7. Open Water - The Disappearance Of Tom And Eileen Lonergan
When we see movies like "Jaws", "Anaconda", "Lake Placid", and it's said that these movies were based on actual events, it's pretty hard to fight it. Because movies that are "based on true events" do have some semblance of truth to them, they can be as vague or directly related to an event as they want. When "Open Water" came out, everyone raved about how it was based on real events and no one really argued it, but no one really looked into it either. The movie, a first hand look at a couple who are stranded in the middle of shark infested waters after their scuba group leaves without them, was made to scare audiences and make them rethink their next exotic vacation and how they spend their time there. It could really happen, you know? But it never does, right? Well, Tom and Eileen Lonergan would tell you otherwise, if they had ever been found. On January 25, 1998, the Lonergan's were spending time in Australia after spending the last three years of their lives working for the Peace Corps and decided to go scuba diving. They were left behind, accidently, in the Coral Sea. It took TWO DAYS for the diving company to realize that they were missing when they found their unclaimed bags on the dive boat. Their equipment washed up a few days later, about a mile from the dive site. Also, a fishermen found a dive slate (an underwater chalk board used to communicate on dives) that had the words "please help us, rescue us before we die" scrawled on it. Despite there being several theories regarding their deaths (ranging from suicide to murder to their not even being dead and having staged their deaths), their bodies have never been found and it is still a mystery that has yet to be put to rest.