Check Out Some of the Mysteries Associated With Bermuda Triangle

The term ‘Bermuda triangle’ brings to our mind the whole idea of eerie disappearances and occult stories. But what really is the Bermuda triangle? Is it real or amere fantasy?


What Is Bermuda Triangle?

The mythical zone is situated in the Sargasso Sea - a region of the Atlantic Ocean which is significant for being the only sea with no boundaries. The area is actually an imaginary triangle formed by joining three places, Florida, Puerto Rico and the Bermuda Islands according to The Gaddis Argosy article.Since the ‘area’ is vast and fluctuating upon different opinions (varying from 1,30,000 to 3,900,000 km2), it cannot be stipulated as an actual triangle. The area within and outside the zone have been referred to as the Bermuda triangle.


History Behind this Name

It was Vincent Hayes Gaddis, an American author who invented the phrase "Bermuda Triangle" which he initially used in the 1964 February issue of the magazine ‘Argosy’. His article stimulated a trend in myth-making. He is highly criticized for inventing wild mysteries and for disregarding possible natural explanations.

The environs of Bermuda are a bustling area and one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes frequented by cruise ships, pleasure boats and ships sailing towards ports in the Americas, Europe and the Caribbean islands. Commercial and private aircrafts regularly fly above the region.

Even though shipwrecks or aircraft accidents are common in almost all parts of the sea, the notion that earned Bermuda the title “The Devil’s triangle” was the so-called odd “disappearances” of vessels along with their passengers.

Right from the 18thcentury, the Bermuda triangle has been accused of the several land and sea accidents that took place over the area. Some of the important ones being the USS CYCLOPS and Flight -19.

USS Cyclops (AC-4)

In March 1918 USS Cyclops-the biggest ship in the US Navy carrying 306 people and 11,000 tons manganese suddenly vanished amidst its voyage from the West indies to Baltimore. It has been over a century now, but the exact cause of the wreckage is still not verified – the ship was either lost at sea or sunk by the Imperial German Navy near St. Kitts.

The USS Cyclops was commissioned on 1st May 1917 when America entered into World War 1. Since she carried a massive amount of Manganese used for the manufacture of weapons, it was believed that she was probably captured or either sunk by the German forces. But the German authorities at the time denied any knowledge of the vessel, making the accusation void. This incident is attributed to the single largest loss of life in U.S. Naval history without having direct involvement in combat.

However, the obscurity has partly broken down with the 2018 documentary “The Bermuda triangle Enigma” by Channel 5. The presenter Ortis Deley explained that the log book of the ship pointed out to the fact that the Cyclops was suffering from engine failure and was not suitable for carrying such heavy loads.


FLIGHT-19

All the cooked up stories and theories ranging from sea monsters to methane bubbles regarding Bermuda came into vogue with the incident of Fight -19 on December 5 1945. Apart from all the accidents that happened before, this incident surged the mysteriousness and dubiety in people’s minds.

On this day a group of 5 military aircrafts of the United States Navy collectively designated as ‘FLIGHT-19’ on a routine training flight at once disappeared over the Bermuda triangle, perishing all its 14 airmen. Tension rose when the Martin PBM Mariner flying boat that went to the rescue too suddenly vanished off from the radar.

The 13 crew members were also lost and were never recovered. Even though the navy investigators could not find the exact cause of flight-19 incident, the PBM Mariner is supposed to have exploded in mid-air as it contained flammable gasoline vapours.

With this incident, stories and theories with no scientific base began to spread through newspapers, magazines and movies. Most importantly the works by Charles Berlitz (The Bermuda Triangle,1974)–a best seller of the time, and Vincent Gaddis who christened the Bermuda triangle, established the Myth of the Bermuda as a zone of anomalies, a portal to another dimensions, a home for sea beasts, a bolthole for aliens and there goes the list.

Proposed Theories and Explanations

Countless theories have been proposed over the years trying to explain the enigma of the Bermuda Triangle, ranging from the supernatural to hexagonal clouds. Apart from the natural explanations that are the causes for any accidents in sea or land including human error or violent weather, researchers have proposed many theories that might be the cause of incidents in Bermuda. But none of these theories could offer a concrete reason for the missing incidents, which bolsters the fallacy of the Myth. Anyway let’s look at some of them...


