worson remains a mystery to this day. What made him scream so terrbly, did he see something the others did not?


Incredible as that story may be, it is also not unique, though neither is it common. A very similar event occured in America about 7 years later. It was September 23, 1880. David Lang, a successful farmer, was walking across a field in front of his home in Gallin, Tennesse. His two children were out front playing in the yard, and his wife was also outside. She was approaching a horse-drawn buggy carrying Judge August Peck and his brother-in-law. David Lang smiled and waved to the visitors as he started walking towards them. But he never reached his destination. After taking several steps, in full view of 5 witnesses, he literally disappeared mid-stride. His wife let out a terrible scream and ran to where he had last been seen, shortly followed by the Judge and his brother-in-law. There was absolutely no trace of David Lang. He simply vanished, never to be seen again. Massive search parties were formed and lanterns could be seen swinging all through the night. The next morning, a county surveyor arrived and searched the area Lang had last been seen, hoping to find a cave or pothole he had slipped into. But no such thing was found, and he declared the land to be firmly supported by a thick strata of limestone. But the search continued for months. Mrs. Lang vehemently resisted any suggestion of a funeral or even a memorial service, she asked only that the townspeople continue to pray for her husbands return. On an April evening in 1881, the Langs daughter, Sarah, ran sobbing into the house saying there was a "ring" aroung the spot her father had disappeared. When Mrs. Lang went to investigate, Sarah said she could clearly hear her father begging for help in a tortured voice, but it soon faded away into silence. Mrs. Lang did not hear the voice, but she did find a perfect circle of dried grass some 20 feet in diameter at the same spot her husband had last been seen. This was enough for her, and packing up their belongings, Mrs. Lang and her 2 children moved away from the farmhouse for good. So what DID happen to David Lang? And to the people in the above stories as well. Why were their bodies never found, and just HOW DOES a person vanish into thin air?

I also have some recollection of a man disappearing in a similar fashion and then turning up naked (and dead) on a local barrow in a piece of ground where the turf had been stripped out in the shape of a cross. I think it might have been in the Western Isles somewhere.
 
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vanishing people

I'd never heard about the Worsen fellow, but I've read a few things about poor Mr. Lang.

I wonder do these "dimensional holes" just work one way? Has anyone heard of anything/anyone coming through to "our side?"
 
lookslikerain said:
Min Bannister said:
With the power of Google, I found both stories at the first shot! Sorry its come out a bit rubbish

http://theshadowlands.net/vanish.htm

Dear Min,
suicide, murder, next please:)

Ah has someone actually reseached these cases then? Who? More info please!:D

The David Lang case is discussed here:

Man Vanishes While Crossing a Field: Oft-Recycled Tale
https://forums.forteana.org/index.p...ile-crossing-a-field-oft-recycled-tale.65926/

The James Worson story is nothing more than a retelling of Ambrose Bierce's short story "The Unfinished Race"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Unfinished_Race
 
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more proof - as if any was needed - I shouldn´t be out alone !
Oddly, on reading the three incidents of people disappearing, the first two - the aircraft passenger and the boastful runner - both gave me instant mental pictures of the final moments but the third nothing.Unusual for me, I´m not that imaginative :)
 
Both stories are fiction. They come from two horror short stories written by Ambrose Bierce.

"The Difficulty of Crossing a Field"
and
"An Unfinished Race"

Ironically, Bierce himself disappeared without a trace (probably murdered by bandits) in Mexico in 1914.

Dib
 
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Bierce was a very prolific writer, so it's not too suprising that he had two similar plots. :) I highly recommend his work, very Fortean and creepy.

Dib
 
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