Beaumont Children Disappearance (1966)

In Adelaide, Australia, on 28 January 1966, three children from the Beaumont family, Jane (9), Arnna (7) and Grant (4) vanished from Glenelg beach after taking a bus from their Somerton home 2km away.

Their mother Nancy kissed them goodbye at 10 am and told them to be home by 2 pm. That was the last time she saw them.

When the children got off the bus at Glenelg they were seen by a postman, laughing and holding hands. Later, according to witnesses, they were playing on the beach with a tall, thin-face ‘surfie-type’ man in his 30s.

The children used a £1 note to buy their lunch and ordered for four – Nancy had only given them seven shillings and sixpence.

When the children failed to return home their father Jack and mother Nancy contacted police. One of Australia’s biggest manhunts was launched, and the country was quickly in the grip of fear for the safety of children everywhere.

Police and the media were swamped with reports from people who had seen the children with the ‘surfie’ man (pictured at left), but nothing led to the missing Beaumonts or flushed out their supposed abductor.

A groundswell of public and political demand for a breakthrough even led to Scotland Yard and the FBI becoming involved.

To this day the case remains unsolved and the children unfound.

Many believe they were murdered and yet there is a possibility they are still alive. There have never been any bodies recovered and there is no evidence that they were murdered.