Little Boy in the Cave & His Robot Grandma [Missing 411]

For centuries people have been disappearing from National Parks and forests under incredibly chilling circumstances. Author David Paulides, a former Los Angeles police officer, has painstakingly investigated this bizarre phenomenon for over nine years. Missing 411 is a book series which chronicles incidents which seem to defy all logic. Hundreds of unusual missing persons cases have been analyzed and share eerie similarities. Frequently the victims’ bodies are never recovered, other times they are found deceased in puzzlingly unexpected spots. Those lucky enough to survive have no recollection of the events that transpired. Thousands of strange vanishings have occurred and only a handful of individuals have surfaced with any memories intact. One such example is the mystifying case of a young California boy.

On October 1, 2010, three-and-a-half-year-old ‘John Doe’ and his relatives were camping by a popular fly fishing location near Mount Shasta. Around 6:00 PM the child’s parents realized their son had suddenly gone missing. According to Mr. Doe, his youngster was ‘there one second and gone the next’. They scoured the area he had last been seen in complete panic-stricken horror. After hours of feverishly searching the little boy still had not turned up. Now desperate, the distraught father decided to call local police deputies and United States Forest Service officers. Rescue personnel combed the forest well into the night yet there was no sign of the toddler. 

Five hours after John had disappeared authorities found him laid down on the brush directly next to a trail that had been previously searched. He appeared to be in a dazed, semi-conscious state. Mr. and Mrs. Doe attributed this to exhaustion and were simply grateful their little one returned physically unharmed. Medical staff gave full clearance so the freshly reunited family were permitted to return home. Everyone’s lives quickly went back to normal. Yet only a few weeks later the small boy would share a disturbing tale about his terrifying ordeal.

John Doe disappeared in the Mount Shasta area of California. 

One day John’s grandmother Kathy, who is called “Kappy,” was playing with her grandson. Suddenly he looked towards her and said that he didn’t like the other Grandma Kappy. Confused, she asked him what exactly he meant. John explained that while he was lost in the woods he had been taken deep inside a mountainside cave by a woman he thought was Grandma Kappy. She led him into a cool, dark spider-infested room filled with motionless humanoid robots. Scattered across the floor were dusty purses, guns and various types of other weapons.

As John anxiously faced his ‘grandparent’ he noticed an eerie light radiating from her head. In this moment he realized she was not his real granny. Kappy firmly instructed the boy to defecate on a piece of paper. When he refused she became increasingly agitated and repeatedly requested him to do so. Eventually the grandma-lookalike succumbed to frustration and moved onto a different topic. Allegedly, she informed John that he had been planted in his mother’s womb and was actually from outer space. Shortly after this extraordinary account she took the boy back outside to a thicket and advised him to wait for help.

Supposedly John was brought deep inside an underground cave system where he saw dusty purses and guns.

Upon hearing this disturbing story, an outraged Kathy called her son and demanded to know what he was allowing her grandchild to watch on television. Mr. Doe lamented that he had heard an identical recollection only a few days prior. Initially the two chalked it up to an overactive imagination. Yet the more Kathy thought about it the more John’s story perplexed her. What kind of TV show would feature some of the ludicrous topics that the boy described? Even more chilling was the idea that she might have some kind of doppelgänger assuming her identity in order to abduct innocent victims.

With those particular thoughts in mind, Kathy decided to share a haunting experience of her own. Only a year before she had gone on a camping trip within close proximity to where John’s ordeal occurred. In the morning she awoke face-down in dirt. Somehow she had been inexplicably removed from the sleeping bag within her tent and transferred a short distance away. Upon rousing, she felt an intense pain at the base of her neck. Two puncture wounds were present and the surrounding skin was red and inflamed. Another friend who accompanied her on the excursion suffered a matching affliction. The pair originally attributed these injuries to a possible spider bite.

The only thing Kathy remembered about her ordeal were glowing red eyes peering through the darkness.

Both Kathy and her travel companion became violently ill. In fact, she was so sick that she could not even muster the strength to pack her things. Her mind raced as she desperately tried to recall what happened mere hours ago. Only one thing surfaced: glowing red eyes. While she was drifting into slumber she remembered seeing several creatures gazing through the darkness. At the time she assumed they were produced by a herd of deer. Following this traumatizing outing, Kathy felt completely drained of her creativity and emotions. Several months would pass before she felt like her old self again. Admittedly, Grandma Kappy would have dismissed her episode had John not come forward with his firsthand encounter.

Legends and lore pertaining to Mount Shasta have existed throughout the centuries. Indigenous tribespeople chronicled a fallen race of prehistoric giants that were said to inhabit the region. Others claim beings known as Lemurians use local caves as entrances to an underground crystalline city called Telos. Some allege a large energetic vortex is present within the territory. In modern times there are many UFO and Bigfoot sightings reported. Each year twenty-six thousand visitors flock to this revered mountain from countries across the globe. There has been alarmingly high numbers of curious missing persons cases within this picturesque terrain. While John Doe’s incident seems unbelievable it’s important to consider the odd history and happenings afflicting the area. An open mind may be the only thing that will finally resolve this age-old mystery.

