Atlantic Ocean—Vanishing ships and planes
Lat: 25°12'26.43" N || Long: 69°30'17.93" W
The Mystery: On December 5, 1945, five torpedo bombers took off from a US Naval base in Florida for a routine training flight and were never seen again. That's just one of about 70 such incidents that have fueled the legend of the Bermuda Triangle, a roughly 450,000-square-mile area of sea between Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. Mariners and aviators alike fear an "electronic fog" in the region's atmosphere that some say spins compass needles, jams radar signals, and consumes planes and ships.
The Reality: Statistical coincidence and sloppy research, according to the US Navy, which doesn't recognize the existence of the Bermuda Triangle.
Photo Portfolio: Uta Kögelsberger
In broad daylight, the Bermuda Triangle just looks like the ocean. So photographer Uta Kögelsberger waited until nightfall to coax whatever creepy aura she could from the mysterious deep. "When we are in the darkness," she says, "the brain fills in what the eye can't see. Darkness is a fundamental instrument to induce terror, it can trick our minds into thinking a simple creak in a floorboard is an intruder."
Uta photographs the Bermuda Triangle from Miami Beach. She and assistant Uwe Zirpner scouted locations along the Florida coast as far south as Key West to look for the right spot for the shoot. Photo: Uwe Zirpner
A woman sunning herself on Miami Beach, the Bermuda Triangle in the distance.
The Bermuda Triangle at dusk, as seen from Miami Beach before the sweepers arrive.
A cruise ship sets out into the Bermuda Triangle from Miami Beach.
### Mexico City
Mexico—UFO-sighting central
Lat: 19°25'48.61" N || Long: 99°10'0.92" W
The Mystery: Is Mexico City the go-to destination for intergalactic tourists? In July 1991 a total solar eclipse darkened the city's sky, and many residents claimed to have seen a UFO dangling near the blotted-out orb. The capital—and the country—has been popular with sky-watchers ever since. In 1999, a whopping 60 percent of denizens in a nearby town said they spotted a UFO, and there are currently 3,000-plus YouTube videos "documenting" Mexico's sightings.
The Reality: It could be a perceptual illusion known as the autokinetic effect, which makes stationary light in dark skies appear to move. According to UFO enthusiasts, Mexico City is not considered to be a "real" alien hot spot.
Photo Portfolio: Uta Kögelsberger
Uta traveled directly to Mexico City from Miami Beach and said the contrast was a shock. The glittering wealth of Miami stood in sharp contrast to the poverty of most of Mexico City's inhabitants, particularly in areas away from the city center.
Uta had four days in Mexico City. She called on a friend, a local photographer, who helped locate the downtown furniture store rooftop where the shoot took place. Photo: Uwe Zirpner
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Mexico City at night — orb free, but still eerie.
### Racetrack Playa
Death Valley, California—Self-propelled rocks
Lat: 36°40'53.96" N || Long: 117°33'45.66" W
The Mystery: In the vast, flat desert of Death Valley, a series of colossal boulders, weighing up to 700 pounds each, appear to move on their own. There are no traces of bulldozers, footprints, or tire tracks. Not only that, these sliding rocks leave behind deep "scars" that disappear in less than seven years. Gravity was once thought to be the culprit, until researchers discovered that many of these massive stones were skittering uphill.
The Reality: One recent study using differential GPS and rock-trail analysis suggests that a potent combination of blasting winds, whirling dust devils, and the slick playa surface causes the rocks to inch ever so slowly along the desert floor.
Photo Portfolio: Uta Kögelsberger
Racetrack Playa is a flat lake bed located between the Cottonwood Mountains and Last Chance Range. This trail sign at Teakettle Junction in Death Valley points toward the playa.
Racetrack Playa is a very remote place. To find it, you have to travel almost 60 miles past the Death Valley Visitor Center, then go 30 more miles down a rough dirt road, and hike half a mile from the parking lot. Uta says it was very peculiar to come across dozens of photographers in this vast, stark landscape kneeling with their cameras to shoot photos of the rocks.
Adding to the strangeness was the noise of jets from Edwards Air Force Base breaking the sound barrier above their heads. "Being in the middle of nowhere with a military exercise going on above my head was spooky," says Uta. Photo: Uwe Zirpner
The rocks trails aren't permanent. A rainstorm can wash away the paths of smaller rocks, and none last more than six to seven years.
