Holes in Space

I

Our first tale takes place in 1854, near Selma, Alabama. Mr. Williamson was walking across his field towards his neighbor, James Wren, who was mending a common fence with the help of a servant. Mrs. Williamson and their 8 year old son were on the porch, with an unobstructed view of the field and fence.

Suddenly, with no warning or sound, Mr. Williamson disappeared, in broad daylight and in front of four witnesses. Astonishment turned to fear and then to despair as there was no sign of Mr. Williamson. In a panic, his wife and child ran to the spot to see if he fell into a hole, but his tracks in the freshly plowed dirt of the field simply stopped, right where he vanished.

Mr. Wren, who had just opened his mouth to speak to Mr. Williamson, stood stunned for a moment, then he vaulted the fence to come to the spot where his neighbor has vanished. The servant ran back to the house bawling an alarm, and soon many people joined the search for the missing man.

Ultimately, the testimony was heard in court, trying to determine how to declare Mr. Williamson and dispose of his property. In the end, he was declared dead and his estate was distributed by law. Mrs. Williamson was said to have lost her reason and was sent away. No record exists of what became of the Williamson boy, but local tales tell of a madman who would wander the fields calling out for his father.

II

Our second tale takes place 26 years later, in 1880, this time near Galatin, Tennessee. There are eerie similarities between the stories. About two in the afternoon, David Lang had just given his young children, George and Sarah, a new wooden wagon and they were excitedly playing with it in front of their porch. Mrs. Lang came out of the house to give David a loving hug and remarked at how pleased the children seemed with their gift.

The children brought their attention to a horse and buggy coming down the road towards their house. They recognized the buggy as belonging to a friend, Judge August Peck, who had come to call on them with his brother-in-law.

David walked across the yard to greet them on their way in, but he never made it. After less than a dozen steps, in full view of his wife, his two children, a Judge and another witness, David Lang disappeared.

They all instinctively ran to where they had last seen him. All five of them arrived at the spot almost simultaneously. There was no tree, no bush, and no hole to offer explanation of how the man could have dropped from sight. And no clues, either.

The adults searched the field till Mrs. Lang became hysterical and had to be led into the house. Meanwhile, neighbors had been alerted by the frantic ringing of a huge bell in the side yard, and soon, the property was the site of a massive search. They even took picks and shovels to the earth in an attempt to see if there was a cavity below. Eventually, in the weeks that followed, a geologist was brought in to confirm the findings. But there was nothing but solid earth and rock.

David Lang was gone.

But that is not the end of the story. Seven months after that fateful day, David Lang's two children were out in the yard, near the point where their father disappeared when they heard something that jolted them... They thought they heard their father's voice!

The two children called out to him, and they could hear him answer, calling faintly for help... over and over ... until it faded away forever.

III

Perhaps in a related event, in 1905 , near South Fork, California, eleven people heard mysterious screams coming from the clear air above their house. Mrs. Rose Bushnell reported that her parents, sister, grandparents and several other relatives were gathered outdoors for a family picnic when they began to hear a disturbing sound.

"The screams seemed at first to come from a great distance, fading away for about two minutes, then rising again, each time a little louder and clearer. The terrible screaming sounded like "those of men, women and children together, as if in terrible pain... words cannot describe these horrible sounds. I hear them yet."

Are these yet more people swallowed up by a roaming hole in space?

IV

Our last tale, for the moment, deals with the sad story of 12 year old Michael Norton. Michael disappeared from his home in Canada, in 1935. The hunt for the missing child went on for years, because although he disappeared physically, both his parents and hundreds of investigators all heard Michael's voice - calling faintly from the same few square feet of ground.

Michael had overslept, gobbled his breakfast, and rushed out across the snow-covered yard to do his chores in the cow barn. He was due to complete his chores in time to join his two younger siblings in the trek to school. When he was late in showing up, Ruth, his mother called for him to hurry up or they would all be late for school.

There was no answer to Mrs. Norton's call, and with some irritation, Mr. Norton put on some boots and trudged to the barn to fetch the boy. When he entered the barn, there was no sign of Michael. The stool and bucket were there, the latter half full of milk. Michael had obviously stopped in the middle of his work, but there was no sign of him.

Looking at the snow, Mr. Norton saw that Michael had left the barn and walked straight out into the open pasture, a field visible from both the house and the nearby road. He followed the trail, calling for Michael, and was mystified when the tracks simply stopped in mid-step.

Seriously alarmed, Mr. Norton drove to the nearby township of Burton Falls and notified the police. They returned with a bloodhound, who excitedly followed the trail just as Mr. Norton had, yet the dog simply stopped in its tracks just where the footprints ended. The bloodhound just whined and would search no further.

Search parties were organized and and other tracker dogs were brought in, but to no avail. Even the other tracker dogs all stopped looking when they reached the middle of the field. Michael Norton had literally disappeared into thin air.

But even more heartbreak was in store for the Nortons. A few nights later, when all hope of finding their son alive was fading, the Nortons were overjoyed to hear hear a voice outside. It was Michael's and it called out for "Mum!"

They all rushed outside shouting with relief, and then stopped. There was no one there! The voice called again "Mum!" It was Michael, both were certain of that. But they searched and searched and found nothing. They called his name and got no answer. Half an hour later, as they stood in the farmyard, peering hopelessly into the dark, they heard him again: "Mum?, and this time they clearly heard him add "Where are you?"

For the next three weeks, many people of many professions came to the little farm, and many of them heard the lost voice as it called and pleaded for help. Various "experts" trying to help or explain theorized that he had fallen into a well, or an underground cavern. But those theories all came to naught as geologists and aerial photography revealed no faults in the earth.

The family was understandably frantic, as they heard their son calling for help, fainter and fainter, day after day. Based on the various things he said, it seems he was in a thick mist, but quite free to move. Time seems to be different there, for Michael seemed to think he still had time to get to school, if only he could find his way out.

Eventually, Michael was heard no more. The experts went away. And the family tried to put its shattered life back together again.

But you have to wonder... what did Michael see that drew him out into that field? Was it a glimpse of a hole in space?

This would explain a lot of those mysterious disappearances, now, wouldn't it?