Bermuda Triangle Mystery - Myth Or Reality?

The famous Bermuda Triangle, or Devils Triangle, is located off the shores of Miami and spans across Atlantic to Bermuda and Puerto Rico.

History of the Bermuda Triangle

The first recorded unexplained event in the area was written by Columbus. In 1492, on the eve of discovering the New World, Columbus wrote this in his log:

The Admiral again perceived it once or twice, appearing like the light of a wax candle moving up and down, which some thought an indication of land.

On the voyage, they also experienced several mysterious readings on the ship's compass, as noted in the ship's log.

The pilots took the north, marking it [North Star], and found that the compasses northwest a full point [11 and one-quarter degrees]; and the sailors were fearful and depressed and did not say why. The Admiral was aware of this and he ordered that the north again be marked when dawn came, and they found that the compasses were correct. The cause was that the North Star appeared to move and not the compasses.

Ever since, strange events have been witnessed by sailors, captains, the Admiralty, Navel officers, airline pilots, military personnel and fighter pilots. Whole ships and an entire fighter wing have vanished without a trace in the area. There have been many books, magazine articles and even movies based on the Triangle.

It seems that for every unexplained event that takes place, there are at least two new theories about the Bermuda Triangle.

Famous Bermuda Triangle Events

1. Flight 19 - 5 bomber planes vanished without trace on December 5, 1945,
2. Ellen Austin - A ghost ship appears and disappears.
3. USS Cyclops - Missing without a trace sometime after March 4, 1918
4. Douglas DC3 - On December 28, 1948, a Douglas DC3 disappeared while on a flight.
5. Star Tiger and Star Ariel - Two passenger aircraft disappeared without a trace on January 30, 1948, en route to Bermuda and Jamaica.
6. KC135 Stratotankers - On August 28, 1963, two U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft collided and crashed into the Atlantic. There were two distinct crash sites, separated by over 160 miles of water.
7. On June 20, 2005, A Piper PA-23 disappeared between the Bahamas and Florida. There were three people on board.
8. On February 23, 2017, Turkish Airlines flight TK183 (an Airbus A330-200) was forced to change its direction from Havana, Cuba to Washington Dulles airport after some mechanical and electrical problems occurred over the triangle.
9. On May 15, 2017, a private aircraft vanished from radar and radio contact with air traffic controllers in Miami. The plane wreckage was found later.

Bermuda Triangle Theories and Explanations

1. Methane hydrates - Laboratory experiments carried out in Australia have shown that bubbles can sink a scale model ship by decreasing the density of the water. It has been hypothesized that 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.
2. Compass variations - In general a compass does not point exactly in the direction of the North Magnetic Pole, but rather it points to the local geomagnetic field, which can vary in a complex manner over the Earth's surface, as well as over time.
3. Hurricanes - Hurricanes are extremely powerful storms which are spawned in the Atlantic near the equator and have historically been responsible for thousands of lives lost and billions of dollars in damage.
4. Gulf Stream - The Gulf Stream ocean current that flows out of the Gulf of Mexico, then north through the Florida Straits, and then on into the North Atlantic. In essence, it is a river within an ocean, and like a river, it can and does carry floating objects with it.
5. Freak waves - Extremely large waves can appear seemingly at random, even in calm seas.
6. Human error - One of the most cited explanations in official inquiries as to the loss of any aircraft or vessel is human error. Whether deliberate or accidental, humans have been known to make mistakes resulting in catastrophe.
7. Deliberate acts of destruction - This can fall into two categories: acts of war, and acts of piracy.
8. Atlantis - An explanation for some of the disappearances pinned the blame on left-over technology from Atlantis.
9. UFOs - Some theorists claim extraterrestrials are the reason for disappearances by abducting ships and aircraft.
10. Time warp - The proponents of this theory state that the many ships and planes entered a time warp to a different time or dimension on the other side, meaning that their crews could still be alive there, living new lives in the past or the future.

Whatever the cause or causes of the losses are, the Bermuda Triangle remains the most dangerous waters in the World.