Lost Boys of Hannibal: Inside America's Largest Cave Search

In 1967, the largest cave search in US history unfolded in historic Hannibal, Missouri, the boyhood home of author Mark Twain. Three modern day Tom Sawyers, with no caving expertise but an abundance of bravado, made Hannibal ground zero for a terrifying calamity that would leave its traumatic mark for half a century. Joel Hoag, his brother Billy, and their friend Craig Dowell vanished after exploring a vast and complex maze cave system that had been exposed by highway construction. Fifty years later, their fate remains the ultimate unsolved mystery. "I grew up a few miles from where the Lost Boys of Hannibal disappeared. But I had no inkling of the epic dimensions their story held until I opened the pages of John Wingate's spellbinding book." -Ron Powers, bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer "This book is hard to read but harder to put down. Mr. Wingate writes with a journalist's insight and clarity, a scientist's curiosity, a father's tender heart and a true friend's compassion (the people involved were his friends and neighbors). This true story is amazing, fascinating and heartbreaking. Mr. Wingate honors the boys and all who tried to help them with his respectful analysis of the events. This is a true untold story which deserves to be known and understood." -Mary Beth Maas, Omaha reviewer "Lost Boys of Hannibal takes a caver's bright headlamp to the boys' story, illuminating dark corners and mazy passages of what happened as thoroughly as the people who spent weeks crawling beneath South Hannibal in 1967. Authoritatively researched. What a story this is! Recommended." -Jo Schaper, Speleohistorian