Why it's creepy: Encompassing an area ranging from near Juneau in the southeast to the northern Barrow region to the western metropolis of Anchorage, Alaska's answer to the Bermuda Triangle is comprised some of the most barren wilderness in the US -- and it apparently craves souls. More than 20,000 people have gone missing without a trace in the area during the past half-century alone. Are they being consumed by mythological beings like the beastly Keelut or the ghoulish kidnapper Qalupalik, lost on extreme hikes, or simply vanishing into a dark vortex? Nobody knows, though it's not for lack of trying: When the government lost House Majority Leader Hale Boggs’ Cessna to the Triangle in 1972, a massive search turned up tons of conspiracy theories, but no bodies.
Where it came from: The area has been associated with evil spirits, and Tlingit lore for centuries attributed trickster demons for luring people to an icy death. Others believe the area exists amid an electromagnetically influenced “vile vortex.” Still others think it’s a Darwinian result of explorers taking on nature. Regardless, the area continues to claim people, and underneath that massive blanket of snow and rock likely lies one of the largest and best-preserved mass graves in the world. -- AK
Source: www.thrillist.com