At the beginning of 2023 I’ve read an article in Runners World that initially looked funny and even SF from some points. But going through it I have realized that it is a topic that deserves much more attention. Unfortunately, as much as I search for information, no reasonable explanation can be given linked to four disappearances in two years on Madeira Island, allegedly in the same place, of Calheta. At least three of them are heavily linked with the region. My surprise came as I have just visited the island in 2022 and fount it a great place to be, its capital city, Funchal, looks amazing and I did present it here in detail. Since I am also a heavy… runner I am planning to join the MIUT shortly, one of the most popular trails ultraruns from Europe, just to take some more flavor of the island, since I did spend there only one week. In Funchal everybody runs!
Darren Kay, went alone to finish some more running kilometers
Now, I am linking this running staff with the fact that all men that vanished have some things in common, and ultrarunning is one of them! How all started? Well, on 11th of December 2022 an elite 52-year-old UK long distance runner, Darren Kay, was last seen by his partner with whom he did run reportedly 2.5 hours but prefer after this to add some more kilometers alone. He never returns and what is the key catch… nothing, absolutely no trace of him was found. The Madeiran authorities searched him for 10 days, but finding nothing, they have ceased the procedures. One missing… It can happen, right? On an island, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, well… Everything seems to look quite straight forward and since in December the weather is not the friendliest, then we might settle for a consolation that he just was captured by the nature. Is that so…
Gone missing without a trace in Madeira, not normal
Well, Madeira has some brutal landscapes, some extreme conditions, but overall, it is a very friendly and welcoming island. It is located in the European Union so the odds for you to disappear without any trace in this landscape look to be very narrow. In the lectures I have gone through on this topic, I’ve learned that Portuguese people say that deaths and people lost in Madeira’s woods are not that uncommon, but to went missing, without any sign or trace is indeed a strange thing. If the Madeirans say it, then it is something eyebrow rising! For one case, this might not have been a bone-chilling story, but Darren is the fourth person gone missing in less than two years that provides some scary pattern that through our mind in extreme directions: all four are white European males, all four were in a perfect physical shape, all had backpacks allegedly, all were alone at the moment of the disappearance and at least three of them, with a potential fourth link, vanished near Caletha!
The pattern started in Madeira in December 2020
If this is not a pattern, then I don’t know which might be! But… where it all began? On 29th of December 2020, when a young fit German guy, Jascha Paul Hardenberg, 28, sent a message to his friend that he got lost and starting that moment nobody knows what happened. Now, it looks like the guy received the message was not too worried, so he informed the Police hours later. Given the very suspicions disappearance the Police did open a criminal case file, since no trace of him could be found. He was last time tracked in Rabaçal, a trail north of… Caletha, so he wasn’t close to the ocean, as per the clues. He might fell, but he was known to wear a red jacket and a grey backpack, accessories that not only make it difficult to spot something left behind, but a potential body itself. Nothing. Things are not funny, but for now looks like an isolated case. Everything can happen, multiple hypothesis should be considered…
Summer period, still… dangerous? Second went missing, potentially near Calheta
You might add, as in the beginning, the harsh December weather, to give more explanations, but in reality, nothing adds up. Especially that on 7th of July 2021, a period of the year when the weather might be heaven on earth in Madeira, another guy, vanished in the exact circumstances: Michael Kozek, a man from Poland. He was reported to go, around 18:00 – 19:00, to Porto Moniz so to start a trail run training to Calheta. Now, it is not clear where he vanished on the way, but some reports from reddit.com show that his signal was last located somewhere at Pico da Urze. Now, Reddit, as you might now, is at the discretion of everybody that want to write anything, so it is as reliable as a sunken ship, but if it would be true, then it won’t be anyway, since the location is at around 27 kilometers. Allegedly, the signal was spotted at 20:00.
The drama behind the disappearance from the woods
If anybody can imagine that any runner can train in below two hours to run such a distance on such terrain, 27+ km, you might refer to Kilian Jornet or Scott Jurek. The problem is that his brother, and at the same time best friend, Christopher, was hit in the forehead. Not literally, but metaphorical. He did go in Madeira to search for Michael several times, the first happening in the hours after the disappearance, literally being hospitalized because of dehydration. He forgot to eat, drink, sleep, everything! Yah, nobody could explain what happened to the Pole and now we have two guys, vanishing in identical almost conditions, in two different seasons of the year. It is very hard to understand at a first glance why you would want to go for a run, by evening / night through the Levadas, but being there, the impression that the 30 million tourists per year island leaves is that it is one of the most kind and welcoming places on the face of the earth. For these two, it didn’t prove to be so… No trace found, nothing. How can that be? Based on Christopher’s search, even CNN Portugal made a documentary by how the searches and the situation developed. It is in Portuguese, but you might get a grasp of it here.
What happened to Benoit?
Two disappearances near Calheta… and now more and more interest among them. But there is more… Because the documentary was released in early 2022, after one more mysterious happening. A third person gone missing. Oh, was it hard to guess? So here we are… with the topic getting more and more scarry. Same age as the Pole, 35 years, a young white athletic guy, from France: Benoit Way. About him, the situation is even more complicated and far ambiguous, because he didn’t seem to be a runner, actually he was a backpacker, accommodated in Parque das Queimadas, last time heard of by his family, on 31st of August 2021. After, his phone had allegedly gone off. This, according to reports, alerted his family and the police started looking for him, it seems, only four days after his disappearance. Now, the location mentioned is near Santana, a wonderful place in Madeira, quite the opposite side of Calheta… So, this bound doesn’t seem to stand for the moment. But about Benoit there are the least information, and nobody actually knew where he was / heading exactly when he disappeared. He could have been heading for Calheta or could have been in that region, who can tell?
Only tourists? How come no Portuguese went missing in Madeira?
Three in nine months and fast forward, we reach four in less than two years. Wow! Never I had imagined that this can happen there. reading all kind of materials on the web, I found even conspiracy theories regarding fake disappearances to get, somehow, the life insurance policy. I don’t buy that. Because the insurance companies I am very sure, if they had insurance policies, would have investigated far better and we would find out about that, at least about one of the four. Still, nothing. Solid information nobody published, apart massive searches and, once more, I am reinforcing the statement of some Portuguese that explained that people falling, dying, and so on in Madeira is quite common, but disappearing without a trace… well… no! Searching the Internet, I found this video and the guy had a point: how come these four guys, in similar conditions, all foreign, disappeared. Why is there no Portuguese vanished? Normally, it is a good point. But Madeira has 200.000 inhabitants and… almost 30 million tourists / year! Therefore, more likely to have foreigners missing then locals. However, you can imagine that I am partly joking, because everything that happened is far for being remotely normal!
Calheta, a place with nothing suspicious!
There is no evidence as discussed about any of them, I am following the topic mostly out of pure curiosity, but meanwhile, waiting for some outputs, I had investigated a bit what is it with Calheta… And… nothing! I mean, not a scary fact. A quite small port, with an artificial white sand beach and some fancy hotels. I have never visited that region during my stay in Madeira, preferring the east part of the island, therefore it is not necessary something in particular about the place. Which makes the team even more complicated. Now, another fact caught my eye – after the disappearance of Darren, Christopher, Michael’s brother returned to Madeira with the hopes of having found better proofs to locate the body of his sibling. Since December, no update. I guess that inspite Polish police’s efforts, Kozek’s situation didn’t move an inch… Will this mystery persist even more? For how long? Hard to tell! Very hard. But… who knows? Maybe we will have some answers soon. To record four disappearances in two years of four white very fit males on a place like Madeira, can be the subject of a top movie!
Photo: dailymail.co.uk