Missing 411 - Alaska's Phantom Planes and Missing Souls

As always , I'm your host , andy , and each episode will explore the mysterious cases of people who have vanished under strange circumstances , leaving behind more questions than answers , and this week is no different . Yeah , we're travelling back to Alaska for some crazy theories Aliens , ufo encounters , bigfoot encounters , stories of planes vanishing into thin air .

Yeah , it's a strange one . My last episode , about nine months ago , obviously was on Alaska as well , but that was more grounded . I would say it was more . You know , go back and listen to it . If you haven't heard it , then come straight back and listen to this one .

But I wanted to do because it's such a big topic , obviously , the topic of Alaska and missing persons cases basically I wanted to do sort of half and half . So the first one was more grounded , a bit more just the facts about Alaska , about certain things that happened there , and this one is going to be just insane theories . Who cares ?

And this one is going to be just insane theories who cares ? You know , we're all here , just yeah , it's very , very strange , very strange , but , yeah , a lot more out there today , so strap yourselves in for that . But , um , yeah , thank you for everybody bearing with me .

Um , even though I've been out office for a while , listeners , um , of spooky Island radio , uh , podcasts have grown and we've even got new listeners , so thank you for bearing with me . But , uh , I'm back , baby . Um , so , yeah , as always , go follow me on socials . So , uh , tick tock Instagram , you know socials . So , uh , tiktok instagram .

You know all that crap . Um , leave me some reviews because , yeah , it's nice to be nice , as someone said . I mean , if you do enjoy the podcast , um , yeah , share it with everyone you know . And let's uh , let's , keep growing it to get more people into the log cabin , um , but yeah , without further ado , let's get straight into it .

But , yeah , without further ado , let's get straight into it .

So last week like aka nine months ago , but the last Alaska episode was more centred around strange occurrences around Mount Hayes in Alaska , so , strange lights and apparently a secret underground base run by aliens and the stories of psychic mediums attempting to astral project and , uh , and yeah , who've claimed to have projected before .

Um , so that was what , the mode , that was what the first episode is mostly about um and shout out to . There's a series called missing in alaska , um , where I got some of my information from this week .

Um , and yeah , I think it's just , it's a really good , it's quite a good show , like some of these shows just don't really tend to hold my attention at all , really , um , but this one's quite good , but there was I , I was like I was so with them .

It's just basically these three guys going around alaska talking shit about you know things that have happened there , um , and they're just it was really well done and I thought they were quite credible . Um , until they were . There's a . There's something that happens with a drone . A drone they lose , it just flies away .

They're like , oh , it's the electromagnetic field , it's , it's the ufos messing with it , and I'm like I don't think so he's sort of losing me a bit here . And then they basically find it at the end of the episode , miles and miles away from where they were , and they were like , oh , I just don't buy it . So , yeah , shout out to that series .

Um , it's quite good for a watch . Um , but take some of what they say with a little bit of pinch of salt . But , yeah , a stat comes up at the start of each episode .

Um stated , and I quote , there are roughly 728 000 people in alaska , people living in alaska and roughly over the past 20 years 60 000 people have gone missing , which to me is actually just an incredible number of people . So from where my mum and dad live , little old witness , um , that's about 60 000 people .

And to think 60 000 people doesn't sound like a lot , but it really is like an entire town of people have gone missing in the past 20 years . It's just thought I thought that was quite crazy , quite quite crazy . But also , that is I did the maths because you know I could do basic maths .

It's roughly 15% of the Alaska population that has gone missing , never to be seen again . Obviously , it's people that have come in from other states or abroad as well , into that . It's not like all them people are alaskan residents . Um , but yeah , it's just insane . It's just insane how many people go missing there . Um , and yeah , just got to investigate it .

Um , now , an event that they spoke about on the show , which we're going to investigate first , is the strange disappearance of the missing c-54 plane . Now , picture the scene right , settle down , picture the scene you are a soldier in the united states air force and it is a night unlike any other in 1950 when your squadron is moving from anchorage to montana .

The c-54 attempted to take off during the morning of january 26th , but problems with one of its engines forced it to remain in elmendorf which , while repairs were completed safety first , you know , gotta be done .

