Missing Children and LUFC

By Jonathan D. Whitcomb, cryptozoology author

The tragedy of strange missing-persons cases—that compels me to write about my interpretation of the more mysterious aspects of these disappearances, especially because so many of these lost individuals are children.

In giving this explanation, I don’t mean to imply that all the details in all these cases fit well with my model. Not at all. But many strange aspects of these vanishings become easy to understand with a LUFC (large unidentified flying creature) interpretation. Many of these cases appear to come from attacks from large flying predators, be they huge unclassified birds or ropens (long-tailed modern pterosaurs) or non-ropen Pterodactyloids (short-tailed pterosaurs).

Earlier this month (April of 2016), I was one of those interviewed for a television episode on missing persons in national parks of the United States, in this case Yosemite. This should be broadcast on American TV sometime around the end of 2016 or the beginning of 2017 on the Travel Channel.

David Paulides, author of a number of books about these strange disappearances, apparently has not taken a stand on LUFC (or other explanations involving cryptozoology, as in Bigfoot), but he has noted a  number of similarities in many of these cases of missing persons:

  1. Dogs fail to track or refuse to track the missing person
  2. Some clothing, or one or both shoes, are missing from found person or body
  3. No sign of any struggle and no evidence the victim was dragged away
  4. Body (or living person) is found far from where it would be expected to be
  5. Body is found where searchers had already looked (not finding it before)

The above mysteries are explained below, under the heading “explanations.” Be aware that this is my own theory of LUFC and human disappearances: my own ideas.

Children who go missing

A disproportionately large number of these cases involve missing children. Especially vulnerable are the two-year olds, who are just beginning to become slightly independent.

I have gathered data from the book Missing 411 – Western United States & Canada, by Paulides. I found that small children (under the age of three years old), in these strange cases, are found an average of 7.2 miles from where they became lost. Keep in mind the overall tragedy: many of these little ones are not found and many of those who are found are no longer living.

Children aged three to eight, on the other hand, when they are found, are an average of 5.2 miles from where they became missing. Older children, teenagers, and adults are found at a similar distance away as the 3-8-year-olds.

Many of these areas are rugged wilderness areas, some of them difficult for even experienced adult hikers to get to. Obviously, the two-year-old kids are not just wandering off, hiking up steep mountainous terrain for miles.

Why is a body often found in water?

Mr. Paulides has found many reports in which a missing person’s body was discovered in a lake or other body of water. Coroners often fail to reach a conclusion on cause of death. In addition, much of the evidence shouts loudly at investigators: The missing person was dead before the body got into the water.

In those cases in which the person may have been carried away by a large flying creature, the explanation is not so strange. It has two parts:

  1. Bodies are easier to discover (by searchers) when they are in the water
  2. Large flying creatures are often near water, and they can tire and drop a human body.


1. Dogs fail to track the scent on the ground because a large flying creature has carried the person up into the air.

2. We may have two reasons for missing clothing and shoes. While the person is being carried through the air, the LUFC’s grip may be more on the clothing or shoes. The victim can fall out of the clothing or shoes, leaving the predator flying away with a boot or jacket, etc. In addition, when the predator stops to eat the victim, it may remove clothing. The first explanation appears more reasonable, but some of the details in some cases—those point to the possibility of the second explanation for missing clothing or one or more missing shoes. In addition, the researcher Gerald McIsaac, in British Columbia, where large flying creatures are reported to attack animals and people, says that sometimes a human victim is partially dragged on the ground for a short distance, before being lifted up into the air, and that this causes one or more shoes to be pulled off sometimes.

3. The victim is probably overcome by a noxious mist or vapor used by the flying predator to subdue prey. This mist or vapor is debilitating to inhale. The person is unable to call for help or to struggle against a predator that very soon returns to find that the victim is in a weakened condition. (This may be more like seconds than minutes.) The person is then carried into the air, without leaving much of a drag mark on the ground, or at least for only a short distance.

4. The person is carried in the air towards a location, possibly a cave or other secluded area, where the predator usually takes prey. This is usually far from where a human hiker would be expected to end up.

5. The flying predator may loose track of where the person falls out of clothing. The animal may not be able to find the fallen victim for some time, after discovering that it is carrying only an article of clothing. It may take even more than one day for the flying predator to find the body that was dropped, killing the victim perhaps. The predator may take the victim up into the air again but only for a limited distance, as it stops to rest. Search parties may have already been organized, with many people looking where they would expect that the missing person might be. When they return from a particular search route, they may then find the person’s body at a place where they had already searched. While people are searching for the missing person, the predator may be in the process of moving that person, in degrees, and sometimes losing the intended prey temporarily (or permanently, if people find the person or body).

