I solved a real-life mystery in 2019 when I tracked down a long-lost Scottish relative and discovered
what happened to her after she’d vanished in Scotland, leaving two children, a boy and a girl, behind in
the States. The children were my Aunt June and my Uncle Jack.
June and Jack’s mother left the
family home when her children were ten and twelve. She promised to send for them
when she was able, but they never heard from her again. The abandonment was made worse by the fact
that she left the children with their alcoholic father, who brought in a series
of “aunties” to babysit. Eventually, they ended up in separate orphans’ homes
and were reunited only as adults.
Naturally, June and Jack always
wondered what happened to their mother. Why had she never sent for them? Was
she dead or alive? Did they have half-siblings in Scotland?
After months of research, I found
the answer in the Scotland’s People database, using her maiden name,
Hannah. The document was her death certificate. June and Jack’s mother had
indeed returned to Scotland, where she remarried (although she had never
divorced—the reason, I suppose, she never acknowledged the children that
weren’t supposed to exist) and followed her new husband to Australia for his
diplomatic career. They had no children. After his death, she returned to
Scotland where she lived for another ten years. Amazingly, I also located her
neighbor and friend, Miss Mina Cheape, a single lady in her nineties, still living in the tiny
cottage where she was born. We met in that cottage in the village of Burrelton
near Perth. Miss Cheape had kept a number of her friend’s possessions,
including three generations of gold wedding rings, a photograph, and several
antiques. These she entrusted to me to return to June and Jack. One item she
kept back. I saw her sort of shuffle it out of sight—a signed photograph of
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. No way was Miss Cheape going to part with
that. I didn’t mind.
Below are three photos--of my Aunt June as girl, around the time her mother disappeared; of my beautiful aunt as an adult (she was a model in New York City); and of me with Miss Cheape in 2019.
Today, in the age of computers, cell phones, credit cards, and online databases, disappearing without a trace is much more difficult. But even in cases such as my aunt’s, old records reveal old secrets for those willing to put in the research time.
In case you’re looking for a mystery to solve, here are five
unsolved mysteries to consider:
1. The Identity of Jack the Ripper
2. The Fate of the Roanoke Colony
3. The Final Resting Place of Cleopatra’s Tomb
4. The Lost Treasures from the Gardner Museum Heist
5. The Location of The Amber Room
Good luck! If you find any answers, let
us know.
For now, have you ever solved a
real-life mystery?
I've looked into a few family mysteries, but not ones that have taken deep research. The reason my maternal grandfather turned from an ordinary young man into a surly, abusive alcoholic was probably mercury poisoning. He worked in a hat factory. Remember the Mad Hatter? And my paternal grandfather, who spent ages 65 to 95 never able to get out of his bed without passing out probably had the same congenital heart defects that I have, but with advanced medical technology, I had a repair with a patch put in my heart at age 64.
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