There is a geographical area in the shape of an equilateral triangle in the Atlantic Ocean between the Bermuda Islands, Puerto Rico, and Miami in, Florida. If one joined these three geographical locations with an imaginary line, it would take the shape of a triangle covering an area of approximately 1.1 million square kilometers. This area is dubbed the “Bermuda Triangle,” a term coined in 1953 by several writers who published articles in magazines about the alleged danger of the area.
It is believed that hundreds of airplanes and boats have gone missing while crossing a particular part of the Atlantic. Although science sees nothing out of the ordinary in that area, there have been records of waves rising 18 meters high, and some have suggested these waves could rise as high as 30 meters, which at least explains the fear of maritime traffic.
The mystery surrounding the Bermuda Triangle
The first documented mention of the so-called Bermuda Triangle was made in 1950 when Edward Van Winkle Jones – an Associated Press journalist – wrote about ships that had “disappeared” not far from the Bahamas. Jones wrote how the disappearance of ships, airplanes, and small boards was a mystery, nicknaming the region where they went missing the “Devil’s Triangle.” A few years after, in 1952, a writer for Fate Magazine published an article explaining that the zone experiences strange maritime disappearances.
When was the term Bermuda Triangle coined?
However, it wasn’t until 1964 that Vincent Gaddis coined the term “Bermuda Triangle” in an article published in the American pulp magazine Argosy. One of the most famous cases involving the Bermuda Triangle was the disappearance of Flight 19 in 1945. On December 5, 1945, a squadron of five TBM Avenger bombers from the United States Navy went missing during a training mission. After losing contact with the squadron, a rescue mission set out to find them. However, not only could the missing squadron not be found, but the Navy search and rescue plane sent out to find them was also lost. The intrigue also increased upon knowing the Navy accident report attributed it to “unknown causes or reasons.”
A documentary looks into the mystery
The fact that no traces have been discovered to date has added fuel to the mystery and, in itself, is a rare case. A documentary about the missing Navy squadron on The History Channel noted that a pilot could easily confuse his location if he allows his imagination to control his reason. The generally accepted explanation by naval and civilian enthusiasts who have thoroughly investigated the disappearance of the squadron suggests that Lt. Charles Taylor–the flight leader–became disoriented, taking his crew to the open sea where they ran out of fuel and landed in stormy waters during the night.
Although the student pilots probably knew their flight leader was wrong about his location; Lt. Taylor was the flight leader and was in charge, and orders were followed. A 500-page Navy Board of Investigation report issued a few months later made numerous observations, among which the most significant are the following:
- Flight leader Lt. Charles C. Taylor had mistakenly thought that the small islands the squadron had flown over were the Florida Keys, that his flight was over the Gulf of Mexico, and that heading northeast would take them to Florida. It was concluded that Taylor had passed over the Bahamas as scheduled, and he did in fact lead his flight to the northeast over the Atlantic. The report noted that some subordinate officers likely knew their approximate position as indicated by radio transmissions stating that flying west would result in reaching the mainland.
Why did the compasses stop working?
However, the Navy report suggests that the compasses aboard the airplanes stopped working for reasons that remain unclear, which likely caused confusion among the pilots. It is estimated that in the last 100 years, around 10 million ships (100,000 per year) have passed through the so-called Bermuda Triangle. It is believed that since the mid-nineteenth century, 50 ships and 20 planes have disappeared, although the exact number remains a mystery.
Despite popular beliefs, the US Coastguard and other sources cite statistics indicating that the number of incidents involving lost airplanes and ships is not greater than in other parts of the world with the amount of traffic similar to the region surrounding the Bermuda Triangle. While it has been shown that many supposed mysteries were not such when analyzed in detail, having inaccuracies circulating for decades, experts have never properly explained many disappearances involving the Bermuda Triangle.
Theories and explanations about the Bermuda Triangle
Despite experts claiming nothing odd about the Bermuda Triangle and that the supposed disappearances are not mysterious, some cases have proven otherwise. Some theories that try and explain the Bermuda Triangle mystery include Magnetism, Aliens, Air Bombs, and Long-lost cities such as Atlantis.
Atlantis
Some writers and people argue that precisely at the heart of the Bermuda Triangle lies a mysterious, long-lost civilization mentioned by Greek writers in antiquity. They believe that the remnants of a powerful and technologically advanced city-state known as Atlantis are located exactly where the ships and airplanes have gone missing and that their disappearance is attributed to anomalies produced by the sunken remains of Atlantis. Far-fetched? Perhaps.
Aliens
This is probably people’s favorite. Many writers have suggested that the Bermuda Triangle is home to underwater UFO bases and that UFOs control the area. This suggests that the ships and airplanes that have gone missing were actually “kidnapped” by UFOs, the reason why they have never been found again.
Although this theory may sound ludicrous, the fact that UFOs exist and are a real phenomenon has been proven in recent years, thanks to countless declassified documents and even Navy videos.
Air Bombs
A more scientific explanation. NASA discovered empty hexagonal clouds (Honeycomb Clouds) exist in this area just above the Bermuda Triangle. These weird clouds supposedly produce air bombs of several kilometers in diameter that would produce micro combustion that would generate winds of more than 270 kilometers per hour and waves up to 14 meters high. It is believed that these “air bombs” are very powerful downdrafts of air that can overpower airplanes and ships, taking them down and causing them to disappear.
Magnetic Anomalies
Another theory that explains the numerous disappearances is magnetism. Many airplanes and ships report having issues with their compass, causing them to become lost and disorientated before disappearing, giving rise to a theory of electronic fog or the appearance of a magnetic vortex that causes systems aboard ships and airplanes to fail. However, it has been proven that compasses continue to point north within the triangle.
