Lost Souls

50 National Park Disappearances

By: Evan Grant

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Over 300 Pages of Missing Person Cases!

Lost Souls: 50 National Park Disappearances delves into the haunting and enigmatic cases of individuals who have vanished within the vast landscapes of America's national parks. Spanning over 84 million acres, these parks are known for their stunning beauty and diverse ecosystems. However, they also harbor a darker side, where hundreds of people have disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
Through meticulous research and firsthand accounts, this book explores 50 perplexing cases, shedding light on the varied and often baffling reasons behind these disappearances. From the well-known cases of missing hikers in Yosemite and the Grand Canyon to lesser-known stories from other parks, each chapter offers a deep dive into the circumstances and investigations surrounding these vanishings.
In addition to recounting the details of each case, "Lost Souls" also examines the broader implications for park safety, search and rescue operations, and the ongoing efforts by families and advocates to seek answers and justice. The book highlights the challenges faced by search teams and the limitations of current tracking and reporting mechanisms, while also recognizing the enduring hope and resilience of those left behind.

Description is super misleading

Many of the cases were new to me and there are interesting facts, but as you can imagine with 50 cases being covered this is like a book case cliff notes.

The biggest disappointment was that only about 10% of the cases were in actual national parks. A national forests and national monuments are not national parks. Some of the disappearances didn’t even have anything to do with a wilderness setting. It also didn’t cover other parts of the what the description boasted, like exploring park safety.

One other pretty annoying construct was that the information in the book was very poorly organized, causing a lot of repetition and unnecessarily lengthening the book. When there are going to be common possible outcomes for all of the cases, that material should be coved in a single chapter that lays out what those are and then each case can refer to most likely possibilities explored or proffered in the investigation. To get the same material 50 times, with a lot of it being the exact same language is not helpful.

For a few of the cases that particularly interested me, I did a bit of searching online and there was almost always more detail than provided. This book would have been better with fewer cases, more detail and significantly better organization.

things to learn from the writer of this book

first the second you leave your house your chances of a "medical emergancy" spike through the roof and when you hit a trail it jumps again. second if there preditors in the woods you have to prove they didnt kill someone, not that they did. third, if a woman makes several calls saying shes been drugged agenst her will and needs help it was probably a mountain lion. and finally the amount of time this autor mention abductions, really. someone ran into the back country in a snow storm and waylayed some poor hikers, not to mention all the times he described it just to mention theres no implications or evidence. id recomend any other book. just run