Glen and Bessie Hyde Pt. Two

speed records so that they could become famous. But they were making good progress, but then they vanished without a trace, and their abandoned boat would be found in one section of the river, and even though their supplies and all their personal possessions were still inside and the boat looked undisturbed, no trace of Glenn or Bessie could be found. There was an initial assumption that they had drowned or drive

of exposure after wandering through the park, but nothing. The search effort failed to turn up anything, but over the years there would be some weird twists and turns. In nineteen seventy one, there was another river rafting trip that was going through the Grand Canyon and a woman named Elizabeth Cutler told the group that she was Bessie Hyde and that she had killed Glenn and decided to walk out of the canyon on her own and start a

new life under a new identity. But this was pretty much completely debunked as the facts did not line up.

There was another woman, a very famous female whitewater rafter named Georgie White Clark who died in nineteen ninety two at the age of eighty one, and she lived a very private, secretive life, and they wound up finding a copy of gled and Bessie Hyde's Mary Certificate in her possessions following her death, so they looked at the possibility that perhaps she was Bessie, but when they looked at the backstory of Georgie's life, they realized that this just

was not possible. In nineteen seventy six, the skeleton remains of a man with a bullet hole in his head was found inside a boat house belonging to a photographer named Emery Colb who lived in the Grand Canon on the Colorado River, and because he was one of the last people who had seen the hides alive, there was speculation that perhaps he killed Glenn and kept his remains in the boat house, but they completely debunked this idea and realized that the remains likely belonged to a unidentified

man who had shot himself in the Grand Canyon sometime during the nineteen thirties, and because Cold worked for the coroner's office at that time, it's been speculated that because the victim could not be identified, that Colb took his remains home with him and kept them in the boat house and forgot about them for several decades before he died. So, even though this skeleton is not believed to have any connection to the high case, it's still a big mystery

who exactly this John Doe really is. But nearly one hundred years have passed and no trace of Glenn and Bessie has ever been found, so this is still an unsolved mystery. So I couldn't tell you how many times I watched the Unsolved Mystery segment about this story when I was a kid, as I once take this particular episode off of TV and pretty much wore out the VHS.

It may not be the first Unsolved Mysteries episode ever produced, as there were others made before it, which were hosted by Raymond Burr and Carl Malden, but if you decide to start watching the series on Amazon Prime or YouTube, this is the first episode you're going to get. The theme of the episode was four mysterious stories involving a husband and a wife, and it's pretty much a gold mine of some of the most memorable segments Unsolved Mysteries

ever produced. In addition to this case, the episode covers the murder of Shannon Moore by her husband Dave Davis, the unexplained death of Alien Conway, and the disappearance of

Dottie Kaylor. And of course, while there was hope that the exposure on national television might help law enforcement solve the other three featured cases on the show, the Glen and Bessie Hyde disappearance was nearly sixty years old by that point, so the segment was pretty much just there for entertainment, but It's a very well done segment and does not scamp on the production values for the reenactments, as you get to see unedited shots of the actors

portraying Glenn and Bessie going down the dangerous rapids of the Colorado River in a wooden scow, much like the real people did back in nineteen twenty eight. I used to find it incredibly creepy that this couple would completely vanish without a trace, while their supplies and personal belongings were found inside this completely empty, undamaged boat, especially.

off of the scow and they passed away. I think that Glenn was incredibly reckless and Bessie was not experienced, and even on the easy parts of the rapids, they were having struggles where Glenn even was falling off and needing to be rescued from the water. So who's to say that without life preservers, without any of those other things, that it wasn't just simply one of those moments where neither of them were able to actually wrests.

the cruise still remains a mystery. So this is an interesting parallel to that, where all the belongings on the boat are still intact, the boat is still in river worthy condition, but yet Glenn and Bessie are nowhere to be found.

Cutler's so called confession that she was Bessie Hyde. Since the segment put a lot of emphasis on Cutler's confession that she stabbed her husband to death in self defense after he beat her up, it's easy to come away thinking that Glenn Hyde was some sort of abusive brute who dragged his naive, innocent newlywed wife on a dangerous trip against her will, with no regard for her personal safety.

