Case file · High strangeness
Andrée's balloon vanishes
On 11 July 1897, S. A. Andrée, Knut Frænkel and Nils Strindberg lifted off from Svalbard in a hydrogen balloon for the North Pole and vanished.
1897 CE · 79.72, 10.90 · status: explained
The account
For 33 years their fate was a mystery and a source of rumours. In 1930 their last camp and bodies were found on Kvitøya, with diaries and undeveloped film that could still be printed.
The sceptical view
Solved: the balloon came down on the ice after two days and the men died on Kvitøya after a long trek.