Report a sighting

If you, or someone you know, have seen a large featherless flying creature, please report the sighting to Jonathan Whitcomb. Thank you.



The ropen and missing persons

A kind of unidentified flying creature has been suggested as the cause of a portion of the missing children cases, for two-year-olds who disappear in or near wilderness areas of the United States and Canada . . .

Two-Year-Old Children Missing


Why the Ropen is a Modern Pterosaur

Eyewitnesses from around the world report a large featherless flying creature with a long tail. These reports of long tails outnumber reports of a lack of a long tail by 20-to-1 ratio: 41% to 2%, according to analysis of data compiled at the end of 2012. Those sightings come from eyewitnesses of various cultures . . .

Missing People and Pterosaurs

Some of the strangest missing-persons cases may relate to a few individual animals of one species of ropen in North America . . . When a person is alone in a wilderness area in the United States, a large hungry ropen may attack, subduing the human by a mist or vapor that is debilitating when inhaled by prey. This may explain why human victims, when found alive, are asleep or unconscious or in a state that rescuers may describe as “confused” or “disoriented.”

Flying creatures and missing persons

From reading only a few dozen pages, I noticed the possibility a rogue ropen may have attacked some persons, although this is still speculative, based upon a small percentage of the living-pterosaur sighting reports that I have received over the past eleven years. A few modern pterosaurs do seem to have gone bad, and an apparent ropen has been known to approach a human through a suspicious dive.


Nonfiction cryptozoology book on non-extinct pterosaurs

Fourth edition of the nonfiction cryptozoology book

Searching for Ropens and Finding God – by Jonathan Whitcomb


Three books for chess players

Buying a Chess Book for a Gift

Hundreds of thousands of books may have been written about chess, over the past three centuries, perhaps more books about the royal game than all sports-books combined. Making a good buying decision for a chess book to be used as a gift, however—that requires care.

What is the chess-skill level of the gift recipient? That’s the big question. Is it a child who has already learned the rules but wants to win a game or two? Beat That Kid in Chess may be the best chess book for that child. Is it a club player who wins about half the time but needs to know a broad range of combinations that lead to checkmate? That intermediate-level player could benefit from the book How to Beat Your Dad at Chess. (By the way, both of those chess books are for a wide range of reader ages, not just for children.)

Three books for chess players


We now look at three very different chess books, for different gift recipients.

Chess for Children

This is not for older children, but it could be delightful for small kids who have adults who’ll read it to them or for second graders. Much of it is devoted to the rules of the game. Here’s one reader-review:

I bought this book for my children’s school library. I am the chess coach at their school and have been making efforts to increase the library’s collection of chess books for children. This book is a fine addition to the collection. As I read through it I thought that my K-2 crew would probably enjoy it more than my 3-5 crew, but so be it. [four stars out of five]

Beat That Kid in Chess

The title was chosen for marketing purposes, for it’s not actually about defeating a child in a chess game: It matters not the age of your opponent.

This chess book is for a wide range of readers: older children, teenagers, and adults. It assumes the reader already knows the rules of chess but not much about how to actually win a game. Here’s part of a reader-review for Beat That Kid in Chess:

Studies show that the study of chess increases your IQ, prevents Alzheimer’s, exercises both sides of the brain, increases your creativity, improves memory, increases problem-solving and reading skills, improves concentration, teaches planning and foresight, and more. Who doesn’t want that for themselves and their loved ones? This book is perfect for someone who knows the basic rules of chess but needs additional help to actually win. . . .

Chess Tactics for Kids

This book is for the third-level of chess skill: the intermediate player who already has the ability to look ahead in a game. Chess Tactics for Kids is not for the real beginner, the person who knows little more than the rules and has had very little over-the-board experience.

Like Beat That Kid in Chess, however, this book is for a wide range of reader-ages. Here’s one of the more-positive reviews for Chess Tactics for Kids:

I found this book a revealing guide to the way top players find chess combinations. Of course there are many books on tactics – one reason this one stands head and shoulders above the rest is because of the quality of the examples, and the logical presentation.



How to Beat Your Dad at Chess

This chess book is extremely popular on Amazon, yet combining the two-star and one-star customer reviews makes 9%, which can be a warning flag if you’re to purchase a book to be used as a gift . . . “This was Not the book I needed to help my 9-yr old grandson advance from the beginning level of chess playing. It is much too complex . . .”

