The Bermuda Triangle has mystified people for years. Although this place has been clouded by numerous supernatural theories and rumors, today, it can be safe to say that we can have a plausible explanation behind the disappearances at the Bermuda Triangle. Let’s check them out in this Mysticurious article.
The notorious zone between Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico―we’ve all heard about it! Some claimed the disappearances were due to the presence of extraterrestrial beings, whereas a few claimed the area is definitely haunted. One thing was for sure though, the mysterious disappearances had caused quite a flutter the world over.
Well, this isn’t a plot of any film that will set your pulse racing. It is the Bermuda Triangle that has caused so many mysterious disappearances and still remains to be an obscure region for people all over the world. It gained a reputation as a place where many ships and planes simply vanished. Was it really paranormal? Or was there any scientific reason behind it? Let us try to find out in the sections given below.
Location
Also known as the Devil’s Triangle, it roughly covers around 500,0000 square miles in the Atlantic Ocean. The apexes of the triangle are in the surrounding areas of Miami, Florida, Bermuda, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is rumored that this is also one of the areas where a compass will point at the true North (Instead of the magnetic North). Hundreds of shipwrecks have occurred in this area.
There may be no actual map of the Bermuda triangle, and the mysterious stories that have shrouded this place are a result of scientific occurrences, some of which are yet to be explained. In 1964, a magazine first named this area as ‘the Bermuda Triangle’ (Writer ― Vincent H. Gaddis), and today, this area still continues to be the center of attention for scientists around the globe.
Mystery and Disappearances
The last few years have seen many unfortunate incidents in this area. This has resulted in fabricated stories by people that offer no scientific explanation.
The year 1872, witnessed an unfortunate incident with the appearance of Mary Celeste sans all the crew on board. The ship was found abandoned, and the incident was invariably linked to the Bermuda Triangle, although the ship was found off the coast of Portugal.
This was later followed by certain reports of people probably sighting strange, swirling lights. This was also sometimes accompanied by sounds. At times, it is rumored that there was also a thick fog in this area. In fact, The Sargasso Sea, located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean has found a mention in the diary of Christopher Columbus. Here, it seemed that his crew had their first brush with this area. They experienced strange sightings (dancing lights on the horizon), and it was Columbus himself who noticed that his compass was not performing the usual way, as it actually should.
In 1918, during World War I, the USS Cyclops was assigned to sail to Brazil. But after a stop at Barbados, the ship was never seen or heard of again. There were about 309 passengers and crew who were reported to have mysteriously disappeared. The ship had reported a problem with one of its engines before disappearing. This is considered as the largest loss of life in the US Naval history that did not involve any combat action.
In 1945, a training flight Flight 19 disappeared. This was a tragic time with the mysterious disappearance of five Navy Avengers over the Atlantic. The cause at that time was declared to be a ‘mistake’ of the pilot. But the flight had taken place on a calm day with the most experienced pilot, Lt. Charles Carroll Taylor in charge. He was commanding four other student pilots. It is rumored that the family members of the pilot protested against the reasons, and they eventually persuaded the Navy to change the cause to ‘reasons unknown’. One of the search and rescue aircraft, PBM Mariner, which was deployed to look for them, also disappeared.
The year 1948 also saw a vanishing act in the month of January as well as December. In January, a Tudor Mark IV aircraft, i.e., Tudor Star Tiger went missing over the Bermuda Triangle before it was supposed to land at Bermuda airport. In December, it had been reported that the pilot of the Douglas DC-3, Captain Robert Lindquist, had radioed for landing instructions when he had reached close to Miami. Although he received the instructions, the plane never turned up. The reason was also not due to bad weather as the report for that day showed clear skies. Both these vanishing acts were reported in 1948. Neither of these aircraft sent out any distress signals.
In 1949, the aircraft, ‘G-AGRE Star Ariel‘ went missing on its way from Bermuda to Kingston, Jamaica.
On September 26, 1955, the strange incident of the appearance of the yacht, Connemara IV, sans its crew and passengers, adrift in the Atlantic Ocean, south of Bermuda, gave rise to many rumors. The year 1955 saw three hurricanes during this time, but only one of the three were actually close to the yacht. So, the reasons were never clear as to why the ship did not have a single person on board.
