The Disappearances

A Story of Exploration, Murder, and Mystery in the American West

De: Scott Thybony

Narrado por: James Cogan

In 1935, during the wind-swept years of the Dust Bowl, three people went missing on separate occasions in the rugged canyon country of southeastern Utah, a place “wild, desolate, mysterious”. A 13-year-old girl, Lucy Garrett, was tricked into heading west with the man who had murdered her father under the pretense of reuniting with him. At the same time, a search was underway for Dan Thrapp, a young scientist on leave from the American Museum of Natural History. Others were scouring the same region for an artist, Everett Ruess, who had disappeared into “the perfect labyrinth”.

Intrigued by this unusual string of coincidental disappearances, Scott Thybony set out to learn what happened. His investigations took him from Island in the Sky to Skeleton Mesa, from Texas to Tucson, and from the Green River to the Red. He traced the journey of Lucy Garrett from the murder of her father to her dramatic courtroom testimony. Using the pages of an old journal, he followed the route of Dan Thrapp as he crossed an expanse of wildly rugged country with a pair of outlaws. Thrapp’s story of survival in an unforgiving land is a poignant counterpoint to the fate of the artist Everett Ruess, which the New York Times has called “one of the most enduring mysteries of the modern West”. Thybony draws on extensive research and a lifetime of exploration to create a riveting story of these three lives.

©2016 University of Utah Press (P)2021 University of Utah Press

An Intriguing tale of Dustbowl Disappearances

In 1935, during the middle the Dust Bowl, three people disappeared in Southeastern Utah's mysterious canyon country, Thirteen-year old Lucy Garrett was tricked into heading west with the man who had murdered her father. Dan Thrapp, a young scientist from the American Museum of Natural History, got lost searching for the past. And the young artist Everett Ruess disappeared into “the perfect labyrinth" while exploring the Utah backcountry. Author Scott Thybony interweaves these three stories and provides a fascinating tale of life in Dustbowl America. He mixes their stories with stories of his own exploration of Southeastern Utah, an area that has not changes a whole lot in the nearly 100 years since the events took place. If you enjoy mystery and true crime, you will love this book. But this is no dime book paperback, it is a wonderful, anthropological study with great insights into the lives of the three individuals and humanity in general.

I found the audiobook to be well produced. The reader did an excellent job. His pacing and reading style were excellent. Books about Utah are often filled with mispronounced words be readers who were obviously not coached on local pronunciations, bur this reader did an excellent job.