Yeah, sure, so you all love to talk about The Bermuda Triangle like it’s some big boy of disappearing triple edged polygons, but there are other mystical triangles out there, you know! Special triangles throughout the world just waiting to suck your soul, working day and night, trying so hard to earn their fair share of respect. In fact, some of these sinister geographical shapes are so much more treacherous than The Bermuda, that it’s genuinely inexcusable that they hardly get any attention at all. The Bermuda is like the Eminem of triangles. I mean, I used to think The Bermuda was cool, we all did. But it’s so commercial now, and if someone tells me that it’s their favorite triangle of death, then I’m sorry, but I question their dedication to the whole underground triangle scene in the first place.

You kids ever hear about The Alaska Triangle? Now that’s a freaky picture. Makes The Bermuda Triangle look like Disneyland. Makes the Illuminati Triangle look like a Dorito. It’s freaking massive too, from the southeastern areas around Juneau and Yakutat, up north to Barrow mountain range, then over to Anchorage, slap in the middle of Alaska, basically covering half of the whole state like it doesn’t even care. And weird stuff has happened there, man. What kind of weird stuff, you may ask? Nobody knows. That’s what makes it weird. Stuff just happens, and nobody gets out alive to talk about it. However, there are theories. Theories of monsters and aliens and military conspiracies and pyramids—all the juicy stuff that made The X-Files such a popular show back in the 90s. So get ready, because the stories I’m about to tell you, are going to blow your freaking mind.

15. Roughly 1 in every 250 People Have Disappeared

Since 1988, there have been at least 16,000 people who have evaporated into the mist within The Alaska Triangle, and there are plenty of contradictory reports that claim figures much higher than that. On any given year, from at least 500 to a couple of thousand human beings were last seen in Alaska, and then were never seen anywhere ever again. State troopers conduct literally hundreds of rescue missions every year almost out of habit, and yet they never come back with any evidence that the missing person even existed in the first place. It’s really nice that they keep trying though. Gives the residents some hope, doesn’t it?

Thanks to this spooky triangle of black magic, Alaska’s missing person rate is just about twice the national average, and when considering the state’s entire population (741,894) is less than that of San Francisco’s (864,816), we are looking at around four in every 1,000 people in the area vanishing at some point or another. If you do the maths, that’s one in every 250. You feel lucky?

14. Alaska has the most unsolved missing people cases in the world

Which brings us back to The Bermuda Triangle. While reports are not extensive, it is estimated that a total of 1,000 lives have been lost somewhere in that loosely-defined region over the North Atlantic Ocean, with roughly four aircrafts and 20 yachts vanishing every year. That sounds like a lot, but when considering this Bermuda vicinity is one of the most popular shipping lanes on the planet, it really isn’t that impressive. Allow me to remind you that The Alaska Triangle has been known to swallow more people in one year than The Bermuda’s entire life history, so let us all agree that The Bermuda actually sounds like a really chill place to be.

Which is why Alaska has been crowned the king of missing people, with more unsolved cases than anywhere else in the entire world. Furthermore, Alaska has also won the award for the state with the highest violent crime and sexual assault rate in America, which does make one wonder: what’s in the water over there? Is it mercury? Are you guys drinking mercury over there or something?

13. The Natives Believe that the Otter Demon is to Blame

While logical theories are plentiful, one should always primarily trust the indigenous people of the land when seeking the true answers, as this knowledge has been passed down from generation to generation, infinite wisdom woven into their culture, keeping the legends alive and the children safe. In the case of The Alaska Triangle, people asked the native Tlingit tribe for their thoughts on the matter, and their official statement read: “Everyone is totally being eaten by the Otter Man, you guys!”

