Overview

"In the early hours of November 16, 1959, a commercial airliner mysteriously plunges into the Gulf of Mexico and quickly becomes one of the most baffling mysteries in aviation history. Presumed dead in the wreckage of Flight 967, ticketed passenger Dr. Robert Vernon Spears is alive and well, speeding west on a southern highway, seizing the chance to leave his past behind--a past that defies all belief. But when Dr. Spears' old friend is also discovered missing, a more sinister plot begins to emerge. In the months that follow, the nation is spellbound by bizarre revelations of substituted passengers, hypnosis, deception, and hidden identities--dramatized across the headlines through a soap-opera rivalry between the wives of the two missing men. Each new twist is stranger than the last, as a larger web of political bribery, police corruption, crime, and deception is slowly uncovered. In a feature 1960 cover story, Life magazine concluded it was ""a case so bizarre that even the most imaginative mystery writer would hesitate to use the plot."" Yet, as incredible as this seemed at the time, it was still only a fraction of a much larger story spanning decades--of imposters, society romance, underground abortion rings, Hollywood connections, forgery, aliases, artful dodgers, and naturopathic quackery--with a cast of characters to match. Each player on a trajectory toward involvement, in one form or another, in the Flight 967 enigma. At the center was one of America's most prolific yet mysterious confidence men--a kind man, a gentleman, and a model husband. In a story that has never been told. Until now."

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Reviews

Alan C. Logan's excellent book tells the true story of a mysterious plane crash and the prominent man implicated in the disaster. At the heart of the book is the crash of National Airlines Flight 967, which plunged into the Gulf of Mexico on Nov. 16, 1959. Forty-two people were on board, and less than 1% of the wreckage was recovered. No cause for the crash was ever determined. In the weeks after the crash, the mystery of Flight 967 deepened. Robert Vernon Spears, a nationally known naturopathic doctor from Dallas, had been listed among the victims. But he later turned up alive. Subsequent investigations revealed that someone had used Spears' boarding pass, that his closest friend had vanished, and that the plane may have been brought down by a bomb. Media speculation took it from there. But the biggest revelations concerned the well-respected Spears, who was, in truth, an inveterate con man with a 40-year criminal record--a forger, abortionist, identity thief and medical quack who had spent almost half his life in prisons and who, after quietly serving his time, repeatedly reinvented himself. His involvement in the crash was never proven, though there is evidence of some entanglement. Relying on old news accounts, interviews, genealogy, prison and other public records, Logan has reconstructed Spears' life (he died in 1969). It's as amazing as anything a screenwriter could have concocted. The author has done an excellent job researching the facts and assembling a cogent, detailed narrative filled with colorful characters and all manner of twists. Logan's style--sort of a staccato sentence structure--takes a little getting used to. And he doesn't solve the mystery of Flight 967. But the tale he tells is in some ways more intriguing. Sixty years on, the story of Flight 967 and Robert Spears has been largely forgotten. Logan's effort will appeal to mid-century history and aviation enthusiasts, but more so to anyone who enjoys a good mystery. -BlueInk Review

Alan C. Logan's excellent book tells the true story of a mysterious plane crash and the prominent man implicated in the disaster. At the heart of the book is the crash of National Airlines Flight 967, which plunged into the Gulf of Mexico on Nov. 16, 1959. Forty-two people were on board, and less than 1% of the wreckage was recovered. No cause for the crash was ever determined. In the weeks after the crash, the mystery of Flight 967 deepened. Robert Vernon Spears, a nationally known naturopathic doctor from Dallas, had been listed among the victims. But he later turned up alive. Subsequent investigations revealed that someone had used Spears' boarding pass, that his closest friend had vanished, and that the plane may have been brought down by a bomb. Media speculation took it from there. But the biggest revelations concerned the well-respected Spears, who was, in truth, an inveterate con man with a 40-year criminal record--a forger, abortionist, identity thief and medical quack who had spent almost half his life in prisons and who, after quietly serving his time, repeatedly reinvented himself. His involvement in the crash was never proven, though there is evidence of some entanglement. Relying on old news accounts, interviews, genealogy, prison and other public records, Logan has reconstructed Spears' life (he died in 1969). It's as amazing as anything a screenwriter could have concocted. The author has done an excellent job researching the facts and assembling a cogent, detailed narrative filled with colorful characters and all manner of twists. Logan's style--sort of a staccato sentence structure--takes a little getting used to. And he doesn't solve the mystery of Flight 967. But the tale he tells is in some ways more intriguing. Sixty years on, the story of Flight 967 and Robert Spears has been largely forgotten. Logan's effort will appeal to mid-century history and aviation enthusiasts, but more so to anyone who enjoys a good mystery. -BlueInk Review

Author Information

Alan C. Logan is an award-winning author, historian and social commentator. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, he was educated there through the peak of The Troubles. This cultivated a fine-grained appreciation of the impact of conflict, injustice and inequity on individuals and societies. He graduated magna cum laude from the State University of New York, at Purchase. For ten years, he was invited faculty in the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He has published extensively in scientific and medical journals and is the co-author of Your Brain on Nature (Harper Collins, 2012) and The Secret Life of Your Microbiome (New Society, 2017). His academic writing has focused on mental health, and more recently, the persistence of falsehoods and pseudoscience in the post-truth world.

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