ABSTRACT

We cannot think of Bermuda without thinking of the Bermuda Triangle, the so-

called lethal area that devoured so many ships and planes with scores of human

lives on them. A lot has been written convincingly about the facts and fiction

regarding the disappearance of planes and wreckage of ships. The subject still

continues to be debated.

The Bermuda Triangle is situated in the Atlantic Ocean. It is a stretch of Atlantic

Ocean covered by an imaginary line connecting Florida to the islands of

Bermuda, to Puerto Rico and then back to Florida. The actual triangle cannot be

easily demarcated.

It was in fact one Vincent Gaddis who first coined the phrase “Bermuda Triangle”

and gave an approximate idea of its location. Whether or not there is anything

mysterious about this area, it has since become one of the greatest mysteries of

our times and continues to evoke the interest of millions till today.

Many investigators have found that the causes of the disappearance of planes

have been unnecessarily mystified. According to them the disappearing can be

scientifically explained. For example, it was claimed that a plane had

disappeared in the clam seas, but later on the investigations proved that there

was fierce storm that caused the accident In fact most people believe that the

Bermuda triangle is as dangerous or as safe as any other area in the Atlantic

Ocean. The US Coast Guard have investigated and confirmed with statistics the

veracity of this conclusion, which has not been refuted so far. It has also been

established beyond a doubt, for example, that the explosion of Flight 19 was

caused due to the fact that the plane’s non-pressurized cabin, with 22 men

aboard, exploded with the single spark of a cigarette.

Despite all these scientific explanations, the Bermuda Triangle continues to be

shrouded in mystery, evoking both charm and fear in the minds of the people.

BERMUDA TRIANGLE

The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a region in the

western part of the North Atlantic Ocean in which a number of aircraft and

surface vessels are alleged to have disappeared in mysterious circumstances

which fall beyond the boundaries of human error, piracy, equipment failure, or

natural disasters. Popular culture has attributed some of these disappearances

to the paranormal, a suspension of the laws of physics, or activity by

extraterrestrial beings

The Triangle area

The area of the Triangle varies by author

The boundaries of the triangle cover the Straits of Florida, the Bahamas and the

entire Caribbean island area and the Atlantic east to the Azores; others[who?] add

to it the Gulf of Mexico. The more familiar triangular boundary in most written

works has as its points somewhere on the Atlantic coast of Miami, San Juan,

Puerto Rico; and the mid-Atlantic island of Bermuda, with most of the accidents

concentrated along the southern boundary around the Bahamas and the Florida

Straits.

The area is one of the most heavily-sailed shipping lanes in the world, with ships

crossing through it daily for ports in the Americas, Europe, and the Caribbean

Islands. Cruise ships are also plentiful, and pleasure craft regularly go back and

forth between Florida and the islands. It is also a heavily flown route for

commercial and private aircraft heading towards Florida, the Caribbean, and

South America from points north.

History of the Triangle Story

According to the Triangle authors, Christopher Columbus was the first person to

document something strange in the Triangle, reporting that he and his crew

observed "strange dancing lights on the horizon", flames in the sky, and at

another point he wrote in his log about bizarre compass bearings in the area.

From his log book, dated October 11, 1492 he wrote:

The land was first seen by a sailor (Rodrigo de Triana), although the Admiral at

ten o'clock that evening standing on the quarter-deck saw a light. But it was so

small body that he could not confirm it to be land. So he called Pero Gutiérrez,

groom of the King's wardrobe and told him he saw a light and bid him look at it.

He saw it. Rodrigo de Triana did the same to Rodrigo Sánchez of Segovia, whom

the King and Queen had sent with the squadron as finance officer, but he was

unable to see it from his situation. The Admiral again perceived it once or twice,

appearing like the light of a wax candle moving up and down, which some

thought an indication of land. But the Admiral held it for certain that land was

near...

Modern scholars checking the original log books have surmised that the lights he

saw were the cooking fires of Taino natives in their canoes or on the beach; the

compass problems were the result of a false reading based on the movement of

a star.

The first article of any kind in which the legend of the Triangle began appeared in

newspapers by E.V.W. Jones on September 16, 1950, through the Associated

Press.

Two years later, Fate magazine published "Sea Mystery at Our Back Door", a

short article by George X. Sand in the October 1952 issue covering the loss of

several planes and ships, including the loss of Flight 19, a group of five U.S.

Navy TBM Avenger bombers on a training mission. Sand's article was the first to

lay out the now-familiar triangular area where the losses took place. Flight 19

alone would be covered in the April 1962 issue of American Legion Magazine.

