Planning a getaway to one of our nation’s national parks this summer? Before you go into the woods or canyons, you need to know about David Paulides series Missing 411.

Paulides, a 20-year veteran of police enforcement, chronicles an astounding number of people who are mysteriously disappearing from our national parks and he wants to know why.

His research and collaboration with federal agencies, rescuers, searchers and law enforcement spans decades and has uncovered “cluster areas” of missing persons in national parks all over North America as well as presenting compelling evidence that something strange is amiss in the wilderness.

The series also uncovers the disturbing uncooperation of the National Park Service in tracking the missing and playing games with FOIA requests. You’ll be astounded to learn that, while the smallest of sheriff offices are required to document a missing person case, the National Park Service is not required to track data.

Paulides has put together some compelling and astounding data of people who have gone missing in our national parks:

• Missing victims are often wearing brightly colored clothes.
• Victims are found missing in clusters of the young, the old, or the infirm.
• Recovered bodies are almost always found among boulders and rocks and near bodies of water, particularly creek beds.
• Recovered bodies are often found in previously searched areas in plain view.
• Children who are found almost never remember the event or won’t talk about it.
• Many of the places where people go missing have names with the devil in it, such as Devil’s Outlook and Devil’s Nest.
• Tracking dogs can’t find a scent or won’t track the victim.
• An astounding 98 percent of disappearances are in the afternoon—in broad daylight and sometimes just yards away from family and friends.

Paulides has also uncovered some fascinating similarities in the disappearances:

• Victims are almost always found naked or nearly naked.
• Victims often are found with no shoes on but their feet are clean and undamaged in difficult terrain.
• Coroners often cannot determine the cause of death, including victims found in water who did not drown.
• The bodies are found in or very near bodies of water or in boulder fields surrounded by berries and thickets, often times miles away from where they disappeared.
• An unusual weather phenomena occurs at the time or right after the time of disappearance, often hampering rescue and search operations.
• Victims who survive report not feeling well right before the disappearance occurs.

I urge you to watch or listen to one of Paulides many YouTube interviews before venturing into the wild. You can also learn more about the 411 series at the author’s site, canammissing.com.

It is unclear what is occurring in our national parks, and Paulides, a 20-year veteran of the police force, is careful not to inject his opinion on who or what may be behind the disappearances. He expertly steers clear of hypothesizing that the missing are a result of alien encounters, UFO phenomena, paranormal experiences or spiritual encounters and leaves us to draw our own conclusions.

It is hard to ignore Paulides’ data just as it is hard to ignore that something dark is going on—bodies found in boulder fields, much like the boulder spirits of Iceland, the moans and growls heard by Henry McCabe in a recorded phone message to his girlfriend, and the unusual weather events that occur at or after disappearances.

It’s a big, dangerous world out there, so camp and hike with care. #Reignwell