The Alaska Triangle

What if Alaska holds secrets as bewildering as those of the Bermuda Triangle? Prepare to uncover the mysteries of an expansive region fraught with strange occurrences, from unexplained disappearances to UFO sightings and cryptid encounters. Our episode seeks to unravel the enigma of the Alaska Triangle, applying a critical lens to claims of extraterrestrial and interdimensional phenomena, while drawing parallels with other mysterious hotspots like Skinwalker Ranch.

Explore the vast and eerily captivating world of cryptids and quantum anomalies, as we ponder whether Earth's magnetic fields or potential vortices could be the source of disorientation in the harsh Alaskan wilderness. We also discuss the curious case of the giant panda's 1869 discovery as a metaphor for the potential reality of creatures like sasquatch.  Until our next episode, stay curious and enjoy the upcoming holiday season!

"Space Journey" by Geoff Harvey
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Transcript

Joe: 1:01

Hello everybody, thank you for joining us on Alien Talk Podcast. This is the show where we discuss all things about aliens and UFOs and, as always, where we push the limits of our understanding. Joe Landry and Roy Olford here once again to seek out the truth and find the facts pertaining to the highly discussed issues about extraterrestrial life and the existence of UFOs. So we have a great topic to get into with you and we'll tell you all about it in just one minute. Stay tuned, we'll be right back.

Speaker 2: 1:30

Most people aren't interested in just one topic.

Speaker 3: 1:32

Don't settle for a podcast about just one subject that rhymed Greetings. We're technically a conversation, a podcast for curious people by curious people.

Speaker 2: 1:42

On our podcast, we do things just a little bit different.

Speaker 3: 1:45

Every week we share a new topic and the other hosts have no idea what the topic will be. Our topics are all over the place, from light and funny to dark and sometimes spooky.

Speaker 2: 1:55

We've covered everything from true crime, historical events and people, the supernatural and the occult I like that Urban legends and folklore.

Speaker 3: 2:02

My favorite. No matter what we cover, we try to make the episodes interesting and funny. Don't mean to be the bad guy, but our lawyer said we legally couldn't call our show funny.

Speaker 2: 2:12

We have a lawyer. Let me tell you what I told our lawyer. Come here so I can show you how far I can legally stick my high-heeled boot up your Check us out at technicallyaconversationcom Apple Podcasts, spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 3: 2:25

Technically a Conversation.

Speaker 2: 2:27

We're like a lifestyle brand, yeah.

Joe: 2:32

So everyone, welcome to the show. First off, we want to apologize for the change of venue tonight. Unfortunately, our scheduled guest, Doctor Bruce Rapuano, canceled his appearance with us over the weekend. As of right now we do not have a future date booked with him, but we will keep all of you posted if that changes. Folks here on Alien Talk Podcast, we do like to ask those questions that are difficult to answer, because finding out the truth is often a difficult quest, as many of us do understand. Because finding out the truth is often a difficult quest, as many of us do understand, the method for demonstrating truth actually is harder than some might think, as it necessitates a high standard of evidence that must hold up the testing. Are willing to engage in a debate or in a critical analysis, or are willing to be posed with questions that are challenging to answer, you know, for whatever reason that might be.

Laurie: 3:30

Yeah, that's right, Joe. Well, here we strive for honesty and transparency with our audiences and that means we always try to be fair in our discussions of these topics by not just pondering those ideas and questions that go along with what we are presenting, but also those that don't go along with it. You know, like, look at the things from all angles. And you, the listeners, deserve to know that the information we are giving you is properly critiqued and weighed within the context of the facts and evidence that has been accepted into mainstream studies of science and history and religion, et cetera. So we do our best to bring that to you and we're not conspiracy theorists and we're not occultists or, for that matter, even advocates of the existence of extraterrestrial life and UFOs.

Laurie: 4:26

As for me, I do believe that there are aliens and UFOs, but I like to have evidence to support my beliefs as well. But this is why we research and discuss what we can, so as to share with all of you. Then you can objectively decide for yourselves what you believe and what you accept as truth and if the evidence supports it. So the guests we interview do get asked the tough questions and if they claim to have been abducted or to have seen a strange light or an object in the sky and they want to discuss it on the show. Well, they need to be prepared to explain what they saw in sensible and intelligible terms, and we want to know who, what, where, when, why, how and, of course, to provide any reasonable proof that they may have. I mean, after all, we were detectives, right.

