truth behind bermuda triangle ???

Answer 1

The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is an area in the Atlantic Ocean where the disappearance of many people and their aircraft, and surface vessels has been attributed by some to the paranormal, a suspension of the laws of physics, or activity by extraterrestrial beings. Some of the disappearances involve a level of mystery which is often popularly explained by a variety of theories beyond human error or acts of nature. An abundance of documentation for most incidents suggests that the Bermuda Triangle is a sailors' legend, later embellished by professional writers.The boundaries of the Triangle vary with the author; some stating its shape is akin to a trapezium covering the Straits of Florida, the Bahamas, and the entire Caribbean island area east to the Azores; others add to it the Gulf of Mexico. The more familiar, triangular boundary in most written works has as its points Miami, Florida; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and the mid-Atlantic island of Bermuda, with most of the incidents concentrated along the southern boundary around the Bahamas and the Florida Straits.

The area is one of the most heavily-sailed shipping lanes in the world, with ships crossing through it daily for ports in the Americas and Europe, as well as the Caribbean Islands. Cruise ships are also plentiful, and pleasure craft regularly go back and forth between Florida and the islands. It is also a heavily flown route for commercial and private aircraft heading towards Florida, the Carribean, and South America from points north.

The Gulf Stream ocean current flows through the Triangle after leaving the Gulf of Mexico; its current of five to six knots may have played a part in a number of disappearances. Sudden storms can and do appear, and in the summer to late fall the occasional hurricane strikes the area. The combination of heavy maritime traffic and tempestuous weather makes it inevitable that vessels could founder in storms and be lost without a trace — especially before improved telecommunications, radar, and satellite technology arrived late in the 20th century.According to the Triangle authors Christopher Columbus was the first person to document something strange in the Triangle, reporting that he and his crew observed "strange dancing lights on the horizon", flames in the sky, and at another point he wrote in his log about bizarre compass bearings in the area. From his log book, dated October 11, 1492 he actually wrote:

"The land was first seen by a sailor called Rodrigo de Triana, although the Admiral at ten o'clock that evening standing on the quarter-deck saw a light, but so small a body that he could not affirm it to be land; calling to Pero Gutierrez, groom of the King's wardrobe, he told him he saw a light, and bid him look that way, which he did and saw it; he did the same to Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, whom the King and Queen had sent with the squadron as comptroller, but he was unable to see it from his situation. 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. But the Admiral held it for certain that land was near..."
Modern scholars checking the original log books have surmised that the lights he saw were the cooking fires of Taino natives in their canoes or on the beach; the compass problems were the result of a false reading based on the movement of a star. The flames in the sky were undoubtedly falling meteors, which are easily seen while at sea.The first article of any kind in which the legend of the Triangle began appeared in newspapers by E.V.W. Jones on September 16, 1950, through the Associated Press. Two years later, Fate magazine published "Sea Mystery At Our Back Door", a short article by George X. Sand in the October 1952 issue covering the loss of several planes and ships, including the loss of Flight 19, a group of five U.S. Navy TBM Avenger bombers on a training mission. Sand's article was the first to lay out the now-familiar triangular area where the losses took place. Flight 19 alone would be covered in the April 1962 issue of American Legion Magazine. The article was titled "The Lost Patrol", by Allen W. Eckert, and in his story it was claimed that the flight leader had been heard saying "We are entering white water, nothing seems right. We don't know where we are, the water is green, no white." It was also claimed that officials at the Navy board of inquiry stated that the planes "flew off to Mars." "The Lost Patrol" was the first to connect the supernatural to Flight 19, but it would take another author, Vincent Gaddis, writing in the February 1964 Argosy Magazine to take Flight 19 together with other mysterious disappearances and place it under the umbrella of a new catchy name: "The Deadly Bermuda Triangle"[2]; he would build on that article with a more detailed book, Invisible Horizons, the next year. Others would follow with their own works: John Wallace Spencer (Limbo of the Lost, 1969); Charles Berlitz (The Bermuda Triangle, 1974); Richard Winer (The Devil's Triangle, 1974), and many others, all keeping to some of the same supernatural elements outlined by Eckert.[3]


[edit] Kusche's explanation
Lawrence David Kusche, a research librarian from Arizona State University and author of The Bermuda Triangle Mystery: Solved (1975) has challenged this trend. Kusche's research revealed a number of inaccuracies and inconsistencies between Berlitz's accounts and statements from eyewitnesses, participants, and others involved in the initial incidents. He noted cases where pertinent information went unreported, such as the disappearance of round-the-world yachtsman Donald Crowhurst, which Berlitz had presented as a mystery, despite clear evidence to the contrary. Another example was the ore-carrier Berlitz recounted as lost without trace three days out of an Atlantic port when it had been lost three days out of a port with the same name in the Pacific Ocean. Kusche also argued that a large percentage of the incidents which have sparked the Triangle's mysterious influence actually occurred well outside it. Often his research was surprisingly simple: he would go over period newspapers and see items like weather reports that were never mentioned in the stories.

