Walter Springer Lawton, 64, vanished during a short walk near Nescopeck Creek in White Haven, Pennsylvania, on June 7, 1971. He and his wife were visiting the area with plans to buy a cabin; Walter, a retired Temple University mathematics professor who had left work early because of Parkinson’s Disease, left the cabin about 3:00 p.m. wearing a white mesh t-shirt, dark plaid shorts and slippers or sandals. He wore wire-rimmed eyeglasses and had a previously broken left wrist.

A large search followed involving the Pennsylvania State Police, Civil Air Patrol, the Game Warden and personnel from the Tobyhanna Army Reserve Barracks. Search dogs picked up his scent from the cabin to a railroad bridge overpass on the road to Mountain Top, Pennsylvania, where the trail abruptly ended. Despite exhaustive searching, no trace of Walter was ever found and his disappearance remains unsolved; he was declared legally deceased on June 7, 1978.

What did readers in the White Haven area remember about that June afternoon or the railroad overpass that might help explain how a clear scent trail could stop so suddenly?