Mount Shasta is said to be a hotspot for unusual missing persons cases.

What do you think is responsible for the unusual disappearances in Mount Shasta? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Missing 411: Hundreds of Strange Disappearances in our National Parks

Each year hundreds of people go missing in United State Parks and National Forests. Most investigations are eventually solved through reasonable causes: foul play, drowning, suicide or an animal attack. Others aren’t quite so easy to dismiss. Many of them are not merely perplexing but outright disturbing. The Missing 411 books take a deeper look into these specific situations which seem to defy all logic.


Author of the series, David Paulides, is a private investigator who served as a Los Angeles police officer for over twenty years. One day he stumbled upon some shocking information from a park ranger. They informed  Paulides about a series of bizarre missing persons cases happening within the National Parks. According to this source, these individuals go missing under very unusual circumstances. Law enforcement officials and park service management were doing everything in their power to keep these events concealed from the general public.

Author of the Missing 411 book series, David Paulides.

When Paulides attempted to obtain a list of missing people in Yosemite National Park he hit the first of many roadblocks. He was told that there is no such document because the Department of Interior does not keep any record of missing people within their park systems. To obtain this information would cost him $34,000. A list missing persons for the entire United States park systems was a staggering $1.4 million. Paulides did not oblige and instead filed hundreds of Freedom Information Acts. Some were accepted while others were denied for unknown reasons.


As the investigation progressed the more mysterious it became. One of the first things that was discovered were the presence of “clusters” throughout the country. These locations are hotspots where individuals disappear at surprisingly high numbers. Concentrated areas are present in many states including California, Colorado, Washington, Georgia, Michigan and Arkansas. Fifty-two clearly defined geographic regions have been identified.

A map showing the disappearances in the United States. 52 geological clusters have been identified.

After meticulously researching thousands of cases, odd similarities and patterns emerged. Certain baffling parallels were seen repeatedly despite the incidents transpiring thousands of miles from each other. Some of the common links are difficult to rationalize and not easily dismissed. These perplexing characteristics leave far more questions than answers.

  • Search dogs behave strangely. Oftentimes these canines cannot pick up a scent, or simply don’t want to. In other instances they begin tracking only to lay down and stop searching as if the person had vanished into thin air. Cadaver dogs are unable to locate a corpse.
  • The body is found in an area that has searched before. In many instances the missing appears in a location that has been thoroughly searched dozens, if not hundreds, of times. It is not uncommon for the deceased to surface on a main trail that is utilized by hikers on a daily basis.
  • Travel uphill instead of downhill. The missing is often found at high levels of elevation, such as mountain peaks. Frequently the victim will travel an astounding amount of miles through treacherous terrain in a time period which seems humanly impossible.
  • Weather-related phenomenon. Shortly after the individual goes missing, the forecast takes a drastic turn. Torrential rain, lightning, fog, sand storms or blizzards occur which delay search parties.
  • Missing clothing. Shoes, pants, shirts and jackets are often removed, even by children who are too young do so themselves. Paradoxical undressing cannot explain why a person would do this in a temperate environment. Clothing that is found is sometimes neatly folded.
  • High amounts of plane crashes. Search planes and helicopters seem to crash at abnormally high rates during these specific cases.
  • Extreme ends of the intellectual scale. On one side there are well-educated people such as doctors, psychiatrists and physicists. Others have disabilities such as autism or Down Syndrome.
  • German ancestry. Those with German heritage appear to go missing at much higher rates.
  • Boulder fields and granite. A high number of men and women vanish in boulder fields or areas with huge quantities of granite. Yosemite National Park is the largest of all clusters and also happens to be the biggest source of granite on Earth.
  • The victim is retrieved near a body of water. Another common factor is the presence of water. Bodies are often discovered near oceans, lakes, rivers, streams or swamps.
  • Berry picking. Strangely, this is a reoccurring theme shared amongst several cases. Those who are picking berries seem to go missing at higher rates.
  • Not feeling well or being tired. Prior to the disappearance, friends and family state the victim had informed them that they were not feeling well or tired.
  • Being last in line. One of the most recurrent of all traits are those in a group who happen to be the last in line. Others who were with the missing report seeing them mere seconds before and suddenly they had vanished without a trace. No one ever reports hearing any sounds such as a gasp, scream or an animal.


The NPS employs over 20,000 Americans and brings in an annual revenue $92 billion. If patrons knew what was really happening within the park systems it could have devastating financial consequences. Paulides has never stated who (or what) he believes is responsible for these incidents and merely presents the facts. Readers are left to derive their own conclusions based on the information presented. Theories as to what is taking these park-goers include Bigfoot attacks, alien abduction, thunderbirds, secret underground government bases or cannibalistic wild men. Whatever the source may be, it’s probably best to avoid being last in line the next time you visit a National Park.