And for whatever reason, this segment gets Bessie's age wrong, claiming that she was only eighteen years old when she was actually twenty two. They made no mention of the fact that Bessie already had one previous marriage and divorce under her belt, which was not very common for a young woman during the nineteen twenties. So she was definitely a lot more worldly and independent than the segment portrayed her,

and pretty much ahead of her time. In fact, Bessie's brother was once quoted as saying she should have been born a man, and he meant it as a compliment.

being a little too confident. Bessie did show a little sign of fear throughout this trip and concern, but it almost seems like Glenn could either comfort her or kind of override that and continue on with this legacy trip that he was hoping to have.

To fully understand Glenn's reasoning for this trip, you have to remember that adventurers were very popular during this time period. It was only one year beforehand when Charles Lindbergh took the world's first solo NonStop transatlantic flight from New York to Paris in his plane the Spirit of Saint Louis, which made him one of the most famous celebrities in

the world. So you can see why Glenn would be tempted to achieve his own fame and fortune by setting a new speed wrecord for river rafting through the Grand Canyon. And I'm sure he loved the idea of putting his wife in the history books by making her the very

first woman to accomplish this feat. And they almost pulled it off because when you look at the hides and known movements and see the location where the empty boat was found, they were only about forty to fifty miles from their destination and on pace to break the speed

record before they vanished. You can understand why there has always been a major fascination with this story, even though in the grand scheme of things, it's not hard to come up with a logical theory about what likely happened to Glenn and Bessie.

So I think this was very much an exciting thing for them. I don't think he forced her. I don't think any of that. I think as a trip went on, it's possible Bessie started to go, WHOA, I might have bitten off more than I could chew here, But again I think Glynn could have probably reassured her and said, hey, we've got this. Like you know, just keep in mind, we're ahead of schedule, we're going to make records, we're going to be in the history books. And to Bessie that's exciting.

But by the time they were getting off that boat, she was leaving him, they were getting divorced, and she'd already found another man, and everything was everything fell apart. It was like a catastrophe. So I think these small, all enclosed spaces can have different results for people. But with just Glenn and Bessie, this tiny little boat and these arduous conditions, I can't imagine the stress that they were both under for sure.

is scares me, or I'm worried. So I think Bessie and Glynn were good to each other. I think they went on this adventure. But when I do think they could fuss hurt each other, I doubt it, But I also think I'm sure there were moments where people saw them kind of at each other like I want to go faster, I need to slow down, this seems too risky for me.

the time. I think that that could breed resentment, and it could breed irritation, And I think you're right Ash, like they did love each other, Otherwise, I don't think she would have agreed to have gone on this adventure. But I do think that things can happen to you, even the healthiest of couples, when you're put into a pressure cooker like this.

out in the wilderness. But I don't think that fits the narrative that like Glenn pretty much forced her against her will to go back on the remainder of the trip. I think she went along voluntarily, and I don't think things escalated into violence where Bessie flat out murdered Glenn and then just took off.

and comparing it with DNA from the remains. So it's quite amusing to watch the Unsolved Mystery segment and see how they handled this situation. In the pre DNA world of nineteen eighty seven, doctor Walter Burkby uses a rather primitive method of superimposing a photograph of Glenn's over the victim's skull in order to conclude that they did not match.

Since a bullet was found in the skull. I can see why people would instantly jump on the theory that Emery Cold murdered Glenn, particularly since Bessy had allegedly expressed concern to him about completing the rafting trip, as this would have been a perfect opportunity for Cold to quote rescue her. But doctor Burkeby pretty much shoots that theory down in his interview and makes a valid point. If Cold committed murder, why would he have kept the damn

body around? L Ay Unsolved Mysteries segment frame things, you get the impression that the hides vanished immediately after visiting Colb's place. They make no mention of their subsequent meetup with Adolph Gilbert Seutro or the abundance of evidence such as Bessie's journal entries which showed that the couple were still alive for at least the next two weeks after

they parted ways with Cole. I guess this was done in order to build the suspense over the idea that Cold murdered Glenn, But once you know all the full facts,

you realize just how absurd this idea really is. In order for Cold to have been the killer, he would need to have traveled around one hundred and forty miles to track Glen down, and instead of disposing of him in the water or somewhere in the wilderness, he inexplicably decides to lug Glenn's body all the way back to his property and store it in the boathouse.

