664 // The Missingest Man - Judge Joseph Force Crater

Missing

Crawlspace Media

News, Society & Culture, True Crime

3.7 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 30 April 2026

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this new episode, Crawlspace Media's Tim Pilleri and Lance Reenstierna discuss the mysterious disappearance of the missingest man in America - Judge Joseph Force Crater from Manhattan, New York on August 6th, 1930. This episode was researched by Kathleen Studer. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Force_Crater. https://charleyproject.org/case/joseph-force-crater. www.ancestry.com. www.newspapers.com. https://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/judge-john-force-crater-disappears-aug-6-1930-226690. https://order-of-the-jackalope.com/call-your-office/. https://www.nytimes.com/1960/08/07/archives/case-no-13595-its-thirty-years-later-theres-plenty-of-data-but.html. https://thepublici.blogspot.com/2017/11/calling-judge-crater-chapter-four.html. Finding Judge Crater: A Life and Phenomenal Disappearance in Jazz Age New York : https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Judge-Crater-Phenomenal-Disappearance/dp/081561134X. Check out Quince: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://quince.com/MISSING⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Check out Mint Mobile: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠mintmobile.com/missing⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Main podcast theme by Kevin Macleod. Check out his work at⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://incompetech.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Additional music by David Williams. See his work at⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠http://williamsflutes.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow Missing: IG: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/MissingCSM/⁠⁠⁠. Youtube:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/missingcsm⁠⁠⁠⁠. FB:⁠⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/MissingCSM⁠⁠⁠. X:⁠⁠⁠ https://twitter.com/MissingCSM⁠⁠⁠. Spotify:⁠⁠⁠ https://open.spotify.com/show/0yRXkJrZC85otfT7oXMcri⁠⁠⁠. Apple:⁠⁠⁠ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/missing/id1006974447⁠⁠⁠. Follow Crawlspace: IG:⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/Crawlspacepodcast⁠⁠⁠. TT:⁠⁠⁠ https://www.tiktok.com/@crawlspacepodcast⁠⁠⁠. FB:⁠⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/Crawlspacepodcast⁠⁠⁠. X:⁠⁠⁠ https://twitter.com/crawlspacepod.⁠⁠⁠ Spotify:⁠⁠⁠ https://open.spotify.com/show/7iSnqnCf27NODdz0pJ1GvJ⁠⁠⁠. Youtube:⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/crawlspace⁠⁠⁠. Apple:⁠⁠⁠ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crawlspace-true-crime-mysteries/id1187326340⁠⁠⁠. Check out our entire network at⁠⁠⁠ http://crawlspace-media.com/⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The In today's new episode of Missing, we are speaking about the mysterious disappearance of Judge Joseph
0:44.8	Force Crater from Manhattan, New York on August 6th, 1930. This is an old one, Lance, and wow,
0:54.0	this is a really mysterious case. What do you make of it?
0:56.5	You know how much I enjoy these historical ones, and again, big round of applause, big thank you to
1:02.6	our researcher, Kathleen Studer, for putting this one together. Aside from the guy having
1:07.9	probably the coolest name of anybody that we've covered historically, Joseph Force Crater, this one is right up there.
1:15.5	I mean, it is 1930s. So we're going to be talking about the roaring 20s and what it was like to be in a big city in America at that time.
1:23.4	And we get a little political, too. So there are a lot of layers here.
1:26.1	Okay, so let us know what you think on YouTube or Spotify.
1:30.4	We're going to break quick here for commercial,
1:32.2	and we'll be right back to dive into the mystery of the disappearance of Judge Joseph Forscrater.
2:06.9	Okay. So Joseph Forcercerater was born on January 5th, 1889.
2:10.6	He was 41 years old at the time of his disappearance.
2:12.6	Brown eyes.
2:15.0	Brown and gray hair?
2:21.5	About six feet tall, 180 pounds. Sounds familiar. Dark brown, double-breasted sack coat and matching trousers with green pinstripes, pearl gray spats. This is what
2:28.8	he was wearing when he went missing, Lance. This is quite a dapper description here.
2:34.3	I'm only halfway through it.
2:35.9	Also, he was wearing a straw, Panama, or soft brown hat,
2:41.5	a high white linen collar with a detachable choker,
2:45.7	a yellow gold Masonic ring, a yellow gold square wristwatchwatch with a yellow leather strap and possibly a bowtie.
	...

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