Kusche came to several conclusions:

The number of ships and aircraft reported missing in the area was not significantly greater, proportionally speaking, than in any other part of the ocean.
In an area frequented by tropical storms, the number of disappearances that did occur were, for the most part, neither disproportionate, unlikely, nor mysterious; furthermore, Berlitz and other writers would often fail to mention such storms.
The numbers themselves had been exaggerated by sloppy research. A boat listed as missing would be reported, but its eventual (if belated) return to port may not be reported.
Some disappearances had in fact, never happened. One plane crash was said to have taken place in 1937 off Daytona Beach, Florida, in front of hundreds of witnesses; a check of the local papers revealed nothing.
Kusche concluded that:

"The Legend of the Bermuda Triangle is a manufactured mystery... perpetuated by writers who either purposely or unknowingly made use of misconceptions, faulty reasoning, and sensationalism." (Epilogue, p. 277)
In recent years, however, several authors, most notably Gian J. Quasar, have raised several questions as to the veracity of Kusche's findings, including, but not limited to, why Kusche so often brought up as evidence for his claims cases that were already well-known before the writing of his work as not being Triangle incidents; his misidentification and mislocation of several ship and aircraft incidents that are well-documented, but then using that inability to properly identify the craft as "proof" that they never existed; and in other examples openly claiming possibilities for foul weather for certain disappearances where it can be verified that none existed.[2]


[edit] Other responses
The marine insurer Lloyd's of London has determined the Triangle to be no more dangerous than any other area of ocean, and does not charge unusual rates for passage through the region. United States Coast Guard records confirm their conclusion. In fact, the number of supposed disappearances is relatively insignificant considering the number of ships and aircraft which pass through on a regular basis.

The Coast Guard is also officially skeptical of the Triangle, noting that they collect and publish, through their inquiries, much documentation[4] contradicting many of the incidents written about by the Triangle authors. In one such incident involving the 1972 explosion and sinking of the tanker V.A. Fogg in the Gulf of Mexico, the Coast Guard photographed the wreck and recovered several bodies[5], despite one Triangle author stating that all the bodies had vanished, with the exception of the captain, who was found sitting in his cabin at his desk, clutching a coffee cup (Limbo of the Lost by John Wallace Spencer, 1973 edition).

Skeptical researchers, such as Ernest Taves and Barry Singer, have noted how mysteries and the paranormal are very popular and profitable. This has led to the production of vast amounts of material on topics such as the Bermuda Triangle. They were able to show that some of the pro-paranormal material is often misleading or not accurate, but its producers continue to market it. They have therefore claimed that the market is biased in favour of books, TV specials, etc. which support the Triangle mystery and against well-researched material if it espouses a skeptical viewpoint [3].


[edit] Natural explanations

[edit] Methane hydrates
Main article: Methane clathrate

Worldwide distribution of confirmed or inferred offshore gas hydrate-bearing sediments, 1996.
Source: USGS
False-color image of the Gulf Stream flowing north through the western Atlantic Ocean. (NASA)
USS Memphis (CA-10) in 1916, hard aground in the Dominican Republic after an encounter with a freak wave. (U.S. Navy)An explanation for some of the disappearances has focused on the presence of vast fields of methane hydrates on the continental shelves. A white paper was published in 1981 by the United States Geological Survey about the appearance of hydrates in the Blake Ridge area, off the southeastern United States coast.[4] 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.

Laboratory experiments carried out in Australia have proven that bubbles can, indeed, sink a scale model ship by decreasing the density of the water [6]; any wreckage consequently rising to the surface would be rapidly dispersed by the Gulf Stream.

Methane also has the ability to cause a piston engine to stall when released into the atmosphere, even at an atmospheric concentration as low as 1%[citation needed].


[edit] Compass variations
Compass problems are one of the cited phrases in many Triangle incidents; it is possible that people operating boats and aircraft looked at a compass that they felt was not pointing north, veered course to adjust, and got lost quickly. The North Magnetic Pole is not the North Pole; rather it is the north end of the earth's magnetic field, and as such it is the natural end where the needle of a compass points. The North Magnetic Pole also wanders. In 1996 a Canadian expedition certified its location by magnetometer and theodolite at 78°35.7′N 104°11.9′W; in 2005 its position was 82.7° N 114.4° W, to the west of Ellesmere Island.

The direction in which a compass needle points is known as magnetic north. In general, this is not exactly the direction of the North Magnetic Pole (or of any other consistent location). Instead, the compass aligns itself to the local geomagnetic field, which varies in a complex manner over the Earth's surface, as well as over time. The angular difference between magnetic north and true north (defined in reference to the Geographic North Pole), at any particular location on the Earth's surface, is called the magnetic declination. Most map coordinate systems are based on true north, and magnetic declination is often shown on map legends so that the direction of true north can be determined from north as indicated by a compass.