Um , it finally departed at around 1 pm local time and what was planned to be an eight-hour flight crossing some of the most rugged and desolate terrain in North America . The weather was clear but very cold , reaching about minus 25 Fahrenheit at ground level in a number of places . For much of its journey , the C-54 used Airway Amber 2 .

See , I don't know what any of this is , but it must be true because it was on a website about it . So hopefully , if you're a plane buff , you'll know what all this means . But the C-54 used Airway Amber 2 , an air route established during World War II and which follows the Alaskan Highway .

In 1950 , the route was provided with a radio station and an emergency strip approximately every hundred miles .

As per standard operating procedure , the aircraft was required to make regular radio situation reports on route and at 3.09 pm local time , around two hours after takeoff , the c-54 made a routine report that it was flying at 10,000 feet of the small town of snag in Yukon , and I expected to reach the next radio station in A ish Hicka in Yukon 30 minutes later .

But that was the last time anyone heard from the Skymaster . Despite massive and continuing searches , there remained no clues as to what may have happened to it . When the plane failed to reach its destination , and after trying to reach them via radio , a search team was organised .

Up to 85 US and Canadian aircraft took part in the operation looking for the missing C-54 plane , assisted by 7,000 men on the ground . It seemed incredible to believe that an aircraft as large as the C-54 could simply vanish , but that is precisely what happened .

At the time , there was no radar coverage in the area in which the aircraft was lost which might have given a clue as to its fate .

Now , despite what was one of the largest search operations ever undertaken , no trace was ever found of the missing aircraft , its crew or its passengers and I forgot to say actually at the start , but there was 44 passengers on this plane , so that's 44 people unaccounted for just vanished .

So I told you it's going to be a strange episode , right , what the actual fuck happened to this plane . Now they have some theories on missing in Alaska show and I did a bit of research myself over some websites talking about similar sort of similar themes and similar ideas .

Um , but basically what they think is that is spikes in electromagnetic fields and energy in certain points and people . Well , again , guys , you have to stick your tinfoil hats on at this part , because this is where it gets crazy . It's going to be a bumpy ride . Yeah , that was from Harry Potter . Yeah , that was from Harry Potter .

Um , they suspect that if , if aliens are advanced and UFOs are advanced , that they would be able to manipulate the electromagnetic field or something about that , which would mean that they would be able to create like a black hole or a wormhole highway that they can use to interdimensionally travel , and that may be it opens for a second , the ufo comes through and

that this plane could have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time and gone through the wormhole . I told you crazy , but it's sort of it doesn't make sense because obviously it's not scientifically proven or anything , but I can at least think wrong place , wrong time and maybe they're just in a parallel universe or different in location entirely .

Um , but imagine they could be like in a different parallel universe , landing where they're supposed to land , and people like who are you ? But yeah , that's , that's the main sort of idea that they had , because there's certain , certain electromagnetic hotspots across the globe .

Triangles come up again and again , and it's said that the Alaska Triangle is part of these electromagnetic hotspots . It's similar to sort of Bermuda Triangle and obviously we know what happens there with all the planes that go missing . So , yeah , bit of a strange one . But what do you think happened ? Because it was never found .

I mean , alaska's huge , so , but so many people were looking for them and nothing has ever been discovered them and nothing has ever been discovered . Now , this is super strange , but it's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to strange happenings in Alaska . Now , from one plane vanishing to another .

And before we go into this case , just a little little statistic for you , treating you to a little statistic . Here is estimated that in the last decade , around 1,200 planes have gone missing without a trace in Alaska . So just let that settle in Good . Now that it's all settled , we'll move on to the next one . So this next case revolves around Alaska .

Congressman Nick Bedich was around Alaska , congressman , nick Bedich . On October 16th 1972 , a Cessna 310 disappeared somewhere between Anchorage and Juneau in Alaska . The plane was piloted by Don Johns . He was a military veteran with more than 17,000 hours of flight time .

The passengers on the plane were , like I said , alaska Congressman Nick Batch , his aide Russell Brown and Louisiana Congressman Hale Boggs .

