A sparsely populated area of Alaska home to hundreds UFO and ‘bigfoot’ style sightings has also seen 20,000 people disappear since 1970.
While many have a heard of the Bermuda Triangle, a patch of ocean in the Caribbean known for mysterious airplane and boating disasters, the so-called Alaskan Triangle has managed to slip largely under the public radar, despite having a missing persons rate more than double the national average.
Located between Juneau, Anchorage and the small town of Barrow, the area is reportedly a hotbed of paranormal activity.
Explanations for the strange phenomenon have ranged from everything from alien activity to powerful electromagnetic fields in the area, similar to those found in the Bermuda Triangle.
Local legends refer to a ‘sasquatch’ creature terrorizing towns. This includes one settlement called Portlock on the southern edge of the Kenai Peninsula which was abandoned in the 1950s after villagers were ‘attacked and killed’ by an unknown creature they called the Nantinaq.
Rep Nicholas Belgich disappeared in 1972 along with fellow Rep Hale Boggs, an aide and a pilot on a flight through the Alaska Triangle. It is thought the aircraft crashed though no remains were ever found
In recent years however, the area has been the backdrop to thousands of unexplained vanishings.
Despite being just one per cent inhabited, Alaska has far and away the most missing people compared to any other state with an average of 42.16 per 100,000, according to World Population Review.
The next highest state for missing persons is Arizona with 12.28, double the national average of 6.5 people per 100,000.
One of the first disappearances to pique interest in the Alaska Triangle took place in 1972, when U.S. Reps. Hale Boggs and Nick Begich along with an aide and their pilot disappeared following a suspected plane crash.
The group was traveling from Anchorage to Juneau when they are thought to have gone down, though no wreckage or any bodies were ever found despite almost 40 days of searches.
More recently Shanna Oman, 43, disappeared while visiting a friend in Fairbanks on June 3, 2019. Oman had made arrangements to get a ride home with a friend, but never materialized or returned home.
She left without any belongings or her dog and her disappearance has perplexed authorities who searched for days using helicopters and canine units.
Even experienced outdoorsmen are not safe. In 2011, mountain rescuer Gerald DeBerry, 43, went out with a group in the White Mountains about 70 miles north of Fairbanks to search for a missing woman but never returned from the expedition.
A year later his ATV was discovered with the engine switched off, but no sign of its owner.
Alaska native Shanna Oman was due to return back to her accommodation in Eagle River after visiting a friend on June 3, 2019 but was never seen again
Various conspiracy theories have been posited as an explanation to the mass disappearances in the area.
Field researcher Ken Gerhard told the History Channel that the triangle could be a ‘vile vortice’, a lozenge-shaped area with increased electromagnetic force.
He said: ‘The theory is that these particular areas are supercharged with geo electromagnetic energy and that abundance of electromagnetic energy results in some strange things’.’
A new Discovery documentary has interviewed people with some of the most compelling paranormal experiences. They include Wes Smith who saw ‘very strange’ triangular objects flying without emitting any sound.
He said: ‘It’s like everything you’ve ever been taught has gone out of the window, because how is that possible?’
UFO expert Debbie Ziegelmeyer told the Daily Star that Alaska’s sparse population makes it ‘attractive’ to extraterrestrials.
‘They can pretty much go where they want,’ said Debbie, who is the Star Team Investigator for MUFON . ‘That’s the attraction of Alaska.’
Mountain rescuer Gerald DeBerry vanished in 2011 during a rescue mission despite knowing the area and being trained in outdoor survival
The Alaska Triangle hosts 17 of the U.S.’s 20 highest peaks and boasts half of the nation’s wilderness
MUFON believes that aliens could be trying to spy on the military technology on display across the Alaskan Triangle and points to a rise in UFO sightings since World War Two.
Big Foot has been spotted in the area
According to locals, sasquatches have their run of the land
One of the biggest disappearances was the loss of 44 military personnel aboard a a Douglas C-54 Skymaster en route from Alaska to Montana. Despite one of the biggest joint search and rescue missions by Canadian and American authorities, no trace has ever been found.
Meanwhile, cryptozoologist Cliff Barackman told the outlet that ‘anything, of any size,’ could be hiding in the Alaskan wilderness.
He said: ‘With so much fantastic habitat and so few people to compete with, Sasquatches basically have the run of Alaska’.
