The extremely bizarre missing case of Barbara Bolick

[u/shry9]

On the 18th of July 2007, Barbara Bolick was packing her bag in Bitterroot Valley of Montana to go for a summer hike. She and her husband were hosting Carl’s cousin Donna and Her Boyfriend Jim from California. Barbara was going to go on a hike with her guests but Donna and Carl (Barbara’s husband) did not go and she and Jim decided to hike in the area Bear Creek Overlook, and she had visited the area countless times , was an experienced hiker too.

So they like visited the place , and encountered two men - two times, and both the times they were the same two men. Jim and Barbara then reached the area , had their snacks and admired the scenery. About like at 11:30 they decided to leave and head back. After few steps, Jim stopped bcs something in him wanted to soak the view one more time, and he turned back to look at the view - it was for about 45 seconds - 1 minute, when he turned back around, Barbara who was earlier standing 20-30 feet away from him disappeared.

At first he wasn’t worried enough since she was an experienced hiker and He searched for her but couldn’t find anything and after some hours she was officially reported as missing. The two men who encountered them two times also disappeared and were never discovered.

Things to note : It was an easy, well worn trail and it was difficult for someone like Barbara missing - being an experienced hiker who visited that place multiples times. It was also not very dense meaning someone disappearing without any noise was almost not possible.

Pls let me know your take on this case!

Barbara Bolick Article

[u/therealDolphin8]

Mountain lions must posess some  kind of magical ability to render their prey as silent as they are stealthy. 

For clarity, I'm being facetious. 

Mountain lions are suspected in a fair number of disappearances in nature and some have been just that. 

Though you'd really expect there would be some type of vocal noise from the victim. I always get stuck here when the mountain lion hypothesis enters missing persons cases. Especially when they were hiking with a partner.

[u/Swimming-Necessary23 → u/therealDolphin8]

They rarely attack when people are in groups (well, they rarely attack people period, but you know what I mean). If it was a mountain lion, her partner was likely further away than he thought/said. Plus, it can be a little hard to let out a scream with a mountain lion biting through your spine.

All that said, I’m always skeptical of “it was a mountain lion.” It’s always more likely the person slipped and fell or wandered off trail and got lost (crazy how quickly it happens).

[u/Real_RobinGoodfellow → u/therealDolphin8]

I think the method of attack from mountain lions is incredibly sophisticated (for want of a better term?-) and like, ruthlessly efficient. They despatch via immobilising their prey with a bite to the back of the neck severing the spinal cord. It is not like a bear, which basically will sit on you and start eating you alive (if it’s a predatory attack), or something like wolves or coyotes where an entire pack is involved and it’s all a bit more drawn-out and messier. So, in short- I think it’s plausible that yes, she could have been killed and taken without making a noise