“Land Otter Man” being a loose translation for an evil demon they’ve named Kushtaka. According to folklore, this mythical creature can shapeshift into many forms, often imitating the screams of a helpless woman or a child to lure people into its river. It then promptly tears this person to shreds, or sometimes turns them into a Kushtaka themselves, depending on what mood it was feeling on that particular day. But don’t worry, there is a way to ward it off. You pee on it. Seriously, I’m not making that up, that’s truly what the Tlingit tribe will tell you to do. Just pee on it, it scares it away. I fully believe that would work too. 

12. ​Or maybe, it’s aliens?

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. And where there’s any doubt about anything whatsoever, there are alien theories. In all fairness though, conspiracy nuts know that if you want to get a good UFO sighting at this time of year, a holiday in Alaska is a solid bet, as the internet is flooded with blurry photographic “evidence” and first person reports coming directly from this state. It’s an abduction goldmine! However, it was in 1986 that the most convincing and famous of these tales took place…

It was on Japan Air Lines Flight 1628 flying over Alaska, where three crew members (including Captain Terauchi) noticed two oddly shaped crafts flying in front of the plane. Suddenly, these object shone such dazzling lights into the cockpit that Terauchi could “feel their warmth on his face,” and all communication from the plane’s radio became scrambled by static. Eventually, they did manage to transmit a call of help to a confused control tower, who assured these men that there were no strange objects appearing on their radar, even though the pilots were staring right at them. After 50 minutes of these shenanigans, a mothership appeared out of nowhere, sucked the smaller ships up, then zoomed away, never to be seen again. After landing, Terauchi went straight to the press, and was immediately demoted to a desk job, because people don’t like alien talk. It upsets the elderly, and reflects badly on the brand.

11. Or maybe, it’s the peculiar “vile vortex” theory?

Taking it down a notch, is the slightly more scientific (but not really) “vile vortex” theory. Coined by biologist Ivan T. Sanderson, it is a term used to describe certain geographical areas set around our planet which pump out high levels of electromagnetic currents and mess with our reality. That pesky Bermuda Triangle is said to be one, as is Stonehenge, the Easter Islands, all the pyramids, and both of our poles. This bizarre atmospheric energy is like microwaving your brain and everything around you, inducing hallucinations and disorientation, as well as causing all machinery to malfunction immediately, which would neatly explain this whole Triangle issue without any further questions.

Even though there is absolutely nothing proven about this theory, Alaska has been well reported to behave in such telling ways, including the severe disruption of compasses, at times pointing as much as 30 degrees off. Additionally, plenty of residents claim to have heard audio illusions which sound identical to a swarm of angry bees, and I’m just sitting here like, well, maybe there is an angry swarm of bees then? Maybe they’re stealing all the people and turning them into honey? Surprisingly, not the most unlikely theory suggested so far.

10. Or maybe, it’s simply that Alaska is dangerous?

Of course, if you want to be boring and reasonable about all of this, we could consider that Alaska has some of the harshest turf known to man. Around 57 million acres of the state is wild terrain which has never even been touched by human hands. There are around 100 active volcanoes. There are so many bears that you’d scream just thinking about that scene in The Revenant, including 98% of the entire U.S. brown bear population. There are massive mountains and glaciers, whilst the freezing cold weather conditions can drop as low as -40F. So, basically, on a list of things that can kill you, Alaska is like a surprise fun bag of endless options, including the aforementioned highest violent crime rate of any American state too.

Which is why it’s not that far fetched to imagine a happy-go-lucky tourist venturing into a hiking scenario, fully unprepared to dodge a million ways to die, then buried beneath the snow forever. But these logical explanations lack imagination, and I much preferred those scary bits where we spoke about demons and aliens and stuff earlier.

9. There is one final theory…

Around 2005, people began to notice that a large percentage of residents or tourists who went missing in Alaska happened to disappear from the city of Nome. In fact, the numbers became so worrisome, that rumors of a serial killer began to run rampant throughout local topics of conversation, totally ruining the vibe. This loud panic eventually caught the ear of the FBI, who came rushing in to investigate, eager to catch a murderer and show him off to their friends. But they didn’t find one.