Compass Variations

In most of the accidents in the Bermuda triangle, variations and erratic compass readings have been pointed out. The earliest instance of compass variation can be traced to 1492, when Christopher Columbus while on his voyage to the New World is said to have reported about erratic compass readings and a strange fire that hit the sea on the zone, just days before landing at Guanahani. This might be a rare instance when the magnetic north and true north aligned.

Magnetic North

It is the direction that a compass needle points to when it aligns with the Earth's magnetic field

True North

Also called the geographical north, it is the direction towards the fixed point which we describe as the North Pole.

Some theorists suggest that the agonic line sometimes passes through the Bermuda Triangle (The agonic line is a region on the surface of the earth where true north and magnetic north align) and thus may cater to the magnetic phenomenon that may have resulted in the shipwrecks.

The theories of the hexagonal clouds and the rogue waves are more recent and plausible when compared to the others.

Hexagonal Clouds

NASA released a satellite image from June 6 2002 which depicted clouds in the shape of hexagonal cells over the South Atlantic Ocean. This image prompted researchers to propose a new possible explanation for the unexplained events. It is said that these clouds could create ‘air bombs’ that can knock down ships and planes.

Dr. Randy Cerveny of the Arizona State university has given an explanation that these clouds are formed by “microbursts”, and these blasts of air could hit the sea creating massive waves that can cause major wreckage.


Rogue Waves

Rogue waves, distinct from a Tsunami are sudden, dangerous waves that are capable of ravaging even larger ships. According to NOAA “When waves formed by a storm develop in a water current against the normal wave direction, an interaction can take place which results in a shortening of the wave frequency. This can cause the waves to dynamically join together, forming very big ‘rogue’ waves”.

Simon Boxall, an oceanographer from the University of Southampton demonstrated the formation of rogue waves and opines that the conditions in the Triangle are conducive for the formation of massive rogue waves over a 100 feet tall that can easily devastate any large ships.

More theories have been proposed including that of methane hydrates, paranormal activities by aliens and even the existing energy of the lost city of Atlantis!

But there is absolutely zero need to give scientific proofs or to cross check the theories. The Nova/Horizon episode The Case of the Bermuda Triangle, gave highly critical views on the speculated theories : “Science does not have to answer questions of the triangle because those questions are not valid in the first place…”


Myth Busters and Opinions

One of the factors that earned the Bermuda triangle its mystery was the ‘disappearance without a trace’. This was finally busted when SS Cotopaxi, the US bulk carrier which went missing in December 1925 amidst its voyage from Charleston to Havana, was recovered in the 1980s. This incident, though happened a long time before the Bermuda mystery, accused Bermuda of its loss. Moreover, in January 2020 the wreckage was identified as well.

In a 2013 study, on the ‘world’s 10 most dangerous waters for shipping’ conducted by the WWF, The Bermuda triangle was not among them.

The U.S. Board of Geographic Names does not recognize the Bermuda triangle as an official name.

Larry Kusche, the author of the Bermuda triangle Mystery: solved (1975) has bashed the theories and stories of Gaddis and Berlitz with his sensible arguments. Kusche concludes in one of his points that : "the number of ships and aircraft reported missing in the area was not significantly greater, proportionally speaking, than in any other part of the ocean”.

The U.S. Navy and Coastguard agree upon this fact in the same tone.

Ernest Taves and Barry Singer, two skeptical researchers have pointed out that all these fallacies were popularized with the sole purpose of marketing and thus reaping profits.

Benjamin Radford, an author and scientific paranormal investigator, said in an interview on the Bermuda Triangle that it would be very difficult to locate an aircraft lost at sea due to the vast expanse , and although the disappearances are mysterious,it cannot be concluded that it is paranormal or unexplainable.

So it can be concluded by saying that the myth of the Bermuda triangle that stirred the world was nothing but a product of unanticipated recurring tragic incidents of nature and the crooked fallacious human minds.


Written By: Afra Meera Ahamed

Edited by - Gunika Manchanda