I'm looking for information about an unexplained death that occurred at Land's end some time in the 1980s. The victim--or suicide--was a teenager by the name of Kurt McFall.

He was found wearing only a pair of pants, and had mysterious injuries on his back as if he'd been lashed with a whip. His car was found on the rocks above.

I can't seem to find anything about this story anywhere. Yet it seems to me to have been sufficiently sensational that someone would remember the details.

-- victoria slind-flor (vikinges@ix.netcom.com), February 27, 2003

Answers

I don't remember that one but I wish there was a record of all the people who were murdered or disappeared out there in the last 30 years because it will be something like at least 50 or 60.

There were quite a few murders out there in the 80s. I very much remember the attractive woman who was murdered out there in the 80s who was slashed about 90 times and who was screaming her head of but no one came to help her though a number of people heard her. I remember that because I had strolled by that exact spot she was murdered not one hour before it happened. The murderer was never caught. I sort of remember another murder near there just a few years later. That murderer was never caught either. I also remember the time a couple of people rushed up to me excitedly which startled me so much I quickly backtracked and picked up a stone in case I had to fight. They were looking for a high school principal from Oakland who had disappeared. He was never found.

And of course, everyone remembers the woman in the mid 90s who got quite a bit of publicity when she disappeared out there and was never heard from again.

There's a number of homeless people who live out there too and no one knows what goes on in their minds either. I know that one homeless guy once told me that if he ever got an opportunity, he would cut any park rangers throat.

It's not really a safe world anywhere. Anyone could be next.

-- Harry (harrymurphy*@bigmailbox.net), February 27, 2003.

I was a good friend of Kurt's. I believe he died in 1984 but it could have been 1983. I do know it was in September just a couple of days after the start of the school year. Still to this day, I shake when I tell this story. He was a very clean cut person, even known as a nerd. I hadn't seen him all summer and the first day of school a friend of mine had seen him and he was dressed differently and had longer hair. It was just so unlike him. So the second day I spent all day trying to find him and never did. Then an announcement came over the speaker that he had been found dead. It hit me pretty hard but that is not the weird part. The next summer vacation I was babysitting for a SF cop's kids and his wife's mother lived in a trailer park in Clayton. Anyway, she was telling me about this weird lady who lived there who only came out at night, was always dressed in black and who stole meat out of people's freezers that were on their porches. She would also leave these really strange letters on people's porches. One day she let me read the letters that they had been collecting and in one of them it described a satanic killing of a young boy by the name of Kurt McFall. I took this information to a teacher that we had both had and she contacted his parents. The cop that I was babysitting for was involved in the raid on the lady's trailer which inside was really gross (blood writing on the walls and faeces on the floor). The last I had heard, she had given the name of some man in the LA area who was the leader but I dont know if anything ever came of it. In the letter she went into detail about them torturing him and then pushing him over the cliff. I know it had to be true because she had no way of knowing any of the information that she knew. I also know that over that summer he had gotten into jousting which was a new thing.

I hope this helps you some. Did you know Kurt?

-- Debbie (deb@scotdeb.com), May 20, 2003.

I was just thinking of Kurt and Googled his name- curious to see if anybody ever found anything out about what happened. I know that the 'Unsolved Mysteries' TV show did a segment on him years ago, but it didn't say much that wasn't already commonly known.

I remember Kurt very well. I was an adult advisor for the Explorer post that he was involved with. He was friends with my cousin as well. Some years ago, my cousin and another post member did some kind of an informal investigation about Kurt's death. I'll contact him and see if they found out anything. It was a big mystery at the time and a great tragedy. Kurt was a fantastic kid and is still missed.

-- Bryan Carroll (bryanc@attbi.com), June 04, 2003.

Hi! I was wondering if there was any other information that was ever found on the investigation by his friends. The story was very gripping and I do remember hearing about it. My grandmother used to warn me away from the Sutro-Land's End area when I was a kid saying bad things went on out there. Any info, please respond. Thanks!

-- Louise Ann Godfrey (laweaselg@hotmail.com), January 21, 2004.