Richey Edwards Last Sighting — Severn Bridge, Wales

On February 1, 1995, Richey Edwards — lyricist and rhythm guitarist of the Manic Street Preachers — disappeared from the Embassy Hotel in London, the day before the band were due to fly to the United States for a promotional tour. His car, a silver Vauxhall Cavalier, was found on February 17 at the Aust service station near the original Severn Bridge, which crosses the River Severn on the border between England and Wales. The keys were in the ignition and the battery was dead, suggesting the car had been there for some time. Edwards was never seen again.

Richey Edwards was 27 years old at the time of his disappearance. He had been suffering from severe depression, alcohol abuse, anorexia, and self-harm — conditions that were painfully visible and which he addressed with unflinching honesty in his lyrics for The Holy Bible (1994), an album of such darkness and intellectual ferocity that it stands among the most harrowing records in British rock. His notorious 1991 incident of carving '4 REAL' into his forearm with a razor blade in front of an NME journalist became one of the defining images of British alternative rock.

Edwards was declared presumed dead in November 2008. No body has ever been found. The Severn Bridge — a suspension bridge carrying the M48 motorway — has become a site of quiet pilgrimage for Manic Street Preachers fans. The remaining band members — James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, and Sean Moore — continued as a trio and have set aside Edwards's share of royalties. His disappearance remains one of the great mysteries of British music.