MYSTRIES OF BERMUDA TRIANGLE

There have been a substantial numbers of documents and reports from the

triangle that show some incidents have been inaccurately reported and even add

extra details on by many. Though at the same time there are many other

disappearances that have clearly been correctly reported and have remained

unexplained despite considerable investigations and deny explanation. Incidents

have been reported including planes flying through what seemed like wormholes

and thick unnatural cloud formations, ships disappearing in open waters leaving

no signs. Some of the more well known and documented disappearances are as

follows:

Flight 19 - A training flight that went missing on December 5, 1945 while over the

triangle. The impression is that the group of plains encountered unusual

phenomena and anomalous compass readings from still unexplained reasons

even thought reports were that the flight took place on a calm and clear day. The

official navy report if the accident is ascribed as “Cause or reason unknown" as

to the disappearance.

Mary Celeste - This documented story is often linked to the triangle but some

dispute the fact that the happening actually took place in the triangle and instead

perhaps happened off the coast of Portugal. In 1872 the "Mary Celeste" was

found abandoned without any trace of her crew or what may have happened to

them.

USS Cyclops - This incident is still the single largest loss of life by the US Navy

not related to combat. After departing from the island of Barbados on March 4,

1918 the USS Cyclops went missing without a trace somewhere in the Bermuda

Triangle. To date there are no strong theories to the cause of its disappearance.

There have been many attempts at explaining some of the happenings in the

Bermuda Triangle. From many natural explanations such as Methane Hydrates,

Compass Variations, Hurricanes, Gulf Stream current, and Freak (rogue) Waves

along with simple human error and deliberate acts of destruction. Although there

are some who say there is a lot more to the triangle and attribute a lot of its odd

happenings to things such as leftover technology from the lost continent of

Atlantis which sank under triangle waters, UFO's and extraterrestrial beings,

mysterious and anomalous forces controlling the triangle area.

Will the mystery of the triangle ever be discovered? Are the triangles happenings

simply explained and occur no more often than incidents in other areas of ocean

around the world? Or does the triangle hide a gateway to another world, or time

warp enhanced wormholes?

"The Search Never Ends"

Is Bermuda Triangle Fact or Fiction?

The Bermuda Triangle is an area, which has been well known for many

unexplained disappearances of ships, as well as aircrafts that occurred in this

area. It accounts for more than 1500 ships and planes disappearances without

trace or lost their crews in that particular area of the Atlantic Ocean. Although

most of these disappearances have been explained or solved, others await a

satisfactory explanation.

Bermuda triangle is undoubtedly one of the most famous unsolved mysteries of

all times. It is located between the settings of Miami, Puerto Rico and Bermuda.

The mystery continues in the company of these beautiful holiday destinations,

with a bright sun, exotic beaches and wonderful palm fringes. However, behind

this wonderful place, lies a long and bloody history of ship wrecks and airplane

crashes, as a number of ships and planes have mysteriously gone missing in the

one and a half million square miles of ocean separating them?

In fact, over the past century, hundreds of ships and planes have gone missing in

this mysterious place in the Atlantic Ocean, which is better known as the

Bermuda Triangle. It was about 60 years ago, when this area was gulping down

about five planes every day, a very high estimate. The area was named the

Bermuda Triangle by a well known magazine in the year 1964. Nowadays, the

situation has changed a lot. Nowadays, planes do get lost, but the numbers have

drastically reduced.

A number of theories have been floated in this regard. While some theories

speculate on the assumption that it is the location; whereas other theories tend to

focus on other alternate assumptions, such as the instruments that were

available at the time. It is stated that, in the 1940s, navigating a plane involved a

lot of guesswork since they relied completely on a magnetic compass to guide

them. This meant that, pilots were supposed to be guided by their compass as

they estimated how the wind would influence their planned flight path, in order to

remain on the right track. This made the situation worse.

Some people also state, that the weather could be another factor, which could

cause such a phenomenon. Now, since the island is situated in the Atlantic

Ocean, it has an extremely unpredictable weather. So, it gets a weather, which is

influenced by several factors and can change with lightening speed.

Also, another factor, can that be of hurricanes, which are very common in the

Bermuda Triangle area. Apart from these, another factor, which holds much

strength, is the formation of methane in the sea. As it is, formation of methane

can lower the density of water, leading to the sinking of ships.

Similarly, Methane can cut out an aircraft engine with very little levels of it in the

atmosphere, leading to aircraft crashes.

However, most of these explanations are mere assumptions and so; we still

would have to wait for sometime, before we have any conclusive evidence to

justify these explanations.

THEORIES ON BERMUDA TRIANGLE

This mysterious place accounts fro more than 1500 disappearances, which

include ships, boats, as well as aircrafts. The term “Bermuda Triangle” was first

coined by a famous magazine in 1964. The mystery behind these

disappearances has continued. As it is, several explanations have come up since

the discovery of the dangers posed by these waters. These explanations range

from supernormal phenomenon like giant squids, sea monsters, time warp, death

rays from Atlantis, as well as alien abduction.

