The Bermuda Triangle (sometimes known as Devil's Triangle) is a
1.5-million-square-mile (4,000,000 km²) area of ocean roughly
defined by Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and the southern tip of Florida.
Some believe it is a paranormal site in which the laws of physics
are violated or altered.
It is said that within this area a number of ships and airplanes
have disappeared under highly unusual circumstances. The United
States Coast Guard and others disagree with the assessment of
paranormal activity, arguing that the number of incidents involving
lost ships and airplanes is no larger than that of any other
heavily traveled region of the world.
Another area that is classified by many as having the same
paranormal effects is the Devil's Sea, located near Japan.
The first mention of any disappearances in the area was made in
1950 by E.V.W. Jones as a sidebar on the Associated Press wire
service regarding recent ship losses in the area. Jones' article
notes the "mysterious disappearances" of ships, airplanes and small
boats in the region and ascribes it the name "The Devil's Sea". It
was mentioned again in 1952 in a Fate magazine article by George X.
Sand, who outlined several "strange marine disappearances". The
term "Bermuda Triangle" was popularized by Vincent Gaddis in a 1964
Argosy feature.
The area achieved its fame largely through the efforts of Charles
Berlitz in his 1974 book The Bermuda Triangle (right) and its
subsequent film adaptation. The book consists of a series of
recountings of mysterious disappearances of ships and aircraft, in
particular the December 1945 loss of five U.S. Navy Avenger torpedo
bombers known as Flight 19.
The book was a bestseller and included the various suggestions that
had been made to account for the disappearances. Among these were
high accident rates due to high traffic volumes; natural storms;
"temporal holes"; the lost empire of Atlantis; transportation by
extraterrestrial technology; and other natural or supernatural
causes.
Critics have charged that Berlitz and others have exaggerated the
"mysterious" aspects of some cases (Berlitz himself did not
advocate any paranormal explanation), and argue that the Bermuda
Triangle sees no more "disappearances" than any comparable area of
the oceans. Of note, Lloyd's of London has determined the
"triangle" to be no more dangerous than any other piece of the
ocean, and does not charge unusual rates of insurance for passage
through the area. Coast Guard records confirm this.
Skeptics comment that the disappearance of a train between two
stops would be more convincing evidence of paranormal activity, and
the fact that such things do not occur suggests that paranormal
explanations are not needed for the disappearance of ships and
airplanes in the far less predictable open ocean.
Intrigued by the number of students coming to him looking for
information about the Bermuda Triangle, Lawrence Kusche, a
reference librarian with Arizona State University at the time of
the Flight 19 incident, began an exhaustive follow-up investigation
of the original reports. His findings were eventually published in
1975 as The Bermuda Triangle Mystery: Solved.
Kusche's research revealed a number of inaccuracies and
inconsistencies between Berlitz's accounts and statements from
eyewitnesses, participants and others involved in the initial
incidents. He noted cases where pertinent information went
unreported, such as the disappearance of round-the-world yachtsman
Donald Crowhurst which Berlitz had presented as a mystery, despite
clear evidence that Crowhurst had fabricated the accounts of his
voyage and had probably committed suicide. Another example was the
ore-carrier Berlitz recounted as lost without trace three days out
of an Atlantic port when it had been lost three days out of a port
with the same name in the Pacific Ocean. Kusche also argued that a
large percentage of the incidents attributed to the Bermuda
Triangle's mysterious influence actually occurred well outside
it.
Kusche came to several conclusions:
The proportion of those ships and airplanes reported missing to
those travelling through the Bermuda Triangle area was not
significantly greater than any other ocean area.
In an area frequented by tropical storms, the total disappearance
of some ships was neither unlikely nor mysterious.
The number of disappearances had been exaggerated by sloppy
research. A boat listed as missing would be reported, but not
necessarily its eventual if belated return to port.
The circumstances of confirmed disappearances were frequently
misreported in Berlitz's accounts. The numbers of ships
disappearing in supposedly calm weather, for instance, did not
tally with weather reports published at the time.
An explanation for some of the disappearances focuses on the
presence of vast fields of methane hydrates on the continental
shelves. A paper was published in 1981 by the United States
Geological Survey about the appearance of hydrates in the Blake
Ridge area, off the southeastern United States coast. Periodic
methane eruptions 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. Laboratory experiments have
proven that bubbles can, indeed, sink a scale model ship by
decreasing the density of the water.
Some writers have suggested that methane hydrate is suddenly
released in the form of giant gas bubbles, with diameters
comparable to that of the ships purportedly sunk by them. (See
Bermuda Triangle mystery solved? It's a load of gas.) This is
physically impossible. Even if it were possible to create a sudden,
massive release of methane gas from the sea floor as described, the
giant bubble would collapse under the pressure of sea water and
break into myriad smaller bubbles before it reached the surface. On
the surface it would appear as a violent frothing, but this would
still reduce buoyancy to a dangerously low level. Although bubbles
can be formed in a laboratory tank that are "large" compared to a
small-scale model of a ship, the effect does not scale up in nature
due to the relationship between the forces of surface tension and
gravity.
Methane gas might also crash airplanes. The less dense air causes
airplanes to lose lift. Also, an airplane's altimeter functions on
the density of air. Because methane is less dense, the altimeter
indicates that the airplane is climbing. Pilots at night or in the
clouds, where they can't see the ground, assume that they are
climbing and dive, causing them to crash. Also, methane in the
engine throws off the mix of fuel and air. Aircraft engines burn
hydrocarbons (gasoline or jet fuel) with oxygen provided by the
air. When the ambient oxygen levels drop, combustion can stop, and
the engine stalls. All of these effects of methane gas have been
shown experimentally.
Research has shown that freak, or rogue waves can reach up to up to
30 m (100 feet) in height and are capable of sinking the largest
ships within moments. Although these are very rare, in some areas
ocean currents mean they happen more often than the norm. Such
waves have now been hypothesized as a cause for many unexplained
shipping losses over the years.