00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down the spookiest places on Earth where people frequently vanish without a trace.
00:21Number 10. Bennington Triangle, U.S.
00:23Between 1945 and 1950, five individuals mysteriously vanished within this corner of Vermont.
00:31It's about 100 square miles large, and has been heavily mythologized by conspiracy theorists and authors.
00:37First was a 74-year-old who went hunting, which was peculiar as he knew the area well.
00:43All they found was his handkerchief.
00:45He wandered off by himself, and he was last seen around like 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
00:49A year later, a teenager vanished in a similar area.
00:53Then, three years later, an elderly war veteran disappeared too.
00:57Finally, in 1950, a young boy and a middle-aged lady suffered similar fates within a month of each other.
01:03And her cousin left her about, I think only about 100 yards from their camp, you know, on a straight trajectory back in an area that she knew really well, but she never made it back.
01:12The last victim was the only one whose corpse was recovered, but her cause of death was unclear.
01:17There's been a lot of different little niches where, you know, Bennington Triangle-type lore has made its way into pop culture and fiction.
01:26Number nine, Poiabaciu Forest, Romania.
01:29Also known as the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania, this forest is one of the spookiest regions on the planet.
01:36Legend claims its name comes from a shepherd who vanished in the woods alongside 200 of his sheep.
01:42Since then, there's allegedly been a ton of disappearances, with no traces being left behind.
01:47There's also a high frequency of UFO sightings, leading many to believe the two are linked.
01:52And we saw a shadow, like a small human figure.
01:57One scary story claims a young girl went missing there.
02:01No one could find her, but five years later, she reappeared, identical to when she left, with no memory of where she'd been.
02:08There is little, if any, evidence of these disappearances, however, so they're likely fabricated for tourism purposes.
02:15Jess, behind you, on the right, on the right, on the right.
02:18Number eight, Old Providence, Colombia.
02:21This Caribbean island lies just north of Colombia.
02:24At first glance, it appears idyllic.
02:26It's got all the best features of a Caribbean island, minus the tourism.
02:30Old Providence is one of the few places in the Caribbean that hasn't been overrun with tourism.
02:36And the people want to keep it that way.
02:39Unfortunately, in recent decades, many of its residents have been disappearing due to the smuggling of narcotics.
02:45Mainland Colombian criminals pay locals a small fortune to do their dirty work.
02:50The sea is our biggest economy, and it doesn't matter if it's legal or illegal.
02:55They're selected for their sailing talents, but many don't come back alive.
02:59They accept because the island's economy is drastically poor.
03:02They're frequently captured by the U.S. Coast Guard and then imprisoned.
03:06Some vanish without a trace.
03:08Estimates believe that at least 800 people have been lost this way.
03:11When you visit, you have little idea of the threats facing this island.
03:16Number seven, The Devil's Sea, Japan.
03:19Long ago, Japanese sailors gave this region a chilling name.
03:24Manaomi, the Devil's Sea.
03:26South of Japan lies a harrowing region of the ocean.
03:29The name provides a strong hint for what goes on here, which is a plethora of paranormal happenings.
03:35It earned a reputation during the 1940s and 50s, when a handful of ships vanished there in perfect weather.
03:41Scores of gigantic ships have mysteriously vanished in these cruel seas.
03:46In 1952, researchers were sent to investigate, but their vessel was destroyed in mysterious circumstances.
03:53Scientists claim the region is full of methane hydrate gas, which can explode, and is therefore responsible for the disappearances.
04:01Some claim that people have been disappearing there since the medieval era.
04:05For instance, it is claimed that the Mongol invasions of Japan failed in the Devil's Sea.
04:10But this assertion makes virtually no sense compared to the historical record.
04:14The sailors can only pray that they won't fall victim to the Pacific Ocean's deadliest waters.
04:22Number six, Lake Superior, U.S. and Canada.
04:25Superior is the largest freshwater lake by area, sitting along the border between Canada and the U.S.
04:31It's famed for its beauty, making it a popular tourist destination.
04:35Lake Superior is one of the world's largest freshwater lakes, 560 kilometers east to west.
04:42It also has a reputation for never giving up her dead.
04:46This is because the waters are so cold, corpses won't float, and they're instead preserved for decades.
04:52Its weather can change in an instant, going from tranquil waters to 30-foot waves without a moment's notice.
04:58The most infamous disappearance was of the vessel the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975.
05:02We have no idea what happened, but 29 men died, and the ship was wrecked.
05:08The lake harbors countless secrets, so much so that we're still finding wrecks from centuries prior.
05:14The Edmund Fitzgerald was beaten and battered by a November storm on Lake Superior.
