Bermuda Triangle Disappearances

The first recorded instance of some mysterious occurrence in the Bermuda Triangle (aka the Devil's Triangle) can be traced back to 1492, when Christopher Columbus on his voyage through this region saw a ball of fire in the sky. (No prize in guessing that it was just a meteor falling - an occurrence which is not really rare as such.) Since then, the demarcated area off the North Atlantic has become infamous for mysterious disappearances of ships and aircraft.

A number of theories trying to explain these disappearances have been floated by people who call themselves the Bermuda Triangle experts. While some of these theories attribute the disappearances to aliens, others state that the methane gas deposits of this region are to be blamed for sinking of ships and aircraft. As absurd as it may sound, but there also exist people who claim that this region is a door to another world.

The best way to find out whether the Triangle is really spooked or simply overrated is to cross check the disappearances in this region, and when you do that you come across some simple facts which solve the entire mystery.

Disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle

None of the mysterious disappearances in the Triangle are as famous as the Flight 19 incident - wherein five TBM Avenger torpedo bombers disappeared without any trace on 5th December, 1945. If the fact that all the men involved in the tragic accident lost their lives was tragic, even more bizarre was the fact that the PBM Mariner flying boat which went on the search mission also met with the same fate. The Flight 19 incident did play a crucial role in making it one of the most famous mysteries on the planet. Yet another much talked about incident related to Bermuda Triangle, was the disappearance of the merchant ship Mary Celeste in 1872. Similarly, the disappearance of USS Cyclops (AC-4) - the Proteus-class collier, in this region also made it to the front page of leading dailies back then. On its voyage to the port of Baltimore from Barbados, USS Cyclops was last seen on 9th March, 1918.

Another much talked about incident was the disappearance of the five-masted commercial schooner - Carroll A. Deering, on 31st January, 1921. The schooner was later found run aground off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, but mysteriously none its crew members were aboard. Other notable disappearances attributed to the Devil's Triangle include the disappearance of T2 tanker ship SS Marine Sulphur Queen (4th February, 1963), disappearance of Douglas DC-3 airliner NC16002 (28th December, 1948), disappearance of tramp steamer SS Cotopaxi (1925), disappearance of Avro Tudor G-AGRE Star Ariel (17th January, 1941) and that of Avro Tudor G-AHNP Star Tiger (30th January, 1948) etc. If those incidents of disappearances were intriguing, even more intriguing was the disappearance of two guards at the Great Isaac Lighthouse in 1969.

Facts about the Alleged Disappearances

With so many mysterious disappearances to support the Bermuda Triangle mystery, is there any scope to question its credibility? If Larry Kusche, a research librarian from Arizona State University, is to be believed, the Triangle mystery is nothing more than a hoax created by self-proclaimed experts/writers such as Charles Berlitz and Vincent Gaddis. Kusche in his book 'The Bermuda Triangle Mystery: Solved' notes that the list of disappearances in this region is dubious and exaggerated to a great extent. While there have been some incidents of disappearances in this demarcated region, the number is not even close to those claimed by the Triangle experts.

It is difficult to determine whether it was intentional or not, but the research that these experts boast of, is very sloppy. For instance, Mary Celeste which was alleged to have disappeared in this region was eventually found off-the Portugal coast. Even Flight 19 incident is not credible as such, considering that it was a group of trainee pilots which was supposed to fly in a formation. Experts are of the opinion that these pilots were hit by rough weather conditions which made them hover in the sky until their fuel tanks went empty and they met a watery grave. The aircraft which went as a part of the search operation had a dubious past record - something similar to SS Marine Sulphur Queen.

If the so-called experts had put in some efforts to find out these facts, this part of the North Atlantic wouldn't have had been as ill-famed as it is today. What is even more astonishing is the fact that even those accidents which never took place in the demarcated area find a place in the list of Bermuda Triangle disappearances - including some vessels which were docked in a particular region. In short, all the ships which go missing in the North Atlantic seem to find a place in the list of disappearances in Bermuda, but when they are eventually found elsewhere, no efforts are taken to put forth the truth.

Similarly, many of these ships which went missing in the Atlantic and eventually found a place in this list went into the sea even though they were deemed unfit for the purpose. SS Marine Sulphur Queen is the best example of the same. No wonder the plane crash off the Daytona Beach in Florida which was allegedly witnessed by hundreds of people has no eyewitnesses to confirm the incident. There is no doubt about the fact that this region off the coast of Bermuda has its own share of maritime accidents, but that is quite common in tropical regions which are frequented by tropical storms every once in a while. More importantly, this region is also the merging point for three water currents - the Jet stream, Easterly and the Gulf stream, which makes the natural conditions here, a bit rough.

At the end of the day, you don't need Einstein's brain to realize that most of the alleged disappearances actually never took place - but were created by self-proclaimed Triangle experts and sensationalist media. All in all, Bermuda Triangle is as safe as any other region of the world - without the presence of anything that can be termed supernatural, and the number of vessels and aircraft which cross this region daily makes it more than evident.