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I absolutely love urban legends — but I should also note that I rarely believe them. And it is wise to approach them cautiously and maybe enjoy them for what they are... something that sends a shiver up your spine but nothing more. The “Dark Pyramid” legend caught my attention this past September with the release of a graphic novel by the same name, written by Paul Tobin and PJ Holden and published by Mad Cave Books (see sidebar right). The novel centers around Hooky Hidalgo, an adventurist and popular live streamer who disappears mid-stream while climbing Mount Denali in Alaska. His girlfriend, Becca, heads into the Alaskan wilderness to try and discover what happened to Hooky, and in the process becomes embroiled in the world of paranormal conspiracies. After teaming up with a local conspiracy theorist named Sharlene, Becca must face freezing temperatures, avalanches, and monsters to uncover the truth about a rumored alien relic called the "Dark Pyramid" which is hidden beneath the snow-covered wilderness and its connection to Hooky's fate. |
DARK PYRAMID
By Paul Tobin and PJ Holden Published September 2025, 120 page. Paperback: $16.77 "A dark horror story based on a real-life urban legend with an internet-age twist--for fans of films like The Ritual and The Blair Witch Project." |
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THE LEGEND BEHIND THE BOOK
There was something familiar about the book's premise, and then I remembered seeing an episode of the Hulu reality series, The Alaska Triangle, that dealt with the story. The legend of the "Dark Pyramid" apparently began in 1992, when China conducted a nuclear test with a staggering one-megaton blast. (This part of the legend is true.) As the story goes, the seismic waves from this event revealed to geologists in the United States the outline of an enormous anomaly beneath the Alaskan wilderness. This structure, dubbed the "Dark Pyramid," was said to be larger than the Great Pyramid of Giza and is nestled within the infamous "Alaska Triangle.” (This part is unverified as the geologists who made the "discovery" are never named and no scientific papers are ever produced.) |
Like its better-known counterpart, the Bermuda Triangle, the so-called Alaska Triangle is the breeding ground for countless conspiracy theories. The region is notorious for an alarming number of disappearances — reportedly over 16,000 since the late 20th century. Rumors attribute these vanishings to everything from mysterious vortices to abductions by extraterrestrials; from forest-dwelling monsters to covert government operations. But it should also be noted that this is a vast and mostly uninhabited wilderness area with treacherous terrain, unpredictable weather, and very real predators like Grizzly bears — so it’s more than likely that most of the missing people were victims of geography, nature, and bad luck.
According to the The Alaska Triangle episode, the subterranean pyramid is located somewhere on the sprawling plains northwest of Denali National Park and Preserve. This is an area of hundreds of thousands of acres of wilderness, and the evidence presented in the show (and in online sources) is as elusive as the legend itself, consisting of rumors, missing news reports, anonymous tips, vague locations, remote viewing by persons unknown, and third-hand stories.
If the pyramid is real, then the bigger question is who built it and what's its purpose?
The presumed architects for these things are almost always extraterrestrials, and certainly the Hulu show accused them as well. The purpose is even more nebulous, with the show's paranormal researchers claiming that "Dark Pyramid" acts as a refueling station for Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena or UAPs. There are innumerable resources on the "connection" between pyramids and UAPs, most finding their origins in the stories of "ancient astronauts" — benevolent non-terrestrial creatures who guided (or manipulated) ancient humanity. This all gets very involved and since a deep-dive into these pseudoscientific beliefs is not really my purpose here, I'll refer those interested in learning more to Erich von Däniken’s 1968 book Chariots of the Gods.
Despite compelling tales and tantalizing theories about the "Dark Pyramid," no credible archaeological or scientific evidence supports its existence. Even the Hulu series admitted that there’s no evidence of it, but after all, evidence isn't required to breathe life into a legend.
Only belief.
According to the The Alaska Triangle episode, the subterranean pyramid is located somewhere on the sprawling plains northwest of Denali National Park and Preserve. This is an area of hundreds of thousands of acres of wilderness, and the evidence presented in the show (and in online sources) is as elusive as the legend itself, consisting of rumors, missing news reports, anonymous tips, vague locations, remote viewing by persons unknown, and third-hand stories.
If the pyramid is real, then the bigger question is who built it and what's its purpose?
The presumed architects for these things are almost always extraterrestrials, and certainly the Hulu show accused them as well. The purpose is even more nebulous, with the show's paranormal researchers claiming that "Dark Pyramid" acts as a refueling station for Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena or UAPs. There are innumerable resources on the "connection" between pyramids and UAPs, most finding their origins in the stories of "ancient astronauts" — benevolent non-terrestrial creatures who guided (or manipulated) ancient humanity. This all gets very involved and since a deep-dive into these pseudoscientific beliefs is not really my purpose here, I'll refer those interested in learning more to Erich von Däniken’s 1968 book Chariots of the Gods.
Despite compelling tales and tantalizing theories about the "Dark Pyramid," no credible archaeological or scientific evidence supports its existence. Even the Hulu series admitted that there’s no evidence of it, but after all, evidence isn't required to breathe life into a legend.
Only belief.
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DID NATHAN GO LOOKING FOR THE DARK PYRAMID?
There's one final twist to the "Dark Pyramid" legend I wanted to note and it’s the 2020 disappearance of Nathan Issiac Campbell, who was reportedly on a mission to locate the pyramid and vanished without a trace near Carey Lake. His supplies were found, along with a tent and a diary with the last entry mentioning a trip to fetch water. He apparently never made it back to his campsite and his fate remains unknown... As does his actual reason for being in such a remote and hostile place by himself. The "he was looking for the Dark Pyramid" explanation appears in online speculation with no named source, but I could find nothing about it in the official reports of his disappearance from the Alaskan authorities. Search teams were more inclined to believe he got lost in the wilderness and was not the victim of some mysterious extraterrestrial relic. And this seems likely. I don’t know if Tobin’s graphic novel was based in any way on Campbell’s disappearance, but the similarities are interesting. |
In the end, the "Dark Pyramid" is a fun legend and certainly good source material for a graphic novel. Enjoy both. Take neither too seriously.
In you're interested in other legends , you might also want to check out the following features on this website: Black Lagoon Legacy | The Coins in My Walls | The Cove, The Cave and Finding Inspiration in Ancient Stories | A Ghost in a River of Sand | A Tale of a Desert Phantom | Something Like A Ghost Light
In you're interested in other legends , you might also want to check out the following features on this website: Black Lagoon Legacy | The Coins in My Walls | The Cove, The Cave and Finding Inspiration in Ancient Stories | A Ghost in a River of Sand | A Tale of a Desert Phantom | Something Like A Ghost Light