What Is The Bermuda Triangle?
There is no Bermuda Triangle, or rather, no official map shows it. Vaguely defined as an area of the Atlantic between Bermuda, Puerto Rico and Florida, the Bermuda Triangle is part of the world of the paranormal and pseudoscience—but to many, it’s very real.
Just what is the Bermuda Triangle and why does it continue to fascinate?
The Mysterious Powers Of The Bermuda Triangle
Also known as the Devil’s Triangle, the term Bermuda Triangle first appeared in 1964. During the heyday of belief in its mysterious powers in the 1960s and 1970s, people firmly believed that simply sailing into the area was dangerous. Everyone knew that if you sailed in or flew over the Bermuda Triangle, you would disappear.
The Mysterious Powers Of The Bermuda Triangle
The Bermuda Triangle became firmly part of popular culture, spawning books, and TV movies, and even being part of the lore of Steven Spielberg's 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In that film, a ship and a squadron of WWII-era fighter planes appear suddenly in a desert, having disappeared in the Triangle decades before.
Columbia, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
The Mysterious Powers Of The Bermuda Triangle
Media in the 1970s often treated the Bermuda Triangle as something real, or at least something worth investigating. At a time when people pondered the role of ancient astronauts helping early humans build the pyramids in Egypt, the Bermuda Triangle represented another mysterious and sinister force in the world, something that maybe the government knew about and covered up.
Andrew Webb Curtis, Adobe Stock
The Mysterious Powers Of The Bermuda Triangle
There were, and still are, firm believers in the Bermuda Triangle: that countless ships, planes and people have disappeared in this section of the Atlantic Ocean with no explanation. Naturally, these people can not help speculating on what happened—and those theories usually involve the supernatural in some way.
The Mysterious Powers Of The Bermuda Triangle
For skeptics, there's one simple fact that's hard to ignore: In reality, not that many people or ships have disappeared without a trace in the Bermuda Triangle compared to anywhere else in the ocean.
For the non-believers, the Bermuda Triangle is merely evidence of how easily people can be influenced into believing in ideas with no basis in reality.
The History Of The Bermuda Triangle
What constitutes the actual Bermuda Triangle is open to interpretation as there is no official or scientific acknowledgment of such a place existing, or at least no area of the ocean where people have regularly disappeared.
The History Of The Bermuda Triangle
Sources describe the Bermuda Triangle as about 193,000 square miles, while others suggest it is much larger than that. Where the boundaries lie is open to speculation, with areas such as the Portuguese Azores archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic sometimes included.
The History Of The Bermuda Triangle
Even if you approach the topic of the Bermuda Triangle with a Fox Mulder-like “I Want To Believe” mindset, the further you dig, the more disappointed you become. Coined in 1964, the term Bermuda Triangle is a name used to identify a superstitious belief surrounding the area.
When a ship would sink in any area of the Atlantic even remotely close to the Triangle, the mysterious forces of the region would be to blame. Even if wreckage was later found, or a rational explanation became apparent for a disappearance, the legend only grew.
The History Of The Bermuda Triangle
For centuries, the island of Bermuda had a reputation for being a mysterious and dangerous place for sailors and ships. As early as 1609, the island was described as “a most prodigious and enchanted place, affording nothing but gusts, storms and foul weather.”
William Shakespeare’s The Tempest is thought to have been set in Bermuda, based on reports on a shipwreck for which Shakespeare could have been aware.
John Taylor, Wikimedia Commons
The History Of The Bermuda Triangle
Despite sailors’ mythologies and superstitions, the idea of a Bermuda Triangle is actually fairly recent. In 1964, an article called “The Deadly Bermuda Triangle” appeared in magazines, telling of mysterious disappearances.
The author provided possible explanations for the incidents, including atmospheric aberrations and magnetic disturbances, but maintained that there were still a disproportionate number of disappearances in the area.
The History Of The Bermuda Triangle
A best-selling book titled The Bermuda Triangle followed, with sales of over one million copies. This coincided with a growing interest in the paranormal, with books such as 1968’s Chariots of the Gods? postulating that ancient alien visitors to Earth were responsible for such monuments as the Pyramids of Egypt.
The History Of The Bermuda Triangle
By the 1970s, the Bermuda Triangle seeped firmly into popular culture. Plotlines of television shows such as Six Million Dollar Man and Scooby Doo involved the Triangle. For many, the Bermuda Triangle was an accepted fact.