The S.S. Marine Sulphur Queen was a tanker scheduled to reach Virginia. But with her last communication on February 3, 1963, and with 39 crew members on board, she never ever reached her destination. After three days of continual search for the Marine Sulphur Queen, the search team recovered only one life jacket close to 40 miles southwest from the tanker’s estimated position. Eventually, the coast guards also recovered five life rings, eight life jackets, one shirt, one piece of oar, one oil and gasoline can, one fog horn, and one cone buoy. It has been suspected that the leakage of the sulfur gas could have killed the entire crew. The sea being infested with sharks, it was little hoped that the bodies would ever be found.
On August 28, 1963, two US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft collided and crashed into the Atlantic. However, it is said that there were two crash sites separated by over 160 miles.
On December 22, 1967, Witchcraft, a 23-foot cabin cruiser vanished in the Bermuda Triangle. It is said that the captain sailed it offshore for a view of Miami’s lights and shoreline, after which it disappeared.
In May 1968, a nuclear-powered submarine, USS Scorpion, which belonged to the US Navy, disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle.
In 1971, a Phantom jet of the USAF, Sting-27 was reported lost. It is believed that the plane may have had an impact. However, the details were not disclosed.
In 1991, a pilot flying a Grumman Cougar jet made a radio request for increasing its altitude. As the plane started ascending, it fell off the radar and vanished into thin air.
In December 2008, a Britten-Norman Islander flying to New York with 12 people on board, disappeared about 35 minutes after takeoff. There were no signs of the aircraft to be found even after extensive search operations by the Coast Guard.
Rumors
- The mid 1960s witnessed rumors that claimed the interference of extraterrestrials behind the disappearance of aircraft and ships. People even spoke about UFO sightings close to that area. Some people even went to the extent of claiming it to be haunted.
- Imaginations of the people soared to new heights with the emergence of the theory of the time warp. This suggests that the ships and planes enter a different time zone and dimension once they reach the Bermuda triangle. According to the theory, it would probably mean the crew and people are still alive somewhere.
- Another possibility claimed by people spoke about aliens abducting those who entered the Bermuda Triangle.
- Some believe this region is also the home to the lost city of Atlantis.
Possible Theories of the Bermuda Triangle Mystery
Methane Gas
Scientists have claimed that the environment has had a part to play in the disappearances at the Bermuda Triangle. It is cited that the reasons are either man-made or due to natural causes. It has been discovered by scientists at the Cardiff University that there is a large presence of methane gas in the ocean floor of this area. There are various reasons for this occurrence. The methane gas is formed due to the decayed bodies of the sea creatures. If there were periodic eruptions of methane, it would not be able to provide the required flexibility for the ships to sail in the waters. These eruptions can cause the ships to sink without a hint of warning. During the times of such eruptions, even an aircraft faces danger as it can catch fire immediately. Methane also constitutes the power to stall engines once it is released into the air.
Heavy Weather
Another plausible theory of the Bermuda triangle cites a waterspout caused by storms or disturbance in the weather. Underwater earthquakes can also cause severe damage and destruction without any prior warning. The region of the Bermuda triangle has shown to have intense seismic activity. This area also houses some of the deepest trenches in the world. The underwater area of the Bermuda triangle has an extremely steep drop in the ground. This could also mean that the tragic disappearance of the ships or planes could be a result of being trapped in hurricanes or storms and sinking into the depths of the oceans without ever leaving a trace, owing to the depth of the trenches. The underwater earthquakes in this region can also cause extremely large waves. For a moment, a sea that looks calm and picture perfect can be transformed into a treacherous one, and these large waves are also estimated to be the reason behind all the disappearances at the Bermuda Triangle.
Variations in Compass
It is also known those who have entered this area have faced problems when they tried to use their compass. This is because, as mentioned earlier, there have been instances where the compass pointed to the true North Pole instead of the magnetic North due to the presence of certain unusual and abnormal magnetic differences in the area.
Pirates
Wars or such deliberate acts carried out by humans are also sometimes considered to be the cause for the losses. It has been rumored that pirates have caused some amount of destruction in the olden days due to their smuggling operations and attacks on ships. During the prolonged periods of war, enemies may have destroyed the ships or the planes and not left a trace.
Electronic Fog
There have been many accounts reported of a strange weather in the sky that has been experienced by many pilots flying over the Bermuda Triangle. It is said that a grayish clouds of electromagnetic fields develop over the ocean from nowhere and completely engulf a ship or an aircraft passing through it.
Despite the numerous theories and assumptions, there is widespread belief in supernatural theories as well. The Bermuda Triangle, thus, still remains an enigma to many.