05:19She took nearly a year to build, but just one day to destroy.
05:23Number five, Great Isaac Lighthouse, The Bahamas.
05:27The Bermuda Triangle is one of Earth's most infamous regions of paranormal activity.
05:31While no reputable evidence for this superstition exists, it's still home to some spooky locations, like the Great Isaac Lighthouse.
05:39It's commonly believed to be haunted.
05:41The first ghost is a child who was consumed by sharks while building the lighthouse.
05:46Later, there was the Grey Lady's ship, which went missing in the 1800s.
05:50Supposedly, the ship's ghost still sails the waters.
05:53Most famously, two lighthouse keepers vanished in 1969.
05:57Their bodies were never recovered, but some claim they fell victim to a hurricane that swept them away.
06:03We'll never know for certain, though.
06:05Number four, Snake Island, Brazil.
06:07The disappearances on this island are easily some of the least mysterious on the list.
06:12As the name suggests, this island is full of extremely venomous snakes.
06:23There are so many, it's illegal to visit here without being a researcher or in Brazil's navy.
06:29This didn't used to be the case.
06:31Before its lighthouse went automated, someone had to keep it running.
06:34Locals believe the last lighthouse keeper and their family were killed by snakes.
06:39Apparently, they slipped through the windows and caught them by surprise.
06:42A sailor lived here with a woman and a daughter of five years old.
06:46The two died.
06:47Before then, some attempted to build a banana plantation, but had to give up due to the snakes.
06:52Local fishermen warned people not to visit, but those who don't listen are unlikely to return.
06:58Imagine these snakes as moving landmines that, instead of blowing you up,
07:02will cause your organs to liquefy in a slow, tedious death.
07:06Number three, Palmyra Atoll, U.S.
07:09About a thousand miles south of Hawaii lies the island of Palmyra Atoll.
07:14Except for researchers, it's completely uninhabited.
07:17The remains of the deserted base are still on the island today.
07:20It's considered the most haunted Pacific island, with a plethora of creepy tales surrounding it.
07:25The most famous was the Sea Wind Murder in 1974.
07:29The wealthy Graham couple had their yacht, the Sea Wind, turn up in Honolulu,
07:33being sailed by Dwayne Walker and Stephanie Stearns.
07:37The Graham corpses wouldn't be found for another six years,
07:40when one was discovered buried in a chest at Palmyra.
07:43That afternoon, Sharon went for a walk down the beach, and made a startling discovery.
07:49This was later turned into a true crime novel, and even a TV adaptation.
07:53Aside from this, there have been other harrowing tales surrounding Palmyra,
07:57all varying in their degree of plausibility.
08:00Mac Graham's body has never been found.
08:02Number two, Yellowhead Highway, Canada.
08:05The Yellowhead Highway stretches all across Canada, from Winnipeg to British Columbia.
08:10It has a 447-mile stretch, which has been nicknamed the Highway of Tears.
08:16It finished construction in 1969, and since 1970,
08:21it has faced a high frequency of abuse against women.
08:24Most of the cases are unsolved, and once again, most of those women were Indigenous.
08:30Many of them are Indigenous women, and there's no clear figure for how many have gone missing.
08:35Some claim it's less than 18, others above 40.
08:38If you go by the RCMP numbers, nine women have gone missing or been murdered along that specific stretch of highway.
08:46It's believed this has nothing to do with the highway, but represents a larger issue across Canada.
08:52The government has tried to investigate the issue, but has had little success,
08:56which many claim is representative of systematic racism.
08:59And if they're still alive, it's a matter of how do you find them,
09:04and when you find them, how do you get them to talk to you?
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09:22Number 1. The Alaska Triangle, US
09:26Alaska is one of the harshest regions on Earth.
09:29Its cold wilderness is highly deadly to humans, resulting in people coming up with the Alaska Triangle.
09:35The Alaska Triangle stretches from Juneau in the south to Anchorage in the middle,
09:40all the way up to Yukiavik at the most northern point in Alaska.
09:43This is similar to the Bermuda Triangle, except it claims far more lives.
09:48Since the 70s, roughly 20,000 people have gone missing there.
09:52The number of people that are reported missing in Alaska every year is twice as high as the national average.
09:58The idea began in 1972, when politician Hale Boggs' plane vanished between the Alaskan cities Juneau and Anchorage.
10:06It's easy to explain why many people disappear in Alaska.
10:10It's a massive state with an incredibly harsh wilderness, most of it untouched by humans.
10:15Hundreds, if not thousands, of people continue to mysteriously disappear in the Alaska Triangle every year.
10:26What do you think is the most mysterious place on Earth, and would you ever visit?
10:30Let us know in the comments section.
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