The plane left Anchorage at 9am and Johns filed a VFR flight plan stating he planned to fly southeast over the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet , through Portage Pass , over Prince William Sound to Johnston Point and then on to Yucatat . So hope you all got that .

If you're familiar with alaska geography , I'm sure that means something to you , but to me it means diddly squat um . From there he would fly directly to judo um . The flight should have taken approximately three and a half hours and the airplane carried six hours of fuel .

Now , even though it had six hours of fuel for a three and a half hour journey , weather was predicted to be quite bad along the journey , which obviously can have an effect on the fuel used . There's said to be poor visibility , icy rain and turbulent headwinds forecast on the route . So I mean , do we just have it here ?

A case of turbulence bringing the plane down ? I mean , it seems unlikely given the experience of the pilot , but yeah , we'll carry on . When the plane did not arrive in Juneau and was declared missing , the US launched the largest search and rescue effort on record up until that time .

The search lasted 39 days and included 40 military aircraft and 50 civilian planes covering over 325,000 square miles . In addition to the air operation , ground patrols searched Portage Pass twice .

No piece of the aircraft was ever located during the initial search or since , and officials at the time decided the plane likely crashed or either sank into Prince William Sound or was buried in ice and snow .

Now , in the hours and days following the disappearance of the plane , several independent radio operators in Northern California reported hearing a transmission from someone on the downed plane broadcasting , but searchers were never able to pinpoint the location of the origin of these transmissions . So again , another plane going missing in strange circumstances .

Now , according to the FBI file , the day after the plane disappeared , a search plane picked up a signal for 40 minutes from some distance from juno , from what was believed to be a crash locator beacon . Another weaker signal , signal was heard . A signal , what am I talking about .

Another weaker signal was heard 150 miles northeast of Anchorage , but search planes were unable to pinpoint the source of either of these signals . So yeah , very much like the last plane going missing . What's different here is that the transmissions are reported after they had vanished . So once again , tinfoil hat time .

But maybe these guys were stuck like the last one , possibly we don't know , obviously it's strange stuck in a parallel universe .

Having gone through some kind of wormhole , um , they've been opened up , um , you know , through these electromagnetic fields or something strange , got on the Alaskan triangle and the reason they couldn't pinpoint properly was because there was some sort of residual signal , um , but obviously the plane wasn't where the signal was saying it was because it was in a parallel

dimension . I mean , it's all , we're all here to have a good time . Do you know what I mean ? Like , this is obviously all speculation , but these are very strange , very , very strange . Disappearances and 1,200 planes going missing . Something's just not right .

But let's bring it back down to earth a little bit from these missing planes and talk about a few missing persons , cases just like the good old trusty case file episodes before . So yeah , because I know we're all here for the missing planes and the Bigfoot sightings and what's going on , but what you guys are here for ?

Good old fashioned missing persons cases , which is morbid to say like that , I suppose . But let's jump into a couple right now , and it brings us to the story of the perplexing big word there of paul michael the melt . Um , I'm definitely saying that wrong , but le maître sounds french . Um , but yeah , so let's get into it now .

Um , it all sort of centres around him little Paul Michael um disappearing from a mount marathon race . So 65 year old Michael was competing on the mount marathon race in Seawood , alaska , just south of Anchorage .

Um , and I'm not going to lie , a lot of these disappearances are happening , or they all seem to start around Anchorage , so maybe we need to look there .

But yeah , this was an extreme event and he was last seen on July 4th 2012 , about 200 feet from the top of the Mount Marathon , a 3 , 3022 foot peak , and he was never seen again and his body was never located , despite extensive searching . He was lost without a trace .

Not even not even clothing his black shorts , a black t-shirt or a black headband was ever recovered . Now , now , michael was competing for the first time in the 85th running of the Mount Marathon race , with participants running up the mountain , surrounded by thick forests and creeks , over 3.1 to 3.5 miles .

Now , starting in downtown Seward , racers run half a mile to the bottom of the Mount Marathon , then scramble about 2,900 vertical feet straight up cliffs and mud and shale before getting to race point . Okay , now I've been knackered before I even got to the start of the race . They never heard of roads . Jesus Christ , I'll be like no thanks .