ABC, The Six Million Dollar Man (1973-1978)
The History Of The Bermuda Triangle
It’s probably not surprising that the 1970s were a prime era for the Bermuda Triangle. A decade infamous for films, novels, and television shows about paranoia, conspiracies, and mistrust in the government and official institutions was ripe for stories of mass disappearances and possible government cover-ups.
Skeptics Of The Bermuda Triangle
That doesn’t mean that there were no skeptics. The mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle were popular and lucrative, but some sought to explain or debunk the whole thing.
Skeptics Of The Bermuda Triangle
Insurer Lloyd’s of London stated that no statistical data showed a disproportionate number of ships or aircraft disappearing in the Triangle. The US Coast Guard investigated the incidents and maintained that environmental factors were usually to blame for shipwrecks in the region.
Skeptics Of The Bermuda Triangle
Librarian, pilot, and author Larry Kusche researched the reports on ships and aircraft disappearing—and he uncovered something surprising.
Kusche found that many of the incidents blamed on the Bermuda Triangle occurred far from the region.
Yardladdie, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Skeptics Of The Bermuda Triangle
The US Naval Historical Foundation reported that because the area includes many tourist destinations, it attracts a great deal of traffic, so statistically there are bound to be accidents.
Yet still to this day, if an airplane or a ship goes down anywhere in the North Atlantic, it's often reported as a Bermuda Triangle incident.
Skeptics Of The Bermuda Triangle
Historian John Reilly likened the Bermuda Triangle to traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike. A large number of traffic accidents on a heavily traveled highway section does not mean that there are mysterious forces at work.
Skeptics Of The Bermuda Triangle
Nevertheless, there are actual unexplained incidents that have taken place in the area generally agreed to be the Bermuda Triangle.
Although some have come up with rational explanations to these disappearances, they are still often attributed to the mysterious forces of the Triangle.
The USS Cyclops (1918)
In 1918 a heavily armed naval vessel called the USS Cyclops was loaded with 10,000 tons of manganese ore. The ship sailed from Brazil heading for Barbados.
New York Navy Yard, Wikimedia Commons
The USS Cyclops (1918)
At Barbados, the Cyclops resupplied for a nine-day voyage to Baltimore. After leaving Barbados, the ship and its crew of 309 were never heard from again.
The USS Cyclops (1918)
Searching the area, the US Navy found no evidence of wreckage, nor any tell-tale oil slicks. The USS Cyclops was declared lost at sea, the greatest non-combat loss of life in US Naval history.
Harris & Ewing Collection, Wikimedia Commons
The USS Cyclops (1918)
There is no official explanation for the ship’s disappearance, other than it must have sank. Researchers have suggested that the ship was unbalanced due to its heavy load and that it’s possible that a large wave struck the vessel and it quickly sank in a particularly deep area of the ocean called the Puerto Rico Trench, the deepest in the Atlantic.
Bain News Service, Wikimedia Commons
US Navy Avengers Flight 19 (1945)
Flight 19 is perhaps the most famous Bermuda Triangle disappearance. In Steven Spielberg’s 1977 film Close Encounter of the Third Kind, Flight 19 is discovered in the Sonoran Desert in Mexico with full fuel tanks and in perfect condition, but with no sign of the crew.
This is one of several mysterious events in the movie that suggest extraterrestrial activity. At the end of the film, the Flight 19 crew emerges from the alien mothership, having not aged since they disappeared in 1945.
Columbia, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
US Navy Avengers Flight 19 (1945)
In 1945, five Avenger bombers took off from the US Naval Air Station at Fort Lauderdale in Florida. A routine exercise, they were to fly 150 miles due east, then north for 40 miles before returning to base. The pilots were all experienced and the planes were mechanically sound, having been inspected before takeoff.
Horace Bristol, Wikimedia Commons
US Navy Avengers Flight 19 (1945)
One hour and 45 minutes into the flight, the Fort Lauderdale tower received a call from flight leader Charles Taylor who sounded confused, stating he couldn’t see land. All contact was lost—until 10 minutes later when the other pilots' voices could be heard, all sounding confused and disoriented.
