We’ve all been warned to avoid the Bermuda Triangle, where hundreds of planes and ships have mysteriously disappeared, at all costs, but not a lot of us are aware that there’s a spot in Alaska we really ought to avoid too.
Even though it’s supposedly been the site of a whopping 20,000 disappearances, the ‘Alaska Triangle’ isn’t talked about half as much as it’s sister in the North Atlantic Ocean – but it should be.
It’s loosely defined as an area of wilderness between Utqiagvik, Anchorage, and Juneau, which you apparently shouldn’t head to unless you’re taking ghosting to a new level.
According to the History Channel, the eerie region is the site of more unsolved missing person cases than anywhere else in the world, as 20,000 people have vanished within the triangle since the early 1970s.
So I’m sure you can understand why we’re not advising you to book a little trip there.
What makes that figure even more stranger is just how small the population in the region which has been dubbed ‘Alaska’s Bermuda Triangle’ is.
American cryptozoologist and field researcher Ken Gerhard conducted extensive studies in the area and can’t help but feel uneasy about the ‘strange disappearances’ which have occurred there without explanation.
Thousands of people have gone missing in the ‘Alaska Triangle’ over the years (YouTube/History Channel)
Speaking to the History Channel, he explained: “What I found when I was doing my research in the Alaskan Triangle, was that a number of these missing person cases legitimately could not be solved.
“This wasn’t just a case of someone being mauled by a bear or falling into a crevasse, I mean, these were often people that were going about their daily lives.
“They weren’t out on some grand adventure and yet ultimately, they disappeared for no good reason.”
Chillingly, Gerhard explained that two people disappeared – one off a ‘cruise ship‘ and another in a ‘crowded tourist area on top of a mountain’ – while he and his team were actually there.
The Alaska Triangle first flagged up as a strange spot back in 1972, when a small plane suddenly disappeared while it was travelling from Anchorage to Juneau.
It’s been dubbed the US state’s Bermuda Triangle (YouTube/History Channel)
Three people – US House Majority Leader Thomas Hale Boggs Sr, Alaska Congressman Nick Begich, his aide Russel Brown – were on board alongside the pilot when it suddenly disappeared.
Despite extensive efforts from search teams – which lasted more than 3,600 hours and spanned over a 325,000 square mile radius – to try and track down the missing travellers, the foursome – and the plane – were never found.
This incident obviously prompted a lot of conspiracy theories, given the fact that two notable political figures were involved, but their disappearance ultimately remains a mystery – and so do the ones of the other 19,996 people who have boldly tackled the Alaska Triangle.
But seen as though the vast area is brimming with ‘ragged mountain ranges’ and ‘untouched wilderness’ while the climate is ‘horrifically cold’, according to IFLScience, it seems survival out there doesn’t look likely.
Researcher Ken Gerhard said he had a ‘very strange experience’ there (YouTube/History Channel)
And that’s not to mention the large amount of bears which roam the land, as well as the ‘millions of lakes, countless crevasses and vast valleys’ they could encounter.
However, not every disappearance in the Alaska Triangle has gone unsolved.
Gary Frank Sotherden, from New York, was hunting in the Alaskan wilderness in the mid-1970s when he went missing.
His brother explained their family had not been able to have any ‘closure’ when they couldn’t work out what happened to him, as they always hoped that he was somehow ‘still alive’.
But after more than four decades – in which time Gary’s parents passed away without knowing their son’s fate – there was a major breakthrough.
A human skull was discovered along the Porcupine River in northeastern Alaska and DNA was later recovered in 2022, before it was revealed that it belonged to Gary.
A spokesperson for the Alaska State Troopers, Tim DeSpain, told AP at the time: “Based on the shape, size and locations of tooth penetrations to the skull, it appears the person was a victim of bear predation.”
Although the US man’s official cause of death couldn’t officially be confirmed, his brother believes it ‘seems most likely that he died from being mauled by a bear’.
