A Desperate Mother Thought She’d Found Her Missing Son, But Then People Realized The Dark Truth

Roger Tichborne was young, educated, and rich by 1984’s standards, so it was no surprise when he decided to hit the high seas and become a world traveler. Less than a week after Roger set sail for New York aboard the Bella, however, tragedy struck. The ill-fated transatlantic voyage was reported lost at sea. And among the passengers — the heir to the Tichborne fortune. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Roger never made it around the world... so when he seemingly returned from the dead ten years later, people couldn’t help but be suspicious.

Devastating announcement

After almost a whole year of hoping for the impossible, Lady Tichborne received the news no mother wants to learn — her son had been declared dead. And yet, despite this seemingly final blow, she couldn’t shrug the feeling that not everything was as it seemed. It was desperation that first drove her to place an ad in the newspaper. With the Bella scattered across the Brazilian shoreline and no survivors in sight, the Tichbornes steeled themselves to deal with the unpleasant reality: with Roger dead, who would take care of the family?

A mysterious message

Panicking for her family’s future, Lady Tichborne sought out the help of a clairvoyant. Whatever Lady Tichborne was hoping to get from a psychic reading, nothing could have prepared her for the words that came from the soothsayer’s mouth. “Your eldest son,” she told a mystified Lady Tichborne, “is alive and well.” 

A spark of hope

The psychic’s message came at a time when the public was eager for news about the Bella wreck. Rumors were already swirling that some of the crew had been rescued by a passing ship. And now that a psychic had claimed it was so, people couldn’t help but start to wonder... who else may have been spared? No one clung to this spark of hope more than Lady Tichborne.

The stakes are raised

Refusing to grieve any longer, Lady Tichborne put her sorrow to one side and did what she knew she must. Her first stop — the papers. The hastily written advert stated that a “handsome reward” would be given to anyone who knew anything about Roger’s whereabouts. The stakes were high. And so, with visions of possibly seeing her beloved son alive, she didn’t hold back in the rest of the ad.