have ended up together or something. So I think that's quite a stretch.

and matched it to the remains from Colb's boathouse. Once it became apparent that Coolb served on the county Coroner's journey at that time, this became less of a case of quote deranged murderer keeps victims remains on his property than quote while meeting citizen keeps an unidentified decedance remains on his property and forgets about them for four decades. It's very likely that Cold decided to take the John Doe's remains home with them, which might seem weird, but

I can understand his reasoning. Since the victim couldnt be identified, he likely would have been buried in a pauper's grave somewhere and been difficult to find, so I think Cold wanted to hold onto the remains on the off chance that the victim's loved ones might come around looking for him someday. Sadly that never happened and we may never

find out the true identity of this John Doe. But the evidence clearly showed that there was no foul play involved in his death, and due to Emery Colb's connection to the Hydes, disappearance, the situation pretty much blew up

into a major misunderstanding. As a side note, I originally covered this story on episode number one twenty one of the Trail Went Cold six years ago, and I soon received an email from one of my listeners who had heard the episode and realized that the unidentified Cold Skeleton was not listed on the Dough Network. So this listener took the initiative to submit all the victims information to the website, and by October the nineteenth of that year

that the seeded finally had his own profile page. And given the remarkable things that have been done with DNA and genetic genealogy these past several years, perhaps the Cold Skeleton will finally get his name back someday.

so they took the initiative to submit him. So put it this way, if Henry Cole had not kept this man's remains in his boat house for four decades, he would not be listed on the Dough Network today. So silver linings.

what happened. The way the segment frames it is that Cutler was dead serious when she told the story and became incredibly defensive when people tried to question her about it, later denying that she ever told the story or even knew who Glenn or best Hide was well. When Brad Dimmick did further research into this angle in Sunk without a Sound, he concluded that the details of Cutler's alleged confession seemed to have been greatly exaggerated by the sound

of things. Since she had worked for many years in the field of psychology, Cutler had a tendency to say outrageous things just to see people's reactions. Since this rafting trip was camped near the spot where the Hide' vote was found and the guide decided to share the story about the disappearance, Cutler probably thought this would be a fun opportunity to troll people and claim she was Bessie Hyde.

One of the members of this group was interviewed on Unsolved Mysteries and he claimed the Cutler was a very serious and quiet person throughout the trip, which is why her story about being Bessie came across as believable. However, when some of the other group members were interviewed for Sunk without a Sound, they described Cutler as a witty, cheerful character who loved to tease everyone, so they just felt that she was joking when she told them that

she was Bessie. I think it's likely that when the legend of her story grew and eventually got blown out of proportion, Cutler tried to deny ever telling it because technically she did confess to committing murder, which joking or not could have landed her in some hot water. But whatever her motivations were, there is concrete evidence that Elizabeth Keutler was born in Pomeroy, Ohio and was living under that identity in nineteen twenty eight when Bessie went missing.

So there's no way that they could possibly be the same person.

became kind of this infamous legend as Bessie. I could get that that's for attention, But when you start to say, hey, I actually killed my husband, I have no qualms telling you that, and I'm Bessie, it seems like one she would get in trouble and I assume she didn't, and two like it boggles my mind that someone would think that was a smart thing to do. We see false confessions all the time, but this doesn't seem like someone

who would be desperate for attention like that. Because she is a professor, I mean she had to work very different, very hard as someone born in the what twenties or no, no, nineteen oh eight, right, yes, yes, Okay, so she's born in nineteen oh eight. This is a woman in the field of psychology that used to be male dominated. She'd becoming a professor also a job that started as a male dominant thing, and she's moving and making waves just

like Bessie did. Why would you kind of regress and say, oh, I'm going to try to get attention by being Bessie and saying I killed someone.

did it. And then you get somebody who says, oh, no, she was a very serious person. That's why we took it very serious. So I think it's just context matters. And the way that somebody relays the story it as we can see with a game of telephone, and like eyewitness idifications, any ear witness identification, any type of recalling

of events, we don't have one hundred percent accuracy. So I think that there is a scenario where she could have been joking and that after she just backpedals like WHOA, Now investigators are coming to ask me about this, I'm just going to deny it.