Instead, they concluded that it was Nome’s fault all along. You see, Alaska is known to have one of the highest ratio of alcohol-free municipalities in America, but Nome loves to party, which is the very reason why so many people flocked to the city in the first place. So now you had a bunch of drunk visitors wandering off alone, into the woods to take a pee maybe, and then suddenly they get eaten by a bear, or stolen by aliens, or seduced by the Otter-Man, or they pass out and freeze to death, snowed under, gone, added to the list, forgotten already.

8. Ok, but what about that Black Pyramid Legend then?

While nobody really knows what this means or if it even exists at all, there is this obscure legend that a black pyramid twice the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza is buried deep beneath Alaska, around the Mount McKinley area. What’s more, this tale came out as recently as 1992, which means it’s got to be true.

That year, on Anchorage’s Channel 13, three scientists announced that they had accidentally discovered an unexplainable structure below the ground, which they located by using seismic recording equipment. Since this finding, more and more retired anonymous military men have come forward, conveniently refusing to speak to anyone but famed ufologist Linda Moulton Howe, telling her the secret story of some guarded black pyramid. From what I read, it’s reported to be an architectural construction built by an ancient civilisation, with the power to generate enough electricity to supply “not only all of Alaska, but most probably much of Canada also”. Some have further speculated that this pyramid was built by Linda Moulton Howe herself, in her mind, to generate money.

7. Nobody cared about The Alaska Triangle until a politician disappeared

The Alaska Triangle phenomenon only came into mass awareness after Thomas Hale Boggs Sr. (an American Democratic politician and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives) disappeared around the area in 1973. During a flight from Anchorage to Juneau for a campaign fundraiser, his plane and its four passengers simply vanished into thin air, ugh, so typical.

Naturally, because politicians are way more important than normal people, the rescue operation set up to find the plane was the largest search party up until that point. For more than 39 days, 400 military aircrafts and dozens of boats scanned the area with a figurative miniature comb, but they found nothing. No aircraft pieces, no bodies, no Waldo, nothing at all. Which is obviously a terrible story for fans and family of Mr Boggs, but it did wonders for The Alaska Triangle itself! Finally, it got some of the recognition it deserved! That said, there is another side to this specific tale of disappearance we should all sit down and talk about first…

6. This could have been a JFK related FBI cover up though

Even though Hale Boggs was blatantly swallowed up by the Kushtaka monster and everyone knows it, there are still some conspiracy theorists who felt this magical disappearance was a little too convenient for their tastes. According to various internet forum experts who wear tinfoil hats to bed, this crash was arranged, and the wreckage was swiftly covered up, not by the Alaskan snow, but rather, by the secret FBI snow of lies.

The head of the The Federal Bureau of Investigation back then was one J. Edgar Hoover, who Hale Boggs had verbally attacked in 1971,  stating “Over the postwar years, we have granted to the elite and secret police within our system vast new powers over the lives and liberties of the people.” As if publicly insulting the FBI wasn’t already a bit of a careless move, Boggs also often went on record that he strongly doubted that the Kennedy assassination was as simple as the official reports made it out to be. Anything else you’d like to add, Boggs? No, of course not, because you have suddenly disappeared.

5. However, a much bigger incident occurred before any of this

Over two decades before the heated Hale Boggs debate, a much larger plane disappeared into the vacuum of the triangle, and we probably should have started asking more questions back then. The vessel in question was the Douglas C-54 Skymaster serial number 42-72469, a military aircraft, which was carrying an eight-man crew and 36 passengers. These passengers included a civilian woman and her infant son, which always makes it worse. Said plane flew over Alaska and poof.

Not to freak you out or anything, but there were two separate reports of Alaskan UFO activity around this time; the first was a week before the disappearance, and the second was two days after. This did not scare those big army boys, however, and they conducted arguably the largest militant search effort in history up to that point, until they eventually found… nothing! Obviously! This sad event is still known as “one of the largest groups of military personnel to go missing” ever.

