"... It is close to the 40th anniversary of the unsolved disappearance of Australia's 17th prime minister, but the conspiracy theories will not go away.
The sensational disappearance of former prime minister Harold Holt, off a remote Victorian beach in December 1967, captured the world's attention.
But the lack of a body led to an avalanche of wild and persistent theories about Mr Holt's exit.
Many ascribed to Cold War scenarios - others had more earthy tones that he had faked his death.
Some theorists were so earnest they put pen to paper and alerted authorities, with the best letters now online after being released by the National Archives.
On December 17 of that year, Mr Holt went missing in rough seas whilst swimming at a favoured spot, Victoria's Cheviot Beach.
Police soon concluded it was an accidental drowning of an experienced swimmer in dreadful conditions, a theory that was confirmed in a belated Victorian coronial inquest in 2005.
But something did not quite add up for the conspiracy theorists.
A letter from an American lawyer, dated the day after Mr Holt's disappearance, reads: "My hunch from fragmentary press reports is there's a better-than 50 per cent chance that Mr Holt's death was not accidental, but resulted from expert sabotage, probably foreign."
It is a sample of the Cold War theories which can now be found on the National Archives website.
[ ... ]
"The most outrageous theory was the Chinese submarine," he said.
"It's long since been demonstrated that there was no way a submarine could have operated in those waters off Cheviot Beach.
"Anyway as [his wife] Zara Holt said, Harold Holt didn't even like Chinese cooking." ..."
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