The Bermuda Triangle has always been a subject of mystery. For hundreds of years, ships and planes have disappeared in the area and to this day, nobody knows exactly what happened. Because of this, the Bermuda Triangle has been the subject of urban legends and multiple conspiracy theories dating back to the mid-19th century.
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But researchers at the University of Southampton, England, think they have found a logical explanation for all the mysteries that have happened in the Bermuda Triangle. Read on to see what they have discovered.
Where is the Bermuda Triangle?
The Bermuda Triangle is a triangular area in the North Atlantic Ocean. It got its name from the perfect triangle that connects the boundaries of Florida, Bermuda, and the Greater Antilles. Generally speaking, there is really nothing wrong with this huge stretch of water connecting the three islands.
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But the area has earned itself an ominous reputation because of a huge number of unexplained disappearances. Over 50 ships and 20 airplanes have disappeared under mysterious circumstances in the Bermuda Triangle and no wreckage has been found to this day.
The first recorded incident
Did you know that the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle date back to the days of Christopher Columbus? The first recorded mystery in the Bermuda Triangle was written in the journal of Columbus himself.
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In his journal, Columbus wrote that his compass went crazy while in the area and that he and his crew noticed strange lights in the water when it happened. Fortunately, their ship, the Santa Maria was able to make a landing at Guanahani after the incident.
The first recorded disappearance
But the first recorded disappearance in the Bermuda Triangle was the USS Pickering, a topsail schooner. The disappearance happened in 1800. The USS Pickering sailed from New Castle, Delaware, and was never heard of again.
Source: Wikipedia
The ship, along with the soldiers aboard it vanished without a trace. People have theorized that the ship sank because of a strong gale that occurred that year but there is no solid proof of it. The exact cause still remains a mystery.
Ghost ship spotted
In 1881, the Ellen Austin sets off from Liverpool, headed to New York. Most of the passengers were immigrants who wanted the American dream. The ship had been sailing for several weeks when the captain decided to make an unplanned shortcut.
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This shortcut made the ship pass through the Bermuda Triangle. While crossing the area, the captain saw a ghost ship from afar. The captain waited two days until they boarded the strange ship but it was completely empty. It seemed like the entire crew had disappeared.
No traces left behind
In March 1918, the USS Cyclops started its journey toward Barbados. The ship had 309 people on board. The trip started off as planned but once the ship crossed the Bermuda Triangle, the ship vanished.
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These are just some of the mysterious phenomena involving ships that happened in the Bermuda Triangle. Most shipwrecks would leave traces and sometimes survivors but in the Bermuda Triangle, this barely happens.
Aircraft disappeared too
And it turns out the strange phenomena do not only happen to ships. On December 5, 1945, five Avenger torpedo bombers were doing a post-WWII training mission. The bombers flew over the Atlantic Ocean and their path made them cross the Bermuda Triangle.
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The bombers and the 14 men onboard disappeared. The air control station could no longer contact them. The group of planes was dubbed Flight 19. Nothing has been heard from them after the US Navy air support station lost contact with them.
The search party also vanished
When Flight 19 disappeared, the US Navy sent the Martin PBM Mariner to conduct a search party. It had 13 crew members and their mission was to look for Flight 19. The search party ended up vanishing as well.
Source: Wikipedia
Nobody knew what happened to Flight 19 and the Martin PBM Mariner that followed it. The fact that the Bermuda Triangle is a hotspot for disappearing ships was scary enough. But now that even aircraft are affected, this made the Bermuda Triangle a zone to be feared.
A literary inspiration
All these bizarre and mysterious disappearances have sparked the imagination of writers for years. A shipwreck that happened in 1610 on the Bermuda Triangle was said to have inspired William Shakespeare to write The Tempest.
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But believe it or not, this was not the book that really spread the mystery of the deadly triangle. The literary piece that hyped up the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle was a compelling article written by Vincent Gaddis in 1964.
Gaining popularity
Vincent Gaddi’s article was entitled “The Deadly Bermuda Triangle” and it was published in Argosy magazine. His article covered the disappearance of the Avenger bombers with other strange occurrences in the Bermuda Triangle.
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Gaddi was the one who pointed out the pattern of strange disappearances in the area. His article was so popular that he was encouraged to publish a book called “Invisible Horizons” which discussed more the Bermuda Triangle.