Joe: 5:26

Exactly, and for those who have been following our podcast for a while now know that we have a system for our investigation and dialogue of episode topics. First we vet the subject material so that we know we can find good source references and that we're not in any way making stuff up. Next, we approach it with skeptical inquiry so that we are not only hypothesizing on information that we know and are not left to form opinions from mere conjecture or sensationalism. And then we examine what significant evidence, if any, can be usefully assessed and apply to what we learn, and then on what we can speculate from there. In other words, we do have standards here. We don't just take any narrative and run with it. Like you said, lori, our audiences deserve better when they elect to tune into our program one out of thousands that are out there and take the time to listen to us. We want to provide the best, which means we believe is always aiming for the truth. Just follow the evidence, as we say, and see where it takes you.

Laurie: 6:31

Yeah, precisely, and with that we do have a topic to cover in lieu of Dr Rapinoe's interview. So today we will take a closer look at something called the Alaska Triangle. We will take a closer look at something called the Alaska Triangle. As its name implies, it is a place of extraordinary mystery, just like what is believed about the very well-known and sinister Bermuda Triangle.

Joe: 6:58

Right, and while almost everyone has heard of the Bermuda Triangle and knows about the pervasive and age-old tales associated with it, the Alaska Triangle is something a little more from obscurity. However. It entails a level of uncanny mystery that is almost just as ominous, if not more so, than its Bermudan counterpart in the North Atlantic. So it is an area of 325,000 square miles that encompasses a triangular region with the lines going from Juneau to Anchorage, up to Barrow, which is on the coast of the Beaufort Sea, and then back down to Juneau, also crossing through the province of Yukon and northern Canada. For anyone who's familiar with Alaska knows that this part of it represents some of the most remote as well as the most harsh and unforgiving wilderness on earth. It is also one of the most naturally beautiful places, as much of it is untouched by any significant human habitation, no cities or large settlements. Any presence of people is sparse, and there are parts that have not been touched at all by human beings. The places are just too inaccessible.

Laurie: 8:08

Yeah, it is a massive area indeed, and it started getting public attention back in 1972 when a small plane flown by an experienced bush pilot named Don Johns seemed to vanish into thin air while en route from Juneau to Anchorage. Now, he was carrying some important passengers and they were US congressmen, including then House Majority Leader Hale Boggs, representative Nick Bigich and Russell Brown, one of the aides, big Etch and Russell Brown, one of the aides. But no wreckage or debris was ever found and there was no trace of aircraft or the guys on board. And a huge search effort was launched with nearly 200 various military and civilian teams employing dozens of boats with radar and sonar and aircraft with the best surveillance capability for the time, and they covered 32,000 square miles and not a single thing was ever recovered.

Laurie: 9:16

In the years afterward, there were more reports of planes disappearing without a trace. There were more reports of planes disappearing without a trace, just like with the Bermuda Triangle. Usually they were going between Juneau and Anchorage or Juneau and Fairbanks, and you would think that a crash plane would be on fire and that all of the thick brush would have flared up. It's not like they were flying across the entire state. They were going from Juneau to Alaska or to, sorry, to Anchorage, which is roughly 850 miles, a relatively short distance for a flight, and I guess they could have flown off course and ended up in the ocean to the south of them, or they could have crashed into many of the uh, you know one of the many lakes uh up there in that, in that area, but we just don't know because we have no trace, we have nothing at all.

Joe: 10:10

Uh, that has been retrieved yeah, but as more than aircraft, you know, hikers and campers have also gone missing and have not been found. Since 1988, more than,000 people have disappeared on foot in the Alaska Triangle, according to Tom Hall, with IFLSciencecom article dated July 24, 2023. That is more than twice the national average. That number 16,000 reported as overdue and missing. 16,000 reported as overdue and missing. Now, since the 1970s, airplanes have become equipped with emergency locators called ELTs. Some more wreckages are recovered in the Alaska Triangle, yet some are still not. They just don't get found in the rugged terrain, some of which is covered by glaciers, and the bodies of the passengers are rarely found. On a side note to that 1972 incident, al Boggs was a member of the Warren Commission, which we know was the congressional committee that investigated the JFK assassination a few years prior, and there was always a conspiracy theory that his supposed death, or at least his disappearance, was in some way connected to that.

