The Zone of Silence: America's Missile Secret

The Why Files: Operation Podcast

This episode of The Why Files explores the mysterious Zone of Silence in Mexico's Bolson de Mapimi desert, a region known for strange phenomena including radio

Key takeaways

• The Zone of Silence exhibits consistent but unpredictable electromagnetic interference, disrupting radios and compasses across varying locations and times.
• Local folklore describes recurring visitors—tall, blonde individuals who claim to be 'from above'—and a mysterious light phenomenon known as the 'carro da banda' that responds to human signals.

Main topics

• Zone of Silence phenomena
• 1970 U.S. missile failure

Notable quotes

"The Zone of Silence sits between the 26th and 28th parallel. So does the Bermuda Triangle. So do the Pyramids of Giza."

Conclusion

The Zone of Silence remains one of Earth's most enduring mysteries—a place where science, folklore, and Cold War secrets

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) At 2.40 a.m. on July 11, 1970, the United States Air Force launched a missile from Green River, Utah. 50 feet tall, 16,000 pounds, and carrying radioactive cobalt. It was aimed at a test range in New Mexico, 600 miles away. It didn't stop in New Mexico. Radar crews watched it climb, turn south, and disappear over the horizon. It took three weeks to find it. The missile came down in a patch of Mexico the locals avoided, a place where strange visitors wander the desert and radios die. They call it the Zone of Silence. Speaker 3 (0:46) I think everybody has a few things in their closet that somehow end up in the rotation way more than everything else. The shirt you grab without even thinking about it because it fits right, feels good, and works with pretty much everything. For me, those pieces are from Quince. I actually order from them and wear their stuff all the time. You've seen it. I love their 100 % organic cotton long-sleeve Henley. It's soft, breathable, has a great texture, and I can wear it casually or throw a jacket over it and look a little more put together. I also wear their 100 % Pima Cotton Luxe Touch Tee. It's lightweight, incredibly soft, and it's just a great everyday t-shirt. That's what Quince does so well. High-quality wardrobe staples made with premium materials at prices that are 50-80 % less than similar brands. They work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middlemen, so you're paying for quality, not the brand markup. Find your next fall favorites at Quince. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers. Or go to quince.com slash the Y-Files. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK, too. That's quince.com slash the Y-Files. Speaker 3 (2:04) The zone of silence is in the Bolson de Mapimi, a bowl of desert where three Mexican states meet. Durango, Chihuahua, and Coahuila. In the summer, it hits 113 degrees in the shade. Oh, Speaker 2 (2:15) Gertie calls that sweater weather. Speaker 3 (2:17) One minute. Can you let me get through one minute without a comment? Look, Speaker 2 (2:21) if you say desert, sand, or leather outfits, I immediately think of Gertie. The hot ones with the hot ones. Speaker 3 (2:30) There's almost no water out there and almost no people. If something goes wrong, help isn't coming. Your radio is your lifeline. In 1966, Pemex, Mexico's national oil company, wanted to run a pipeline through that desert. Survey crews were sent to some of the emptiest land in the country. The engineer leading the survey was Harry de la Pena. The job was routine. Map the route, mark the ground, and radio back to base every few hours. Except, the radio stopped working. A crew checked in all morning and then went silent for hours while base called into dead air. So Harry drove into the desert himself to find them. He found them alive, working, and just as confused as he was. Their radios were switched on. The batteries were charged and the frequencies were right. The men transmitted, but the signal went nowhere. Harry was an engineer, so he started to troubleshoot. He tried different radios and different frequencies. Nothing worked. He moved the crew a few hundred feet, and the radios came back on. He moved them back to the original spot, and the radios died again. He tried to map the dead spots, but they moved. A stretch of ground blocked radios in the morning, but not in the afternoon. Harry called the place La Zona del Silencio, the Zone of Silence. Something about the area bothered Harry. He came back again and again to take readings. He even brought in scientists to help. But the anomaly wasn't always there. He couldn't find a pattern. It was like it was playing with him. He thought he was the first to identify the zone of silence, but the locals said this part of the desert has always been a strange place, and it was known for things much stranger than radio interference. For years, people saw mysterious light in the zone. One day, a rancher decided to flash his headlights at it. It flashed back. Speaker 3 (4:32) The locals call it the carro da banda. It looks like a car's headlights, but there are no roads. If you flash a light, it answers, flash for flash. Sometimes it disappears and then reappears behind you. Whatever it is, it moves fast but makes no sound. Six generations of families grew up talking to the carro da banda. Travelers crossing the zone report the same thing Harry's Cruise found. Radios play only static. But they also found that compasses don't work. Needles catch north for a second, then spin and point south. Put a compass on the ground, and the needle spins in a circle forever. Pilots knew about this place for years. In the 1930s, Francisco Sarabia was the most famous aviator in Mexico. He flew over the zone, and his radio went out. Then his instruments failed, one by one. But the engine kept running. Speaker 3 (5:25) The tower lost him, and as far as anyone on the ground knew, Sarabia was gone. He put the plane down in the middle of the desert and hiked out. Mexico's greatest pilot swore he would never fly over that desert again, and he warned other pilots to do the same. And as far along as anyone can remember, animals come into the zone to die. Bones are scattered everywhere. Ranchers say horses and cattle will leave good pasture and wander for miles. When they get into the zone, they just lie down. The vultures do the rest. Speaker 3 (6:00) The noble cactus is green, but here it grows violet. Biologists found tortoises in the zone with shell patterns that only happen here. And then there are the visitors. Always the same three people, two men and a woman. Tall, blonde, long hair, soft features. They wear elegant clothes that aren't made for the desert. They speak perfect Spanish, but in a way that sounds like music. And they're always polite. They ask to fill their canteens. They never ask for food or anything else, only water from the well. And when you ask where they're from, they always say the same thing. We are from above. Speaker 3 (6:49) Planes avoid the zone, but meteors are drawn to it. On February 8th, 1969, the night sky turned white. A rock the size of a car weighing over two tons came in at 10 miles a second and exploded. The fireball lit the sky for hundreds of miles. It was suddenly bright as noon. And then came the sound. Multiple explosions as the meteor broke apart. People thought it was the end of the world. This was the Allende meteorite. It turned out to be one of the oldest objects to ever hit Earth. Within days, a geochemist from NASA bought stones from everyone he could find. Inside the stones, researchers found pre-solar grains that formed before the solar system existed. The oldest solid matter humans ever touched. Four and a half billion years old. Allende became the most studied rock in history. Pieces of it are in labs all over the world. Allende was the most famous meteor to hit the area, but it wasn't the only one, not even close. In 1938, a meteorite hit a ranch near the zone. In 1954, another one hit the same ranch. Witnesses say the Allende stone didn't fall straight down. They said it seemed to maneuver, like it was choosing where to land. Speaker 3 (8:08) Locals say it missed the first time, went around the Earth, and came back and hit the zone. The Zone of Silence sits between the 26th and 28th parallel. So does the Bermuda Triangle. So do the Pyramids of Giza. Deserts and oceans where ships, planes, and signals disappear are in a line around the planet. 17 months after the night sky burned over the zone, something else fell in. But it wasn't from space. It was from America. And it was radioactive. Speaker 3 (8:45) If you've ever thought about starting your own business, one of the hardest parts is just figuring out where to start. We know that firsthand because we actually use Shopify to run the Y-Files merch store. When we first got into selling merch, we definitely didn't know everything that goes into running an online storefront. That's one of the things we like about Shopify. It makes the whole process pretty straightforward. We can manage our products, keep an eye on the store, and