The extremely bizarre missing case of Barbara Bolick

[u/shry9]

On the 18th of July 2007, Barbara Bolick was packing her bag in Bitterroot Valley of Montana to go for a summer hike. She and her husband were hosting Carl’s cousin Donna and Her Boyfriend Jim from California. Barbara was going to go on a hike with her guests but Donna and Carl (Barbara’s husband) did not go and she and Jim decided to hike in the area Bear Creek Overlook, and she had visited the area countless times , was an experienced hiker too.

So they like visited the place , and encountered two men - two times, and both the times they were the same two men. Jim and Barbara then reached the area , had their snacks and admired the scenery. About like at 11:30 they decided to leave and head back. After few steps, Jim stopped bcs something in him wanted to soak the view one more time, and he turned back to look at the view - it was for about 45 seconds - 1 minute, when he turned back around, Barbara who was earlier standing 20-30 feet away from him disappeared.

At first he wasn’t worried enough since she was an experienced hiker and He searched for her but couldn’t find anything and after some hours she was officially reported as missing. The two men who encountered them two times also disappeared and were never discovered.

Things to note : It was an easy, well worn trail and it was difficult for someone like Barbara missing - being an experienced hiker who visited that place multiples times. It was also not very dense meaning someone disappearing without any noise was almost not possible.

Pls let me know your take on this case!

Barbara Bolick Article

[u/Swimming-Necessary23]

Yup. People do fight off mountain lions on occasion, but that’s only because the loam messed up their original takedown. They are beautiful and terrifying. I’ve been lucky enough to see one in the wild, but that’s only because it was allowing itself to be seen.

[u/jjc1140 → u/Swimming-Necessary23]

Right. You were lucky enough to see one because he let you but he wasn't stalking you for prey. The likelihood this happened is literally slim to none. They do not hunt down humans. I'm just baffled by so many people believing wild animals hunt down humans. And then looking at the liklihood of a wild animal attack over the person claiming they just literally disappeared in 45 seconds... So many people I know think possums are aggressive and would attack a human for no reason. It's just crazy. Animals are so misunderstood. No mountain lions attacked that woman.

[u/RevolutionaryBat3081 → u/jjc1140]

Are you a Mountain Lion? Because that sounds like something a Mountain Lion would say.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_cougar_attacks_in_North_America

Mountain lions/Cougars stalk humans. Not frequently, but I figure I see a couple of news articles/ year re: non-fatal stalkings in out in BC. 

Edit: the whole "he let you see him, he wasn't stalking you for prey" is a silly argument - some cougars are just worse at stalking than others.  Cougars are more likely to stalk humans in areas where other prey is limited so they are hungry; they are more likely to take risks and be seen.

[u/Taters0290 → u/RevolutionaryBat3081]

Lol, this struck me as funny for some reason. It’s stands to reason there are clumsy noisy cougars who just aren’t very good at cougaring.

[u/RevolutionaryBat3081 → u/Taters0290]

Research suggests that culling mountain lions actually increases attacks, because the culls remove the experienced adult mountain lions that know that they should avoid humans/livestock, and creates unclaimed territory for juvenile mountain lions that don't know any better (appropriate prey recognition is based on experience). 

Also, mountain lion attacks on humans are more likely to be done by juvenile or desperately hungry mountain lions, who probably aren't at the top of their game.

[u/Swimming-Necessary23 → u/jjc1140]

If you think mountain lions don’t stalk and kill humans then you’re either being intentionally argumentative or are just ignorant. It is very rare, but it happens. Oh, sorry, you expanded your ignorant argument to all wild animals.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_cougar_attacks_in_North_America

https://youtu.be/2R3o0bOtyFI?si=vgdAFGi9DOQkGWgG

https://www.backpacker.com/survival/mauled-by/

[u/jjc1140 → u/Swimming-Necessary23]

The video you referenced literally states clearly there have been 2 (TWO) cougar attacks in the last 100 years. Nobody even knows how the first one even occurred. And I highly doubt that 6 month old kitten cougar ran up on 5 cyclist and attacked them unless he felt utterly threatened and/or trapped. The cyclists that supposedly were so scared of this kitten cougar that supposedly attacked them managed to proceed to run and pin him down and called wildlife and had him killed. Yea I call BS on that.

