The vast Alaskan wilderness holds a beauty as untamed as it dangers, but beneath the awe-inspiring glaciers in national parks and rugged mountain rangers lurks a chilling mystery: the Alaska Triangle. This region, roughly formed by a triangle connecting Anchorage, Juneau and Utqiagvik, has become notorious for its alarmingly high number of missing persons. While it’s not as infamous as the Bermuda Triangle, statistics still paint a grim picture. Alaska's disappearance rate far outpaces the national average, with some estimates suggesting it's twice as high. Over 20,000 people have disappeared since the 1970s, and the annual average disappearance rate is approximately 2,250 people. Several high-profile cases have cemented the Alaska Triangle's reputation for the strange and unexplained. One such case is the disappearance of U.S. Representative Hale Boggs and Congressman Nick Begich on Oct. 16, 1972. The men and an aide were on a small plane that vanished between Anchorage and Juneau. Despite intensive search efforts, no wreckage or remains were ever found. Richard Lyman Griffis, known for inventing a wilderness survival cocoon, was eager to test it in the summer of 2006. When he left for the wilderness of southeast Alaska, no one questioned his motives. It took over a year before anyone reported him missing. Authorities found that he had checked into a lodge near the White River before heading to McCarthy, near St. Elias National Park, leaving some gear behind. After venturing into the wilderness, he never returned. Despite initial assumptions that he was testing his cocoon, no one checked on him for months. To date, neither his body nor his cocoon has been found, making him one of the countless people who have vanished in the Alaska Triangle. These incidents, along with countless others involving hikers, hunters, and even small aircraft, continue to baffle investigators and fuel speculation about the true nature of the disappearances within the Alaska Triangle.
