The only thing worse than losing a loved one is not knowing where they are, or what happened to them.

History is laced with unsolved cases of people who seem to have simply vanished. The most recent incident is the famous disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 that vanished from the skies, seemingly without a trace, five years ago.

Malaysia Airlines tops TIME‘s list of the five most mysterious and inexplicable instances of disappearances throughout history, so it seems like a good place to start…

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

On March 8, 2014, 200 people onboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished along with the plane.

Despite government officials setting out on what they called an “unprecedented” search by air and sea that involved multiple countries and spanned at least three years, the aircraft and the remains of the 239 passengers remain missing. It’s also still unclear what caused the commercial plane to suddenly veer off course.

During a news conference last summer, following the release of the latest safety investigation report, lead investigator Kok Soo Chon said no cause could be confirmed or ruled out.

D.B. Cooper

Despite committing a very weird plane hijacking and robbery 50 whole years ago, the FBI has not given up on catching D.B Cooper.

I’m going to hand over to Ryan and Shane at Buzzfeed Unsolved to explain this one:

I hope he’s living his best life somewhere.

Jimmy Hoffa

Jimmy Hoffa was a famous labour leader in the States who disappeared in 1975, triggering one of the FBI’s longest-running organised crime cases in Detroit.

Back to the boys for more on this case:

Moral of the story? Don’t get involved with the mob.

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earheart’s story is one of the most well-known in the world. She vanished without a trace in 1937 leaving historians and explorers to try to solve the vexing disappearance of the pioneering American pilot.

Take it away, Ryan and Shane:

Every so often, someone thinks they’ve solved the mystery (here’s an example from last year), but that won’t stop people from looking.

Finally, let’s take a look at the mysterious disappearance of a college student in Bloomington, Indiana:

Lauren Spierer

In 2011, college student Lauren Spierer vanished after a night of partying at a bar in Bloomington in the States.

She was last seen walking alone outside a classmate’s off-campus apartment around 4:30 a.m. on June 3, 2011.

It sparked a national manhunt, prompting several celebrities—including comedian Stephen Colbert and reality star Kim Kardashian—to spread awareness about the young woman’s disappearance on social media.

Almost eight years later and the authorities have been unable to locate her. At this point, the authorities believe that it’s unlikely that she’s alive, but the events that lead to her disappearance, like all of the cases listed here, remains unsolved.

I guess there are some things that we’ll just never be able to explain.

[source:time]