More than 20,000 people have vanished in the little-known Alaska Triangle
Topics: World News, Conspiracy Theories
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Google Maps/Johnny Johnson/Getty
Topics: World News, Conspiracy Theories
One infamous urban legend that you are all probably familiar with is The Bermuda Triangle.
The 500,000 square kilometres area in the North Atlantic Ocean has been blamed for the loss of several planes and hundreds of ships - with many conspiracy theories surrounding it to boot.
However, have you ever heard of the Alaska Triangle?
Probably not, I imagine.
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Despite a lot of us not knowing an awful lot about the 'Alaska Triangle', it is, in fact, said to be the location of more unsolved missing person cases on our planet, the History Channel reports.
The 'Alaska Triangle' loosely defines an area of wilderness between Utqiagvik, Anchorage, and Juneau - an area that has also been dubbed 'Alaska’s Bermuda Triangle' in recent years.
The area first came to the public's attention in October 1972, when a small plane suddenly disappeared en-route from Anchorage to Juneau.
Neither its passengers or any wreckage were found from said flight, despite multiple search efforts lasting more than 3,600 hours, and spanning a whopping 325,000 square miles.
That wasn't the end of the travesties though, as in the years following 1972, more planes crashed in the Alaska Triangle, while hikers and tourists seem to vanish.
More than 20,000 people have disappeared since that 1972 plane disappearance, according to the History Channel, a rate that more than doubles the national average.
Many high-profile people have gone missing in the Alaska Triangle, including Thomas Hale Boggs Sr, the US House Majority Leader in 1972.
Nick Begich, an Alaska Congressman, was also onboard the flight from Anchorage to Juneau alongside aide, Russell Brown, and the pilot, Don Jonz.
After a massive search effort, no bodies nor plane were discovered - which led many to speculate about what had happened.
Another viral case was Gary Frank Sotherden, a 25-year-old New Yorker who was hunting in the Alaskan wilderness in the mid-1970s.
Sotherden never returned home, though a skull along the Porcupine River in northeastern Alaska found in 1997 provided some answers.
State troopers concluded the skull belonged to Sotherden, who most likely was killed from a bear attack.
And many have offered various explanations to the disappearances - with most citing the geography of the area.
IFLScience say that the area is full of 'untouched wilderness', 'ragged mountain ranges' and horrifically cold weather, as well as 'lots of bears'.
However, this hasn't stopped many people questioning whether these disappearance are natural or supernatural, particularly due to the fact that things seemingly disappear into thin air.
Everything from UAPs, energy vortexes to Native American creatures of myth have been speculated to be responsible.
But perhaps, like the Bermuda Triangle, this mystery will never be solved.
Or has it?
One scientist recently claimed that he had 'solved' the mystery behind the Bermuda Triangle's disappearances - and, spoiler, it's not aliens.