Around this time last year, I walked into my Supervisor’s office to discuss routine matters. He was on the phone and suggested that I have a seat. "If you want to learn something interesting, you should listen to this," he said. I took out my notebook and began jotting down what I could catch. When I finished, I had "Japan, prefecture, terrain, things to say to the State Department, Global Rescue."
After he finished the call, he informed me that he was on the phone with a family member of the unnamed person. The family member had ties to my workplace. She was hoping that someone might be able to help her get more movement on the search for her missing person. She was given his number, due to his ties to the international community. After the call, he and I talked a little more. We looked at terrain maps for the area where she was last seen. We talked about dealing with foreign governments during situations like these. Later on, I learned the name of this individual: Pattie.
On April 10th, 2023, 60 year old Patricia Wu-Murad of Connecticut, was hiking south on the Kumano Kodo trail, following the Kohechi route. She failed to check into her guesthouse stop for the evening. After checking out of her lodging for the previous night, she was slated to set out for the Miura-toge Pass. This stretch is a steep and rugged path that runs for 11 miles. When her family realized that she failed to check in at the next stop, they traveled to Japan to search for her themselves. Eventually they exhausted every resource they could and put out a call for a Search and Rescue (SAR) team from the United States. A group of very experienced volunteers from two states made their way overseas. Sadly, the search yielded no results. There was no trace of her anywhere.
The question that everyone had is the same one that many a person has had since the dawn of time...how does someone just vanish into thin air? This really is a tale as old as time. In the Bible, we are told in the book of Genesis that Enoch did not die, but was taken by God. But what on earth does that mean? Did anyone witness this? How did he just disappear? On North American soil in a (somewhat) more modern era, the story of the "Lost Colony" immediately comes to mind. No matter how many people thought they spotted something, there was no definitive proof of what happened to the settlers. There is always a logical explanation for when someone goes missing, until there isn't. In the weeks after her disappearance, neither Japanese authorities or the SAR personnel could make heads or tails of what happened. Some of the local villagers feared that she may have been kidnapped. However, there was no evidence of this and Japan has one of the lowest crime rates in the world.
Occam's razor holds that the simplest explanation is the usually the correct one, or the most likely to be correct. What are we to do when that does not seem to cover it? Does that mean that a person is crazy for thinking outside the box? Does it mean that anything should be taken off the table? Mystery is hard to live with. When someone goes missing in a remote location on the other side of the world, that deepens the mystery and makes it even more difficult to live with. For those who have read about the story of Pattie Wu-Murad and moved on without a passing thought, I would challenge them. The reality is that this could be any of us at any time. People go missing in the city and the country; they go missing in a park a 20-minute drive from their home and in remote locations worlds away. It could happen to you or I tomorrow, no matter how it happens. I hope that we find Pattie. I at least hope that one day, in this life, sooner rather than later, we learn what happened to her. In the meantime, we should view this story and keep working to keep ourselves safe in the urban wilds and in the backcountry.
#helpfindpattie
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/818271996483575
https://www.instagram.com/helpfindpattie2023/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/05/02/japan-missing-hiker-volunteers/
No comments:
Post a Comment