Where is Nome, Alaska? History of unsolved disappearances explored as search intensifies for missing plane carrying 10 in Alaska

The sudden disappearance of a Cessna plane with 10 people on board during a flight in Nome, Alaska, has raised scrutiny on the history of mysterious dispapreance in the small city sitting very close to the Arctic, with a population of over 3,500 people.

According to CNN, on Thursday, February 6, 2025, a plane operated by Bering Air, carrying 10 people, including the pilot, was en route from Unalakleet to Nome, Alaska, when the state police agency was notified at 4 p.m. of “an overdue aircraft” that had gone missing. According to the Alaska State Troopers, Unalakleet to Nome is separated by the Norton Sound inlet.

Nome is a rural community in Alaska, United States, that is known for dog sledge racing and its gold rush history. Nome is located 540 miles northwest of Anchorage and is situated at the tip of the Seward Peninsula, overlooking the Bering Sea, which is close to the edge of the Arctic Circle. Nome, famous for its northern lights, and fishing, reportedly boomed after gold was discovered in 1898. At the time, Nome’s population was close to 28,000. However, today, the population is about 3,800.

In a Facebook post, the Nome Volunteer Fire Department said they were conducting active ground searches from Nome and White Mountain. However, air searches were limited due to poor weather and visibility.

The plane’s disappearance sparked a volley of concerned reactions online, with multiple social media users highlighting the history of the mysterious disappearance in Nome, Alaska. A social media user said:

“Nome Alaska has one of the highest rates of unsolved disappearances in the world.”

Read on to know about the unsolved disappearances in Nome, Alaska.

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All we know about the unsolved disappearances in Nome, Alaska

According to the Independent, citing official records, Nome, Alaska, has a troubled history of unsolved disappearances, which has worried residents for decades. According to the FBI, between 1960 to 2004, there were a reported 24 disappearances from the remote, isolated town of Nome, which is considered the closest thing to a “big city” for miles around, in the isolated Seward Peninsula. In 2005, tribal leader Delbert Pungowiyi of Savoonga warned two reporters of the Anchorage Daily News to stay wary of the region, according to a Hub Pages report. Pungowiyi said:

“People disappear over there …”

While the rumors of the disappearance had been swirling around for years, the case did not gain attention despite a tribal council member from Savoonga calling for a federal investigation in 1998. However, when a police officer in Nome was accused of killing a Native American woman, tribal leaders began to talk openly about the several dispapreances plaguing the region. This drew wider media attention to the missing people in the mid-2000s.

In 2005, The U.S. attorney for Alaska, Tim Burgess, the commissioner for the state’s Department of Public Safety, and the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit from Quantico, Virginia, came to Nome to investigate the disappearance. Hub Pages reports that at the time, Burgess told Anchorage Daily News:

“A concern expressed by the community is that there’s very clearly some pattern to these disappearances, and there might be a serial killer."

As the locals expressed concerns of foul play, the FBI went on to establish a link between the missing persons. During their investigation, authorities found many were spotted at Front Street’s numerous bars, and most of the missing people were male visitors.

However, the FBI couldn’t establish the serial killer theory as the bodies of the missing persons were never recovered. However, in Season 4 of Up and Vanished: In the Midnight Sun podcast, host Payne Lindsey reported that the FBI found Alaskan wilderness and alcohol abuse were most likely to blame for the disappearance. In some cases, the missing people were thought to have stumbled off a jetty and drowned in the Snake River.

However, without the bodies, rumors of mysterious disappearances began to spread, with several people, including Hollywood, speculating a supernatural phenomenon was involved.

The 2009 pseudocumentary, The Fourth Kind, saw Milla Jovovich investigate a series of disappearances in Nome, Alaska, delving into Alien abductions.