Everyone has heard of the Bermuda Triangle at one time or another. The Bermuda Triangle (a.k.a. the Devil's Triangle) is a triangular area in the Atlantic Ocean bounded roughly at its points by Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. It's a phenomenon that has puzzled many people, it’s a name that is forever linked to the mysterious disappearances that have taken place in an imaginary triangle. Legend has it that many people, ships and planes have mysteriously vanished in this area. 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 crazily about. When they turned and approached the ship they were amazed 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. Five Navy Avenger bomber planes Flight19 vanished on a training mission during a severe storm in 1945. 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". The most logical theory as to why they vanished is that lead pilot Lt. Charles Taylor’s compass failed. The trainees' planes were not equipped with working navigational instruments. The group was disoriented and simply, though tragically, ran out of fuel. No mysterious forces were likely to have been involved other than the mysterious force of gravity on planes with no fuel. 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. This was likely due to a faulty gas tank rather than to any mysterious forces.
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.
Many theories have been given to explain the extraordinary mystery of these missing ships and planes. Extraterrestrials, residue crystals from Atlantis, evil humans with anti-gravity devices or other weird technologies are favorites among fantasy writers. Strange magnetic fields and (methane gas from the bottom of the ocean) are favorites among the technically-minded. Weather (thunderstorms, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, high waves, currents, etc.) bad luck, pirates, explosive cargoes, incompetent navigators, and other natural and human causes are favorites among
skeptical investigators. There are some skeptics who argue that the facts do not support the legend, that there is no mystery to be solved. The number of wrecks in this area is not really extraordinary, given its size, location and the amount of traffic it receives.
The Bermuda Triangle is one of the two places on Earth where a magnetic compass points towards the true north. Normally it points towards magnetic north. The difference between them is known as compass variation. The amount of variation changes by as much as 20 degrees as one circumnavigates the earth. If this compass variation or error is not compensated for, a navigator could find himself far off course and in deep trouble. Another and perhaps most straight forward is the Vile Vortices (also known as The Devils Graveyard). It all started in the 1960's when a man named Ivan Sanderson started to study all of the unusual air and sea accidents all over the world. After plotting the location of these; he came to the conclusion that these accidents took place in twelve small, oval shaped parts of the ocean. Amazingly, these areas occurred at evenly shaped intervals around the world and were all the same distance from the equator. This theory suggests that something about these locations cause extreme atmospheric and maritime conditions that have wreaked havoc on travelers.
Then there is the Lost City of Atlantis theory which is probably the most astounding theory of them all. The legend of the lost continent of Atlantis remained part of a folklore for many centuries. Then these stories resurfaced in the mid-twentieth century because a man name Edgar Cayce. Cayce would go into what were described to be psychic trances. During some of his trances he spoke of great civilization that was powered by generations made of gigantic crystals that harnessed the power of the sun to their own uses. Cayce beloved that Atlantis may have misused the crystal therefore bringing chaos on Atlantis. Some have said the ship and plane disappearances were unintentional and unpredictable by-products of the powerful energy crystals still in use on Atlantis.
Finally but not least the Multiple Dimensions theory; this theory suggests that there could possibly be a parallel world in another dimension that has the same time and space as we do. Maybe there could be doors or windows that open for brief periods of time, and during this time they are open some of these objects like ships and air-planes fall into another world.
The Bermuda Triangle still remains a mystery today. The only answers anyone can give are based on theories. What happened to all these planes, ships, and people?
The answer to these questions are unanswerable at present, will these mysteries ever be solved, or is it mystery at all?
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