Gone With The Wind: The Abduction of Joan Gay Croft

Located in north-western Oklahoma, the small town of Woodward had a population of fewer than 6,000 residents in 1947. Typically quiet and unassuming, it was the kind of place where little ever disturbed the rhythm of daily life. That changed irrevocably on April 9th of that year—a day that would cast a long shadow over the county’s history.

A telephone strike had left Woodward effectively cut off from the outside world, an unfortunate twist of fate that prevented residents from receiving warnings of an approaching catastrophe. A massive tornado had already torn through Texas and was now barrelling toward the town, unseen and unheard.

With no time to prepare, Woodward was caught completely defenceless. The storm proved devastatingly lethal, killing 107 people and injuring more than 1,000 others. When it finally passed, the town lay in ruins—homes, businesses, and lives reduced to rubble by one of the deadliest tornadoes in Oklahoma’s history.

Among the residents living in Woodward at the time of the disaster was a 4 year old girl from one of the town’s long-established families. Her name was Joan Gay Croft.

Joan was the daughter of Olin and Cleta Croft, who owned and operated a sheep ranch in the area. She also had an older sister, Geraldine—8 years old at the time—from her mother’s first marriage.

Joan was known as an extremely shy child. When asked her name, she would simply point to a family member and let them answer for her. If a visitor came to the house, she would retreat behind her mother’s dress, clutching the fabric and refusing to be seen.

On that fateful evening, the sky darkened abruptly in the middle of the afternoon, and an unnatural stillness settled over the town. Birds fell silent, the wind seemed to vanish, and the sky took on a strange, unsettling hue—an ominous calm before the storm.

As the wind intensified—soon reaching speeds of up to 200 miles per hour—driverless cars were hurled down the streets, and trees were ripped from the ground. Terrified families huddled inside their homes, bracing themselves against the onslaught.

Windows exploded inward, glass scattering through rooms as children’s hysterical screams filled the air. It was unlike anything the town had ever endured before—a force of nature both sudden and overwhelming.

When the storm finally passed, survivors emerged from the wreckage and made their way to a designated gathering area inside Woodward General—the town’s only hospital. What greeted them was beyond comprehension. Mangled bodies lay scattered throughout the town; some victims had suffered catastrophic injuries, while others had been fatally struck by debris carried on the wind.

Residents would later describe the aftermath as resembling the site of a bombing—an entire community reduced to devastation in a matter of moments.

The tornado would ultimately be recorded as the deadliest in Oklahoma’s history.

The Croft home was completely destroyed. Ohlin had sustained serious injuries and was rushed to a hospital in Oklahoma City and tragically, a wall had fallen on his wife Cleta, taking her life.

At around 9:30pm that night, Joan and her sister Geraldine had been found by a neighbour and taken to the hospital. Fortunately, they were alive and were placed by the staff in cots located in the basement of the hospital, out of the way of the critical patients being treated upstairs.

With the town plunged into darkness, Woodward General Hospital operated by candlelight alone. Amid the chaos, Joan’s aunt Ruth—herself a resident of the town—rushed to the hospital in a frantic search for her family. She carefully navigated through crowds of the injured and the grieving until, at last, she found her nieces, Joan and Geraldine.

Joan had survived with relatively minor injuries: a ten-inch splinter of wood lodged in her left knee and several shallow cuts across her face. Geraldine, too, bore cuts and bruises from flying debris. Despite their injuries, Ruth felt an overwhelming sense of relief knowing that both girls were expected to recover.

As the frightened children cried out for their parents, Ruth struggled to find the words. She could not bring herself to tell them that their mother had not survived the storm. Instead, she gently reassured them, telling the girls that she knew where their father was and promising she would take them to him soon.

Believing the girls to be safe for the time being, Ruth stepped back into the devastated streets to search for other family members. Eventually, she located her mother and brother. Her mother had suffered severe injuries, and together the siblings escorted her to a hospital ten miles away for treatment.

The following morning, Ruth returned to Woodward to collect Joan and Geraldine. What she found left her horrified. When she reached the hospital basement where she had last seen the girls, only Geraldine remained—and the 8 year old had a chilling story to tell.

Geraldine recalled that sometime around midnight, two men had entered the basement, lifted Joan into their arms, and carried her away as she cried out for her sister. The girls did not recognise the men, but they told Joan they would return later for Geraldine. Amid the confusion and exhaustion surrounding them, most of the people in the basement either failed to notice what was happening or assumed nothing was wrong.

A nurse had briefly questioned the men, asking where they were taking the child. They replied that they were transporting Joan to a hospital in Oklahoma City—120 miles away—where her father was supposedly waiting. With children being moved across the state to reunite families in the aftermath of the disaster, the explanation raised no immediate alarm, and the men were allowed to leave.

Later inquiries would reveal the devastating truth: Joan never arrived in Oklahoma City.

Joan Gay Croft had vanished.

Having been falsely informed that Olin had also perished in the storm, his sister Nellie traveled down from Kansas with the intention of adopting Joan and Geraldine. Upon her arrival, the family was confronted with yet another devastating blow: Joan was missing.

The search for the helpless child was relentless. Family members contacted hospitals across the region, combed through morgues, and followed every possible lead, clinging to the hope that she might still be found. But days passed with no sign of Joan—no records, no witnesses, no answers.

Then, just over a week later, as Ruth and Nellie continued their desperate efforts to locate her, a distressing phone call came through—one that would deepen the mystery surrounding Joan Gay Croft’s disappearance.

A local mortician reported having the bodies of three unidentified young girls in his care, one of whom bore a striking resemblance to Joan. When Ruth arrived at the funeral home, her heart sank as she looked upon the child’s remains—only to realise, with a painful mix of relief and despair, that it was not her niece.

As the mystery deepened, the case drew the attention of the FBI. Agents pursued every possible avenue, following hundreds of leads and visiting orphanages across the country. Despite the exhaustive investigation, no trace of Joan was ever found.

Olin ultimately made a full recovery and spent the rest of his life searching for his daughter. Together with Joan’s grandfather, he travelled from town to town, distributing flyers and appearing on local radio programs in a desperate effort to keep Joan’s name and face in the public eye—but all efforts proved fruitless.

Even after remarrying in 1948 and relocating to Texas, Olin never abandoned the hope that one day he would be reunited with his little girl. Tragically, he passed away in 1986 at the age of 81, having never learned what became of his daughter.

77 years have passed since that tragic night, yet the identities of the men who took Joan remain unknown. Those responsible appeared to know the family, as they specifically asked for “the Croft children.” Why they singled out Joan and left Geraldine behind has never been explained.

Several theories have emerged over the years. Some speculate that Joan may have been taken by well-meaning individuals who, seeing false newspaper reports that both her parents had died, intended to raise her themselves. Others suggest she was abducted by sexual predators who exploited the chaos, or perhaps by members of a child-stealing ring—an organised network that, at the time, was known to target hospitals and sometimes bribed staff to facilitate the removal and sale of children to wealthy families.

Despite the uncertainty, Joan’s loved ones always held onto hope that she survived. If she is still alive today, Joan Gay Croft would be 82 years old.