Harry Holt Disappears

December 17, 1967 - It was on this day that Australian Prime Minister Harry Holt disappeared into a sea of bubbles, never to be seen again.

Holt spent most of his life in politics and was a member of Parliament for over three decades. His term as Prime Minister was cut short by his apparent death after only 22 months in office. One of his most controversial decisions was to increase Australia's commitment of forces in the Vietnam War. He was a close ally to President Lyndon Johnson, and he famously proclaimed his support for the American mission in Vietnam by saying he was "all the way with LBJ."

On the day he disappeared Holt decided to go swimming at one of his favorite spots, Cheviot Beach. Despite pleadings from his friends not to enter the roiling surf, Holt went for it. Members of his security detail would later testify that a mysterious plume of bubbles surrounded Holt before he slipped beneath the surface. One of the largest search efforts in Australian history would follow but no trace of Holt was ever found.

Speculation over his disappearance runs the gamut from alien abduction to a more common theory that he was picked up by a Chinese submarine and lived the rest of his life in China as a communist spy.