Bermuda Triangle: Everything You Need to Know
In this article, we are going to talk about the Bermuda Triangle, its incidents and some explanations about it.
Introduction:
On December 5th, 1945 at 10:10 in the afternoon, five torpedo bomber aircraft of the US Navy took off from Florida for a routine training mission called Flight 19. There were 14 crew members on board led by their flight leader, a highly experienced pilot and war veteran. The planes flew east from Florida and the weather was clear. However, two hours later, their squadron leader reported that the compass was malfunctioning. They tried to use the backup compass, but it failed too. They were unable to determine their position and asked the pilots of the other planes for help, but their instruments were also malfunctioning. Lt Charles Carol Taylor was the squadron leader and confusing messages were sent over the radio transmission after the compass broke down.
The weather started worsening, and at 4:56 in the evening, Taylor believed their planes were flying over the Gulf of Mexico and ordered the rest of the planes to fly east. However, some of the crew aboard the flight believed that they were already flying east of Florida and needed to fly westwards. One of those planes sent a radio transmission saying that some of the crew members believed that they had to fly westwards to get back home. As the weather worsened and darkness approached, it became clear that the planes were actually 370km east of Florida. At 7:04 PM, we received the last radio transmission from Taylor. After this, all five planes were lost forever.
Search and Rescue Mariner:
To date, we have no clue about these planes. Where are they? What happened to them? Following the disappearance of Flight 19, a Search-and-Rescue Mariner aircraft took off with a crew of 13 people to locate the missing flight. However, while searching for them, they too disappeared. First, 14 people from Flight 19 disappeared, followed by 13 people from the Mariner search-and-rescue aircraft. A large-scale air-and-sea search operation was carried out for days after this, making it one of the largest search operations of the time to look for both of these flights. However, nothing could be found. Neither the body of any person nor any part of the aircraft was found. Everything had disappeared. Interestingly, the area where both planes disappeared is now known as the Bermuda Triangle. We don’t know which way is West.
Where is the Bermuda Triangle:
Over the past 50 years, 3,000 ships and 100 planes have gone missing in the Atlantic Ocean’s mysterious stretch of water. Known as the Devil’s Triangle, this is the Bermuda Triangle – a source of intrigue, legend, and fear. The Bermuda Triangle is said to be a very mysterious part of the ocean where more than 100 aircraft and ships have disappeared and were never found again. This area lies between Florida in the USA, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda in the North, forming a triangular area spanning more than 500,000 square miles overall.
Tales of the Bermuda Triangle:
Tales of the Bermuda Triangle are over 500 years old. In 1492, when Christopher Columbus set out to find the New World, he reported that when he was passing by this area, his compass stopped working. One night, while looking at the sky from his ship, he saw a strange light that looked like a ball of fire. He observed the ball of fire fall out of the sky into the ocean. This was the beginning of the mystery. Over the next few centuries, several names were given to this area including the Graveyard of the Atlantic, the Sea of Doom, and the Sargasso Graveyard. However, the name the Bermuda Triangle was not used until 1964. In an article titled “The Deadly Bermuda Triangle” by Vincent H. Gaddis in the magazine Argosy, the phrase Bermuda Triangle was used for the first time.
“The Deadly Bermuda Triangle” by Vincent: An Article
In this article, the author summarizes many disappearances that have occurred in the Bermuda Triangle over the last several decades. He attempted to link them all together, creating a sense of mystery and intrigue around the area. Despite the popularity of the topic, however, there were no concrete explanations provided as to why these incidents occurred. Nevertheless, this lack of information only served to heighten interest in the Bermuda Triangle, leading to numerous books, films, computer games, and even songs being produced about it.
Incidents of Bermuda Triangle:
USS Cyclops:
Talking about other incidents, there was another horrifying event in 1918. It involved the USS Cyclops, one of the biggest and fastest ships in the US Navy at that time. The ship was a vital asset for the American Navy, especially during World War I, as it was used to transport troops and coal. On March 4th, 1918, 306 people were aboard the USS Cyclops when it began its journey from a city near Washington called Baltimore, to Brazil. Apart from the passengers, the ship was also carrying 11,000 tons of manganese.
