missing boat - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

steelrain · 04-19-2007, 12:14 AM

does anyone remember the name of the boat that dissapped where abody was found on a island burried under rocks

DarkDante · 04-19-2007, 02:12 AM

"The Sara Jo"

mozartpc27 · 04-19-2007, 11:46 AM

My all-time favorite case. My cousin found online somewhere where a Philipino man was found who said he found the wreck and buried the body that he discovered, but my favorite detail of the case is still the one about the unusual pad of paper found inside the grave: a group of 1-inch square pieces of white paper, with a 1/2-inch square piece of silver "paper" between each one, placed so as to be exactly in the middle of the white square it lay on top of.

I'll see if i can find a reference to the philipino man who said he buried the guy, but I'm not sure I believe him, and I could be fairly characterized as desperate to know what that pad of paper was doing in the grave.

mozartpc27 · 04-19-2007, 03:46 PM

For what it's worth, some aspiring writer put together a story around this tragic true story of the missing "Sara Jo," which he spells "Sarah Joe" [I figure at least one of those is wrong, but I supposed the boat might have been named for a girl named Sarah and a guy named Joe]. In it, he reports that John Hanchett, the father of one of the victims (the same man who appears in the UM segment) hired a private investigator named Steve Goodenow to do some more digging. after conducting interviews and doing his own sweep of the island, Goodenow concluded that a crew member of a Taiwanese fishing boat which had been fishing illegally off the island was the one who came ashore and buried the remains, noting that burning small papers is a part of some Taiwanese funerary ceremonies.

Site: http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache...lnk&cd=2&gl=us

Makes sense, and robs the story of all its mystery. Of course, it is onlt a theory; I don't think Goodenow ever identified the specific crew member he thought to have done this. Alas. But I suppose it is nice for the family that they have some answers to the rather baffling appearance of one body ten years after the disappearance of the boat and the five men.

XiaoGouPi · 05-01-2011, 01:26 PM

I am actually Chinese, and I can confirm that the square shaped pieces of paper with tin foil material in the middle are those used in Chinese funeral customs. These are actually called Incense Paper, Incense Money, or Joss paper. What it represents are taels/ingots of silver or gold offerings for the dead in the underworld. The foil is normally a dab of gold/silver in the middle. On why its just a small piece of foil, but not an entire sheet of gold/silver is because in the ancient times most common folk are poor and obviously cant afford to burn sheets of real silver/gold. So, a simple dab of gold/silver on the paper was used to mimic the full gold/silver. Often the paper is folded into the ingot shape too. However, the incense paper is always burnt so as to 'deliver' the money to the underworld. It seems very peculiar to me that these paper were simply buried in the grave. Also, on the notion that a taiwanese ship crew made the grave and left the paper there... well, possible .. but its strange, I dun understand why would anybody carry 'underworld money' around on their ship, and somehow coincidentally have it to be used at that remote island to bury the dead guy ... thats all very weird to me =\

04-19-2007, 12:14 AM	#1
steelrain Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Apr 18, 2007 Location: sacramento Posts: 11	missing boat does anyone remember the name of the boat that dissapped where abody was found on a island burried under rocks

04-19-2007, 03:46 PM	#4
mozartpc27 Vigilante Logician Forum Regular Join Date: Mar 09, 2006 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 924	Update to this case? For what it's worth, some aspiring writer put together a story around this tragic true story of the missing "Sara Jo," which he spells "Sarah Joe" [I figure at least one of those is wrong, but I supposed the boat might have been named for a girl named Sarah and a guy named Joe]. In it, he reports that John Hanchett, the father of one of the victims (the same man who appears in the UM segment) hired a private investigator named Steve Goodenow to do some more digging. after conducting interviews and doing his own sweep of the island, Goodenow concluded that a crew member of a Taiwanese fishing boat which had been fishing illegally off the island was the one who came ashore and buried the remains, noting that burning small papers is a part of some Taiwanese funerary ceremonies. Site: http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache...lnk&cd=2&gl=us Makes sense, and robs the story of all its mystery. Of course, it is onlt a theory; I don't think Goodenow ever identified the specific crew member he thought to have done this. Alas. But I suppose it is nice for the family that they have some answers to the rather baffling appearance of one body ten years after the disappearance of the boat and the five men.

04-19-2007, 02:12 AM	#2
DarkDante Member Senior Member Join Date: Jul 27, 2002 Posts: 1,569	"The Sara Jo"

04-19-2007, 11:46 AM	#3
mozartpc27 Vigilante Logician Forum Regular Join Date: Mar 09, 2006 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 924	My all-time favorite case. My cousin found online somewhere where a Philipino man was found who said he found the wreck and buried the body that he discovered, but my favorite detail of the case is still the one about the unusual pad of paper found inside the grave: a group of 1-inch square pieces of white paper, with a 1/2-inch square piece of silver "paper" between each one, placed so as to be exactly in the middle of the white square it lay on top of. I'll see if i can find a reference to the philipino man who said he buried the guy, but I'm not sure I believe him, and I could be fairly characterized as desperate to know what that pad of paper was doing in the grave.

05-01-2011, 01:26 PM	#5
XiaoGouPi Member Occasional Poster Join Date: May 01, 2009 Posts: 43	I am actually Chinese, and I can confirm that the square shaped pieces of paper with tin foil material in the middle are those used in Chinese funeral customs. These are actually called Incense Paper, Incense Money, or Joss paper. What it represents are taels/ingots of silver or gold offerings for the dead in the underworld. The foil is normally a dab of gold/silver in the middle. On why its just a small piece of foil, but not an entire sheet of gold/silver is because in the ancient times most common folk are poor and obviously cant afford to burn sheets of real silver/gold. So, a simple dab of gold/silver on the paper was used to mimic the full gold/silver. Often the paper is folded into the ingot shape too. However, the incense paper is always burnt so as to 'deliver' the money to the underworld. It seems very peculiar to me that these paper were simply buried in the grave. Also, on the notion that a taiwanese ship crew made the grave and left the paper there... well, possible .. but its strange, I dun understand why would anybody carry 'underworld money' around on their ship, and somehow coincidentally have it to be used at that remote island to bury the dead guy ... thats all very weird to me =\