Magnetic declination has been measured in many countries, including the U.S. The line of zero declination in the U.S. runs from the North Magnetic Pole through Lake Superior and across the western panhandle of Florida. Along this line, true north is the same as magnetic north. West of the line of zero declination, a compass will give a reading that is east of true north. Conversely, east of the line of zero declination, a compass reading will be west of true north. Since the North Magnetic Pole has been wandering toward the northwest, some twenty or more years ago the line of zero declination went through the Triangle, giving sailors and airmen a compass reading of true north instead of magnetic north. A sailor not knowing the difference would sail off course without realizing it, ultimately resulting in a vanishing.


[edit] 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. The sinking of Francisco de Bobadilla's Spanish fleet in 1502 was the first recorded instance of a destructive hurricane. In 1988, Hurricane Gilbert, one of the most powerful hurricanes in history, set back Jamaica's economy by three years. These storms have in the past caused a number of incidents related to the Triangle.


[edit] Gulf Stream
The Gulf Stream is an 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. A small plane making a water landing or a boat having engine trouble will be carried away from its reported position by the current, as happened to the cabin cruiser Witchcraft on December 22, 1967, when it reported engine trouble near the Miami buoy marker one mile from shore, but was not there when a Coast Guard cutter arrived.


[edit] Freak waves
This explanation is not without foundation; one such rogue wave wrecked the cruiser USS Memphis (CA-10) off the Dominican Republic on August 29, 1916, killing 40 men. [7]


[edit] Acts of Man

[edit] 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, and losses within the Bermuda Triangle are no exception. For example, the Coast Guard cited a lack of proper training for the cleaning of volatile benzene residue as a reason for the loss of the tanker V.A. Fogg in 1972. Human stubbornness may have caused businessman Harvey Conover to lose his sailing yacht, the Revonoc, as he sailed into the teeth of a storm south of Florida on January 1, 1958. It should be noted that many losses remain inconclusive due to the lack of wreckage which could be studied, a fact cited on many official reports.


[edit] Deliberate acts of destruction
This can fall into two categories: acts of war, and acts of piracy. Records in enemy files have been checked for numerous losses; while many sinkings have been attributed to surface raiders or submarines during the World Wars and documented in the various command log books, many others which have been suspected as falling in that category have not been proven; it is suspected that the loss of USS Cyclops in 1918, as well as her sister ships Proteus and Nereus in World War II, were attributed to submarines, but no such link has been found in the German records.

Piracy, as defined by the taking of a ship or small boat on the high seas, is an act which continues to this day. Famous pirates of the Caribbean include Edward Teach (Blackbeard) and Jean Lafitte. Lafitte is sometimes said to be a Triangle victim himself.

Another form of pirate operated on dry land. Bankers or wreckers would shine a light on shore to misdirect ships, which would then founder on the shore; the wreckers would then help themselves to the cargo. It is possible that these wreckers also killed any crew who protested. Nag's Head, North Carolina, was named for the wreckers' practice of hanging a lantern on the head of a hobbled horse as it walked along the beach.


[edit] Popular theories
The following theories have been used in the past by the Triangle writers to explain a myriad of incidents:


[edit] Atlantis
An explanation for some of the disappearances pinned the blame on left-over technology from Atlantis, for example, the activation of a still-operable death ray. Reputed psychic Edgar Cayce claimed that evidence for Atlantis would be discovered just off Bimini in 1968. New Agers view the Bimini Road as either a road, wall, or pier meant to service ships bound for Atlantis from Central and South America, or a breakwater built to protect fishing boats. The wall may also have a natural origin.[8][9] [10]


[edit] UFOs
Theorists claim extraterrestrials captured ships and planes, taking them beyond our solar system. This was given a boost when topics like ESP, telekinesis, clairvoyance, and the like flowered in the middle-to-late 1960s, and was used as storylines for popular films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The UFO Incident.


[edit] 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. Usually, the ship or aircraft in the story enters this dimension by way of a cloud. This has been a popular subject in television episodes of Star Trek, Doctor Who, The Twilight Zone and The X-Files, as well as in movies and miniseries such as The Triangle and Zipang (manga).


[edit] Anomalous phenomena
Charles Berlitz, grandson of a distinguished linguist and author of various additional books on anomalous phenomena, has kept in line with this extraordinary explanation, and attributed the losses in the Triangle to anomalous or unexplained forces.


