The disappearance of Northwest Airlines Flight 2501 in 1950 and the disappearance of Captain George Donner from the locked cabin of a freighter are two of the most intriguing mysteries surrounding the Michigan Triangle.
Many mysterious disappearances of ships and aircraft are associated with the anomalous zone of the Michigan Triangle, which is located on the territory of Lake Michigan.
The Bermuda Triangle is considered one of the most famous places where planes and ships mysteriously disappear. However, there are many other lesser known anomalous zones.
The Michigan Triangle stretches from Lutington to Benton Harbor, Michigan, and Manitowoca, Wisconsin. On the territory of Lake Michigan, which is about 500 kilometers long, strong winds often rage, the speed of which can reach up to 120 kilometers per hour.
Photo: mixstuff.ru
Some researchers believe that it is these dire weather conditions that are the cause of the unexplained disappearances. However, even the most powerful winds do not fully explain the reason for these mysterious cases.
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Northwest Airlines Flight 2501
The most mysterious disappearance in the sky over Lake Michigan occurred in 1950, when 58 people died on Northwest Airlines Flight 2501. A DC-4 with 55 passengers and three crew members was flying from New York to Seattle and went missing on June 23, 1950.
At the time, the incident was considered "the largest commercial plane crash in US history." Flying over a lake in the Benton Harbor region, due to a strong thunderstorm and powerful gusts of wind, the pilot asked permission to lower the altitude from 1066 to 762 meters, but did not manage to do this, because the plane suddenly disappeared from the radar screen.
Despite the fact that in the area of the disappearance of the aircraft at the bottom of the lake, search work was carried out using sonars, its fragments were never found. It was possible to find only small parts of the plane floating on the surface of the water and some fragments of human bodies.
Since the wreckage of the plane was never found, the cause of the accident still remains unknown. Presumably, lightning could hit the plane, or a strong wind led to a malfunction of the instruments.
Captain Donner's Mysterious Disappearance
The mysterious disappearance of Captain George Donner on April 28, 1937 from the locked cabin of a cargo ship is also considered one of the most mysterious disappearances in history.
Captain Donner did not leave the bridge for several hours, watching the ship maneuver among the ice floes of the Great Lakes. After the ship was out of danger and entered the waters of Lake Michigan, the tired captain went to rest in his cabin. He asked to wake him up when the ship arrives at the port of Washington.
About three hours later, an assistant came to wake the captain as the ship was approaching the port. He knocked on the cabin, but no one answered, although the door was locked from the inside. After breaking down the door, the sailors found that the captain's cabin was empty.
The crew thoroughly searched the entire ship, but Captain Donner was never found. It still remains a mystery what could have happened to George Donner. It is only known that during the disappearance of the captain, the ship sailed through the territory of the Michigan Triangle.
Great Lakes triangle
In 1977, former pilot Jay Goorley wrote The Great Lakes Triangle. Gurley believes that "there are more mysterious disappearances per unit area in the Great Lakes region than in the Bermuda Triangle." This is truly incredible considering the fact that the Bermuda Triangle is 16 times larger than the Great Lakes region.
Gurley writes that the Federal Aviation Administration "set up a special" control service "a few years ago - pilots of planes flying over the Great Lakes must continuously send special signals to ground stations.
If there is no feedback from the pilot within ten minutes, then the signal for a search and rescue operation is automatically triggered. This practice has already saved many casualties from common accidents, but mysterious disasters continue to occur.
In addition to the mysterious disappearances of ships and planes in the Michigan Triangle, there have also been numerous reports of UFO sightings. Lake Michigan has long been considered the most visited UFO site, but the reasons for the unexplained disappearances are still unknown.