Legends of the old west. Some ghost stories, some mysterious disappearances, cryptids, and weird places.
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/legends/
An example: a peddler vanished after leaving a particular town. He was last seen passing by a farm. The owner of the farm seems to have come into a bit of money, afterward, but nothing directly connects him to the peddler's disappearance.
A few weeks later, a preacher is riding along the road by the farm, and sees a man standing on the bridge ahead, looking at something beneath the bridge. The preacher's horse shies and gallops away. When he regains control of the horse, he rides to town and tells people what he saw. They all return to the bridge and find that the farmer hanged himself from one of the beams. While taking the body down, they disturb some dirt on the river bank, and find the skeletal body of the peddler.
Speaking of disappearances, the guy who painted the iconic cover of the AD&D 1st edition player's handbook disappeared for years.
His name was David A. Trampier, and he also did the cover for the 1e monster manual, as well as a comic called "Wormy" in Dragon magazine.
Sometime in the late 80's he dropped off the radar. His commission checks for the artwork he did were returned to the company uncashed, so people assumed he had died.
However, he was discovered driving a taxi in 2002.
Here's the Wikipedia article: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_A._Trampier
His reason for disappearing isn't clear. There seems to have been a falling out between him and TSR, but there isn't anything specific.
It is interesting that USA is nowadays capital of the world pop-culture, but "true" American mythology is mostly unknown by wide audience.
Quote from: cavalier973 on April 28, 2023, 11:25:00 PM
Speaking of disappearances, the guy who painted the iconic cover of the AD&D 1st edition player's handbook disappeared for years.
His name was David A. Trampier, and he also did the cover for the 1e monster manual, as well as a comic called "Wormy" in Dragon magazine.
Sometime in the late 80's he dropped off the radar. His commission checks for the artwork he did were returned to the company uncashed, so people assumed he had died.
However, he was discovered driving a taxi in 2002.
Here's the Wikipedia article: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_A._Trampier
His reason for disappearing isn't clear. There seems to have been a falling out between him and TSR, but there isn't anything specific.
Yeah, it was weird. Trampier just stopped. No checks cashed, Wormy stopped updating (a shame, I rather enjoyed it), complete break with TSR and Dragon Magazine. You'd think he'd be happy to dish on TSR if he'd had a falling out, but he wouldn't talk about ANY of it.