Every year, more than 10 million people go missing. If you watch lazy YouTubers like me, you might be led to believe most of them disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle. In reality, people usually go missing for boring reasons. Very few people are abducted by giant gorillas. But there is something to the Bermuda triangle. There are places in the world that seem to be magnets for mystery – locations where at a strangely high rate, people tend to vanish. Here are three mysterious places where people go missing.
Places Where People Go Missing
Pyramid Lake
Despite the intro, I’m not going to talk about the Bermuda Triangle in this video, because even I’m not that much of a hack – instead, I’ll focus on other places where people go missing. Places like Pyramid Lake.
In it’s long history, many have disappeared in Nevada’s Pyramid Lake, with dark legends going back to a time this region was dominated by Native Americans. To them it was an eerie place, and for good reason. It is said babies born sick or in some way deformed were taken here and drowned, as to not weaken the tribe. But the ghosts of those unwanted children remained in the waters, and on occasion, drowned those foolish enough to wade into the lake. Some believe the ghostly babies are the cause of all proceeding tragedy in the area. The violent clashes between Natives and Mexican settlers. The modern mysterious disappearances.
Quite often, the corpses of those who went missing on Pyramid Lake were never found. Because of this, many believe there is an underground waterway connecting it to another lake. In ancient times, it was the deepest part of a much larger lake, so who knows, maybe there is a hidden tunnel. This might also explain the disappearances. Water flow from a connected lake may cause unexpected, storm like conditions. Or maybe it’s aliens. Some locals even claim the area is a UFO hotspot – but I’m pretty sure they say that in every area of America.
The most famous specific incident occurred in 2016, when two fishermen vanished on the lake and were never seen again. In reality though, it was just one link in a very long chain. Also there’s a pyramid. It’s not mysterious, but it’s there.
Bass Strait Triangle
Not far away is the Nevada Triangle. An area claimed to be a hub of UFO and paranormal activity, as well as frequent plane disappearances. It turns out, many of such places where people go missing exist in the world, from Mexico to Australia. Speaking of which, the waters between mainland Australia and Tasmania have come to be known as the Bass Strait Triangle.
Since the area’s exploration in the early 19th century, many hundreds of ships have met a bad end in the bass strait. Most were simple shipwrecks, but some, like the British warship Sappho, were never recovered. Sometimes rescue ships would vanish while on the search for other missing vessels. As technology improved, they continued to go missing. Then, with the advent of flight, planes began to vanish too. Dozens of them. Even by Australian standards, these waters are treacherous. Yet this was easily explained away by the strait’s unique geography. Strong winds and tidal flow confronting each other while caught between two massive islands. So despite the area’s bad reputation, it was seen as nothing outside the natural order of things. That changed in 1978, though.
In that year, a 20 year old pilot vanished in the triangle, but not before leaving an eerie final message. His name was Frederick Valentich, and on the 21st of October he set off on a simple training flight. Conditions were perfect, and his flight was set to take only an hour. Then while above sea, he contacted air traffic control, claiming he was being followed by an unknown craft. According to the call, the UFO was moving at a speed much faster than Valentich’s plane, easily circling above and disappearing at will. He said it was shiny and metallic, with a bright green light emitting from it.
In his final call, he attempted to clarify – and failed, simple saying “It’s not an aircraft”. 17 seconds of silence followed, ended only by a mysterious scraping noise. That was the last anyone heard of Frederick Valentich, and ever since, the Bass Strait has been heavily associated with UFO activity. He was not the first to report strange phenomena flying in the Bass Strait Triangle. As far back as world war 2, several pilots reported witnessing ghostly aircraft flying beside them. These reports were ignored though, because people in those days were no fun.
Superstition Mountains
The superstition Mountain range is appropriately named. Generations of treasure hunters have come here in search of a legendary gold mine, many of which would not return. It all began with Jacob Waltz, a German immigrant farmer turned prospector. According to the story, he discovered an abandoned mine rich in gold. For obvious reason, he closely guarded the whereabouts of the mine, and only on his deathbed drew a map. But the map was incomplete, and cryptic. He claimed it could only be found by following a shadow cast from this rock formation. And only at a certain time of day. So like embarrassing imitations of Indiana Jones, hundreds of treasure hunters flooded in. Waltz died in 1891, and since then, the legend of the Lost Dutchman’s Mine has only grown.
Like all great treasures, though, there is great danger. As it turns out, more people go missing in the superstition Mountains than in any other mountain range. Extreme heat, sheer drops and hopeless isolation. If you find yourself in trouble here, you’re really on your own. So we can pin a good number of disappearances on the conditions of these mountains. But according to local Apache folklore, the true cause is supernatural. They believed a powerful god called the mountain range home. And not just any god, the thunder god, who fiercely protected the area. This later evolved into the legend that some kind of phantom haunts the Superstition Mountains.
Many have claimed to see it at night. A tall, shadowy being that moves with the wind. It never stands still, eternally wandering the mountain range. Some say that if you see it, you will suffer bad luck for the rest of your life. That it, and the mountains, are cursed. In the early 19 hundreds, it was even said a group of cannibals were hiding up there, killing and eating lone hikers. Whatever the truth, countless people have gone missing. sometimes in large groups. Yet still they come searching for the Lost Dutchman’s Mine.