Anomalous zones are rarely mapped - no one needs a bad name. But if you take a detailed map of Mexico and find the area where the borders of the states of Durango, Chihuahua and Coahuila converge, the inscription Zona del Silencio immediately catches your eye. It is no longer possible to hide the reputation of this place, and it will not hurt to warn tourists about the impending danger.
Huge "jammer"
In the Zone of Silence (as Zona del Silencio is translated), walkie-talkies and radios stop working. Airplanes fly around her side: it is unpleasant to be left without communication in flight. Cell phones don't work either, but there is nothing strange here. In a place where no one lives, cell towers are not erected.
Compasses are even worse. Places where an unknown force knocks the arrow off the right direction are not everywhere. They cannot be mapped or marked in any way - areas of magnetic anomalies are constantly drifting. If you do not notice something amiss in time, you can get lost among the rocks, hills and dull plains. There is no water in the area, except for several springs scattered at a great distance from each other. You won't be able to call for help - there is no connection. If it happens in the summer, a person without water dies in a day and a half.
For some reason, the ozone content in the atmosphere is reduced by 30%. This is not fatal, but if you constantly live under the scorching rays of the Mexican sun, one can only guess which will appear first - skin cancer or cataracts. The animals have adapted well to the excess of ultraviolet radiation by acquiring useful mutations. The largest animal that dares to go out during the day is a turtle with unusual triangular shell plates and a thick yellow cornea that protects the eyes.
The strange animal world has long attracted the attention of biologists. Most of the zone is now located in the Mapimi Biosphere Reserve. The small station, where scientists live in shifts, is the only residential building in the entire zone. They have no problems with communication: insulated cables were run there.
Promotional video:
Meteor trap
Biologists leaving to observe nocturnal animals were shocked: every night the sky above the zone was crossed by the trails of meteorites. Sometimes they fell often like a downpour of fire. Every now and then, bright fireballs swept in the sky, illuminating everything around. It is not difficult to find a meteorite on earth - you just need to learn to distinguish "heavenly stones" from rock debris with a high iron content.
On July 2, 1970, an American rocket fell on the territory of the Zone of Silence. She deviated from the calculated trajectory and, flying over Mexico, sharply went down. There were radioactive substances on board, so the Americans had to dig the soil around the crash site and take it with them.
This is not about the usual magnetism. The zone attracts not only iron, but also stone meteorites that do not react to a magnet. Residents of the neighboring town of Ceballos are not afraid of the zone and come there to collect meteorites for sale.
In addition to meteorites, glowing balls often appear in the zone. They do no harm to anyone, although they can get caught up in a moving car and make passengers nervous. The Mexicans call them luces ("lights"). The peasants living near the zone do not consider the lights to be something strange - these balls are familiar to them from childhood. They were just as familiar to their ancestors. The first written records of fires date back to the mid-19th century.
Meetings with the unknown
Farmer Ernesto Herrera lives closest to the zone. For him, lights ceased to be a familiar detail of the landscape many years ago. When he drove through deserted places, the glowing balls more than once approached his car by two and flew in front of the hood, imitating the headlights. The balls did not affect the motor and did not try to take it out of the way, but Ernest was afraid every time.
Did you know that … In 1969, Natalya Kostenko, a “Soviet expert on meteorites”, visited the Zone of Silence. Then it turned out that Soviet scientists did not work in this state. Who she really was remained a mystery.
No wonder all the rocks here bear frightening names: the Gates of Hell, Devil's Ridge, and so on. The area scorched by the sun is frightening in itself, but revived by an unknown mind - many times worse.
Classic UFOs almost never appear over the area. Ernesto saw an arrowhead-shaped object only once. He did not fly, but hung in the air, slightly rising and falling again. Then the "arrow", soaring upward, instantly disappeared from sight.
