It’s fairly unusual for a young, healthy man from a small town to go missing without a trace.

But to have two young, healthy men disappear is really an anomaly.But that’s the current dilemma in the Tamaqua area.The first puzzling sequence of events took place on June 2, 2014, on Tuscarora Mountain Road.A van, believed to have been driven by Seth Muskett, 22, was involved in a crash. The vehicle, a Dodge Caravan, reportedly was owned by his mother, Deanna Muskett-Mease.When state police arrived, Muskett was nowhere to be found.Police searched nearby woods of Locust Mountain, thinking perhaps Muskett had become dazed or disoriented. They had no luck finding him.The next day, he was officially reported missing by his mother.Many local residents know Muskett. In fact, he offered his help with Tamaqua volunteers in the group’s free community give-away program.Fifteen months after the crash, Muskett is still missing. His name is being added to national missing person databases, such as LostNMissing.com.More recently, Jesse Farber, 29, went missing on Aug. 11 after placing a frantic phone call to his girlfriend.He reportedly identified his location as the mountain behind the school, presumably Sharp Mountain to the rear of Tamaqua Area High School.Farber seemed to be in great distress, his girlfriend reported.Days of searching have come up empty.Even more confounding, a third young man from Tamaqua area went missing last year. Sadly, he was found murdered in the woods of nearby Blythe Township, a worst-case scenario.Hopefully there will be a happier ending for Muskett and Farber.Although completely unrelated, both cases have similarities.Both disappearances appear to have followed an unusual event, one a car crash, the other a cellphone call pleading for help.Both disappearances seem to involve the same natural obstacle — the heavily wooded mountains that surround Tamaqua.Both disappearances are rooted in an unknown cause.And in both cases, loved ones are sitting at home heartsick, jumping every time the phone rings in hope of hearing good news.We live in an age of advanced technology and seemingly limitless surveillance.We have government satellites overhead and privately owned drones. We have cameras on lamp posts and traffic signals. We have security cameras at mall parking lots, inside stores and on public buildings.We have cameras and GPS systems in our vehicles.And just about every person walking the street is carrying a cellphone with camera and video capability.In fact, we live in an age where a common complaint is invasion of privacyDespite this, it’s still possible for two young men from the same small town to go missing right before our eyes.We’re hoping the same high technology we so often complain about might be useful in bringing these young men home.Anyone with information about either person is asked to call Tamaqua police, 570-668-5000.By DONALD R. SERFASS |

dserfass@tnonline.com