However, with the passage of time, fewer and fewer people now believe it to be a

handiwork of any sea monster. Alien abduction however continues to be a widely

believed phenomenon, along with presence of a time warp. However, some

people have also come up with some scientific explanations as well. The

following are some of the possible explanations for this strange phenomenon

Natural Explanations:-

i. Compass variations

Compass problems are one of the cited phrases in many Triangle incidents.

While some have theorized that unusual local magnetic anomalies may exist in

the area, such anomalies have not been shown to exist. Compasses have

natural magnetic variations in relation to the Magnetic poles. For example, in the

United States the only places where magnetic (compass) north and geographic

(true) north are exactly the same are on a line running from Wisconsin to the Gulf

of Mexico. Navigators have known this for centuries. But the public may not be

as informed, and think there is something mysterious about a compass

"changing" across an area as large as the Triangle, which it naturally will.

ii. Deliberate acts of destruction

Deliberate acts of destruction can fall into two categories: acts of war, and acts of

piracy. Records in enemy files have been checked for numerous losses; while

many sinking have been attributed to surface raiders or submarines during the

World Wars and documented in the various command log books, many others

which have been suspected as falling in that category have not been proven. It is

suspected that the loss of USS Cyclops in 1918, as well as her sister ships

Proteus and Nereus in World War II, were attributed to submarines, but no such

link has been found in the German records.

Piracy, as defined by the taking of a ship or small boat on the high seas, is an act

which continues to this day. While piracy for cargo theft is more common in the

western Pacific and Indian oceans, drug smugglers do steal pleasure boats for

smuggling operations, and may have been involved in crew and yacht

disappearances in the Caribbean. Piracy in the Caribbean was common from

about 1560 to the 1760s and famous pirates included Edward Teach

(Blackbeard) and Jean Lafitte.

iii. Gulf Stream

The Gulf Stream is an ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico, and

then through the Straits of Florida, into the North Atlantic. In essence, it is a river

within an ocean, and like a river, it can and does carry floating objects. It has a

surface velocity of up to about 2.5 meters per second (5.6 mph). A small plane

making a water landing or a boat having engine trouble will be carried away from

its reported position by the current, as happened to the cabin cruiser Witchcraft

on December 22, 1967, when it reported engine trouble near the Miami buoy

marker one mile (1.6 km) from shore, but was not there when a Coast Guard

cutter arrived.

iv. Human error

One of the most cited explanations in official inquiries as to the loss of any

aircraft or vessel is human error. Whether deliberate or accidental, humans have

been known to make mistakes resulting in catastrophe, and losses within the

Bermuda Triangle are no exception. For example, the Coast Guard cited a lack

of proper training for the cleaning of volatile benzene residue as a reason for the

loss of the tanker SS V. A. Fogg in 1972 Human stubbornness may have caused

businessman Harvey Conover to lose his sailing yacht, the Revonoc, as he

sailed into the teeth of a storm south of Florida on January 1, 1958. Many losses

remain inconclusive due to the lack of wreckage which could be studied, a fact

cited on many official reports.

v. Hurricanes

Hurricanes are powerful storms which are spawned in tropical waters, and have

historically been responsible for thousands of lives lost and billions of dollars in

damage. The sinking of Francisco de Bobadilla's Spanish fleet in 1502 was the

first recorded instance of a destructive hurricane. These storms have in the past

caused a number of incidents related to the Triangle.

vi. Methane hydrates

An explanation for some of the disappearances has focused on the presence of

vast fields of methane hydrates (a form of natural gas) on the continental

shelves. Laboratory experiments carried out in Australia have proven that

bubbles can, indeed, sink a scale model ship by decreasing the density of the

water, any wreckage consequently rising to the surface would be rapidly

dispersed by the Gulf Stream. It has been hypothesized that periodic methane

eruptions (sometimes called "mud volcanoes") may produce regions of frothy

water that are no longer capable of providing adequate buoyancy for ships. If this

were the case, such an area forming around a ship could cause it to sink very

rapidly and without warning.

Publications by the USGS describe large stores of undersea hydrates worldwide,

including the Blake Ridge area, off the southeastern United States coast.

However, according to another of their papers, no large releases of gas hydrates

are believed to have occurred in the Bermuda Triangle for the past 15,000 years.

It should also be noted that other areas of undersea methane hydrates aren't

reported to give rise to similar incidents as the Bermuda Triangle, also that

bubbles of underwater gas wouldn't account for aircraft disappearances.

vii. Rogue waves

In various oceans around the world, rogue waves have caused ships to sinkand

oil platforms to topple. These waves are considered to be a mystery and until

recently were believed to be a myth. However, rogue waves don't account for the

missing aircraft.