Local businessman Ruben Lopez found himself one night on a country road that runs over the edge of the zone. Suddenly, the car engine began to work intermittently. He was very surprised: the car had recently undergone full maintenance, and the anomalies in the area did not affect the motors. At that moment, he saw five small figures standing at the edge of the road. At first Lopez thought they were lost children, but then he saw that they were wearing silver overalls, and their heads were hidden by helmets. "Dwarfs" began to approach the car, as if surrounding it. Frightened, Lopez squeezed everything out of the engine. The engine whined, and the creatures scattered. When the "dwarfs" disappeared into the darkness of the night, the engine started working normally.
Unknown forces operating in the zone can not only scare, but also help people in difficult situations. On October 13, 1975, amateur archaeologists Ernesto and Josephine Diaz, who came here for the fossils, were caught in a thunderstorm. The road was instantly washed out, the car stalled and began to slowly sink into the ground.
As the couple desperately tried to keep the pickup from getting bogged down in the mud, two people appeared nearby. They walked to the car, waving their arms affably. Very tall guys in yellow raincoats and hats offered help to the travelers. The faces of the strangers were unusual, but they did not inspire fear, and the wet couple accepted the offer with gratitude. The guys easily pushed the pickup truck out of a deep puddle onto a solid section of the road. When Ernesto turned to thank for the help, the unexpected rescuers were nowhere to be seen. Only the footprints of the spouses remained in the mud - the “people in yellow” did not leave any traces!
Ghost peasants
The journalist Luis Ramirez Reyes came to the zone in November 1978 to write an article about it. Ramirez and his photographer took a jeep through the desert to the station without knowing the route. The compass, of course, failed, and desperate travelers lost their way. They had no water or provisions. If the car breaks down or runs out of gas, the chances of reaching populated areas on foot are slim.
Suddenly Ramirez noticed three figures ahead, wandering towards. They were dressed like local peasants, but passers-by did not have the required water flasks and sun hats for going into the desert. The journalist thought that they knew the way to the station and asked the photographer sitting behind the wheel to stop. The surprised driver replied that he did not see anyone!
Reyes thought he was hallucinating. The jeep drove a couple more miles, and suddenly the same peasants appeared ahead. The journalist asked to stop, but this time he did not explain why. When the peasants approached the car, he opened the window and greeted. A lively conversation ensued. The villagers told them to drive to the nearest highland and turn left to get on the track leading to the station. When asked why they walk in the desert, the answer was: "We are looking for lost goats and sheep."
All this time, the photographer looked at Ramirez as if he were crazy, still not seeing anything, not hearing and thinking that his companion was talking to emptiness!
Following the recommendations received, the journalists after a while breathed a sigh of relief. The barely noticeable track crossed with the pound road leading to the station. Upon learning of their adventure, shift leader Harry de la Peña noticed that there could be no sheep and goats in the desert - they simply had nothing to eat.
"Abnormal" tourism
Rumors about the wonders of the Zone of Silence not only scare people away, but also attract fans of extreme tourism to it. Scientists estimate that in 1989 alone, more than 650 people came to the station interested in the zone. The locals call them "zoneros".
“This is the worst kind of tourism,” said one of the scientists. - Zoneros burn dead wood here and throw garbage, trample vegetation and scare away animals. They often have to be rescued because they arrive unprepared for road quality, long distances and lack of water. They think that our station is a hotel, and they get terribly angry when they are given a turn from the gate. On top of that, they love to grab something as a memento of the zone, which is often our equipment or living things, including the legally protected turtles.
Among the zoneros there are representatives of strange sects, who believe that here they can enter into telepathic contact with extraterrestrial beings. Another sect with a very long name "Research Center for Space Anthropology in the Philosophical School of Light" teaches that the descendants of the ancient Maya live underground. They built an underground city, and the anomalies are the result of their activities!
Mexican ufologists believe that the anomalies of the zone are of natural origin, but these features attract UFO crews and make it easier for creatures from parallel worlds to penetrate. The peasants that Ramirez Reyes saw could have been residents of an alternate Earth, where the conditions of the zone are more favorable for herding.
Recently, a road sign with a picture of a meteorite and an arrow pointing to the sky was placed on its border. Maybe this is where the answer to the Zone of Silence lies.