US Navy Avengers Flight 19 (1945)
Twenty minutes later, one of the pilots called the tower stating, “It looks like we are entering white water...we’re completely lost.” That was the last time the pilots were heard from. A rescue plane searched over 250,000 square miles, but no trace was ever found.
US Navy Avengers Flight 19 (1945)
This is the standard Bermuda Triangle account of Flight 19. However, some details are routinely left out. For example, four of the pilots were not experienced, they were students.
Also, Flight instructor Charles Taylor had asked to be relieved of duties, for unknown reasons, before the flight. This request was denied.
US Navy Avengers Flight 19 (1945)
Taylor had radioed the tower, telling them his compasses had failed. He thought he had been over the Florida Keys but was actually over the Bahamas. This was the third flight in which Taylor had gotten lost. Research suggests he ran out of fuel and crashed.
His student pilots, with no experience, all ended up crashing and due to rough seas, no trace was found.
Naval History & Heritage Command, Wikimedia Commons
DC-3 Flight NC-16002 (1948)
A DC-3 passenger plane, one of the best and most reliable planes ever built, was flying from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Miami on December 28, 1948. Flying in clear weather, Captain Robert E. Linquist radioed the air traffic control center in New Orleans to give his coordinates.
However, he was only 50 miles from Miami and should have contacted them.
U.S. Farm Security Administration/Office of War, Wikimedia Commons
DC-3 Flight NC-16002 (1948)
That was the last anyone ever heard of the plane, its crew of three, or its 29 passengers. The US Coast Guard searched for the plane, soon joined by the US Navy, Air Force, and civilian searchers.
Investigators later suggested that the aircraft's batteries were not properly charged causing an electrical system failure.
Ninara, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
DC-3 Flight NC-16002 (1948)
The pilot was unfortunately confused about his location with his navigation systems rendered useless. Mistaken about his location and with only an hour and 20 minutes of fuel left, that confusion ended up being fatal.
Yannick Bammert, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
The SS Marine Sulphur Queen (1963)
The SS Marine Sulphur Queen was an oil tanker headed for Norfolk, Virginia from Beaumont, Texas carrying 15,000 tons of molten sulfur in heated tanks. It was never seen again. Unlike other supposed victims of the Bermuda Triangle, some wreckage was recovered.
Unknown Author, Wikimedia Commons
The SS Marine Sulphur Queen (1963)
The ship was in disrepair and had frequent reoccurring fires. The fires caused the ship’s pumps to corrode and the generator shorted out; the SS Marine Sulphur Queen was essentially unseaworthy.
According to Time Magazine, the ship’s disappearance is not the mystery, but rather how the ship ever left port in the first place. For believers, the mystery is that some force was at work pushing the ship forward—only to meet its doom.
US Coastguard photo, Wikimedia Commons
Key Theories
One of the key theories surrounding the Bermuda Triangle is that the region is one of two places on Earth, the other being the Devil’s Sea off Japan, where compasses point to true north rather than magnetic north. Researchers suggest that this causes vessels to go off course.
Interestingly, this evidence is used as both proof of the Bermuda Triangle’s mysterious powers—and as a way to debunk the myth of the Bermuda Triangle.
Key Theories
The Magnetic North pole is constantly shifting, while the true North pole, the Geographic North pole, is fixed. This “magnetic declination” between the two poles changes as you move across the globe.
Other Theories
Other explanations tend to be more fun and have fueled the Bermuda Triangle industry since the 1960s. Inter-dimensional changeover is thought to exist as a “hole in the sky” where aircraft enter but cannot leave. For unknown reasons, aliens, possibly trans-dimensional, abduct humans and their vessels and have been doing so for centuries.
Focused Adventures, Adobe Stock
Other Theories
Could it be that the Bermuda Triangle is the home to the lost city of Atlantis? The idea is that ancient civilization had advanced technology that is somehow still at work, perhaps below the surface of the water (where the Atlantians still live).
Psychic Edgar Cayce maintained that Atlantis possessed crystals that radiated energy, enough to cause malfunction in vessels entering the area.
Unknown Author, Wikimedia Commons
Other Theories
In the end, it is poor weather conditions and human errors that scientists believe are the true causes of the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle. Are there more disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle than elsewhere in the Atlantic? Research says no, or at least the higher number of incidents is easily explained by the amount of traffic in the busy region.
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