World Mysteries - Bermuda Triangle - Greatest Unsolved Mysteries

World Mysteries - Bermuda Triangle - Greatest Unsolved Mysteries

   Known as the Bermuda Triangle, this legendary expanse of ocean can be found between the points of Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. Pilots often tell of their instruments going haywire and numerous ships have been lost at sea. With explanations ranging from gas bubbles to aliens, no one is sure what is behind the strange phenomena.

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World Mysteries - Bermuda Triangle - Greatest Unsolved Mysteries

The Bermuda Triangle: Whatever became of the myth

Seventy years after the disappearance of five planes in the Atlantic, Giles Milton investigates one of the world’s most enduring aviation mysteries

It was December 5, 1945, and the five airplanes of Flight 19 – a routine military training mission departing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida – had vanished without trace.
For the last 70 years, the disappearance of Flight 19 has been one of the world’s most enduring aviation mysteries. No wreckage was ever found, despite an extensive search, and nor were any bodies recovered. It was as if the planes and their 14 crewmen had simply disappeared into thin air.

In the absence of any hard facts, there was frenzied speculation as to what might have happened. There was also – before long – the birth of an extraordinary myth. The fate of the planes was linked to an area of ocean that became known as the Bermuda Triangle, in which unexplained and seemingly paranormal incidents occurred with alarming frequency.

What is the Bermuda Triangle?

The Bermuda Triangle is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean in which ships, planes, and people are alleged to have mysteriously vanished.
For decades, the Atlantic Ocean’s fabled Bermuda Triangle has captured the human imagination with unexplained disappearances of ships, planes, and people.

Some speculate that unknown and mysterious forces account for the unexplained disappearances, such as extraterrestrials capturing humans for study; the influence of the lost continent of Atlantis; vortices that suck objects into other dimensions; and other whimsical ideas.  Some explanations are more grounded in science, if not in evidence.  These include oceanic flatulence (methane gas erupting from ocean sediments) and disruptions in geomagnetic lines of flux.

Environmental considerations could explain many, if not most, of the disappearances.  The majority of Atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes pass through the Bermuda Triangle, and in the days prior to improved weather forecasting, these dangerous storms claimed many ships.  Also, the Gulf Stream can cause rapid, sometimes violent, changes in weather.  Additionally, the large number of islands in the Caribbean Sea creates many areas of shallow water that can be treacherous to ship navigation. And there is some evidence to suggest that the Bermuda Triangle is a place where a “magnetic” compass sometimes points towards “true” north, as opposed to “magnetic” north. 

The U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard contend that there are no supernatural explanations for disasters at sea.  Their experience suggests that the combined forces of nature and human fallibility outdo even the most incredulous science fiction. They add that no official maps exist that delineate the boundaries of the Bermuda Triangle. The U. S. Board of Geographic Names does not recognize the Bermuda Triangle as an official name and does not maintain an official file on the area.

The ocean has always been a mysterious place to humans, and when foul weather or poor navigation is involved, it can be a very deadly place.  This is true all over the world.  There is no evidence that mysterious disappearances occur with any greater frequency in the Bermuda Triangle than in any other large, well-traveled area of the ocean. 

World Mysteries - Bermuda Triangle - Greatest Unsolved Mysteries

Recent Disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle

However, reports on recent unexplained aircraft disappearances are much harder to find, possibly because of advances in modern technology. The three most recent include:

• 1991 - The last known contact with the pilot of a Grumman Cougar jet occurred when he made a routine radio request to increase altitude. As the aircraft flew higher into the atmosphere, It gradually faded from radar and then vanished altogether.
• 1999 - A distress call received by a vessel sailing near a cargo freighter called the Genesis reported the ship was having problems with the bilge pump. After this call, the ship and crew were never seen or heard from again, despite intensive and ongoing searches by the Coast Guard.
• 2005- June 20, a Piper PA- 23 vanished between Treasure Cay, Bahamas and Ft Pierce, Florida with three people aboard
• 2007- April 10, a Piper PA- 46-310P disappeared near Berry Islands with only the pilot on board
• 2008- December 15, a Britten Norman Islander vanished near the Windward Islands with 11 passengers aboard

Not all disappearances are related to mysterious circumstances, but the number is staggering when you calculate the odds of so many aircraft and ships disappearing in a specific region. Obviously, a percentage would be due to engine failures, squalls and other sudden storms.

• March 26, 2001 - ComAir flight 5054 shook up passengers on a flight from Nassau to Orlando, when the plane began rolling from side to side and went into a deep dive. The plane managed to land safely in West Palm Beach but sustained serious damage to key tail components. Problems began when ice started to cover the windshield, the right engine, and right wing. Although the crew reacted quickly by turning on the plane's anti-icing system at the highest level, the plane began to roll and then dive. Important flight instruments also began to fail at this time.
• June 18, 2003 - Frank and Romina Leone left Boynton Beach Inlet, Florida in their 16-foot boat for a day excursion. They and their boat were never found. The couple was fondly remembered in a June 24, 2003, SunSentinel article that reports Romina was looking forward to her first fishing trip on the boat with her husband, Frank. The Leones launched their boat on a Wednesday afternoon and when the young couple failed to show up at each of their jobs in West Palm Beach in the next couple of days, coworkers, friends and family feared the worst. The Coast Guard launched a rescue mission early Friday morning, which covered over 35,700 square miles from Miami to Savannah, Georgia before it was called off around 6 pm the following Monday.
• October-November, 2003 - A fishing boat with the tragically ironic name of "What's Left" was found capsized on a beach near Cape Canaveral. In an article published by NaplesNews.com, human remains found on the boat were believed to be one of the missing boaters: Gary Lisk, 61, Neil Eddleman, 47 and son, Neil Allen Eddleman, 13, who left on October 17 for a day fishing trip. The wreckage washed up 527 miles away from where the trio had launched at Gordon Pass. How the boat ended up where it was found baffled authorities, who could only speculate that the boat may have been caught in the Atlantic Gulf Stream, a slow moving current that travels up the eastern U.S. coast.
• March 23, 2004 - A 19-foot fishing boat owned by 40-year-old fishing enthusiast Glen Jamison left Hudson, Florida around 4 am Sunday, and was scheduled to return that night. The boat was discovered 32 miles west of Egmont Key, Florida, but Jamison was missing. According to the St. Petersburg Times, although Jamison loved to fish he could not swim at all. When the boat was found, the engine was tilted up with fishing line wrapped around the propeller. A nearby knife led family members and authorities to the conclusion that Jamison had been trying to cut the fishing line off of the propeller when he fell overboard.

Determining the Truth

As the activity in the Bermuda Triangle appears to wane and eventually stop altogether in the 21st century, could the anomaly have simply shifted a few hundred miles to the south? Or is it purely a coincidence that unexplained disappearances in boat and plane traffic has almost simultaneously been on the increase in an area so close? Like most paranormal phenomenon and unsolved mysteries, the truth will remain a matter of one's personal belief.