Updated Dec. 17, 2023 at 11:35 a.m.
On December 17th, 1976, Australian prime minister Harold Holt disappeared after going for a swim. He was never heard from again.
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How did Harold Holt go missing?
The Prime Minister of Australia from 1966-1967, Holt was an avid outdoorsman and loved to swim in the ocean near to where he lived Portsea, Victoria. On the morning of December 17, Holt woke up in Portsea, called his wife, and went to the store. That afternoon, he suggested to friends that they all go for a swim in a particularly unsafe part of the beach. His friends stayed close to the shore, but he went deeper and was pulled out to sea.
Was Harold Holt murdered?
Although a massive search party was conducted, Holt's body was never found and he is presumed to have died. Conspiracy stories have since spread, some saying he had committed suicide, or was a spy for the People’s Republic of China.