The Alaska Triangle: One big hoax?

Thinking of the barren, frigid interior of Alaska can send a chill down your spine — not just from the cold temperatures there, but from the tall tales of strange happenings many brush off as good fiction. 

If you are one of those individuals — maybe you haven’t been introduced to the mysterious Alaska Triangle.

The area lying between the connected points of Utqiagvik, Anchorage and Juneau are often referred to as the borders of the Alaska Triangle. It is estimated that over 20,000 people have gone missing in this area of the state in the last 50 years.

This area of Alaska gained its fame in 1972, when a Cessna 310 carrying House Majority Leader Hale Boggs, Representative Nick Begich and two others vanished between Anchorage and Juneau, according to the U.S. House of Representatives.

A search was conducted for 39 days before being suspended. No human remains or parts of the plane were ever recovered.

This incident is steeped in conspiracy. One theory is that speeches given by Boggs attacking FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover — and the FBI at large — had a role to play in his disappearance according to an article by Bayou Justice. 

Another prevailing theory points at Boggs’ presence on the Warren Commission — tasked with investigating the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Initially, Boggs dissented from the single-bullet theory supported by the majority of the committee, according to the published records of the Warren Commission hearings.

In both instances, the theories appear disprovable. Hoover died months before Boggs disappeared, making retaliation from him less plausible. Despite initial dissent, Boggs would later defend the majority opinion of the commission in an interview on “Face the Nation” according to an article in the Sarasota Journal. 

Due to how mysteriously the plane vanished — as well as nothing being recovered from the search — these theories persist as possible motives that could explain the disappearance.

Four years later, Gary Frank Sotherden would vanish, with a search taking place a year later. The mountain guide who was hired to search for him found glasses and his ID, but no sign of Sotherden, as reported by Alaska’s News Source.

Two decades would pass before a skull was found along the Porcupine River that was reported to State Troopers. No other remains were discovered. 

It would take advancements in forensic DNA technologies before the skull would be identified as Sotherden’s in 2022 — 45 years after he initially went missing. Tooth penetrations on the skull suggest that he was mauled by a bear.

These two cases are the most prolific and confirmed to have occurred, although there have been many other instances of unconfirmed disappearances into the Alaska Triangle.

If you want to remain ignorant to the cause of these disappearances, you can chalk them up to underprepared individuals attempting to venture out into the Alaskan wilderness. 

However, if you consider yourself a believer of all things factual, then look into the research done by experts in the field referred to by many as “tinfoil hatters.”

These experts point to various phenomena, such as possible electromagnetic distortions, temporal irregularities, and naturally occurring portals as a result of aurora borealis activity as probable explanations for disappearances.

In particular, electromagnetic distortions are likely to be caused by what these experts refer to as the “Dark Pyramid.” 

Located underground almost dead-on in the center of the Alaska Triangle, the Dark Pyramid was allegedly constructed by an ancient civilization to generate enough electricity to power a significant amount of modern day North America.

The Dark Pyramid is one of a list of locations known to have an energy vortex, meaning the area is plagued by electromagnetic anomalies. In these areas, human disappearances are caused by mysterious phenomena that scientists dismiss as natural occurrences.

These anomalies have been known to make flight controls in airborne vehicles inoperable, as well as causing extreme variations in compass directions. 

They also have been known to have significant psychological effects, causing individuals to behave abnormally — such as venturing out underprepared into the wilderness.

Seeing as the Dark Pyramid is situated in the Alaska Triangle, it is reasonable to connect the known effects of these anomalies with the disappearances taking place in the Triangle.

So this Halloween, as you’re enjoying your Alaskan horror novel, if you’re in the area of the Triangle and feel a sudden urge to vanish into the woods, seek help immediately.