Ep. 45: Psi Friday with Mason: The Zone of Silence

What really happened in Mexico's mysterious Zone of Silence?

In this week's Psi-Friday, Mason continues his exploration of the disappearance of famed horror writer Ambrose Bierce and examines the possibility that his journey may have led him into one of North America's strangest regions. Located near the 27th Parallel in the heart of the Chihuahuan Desert, the Zone of Silence has long been the subject of stories involving strange lights, unusual magnetic anomalies, meteorite impacts, lost travelers, radio interference, and unexplained encounters.

Why has this remote desert captured the imagination of scientists, paranormal researchers, and adventurers for decades? Is there something unique about the geography and geology of the area—or have the legends grown larger than the facts?

Join Mason as he explores the history, folklore, science, and mysteries surrounding the Zone of Silence and its connection to one of literature's most enduring disappearances.

Watch now and decide for yourself.

#PsiFriday #MasonWinfield #ZoneOfSilence #AmbroseBierce #Paranormal #Mystery #ChihuahuanDesert #MexicoMysteries #Fortean #HighStrangeness #GhostStories #StrangeHistory #27thParallel #TheSpiritualProject

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hi everyone, it's Mason Winfield again on the first brilliant Friday of June 2026. Today we are discussing Mexico's fabled zone of silence and the legendary 27th parallel. First off, La Zona del Silencio, the uh the zone of silence, is a very fabulous area in it's in uh the Chihuahuan Desert at the intersection of a couple of Mexican states, um, Durango, Chihuahua, I think something they call Cuatila. Don't take my Spanish pronunciation to be textbook. And it's been a legend zone, a paranormal zone, a place people have talked about for a while, and they all go, ah, it's been ancient times, people talking about it. And I'm not too sure about that. The datable rumors I get are that there was a missile crash in this zone in 1970, and it was an American missile, some kind of a research project, that had been fired, launched from Utah. It was not a weapon, and they were studying something. And when the missile comes down, well, one of the things they want to study is why the hell that happened. So there was a big expedition in the Chihuahuan Desert in this zone, which is really rugged. It's a bouncy desert environment. No roads in the zone of silence. And um the only way you can get around there is either walking or uh really elap, you know, hardcore SUVs. So since about then, lots of stories about crazy animals, UFO sightings, time lapses. That's something they're starting to, well, they have been for a couple decades talking about time lapses in paranormal situations, but just walking somewhere and losing three hours of your life, that's a little queer. Might be paranormal. What's it mean? Where were you during that, you know? And um, I got onto this subject, this kind of a spin of our discussion about Ambrose Bierce, the American horror fantasy, mystery writer, where this might be where he vanished. He was probably in the province. Now, whether that means he was lost in the zone of silence, I don't know. But this is what mythology, folklore, the paranormal, it's what they do. They kind of merge. The mystery is not diminished by the fact that there is a bioreserve that's kind of protected in the zone of silence. It's called the Mopimi Biosphere, I think they call it a reserve, but they keep people out, as did the American expedition to find that missing missile. And whenever you create a close off a place, don't let people in, that'll get the gossip wheel going. Since then, I should tell you that there are some peculiarities about the zone of silence that are not in debate. One is there's unusual soil there. First of all, there's magnetite under the area that's it's kind of an unusual metal. And um another of the uh legends about the zone of silence is that radios and other appliances involving electricity don't work very well there, too. But you can't tell me that's an ancient legend. They didn't have radios in the old world, so you can leave that out. But maybe the the um legends of mysterious people, we don't know how old those are. It's like they're UFO people. It's like it's a UFO zone. It's like there's a UFO base under the ground. We don't know. A lot of travelers wandering around in the desert. They report mysterious blonde beings. Perfect Spanish. They just ask for a little water and then they then they they book out. I should also tell you that there's enough tradition about this 27th parallel on you know, the globe, you know, that this might be worth talking about on its own. But the zone of silence is close enough to be reasonably considered with within this band of alignment that goes across the country. We will talk about that someday. I should also tell you that the evening sky has reports of anomalous light phenomena, crazy lights, witch lights, which are not always thought to be unidentified aerial phenomena. Well, they are unidentified aerial phenomena. They are not presumed to be vehicles from another universe that are inhabited by people or beings. Lastly, I should tell you that this semi-lastly, this 27th parallel is said to go through the Bermuda Triangle and the Pyramids on the Giza Plateau. Well, it's close, but I'll I'll look that over for the next episode. I should add that Geraldo Rivera, the American telejournalist, who was a big hit back in the what, 70s, 80s, he did a show there in the Zone of Silence. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, my friends, I think I'll leave you with that little mystery, and um we'll talk about the 27th parallel sometime soon. Right now. Um, have just a fantastic weekend and join us again for Cy Friday with May 7th.