But you know, if she really was let's say, drinking or being silly or taking someone's comment and twisting it out of jest, and someone else is like, you know what, I'm really going to try to bring her down, then they could start that's you know, spreading the rumor there too.

that showed that Georgie's original birth name was Bessie. It is odd that Georgie would have a copy of that marriage certificate, but when you consider that her life were evolved around river rafting through the Grand Canyon, you'd have to think that she was familiar with the story of the Hide's disappearance, and she probably decided to acquire their marriage certificate as a souvenir, much like the Elizabeth Cutler situation.

The problem with believing that Georgie white Clark and Bessie Hyde are the same person is that there's an actual historical paper trail for Georgie prior to nineteen twenty eight disproving the notion that she had assumed a new identity. And when you consider the fact that Georgie gave birth to a daughter in March of nineteen twenty nine, there's no way Bessie Hide would have been whitewater rafting through the Grand Canyon without anyone noticing she was five months pregnant.

and started a new life somewhere. During their trip, Glenn and Bessie were photographed multiple times and were usually shown smiling, but a number of people have taken note of the fact that the final photo of the couple, taken by Ali about Gilbert Sutro, the last known person to have seen them alive, see some much different picture. So in this picture, Glenn and Bessie looked pretty sullen, almost as if the riggers of their journey had completely sucked the

life out of them. Since Bessie had expressed noticeable concern about embarking on the rest of the trip during her visit with Emery Cole, perhaps there is some truth to the idea that she wanted to bring an end to this and the only way to escape from Glenn was to kill him and leave the area on foot. Well. The problem with this theory is that all of the couple's supplies, including their food, winter clothing, and hiking boots,

were left behind in their abandoned scale. Hiking out of the Grand Canyon in late November or early December is no picnic. So I think that if Bessie took off on her own, she would have at least taken some of the supplies along with her, because otherwise there's no way that she would have gotten out of there alive. No, it just seems likely that when the couple disappeared, they

disappeared together. I know that over the years, Bessie's brother often liked to point of finger at her ex husband, Earl Helmet, since he was known for having a violent temper and had refused to grant Bessie a divorce. Perhaps he tracked down the couple and murdered them in revenge. Earle wound up getting remarried in nineteen thirty, and whenever

he was asked about Bessie, he refused to talk about her. However, there is no evidence at all that Earle was involved in Glen and Bessie's disappearance, or that he even traveled to the Grand Canyon National Park at all. Really, what are the odds that Earl, who lived in an entirely different state, would have been able to track down the couple to a remote wilderness area along the Colorado River.

To put this into perspective, even though the Hydes boat was spotted on the river from the airplane during the search efforts. It was six days before anyone physically made it to that location and found the boat. That should give you an idea of how inaccessible this jagged terrain was. So I'd say the odds of Glen and Bessie running into anyone there who murdered them are pretty much nonexistent.

caused them to drown. After all, all of their supplies and possessions were still inside the scow, which would not

have been the case if they tipped over. But let's not forget that earlier in the journey, the rough rapids had caused Bessie to fall out of the boat before Glenn was able to rescue her, and Glenn also apparently fell into the water on two separate occasions as well, so it's reasonable to assume that this could have happened again, only this time they were not lucky enough to survive.