Supernatural and Paranormal Explanations:-

i. A time warp in the Bermuda Triangle:-

The proponents of this theory state that the many ships and planes entered a

time warp to a different time or dimension on the other side, meaning that their

crews could still be alive there, living new lives in another time period of the past

or the future or even possibly in a parallel universe. Usually, the ship or aircraft in

the story enters this dimension by way of a cloud. This has been a popular

subject in science fiction.

 ii. UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) and/or Alien Astronauts:-

The disappearances have to do with beings from another world.

The Bermuda Triangle is a collecting station where aliens take our people, ships,

planes and other objects back to their planet to study, or perhaps to save them

from a holocaust. Others think that the planes and ships are sent to another

dimension.

  iii. Sea Monsters

Some believe in sea monsters that supposedly sink the ships.

 

iv. Death Rays from Atlantis

It could be death rays from Atlantis. Proponents of this idea believe there are

magic crystals, left from the time of Atlantis, that make the ships sink. Scuba

divers have found places under the ocean that look man-made, but have not

found any crystals, or even any real proof that Atlantis existed.

As it is, Bermuda triangle continues to evoke a lot of enthusiasm. Most people

like to read about it. In fact, in the last few decades, Bermuda has emerged as a

major tourist destination as well; mainly due to its close proximity with the

Bermuda Triangle.

Bermuda Triangle Survivors

The Bermuda Triangle is unavoidably associated with disappearances of aircrafts

and vessels. Several theories in regard to the strange phenomenon have been

put forward, which include time travel, UFO’s, missing time, as well as

wormholes. Uncommon incidents have however been reported by several

people, while they were on their way through the Bermuda triangle.

These witnesses constitute a long list of pilots, sailors and crew man, along with

fishermen. It is interesting to note that none other than the great Christopher

Columbus was also one to witness an uncommon phenomenon. The incident has

been reported in his diaries. Christopher Columbus wrote in his memoirs on how

his compass acted strangely while sailing through the Bermuda Triangle. He

along with another shipmate witnessed a glowing globe of light that seemed to

hover over the sea. Another major witness to such a phenomenon was Gerome

Cook, the great sailor of the fifteenth century.

Several witnesses have reported a strange cloud or fog, hovering around the

area. It is said that when strange clouds or fog enter the Bermuda Triangle,

strange things start happening. Such a phenomenon has been witnessed with

the Philadelphia Experiment in which the USS Eldridge vanished and reappeared

later miles away, with some of the crew men wrapped into the hull of the ship. A

number of incidents have been reported in the past, in regard to people

disappearing into a strange mist around this area, without a trace. In 1901 Anne

Moberly & Eleanor Jourdain stepped into a mist and claimed to arrive at a time

period before the French Revolution. It is said, that the mist and the ominous

clouds might be the key to time travel or entering other dimensions.

Great pilots like Charles Lindbergh have also said to witness this unusual

phenomenon, while they were traveling through the Bermuda triangle. It is said

that when Charles Lindbergh was making a nonstop flight from Havana to St.

Louis his magnetic compass started rotating. His Earth-inductor-compass needle

jumped back and forth erratically. This has now all been revealed in his

autobiography. Even a great pilot like Charles Lindbergh witnessed unusual

events while flying in the reaches of the Bermuda Triangle.

Another eyewitness account is that of Bruce Gernon, who flew his plane, a

Bonanza A36 into the Bermuda Triangle and encountered a non-threatening mile

and a half long cloud. As he neared, the cloud seemed to come alive. It became

huge and engulfed his plane. However, a tunnel opened up in the cloud and he

went through this tunnel. The tunnel had cloud trails swirling around his plane.

He also reported that while going into this tunnel, he experienced zero gravity

and the only thing keeping him in the cockpit was his seatbelt.

Such incidents are some of the few famous eyewitness accounts of people facing

strange phenomenon in the area.

Conclusion

Do the Bermuda Triangle’s special powers exist? Are there really aliens and

black holes within the area? No one can answer this, but the next of kin of those

who perished and disappeared in the area will tell you that it exists, but scientists

and investigators will tell you it does not. True enough, many aircrafts and ships

do disappear in the Bermuda Triangle, but does that mean anything? Does that

mean that there are mysterious forces within the area? You decide.

 REFERENCE

http://ezinearticles.com/search/?q=bermuda+triangle

http://www.bermudatrianglemystery.net/bermuda-triangle theories

http://www.crystalinks.com/bermuda_triangle.html

BERMUDA TRIANGLE