Chess Books – for early beginner and post-beginner

Beat That Kid in Chess may be the best book for . . . the player who knows the rules but not much  else. The concepts taught with large chess diagrams can be understood and enjoyed by readers of a large range of ages . . .

Chess Books – Reviews

This is a set of short book reviews for the following:
* How to Beat Your Dad at Chess
* Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games
* Beat That Kid in Chess

New Chess Book Uses a New Teaching Method

The new paperback Beat That Kid in Chess may be the first publication to systematically use the teaching method called “nearly-identical positions” (PIN). It was also written especially with the “early” beginner in mind.


"Beat That Kid in Chess" back cover

More About “Beat That Kid in Chess”

This book for early beginners in chess—it actually has few competitors, for the vast majority of chess books fit into one of the following two categories:

  1. For tournament competitors (many thousands of books)
  2. For mid-level or advanced beginners (at least many hundreds of books)

Beat That Kid in Chess is for the “raw beginner,” who has little, if any, experience winning a game of chess. It fits into neither of the above two categories. The reading level of the text is teenager-adult, but some older children will have no problem with it. The concepts are presented simply and can be easily assimilated by readers of a wide range of ages, including many children.

From the second page of the introduction:

Trust me. Start at the beginning of the first chapter and progress from page to page. There is no magic formula at the end of the book; don’t bother looking ahead. Well . . . actually, if you’re thirty minutes away from starting a chess battle with that kid, and you have a little experience with checkmates and tactics, you can skip to the exercises at the end. That’s temporary. Otherwise I recommend taking the lessons in order.


white to move and mate in one

White to move (from the first page of the first chapter of the book; the actual diagrams in the book have letters and numerals running along the ranks and files, for clarity and chess notation)


Notice the above diagram, taken from Beat That Kid in Chess. For those acquainted with back-rank mates, moving the queen up to the top of the board might come to mind. The black king, however, would then escape to the nearby white square (it would not be checkmate).

The checkmate pattern taught in this diagram, however, is that the white queen can capture the pawn that’s directly in front of the black king, and that’s checkmate. The book explains:

Were it not for the white bishop, the black king would simply capture the white queen. As it is, this move is checkmate . . .


"Beat That Kid in Chess" back cover




For the Early Beginner, a New Chess Book

‘Beat That Kid in Chess’ may be the best book for the early beginner, the player who knows the rules but not much  else.

Two Great Chess Books, one for Beginners

Both emphasize the importance of tactics in winning chess games. Both are extremely practical, preparing their readers to beat their opponents by checkmate.

New Chess Book for Beginners

Do you know the rules but almost nothing more about chess? This is the best book for the early beginner.

Nearly-Identical Positions in Chess

Why use the NIP method of chess training? . . . students learn to look at a chess position more like a grandmaster would.


queen-vs-rook endgame of chess

Queen Versus Rook – Chess Endgame

The most important key position in most queen-versus-rook end games is the Philidor. The winning technique for this kind of position has been known for centuries, among chess masters and enthusiasts. (François-André Danican Philidor lived from 1726 to 1795.)


queen-vs-rook endgame of chess

Diagram-1 with black to move


The 64-square chess board has four corners, with two Philidor (Q-vs-R) positions possible in each corner, making a total of eight possible appearances of this pattern. We’ll examine it from the perspective with the defending king (black) on g1, shown in Diagram-1.

In this position, black is in zugzwang, meaning that having the move is a disadvantage, with every potential move creating more of a problem for the defender. Let’s look at what black may do.

  • Rh2 (the rook attacks the queen) loses immediately to Qe1-mate
  • Kf1 (the only legal move for the black king) loses quickly to Qh3, winning the rook, for the queen pins it; the black king must then move, for the rook cannot move, after which the queen captures the rook.
  • Several other moves by the rook will allow it to be captured, with NO stalemate
  • Rd2 allows the queen to fork the rook with Qg5+, winning the rook

Let’s look at how white can handle Rb2:

White wins the rook after Qd4 check

Diagram-2 with the potential move Qd4+ winning the rook

After black moves the rook to left, to the b2 square, white can fork the rook and king by moving the queen to the left, to d4. If black moves (instead of to b2) the rook to g7 in Diagram-1, the same queen move shown in Diagram-2 will also win the rook.

What if, from Diagram-1, black moves the rook to c2?

Philidor after black moves Rc2

Diagram-3 after black moves Rc2

In the position shown in Diagram-3, white first moves Qd4+.

