FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Quiz about More Searching Still Without Success
Quiz about More Searching Still Without Success

More Searching, Still Without Success Quiz


Here are a few more mysterious disappearances and missing persons, famous and otherwise.

A multiple-choice quiz by wilbill. Estimated time: 7 mins.
  1. Home
  2. »
  3. Quizzes
  4. »
  5. People Trivia
  6. »
  7. In Common

Author
wilbill
Time
7 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
370,067
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
446
Awards
Top 35% Quiz
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. Did a famous American inventor order a "hit" on a professional rival? That's one theory proposed to explain the disappearance of Louis Le Prince who filmed motion pictures several years before other inventors. In 1890 on his way to England to patent his camera, Le Prince disappeared from the Dijon-Paris train he was seen to board. No trace of him or his equipment was found on the train or along its route. What noted inventor, often credited with inventing motion pictures, is considered by some to be a suspect in this disappearance? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. His basketball talent took him to the professional level, but after eight seasons in the NBA he walked away and began traveling the world. In 2002 his sailboat arrived in Tahiti with only his brother aboard. He, his girlfriend and the boat's captain have never been heard from. The brother committed suicide a few months later without telling what happened. Who was this NBA star whose disappearance has buffaloed authorities for so long? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. What if the person isn't missing but his life is? In 2004 a man was found behind a dumpster at the Burger King in Richmond Hill, Georgia. Appearing to be in his fifties, he was naked, had head injuries and no memory of who he was. Doctors determined that he suffered retrograde amnesia and would likely never regain his memory. At first nicknamed "B.K." for the restaurant where he was found, he soon expanded the restaurant reference to name himself. What is this unknown fellow known as today? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Inventors seem prone to disappear. English engineer William Cantelo announced completion of his invention to his family in the early 1880s and promptly disappeared. A private detective followed him to America but lost all traces of him there. A few years later American Hiram Maxim appeared in London with his own almost identical invention. Cantelo's sons saw photos of Maxim and were amazed at his resemblance to their missing father. Maxim wouldn't meet them and there is no evidence to suggest that Cantelo and Maxim were the same person. Cantelo's family remained suspicious. What murderous product did both men invent? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. An ocean voyage seems to be a good way to become a missing person. Through the centuries passengers on sailing ships and ocean liners have disappeared with shocking regularity. Which of these people did not go missing while at sea? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. This famous American author and satirist crossed into Mexico to observe Pancho Villa's revolutionary army. A friend received a letter from him when Villa reached Chihuahua in late 1913 and that was the last contact with him. Who was this writer, best known for his short story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and his sardonic "The Devil's Dictionary"? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. For 20 years Ray Gricar was District Attorney of Centre County, Pennsylvania. In 2005 he told his girlfriend he was going for a ride in the country and hasn't been seen or heard from since. His car was found but no evidence turned up. Later his laptop was pulled from a river but no data could be recovered.
Investigators learned that for seven years Gricar had been investigating Jerry Sandusky, a college football coach accused of sexually abusing children. Twice he declined to prosecute despite ample evidence. The second time was shortly before his disappearance.
What university's assistant football coach brought the program down in disgrace when the sex abuse scandal finally came to light in 2011?
Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. Megumi Yokota was a 13 year old schoolgirl when she was abducted from her seaside village in Japan. In 2002 a foreign country admitted responsibility for the kidnapping of Megumi and numerous other Japanese citizens, reported that she had committed suicide in 1994 and returned her ashes. DNA tests (since shown to have been of dubious accuracy) indicated the ashes were not Megumi's. What nation has admitted the kidnapping of numerous citizens of Japan and other nations over the years? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Of approximately 20 American journalists who died during the Vietnam War, this former actor and son of a major Hollywood star was the most famous. In 1970 he and CBS photographer Dana Stone were captured by Communist guerillas while reporting on the North Vietnamese incursion into Cambodia. He was never heard from again and no remains were found. Who was this son of the swashbuckling actor who played both Robin Hood and George Armstrong Custer? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Attractive, blonde Natalee Holloway was on a high school graduation trip to a Caribbean island in May, 2005. She failed to show up for her flight home. Friends last saw her with three local men who denied knowing her whereabouts. A media frenzy sparked a search of every square inch of the 70 square mile island. The suspects were each arrested multiple times but released due to lack of evidence.
In 2011 another attractive, blonde American woman, Robyn Gardner disappeared from the same island. The man she traveled there with says she never returned from a snorkeling trip. Authorities believe he killed her and later attempted to collect a large insurance policy he had taken on her life. To date, the man has not been charged and authorities also cite lack of evidence.
What would Nancy Grace do if blonde Americans stop vanishing from this Dutch Caribbean island?
Hint





Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Did a famous American inventor order a "hit" on a professional rival? That's one theory proposed to explain the disappearance of Louis Le Prince who filmed motion pictures several years before other inventors. In 1890 on his way to England to patent his camera, Le Prince disappeared from the Dijon-Paris train he was seen to board. No trace of him or his equipment was found on the train or along its route. What noted inventor, often credited with inventing motion pictures, is considered by some to be a suspect in this disappearance?

Answer: Thomas Edison

Three theories have been proposed to explain Le Prince's disappearance. Suicide and family infighting have generally been ruled out due to lack of any apparent reason for either. Le Prince's family was suspicious of the litigious Edison who won numerous lawsuits giving him a monopoly on the motion picture camera which lasted for several years. Edison was granted US patent protection for a camera almost identical to one for which Le Prince had been denied a few years earlier.
2. His basketball talent took him to the professional level, but after eight seasons in the NBA he walked away and began traveling the world. In 2002 his sailboat arrived in Tahiti with only his brother aboard. He, his girlfriend and the boat's captain have never been heard from. The brother committed suicide a few months later without telling what happened. Who was this NBA star whose disappearance has buffaloed authorities for so long?

Answer: Bison Dele

Dele, born Brian Williams, left basketball while still in the prime of a successful career. His brother disappeared after arriving in French Polynesia and was later found in Mexico using Bison's passport for identification. He spoke to his mother denying that he had harmed his brother but overdosed on insulin.

Investigators are convinced that he killed his brother and the other two passengers on the boat and disposed of their bodies in the Pacific.
3. What if the person isn't missing but his life is? In 2004 a man was found behind a dumpster at the Burger King in Richmond Hill, Georgia. Appearing to be in his fifties, he was naked, had head injuries and no memory of who he was. Doctors determined that he suffered retrograde amnesia and would likely never regain his memory. At first nicknamed "B.K." for the restaurant where he was found, he soon expanded the restaurant reference to name himself. What is this unknown fellow known as today?

Answer: Benjaman Kyle

Kyle thinks the oddly spelled "Benjaman" is his real first name. He also has vague memories making him think he's from Indianapolis, was born in 1948 and worked in the restaurant business.

He was identified as William Burgess Powell in 2015. He was thus able to work as he the. found his social security number.
4. Inventors seem prone to disappear. English engineer William Cantelo announced completion of his invention to his family in the early 1880s and promptly disappeared. A private detective followed him to America but lost all traces of him there. A few years later American Hiram Maxim appeared in London with his own almost identical invention. Cantelo's sons saw photos of Maxim and were amazed at his resemblance to their missing father. Maxim wouldn't meet them and there is no evidence to suggest that Cantelo and Maxim were the same person. Cantelo's family remained suspicious. What murderous product did both men invent?

Answer: Machine gun

The Maxim gun was the first recoil operated machine gun. Along with variants and copies, it was the primary machine gun seeing service in most countries until after World War I. Despite the Cantelo family's suspicions there has been no strong reason to think that Cantelo and Maxim were one and the same. Just to add confusion, Maxim's brother, also an inventor, remained in the US and Maxim complained of someone in America imitating him.
5. An ocean voyage seems to be a good way to become a missing person. Through the centuries passengers on sailing ships and ocean liners have disappeared with shocking regularity. Which of these people did not go missing while at sea?

Answer: Madeleine McCann

In 2007 three year old Madeleine McCann's parents left her asleep in their Portuguese vacation apartment while they went to dinner. She hasn't been seen since.
John Cabot was an Italian explorer whose fleet of five ships disappeared in about 1499.
Theodosia Burr Alston, daughter of Vice President Aaron Burr boarded a schooner to sail from South Carolina to New York. Neither she nor the ship was heard from again.
Benjamin Briggs was captain of the Mary Celeste, a sailing ship famously found abandoned in the Atlantic with the entire crew missing.
6. This famous American author and satirist crossed into Mexico to observe Pancho Villa's revolutionary army. A friend received a letter from him when Villa reached Chihuahua in late 1913 and that was the last contact with him. Who was this writer, best known for his short story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and his sardonic "The Devil's Dictionary"?

