Destruction Inc. [ Mystery - Bermuda Triangle ]

The name is given to a triangular section of the Atlantic Ocean that's bound by Bermuda to the north, Florida to the west and Puerto Rico to the south. Its thought that as many as 100 ships and planes have vanished in the triangle.

Bermuda Triangle

The mysterious disappearances in this zone, which is also known as the Devil's Triangle, Date back to the mid-19th century. But it wasn't until the 1970s, when a popular interest in UFOs and other unexplained phenomena arose, that the disappearances drew international attention and the term Bermuda Triangle came into common use.

[ The Media Blitz ]

The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle and Hoodoo Sea, birthed its legend on September 09, 1950 in a strange AP dispatch. E.V.W. Jones, a reporter, penned an article on a strange anomaly he had stumbled across. It seemed as if a unusual number of planes and ships had been disappearing in the ocean between Florida and Bermuda.

Two years later, in 1952, Fate magazine published an article by George X. Sand who wrote of a "series of strange marine disappearances, each leaving no trace whatever, that have taken place in the past few years in a watery triangle bounded roughly by Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico".

In 1974, Charles Berlitz published the infamous The Bermuda Triangle. Although some discount the book as sensationalism at its extreme and full of inaccuracies, it sold thousands of copies and put the Bermuda Triangle squarely in the minds of the world population.

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[ The Mysterious Events ]

Over 200 separate mysterious disappearances have been attributed to the Devil's Triangle, including massive vessels such as the USS Cyclops and the SS Marine Sulphur Queen

In 1492, Christopher Columbus made several interesting recordings in his log during his journey through the Devil's Triangle. He told of strange magnetic deviances in his navigation instruments. Strange lights were seen on the distant horizon and in the sky. He even recorded in his log of a "great flame of fire" that crashed into the ocean.

Another mysterious event occurred in 1872. The Mary Celeste had departed on November 7, 1872 for Genoa. On December 4, 1872, the crew of the Dei Gratia spotted the vessel and noted the ship was sailing very erratically. When they turned and approached the ship they were astonished to find it completely empty. The lifeboat was missing even though the ship appeared to be in perfect condition.

The disappearance of Flight 19 ranks at the very top of Bermuda Triangle lore. On December 5, 1945, five Navy Avengers vanished while on a routine training mission over the Atlantic. Patrol leader Lt. Charles Taylor (an experienced pilot who was familiar with the area) had radioed Florida with the bizarre message, "Control tower this is an emergency. We seem to be off course. We seem to be lost. We can't make out where we are." . When told to head due west they replied "Everything looks wrong, even the ocean looks strange". A Navy search was initiated (including a Martin Mariner that blew up 23 minutes into its flight) that lasted for weeks. No trace was ever found of the aircraft or crew.

On December 27, 1948, a commercial flight traveling from Puerto Rico to Florida, met a similar fate. NC-16002 DC-3 radioed Miami that they were 50 miles out and ready to receive landing instructions. Miami radioed back the instructions and awaited a reply of confirmation. None was ever received. After 3 hours, a search and rescue team was sent out to find the missing aircraft. In calm seas and clear weather, no trace was found of the craft or its passengers.

[ Modern Theories ]

Some of the more esoteric theories include alien abductions, time warps, strange magnetic fields, and black holes. Some have even theorized that the ancient city of Atlantis existed in this area (Edgar Cayce gave a reading in 1932 that placed the city of Atlantis precisely in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle).

[ Rational Explanations ]

But debunkers have been quick to offer rational explanations for all the mysterious events. Two items met the public's eye during 1975 that served to demystify the Bermuda Triangle mystery for many persons. In 1975, The Bermuda Triangle Mystery - Solved was published. In this book, Larry Kusche set out to disprove prior theories by offering common, everyday explanations for these unusual events. His extensive research unearthed many factual errors in previous author's works. He discovered that many of the missing vessels had since been found. He also told of the many exaggerations that existed for the circumstances surrounding the events.

For instance, could the flame of fire that Columbus saw been a more sensible meteor? How about the fact that the Flight 19 patrol leader's craft had a malfunctioning compass? Could Lt. Charles Taylor simply missed Florida and sailed his crew straight off into the Gulf of Mexico never to be seen again? Could the extreme depths of the Atlantic (the deepest Ocean in the world) or its strong current explain the lack of physical evidence being found after these disasters? Or do marine disasters that occur in other parts of the world simply merit less media attention that the legendary Devil's Triangle?

On April, 09 1975, Mary Margaret Fuller, editor of Fate magazine, took it upon herself to write Lloyd's of London to see what type of statistics they had compiled on insurance payoffs incurred in the mysterious region.

According to Lloyd's Records, 428 vessels have been reported missing throughout the world since 1955, and it may interest you to know that our intelligence service can find no evidence to support the claim that the Bermuda Triangle has more losses than elsewhere. This finding is upheld by the United States Coastguard whose computer based records of casualties in the Atlantic go back to 1958.

Maybe we should just sit on this one a while and see what else turns up...