Philidor after Qd4+ - chess end game

Diagram-4 after white moves Qd4+

After the queen check at d4, the black king cannot remain on the first rank (with Kh1) without allowing the queen to move to d2, winning the rook. (Of course, if the black king moves to f1 then Qd1 would be checkmate.) Black must move the king to h2:

chess endgame - Philidor queen-vs-rook

Diagram-5 after black moves Kh2

In Diagram-5, white will move Qd6+, quickly winning the rook or getting checkmate.

Black must give up the rook or be checkmated

Diagram-6 after white moves Qd6-check

The winning move is shown in Diagram-6: Qd6+. If the black king moves to the first rank (with Kg1 or Kh1), the queen moves to d1, forking the black king and rook. If the king instead moves to h3, the result is Qh6-mate. This would be a good time for black to resign.

Let’s get back to Diagram-1:

queen-vs-rook endgame of chess

Diagram-1 (again)

What if black moves the rook all the way to the left?

Philidor - Ra2

Diagram-7 after black moves Ra2 (from Diagram-1)

The quickest way for white to win, in Diagram-7, appears to be Qd4+ as shown below:

black cannot move Kf1 because of mate

Diagram-8 after white moves Qd4+

After white move the queen to d4, black cannot get out of check by moving the king to f1 without getting checkmated when the queen then moves to d1. If black now moves the king to h2, the result will be the same as if it moved to h1, we we’ll now look only at Kh1:

The black king just moved to h1

Diagram-9 after black moves Kh1

White now will move Qh8+, practically forcing the black king to g1:

White moved Qh8-check and wins

Diagram-10 after white’s Qh8+

After white checks again, by moving to h8, black’s interposing with Rh2 fails to Qa1-checkmate. Yet if the king moves to g1, then white wins the rook with Qg8+. So we have only two other moves available for black, from the original position of Diagram-1: Rg6 and Rg8.

Black is about to move Rg6

Diagram-11 from the position of the first diagram, black is about to move Rg6

The following are the best defensive moves available to black, from the original position of Diagram-1, the first two of which we have already looked at:

  • Rc2
  • Ra2
  • Rg6
  • Rg8

Here is the position after Rg6:

The rook may look safe, but it's not

Diagram-12 after black’s Rg6

In the above position, white will move Qd4+:

Black cannot move Kf1 because of mate

Diagram-13 after white moved Qd4+

Notice the position in Diagram-13. If black moves to f1, Qd1# is mate. Black has two other choices: Kh1 and Kh2, which lead to the following (keep in mind that the black king cannot ever move to h3 while the white queen is on the above diagonal, the a1-h8 diagonal, or the result would be Qh8 with mate soon following).

  • If Kh2, then Qb2+ and when black then moves the king to g1 or h1 then Qb1+ wins the rook.
  • If Kh1, then Qa1+, Kh2, Qb2+ and white may soon fork the rook and king by Qb1+.

Here’s the final possibility for black:

black just moved Rg8 in this end game

Diagram-14 after black moves Rg8

The position in Diagram-14 may look safe for black. After all, the black king and rook are on opposite colored squares and on the same file and the maximum distance apart. But white actually has to moves that lead to a win here. The quickest way is probably Qd4+.

Philidor queen-vs-rook end game

Diagram-15 after white moves Qd4+

After white moves the queen to d4 (check), the king cannot move to f1 or it will be immediately checkmated. But if the black king moves to h1 then Qa1+ will quickly get a fork for white. Let’s now look at the last line for black: Kh2.

chess Philidor after king moves to h2

Diagram-16 after the black king moves to h2

Let’s look at this position logically. In Diagram-16, we can see one potential way for white to win the rook in the future. It’s by moving the queen to a1, checking the black king when it’s on g1 or h1. That is possible if the queen stays on the long diagonal from a1 to h8. But black is now threatening to move the king to h3, escaping away from the corner. And if white stops checking the black king, it may give the defender time to return the rook to the g2 square, continuing that corner defense.