Laurie: 11:25

Yeah, and I mean those numbers. That is astounding, all those missing people, and also consider that the reports of UFOs and even Bigfoot sightings are documented in the hundreds. So there seems like there may be a kind of a paranormal vortex in Alaska, maybe just like there are in other parts of the world in which people encounter odd, strange and anomalous things. Now, the 1972 incident is not the first.

Laurie: 11:58

On January 26, 1950, a Douglas C-54D aircraft, anchorage. It was headed to Anchorage or to Montana from Anchorage, anchorage. It was headed to Anchorage or to Montana from Anchorage and after only about two hours en route all radio contact was lost and it was never heard from again. Over 85 planes were involved in the search teams, along with 7000 men on the ground, and nothing. But it is believed to have maybe crashed into the Canadian Yukon, which does border Alaska, and efforts resumed in 2022. This time they were using drones and such to assist the remote locations that are not accessible. But there are speculations about how the plane went missing. But there are speculations about how the plane went missing. Some suggested electromagnetic pulses, time portals, vortexes, whatever extraterrestrial involvement, even pilot error or mechanical troubles, as it was said to have had some issues after leaving Texas.

Joe: 13:07

Yeah, this story you're telling about an aircraft disappearing is almost exactly like any story we hear about one disappearing over the Bermuda Triangle. So, like you mentioned, laurie, we've talked about places around the globe that are known to be hotspots for strange activity. A lot of them pop up along the 33rd parallel of which the Bermuda Triangle is situated. Other places are along supposed ley lines, which are thought to be some kind of energy or resonance that exists in these places along the globe, and there's abundances of various UFO sightings and paranormal activity in those places along these ley lines.

Joe: 13:46

And then we also have areas that are near the poles, particularly the geomagnetic poles. Take Antarctica, for instance, on which the South Magnetic Pole lies, and there are a high propensity of UFO reports and other unusual mysterious occurrences and all kinds of bizarre tales that have come from Antarctica. And with the Alaska Triangle we have a place very close to the North Magnetic Pole where there is also a high frequency of uncanny things, towns such as Ketchikan, sitka and Sagwe. In those places there have been reports of strange lights that were circling silently around in the sky and are said to be disks that glow like molten rock. That glow like molten rock.

Joe: 14:30

But, it's not only UFOs and UAPs and these freaky disappearances of people who come across in the Alaska Triangle, but also reports of cryptids. This is a region, actually one of many regions from around North America, where sightings and stories of Sasquatch have originated, and we know that there is a correlation between anomalies in the Earth's magnetic field and you know the strangeness of things that people claim to have experienced in those places. Is there a connection between them? Some might say yes, claiming the mysterious interactions between geomagnetism and the biological environment, and you're not completely understood. So it always raises the question of what could be happening.

Laurie: 15:18

Well, you mentioned cryptids, and there are many reports of a Sasquatch-looking creature that has been terrifying some of the towns, and one place called Portlock was abandoned after an unknown creature that they refer to as the Nantanac attacked and killed some some of their residents, and it was. It was so bad that the town was actually evacuated and no one has been back there since. I think it was in 70 years now since someone's been there, since anyone's been there, but in 2020, an experienced mountain rescuer named Gerald DeBerry. He became lost in that vicinity as well while he was searching for someone else, and days later, the Alaska State Troopers found his ATV, but they never found him. Very strange, and if you ask, what do you call it? If you have to ask if a likely explanation for this complete disappearance isn't somehow related to an encounter with such a creature or maybe something else.

Laurie: 16:31

There is a documentary about scenarios on Discovery Plus called the Alaska Killer Bigfoot, so it's worth checking out.

