More people have disappeared in this area of Alaska than anywhere else in the world.
Why almost twice as many people disappeared in Alaska than live there? Local search and rescue teams conduct hundreds of operations each year, but rarely find signs of people, dead or alive. As if these people - almost literally - disappeared into thin air.
Alaska is, of course, a harsh place, but why are so many people and planes disappearing here, and moreover, why are most of these disappearances concentrated in one place?
The so-called "Alaska Triangle" stretches from Juneau to Anchorage and in the north to the city of Barrow. These are thousands of kilometers of lakes, wastelands and mountains with a sinister reputation.
For the first time, the "Triangle" thundered all over the world on October 16, 1972, when somewhere on the way from Anchorage to Juneau, the plane of the politician Hale Boggs, who was involved in a fundraising campaign, disappeared.
This disappearance launched the largest search in US history. Forty military aircraft combed the area for 39 days in search of debris or survivors. No scraps of metal, no human footprints. Nothing.
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If you ask the local Tlingit tribe, they will blame the evil creature called "Kushtaka", which roughly translates as "human otter". According to legend, this werewolf lures victims by imitating the crying of a child or a woman's cry, leads to the nearest river, and tears them apart. Or turns into another Kushtaka.
If this is too implausible for you, consider the theory of "evil cyclones", which states that there are several places on earth with strong electromagnetic radiation. The most famous example is the Bermuda Triangle, but some researchers believe that Stonehenge, Easter Islands and the Egyptian pyramids also lie in areas with such radiation.
This mysterious radiation appears to damage the body and mind, causing visions, disorientation and confusion. It also causes engine malfunctions, which may explain aircraft crashes.
The fact remains that in a state with a population smaller than San Francisco, every four out of a thousand people are missing. But the scary (and most likely) truth is that people who have nothing to lose deliberately go to the desolate tundra of Alaska to never be found.
Ilya Kislov