Two of the most intriguing mysteries often cited in connection with the Michigan Triangle are the disappearance of Northwest Airlines Flight 2501 in the sky in 1950, and the disappearance of freighter captain George Donner from a locked cabin.
The Bermuda Triangle is known as one of the most mysterious anomalous zones on earth, where planes and ships mysteriously disappear. However, this is not the only place on our planet that has a similar glory. On the territory of Lake Michigan there is a zone of the Michigan Triangle, where ships and aircraft are also lost in the most incomprehensible way.
This anomalous zone extends from Ludington to Benton Harbor in Michigan, and to Manitowoca, Wisconsin. It is worth noting that the length of Lake Michigan is about five hundred kilometers and strong storms are often observed on its territory, with wind speeds reaching more than 120 kilometers per hour. According to some experts, it was unfavorable weather conditions that were mainly responsible for the mysterious disappearances. However, even the most powerful winds cannot be the cause of all the mysterious disappearances of ships and aircraft.
Northwest Airlines Flight 2501
This incident occurred on June 23, 1950, when a DC-4 aircraft with 58 people on board went missing in the sky over Lake Michigan. The airliner was on a Northwest Airlines flight from New York to Seattle when it went missing. The incident has been hailed as "the worst commercial aircraft crash in US history."
Flying over the lake in the Benton Harbor area, the pilot asked for permission to lower the altitude, as there was a strong thunderstorm and powerful gusts of wind. The dispatcher did not have time to give an answer, as suddenly the aircraft disappeared from the radar screens. In the area of the disappearance of the sunken airliner, search work was carried out, sonars were even involved, but the rescuers did not manage to find the slightest traces of the plane at the bottom of the lake.
Rescuers managed to find only small parts of the plane floating on the surface of the water and some fragments of the bodies of passengers. Experts were unable to determine the cause of the accident, which still remains a mystery. Some of the experts suggested that lightning struck the plane or a strong wind caused the instruments to malfunction.
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Captain Donner's Disappearance
Equally mysterious is the disappearance of Captain George Donner from the locked cabin of a freighter on April 28, 1937. Before that, the captain did not leave the captain's bridge for several hours in a row, driving the ship among the ice floes of the Great Lakes. After the ship entered the waters of Lake Michigan and was safe, the tired Captain Donner went to rest in his cabin. He asked to wake him up when the ship arrives at Port Washington.
The assistant arrived about three hours later as the ship began to approach the port. He knocked for a long time on the door of the cabin, locked from the inside, but no one responded. After breaking down the door, the crew members discovered that there was no one in the room. The sailors thoroughly searched the entire ship, but could not find their captain. Later it turned out that when the captain disappeared from his cabin, the ship was passing through the territory of the Michigan Triangle. Until now, the fate of George Donner continues to remain a mystery to everyone.
Great Lakes triangle
In 1977, the book "The Triangle of the Great Lakes" was published, the author of which was the former pilot Jay Gurley. The book mentions that the Great Lakes region has more mysterious disappearances per unit area than the Bermuda Triangle. And this is actually the case, given the fact that Bermuda, home to mysterious disappearances, is 16 times the size of the Michigan Triangle.
Also in the book, Gurley mentions that a few years ago the Civil Aviation Authority organized a special control service in those places. Its essence was that the pilots of aircraft, flying over the Great Lakes, must continuously send specially invented signals to the air traffic controllers. If no feedback is received from the pilot within ten minutes, the program will give a signal to start the search and rescue operation.
This practice has helped save many lives, especially in ordinary accidents, but mysterious cases of the disappearance of ships and aircraft still continue to occur on Lake Michigan. Moreover, many UFO sightings have also been recorded in the Michigan Triangle. Experts consider this site one of the most visited UFOs, but the reasons for the mysterious disappearances remain unknown.