Laurie: 16:40

But in an article titled Thousands of People have Mysteriously Disappeared in Alaska's Bermuda Triangle by Cody Go and Alaska's Bermuda Triangle by Cody Go, dated August 1, 2019, gives an essay on the book In Search of the Kushtaka, Alaska's other Bigfoot, the land otter man of the Tengit Indians and the author, Dennis Waller, explores the history of mystical history of mystical, shape-shifting creatures found in stories of the Tangit and Tasinian I don't know if I can pronounce that right, but Indians who are indigenous to southeastern Alaska, the Kustada, the AKA land.

Laurie: 17:26

Other man is the Bigfoot of the Alaskan Triangle and legend has it that the creature appears to travelers in an irresistible form, such as a relative or a vulnerable child, to lure victims to a nearby river where it turns, tears them to shreds or, you know, turns them into another kustaka, I guess, almost like a werewolf type thing. But now, whether such a thing, or Sasquatch for that matter, is real, that's highly debatable, right. But when you think about it, these kinds of creatures could easily blend in with the forest vegetation and being very well concealed and very inaccessible. So could such species be lurking around in vast, cold and empty wilderness and as of yet are still not officially discovered?

Joe: 18:21

We have to keep in mind that it sometimes takes a lot longer than you would think for a particular species to become recognized, than you would think for a particular species to become recognized. There is an entire branch of biology that deals with categorizing and classifying plants and animals. It's called taxonomy. So look at the giant panda in Tibet. It wasn't discovered through this systematic approach until 1869, and that was by accident. People thought it didn't exist, meaning scientists up to that time didn't think they existed. Scientists who studied mammals and they couldn't believe that there was such a thing as a vegetarian bear with black and white fur that feasted on bamboo.

Joe: 19:03

And the panda also don't stand out very well in their landscape environment. They tend to hide in thick brush. Stand out very well in their landscape environment. They tend to hide in thick brush. So making any contact with them was always few and far between. So none of the stories were ever verified or corroborated. They just turned into you know tales. So certainly there were randomly spotted, you know, before People were long before their existence was verified by zoology. And of course we know that new species of animals are always being identified through first-time contact with humans. That happens even in this day and age, even in this year At least first time on record, I should say it may be that such tales from Native Alaskan mythology may have originated from so-called unofficial and undocumented encounters with some of these kinds of unknown animals, maybe something like Sasquatch.

Laurie: 19:59

In Alaska, people can go missing for a variety of reasons. Those who are missing may have been attacked by bears, wolves or even a possible, you know, some kind of cryptid creature you know, like the Sasquatch or Bigfoot, but maybe there are a few cases that involve something extraterrestrial. Who knows right? What we do know is that a skull was found in 1997 by Alaska State Troopers belonging to a man named Gary Frank Salterman, and he went missing in 1977, which is 20 years prior, and through DNA testing it is believed that a bear had attacked him. So some things are solved and some very few people are actually found.

Joe: 20:45

Yeah, and the fact that there have been so many unexplained disappearances within the Alaskan Triangle it leaves us wondering if there aren't any strange phenomena that are going on, perhaps one of them being portals in which rifts in the fabric of space-time cause things to vanish in something like a wormhole. If you remember, laurie, from our episode about Skinwalker Ranch, which we did about a year ago, we pointed out how the idea of interdimensionality would help us understand the possibility. You know through quantum physics that entities are able to move in a way that seems like instantaneous travel from one point in the universe to another, just like with the observed oddities happening in Skinwalker Ranch in Utah. We have to wonder if similar kinds of anomalies could exist in Alaska or other parts of the world, like the Bermuda Triangle, by the existence of an energy that causes vortices to form in certain parts of the space-time continuum.

Laurie: 21:46

Yeah, and we also talked about cryptids like Sasquatch, the Chupacabra or Chupacabra Yeti. The Mothman might be depictions from within the mythological storytelling of how creatures could be ultradimensional. John Keel, in his 1975 book the Mothman, prophecies abbreviations that may be manifested from outside our spectrum of the energy that we have thus far been able to measure. Certain entities, whether or not they are organic, meaning even something that is a non-life form, may have the capacity to transcend dimensions in ways that we can't. When we think about something as ultra-terrestrial or trans-dimensional or inter-dimensional, we're implying that it is not only from beyond our Earth, with it having traveled through space and time to get here, but from beyond what our senses have the ability to detect, or at least to detect in its fullness. So could the area within the Alaska Triangle be something like Skinwalker Ranch, but just on a much larger scale? Could it have something to do with energy vortices that are influenced or even modulated by anomalies within the magnetic field of the Earth, say?