Now this starts from an artificial summit point . So then participants go downhill over snow fields , rock fields , waterfalls and crags until they reach the finish line and return to the streets of Seward . Now the first wave of or group of runners left earlier the day and Michael was part of the second wave .

It's set up like this to give runners space and try not to crowd the trail too much . Now Michael's second wave started at about 3.15pm . At around 5.45pm on the race day , tom Walsh , a race steward , saw Michael ascending to the turnaround point with about 200 feet to go , and at this point the area was getting foggy and cold .

Walsh saw no reason to be concerned about the runner's condition . Walsh asked Michael for his bib number and he replied 548 . As he descended back towards the town he texted race officials . Boop number 5-4-8 would be home in about an hour and a half and unfortunately , since he's made his way into this episode , he didn't .

So hours later his wife , peggy called search and rescue teams onto the mountain at around 8pm as temperature had fallen and rain was worsening . So , we've already got the makings of a classic missing 411 case here , the rain worsening as search teams start their search .

Now , by 2am , an Alaska State Trooper's helicopter equipped with infrared radar was scanning the mountain . Searchers worried that if he wasn't already injured , he probably had hypothermia because of his light , clothing , exhaustion and the freezing weather .

The following day , july 5th , the 210th Rescue Squadron of the Alaska Air National Guard , which specialises in searching for crash pilots and missing hikers , arrived with its HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter for another infrared scan .

Now a team of 60 searchers scoured the mountain looking everywhere , even the other side , away from the racecourse , but there was no sign of Michael Mountain . Rescue experts , firemen , state troopers , search dogs and michael's family spent thousands of hours searching the area without a single clue being found , and even to this day this case remains open .

So what do you think happened to the poor guy ? Everyone , everyone involved in the marathon mountain event , asks how does someone disappear during a three-mile race and to be lost forever without a trace ? A little bit of rhyme in there for you at the end . It's a strange one . It's a strange one .

I suppose he didn't disappear right from underneath someone's nose , like is usual with misinformed one cases . But he was pretty close to people and there's not far he could have gone and you would have thought , even though it's quite a dangerous trail , if he fell they would have checked , sort of just off the trail .

I don't know , I'm not a search and rescuer , but just seems strange on such a small I mean I know three miles is quite long but it's not the biggest of areas to search and for him to completely have gone , strange one . Now . He was seen near the ascent and with only 1.5 miles to go downhill .

Several years after Michael disappeared , not one piece of physical evidence has surfaced . He literally vanished off the mountain and I mean it sort of doesn't tick enough boxes for me for it to fit a misinformed one case fully .

I mean , my theory is probably that he could have fallen off the trail into a crevasse or some sort of big cave or some kind of rock formation . But if that was the case , then the sniffer dogs you would have thought would have been able to trace his scent to where at least he fell .

Was the case , then the sniffer dogs you would have thought would have been able to trace his scent to where at least he fell off the trail Rather than them . Speaking of dogs , my neighbour's dog just started barking . Hopefully you don't hear that , but if you do , that's a little cavvy upstairs .

Yeah , I thought they would have been able to pick up his trail somehow . It's like he just shot up into the air or vanished . Um , so , yeah , that's the tale of Michael , paul and Michael , and now we're swiftly moving on to the next one which , like the others , absolutely reeks of mysteriousness .

Now , this is a very strange story of two brothers who disappeared around the same day , almost 11 years apart , and I must say , from my reading of what's been reported , it sounds like a bit of a stranger things situation . So picture the scene , picture it . Come on , picture it with me .

It's a cold evening in the summer of 1999 and you're around your friend's house . Your parents are expecting you home later that night or the next day , but you never make it . Now the incident took place in wasila , which is a city in Alaska , the sixth largest city in Alaska .

I cannot pronounce that word , but it is located on the northern point of Crook Inlet in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley . I don't know what that is , but yeah , that's sort of where we're at . Estimates in 2019 put the population at about 10,838 people and it's named after Chief Wasilla , a local tribesman chief .

