4 runners in the last 2 years have vainished without a trace in Madeira. Is a serial killer to blame?

I watched a Strava video Ben Parkes uploaded yesterday of himself trail running up in the hills in southern Spain, and couldn't help thinking that just one slip and he's falling hundreds of feet to his doom.

Still, it seems amazing that FOUR have gone missing with no bodies found in this day and age of GPS watches and every run posted on Strava.

Maybe Levada da Rocha Vermelha, there is a long tunnel there.

What kind of animals live there that might quickly dispose of an unfortunate new corpse?

On my classic thread about what animals would eat you first if you died outside your house and noone noticed, I proved that squirrels can completely deflesh a pig's head overnight.

So if there are a lot of squirrels there, look for the bones in the trees.

???

Madeira is part of Portugal ,an island around 500km southwest of the country.

Granada has nothing to do with it.

In relation to the vanished runners... it could be a suicide pandemic. Many british runners tend to travel to southern Europe for tourism, train, etc. Maybe they feel depressed thinking about returning to the british dull and boring climate and decide to... be free forever while doing the so-called "fell-running" ?

Humans.

yes. how does a squirrel manage to carry large heavy bones up a tree? perhaps your squirrels are massive.

Yes I know that, just pointing out that I was thinking about the dangers of running on hilly trails yesterday, especially new trails when you are holidaying abroad and probably feeling less careful than you might at home.

That and Brexit.

I understood what you meant. And yes running alone on any mountainous trail is not advisable really. YouTubers like Ben Parkes / Seth DeMoor etc who show themselves doing these lone mountain runs - Seth usually way more extreme - would likely/hopefully have their phone with them and perhaps tracking on, one would hope anyway. Anyone doing runs like that without some form of tracking or communication with them is asking for trouble.

Are any of those missing Madeira runners on Strava?

The upper parts of the island have a very steep topography, and depending on the time of year, can be very wet and foggy. Add the narrow, treacherous and slippery trails, and it’s not far-fetched to think they slipped and fell to their deaths. The thick vegetation and inaccessible nature of the terrain would make it difficult if not impossible to find a body.

But where are the bodies? The bodies aren't being found.

As for squirrels, those MFers can chew the hell out of things. They have gone through hundreds of dollars of plastic trash cans at my place.

There is always alien abduction????

I imagine it went down something like this:

Interesting. I went to Madeira a few years ago and will give my thoughts. Everyone was incredibly hospitable, but I will qualify that statement by saying that I was interacting with natives in their little coastal hamlets, not really spending much time in the city of Funchal. But in terms of being a tourist, some of the most pleasant interactions I've ever had (poncha might have helped).

I want to have more information on what trails each of these runners went missing on. A lot of them are hard to get to if they aren't popular, and also aren't necessarily maintained well. Much of the hiking in Madeira is along old irrigation levadas with tunnels and steep dropoffs prevalent nearer the center of the island.

As for the lack of suspicion of the local police, that might contribute to bodies not being found. The center of the island is not developed at all and so if someone fell in a tough spot to get to I could absolutely see the local police not having the resources/will to try to scale to the bottom of a ravine to try to find a body. This isn't a Colorado 14er scenario. That said, 4/4 not being found (if that's the case) does raise some eyebrows.

This must be where the Tinmen go.