Weldon Kees
Weldon Kees was a poet who attempted to bridge the divide between Jazz Age experimentation and New Age madness. He was constantly on the verge of making it big. The saddest part about his story is that he disappeared before he became famous. In 1955, he was struggling with his mental health after spending the previous two decades failing to break into the literary scene. He would talk about vanishing off to Mexico and never returning. One day that July, he told his friend “things are pretty bad” and mentioned leaving. After that, he got up and disappeared. The next day, his car was found by the Golden Gate Bridge. He most likely jumped, but others are convinced he went to Mexico since his wallet, sleeping bag, and account savings book went missing along with him. Still, no money was ever withdrawn from the latter, so who knows.
Weldon Kees
Zahir Raihan
There was a point in time when Zahir Raihan was known to millions. A novelist from what then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), he became internationally famous in 1971 with his 20-minute documentary, “Stop Genocide”. Just a month after he rose to fame, Zahir went missing. It’s speculated that he was taken by Pakistani security forces. The most tragic part of his story is that he was only in a position to be kidnapped because he was searching for his missing brother, another famous intellectual.
Zahir Raihan
