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Subject:
Missing children/ Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, 1974- 1980
Category: Reference, Education and News > Teaching and Research Asked by: rha-ga List Price: $10.00 |
Posted:
09 Jun 2003 18:38 PDT
Expires: 09 Jul 2003 18:38 PDT Question ID: 215323 |
List of names of all children under ten reported missing in the area of Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, between 1974- 1980, only in the months of June, July, August or September. In reply, please include source of information and specific locations of last appearances of child/children. I believe this question is not answerable through internet research as the time period is before widespread net archiving. I researched it on the net for 10+ hours, tried FBI, missing children sites, Pennsylvania State Police, even called them-- no luck. Likeliest source would be newspaper articles from the Scranton Times or the Tunkhannock Republican and New Age, or maybe the Philadelphia Inquirer. All of which are available only on microfilm for those dates. However, I don't need the whole year information-- only the months of June, July, August and September. I don't want to pay much for a "couldn't find anything" answer, because that will just mean I will have to look through the microfilm myself when I get it on interlibrary loan. However, I will pay $100 for a name with a location and a source that backs it up. | |
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Subject:
Re: Missing children/ Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, 1974- 1980
Answered By: tutuzdad-ga on 13 Jun 2003 13:50 PDT Rated: |
Dear rha-ga; Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to work with you on your quest to find solace in this matter. While I feel a bit odd accepting your reward (and your very generous offering) for what ultimately became speculation of a negative nature, it is refreshing to work for someone who is not only willing to accept no as an answer but to so generously reward the effort it took to come to such a conclusion. I am genuinely pleased that our interaction here has been a positive one for you and that the search itself has provided a measure of resolution. I dont normally become so personally involved with customers but in this instance, because the issue meant so much to you (and since I am an investigative researcher both by nature and occupation) I took special interest in this conflict of yours. It saddens me to know that you have been so tormented by your memories, but it heartens me to know that you are on the road to recovery as a direct result of your experience here. You seem like a very intelligent, sensitive and sincere person and I have no doubt that you will find the peace you are looking for. From an old police offer that has spent his entire adult life witnessing, rationalizing and overcoming the unspeakable, I offer you this to remember in your quest: Bad things DO happen to some good people this is an obvious and unavoidable reality. Nevertheless, and in spite of the relatively small minority of evil people who share it with us, the world remains an immensely magnificent place in which we can all live an otherwise spectacular, productive and miraculous existence. Personally (and this merely my opinion, unrelated to any particular religious belief, though I do have one), I do not subscribe to the notion that everything happens for a reason as if one act is predestined in order to enable some future purpose. What I do believe is that everything that happens to us in our lives, even if it is undesirable, abhorrent, and seemingly unbearable, it still has meaning and value to our character. When these bad, but meaningful things occur in our lives, they often present opportunities to us that we would not otherwise be afforded. To restore order to the spectacular and miraculous life you are going to live from this day forward, you need only to seek these opportunities out and exploit them to the fullest extent possible. If you do, and these opportunities prove advantageous to you, or to someone else, in any way, no matter how small, perhaps your suffering will not be without reward. Clearly, surviving the unbearable is a personal testament to ones strength and character, but to turn the event to your advantage is to control it and claim victory over it once and for all. I wish you the best life has to offer and I welcome your rating and your final comments. I look forward to working with you again under much happier circumstances in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us. Best regards; Tutuzdad-ga | |
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rha-ga
rated this answer:
and gave an additional tip of:
$100.00
It is absolutely impossible for me to express how incredibly helpful Tutuzdad-ga was in helping me with my question. His efforts, his tact, his articulateness, and his concern and compassion were deeply healing, and I consider it a great blessing that I am a human being sharing this same planet with a person of his caliber. To paraphrase my last comment in our correspondence, I am a more whole person because of his questions and answer to my original question, and I believe that the kind of human being that he is, has helped me to achieve greater potential as a human being myself. His help was far beyond any expectations I had for being helped in this matter; it was absolutely outstanding. I am just deeply and sincerely grateful, and I am very enthusiastic about being able to express these feelings not just in words, but in money as well!! |
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Subject:
Re: Missing children/ Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, 1974- 1980
From: mwalcoff-ga on 09 Jun 2003 20:19 PDT |
I'm afraid this is going to be a tough one to answer. My guess is only a small portion of missing-children reports wind up in the newspaper, and I doubt the local police departments have detailed blotters back that far. |
Subject:
