It was on a seemingly ordinary August day that one man disappeared. This man had left for a half-day's trip to the coast by steam train and was never heard from again. Unfortunately, the usual police reports and newspaper ads proved futile in locating this man.
Of course, this was not an extraordinary event in itself because statistically speaking, in the course of any given year hundreds of missing-persons reports are filed with the police. However, despite the large number of reports, the authorities locate only a surprisingly small number of missing persons. Moreover, almost invariably, in the cases where the person of question has been murdered or was involved in a serious accident, some clear evidence as to the nature of the crime remains. Even in cases of kidnapping, there is some clear indication of a motive that eventually becomes apparent. However, for cases that do not fit into the above categories, finding any clues can become a hideously difficult proposition. Even if we were to assume that the argument that this case could be in fact a search for a run-away, then we could assume the same thing for a large number of missing person cases.
Like many other cases of this sort, his case was no exception in the fact that there was a complete lack of clues. Furthermore, regarding this man's whereabouts, although it is still early, we have a rough idea of where he was, but there still have been no discoveries of corpses in the area in which the man was headed. Moreover, I find it rather implausible that the nature of the man's work predisposed him to information that would make him a likely victim of a kidnapping plot. Conversely, someone who runs away normally leaves some sort of clue (verbal or otherwise) as to his intentions, but in this case there was not even the littlest hint of such an intention.
Naturally one might suspect at first, that this could be a case of some sort of illicit love affair, but I find that theory difficult to swallow. Later, I was told by the man's wife that the purpose of his departure was to gather insect specimens. However, when I went to his work place his boss and his coworkers seemed a little disappointed. But, I did notice the following detail: the man's insect killing jar and his net were missing. With this fact in mind, I would have to be a fool to believe that this was some sort of deception created by fleeing lovers.
Apparently, our man could fit the role of a mountain climber; he was carrying a wooden paint box and a canteen with the straps from both items crossed on the center of his chest. Later when the station attendant was interviewed, as best as he could recall the man exited the train at Esu station. Thus, as far as we can ascertain, there were no other travelers, but we cannot say for certain.
The theory that this may have been a desperate suicide fueled by a pessimism for life, had come forth from his coworkers' amateur psychoanalysis. Looking at his life we see that from the time of becoming an adult, he was absorbed in impractical things like searching for insects. Thus, this psychological deficiency had already been evident for quite some time. As for a child showing an unusual liking for entomology, there are some cases where the child has an Oedipus complex, whereby their unfulfilled desires, go unabated and unnoticed and are directed into an alternate medium; in this cases, it is possible that the mans desires were directed into the organization and preparation of insect's corporal remains. Furthermore, entomologists as a whole are often strongly possessive owners of their collections, extremely exclusive, prone to thievery and homosexuality, and are this way not by mere accident. However, from these notions alone it is insufficient to lead us to the conclusion that this was a case of a desperate suicide.
As for "collection mania," there are those who more enchanted by the potassium cyanide inside the killing jar rather than the act of collection itself, and quite often are never able to completely rid themselves of the bizarre attraction… That is as if to say, that that our man did not try to be frank (not even once) about his hobby, like it was some sort of dark hidden thing that he was embarrassed about, that contributed to his eventual demise.
Nevertheless, no one has unlocked the secrets of this mystery, yet. Thus, the truth of the matter is that because no body has been found the matter has been for the most part ignored.
Presently, according to statute no. 30 of the civil code the man will now be officially recognized as dead because no one has been able to shed any light on the reasons of his disappearance in the period of the last seven years.