[edit] Famous incidents

[edit] Flight 19

US Navy TBF Grumman Avenger flight, similar to Flight 19. This photo had been used by various Triangle authors to illustrate Flight 19 itself. (US Navy)Main article: Flight 19
Flight 19 was a training flight of TBM Avenger bombers that went missing on December 5, 1945 while over the Atlantic. The impression is given that the flight encountered unusual phenomena and anomalous compass readings, and that the flight took place on a calm day under the leadership of an experienced pilot, Lt. Charles Carroll Taylor. Adding to the intrigue is that the Navy's report of the accident was ascribed to "causes or reasons unknown." It is believed that Charles Taylor's mother wanted to save Charles's reputation, so she made them write "reasons unknown" when actually Charles was 50 km NW from where he thought he was. [5]

While the basic facts of this version of the story are essentially accurate, some important details are missing. The weather was becoming stormy by the end of the incident; only Lt. Taylor had any significant flying time, but he was not familiar with the south Florida area and had a history of getting lost in flight, having done so three times during World War II, and being forced to ditch his planes twice into the water; and naval reports and written recordings of the conversations between Lt. Taylor and the other pilots of Flight 19 do not indicate magnetic problems. [5]


[edit] Mary Celeste
The mysterious abandonment in 1872 of the Mary Celeste is often but inaccurately connected to the Triangle, the ship having been abandoned off the coast of Portugal. Many theories have been put forth over the years to explain the abandonment, including alcohol fumes from the cargo and insurance fraud. The event is possibly confused with the sinking of a ship with a similar name, the Mari Celeste, off the coast of Bermuda on September 13, 1864, which is mentioned in the book Bermuda Shipwrecks by Dan Berg.


[edit] Ellen Austin
The Ellen Austin supposedly came across an abandoned derelict, placed on board a prize crew, and attempted to sail with it to New York in 1881. According to the stories, the derelict disappeared; others elaborating further that the derelict reappeared minus the prize crew, then disappeared again with a second prize crew on board. A check of Lloyd's of London records proved the existence of the Meta, built in 1854; in 1880 the Meta was renamed Ellen Austin. There are no casualty listings for this vessel, or any vessel at that time, that would suggest a large number of missing men placed on board a derelict which later disappeared. [11]


[edit] Teignmouth Electron
Main article: Donald Crowhurst

Teignmouth Electron, as she was on July 10, 1969.Donald Crowhurst was a sailor competing in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race of 1968-69. His boat, a trimaran named Teignmouth Electron, left England on October 31, 1968; it was found abandoned south of the Azores on July 10, 1969. Most writers on the Triangle would stop there (only Winer elaborated on the facts), leaving out the evidence recovered from Crowhurst's logbooks which showed deception as to his position in the race and increasing irrationality. His last entry was June 29; it was assumed he jumped over the side a short time later.


[edit] USS Cyclops
Main article: USS Cyclops (AC-4)
The incident resulting in the single largest loss of life in the history of the U.S. Navy not related to combat occurred when USS Cyclops under the command of Lieutenant Commander G. W. Worley, went missing without a trace with a crew of 306 sometime after March 4, 1918, after departing the island of Barbados. Although there is no strong evidence for any theory, storms, capsizing and enemy activity have all been suggested as explanations. [6] [7]


[edit] Theodosia Burr Alston
Main article: Theodosia Burr Alston
Theodosia Burr Alston was the daughter of former United States Vice-President Aaron Burr. Her disappearance has been cited at least once in relation to the Triangle, in The Bermuda Triangle by Adi-Kent Thomas Jeffrey (1975). She was a passenger on board the Patriot, which sailed from Charleston, South Carolina to New York City on December 30, 1812, and was never heard from again. Both Piracy and the War of 1812 have been posited as explanations, as well as a theory placing her in Texas, well outside the Triangle.


[edit] The Spray
Captain Joshua Slocum's skill as a mariner was beyond argument; he was the first man to sail around the world solo. In 1909, in his boat Spray he set out in a course to take him through the Caribbean to Venezuela. He disappeared; there was no evidence he was even in the Triangle when Spray was lost. It was assumed he was run down by a steamer or struck by a whale, the Spray being too sound a craft and Slocum too experienced a mariner for any other cause to be considered likely, and in 1924 he was declared legally dead. While a mystery, there is no known evidence for, or against, paranormal activity.


[edit] Carroll A. Deering
Main article: Carroll A. Deering

Schooner Carroll A. Deering, as seen from the Cape Lookout lightship on January 29, 1921, two days before she was found deserted in North Carolina. (US Coast Guard)A five-masted schooner built in 1919, the Carroll A. Deering was found hard aground and abandoned at Diamond Shoals, near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina on January 31, 1921. Rumors and more at the time indicated the Deering was a victim of piracy, possibly connected with the illegal rum-running trade during Prohibition, and possibly involving another ship, S.S. Hewitt, which disappeared at roughly the same time. Just hours later, an unknown steamer sailed near the lightship along the track of the Deering, and ignored all signals from the lightship. It is speculated that the Hewitt may have been this mystery ship, and possibly involved in the Deering crew's disappearance. [12]


