Top 10 Famous Disappearances

You almost have to give it to Marcus Schrenker. If police are right, the 38-year-old Indiana businessman faked a distress call while piloting a small-engine plane before secretly parachuting to safety near Birmingham, Ala. while his plane coasted on auto-pilot, later crashing in Florida's Panhandle. You get all that? Well, it gets better.

He then approached a pair of small-town Alabama police officers to ask for help — soaking wet, wearing flying goggles and claiming he'd been involved in a canoeing accident. By the time authorities figured out who he was, Schrenker had fled the motel where police had kindly dropped him off. What's more? He got away on a none-too-inconspicuous red motorcycle. Police arrested him two days after the crash at a Florida campground. And to think, the elaborate scheme, if true, began as a way to avoid financial ruin. Let's hope Bernie Madoff doesn't get any ideas...

The following disappearances are just as bizarre, if not as easily explained.