Joe: 23:23

Right, and while we may not fully understand how magnetism or the poles would have something to do with any of these kinds of phenomena, it is interesting because recent research in quantum physics has shown that it is energy from the atomic forces, namely gravity and electromagnetism, that have a lot to do with our concepts behind the formation of black holes and wormholes. So could there be a theoretical factor to the occurrence of such things, and might they involve something like interdimensionality, like you said? Doing so manifests entities that may seem like creatures or some kind of shape-shifting forms. And not enough is known to say for sure what effects on energy are more pronounced near the poles of a magnet and what observations have been made about that. We just don't know. We don't think enough studies have been done about that kind of subject.

Laurie: 24:21

Exactly so. To be clear, there is much to these mysteries that are unknown and nebulous. I think we've already mentioned that the environment itself can be a contributable factor to many of these disappearances and strange sightings. The landscape of the Alaskan wilderness can be very unpredictable and unforgiving there are a lot of thick brush, wild untamed creatures, sloping mountains, cold, freezing weather. You know many, many lakes and more. Some believe that vortexes, whether from energy or air currents which has also been reported in the Bermuda Triangle that swirl through, can cause disorientation and mess with people's minds. So there have been reports of confusion and dizziness in some rescue personnel from some of these unknown sources.

Joe: 25:22

Yeah, so it's easy to attribute the disappearances of airplanes and the pilots encountering something like turbulent and ever-changing weather over that highly mountainous region. Yet the numbers seem too staggering for it to be such an easy answer. One potential reason for disappearing planes is that the terrain utterly obliterates any wreckages from view from above. Search planes and consider how, in 1947, british south american airways which I guess is the old four, one or four runner to now british airways, uh, is lancastrian three airliner stardust. It disappeared while en route from buenos a, argentina, to Santiago, chile.

Joe: 26:07

Now, this was not in Alaska. However, the environment there, with the terrain and weather issues, is closely similar and its fate was unknown for over 50 years until two Argentinian climbers found it up on Mount Tupinago in 1998. Later it was concluded by aviation investigators that the stardust had likely crashed into a nearly vertical glacier, which caused an avalanche that buried all the wreckage within just a few minutes. However, it doesn't seem likely that such avalanches, in which the conditions are the same, would have occurred in every plane that's gone missing, particularly all of the ones that have been from over the Alaska Triangle. Then there's always the question about hikers and random residents go missing, in which airplane flight is not even a factor.

Joe: 27:02

There is one in 1986 that is fairly well-known and documented there's even a book about it and that is Japan Airlines Flight 1628 from Paris to Narita in Japan. And that one was in the Alaska Triangle. It was a Boeing 747 carrying cargo and it was piloted by Captain Tereruchi. He reported that it was a clear night at 35,000 feet and the aircraft was just above the bright city lights of Fairbanks, and he said that he noticed a pale white light behind him. He stated in his report to our surprise, we observed the silhouette of a very large spaceship. We felt the need to take evasive action promptly, Captain Terucci, in coordination with the FAA's Anchorage Control Center, he executed evasive maneuvers such as flying in a circular pattern and altering his altitude, but the large UFO, later estimated by Terucci, could be about the size of two aircraft carriers. It maintained its position the whole time in relation to the 747 throughout all of its maneuvers, and it did so for a distance of about 400 miles.

Laurie: 28:19

Yeah, one of the most famous UFO stories out of Alaska period. Yeah, in the most famous CFO stories out of Alaska period. Now there were two other aircraft that had a visual on Flight 1628. One was a United Airlines passenger plane and the other was an Air Force C-130. The pilots of neither of those were able to see what Tarucci saw or was describing. While the personnel at the Anchorage Center said they saw objects on radar as being near the plane, the ones at Fairbanks Air Traffic Control did not see them at all on their radar. But Terucci landed in Anchorage and he and the crew debriefed the FAA officials. The crew debriefed the FAA officials and they were all determined to be in a normal state of mind, with no signs of being under the influence of anything. And you have to ask, you know, why would airline pilots like him want to, you know, jeopardize their career and make something up right? Well, right and make something up right.