[edit] Douglas DC-3
On December 28, 1948, a Douglas DC-3 aircraft, number NC16002, disappeared while on a flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Miami. No trace of the aircraft or the 32 people onboard was ever found. From the documentation compiled by the Civil Aeronautics Board investigation, a possible key to the plane's disappearance was found, but barely touched upon by the Triangle writers: the plane's batteries were inspected and found to be low on charge, but ordered back into the plane without a recharge by the pilot while in San Juan. Whether or not this led to complete electrical failure will never be known. However, since piston-engined aircraft rely upon magnetos to provide electrical power and spark to their cylinders rather than batteries, this theory is unlikely. [13]


[edit] Star Tiger and Star Ariel
Main article: Star Tiger and Star Ariel
These Avro Tudor IV passenger aircraft disappeared without trace en route to Bermuda and Jamaica, respectively. Star Tiger was lost on January 30, 1948 on a flight from the Azores to Bermuda. Star Ariel was lost on January 17, 1949, on a flight from Bermuda to Kingston, Jamaica. Neither aircraft gave out a distress call; in fact, their last messages were routine. A possible clue to their disappearance was found in the mountains of the Andes in 1998: the Star Dust, an Avro Lancastrian airliner run by the same airline, had disappeared on a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Santiago, Chile on August 2, 1947. The plane's remains were discovered at the melt end of a glacier, suggesting that either the crew did not pay attention to their instruments, suffered an instrument failure or did not allow for headwind effects from the jetstream on the way to Santiago when it hit a mountain peak, with the resulting avalanche burying the remains and incorporating it into the glacier. However, this is mere speculation with regard to the Star Tiger and Star Ariel, pending the recovery of the aircraft. It should be noted that the Star Tiger was flying at a height of just 2,000 feet, which would have meant that if the plane was forced down, there would have been no time to send out a distress message. It is also far too low for the jetstream or any other high-altitude wind to have any effect. [14]


[edit] KC-135 Stratotankers
On August 28, 1963 a pair of U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft collided and crashed into the Atlantic. The Triangle version (Winer, Berlitz, Gaddis) of this story specifies that they did collide and crash, but there were two distinct crash sites, separated by over 160 miles of water.


[edit] SS Marine Sulphur Queen
Main article: SS Marine Sulphur Queen

Shattered trailboard from Marine Sulphur Queen, recovered near the Florida Keys, February 1963. (U.S. Coast Guard)SS Marine Sulphur Queen, a T2 tanker converted from oil to sulfur carrier, was last heard from on February 4, 1963 with a crew of 39 near the Florida Keys. Marine Sulphur Queen was the first vessel mentioned in Vincent Gaddis' 1964 Argosy Magazine article, but he left it as having "sailed into the unknown", despite the Coast Guard report which not only documented the ship's badly-maintained history, but declared that it was an unseaworthy vessel that should never have gone to sea. [15][16]


[edit] USS Scorpion
The nuclear-powered submarine USS Scorpion was lost south of the Azores while on a transit home to Norfolk, Virginia after a six-month deployment on May 26, 1968. The Scorpion had been picked up by numerous writers (Berlitz, Spencer, Thomas-Jeffery) as a Triangle victim over the years, despite the fact that it did not sink in the Bermuda Triangle; the U.S. Navy believes that a malfunctioning torpedo contributed to her loss, an event actually recorded on the SOSUS microphone network.


[edit] Raifuku Maru
One of the more famous incidents in the Triangle took place in 1921 (some say a few years later), when the Japanese vessel Raifuku Maru went down with all hands after sending a distress signal which allegedly said "Danger like dagger now. Come quick!" This has led writers to speculate on what the "dagger" was, with a waterspout being the likely candidate (Winer). In reality the ship was nowhere near the Triangle, nor was the word "dagger" a part of the ship's distress call; having left Boston for Hamburg, Germany, on April 21, 1925, she got caught in a severe storm and sank in the North Atlantic with all hands while another ship, RMS Homeric, attempted an unsuccessful rescue.


[edit] Connemara IV
A pleasure yacht found adrift in the Atlantic south of Bermuda on September 26, 1955; it is usually stated in the stories (Berlitz, Winer) that the crew vanished while the yacht survived being at sea during three hurricanes. The 1955 Atlantic hurricane season lists only one storm coming near Bermuda towards the end of August, hurricane "Edith"; of the others, "Flora" was too far to the east, and "Katie" arrived after the yacht was recovered. It was confirmed that the Connemara IV was empty and in port when "Edith" may have caused the yacht to slip her moorings and drift out to sea.

Answer 2

The "mystery" of the Bermuda Triangle has been solved. The insurance firm Lloyd's of London did a comparison of several other areas in random locations all around the world that are the size as the Bermuda Triangle. They found that all the comparable locations had just as many, or more, unexplained disappearances and disasters throughout history as did the triangle. This area is no different from the rest of the world's oceans and seas. The only difference is that events within this so-called triangle get more publicity because of the myths about the triangle.