4. And each and every year, on and on it goes

Obviously with such an abundance of disappearances, it almost seems unfair to pick the best ones, but here are some of the creepiest: Ellen Gilbert was driving through Alaska with her friend when the car stalled. Ellen’s friend went to go get help, and returned to an empty car. Ellen has been missing since 1995. Or how about Michael Palmer, who foolishly left his house in Alaska, which you should never ever do. He went for a cycle one afternoon, they found his bike by a river, they found his shoes in a nearby field, but no Michael, missing since 1999. Ok, now let’s check on Richard Hills, the man who went for a drive to pick up his wages. They found his car with the keys still in the ignition and his wallet on the front seat, as well as a set of footprints, walking away from the vehicle, leading to an isolated location until the prints just… stopped. Richard’s been missing since 2004.

Weird! But the weirdest of all was when authorities actually found a body in 1979! Finally! Except, the corpse had no identification on it and did not fit any missing person’s description on record, so basically, Alaska had just regurgitated up this human for fun. They never found out who he was.

3. Once in a while, they do find someone though! Well, almost.

Around August 2010, a Branch River Air Service pilot named Marco Aletto figured it would be fine if he took three of his younger colleagues on a flight through the triangle, but he was wrong, and they’re gone, as you would have already assumed. Their exact flight path was known, and an extensive search quickly followed, coming up empty-handed after pilots had clocked nearly 60,000 miles of looking, costing close to a million dollars. Grief-stricken parents begged for the search to continue, offering a $65,000 reward and free gas for any pilot who kept on going, which I only mention to make you feel even sadder.

Five weeks later, a helicopter suddenly noticed the plane’s tail section among other pieces of scrap metal scattered around a narrow stretch of beach. It was an area that the former search parties had already looked over, which lead some to theorize that the plane must have crashed into the ocean and then been washed up to shore. Unfortunately, we will never know, as they couldn’t locate the rest of the plane, let alone any bodies. Still, one of the most successful investigations yet!

2. There is only one good reason to visit the triangle (and it’s not the scenery)

At this point, I think we can all agree that Alaska is a great holiday destination if you want to disappear off the face of the Earth completely. Which, at the end of the day, is probably the most convincing theory above them all, and the most likely scenario behind this state’s peculiar past.

Think about it: if you wanted to escape your life and start a new one, what would be the easiest way to fake your disappearance? Just go to Alaska for a while! Crippling financial debt? Go to Alaska! Spouse annoying you? Go to Alaska! Irreparable sexual reputation? Go to Alaska! If you never come back, literally no one would even think twice about it. They’ll simply add another number to the score board and one person might look out of their window to try and see you, but from that point on, you are free to go wherever you want, presumed dead, nonexistent. I’m not even sure if Alaska keeps missing person reports anymore, it wouldn’t be worth the effort.

1. Popular Culture’s Contribution

The complete disregard to The Alaska Triangle’s rightful place in modern day phenomena is borderline criminal, as it has paid its dues, eaten thousands of lives, and yet never gets the recognition it has worked so hard to achieve. Which is why I am happy to have written this article, doing my part in acknowledging its efforts, whilst also making it very clear that I do not support its behavior whatsoever.

However, a few on-screen examples about these mysteries do exist, and I’d like to take these final moments to thank them on behalf of The Alaska Triangle. In 2009, we had the film The Fourth Kind, which exclusively went down the alien route. It starred Milla Jovovich, and was called “absolute garbage” by everyone. We then had the 2014 Reality-TV series Alaska Monsters, which primarily blamed Bigfoot for some reason. And finally, the cream of the crop circle, was when in 1993, the hugely famous cult television series The X-Files had an episode called Ice, where extraterrestrial parasitic organisms had plagued Alaska, turning the people into even angrier people. The X-Files, though! That’s when you know you’ve made it!

Sources: OMG Facts, Mysterious Universe, Me Time For The Mind, Life Death Prizes