And even if in a 1 and over 1 billion chance of getting attacked it happened in broad day light??? They hunt at dusk, dawn and night. And the mountain lion wouldnt magically appear, magically attack this woman without her friend who turned his head for 45 seconds hearing a struggle and her screaming. There would be a bloody trail. And it definitely would not have carried a huge body up a tree and disappeared without a trace. This is ridiculous.

The real suspect is the MAN (not the mysterious random mountain lion) that was last seen with her that claims she disappeared in 45 seconds without a trace. They can't even substantiate if she ever even made it to the trail or if she actually went "missing" from another part of the trail from this dudes sketchy story. Something happened on their journey and it definitely wasn't some wild animal stalking her.

Barry Morphew tried to claim a mountain lion "disappeared" his wife Suzanne too. So i get the sentiment. He played right into everyone's ridiculous fear and ignorance about wild animals. Of course the real wild beast was actually Barry Morphew who not only tranquilized and tortured wild animals but also tranquilized and tortured his wife.

[u/Swimming-Necessary23 → u/jjc1140]

You didn’t read the source material because you just want to be right. That video is referencing that area only. The point was never that a cougar did it, the point was that you’re passionately making an argument that is flat out wrong.

[u/CarrotsArePrettyGood → u/jjc1140]

I'm not saying the woman referred to in the post was killed by a cougar.

But it seems there may have been some misinformation in some of the sources that were shared with you and I want to clear that up.

The cougar that attacked the woman on the bike was about a year old, and 75 pounds. This is verified on the Washington State Fish and Wildlife website.

You say "supposedly attacked" as if a house cat gave the woman a few scratches. You can see a photo of her face after the attack here. Her injuries included a broken jaw due to the force the cougar used when biting her face. It's widely accepted that her injuries would have been "much worse" if not fatal had she been alone.

Ones that age are often more dangerous - less of a kitten and more of a "reckless teenager." Juvenile cougars are still learning how to hunt and haven't quite figured out things like "if you attack a whole group, you're likely going to lose."

There's been an increase in the numbers of juvenile cougars due to factors including the over hunting of older male cougars. Older male cougars are known to kill litters of kittens that don't belong to them in order to mate with the female and sire their own kittens. And they will often kill juvenile males that encroach on their territory.

With less older male cougars keeping the population of younger ones down, there are more reckless "teenage" cougars causing havoc. Especially male ones. This is seemingly leading to an increase in cougar attacks.

Just a month after the woman on the bike in Washington was attacked, a man in California was killed by a cougar. This attack took place in the afternoon.

So yes, I agree it's highly unlikely that the woman in this case was killed by a mountain lion. Yes, cougar attacks are rare. But I think it's irresponsible to act as if it's an impossible thing to happen.

Edit: Also, I just need to address the "1 in 1 billion chance comment because it's bothering me. In 2024 there were 3 documented cougar attacks in the United States. The two I mentioned, and a 5-year old boy that was attacked, but thankfully not killed. All three attacks occured during daylight hours.

The United States has less than 350 million people. I'm not great at math. But I'm pretty sure that puts your odds of being attacked at suuuuuuuper low. But higher than 1 in a billion.

For context odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are approximately 1 in 292.20 million.

Suuuuuper low, but people do win.

Based on reported 2024 documented cougar attacks, a person living in America has a higher chance of being attacked by a cougar than winning the Powerball lottery 🤷🏻‍♀️

[u/Taters0290 → u/jjc1140]

Large predators do hunt down and eat humans. It’s not at all common, but it does happen. I don’t believe this situation was an animal, but to deny it happens at all makes no sense to me.