Answer 3

THE FIRST WHO ANSWERES THIS QUESTION HAD GIVEN A VAST ARTICLE FROM WIKIPEDIA FOR MORE INFORMATION SEARCH GOOGLE,YAHOO

Answer 4

Well, all I have is my own opinion which by the way is nowhere near as lengthy as the cut and paste genie. YES! There is truth behind the bermuda triangle. In fact, I think there are several. I think there is some sort of phenomenon taking place but I also think that others have used the lore and the legends to their own benefit.

Answer 5

The truth is that the triangle exists. Everybody answered the mystery about Bermuda triangle. Lots of material was dumped here for a old mischief. Let me also answer it. Its existence was a myth and now such mysteries can not be created as surveillance technology has improved a lot.

Answer 6

it has magnetic radiation so that is why a palne and ship on the way of crossing bermuda triangle gets obstructed

Answer 7

nobody knows...

Answer 8

Myth 1.

“A check of Lloyd’s of London’s accident records by the editor of Fate in 1975 showed that the triangle was a no more dangerous part of the ocean than any other. U.S. Coast Guard records confirmed this and since that time no good arguments have ever been made to refute those statistics. So the Bermuda Triangle mystery disappeared, in the same way many of its supposed victims had vanished.”

Fact 1

This is completely false. Lloyd’s does not insure the smaller stuff, so all yachts go unreported and uncataloged in statistics. Lloyd’s seldom insures the smaller charter and private aircraft, so likewise for them. Lloyd’s is not the ultimate source. It is not a marine investigation bureau. It reports on sailing news relevant to insurance.

US Coast Guard SAR (Search and Rescue) statistics for all districts are published yearly in a thick voluminous report. This details the statistics for calls of assistance, causes of accidents, weather, deaths, conditions, whatever. However, missing vessels are not readily included. In reality, the designation Overdue Vessels are more important. But because it is hard to determine the number of people on board and exactly where the vessel last was, “missing” or “overdue” cannot be easily calculated. They may be catagorized under “caused by other factor” if at all. I have just received a list of vessels from the 7th district after 12 years of asking for and being denied missing vessel statistics, always receiving the reply “nobody tracks such statistics.” For the last 2 fiscal years this includes about 300 vessel names or types. And now I must start my search, to see which reported back to port (if any), what the weather conditions were like, etc.
The Coast Guard is not even capable of accurately determining the numbers, and therefore could never have conducted a study. What they probably did was comment on the popular notion that 20 aircraft and 50 ships are missing. That number was bandied about incessantly in the 1970s and is still in the Encyclopedia Britannica. This number is not extraordinary for 100 years, though it is more aircraft than elsewhere over seas.
NTSB database searches reveal that in the last decade only a handful of aircraft disappearances have occurred off New England while over 30 have happened in the Triangle. These are American statistics only, and do not reflect other nationalities.
Then there are those who claim the disparity is due to the Triangle’s greater amount of traffic. In reality, the 1st Coast Guard district answers about just as many calls for assistance as the 7th, but the number of disappearances is still remarkably different.

Myth 2

“Investigations to date have not produced scientific evidence of any unusual phenomena involved in the disappearances. Thus, any explanation, including so-called scientific ones in terms of methane gas being released from the ocean floor, magnetic disturbances, etc., are not needed. The real mystery is how the Bermuda Triangle became a mystery at all.”

Fact 2

Not only utterly false, but actually stupid. One would have to witness a disappearance in order to determine what was directly involved. This has obviously not be done, and such a comment, as a result, is a lame one. There have been NO scientific expeditions to investigate the overall Triangle. Independent people, often possessing degrees in one of the sciences, have made their own, sometimes truncated study. Most have produced some very interesting discoveries. Dr. A.J. Yelkin’s study revealed unexplained magnetic deviations during phases of the Moon. Dr. Zink’s observations at Bimini revealed unexplained magnetic variations in the compass at the precise time each year in early August (consistent in some ways with Yelkin’s theories). Wilbert Smith’s studies revealed areas of “reduced bindings” in the magnetic field that came and went. But as for any scientific expeditions into the Triangle to take readings or tests or to see if something would happen, none has ever been done.

Myth 3

In short, the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle became a mystery by a kind of communal reinforcement among uncritical authors and a willing mass media to uncritically pass on the speculation that something mysterious is going on in the Atlantic.

Fact 3

Wrong. And the acrimony is hypocritical since that is how the first 2 myths above became established, usually by debunkers spreading “communal reinforcement” that they have evidence by having no evidence or that they reflect the status quo as experienced by suburban America.

Myth 4

In 1492, shortly before making land in the West Indies, Christopher Columbus recorded in his ship's log that he and his crew had observed a large ball of fire fall into the sea and that the ship's compass was behaving erratically.

Fact 4

False. That happened shortly after leaving the Canary Islands. The erratic compasses readings were recorded thrice while in the Sargasso Sea and Triangle.

