Missing: The Vanished Americans Quiz

Answer: Virginia Dare

The famous Lost Colony was Sir Walter Raleigh's second attempt to plant a community on what is now the coast of North Carolina. Left on Roanoke Island in 1587, the 115 colonists were on their own until assistance arrived in 1590. There was no sign of the colonists and there has been no strong evidence unearthed in the ensuing four centuries to explain their disappearance. Virginia Dare was the daughter of Eleanor Dare and granddaughter of John White, the governor of the colony.

Answer: Twelve Years A Slave

In addition to his best selling book, Northrup was a traveling lecturer speaking in favor of emancipation. While appearing in Canada in 1857 he encountered a hostile crowd in Streetsville, Ontario which prevented him from speaking. From that point forward no evidence exists of his whereabouts.

There are numerous theories but none supported by fact and Solomon Northrup remains a missing person.

Answer: John Lansing, Jr.

101 years before the disappearance of Judge Joseph Crater, Judge Lansing left his New York City hotel to mail a letter and simply disappeared. The only hint ever offered was in the 1882 memoir of politician Thurlow Weed. Weed stated that several prominent political figures had Lansing murdered because he opposed their favorite projects. Weed, however, didn't name these people nor did he state who his sources were. No credible clues have ever surfaced leading to the reason for John Lansing's departure.

Answer: The Mary Celeste

The Mary Celeste sailed from New York for Genoa in November carrying a crew of seven plus Captain Benjamin Briggs, his wife and daughter carrying a cargo of industrial alcohol. When spotted 600 miles west of Portugal, the ship was apparently quite normal but missing all passengers and its lifeboat.

Theories explaining Mary Celeste's puzzle have ranged from piracy to mutiny to fear of the cargo exploding. No persuasive evidence supports any of these theories.

Answer: The oldest active missing person case in the United States

There were numerous sightings of Corbett in her distinctive yellow raincoat, but none that led to evidence of her location. Authorities leaned toward the theory that she had thrown herself into the nearby Connecticut River. There is reason to think the coed was suffering from mental illness when she disappeared. Shortly before she was last seen a close friend of Corbett's died in her dormitory.

It was also found that she had been quarreling with her boyfriend. Alice Corbett remains among the missing.

Answer: Joseph Force Crater

Crater was closely associated with the Tammany political machine and it is thought that he had been involved in various shady real estate transactions. Crater was last seen leaving a restaurant in Manhattan after dinner with his showgirl mistress, Sally Lou Ritzi, and a lawyer friend. His companions couldn't give a consistent story about the judge's departure, first saying he had left in a cab, then saying that they took the cab while Crater walked from the restaurant.

Crater's disappearance garnered statements from numerous shady people, some with political connections and plenty of speculation but no strong evidence leading to a conclusion. A grand jury inquiry found no evidence to support a theory of what happened to him or whether he was dead or alive. Judge Crater was declared legally dead in 1939.

Answer: The carburetor of Miller's plane iced up causing it to crash.

Miller was being flown across the channel on his way to Paris in a Canadian built single engine UC-64 Norseman along with his pilot and another flight officer on his way to Paris. The carburetors of the Norseman engines were known to ice up easily as temperatures approached freezing and modifications were under way to correct the problem. Miller's plane, however, was still waiting for the fuel heater to be installed.

In 2019 The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery announced that it would investigate Glenn Miller's disappearance.

Answer: Michael Rockefeller

Rockefeller was on an anthropological expedition to study the Asmat tribe and collect artifacts. He and a companion were traveling offshore when their canoe swamped. Their guides swam for help but after waiting more than a day, Rockefeller decided to swim for shore himself.

At the time they were estimated to be 12 miles from shore. Rockefeller was never seen again. Theories lean toward his having drowned or died of exhaustion or possibly being killed by sharks or salt water crocodiles which were in the area.

Headhunting and cannibalism still existed among the Asmat people so it has also been speculated that Rockefeller may have been killed and eaten by them if he reached the shore.

Answer: All of them

"Slim" Wintermute played center on the 1938-39 Oregon team which won the first-ever NCAA basketball tournament. After college he played a few years for the Detroit Eagles in the National Basketball League, forerunner of the NBA. In 1977 his sailboat was found on Seattle's Lake Union without him. No sign of him has ever been found.

John Brisker played for several teams in the ABA and NBA from 1969 through 1975. Known as an "enforcer" he was called "the heavyweight champion of the ABA." In 1978 Brisker went to Uganda at the invitation of Idi Amin who was known to be a basketball fan. Following Amin's ouster the next year, Brisker was never seen or heard from again. When Idi Amin fled the country, many of his associates faced a firing squad. It has been suggested that Brisker may have been among them.

Bison Dele (born Brian Williams) played for several NBA teams during the 90s including the Bulls' 1997 championship team. In 2002, Dele boarded his yacht with his girlfriend, the ship's captain and Dele's older brother, Miles Dabord. When the boat arrived in Tahiti, only Dabord was aboard. He claimed that Dele had killed the other two and then attacked him, forcing Dabord to kill him in self defense. Nobody believed him but before authorities could take any action, Dabord killed himself. No sign has turned up of Dele, his girlfriend or the boat's captain.

Answer: Natalee Holloway

Natalee Holloway failed to appear for her return flight to the US and it was found that she'd last been seen with a local young man, Joran van der Sloot and two of his acquaintances. The friends claimed to have dropped van der Sloot and a drunken Holloway at her hotel before leaving them. Van der Sloot said he left Holloway when she passed out. Details of his story were vague and no evidence of Holloway's body was ever found.

In March, 2010, van der Sloot attempted to extort money from Holloway's family in return for giving them the location of her body. He was later charged with wire fraud in relation to that scheme. On May 30, 2005, the anniversary of Natalee Holloway's disappearance, a young Peruvian woman was murdered. Joran van der Sloot later confessed to the crime and was sentenced to 28 years in prison. Peruvian officials have stated that when he completes his sentence in 2038 he'll be sent to the US to face the wire fraud charges.