Chasing Shadows : An Anthropological Expedition of the Hunt for Olle Högbom

Abstract: This essay explores the mysterious disappearance of Olle Högbom from an anthropological perspective. It uses theories of hauntology, ruinology, and simulacra to examine how Olle's absence continues to affect society. The study involves a thematic analysis of online forums and qualitative interviews with Olle’s sister, contrasting public speculation with family narratives, and highlights the enduring presence of Olle in collective memory, illustrating how unresolved disappearances influence society, memory, and everyday life. This anthropological investigation into missing persons provides insights into how spectral presences shape cultural and social dynamics. Employing a blend of ethnographic interviews, content analysis, pictures, and autoethnography, this study paints an intimate portrait of relationships with the absent and examines the liminality of Olle’s existence. Autoethnography in combination with multimodality carries the potential to unearth the unknown and paint an intimate understanding of absence. Olle’s absence is depicted in the first chapter and partially in the third chapter, by presenting an autoethnographic account of the experience of forming relationships with the absent.