The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America's Wildlands

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It is clear that some of the missing, young men especially, have chosen, if not to disappear, then to find a form of spiritual development that requires that they absent themselves from the populated world for a time. Other people simply get turned around in the woods, or are ambushed by conditions they weren't prepared for, or are, possibly, the victims of foul play. An open-minded person, Randy considers every possibility. Maybe Jacob committed suicide or was abducted by Bigfoot. Maybe he joined a cult or was beamed up by a UFO. Maybe he went on a secluded religious journey or succumbed to hypothermia. Maybe he was injured or killed by a bear. Maybe he was murdered.

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Through deep research and personal investigation, Jon Billman has crafted the definitive account of the baffling stories of people who go missing in the wilderness. The Cold Vanish is provocative, disturbing, compulsively readable-and a brilliant achievement." Billman looks at the possibility that some people don't want to be found, and disappear purposefully; maybe looking for something unattainable. I have to say, it seemed odd the amount of young white Christian men mentioned, who seemed to have a overt fascination with the bible, raptures, pilgrimage type scenarios. Indeed Billman describes the Jerusalem Syndrome. In with this he looks at the number of cults and sects, some of whom set themselves up along the Pacific Crest Trail and attempt to lure tired travellers in with the promise of energy giving chocolate or food. Hachette Book Group is a leading book publisher based in New York and a division of Hachette Livre, the third-largest publisher in the world. Social Media I received an advanced copy of this book from Net Galley and the publisher in return for an honest review. The release date for this book was 7 July 2020 Required reading for anyone concerned about the missing, Billman's authentic and encyclopedic book leads us across the landscapes of the vanished with a journalist's acumen and a searcher's sympathy. It's both true and useful, a storytelling textbook I wish I'd read before my own son went missing." - Roman Dial, author of The Adventurer's SonApparently, there’s K9 drama. Not everyone likes “dog people.” Some consider them territorial and uncooperative. The handlers, not the dogs. There are rifts among the dog handlers, as well. Bloodhound proponents claim the breed’s nose is superior so they put up with flatulence. Others swear shepherds are just as qualified and less stinky. We learn about this while we follow the author as he focuses on this one specific case of a young man that has seemingly abandoned his bike and the small trailer he was hauling and just vanished and has yet to be found. The author tags along with this missing young man’s father as he tirelessly searches for his son- all the while the park service won’t commit resources to help look for him. In this book, the author narrows the group of missing persons down to those who have vanished in wilderness areas- specifically national forest and parks. For Randy, the search is about his son. When Jacob is found, the search will end. But some people make it their business to search for strangers. In teams or alone. Using science or pure physical endurance. With a reward or without. It’s just what they do, and the grim truth is they will never run out of cases. Their work days are a revolving door of the vanished. Some cases get resolved. Some don’t. They live with that. There are many holes, but they aren't worm holes. Karst formations have plenty of small sinkholes. Step into one and you can disappear forever. There are many thousands of prospecting holes over most of our national forests and ither public lands. Most of those were either never capped or done poorly. Again, its easy to disappear if you step into the wrong prospecting hole or even old unmarked mine shaft.

The Cold Vanish (豆瓣) - 豆瓣读书 The Cold Vanish (豆瓣) - 豆瓣读书

So I was kind of looking for a true crime book akin to Trailed, the one I read about the Shenandoah murders a few months ago. This was not that. And please read or listen with many grains of salt. I'm pretty open-minded with most paranormal concepts but this book both presents at times in its own text, and by subscribing to stories told by witnesses, some pretty far-out stuff. The author writes in an engaging journalistic style. He is an outdoor writer and his interest in what may seem to many an esoteric topic was piqued by an assignment for Outside magazine. He tells a good story, and his approach of diving deeply into the Jacob Gray case interspersed with accounts of others who disappeared in wild places works well.

The concept of “lost person behavior” could fill its own book. And does. You can read up on it elsewhere. Or get a ten dollar app. For example, people who want to be found tend to go downhill. People who don’t want to be found, go up. About the Author Jon Billman is a former wildland firefighter and high school teacher. He holds an MFA in Fiction from Eastern Washington University. He's the author of the story collection When We Were Wolves (Random House, 1999). Billman is a regular contributor to Outside and his fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Esquire, The Paris Review, and Zoetrope: All-Story. He teaches fiction and journalism at Northern Michigan University in the Upper Peninsula, where he lives with his family in a log cabin along the Chocolay River. While watching an old episode of ‘Disappeared’ on Discovery plus recently, an anguished mother described her life as living somewhere between hell and hope. I think that may be the most apt description of being caged in the relentless trap of 'not knowing'. It was also nice to see people willing to give of their time and lend their expertise- or specialized- talents to help find missing persons- especially when the family has opted to continue searching on their own.