There's also been this romanticized theory that Bessie fell into the water and let heroically dived into save her, but the two lovers wound up drowning together. According to Bessie's journal, the couple had made it as far as Diamond Creek rapid, which was located at river mile two twenty five, and they were about to enter one of the most dangerous sections of the river, in particular the two thirty two

mile rapid, which has been nicknamed Killer Fang Falls. This is a spot where a pair of large, jagged bedrocks aka the Fangs, protrude from under water at the end of the rapids and they can just sneak up on rafters, as there are numerous documented cases of boats being capsized

or seriously damaged after crashing into them. Considering that Killer Fang Falls is only five miles away from the spot where the Hide's empty scow was ultimately found, it seems like this is one of the most logical spots where they could have fallen into the water. Even though Glen and Bessie were both considered to be excellent swimmers, this was a very rough section of the river, and let's also not forget that Glenn stubbornly refused to carry life

jackets in the boat. If he and Bessie are wearing life jackets at that time, then this is a survivable accident, but without them they may not have made it out of the river alive. This also would have taken place at the start of December, so even if the couple made it to shore, the cold winter temperatures could have caused them to succumb to hypothermia or exposure.

you're going down the river end. I could easily see them getting bucked out of that, standing up at the wrong spot and falling over. But if you're a great swimmer and you get caught up in a current, if you get ripped under and get caught on a log or a branch and the current holds you underneath the water, if you hit your head on a rock, I mean there's a billion things that at that point you can't get back to the surface. Like you said, if we have a life veest on, it's possible to get back

to the surface. But even with that you see people's life fest get caught on logs and actually be held underneath the water. So a million things can go wrong. It is so risky, and especially when it's just the two of you, if one person has to go in after the other, it's like all bets are off. There's no one watching for y'all. There's no one else who can rescue you. So incredibly scary to think about, but

that is by far the most probable thing. I could see Glenn falling in and Bessie trying to save him, and I could also see Bessie falling in and Glenn trying to save her and both losing their lives.

boat and drowned there well. The empty scow continued to float down to where it was found at river mile two thirty seven. It seems odd that the scow could have potentially collided with the fangs without sustaining any damage, but in the book, Dimmick recounts incidents from his trip down the river whereas scow got involved in violent collisions

which failed to leave noticeable damage. Now, I know Glenn and Bessie's bodies were never found, but the Grand Canyon is a large place, the search effort didn't launch until a week or so after the couple went missing, and there's no way to check every single into the Colorado River. But there are two little details in this story which could potentially shed some light on what might have happened

to the couple. You may recall that when Emery and Ellsworth Colb found the scow, its bowline appeared to be fastened in a crevice in one of the rocks and caught on something underwater. Since the brothers were unable to

dislodge it, they decided to cut the bowtline. While the Colbs received some criticism for this decision and later expressed regret about it, because some people believe that the other end of the bowline may have been attached to a body that was stuck in some rocks under water, which is why the boat had cut into a halt at that particular spot. So by cutting the bowline, the Kolbs may have severed their best chance of possibly recovering Glenn

or Bessie. The other interesting detail is the alleged sighting by the prospector of the brown leather jacket floating in the Colorado River. Now, this jacket was never recovered and no one could confirm this sighting was one hundred percent legitimate. But if the prospector was telling the truth, what if he did not just see a leather jacket, but rather a jacket being worn by somebody whose body was floating

down the river. After all, Bessie was known to have worn the jacket on this trip, so this sighting could have very well been the closest edyone ever came to uncovering conclusive proof that the couple drowned.

There's something that's stuck on. The weight is there. So you know, you would think if it's just a rope, it almost would feel like you could have an easier chance of dislodging it. But if there's a weight attached to that rope and then that weight is stuck underneath something like an anchor, a body, something like that, it makes it way harder to dislodge and get that rope pulled out of those rocks. So think of the weight it has on the boat itself and then the weight it has of this object.

surrounding that too. Did we blow it? Because these are two individuals who likely lost their lives in these waters, but they had no way of knowing that.

their legs. Like Bessie is a small person, so maybe she was thinking, this will save me if I get knocked out of the scow and I go overboard, or maybe if Bessie fell in and Glenn decided, I'm going to tie this to my leg so that I can go in and rescue her and hopefully remain tied to the boat but still wound up drowning, and for all we know, maybe if the sighting of the leather jack was legitimate, maybe Betsy's body was floating downstream at that

at a totally different spot. But Glenn was separated from her because he was still tied to the bowline and he was underwater next to the abandoned scow, and the cold didn't even realize it. So when you look at all the evidence, the only explanation which made makes complete sense is that Glenn and Bessie both fell out of the scow and drowned, likely around the two hundred and thirty two mile rapid, and their bodies were simply never recovered.

