One of America’s more intriguing mysteries took place on this very day in 1930: Judge Joseph Force Crater stepped into a taxi in New York city, only to disappear completely, never to be seen again and earning the title of ‘the missingest man in New York’. Judge Joseph was a bit of a scandalous figure, involved with some of the city’s more shady cases – hence the raid.
16,000 Tips from all over the states couldn’t crack the mystery – despite some pretentious big headlines. The strange thing is, just about every detail of the disappearance is known, right up to the colour of the spats the judge wore. But nothing seems to be known about the cab. What kind of car could that have been? And wouldn’t it have been possible to track it down? How do they know he got into a taxi at all? The case was officially closed in 1979, so we will most probably never know, but it seems a missed opportunity. Or should we really think in complot theories?
(Photo collection Jeroen Booij)