People wanted answers
All of these revelations came at a time when social media did not exist yet. Marketing for these stories was word of mouth. So, to actually have a demand for more was a big deal. People became more curious and wanted to know more about the eerie Bermuda triangle.
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The demand for knowledge was quickly met by several articles and books on the subject. Some of these books included the 1969 Limbo of the Lost by John Wallace Spencer, 1974 The Bermuda Triangle by Charles Berlitz, and 1974 The Devil’s Triangle by Richard Winer.
The rise of conspiracy theories
All books had the same conclusion – that there was some kind of supernatural phenomenon going on in the Bermuda Triangle. And all these books sold well. The public started having their own conspiracy theories about what is going on in the Bermuda triangle.
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One of the most outlandish of which is the claim that aliens are involved. This happened when a group of scuba divers who dared to explore the area delivered an odd formation hundreds of feet below the surface. Some of them claimed that it looked like an extraterrestrial ship.
Mythical creatures and places
One popular conspiracy theory that came up involved a popular mythical creature – the Kraken. The tales of missing boats and planes have stirred a belief that the Kraken is real after all. And if this one is real, who knows what other mythical creatures are actually existing on the planet as well?
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Another popular conspiracy theory is that the lost city of Atlantis is actually located underneath the Bermuda Triangle. The advanced technology of the Atlanteans was said to such the ships and planes that crossed over their realm.
Costly and risky expeditions
Some conspiracy theorists believe that the Bermuda Triangle is actually a wormhole. This meant that the space-time continuum is not relevant in the area and that objects that were being sucked into the wormhole were being transported into other dimensions.
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The conspiracy theories were getting out of hand. But scientists were unable to disprove them for a long time. Back then, ships and planes were not as well-equipped as the ones we have now. Expeditions towards the Bermuda Triangle may be a costly and risky endeavor back then.
Unreliable navigation
Back then, they could not do a proper explanation of the Bermuda Triangle because of the reason that the navigation tools are not as reliable as they would want them to be. They were scared that they would end up missing too.
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Of course, back then, navigation tools were far from the sophisticated ones we have now. This could be a contributing factor to why planes and ships could get lost. However, there is no proper explanation for why they always happen in the exact same area.
Research team bares the truth
There were a lot of intriguing conspiracy theories about the Bermuda triangle over centuries. But it looks like a team of scientists and researchers from the University of Southampton, England, are getting closer to the truth.
Source: University of Southampton
The University of Southampton team has been studying all the events that have happened in the Bermuda Triangle. It took years of research and now, they think that the issue has to do with the water in the Bermuda Triangle itself.
Rogue waves
The University of Southampton team believes that the Bermuda Triangle has rogue waves that take place when three huge storms from different directions meet in the water. And it so happens that this occurs often in the Bermuda Triangle.
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When this happens, huge waves coming from different directions collide in the water and this results in tsunami-like waves that could tower over anything in the area – even planes. It is impossible to avoid.
A powerful force
The team’s theory is that the rogue waves could have toppled the missing ships and planes and sent them directly to the ocean floor in pieces. According to their research, these waves can go as high as 100 feet, which explains why they can affect aircraft.
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The sheer power and force of that kind of wave can crash anything to pieces. It would be impossible to have any remains or survivors left. This is the possible explanation why nobody could find wrecks on the site.
The documentary
According to Dr. Simon Boxtail, a member of the team, “The bigger the boat gets, the more damage is done. If you can imagine a rogue wave with peaks at either end, there’s nothing below the boat so it snaps in two.”
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“If it happens, it can sink in two to three minutes,” Boxtail continued to say. You can watch the entire findings of the team in a documentary entitled “The Bermuda Triangle Enigma” which was released to the public in 2018.
It’s safer now
But have the disappearances stopped? The last aircraft disappearance reported in Bermuda Triangle happened on May 15, 2017, involving a private MU-2B aircraft. As for ships, the latest disappearance happened in 2015 involving two 14-year-old boys who disappeared when they went on a fishing trip.
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Despite these findings, the US Coast Guard says that the Bermuda Triangle is actually safe to travel through these days thanks to advancements in technology and navigation tools. Any threat could be easily avoided.