The journey was supposed to take 9 days, and everything was fine during the departure of the ship. The weather was clear, and the ship sent a message before departing. However, this message turned out to be the last message from the ship, as there was no news from it after it began its journey. The disappearance of one of the biggest ships in the US Navy, a ship of this magnitude, was a shock to everyone.
The incident of Ellen Austin ship:
If you find this incident mysterious, the Ellen Austin mystery was even more daunting and frightening. In 1881, the Ellen Austin, a 210-foot-long ship, was traveling from London to New York – a journey commonly undertaken by many ships at the time. However, on its way, Ellen Austin encountered an unidentified ship in the Bermuda Triangle area. From the outside, this unidentified ship looked completely normal, but there was no trace of any humans aboard it – no crew, no passengers. The captain of the Ellen Austin decided to board the ship to investigate. First, he brought his ship alongside the other vessel and waited for two days to see if there was any response. However, there was no response for two days. After that, the captain set foot on the unidentified ship.
There were many things on the new ship, and everything was in its proper place. During that time, people were cautious of pirates who would often attack ships and steal valuable items. However, this unidentified ship had not been targeted by any such pirates, and all of its valuable items were still intact. Due to this reason, the captain of Ellen Austin decided to send some of his crew members to investigate the ship and continue their journey with both ships. For the first two days, both ships sailed ahead normally, but then they encountered a storm, and their paths separated, causing the unidentified ship to disappear. After the storm passed, the captain of Ellen Austin attempted to locate the ship and eventually spotted it with his spyglass from a distance. However, when he reached the ship, there was no trace of any humans aboard it.
The Mystery remains unsolved:
The crew members he had sent from his ship to the other ship suddenly disappeared. Where did they go? What happened to them? We don’t know. However, the ship was still intact. It is said that the captain of Ellen Austin tried once again to bring the ship with him and sent some more crew members to steer the ship. But, again, after a few days, there was another storm, and the same story repeated itself. This unidentified ship got separated, and the new crew members on it disappeared once again.
When Ellen Austin returned, the owner of the ship was so terrified after hearing this story that he sold off the ship to a German company. They changed the name of this ship to Meta. Yes, that’s right. Just like how Mark Zuckerberg renamed Facebook into Meta, this ship was also renamed Meta. But unfortunately, most probably, this incident is just a story. Because this incident is so old, it is not possible to verify it properly.
The stories that are very popular historically, those that are passed down to generations but cannot be properly verified, are called legends or urban legends. Many rational thinkers believe that the Bermuda Triangle is one such legend. What lies behind the incidents of the Bermuda Triangle? There are many theories for it. Some people blame aliens, saying that they had come and abducted the aircraft and ships. Others believe that there is a giant sea monster under the ocean responsible for the disappearances. Some people claim that this area of the ocean is peculiar, causing aircraft and vessels to drown. These theories are truly outlandish.
Explanations about the Bermuda Triangle:
First Explanation: Magnetism
Let’s focus on the theories that sound more scientific. One of the explanations is based on magnetism. The North Pole of the Earth and the Magnetic North Pole are two distinct points. When you look at a compass pointing toward the North, it shows the direction of the magnetic North Pole. However, the real North Pole is somewhere close by. It is known as the Geographic North Pole, and the difference between the Magnetic and Geographic North Poles is crucial.
Generally, people consider this when using a compass, as has been done for ages. However, in some areas of the Earth, if you use a compass, you will find the Magnetic and Geographic North Poles in the same place. These areas are known as the Agonic Lines, which shift with time. For the last 200-300 years, the 0° line has been around or in the area of the Bermuda Triangle, creating confusion.
Second Explanation: Hurricanes
The second peculiarity of this area is that it has one of the highest rates of hurricanes in the world. If we rank the countries where most hurricanes occur, China is at number one, followed by the USA at number two, and then Cuba. Cuba is situated in this area. Moreover, which state in the USA receives the most hurricanes? Florida, which is found in this area. This area experiences hurricanes and water spouts more frequently than other regions.