Answer: Ambrose Bierce

An adaptation of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" was televised as an episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" in 1959. That story, along with several other of Bierce's works was based upon his memories of service in the American Civil War.
7. For 20 years Ray Gricar was District Attorney of Centre County, Pennsylvania. In 2005 he told his girlfriend he was going for a ride in the country and hasn't been seen or heard from since. His car was found but no evidence turned up. Later his laptop was pulled from a river but no data could be recovered. Investigators learned that for seven years Gricar had been investigating Jerry Sandusky, a college football coach accused of sexually abusing children. Twice he declined to prosecute despite ample evidence. The second time was shortly before his disappearance. What university's assistant football coach brought the program down in disgrace when the sex abuse scandal finally came to light in 2011?

Answer: Penn State

Theories about Gricar's disappearance abound but there is no convincing evidence to support one over the others. Noted forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht suggests that guilt due to his failure to prosecute Sandusky thus placing more children at risk could have driven him to suicide.
8. Megumi Yokota was a 13 year old schoolgirl when she was abducted from her seaside village in Japan. In 2002 a foreign country admitted responsibility for the kidnapping of Megumi and numerous other Japanese citizens, reported that she had committed suicide in 1994 and returned her ashes. DNA tests (since shown to have been of dubious accuracy) indicated the ashes were not Megumi's. What nation has admitted the kidnapping of numerous citizens of Japan and other nations over the years?

Answer: North Korea

Japan charges North Korea with the abduction of 17 citizens who were forced to train North Korean spies to pass as Japanese. Megumi's family has been active in keeping her case in the public eye and they maintain that she is still alive. In addition to kidnapping Japanese citizens, North Korea has taken several thousand South Koreans and small numbers of travelers from China, Europe, the Middle East and possibly a couple of Americans.

Many of those abducted have language skills the North Koreans use to train spies.

Others have been associated with organizations which help North Korean defectors escape the regime.
9. Of approximately 20 American journalists who died during the Vietnam War, this former actor and son of a major Hollywood star was the most famous. In 1970 he and CBS photographer Dana Stone were captured by Communist guerillas while reporting on the North Vietnamese incursion into Cambodia. He was never heard from again and no remains were found. Who was this son of the swashbuckling actor who played both Robin Hood and George Armstrong Custer?

Answer: Sean Flynn

After a lackluster acting career, Sean Flynn became a successful photojournalist specializing in high-risk assignments such as combat. Indications are that Flynn and Stone were held captive for a time before being executed by the Khmer Rouge. His mother, actress Lili Damita spent a lot of money searching for him to no avail and had him declared dead in 1984.
10. Attractive, blonde Natalee Holloway was on a high school graduation trip to a Caribbean island in May, 2005. She failed to show up for her flight home. Friends last saw her with three local men who denied knowing her whereabouts. A media frenzy sparked a search of every square inch of the 70 square mile island. The suspects were each arrested multiple times but released due to lack of evidence. In 2011 another attractive, blonde American woman, Robyn Gardner disappeared from the same island. The man she traveled there with says she never returned from a snorkeling trip. Authorities believe he killed her and later attempted to collect a large insurance policy he had taken on her life. To date, the man has not been charged and authorities also cite lack of evidence. What would Nancy Grace do if blonde Americans stop vanishing from this Dutch Caribbean island?

Answer: Aruba

Holloway's parents and the three suspects have engaged in ongoing battles in courts and the press in the years since her disappearance. In 2010 a young woman was found dead in a Lima, Peru hotel room registered to Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in Holloway's disappearance.

He later pled guilty to her death and is serving a 28 year prison sentence. An Alabama judge declared Holloway legally dead in 2012 over her mother's objections. Like Holloway, Robyn Gardner's body has never turned up. Aruban prosecutors have stated their belief that her travel companion, Gary Giordano kidnapped and murdered her but don't have sufficient evidence to charge him. Lawsuits over the insurance policy Giordano purchased before Gardner's disappearance continued two years after he filed to collect on them.
Source: Author wilbill

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
3/28/2024, Copyright 2024 FunTrivia, Inc. - Report an Error / Contact Us