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| Photo Provided by NYS DEC |
The Adirondacks is place of beauty, wide-spread wilderness, and happy tourists. It is also a place filled with mystery. Back in November, Thomas Messick, age 82, suddenly vanished when he was hunting deer in an area of wild forest near the town of Horicon in Warren County. Messick was with a group of hunters who had been hunting together in the Adirondacks for decades. He was last seen by his group when he went further into the woods to take a seat. After failing to meet with his group at a pre-arranged location, they knew something was wrong and assembled a search party. Even after more than 10,000 hours of total search-time has been spent through hundreds of miles of terrain, no trace of Thomas Messick was found. The use of helicopters, K-9 units, and veteran teams of Forest Rangers was to no avail as officials have sadly scaled back the search in late January. Rangers will continue to monitor the area and conduct spot searches and training exercises to hopefully find Thomas E Messick.
It turns out that the Adirondacks are infamous for disappearances that turn into mysteries, especially in the previous case of 8-year-old Douglas Legg.
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| Photo from Poststar.com |
While walking through the woods to his family's seasonal home in the Santanoni Preserve in Newcomb, Douglas Legg disappeared. Almost 45 years ago on July 10, 1971, while Legg and some relatives were headed out for a hike, his uncle told him to walk back to the camp to get some long pants. The distance was short and it was a straight walk down a path but Legg was never seen again. More than 600 people looked through miles of woods for 6 weeks with helicopters and U.S Air Force planes equipped with infrared equipment. Over the years there has been many different rumors circulating around but none have led to the conclusion that Legg was kidnapped and murdered. Instead, the police theory is that Douglas got lost in the unforgiving woods of the Adirondacks. Described as an avid hiker and mini woodsman, it was quite peculiar he disappeared with no trace.
But then again, Thomas E. Messick also disappeared without a trace despite being an avid hunter of the Adirondacks for decades.
Sources:
- http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/30746/20160121/lost-adirondack-hunter-another-adirondack-mystery
- http://poststar.com/news/local/years-later-case-of-missing-boy-remains-an-adirondacks-mystery/article_8a42bf94-af20-11e0-835c-001cc4c03286.html
- http://newyorkstatemissingpersons.ning.com/photo/douglas-j-legg-oswego-county
As a fan of many dramatic mystery tv shows, I really appreciated this post and your research on Thomas and Douglass. I'd be curious to hear more about missing persons in the Adirondacks and what the search tactics are like to try and find this people. I wonder how many people go missing each year.
ReplyDeleteCheck out David Paulides and CanAm Missing. This is all he does.
DeleteI love the point you raise at the end... perhaps Messick actually wished to disappear Christopher McCandless style, or perhaps something more mysterious is truly at the heart of this scare. I am astonished by the hours that were spent searching for Messick and intrigued by the many possibilities of "answers" to this case. The idea of disappearing into the wilderness is both daunting and strangely beautiful. I'd like to think that both Messick and Legg have made a return to nature. I hope the current state of the park is a better place to die than Henderson from our reading made it out to be!
ReplyDeleteHe DIDN'T wish to disappear, he vanished without a trace. You should look into HOW many go missing and vanish in the country's national parks and forests each year. It is frigghtening...
Deletethey are being abducted by paranormal force,many times their shoes are up on top of a tree!
DeleteJust watched Missing 411: The Hunted. There was mention that the only sound heard was like that of a car door closing. My sister said that our country is underlain by hundreds of miles of tunnels, probably used by the government (Black Ops) and aliens. Might have been the door of a tunnel closing after Messick's abduction.
DeleteIn 2018 I went to the spot Tom Messick disappeared from(Lilly Pond rd). I took some people who had never seen Missing 411 and knew nothing about the case. Both people got uneasy and wanted to leave the area after 15 min of walking around.
DeleteI've read the Messick case for quite some time & every possibility that I come up with quickly dissolves in view of who he was and the fact he was carrying a gun & walkie talkie. If he'd had a medical emergency, I doubt he'd have bothered carrying his gun with him & he would have had his walkie talkie. All that remains is the highly unusual.
ReplyDeleteWhat channel can I watch 411 missing the hunt on?
ReplyDeleteAmazon Prime
DeleteThis weekend we will be conducting the first of two investigations into this case. we will b e on location at lily pond and will speak with first responders an d family members. The second search will be conducted on the 7th anniversary of Tom's incident, at the east same time under the same conditions and will see if anything comes out to help close this very strange case.
ReplyDeleteERHIN Paranormal Research will be going up there on 5/5-5/6/2023 and will do a overnight camping trip at that location.
ReplyDelete