Joe: 29:22

Well, right, and about a year later, a UFO investigator, philip Klass. He told Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine that the planets Jupiter and Saturn would have been quite visible the night of that incident. And he also said it is not uncommon for pilots to mistake those planets, or UFOs as they appear from the pilot's perspective, to be closely following the aircraft's movement, almost like a formation. And Klaas did note that Teruchi used the words spaceship and mothership in his reports. However, it was found that he did contradict what he told the aircraft controllers. Apparently, he told them that he did lose sight of the objects and his report. He said that the objects followed him every move he made.

Laurie: 30:13

You know that's the same excuse that everybody gives that don't believe in any type of sightings. It had to be Jupiter, it had to be Venus or some type of star, which is totally farce. To be Venus or some type of star, which is totally farce because you can tell every night what a you mean. Tell me that a pilot you know an airline pilot don't know the difference between a star and an evening star and a large object that's like the size of two aircraft carriers. Yeah, I think that's so lame whenever they make those types of explanations. Well, I mean, tarucci reported other sightings over Alaska in which the lights not only followed him but were flashing different colors. Regardless, the FAA didn't seem to think he had a lot of credibility. But, as we've been saying, aeronautical issues are just one part of it, and there are indeed many others like Tarachis.

Laurie: 31:11

So the stories of such bizarre experiences go back far, all the way to the 18th century, when the Russians first settled in Alaska. Almost none of them were documented until about 100 years ago. And then one from 1956, there was an account of someone who was fishing, was approached by a bipedal, ape-like creature that was eight feet tall and approximately 400 pounds. He obviously lived to tell about it. And subsequently, in 1960, another incident not far from that one involved a young boy who was frightened to the extent of screaming and fleeing from the area, and other reports involved people witnessing very large trees that were, you know, pulled up out of the ground and turned upside down. And they were pulled up out of the ground and the roots were like pointing straight towards the sky, like what animal does that right?

Joe: 32:15

well, what, if anything, does that feather machine force of nature? I don't know of anything that does, or even has ever done, something like what you're mentioning. Either way you look at it, the Alaska Triangle is a mysterious part of the world, the pond or that is full of the purest natural beauty. Eventually, as topographical knowledge increases and surveillance technology improves, more search operations will take place and more missing people and aircraft will be found. So that will wrap it up for today. We hope you enjoyed the show and we'll be back in a few weeks.

Joe: 32:52

When we talk about demons, we've all heard about them. Their imagery is plentiful within religious narratives. Certainly, christian dogma is loaded with the notion of their existence and there are several references to them in the Bible. But what are they really? Are they spiritual entities, as many people think they are, or are they something else? Perhaps stories of demons are nothing more than stories about extraterrestrials. Is there a scriptural basis for that? After all, we do find that there are some similarities in how they are described by people who say they've experienced them that being both demons and aliens.

Laurie: 33:32

Yeah, could it be a case of mistaken identity? If so, do we have evidence of it, either from religion and mythology, like you said, joe, or from the accounts given by people who say they have seen them or even who have been abducted by them? Um, I think that it is going to be a good show either way. Um, because that's that's like our area, you know, and uh, but uh, but anyway, yeah, um, great topic, uh, the alaskan triangle. Um, enjoyed the discussion.

Laurie: 34:04

So, just for everybody to know, just an FYI to put out there, joe and I will be attending the Luis Elizondo presentation at the Rialto Theater in Tucson, arizona, on November the 3rd, at 8 pm, which is a Sunday night. Doors open at 7 pm and we hope that some of our listeners in the Phoenix and Tucson areas will join us there, and I shared the details of the event on our Facebook page and we'll be part of the audience. We'll be taking notes, so if you see us, I'm sure we'll be wearing our Polo, alien Talk, podcast or ball caps. Come and say hi if you can attend it.

Joe: 34:48

Yeah, for sure. We hope to have a great time there and we look forward to seeing some of you there as well. We'd love to meet some of you, our fantastic and loyal listeners. So until our next episode, which will be aired in the early part of November, we hope that you have a safe and happy Halloween for those of you who are celebrating it. Also, happy Thanksgiving to our friends up in Canada and stay curious everyone.