Myth 5

The Bermuda Triangle mystery is answered with latest science - static electricity is the culprit, not 4th dimensional hogwash— that a severe electrostatic charge on the human body and in turn in the central nervous system and the brain is the cause for the human pilot to lose consciousness. This unconscious state happens both in astronautics and aeronautics and has also been observed and recorded in the Bermuda Triangle aviation disasters. The Bermuda Triangle is a static electricity exchange place. The Bermuda Triangle is on [sic] of Earth's places where natural electricity is neutralized.

Fact 5

False. The effects of the Earth as a weak driver is interesting and the subject of some studies, as well as overwater locations where it might affect electromagnetism. But there is absolutely no evidence for static electricity in the Triangle cases, as claimed above. The claim that there was is utterly untrue. No pilots have been reported to pass out. How could you tell in a disappearance anyway? This originates with a man named Peter Staheli. He accepts the old and defunct lines attributed to Charles Taylor “everything is strange, wrong” etc., and so forth. This gives you an idea of his research methods. Electromagnetic and electrical effects in the area are being studied by others right now, with far better research methods than those that sponsored Staheli’s strange dogma.

Due to the strange outburst demonstrated by Staheli in response to this brief statement, it was necessary to place a page up clarifying the ruckus. See Comments

Myth 6

Lt. Charles Taylor, the leader of Flight 19, was actually a lazy slob, a drunk, and a careless navigator.

Fact 6

This rubbish stems from Larry Kusche who was all over the place in his 1980 book The Disappearance of Flight 19 which he wrote between two of his other stellars on how to scientifically pop popcorn. I cannot answer for what was in Kusche’s mind, but I would consider the result akin to clear victimization, as well as misrepresentation. I suggest the reader browse two articles on this site for more. Creating Confusion & Flight DUI. As far as I am concerned there is nothing worthwhile in the book. I have criticized his methods in The Bermuda Triangle Mystery— Solved, but still recommend it. However, with Disappearance I see no reason. There is no mystery why in the last 22 years it was never republished.

Myth 7

The majority of disappearances can be attributed to the area's unique environmental features. First, the "Devil's Triangle" is one of the two places on earth that a magnetic compass does point towards true north. Normally it points toward magnetic north. The difference between the two 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.

Fact 7

False. The Agonic Line— the area of no difference in calculation— moves over time as the axis of the magnetic field slowly changes in response to the Earth’s rotation. It is now approaching the middle of the Gulf of Mexico— as far as the Coast Guard is concerned far outside of the Triangle. Disappearances continue to occur in the same areas within the Triangle. The Coast Guard statement above is 30 years obsolete, but they have not updated it. To do so would prove most of their statement to have been in error.

Myth 8

You receive money to do this. You are not a professional researcher, nor do you have a degree in Bermuda-Triangleology. Since you are not a “who” according to this standard, all of the evidence you present must be dismissed.

ED. All right, maybe a little bit of that is tongue-in-cheek, but it captures the acrimony of one detractor on the web who calls himself Tobias Gibson, a man who seems to promote himself and his degree in Research as giving him an edge on the Triangle, though he seems to have little knowledge of what has transpired in the last 25 years. His research, degree or no, translates down to having watched a couple of PBS videos and to having read a couple of 30 year old books, as his bibliography testifies.

Fact 8 Suffice it say, I am not paid for my appearances on TV. My web site costs me money. There is no paid advertising, no pop-ups. There are a few banners. These were requested by those establishments and are gratis. They generate no income.

ED. Another myth perpetrated by this spinmeister about me, a man who propagates many falsehoods on his web site, conjures up a frightful picture of what his reading comprehension must be like. The following myth is courtesy of this man and his inability to realize people take their reputations seriously.

Myth 9:

Bermuda-Triangle.Org description according to Tobias Gibson:

“is by far the best and most comprehensive site that purports the myths around the Bermuda Triangle. The journalist who does the page claims to do it as a hobby but seems to have connections with many cable channels that continue to purport the myth. The author also likes to trash this site and Larry Kusche's book. Still, it is a very useful site. He has sections devoted to all the major theories. Unfortunately, the theory that weather and nature are the culprits is the one section he has yet to develop (as of March 27, 2001).

He has a low opinion of this site because it is on Tripod and I don't pay for it to be on the web (I'm not sure how this makes my site inaccurate or flawed). He also claims it is easier to just debunk a myth rather than support or create one. The site has lots of pretty pictures, many of which are glorified icons for sponsors (I'm not sure how this differs from a Tripod Banner Ad) and may load slow but is definitely worth a look, despite the difference in opinions.

ED. Senator Alan Simpson once publicly declared: “An attack unanswered is an attack believed. Let people know who you are and what you stand for.”