All the other twists in turns of this story, such as Emery kolbs skeleton and the woman claiming to be Bessie Hyde, are nothing more than red herrings, though they have allowed the legend of the story to live on for nearly a century, and I'm sure this tale is

still told around the campfire in the Grand Canyon today. Obviously, given all the time that has passed, the Highs disappearance is no longer being actively investigated by law enforcement, so I'm not going to advise you to contact the appropriate

authorities in case you have any information. I think the only chance this case will ever have of being solved is if someone happens to stumble upon Glenn or Bessie's skulls remains in the Colorado River somewhere, and with all the advances we've had with DNA technology, remains could be positively identified if this ever occurred. Overall, however, I think it's most likely this story is destined to remain an unsolved mystery. Jules Ashley, any final thoughts on this case?

Robin stop. I did not know who his name his name was, And in my head I just kept thinking, Man, had they made it, would Bessie be the next Amelia Earhart of the rap is right where she's this woman who Glenn even almost gets forgotten, and Bessie becomes this person that I'm reading to my girls about, right about this strong woman who has broken the mold.

their lives together. Which is just this really tragic start to what should have been a really long, adventurous life together and it was cut short.

didn't show up. She goes on to Mary Glenn and they have this amazing adventure planned and I can imagine how exciting it would be, Like this is like climbing a mountain. Like I said earlier, you got this exciting prospect that very few people have been able to accomplish this, and Glenn has made this boat and although I'm sure it was a little bit scary, it was also very exciting. So to think of their mindset at the beginning of

this trip to them disappearing, it's very sad. And then I do think it does get very convoluted when you've got Cutler confessing to being Bessie and murdering her husband, and then Georgie having this marriage certificate and having the name so similar that it can be very compelling. But it's very obvious that these two people were not Bessie. I think that the most likely scenario is that they

perished in this river. I didn't even realize it was one week when they started the search efforts, so those bodies very likely could have surfaced and then gone back down again in that time.

husband and wasn't that enthusiastic about it. But actually she was a very adventurous person who really loved her husband and was hoping to make history, possibly go down in the history books like Amelia Earhart. But unfortunately she became famous for a completely different reason, and that was vanishing

without a trace. Of course, back when I watched this on TV in the eighties, I thought there was some credence to the idea that maybe Bessie was still alive and had killed Glen and had hiked out of the canyon and started a new life under a new identity. Also wondered like if Emery Cole was involved in their disappearances, and what this big mystery was with the skeleton inside

his boat house. But once you do further research into this, you find out that a lot of this stuff isn't as mysterious as as it looks, and that all these angles with like Elizabeth Cutler and Georgie white Clark and the cold skeleton are nothing more than red herrings, and that the simplest explanation is probably the correct one, and Glenn and Besley probably just drowned after falling out of their boat and are still somewhere in the Grand Canyon.

I got to give a shout out to the excellent book Sunk Without a Sound by Brad Dimmick, and Ashley was talking about at the startup part one, how terrifying it sounded, the idea of going down the entire Grand Canyon on the Colorado River on a wooden scow back in the nineteen twenties, and Brad Dimmick decided to recreate that. He took the initiative to build his own scow so that he could try to recreate Glenn and Bessie's journey as accurately as possible in order to figure out what

happened to them. Even though it sounds like a pretty terrifying prospect in modern times to go on such a lengthy trip on such a primitive boat, but it did pay off, and the book does provide an excellent recounting of the events and comes up with the most logical theory about what might have happened. But regardless, this is still a fascinating mystery, and even though a full centuries passed, it has not been forgotten, and I'm sure people won't be talking about it still for centuries to come.

the ten dollars tier. One of the features we offer is a audio commentary track over classic episodes of Saw Mysteries, where you can download an audio file and then boot up the original Unsolved Mysteries episode on Amazon Prime or YouTube and play it with my audio commentary playing in the background, where I just provide trivia and factoids about the cases featured in this episode. And incidentally, the very first episode that I did a commentary track over was

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