Agatha Christie disappeared for 11 days in 1926. Her disappearance began on the night of 3 December, after she left her home in Berkshire following a serious breakdown in her marriage and the recent death of her mother.
Her abandoned car was found near the Silent Pool, a natural spring close to Newlands Corner in Surrey. The incident triggered a huge public search involving police, volunteers, and even prominent crime writers. Newspapers reported the mystery widely, and suspicion briefly fell on her husband, Archibald Christie, who had told her he wanted a divorce.
Christie was found on 14 December at the Swan Hydropathic Hotel in Harrogate, Yorkshire, where she had registered under the name Teresa Neele—the surname of her husband's lover. She later said she had suffered amnesia, but the episode has remained controversial because the precise explanation is uncertain. It is often confused with a disappearance lasting several weeks; the documented period was 11 days.