The mysteries of the Alaska Triangle

In a place known as the Alaska Triangle, 20,000 people have disappeared over the past 50 years. Despite incessant searches, it seems that all of them have been have completely vanished.

Some talk about abductions, time vortexes, bigfoots, carnivorous gnomes and other mysteries. But what does science say?

No place in the world has such a high rate of disappearances: 1 in 4 people have disappeared in the Alaska Triangle. Much more so than in the Bermuda Triangle, which made generations tremble with the disappearance of ships and planes.

The Alaska Triangle is a vast extension to the west of the American state, very close to the North Pole. It passes through four of the state's regions: much of Juneau and Yakutat, Anchorage and Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow).

It is such a disturbing place that most American tourists avoid it. Their fears are founded by the many disappearances and because it is difficult to travel through the cold lands.

Many stories surpass reason. They are not explained only by the complex geography of the area. In addition to the people who seem to have been swallowed by the earth in this place known as "the middle of nowhere", there is also no explanation for the disappearance of aircraft without a trace.

In 1972, the area aroused the world's curiosity after the disappearance in the city of Anchorage of a plane carrying American politicians. One of the victims was Thomas Hale Boggs, leader of the United States House of Representatives.

Can ice and snow erase even the last traces of a person? And even a whole airplane? For 39 days, 40 military and 50 civilian aircraft combed 32,000 square miles. But nothing was ever found. Absolutely nothing. No remains of the plane, no signs of life, no clothes... simply nothing.

In 1950, a military boat carrying 44 passengers disappeared. Nothing was ever found.

In 1990, a Cessna 340 plane disappeared along with 5 people. It vanished without a trace.

In this area of Alaska, about 400 people disappear without a trace a year. Explorers, mountaineers, logging workers, planes, ships... This has fueled all kinds of theories.

The most sinister stories speak of Kushtaka. A shape-shifting 'otter man' that becomes tricks hikers. It attracts its victims by imitating the cry of a baby and leads them to death.

Unsurprisingly, some talk about the Yeti, Bigfoot or' abominable snowman.  Some have become so obsessed with seeing these mystical creatures that they have lost their lives in the Alaska Triangle in the pursuit of them.

Some believe that it is one of the regions where beings from other worlds carry out abductions with some regularity...

One of the craziest theories speaks of a tribe of ferocious carnivorous gnomes. Sightings of small human-like figures led a team of researchers to an ice cavern that, they say, could be their hiding place...

This is another theory. Negative energy vortices can cause disorientation and hallucinations. And there's some science to this: Electronic readings in Alaska have shown magnetic anomalies. Compasses break, people get dizzy.

Conspiracies and esoteric theories have grown like wildfire. But science has a much more logical and simple explanation.

Alaska is not only a huge state, it is also almost unpopulated. It has an area of 1.73 million square km, and only 730,000 inhabitants. When someone disappears, looking for them is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Its dense forests, steep mountains, more than three million lakes, thousands of caves, ice, icebergs, wild animals... attract explorers and adventurers. It is easy to have an accident. And because of the cold, drowning bodies sink, not float, making them harder to find.

If a person or a plane goes missing, it snows most of the year in most of the Alaska Triangle. Snow will cover any remains in a few days. If it occurs in an area of dense vegetation, even without snow, it will also be hidden.

The disappearances are real: 20,000 people in 50 years. But the explanation is also quite rational: in such a depopulated area with so many dangers, if something happens to you, it is almost impossible for to be found.