More than 50-years since, the roads are still some combination of dirt, dust and mud, but signs point the way to El Zona del Silencio, and a 16 kilometer rail spur provides access from the outside. In 1966 the town, comprised of dirt roads and shacks, was barely on the map. El Zona del Silencio is an electromagnetic void an anomaly, where compasses spin like dervishes and cell phone and radio signals are the definition of “hit-and-miss.” Even so, some view these odd reports as “ deliberately invented to generate tourism and sold to the world via the mass media.” Entering El Zona del SilencioĬeballos, in the Mexican State of Durango, is the point of departure closest to the zone. And travel mishaps are dangerous as it’s difficult to call for help. Comprised of 1,500 square miles of inhospitable desert and extreme temperatures, there are no roads only dirt tracks. Like the Bermuda Triangle, the Zone of Silence is located on the 27th parallel. Notably, Zone locals also had superior dental health with straight white teeth, and random blood samples from Zone residents show far greater health than those from outside the area. The locals believed that couples having trouble conceiving children could visit the Zone with a baby coming nine months later. While native mestizos, the ethnically mixed descendants of Anglo and indigenous people, had long known the the area had strange and special qualities, it was now on the radar of a European-trained scientist. On that day, El Luminaro would stumble into a zone of anomalous paradox. On a blistering day in 1966, he departed Torreon for a photo expedition with a group of friends. After a European education, De La Peña returned to Mexico to teach chemistry at the Instituto Tecnológico de Laguna in Torreon, Mexico.

Because of Mexican engineer and chemist Harry De La Peña’s blond hair and blue eyes, since high school he had been called “ El Luminaro ,” the Luminous One.

Zona del silencio