Re: Missing children/ Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, 1974- 1980
From: rha-ga on 09 Jun 2003 20:59 PDT |
mwalcoff-ga: I deeply appreciated your comment. I think it's true, that not all missing-children reports end up in the newspaper. What you said about police blotters seems reasonable also. The Pennsylvania State Police barracks in Tunkhannock told me today that they have no record of a missing child for that time period. However, it is such a small area, with really low population (even today Wyoming County has only about 30,000 people) that perhaps some mention of something may have found its way into a local paper back then... who knows, maybe some one will see this question and remember some rumors of something weird going on in Tunkhannock in the 70's... I just want to make sure that I have exhausted all my research options before giving up on getting the facts. If I have to, I'm willing to accept that some things are never resolved... but not until I give it my best effort (which includes some help from researchers like you!!) Thanks again for your comment. |
Subject:
Re: Missing children/ Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, 1974- 1980
From: tutuzdad-ga on 12 Jun 2003 09:30 PDT |
Dear rha-ga: I'm sorry to say that I haven't discovered anything even remotely similar to the events you described, but of course that is not to say that it did not happen. I searched newspapers, keywords, archives and came up empty handed. I disagree with the comment, however that "...only a small portion of missing-children reports wind up in the newspaper" and "...doubt the local police departments have detailed blotters back that far". MIssing children, even in the 70's were often reported in the news especially one that would have been four years old at the time. As for "blotters", these are routinely kept for decades. My own department for example has blotters dating back to the 1930's. Having said that, I recommend you don't give up on these sources based on speculation that they would be useless pursuits. I suggest you approach this from another direction. Seek reports through your local departments about "found human remains", recovered bodies/parts/bones, unsolved homicides, accidental deaths, child abuse, abductions, etc as these incident "titles" or classifications may be how the crime was reported if it was reported at all. Check with the local coroner's office, medical examiner, funeral homes and so on to see if in fact a body was found during this time frame. A retired sheriff or deputy, doctor, nurse or paramedic from this period might also be a good source of information. I am disappointed that I could not have helped you more. I had really hoped to shed some light on your memories from the past. I wish you luck in your search. Regards; tutuzdad-ga |
Subject:
Re: Missing children/ Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, 1974- 1980
From: tutuzdad-ga on 27 Jun 2003 12:01 PDT |
I have not heard back from you and frankly, I am a bit concerned. I hope you were able to sufficiently deal with your issues and that you are able to post a note back to me soon. Regards; tutuzdad-ga |
Subject:
Enormous Thank You
From: rha-ga on 27 Jun 2003 17:47 PDT |
Dear Tutuzdad-ga, Thanks for writing back. I started writing my response, then got a little overwhelmed and found it difficult to face again. But this is what I wrote and didnt quite finish when I got home: I just returned from my week long meditation retreat, and I'd like to share the meditation I had the first night I was there. As I mentioned, I was struggling with a lot of guilt about the idea that I lived and this other girl died. When I closed my eyes and began to meditate, again, I saw her body in the creek, a pretty gruesome sight, and I felt horrified and terrible, as usual. Yet this time, I felt as though the presence of her spirit was still there-- even though her body was no longer whole. As this presence grew stronger, I felt that it was a loving presence, and I felt that far from hating me, she actually loved me and wanted to help me. It might be useful to mention that I am an extremely serious student of meditation and yoga, and although I don't follow any organized spiritual system, I am very dedicated to what could be described as the Buddhist or Taoist goals of letting go of the ego, shedding the constraints of the personality so that out of a space of inner emptiness, there can emerge a radiant communion with the experience of being. I have experienced that kind of radiant communion frequently enough, although for relatively short periods of time, to know that it really does exist. In comparison to this experience, 'normal' life goals like material success are not interesting to me. No doubt, my dedication to these spiritual goals is deeply influenced by the extremity of my life experiences. At any rate, the 'help' that the girl's spirit seemed to be offering me was guidance in the realm of my spiritual endeavors. The overwhelming sense that her spirit was whole even if her body was not, somehow obliterated the sense of horror I have been carrying with me about this experience. Although there is no way to explain it rationally, I feel liberated from the gruesomeness of not just this crime, but the massive crime that was my whole childhood-- because I know that regardless of even the most incomprehensible, reprehensible acts, the spirit always remains intact. Whether in death, or in life. I feel my spirit is whole regardless of what was done to me. In this way, this experience changed from being unbearable and tormenting, to being a kind of gift of knowledge and faith. Not that I would seek such a thing out!