### Lake Toplitz
Austria—Sunken Nazi treasure
Lat: 47°38'36.29" N || Long: 13°55'32.22" E
The Mystery: A seemingly serene lake nestled in the mountains about 50 miles southeast of Salzburg is believed to hold some of the Nazis' darkest secrets—and the promise of sunken treasure. Hitler used the 350-foot-deep lake to test underwater missiles for use on submarines. But as the war ended, the SS allegedly dumped millions of dollars' worth of looted goods in wooden cases.
The Reality: In summer 2000, 60 Minutes II enlisted the assistance of Oceaneering Technologies, the high tech salvage crew that worked on the space shuttle Challenger and TWA Flight 800 crashes. Over the course of four weeks, they uncovered piles of bogus British pound notes—but nothing else.
Photo Portfolio: Uta Kögelsberger
Uta sets up her next shot in waist-deep snow. After Uta and assistant Lynne Marsh (also a photographer) arrived in Austria, it snowed for the next three days. "You can't drive through the snow, so you have walk in it up to your belly to scout locations," Uta says, laughing.Photo: Lynne Marsh
- The Big StoryPriscila, Queen of the Rideshare Mafia
Snow falls in Lake Toplitz. Uta says the night shoots were particularly difficult: "Snow isn't good for camera equipment."
Reachable only by a dead-end road, the isolated mile-long lake features gorgeous scenery and one small restaurant called the Fisherman's Hut. The owner admitted to Uta that building up the mystery of the lake certainly helped his business.
### Marfa
Texas—Hovering orbs of light in the night sky
Lat: 30°16'31.38" N || Long: 103°52'57.79" W
The Mystery: Each evening, along a certain stretch of US Route 90, the Marfa Lights cast a delicate glow along the Texas horizon. Appearing one or two at a time, each sphere appears to hover at eye level and sparkle like a disco ball. Since these elusive beams were first documented in the late 19th century, theories abound—there are at least 75 local folktales suggesting the lights are everything from little volcanoes to St. Elmo's fire.
The Reality: In 2005, a team of physics students at the University of Texas at Dallas found that "all the lights reliably observed during the experiment were car headlights." A logical assertion today, but what about their first appearance in 1883?
Photo Portfolio: Uta Kögelsberger
Uta says she took this photo from the Marfa Lights viewing platform with a digital camera set at a six-minute exposure. Uta says the lights were at least a mile away and that "they were probably car headlights." Regardless, she did meet locals who said they've seen them, including a bartender who told Uta a disturbing story of being "followed by the lights." True story or just a tall tale to enhance the local folklore?
US Route 90 on the way to photograph Marfa Lights in Marfa, Texas.
Plaque in the Marfa Lights View Shelter in Marfa, Texas.
Marfa Lights view shelter.
### Area 51
Groom Lake, Nevada—Government-run alien crash pad
Lat: 37°14'40.06" N || Long: 115°48'38.45" W
The Mystery: For conspiracy theorists, Area 51 has been ground zero for the nation's secret military projects since U-2 spy planes were tested there in the 1950s. But as any sci-fi fan knows, it's also a hot zone for the extraterrestrials recovered from an unidentified space vehicle rumored to have crash-landed in nearby Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. Over the past few years, several former Area 51 workers have tried to sue the government for exposure to toxic materials (presumably not from Mars), but they've been thwarted by presidential exemptions allowing the Air Force to keep its operations hush-hush.
The Reality: Aliens make for great TV but are otherwise pure fiction. Really.
Photo Portfolio: Uta Kögelsberger
Uta and Uwe checked online maps to see how close they could get to Area 51. They learned their best bet for getting insider information was at the Little A’Le’Inn motel in Rachel, Nevada.
Little A’Le’Inn hotel gift shop Staying at the motel provided them with no shortage of rumors, including one of listening devices placed throughout the area to track potential intruders. Also, the boundary markers are placed so that they are very hard to recognize, yet, says Uta, "if you aren't careful, you can easily cross the barrier. And if you cross, the guards are allowed to shoot to kill."
Groom Road, a dirt road on the way to Groom Lake/Area 51. "The implied danger is quite strongly felt. You get a sense that the folklore has built a much stronger fence than would be physically possible to construct," Uta says.
The sky above Area 51 at night.
Groom Road on the way to Groom Lake/Area 51.
Watch a video montage of Uta Kögelsberger's photos and video taken during her month-long photoshoot of mystery spots.
