Up late, restless, sick, perusing the internet, looking up Missing People in Alberta, a few outstanding cases that always give you pause to think. They never give you enough information, the police always know more than they say, and the surrounding details are generally scant or non-existent.
Examples - "Last seen leaving Canmore Gas Station in a 1978 Red....heading west"...There are lots of these. And that highway, get west of Lake Louise, Golden, go off the road, every year they find missing people, remains at the bottom of a lake in a rusting out car, or swinging eerily in the treetops. In the summer to go off the road is misfortune, in the winter almost certain death, and the finding of you is left almost entirely to chance.
Or: "...last seen attempting to swim the river, appeared to be in distress.". That one's a wrap, case solved.
And yet another example might be: "...Woman leaves home at approx. 10:15 at night to walk to local store and is never seen of again...". Which makes a big mystery out a situation that might not be, for example they don't mention "After fighting with her husband over custody of their children" or "having been laid off from work and in the midst of a difficult divorce", fair clues that might leave the reader with some idea of what may have transpired. The situation - often known to the police, is withheld from the armchair sleuth, and unless alternate sources are found you're left to draw your own fantastical conclusions.
This might be one such example - in any event it caught my eye.
"Edward Joseph Arcand, age 27, was last seen leaving his house in Coleman, AB on June 8, 1975. He was wearing a red shirt, blue jeans and a blue jean jacket. On July 15, 1975 his 1969 Ford Falcon station wagon was found on Highway 940, 50km north of Coleman. He was a small man, 5'8", 139lbs, black hair and brown eyes."
In itself unremarkable. Maybe he got lost while out hunting, fell off a cliff, there's not enough information to say. But then there's this:
"Howard William Booth, age 49, is missing from Coleman area on July 17, 1977. His whereabouts prior to his disappearance is not known. His truck was located 44 miles north of Coleman, in Kananaskis Country. He was a small man, 5'6", 145lbs, sandy hair and blue eyes."
The similarities in the cases are a bit uncanny. And, again, with a bit more information it just might make sense - in the mid seventies the population of Coleman was roughly 1400 people, so such a disappearance would have been a big deal, but I can't find any newspaper clippings from the time that might fill in my understanding. And the area where the cars were found, 44, 50 KM north on highway #40, that's the area of The Lost Lemon Mine, if you're into that sort of thing (if it ever even existed.). Just another fabulous wrench in the story. If you have any information regarding the disappearances - or theories - I'd be curious to know, but it does seem a bit much for coincidence.