-- but because it happened and can't be changed, by abiding with it, and visiting it over and over and over, somehow the gift of its meaning for me finally unfolded. What you said about the meaning of "undesirable, abhorrent, and seemingly unbearable" events is one of the clearest, most powerful explanations I have ever read. I have struggled against the "it's predestined" train of thought which is so prevalent in some of the spiritual recovery literature. The idea that I chose my parents and that I was predestined to be tortured by them in order to develop my soul is a bit of a stretch. On the other hand, who I am is thoroughly shaped by my struggle to overcome my childhood, and I like who I am now. I agree 1000% that to truly repossess the miraculous nature of living, it helps to not only survive and overcome, but to master one's challenges-- to use them to restore order to one's world. As a result of my life experiences, I have come to know, not just intellectually, but actually, that ANYTHING can happen to anyone, anywhere. My openness about talking about my experiences has helped other people to begin looking at their own experiences, and I've been told I have been a source of inspiration in some people's recovery. I think who we ARE is more important than what we SAY, and as a living example of someone who has surmounted the seemingly unspeakable and unbearable, I feel ... a certain peace. --- Well, that was what I wrote when I came back from my retreat. It has such a summing up kind of tone to it, when really, the truth is that I have my moments of peace, and I really do feel like I have much more peace surrounding this experience but this is just one of hundreds and hundreds of horrible experiences I have to accept and fully integrate. I am incredibly lucky to have the resources and support that I have. For what Ive been through, Im incredibly functional and mentally healthy, and I have confidence that I really will be able to achieve my spiritual goals. But, when I look at the amount of time and effort Ive put into my own healing, and the enormous amounts of time, energy and resources my recovery has taken and continues to take, I understand why so many people spend their whole lives living with the pain of their childhoods still locked inside them- because what it takes to overcome it can be more difficult than climbing Mt. Everest. Thats my theory about why the world is the way it is. Experiences like mine may be somewhat on the extreme end of the scale in this country, but by and large, war, rape, torture, and a million lesser injuries to the soul go on day by day, perpetrated by people who are acting out the pain they hold inside them from the injuries their souls received from people who were only acting out the pain of their souls injuries, and on and on this cyclical process just stretches back into history. Pretending that all this pain does not exist is precisely what helps to perpetuate it. I feel good that I am doing my part to heal my pain instead of passing it on. And thats the solution to the problem of violence, it seems to me. So. I really am okay, and because I see my therapist three times a week, and I go to ten yoga classes a week and I let myself cry every day, I am only going to keep getting better. It took me a little longer than I wanted to respond to our correspondence, and I appreciate your concern and patience. Your last note spurred me to sit here and face it, when I had been kind of letting it sit a bit. I guess I just wanted to get to a place where I felt, yeah, I am okay with this memory. And in writing this I realize that, like all my memories, its a process that happens in layers over time, but there is a phase where the initial shock and horror wear off and there is acceptance, and even a different perspective, including seeing gifts it brings and ways that I can see it as contributing to who I am now, in a positive way. I was feeling very euphoric after coming home from the meditation retreat, and now I feel more balanced, and I can see that the process is not finished, but its also no longer the burden that it was. I think most of all I waited to respond because, as I write this, I feel that this experience has really changed me, and I was seeking an answer, some kind of insight into what that change is. But I dont know what that change is, I only know that it is there inside me. I think one of my main tasks now is to find out what that change is, and to grow further and deeper into it. It feels very strong, and balanced, and right. As if I am stepping into a place of truth quite vaster than I ever had access to before. Yeah, if anything, it is that I am much more solid as a human being because I know my own history so much more fully. It has taken years and years over a decade, actually, of therapy and struggle to be in a safe enough space to uncover and sustain the shock of this memory and now I have, with your help. Ten years ago, without the internet, this would have been exponentially more difficult. I started out this search because I felt such a desperate need to find out who she was, but I ended up realizing that I dont need to know who she was in order to know who I am; to know the truth. The truth is, its the kind of world where things like this certainly happen, full of violence and pain; but its also the kind of world where the miracle of a chance for recovery like mine exists as well. If everyone knew the truth of their own lives, and could withstand it and heal it, no one would pass any of it on. Thank you beyond words for all your help. Somewhere in the world, perhaps in the same city or thousands of miles away, I am a more whole person because of your compassion, with renewed faith in what it means to be human and a greater capacity to realize my own potential as a human being. Sincerely, Rha-ga |
Subject:
Re: Missing children/ Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, 1974- 1980
From: tlspiegel-ga on 29 Jun 2003 21:13 PDT |
The following statement by my colleague tutuzdad is very true: "MIssing children, even in the 70's were often reported in the news especially one that would have been four years old at the time." My son went 'missing' in 1978 and was not only front page news for 3 days, but it was also picked up by newswires (AP) and the information and his photo were displayed on the national nightly news with Dan Rather. tlspiegel |
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