The Skeleton Key Chronicles

19 hours ago

More than 10 days have passed since Colorado siblings Eliyah and Naomie Parras left their home in the early morning hours of June 11th and disappeared. The brother and sister, ages 15 and 12, are from Evans, Colorado, a community just outside Greeley.

Police say they left at approximately 3 a.m. and were later seen in the area of 37th Street and 23rd Avenue. Very little information about this case, including where the siblings may have been headed after leaving home at that hour.

More than 10 days later and despite more coverage, it seems investigators are still searching for answers. Anyone with information about Eliyah or Naomie's whereabouts is asked to contact Weld County Dispatch.

More info👇 … See MoreSee Less

The Skeleton Key Chronicles

23 hours ago

A family trip to the Great Smoky Mountains to celebrate Father's Day took a devastating turn in June 1969 when six-year-old Dennis Martin disappeared near the Spence Field area of the park. More than five decades later, what happened to him remains unknown.

Dennis was last seen on the afternoon of June 14th near Spence Field, a large clearing along the Appalachian Trail where his family planned to spend the night. According to contemporary reports, Dennis and his older brother had separated while attempting to sneak up on their father and surprise him at a nearby camper's shelter. When the family came back together a short time later, Dennis was nowhere to be found.

His father and grandfather spent hours searching the surrounding area and calling out his name along nearby trails. As the search continued, family members hiked roughly six miles to the nearest ranger station in Cades Cove to report Dennis missing. Rain moved into the area that night, complicating search efforts from the very beginning.

What followed became the largest search operation in the park's history at the time. Roughly 1,400 people eventually joined the effort, including volunteers, military personnel, and Green Berets. Searchers covered miles of rugged mountain terrain, but no trace of Dennis was ever found. Investigators examined numerous possibilities over the years, including reports of an unidentified man seen in the area carrying something over his shoulder, but no explanation has ever been confirmed.

Dennis was also one of the earliest cases entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs). Interest in the case has never really gone away, and over the years it has been the subject of books, documentaries, podcasts, and countless discussions about what might have happened in those mountains. Most recently, Dennis's disappearance was featured in Season 1, Episode 7 of the Hulu series Out There: Crimes of the Paranormal.

More than 50 years later, there are still no answers and no clear explanation for how a six-year-old could seemingly vanish within minutes.

More info👇 … See MoreSee Less

The Skeleton Key Chronicles

1 day ago

Today is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. On the summer solstice of 1990, 21-year-old UCLA student Ronald Steven Baker spent the evening in Chatsworth Park. By the following morning, his body would be discovered inside a railroad tunnel in the hills above the park.
Detectives quickly became interested in the location. The tunnel sat near the former Spahn Ranch, where Charles Manson and his followers once lived. Covered in pentagrams and other occult symbols, the site had long been surrounded by rumors of ritual activity and eventually became known as the "Manson Tunnel."

As investigators learned more about Ron, the case became even stranger. The UCLA astrophysics student had explored several religious traditions, including Wicca, and belonged to UCLA's Mystic Circle, a student group focused on metaphysical studies. The fact that he disappeared on the summer solstice only fueled speculation. Then came another unexpected twist. Before Ron's body had even been identified, his parents began receiving phone calls suggesting he had been taken and could be returned in exchange for money.

The occult theory generated plenty of attention, but detectives eventually uncovered evidence pointing somewhere else entirely. The answers weren't hidden in the symbols painted on the tunnel walls. They were much closer to home.

Ron had spent that evening with his roommates, Duncan Martinez and Nathan Blalock. According to investigators, the pair had devised a plan to kidnap Ron and demand money from his family. Prosecutors later alleged they got the idea after watching a television show featuring a similar plot. Authorities said Ron was lured to the tunnel under false pretenses on the night of June 21st.

What began as an investigation focused on occult rumors, pentagrams, and the summer solstice eventually became a case centered on betrayal by two people Ron trusted. Both men were later convicted in separate trials, bringing an end to a case that began with a summer solstice, a tunnel filled with occult symbolism, and a mystery that seemed to point in every direction except the one that turned out to be true.

Details👇 … See MoreSee Less