The Cold Vanish on Apple Books ‎The Cold Vanish on Apple Books

Though it's more probable than human abduction, it's less likely that the owner abandoned the bike to go on a trail hike—there isn't a trailhead in the immediate vicinity, he didn't secure his gear, and a hiker won't get very far before hitting snow. Jacob was not a mentally ill loner with no friends. This representation of Jacob has devastated his family and friends to no end. Jacob was a a wonderful person. He loved everyone deeply and was compassionate. He took his job at the retirement home seriously and his disappearance devastated the residence and his former boss. During the search, they constantly asked me if he was found yet and were heartbroken with the negative outcome. He spent time with each resident, joking with them and listening to their stories. When he delivered food to residents who were bedridden, he would sit at their bedside and spend an extra 10 minutes to talk with them. This was not required for his job as a dishwasher/kitchen helper. While working at the retirement home, he was also attending college. He was trying to figure out a career that would help the most people. He considered law enforcement, Rescue, and even becoming an EMT. But, he decided to major in Kinesiology and transfer to university for a career in Physical Therapy. He loved muscular function, exercise, and was completely obsessed with his health. He was one of the most disciplined people I know. To him, the health of his mind and body was the most important thing to him. In early April 2017, a young touring cyclist named Jacob Gray stepped off his bike and disappeared in the northern district of Olympic National Park in northwestern Washington. What ensued was a mystery that echoed other cases I'd researched. What was different for me is that Randy Gray, Jacob's father, allowed me unlimited access into the courageous search to find his son. The feature I wrote on Jacob Gray for Bicycling magazine was the catalyst for meeting Jacob's family, but it soon became apparent that their generosity, and the huge, strange purgatorial underworld of the vanished, deserved a book. The Cold Vanish is renowned journalist Jon Billman’s attempt to shine a light on the vast numbers of people who simply disappear without a trace in the wild outdoors, amongst the lush scenery, leaving their relatives with more questions than answers and a neverending vivid imagination as our minds inevitably jump to all sorts of conclusions when an event is so difficult to come to terms with; it's this not knowing and having no closure on the whereabouts of their loved one that slowly eats away at an individual from the inside. As a true crime enthusiast, I spend many a long hour watching youtube videos and some of those follow the progression of missing person investigations and where I have learned from interviews with relatives and friends of those missing that it is the not knowing that makes it really difficult to move on as they wonder many things such as whether it's possible they fell victim to a killer and even if their loved one is still alive and vanished purposefully perhaps due to financial or personal issues in their lives and do not want to be located. It's these constant speculations that would likely turn me insane if I was on the receiving end of a missing person case.That said, I would love to read the original magazine article that this book was based on. I think that in smaller doses, this type of reporting would be absolutely fascinating. Unlike those books, each of which focuses on a single disappearance, The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America's Wildlands presents the stories of multiple individuals who vanished without a trace in wild areas across North America and a few other places on the globe, including Australia, Israel and Hawaii. It is nicely structured, with a narrative that weaves around the efforts of Randy Gray to locate his son Jacob, who disappeared in Olympic National Park in April 2017. Alternating chapters relate the stories of other missing persons and of the individuals who are committed to finding them. I was really disappointed in this book and the author's choice to entertain these outlandish theories. You know the drill. You pay the entrance fee, grab a map, register for any special permits. Nobody hands you a missing persons flyer for the elderly man who vanished off a heavily traveled trail yesterday. The park rangers don't ask you to look out for the twenty-something redhead who went for a run two weeks ago and never returned. That would be bad for tourism, of course. In reality, hope is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs man’s torments.” - Friedrich Nietzsche, not used in the book but entirely applicable.

The Cold Vanish by Jon Billman | Hachette UK

This book follows several folks who went missing while out for a hike, but it most closely follows the story of Jacob Gray, a 22-year-old resident of my hometown, Santa Cruz, California. In April 2017, Jacob’s bike and gear was discovered abandoned in Olympic National Park in Washington state. A Google search will tell you that he was eventually found, but the circumstances surrounding his tragic death remain a mystery.

Even perhaps, in the case of the Olympic Peninsula and Jacob’s disappearance, Sasquatch. Billman doesn’t give much credence to any of this, but reveals how someone like Randy is willing to follow any lead. He goes along as Randy follows some pretty sketchy possibilities.