Deep in the rugged wilderness of New Mexico, between the Carson and Santa Fe National Forests, lies a region known as the Pecos Triangle. Covering more than 200,000 acres of isolated terrain, it is a place where people have vanished under mysterious circumstances for decades [citation:1]. Abandoned vehicles, personal belongings, and campsites have been discovered throughout the landscape, often with no sign of their owners [citation:1]. In some cases, remains are found under deeply unusual circumstances. Far more often, those who disappear in the Pecos Triangle are never seen again [citation:1].

In this chilling episode, we investigate the disappearances that have given this remote corner of New Mexico a reputation as one of America's most unsettling mystery hotspots. From the 2000 case of Carmen Marta Gonzalez, a nurse who vanished on New Year's Eve and whose rental van was found a month later at the bottom of a canyon with no footprints around it [citation:1], to the 1998 disappearance of Emma Tresp, a 71-year-old world traveler whose abandoned car was found on a notorious road known locally as El Camino del Diablo or the "Devil's Road" [citation:3][citation:8]. We examine the case of Mel Nadel, a fit 61-year-old martial artist who vanished while hunting on Elk Mountain in 2009, his scent tracked by dogs for just 100 yards before it abruptly stopped [citation:3][citation:8]. And we explore the stories of Stanley Vigil, found months later in the Pecos River with signs of trauma, and Audrey Kaplan, a 75-year-old hiker who disappeared while mushroom hunting and was eventually found [citation:6]. From the theories of serial killers and animal attacks to UFOs and portals to other dimensions, this is the story of a place where the wilderness seems to swallow people whole.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/black-lantern--7264324/support.