Now the story goes that 15-year year old Michael Palmer spent the night at a friend's house in Wasilla , alaska , on June 4th 1999 . They all slipped out of the house and attended a graduation party with three other friends near Meadow Lake subdivision , just outside the town .

Michael reportedly drank a few beers at the party , but not , but did not become noticeably intoxicated . That is the first strange thing to me . How does he have that restraint ? I mean , I go to my local spoons and two pounds , six , nine , a pint of copperberg , really good I .

I've got into a habit of stealing bricks from the pavement and bringing them home with me . Yeah , it was when I was in uni . We used to steal traffic cones , yeah , so I don't know how we had that restraint , but good on him .

Um , now , at around 4 am , michael and his three friends left the party and they were riding home together on their bicycles when , according to his friends , michael started lagging behind them and dropped out of sight . He was last seen on Pittman Road in the direction of his family home .

His home was approximately nine miles from where the party was held and Michael's friends waited for him at the 7-Eleven on Parks Highway but gave up and assumed he'd headed home by himself . But he never made it home . His mother reported him missing at 3pm that next day , june 5th , 11 hours after he was last seen .

Now , that's the part that reminded me of Stranger Things In the first series , where they're all riding home and it's dark and um , I think it's will , isn't it ? Um , I think will's by himself and they've just find his bike in the morning .

And then in the latest series , you find out it was like the demogorgon that he encountered when he was cycling home , which we know is like , um , some sort of government experiment , um , that they're all covering hush , hush , and that's why I think strange things isn't actually that out there , like it's not out of the realms of possibilities , um , especially when

stories like this come around , because it just reminds me of it . It's just , it reeks of Stranger Things energy to me . The bicycle which Michael had been using that night , which he had borrowed , was later found in the little Susitna River , which runs roughly parallel to the pitman road and silver drive intersection .

Tracker dogs could not trace his scent at the spot . And then , out of the blue , michael's wet and muddy . High top converse trainers not sneakers were found near private runway for a homeowner's personal aircraft . Divers searched the Little Susidna River . About 50 searchers combed the nearby woods .

The troopers interviewed the teenagers who had been at the party and some reports speculated that Michael might have been beaten by an unknown suspect or suspects while riding home . A local youth claimed he witnessed Michael being attacked and shot on a bridge , but later he admitted he had made up the story .

Michael's father was sceptical about the three friends story . From the night . Michael went missing also and hired two private investigators to look into things . One of the investigators apparently left town because she was threatened and another one uncovered a rumour that Michael never left the party and that he was the victim of a murder or kidnapping .

However , nothing could be substantiated . Others believe that Michael may have fallen into the river and died of hypothermia . Died of hypothermia . Now again , it's a very strange situation .

Vanished from around his friends , happened close to water and , like his trainers or you know , as Americans , you Americans call them sneakers and his clothes were found in a completely different location , all folded up neatly on the spot . We've sort of heard that from you know .

Missing 411 searches where people's clothes will turn up miles away from where the person was last seen and also where they previously searched . So , yeah , very strange , and obviously the sniffer dogs couldn't pick up a scent , which we know . We know that is associated with the missing 411 .

Um , and also , like , why would the private investigators spook , like I'm sure they've seen all sorts , but something about this situation and this story scared them . But yeah , like I said , that was only the first part of the story . Fast forward around 11 years and we pick up the story , with michael's brothers out on a hiking outdoors trip .

Oh , and also , yeah , michael was never found I don't know if I said that before , but never found just his clothes and his bike . So yeah , like I say , fast forward 11 years and michael's brothers are out on a hiking outdoors trip .

And in april 2010 , michael's brothers charles , chucky , palmer the fifth , and chris , 32 he was 32 , 30 and 32 years old both of went on a trip to the Tokitina Mountains in Alaska with their stepfather and two friends . Now it's almost 11 years after Michael vanished .

The group parked their cars on Masterton Road and were going to ride snowmobiles or machines whatever's your you know word of choice to a cabin near sheep creek on saturday , april 10th 2010 , the handlebars on chris's snow machine snapped off , forcing him to stay behind at the cabin while everyone else went on a trip through the woods .

