According to Vanity Fair, the fourth season of True Detective was inspired by the disappearance of the Mary Celeste as well as the Dylatov Pass Incident. And while both tragic tales involve people going the way of the dodo, they are each their own deeply disturbing experiences. In what feels like art imitating life, a fictional crime drama is now following in the footsteps of the true crime genre. Here's what we know about these mystifying events.

On Nov. 7, 1872, the British brig Dei Gratia set sail with "seven crewmen and Capt. Benjamin Spooner Briggs, his wife, Sarah, and the couple's 2-year-old daughter, Sophia," per Smithsonian Magazine. A month later they stumbled upon the Mary Celeste, which was completely empty and had set sail 10 days earlier than their ship. It should already have reached its destination, Genoa, Italy. The crew of the Dei Gratia was stunned and confused as the shop was in perfect condition, including its cargo.

Because the ship's cargo was untouched, pirates were ruled out, said Anne MacGregor, a documentarian who launched an investigation and wrote, directed, and produced The True Story of the Mary Celeste. She also ruled out the idea of a drunken mutiny by the ship's crew and a fear of explosion brought on by the possibility that alcohol vapors were leaking from the alcohol-filled casks.

MacGregor determined that what likely happened is, the captain ordered everyone to abandon ship. This was probably due to an issue with the ship's pumps which were found disassembled. Based on the last logs of the ship and where it was found, they theorized that the ship might have been within sight of land though MacGregor is still researching other ideas.