Zone of Silence: Exploring the Strange Phenomenon in the Mexican Desert

On the borders of the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Durango, and Coahuila sits an area with abundant celestial activity and other strange phenomena. It is located in the Mapimí patch, a closed basin in the great desert in northern Mexico. She referred to as the Mexican version of the Bermuda Triangle, the so-called Zone of Silence has attracted many tourists and researchers for several decades trying to answer the claims and reports of odd occurrences.

Mysteries Surrounding the Zone of Silence

The name was only assigned to this place in 1966 when oil company Pemex sent some people to explore the area. The expedition leader, Augusto Harry dela Peña, encountered problems with his radio, giving the name Zone of Silence.

The area started to stir up curiosity from this event until it made headlines on July 11, 1970. On this day, the US air force base in Green River, Utah, launched an Athena rocket to send a scientific mission to investigate the Earth's upper atmosphere. The rocket was expected to land near White Sands, Mexico, but it went astray and came down in the middle of the Zone of Silence, 644 km south of its planned destination.

Since then, similar stories have been reported by residents and tourists alike. In the 1930s, a Mexican pilot named Francisco Sarabia said that his radio failed to function while flying over the Zone. Aside from radio signals, telecommunication signals also seem to fall within this area. There are also reports that compasses turn out of control when positioned near the stone on the ground. Large meteorites also landed in southern Chihuahua near the Zone of Silence. Despite being a desert, the Zone of Silence is also home to some fossilized seashells and huge salt deposits.

Several theories have been made trying to explain these phenomena. Disruption of radio signals is believed to be caused by subterranean deposits of magnetite and debris from meteorites. The seashell fossils are attributed to the fact that the Zone was once under the Sea of Thetys millions of years ago. Aside from scientific explanations, there are claims that the supernatural events within the Zone of Silence are due to extraterrestrial encounters and paranormal activities.

Impact of the Desert's Fame

Today, no evidence remains of the rocket, the impact crater, or the structures set for the US space program after the Athena missile disaster. In 1977, the Mexican government turned the 342,388-hectare terrain into Mapimí Biosphere Reserve. It contains a research station for studying the unusual flora and fauna in the area, including the Gopherus tortoise, the largest land reptile in North America.

In 1992, wildlife conservationist Andrea Kaus from the University of California wrote a doctoral dissertation focusing on the social conditions in Durango, Mexico, and its effect on the conservation programs in the biosphere reserve. She said she had no trouble with radios or compasses while working on the research station.

Kraus reported that the residents do not believe in the Zone of Silence and have an ambivalent attitude towards the Zoneros or the tourist guides escorting the curiosity-seekers from different parts of the world. It could have been that the reported strange occurrences got famous because they can become a potential source of income for the locals.

Kraus further explained that the Zone of Silence presented a subtle threat to the biosphere reserve due to the propaganda. The research activities in the station are hindered by people looking for extraterrestrial beings as they collect artifacts they find in the desert while leaving trash along the way. Aside from it, the zoneros themselves are considered a nuisance by perpetuating false ideas about the place, which obscure the activities in the biosphere reserve.