Ordinarily , chris would have been riding with his younger brother , chucky . When he questioned about the situation , chris said I'm usually the last rider out there to make sure nobody gets left behind , but that day Chucky brought up the rear . Does he now ? Cheeky , wink , wink .

The group was headed back to the cabin on the main trail , but around 7.15pm Chucky separated from them and disappeared . Now he wasn't a strong rider compared to others , and Chris believed that the others were probably riding too fast for Chucky to keep up .

Now , chucky had dressed appropriately for the cold weather , smart boy , but didn't have survival gear , the GPS device , a GPS device or water . So basically he had his snowmobile and some warm clothes . That's all he had . He was reported 12 hours later .

Early on the morning of April 11th , an extensive search of the area turned up no signs of him , and although searchers did find his snow machine in deep snow 12 miles away from the cabin , he had apparently left the main trail and gone off on a side trail when he got stuck in the soft snow Weather hampered the search from the beginning .

A trooper helicopter could only get up in the air on some days and deep wet snow made travel difficult for searchers on snow machines . Now Chucky's snow machine was found after he was reported missing . Um , but despite heavy snow , no footprints or scent were detected and his body has never been found .

It was just like he was just taken off the top of his snowmobile , like something beamed him up off of his thing , and yeah , that would explain why there was no footprints , why there was no scent that could be tracked anywhere . Strange .

Now chris spent about four days searching for his brother snow machines , snow machining the foothills of bald mountain with other volunteers and he was quoted as saying something quite poignant actually and sad , and he said there were times when it reminded him of driving through wassila's back roads 11 years ago looking for michael .

I never thought I'd have to deal with this shit ever again . Two brothers aren't supposed to go missing from the same family . It's quite sad really , isn't it ? Poor little Chris , sort of left by himself now , but it's just strange . Again , bad weather , I suppose .

I don't know if it happened near water , but bad weather Couldn't quite keep up with others on the other snowmobiles . What happened to him , you know , and Cavi is out barking again , so I have to get him on as a guest star if he keeps barking at this fucking right .

Yeah , the first disappearance was strange and , like I say , very strange things , esque , some sort of . You know , we know there's stuff going on in alaska . We know this well .

We strongly suspect we can't say we know , but that the government have these sort of underground operations where they're experimenting on things or they're trying to figure out how wormholes work , or they've got alien craft underneath mount haze . You know , like we have an idea of these things going on , and is it ?

I just find it very , very strange about the first young boy going missing , never to be found , and then his brother , 11 years later , just disappearing off the top of his snowmobile , never to be seen again . So very strange and I'm gonna have to come back to alaska at some point .

That is the end of the episode today , but I'm gonna have to come back to it and I'll have to do a bit more research on it . And because it's nuts , it's absolutely nuts . Um , if I have any alaska listeners , um , reach out to me .

I'd love to hear from you if you've ever seen anything strange um ufos in the sky , any stories about people go missing , that sort of thing . Get in touch . But definitely something strange happening in alaska . And yeah , thank you for tuning into this chilling episode of spooky radio podcast .

We uh hope you enjoyed this spine tingling tales and eerie atmosphere that we brought to you today . If you loved what you heard , be be sure to subscribe , rate and leave a review on your favourite podcast platform .

Your feedback helps us bring more fearsome stories to your ears , so stay connected with us on social media for updates , behind-the-scenes content and more . You can find us on Instagram and TikTok at Spooky Island Radio , and if you have any creepy stories or suggestions , feel free to reach out to us by email at SpookyIslandRadio , at Outlookcom .

And , yeah , love to hear from you . So once again , thank you for listening . Oh , next week we have a very special episode Back to the regular , regular , misinformed one , regular episodes of Spooky Island radio podcast , and I'm having a conversation with Jason from Odd and Untold , so you're getting a pretty hefty episode next in two weeks time .

It's about an hour and 40 minutes , so yeah something for you to look forward to . But yeah , we talk about all things spooky , so , yeah , just getting you a little bit excited for that . So remember the night is dark and full of terrors , so stay safe and keep the lights on and until next time , catch you on the flippity flip . Bye .