Is there a move that will keep the queen on that long diagonal and yet stop the defender from moving Rg2 and also stop the king from escaping to h3? Yes there is. It’s Qe5+.

winning the queen versus rook Philidor position

Diagram-17 after Qe5+

After white moves the queen to e5, with check, black cannot move the king to h3 without allowing checkmate from Qh5#. As with many of the checks in this kind of endgame, the defender cannot interpose with the rook without losing it. So the black king must move to g1 or h1, where it will be checked by the queen moving to a1. Kg1 gives no advantage (to the defender) than Kh1, so let’s look at the king moving to h1:

chess position after Kh1

Diagram-18 after the black king moves to h1

Now the queen can move to a1 with check, preparing to make the next move that will fork the black king and rook (Qa2+).

chess position after queen moves to a1

Diagram-19 after white moves Qa1+

Now what if black uses the rook to block check? After Rg1, white would get checkmate by moving the queen to h8. The only other option for black, in the above position, is Kh2.

chess end game position after Kh2

Diagram-20 after the black king moves to h2

Do you see the fork now available to white? It’s Qa2+.

white moved Qa2, check, winning the rook

Diagram-21 white wins the rook by moving the queen to a2 with check

In this last line of the Philidor chess end game (queen versus rook), the black king and rook are forked by the queen. There is no stalemate possibility, so white wins the rook and will soon checkmate the lone king.



Examining the Philidor Pattern

Each of these eight positions is a Philidor [queen versus rook] corner position.

End Game [Chess] of Queen Versus Rook

Let’s examine a particular corner defense in the queen-vs-rook chess end game.

A Chess Combination by Paul Morphy

. . .  regarded by many as the greatest chess player in the world, during his tour of Europe in 1858

The Chess Champion Paul Morphy

At least from his early-middle-aged years until he died in 1884, Paul Morphy reportedly considered chess an amateur activity, not to be pursued as a profession.

A beginner can win a chess game

How this book can help you


"Beat That Kid in Chess" - by Whitcomb

A New Chess Book for Beginners

I [Jonathan Whitcomb] have just published my first book on chess: Beat That Kid in Chess. I’ll quote the first three paragraphs from the back cover of this 194-page paperback:

Do you know the rules but almost nothing more about chess? This is the best book for the early beginner. Whatever your age, feel your understanding grow as you learn to checkmate and also learn to gain many advantages that can lead to a checkmating position.

After the lessons in the first eight chapters, you can see your progress in simple exercises and then in the more-advanced exercises, as you become ready.

How few chess books are for the raw beginner! How few of them concentrate on what the early beginner needs the most! “Beat That Kid in Chess” differs by emphasizing the simple basics that give the biggest rewards, so you’ll quickly make real progress.

Here’s a small part of the Amazon description:

The approach was organized by a professional nonfiction writer who began teaching chess beginners in the 1960’s. He knows what the raw beginner most needs to learn. Of the countless chess books which have been published, very few appear to be carefully written for beginners, perhaps less than 10%. Of those that seem to be for beginners, most are too confusing and more appropriate for lower-ranked tournament competitors.


"Beat That Kid in Chess" - by Whitcomb

Author’s Evaluation (for what it’s worth)

I’ve looked through other chess books that appear, on the surface, to be for the chess beginner. Not one of them impressed me, in how a beginner might benefit in comparison with the benefits possible if certain basic points had been emphasized properly. I pressed forward, with full confidence that my book, Beat That Kid in Chess, could become the best chess book ever written for the raw beginner. Now that my book has been published, I present it as a candidate for being the best such book ever written.

If I am mistaken, through overlooking a better book, please let me know.


One estimate for the number of chess books published (in history) is about 100,000. Probably less than 10% of those were written for the raw beginner, the player who knows the rules but not how to win an actual game. Who can say what is the best chess book for a beginner? But one point can be said for Beat That Kid in Chess: It uses a new method of instruction called nearly-identical positions. This greatly helps the student to see those critical details in chess positions, details that make all the difference.

In the first chapter of the book, Diagram-1 is a position in which White can make an immediate checkmate, capturing a black pawn with the queen. On the next page, however, one piece has been added, and that black queen protects that pawn, preventing White from getting mate.

Those nearly-identical positions are then repeated over and over, with different possibilities that come from those minor alterations. This can save the reader from losing many games over a long period of time. How is that? Instead of learning slowly by the painful experiences of losing many games, the beginner learns those basic concepts from examining those carefully planned chess positions in those diagrams in Beat That Kid in Chess.



Another Voice for the Benefits of Chess for Children

. . . in the United States, a nation that actively promotes sports for the physical development of students but promotes intellectual competition (like chess) much less than European countries promote the game [of chess] in schools.

A New Chess Book for Beginners

Castle early in  the game, to get your king closer to a safe corner

Beat That Kid in Chess

Published September 2, 2015, with a suggested retail price of $13.40 (US dollars)

Chess for Beginners

. . . The above four simple principles, when applied consistently, may allow an early beginner to soon win a game, provided the opponent is also an early beginner.