Since 1970s, over 20,000 people have vanished in Alaska Triangle. (Representational)
The Bermuda Triangle is a region in the Atlantic Ocean notorious for mysterious disappearance. However, did you know about the so-called “Alaska Triangle”, an area that has more unsolved missing person cases than anywhere else in the world? Located roughly around three points of Anchorage and Juneau in the south, and Utqiagvik, a northern coastal city, the Alaska Triangle has remained a mystery after the disappearance of more than 20,000 people. According to IFL Science, this area first came to the public’s attention in October 1972, when a small plane carrying two US politicians suddenly disappeared en route from Anchorage to Juneau.
According to the outlet, US House Majority Leader Thomas Hale Boggs Sr and Alaska Congressman Nick Begich disappeared when flying in a light aircraft from Anchorage to Juneau alongside Mr Begich’s aide, Russell Brown, and the pilot, Don Jonz. A massive search effort was launched to find the four missing people, however, the bodies nor the plane were ever discovered.
This incident sparked several conspiracy theories as to what could’ve happened – particularly since Mr Boggs was a Warren Commission member (the official body created to investigate John F. Kennedy’s assassination) and apparently did not agree with the findings the group had made, per Indy100.
Another prominent case was Gary Frank Sotherden, a 25-year-old New Yorker who travelled to the Alaskan wilderness in the mid-1970s to go hunting but never returned home. Two decades later in 1997, a human skull was found along the Porcupine River in northeastern Alaska and DNA was later received in 2022. It was concluded the skull belonged to Mr Sotherden and believed he most probably died after being mauled by a bear.
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Many have offered various explanations for the disappearances. While some have suggested that there is unusual magnetic activity in the Alaska Triangle, others believe a lot of extraterrestrial aliens have been visiting the area.
However, some simpler explanations have been that it is vast land which is full of wilderness and natural dangers which can be the reason why people have gone missing and never been found again.
But perhaps, like the Bermuda Triangle, this mystery will never be solved.
IFLScience says that the area is full of “untouched wilderness”, “ragged mountain ranges” and horrifically cold weather, as well as “lots of bears”.