Third Explanation: Methane Hydrates
“Methane Hydrates” is the third explanation. There are some areas in the ocean that have large fields of methane hydrates. In Australia, scientists conducted laboratory experiments in which they found that when there is an excessive amount of methane bubbles in the water, the density of the water decreases, and the buoyancy of a ship cannot be maintained, causing the ship to sink. This is the same logic as when the salt content of water is high, the density of water increases, and it becomes easier for things to float, as is the case with the Dead Sea. A person who would normally sink in the ocean floats on the Dead Sea because the density of the water is high.
In this case, the opposite is happening. If there is methane in the water, and if there are methane eruptions in the water, also known as mud volcanoes, methane is released. If this happens when a ship is over the area, the ship would instantly sink into the water without any warning, never to be heard from again. This is an interesting explanation. But in all the disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle, there is no direct evidence that any exact incident was due to methane hydrates. This is simply a scientifically proven phenomenon that exists. However, it has not yet been proven to have caused the disappearance of any ship.
Fourth Explanation: Baader-Meinhof Effect OR Frequency Illusion
The fifth explanation is the most important, in my opinion, as it is related to human psychology. This is known as the Baader-Meinhof Effect or the Frequency Illusion, which is a psychological phenomenon. It states that when we start to notice things more, we start finding them more often around us.
Remember when someone in your family bought a new car? After buying it, you would have noticed that over the next few days or even months, whenever you were on the road, you started noticing the same model of the car more and more. You may have even felt like more people bought the same model after you did. In reality, the frequency of the car on the road didn’t change much; it was just as common after you bought it as it was before. But because you bought the car, you started noticing it more.
The same thing is often said about the Bermuda Triangle. Though it’s true that some big aircraft and vessels have disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle, if you’ve noticed, in many areas around the world across all oceans, there have been similar disappearances of aircraft and ships outside of the Bermuda Triangle. One recent example of this is the Malaysian Airlines flight, which didn’t disappear around the Bermuda Triangle. The thing is that when people came across the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle, they started paying more attention to the disappearances and incidents there. People tend to focus on the incidents taking place around the Bermuda Triangle, while similar incidents that occur outside the area often go unnoticed.
Comments on Bermuda Triangle:
Journalist Larry Kusche, the author of the book ‘The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved,’ also came to a similar conclusion. He wrote that while there were some incidents that took place initially, over time, as the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle gained prominence, some people began fabricating their own stories. There was a lot of mystery-mongering, and some stories were entirely absurd and hadn’t really happened. The story of Ellen Austin that I shared with you is said to be one such fabrication. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the US states that there’s no evidence to suggest that the aircraft and ships that disappear in the Bermuda Triangle, or that the mysterious disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle that we see, happen more frequently in the Bermuda Triangle than in any other area of the ocean. It simply isn’t so.
Summary:
The Bermuda Triangle has been an enigma for decades, with numerous ships and airplanes disappearing without a trace in its waters. But other areas of the ocean have also been witness to such inexplicable disappearances. The United States Coast Guards have even gone on record saying that the Coast Guard of the USA doesn’t even recognize the Bermuda Triangle as a hazardous area. They have suggested that the fact that the area within the Bermuda Triangle is heavily trafficked could account for some of the mystery.
The area of the Bermuda Triangle sees a lot of traffic from ships and airplanes, which increases the chances of such incidents happening here. Pair that with the fact that hurricanes often sweep the Bermuda Triangle, and the presence of the Gulf Stream, it is not hard to see why ships might occasionally sink there. This could suggest that the mysterious disappearances have nothing to do with the Bermuda Triangle.
But what about the ball of fire that Christopher Columbus had seen fall into the ocean? There’s a simple and scientific answer to it, too. Scientists believe that it was actually a meteor seen by Christopher Columbus. It is not uncommon for such phenomena to occur in the atmosphere and for people to mistake them for something else. So, while the mystery surrounding the Bermuda Triangle still remains, it is essential to approach it rationally and scientifically rather than attributing it to supernatural or paranormal causes.