For over a year I have not taken this sound advice. I have refrained from replying to his innuendoes or directly correcting the numerous outright errors his site contains for the reason he seems eager to promote my website’s purpose as designed to “trash” his opinion site. By yielding to a rebuttal I was afraid this might help him promote the idea he likes to cultivate: that he is the reigning expert on the subject warring against the mass of sensationalists and mythmakers. This unenviable image would be relatively inoffensive were it not for his weak attempt to create it at my expense. Mercifully, he does not seem to impress a large audience, as his sluggish odometer previously testified before, like the missing in the Bermuda Triangle, it recently mysteriously vanished as his site underwent a move from near defunct status to another server, befitting its move downward in the search rankings. This site claims to have been up since 1995, but its odometer never reached 100,000 hits.

Such misrepresentations as he makes in these comments, couched as a bibliographical statement of his sources, are hardly surprising considering the quanta of inaccuracies and misrepresentations he makes in his site altogether. Most of what he claims as myths are the result of poor reading comprehension, a limited scope of knowledge on the subject, and a predisposition to berate anything outside his own personal suburban experience. His “facts” in response to these “myths” are either bumbling error or pure exaggeration and fabrication. It is time, I think, that I finally respond to this mythmaker.

Fact 9

My site is loaded with actual pictures of people, the vessels, planes, and of the Triangle. Out of 180 pages or so, I have about 4 banners on the whole site, 2 on the home page alone. His statement shows he did not browse the site at all, or he is an outright prevaricator. As far as I can tell, he saw some of my answers in Q&A answering confused surfers. Their questions reflect their confusion after browsing his confused site. I was correcting the mistakes quite unaware of their origin. He translates this as trashing his site. Weird. His site was not mentioned.

Fact 10:

I do not create myth, nor do I support it. I have stated it is easier to mock a subject (debunk) than it is to do the actual research, expend time, money and effort to locate documents and interview people.

Myth 11: According to Gibson: The latitude and longitude of the Triangle are “Before ‘creative license’ takes over”:

NW edge, Bermuda: 32.20 N, 64.45 W.
SW edge, San Juan: 18.5 N, 66.9 W
NE edge, Miami: 25.48N, 80.18 W

Fact 11:

As most of you noticed, who are neither brain dead nor had the one-day-lobotomy operation, Bermuda is not in the NorthWest of the Triangle, nor is Miami in the SouthEast, nor is San Juan in the SouthWest. Bermuda is NorthEast edge of the Triangle, Miami is SouthWest, and San Juan is SouthEast.

Myth 12:

According to Gibson: The Sargasso Sea has nothing to do with the Bermuda Triangle. It is entirely east of Bermuda, just “take a peek at any globe.”

Fact 12:

It is hard to image such cross-referencing having as its provenance a Masters in Research. After reading my correction in Q&A he apparently modified the above statement: “The Sargasso Sea has really little to do with the Bermuda Triangle except a portion of its boundaries lies within the Triangle.”

ED. When reading Gibson it is clear that analysis does not necessarily go hand-in-hand with research.

Myth 13:

Most myth supporters like to plot Bermuda as centrally located within the Sargasso; this is not the case. However proponents of the myth will then expand the dimensions of the Triangle to include the area of the Sargasso Sea, having the uninformed assume that the two are synonymous. In reality, by doing so they have more than doubled the size of the triangle, while still leaving one with the impression that everything occurred within the original boundaries.

Fact 13: Complete exaggeration. I know of no such “most myth supporters.” I know of only one map, and that is on my site, courtesy of the National Geographic. Checkout Sargasso Sea for a picture of it. We must assume that the NG are “myth supporters” since they show the Sargasso Sea encompassing Bermuda, as it does in reality, though this may not be reflected on Gibson’s household globe.

ED. His comment shows his style of exaggeration—one map on my site becomes “most myth supporters.” No writer, whether Berlitz, Winer, Spencer, Gaddis, Godwin, Sanderson, or Burgess, ever left their reader in doubt about the fluid shape of the “Triangle,” and always clarified the differences in opinion before discussing the missing. All their books are still available in used book stores and the surfer can buy them cheaply. One wonders what “creative license” Gibson is using when, to bolster his claim of authority on the subject, he makes the nebulous statement he “lived in and about the area for 10 years” but does not say where—and considering his unusually pedantic view on the strict shape of the Triangle, he would have to have lived off shore Miami or in the Bahamas to have qualified. “About” or “around” the area does not count to him if it’s a disappearance, but he uses this same generalization when trying to give himself an edge as an authority on the “Triangle.”

One may assume this “creative license” was responsible for his claims of having investigated the Triangle for 20 years, which he now admits started when he was a kid; of having lived in the area for 10 years, though by his own criterion for disappearances he probably did not. What constitutes “investigate” also seems subject to his “creative license.” His site bibliography proves he has done nothing in excess of having watched a couple of videos and believed word-for-word Larry Kusche’s near 30 year old book. Being unable to explain people’s encounters with electromagnetic phenomena and weird atmospheric aberrations, he once again misrepresents these as “paranormal” experiences, and then fabricates a scientific response.

Myth 14:

“While scientists can assure them that nothing strange actually happened, they will cling to their belief that something truely [sic]strange happened. For them the Bermuda Triangle is as real as the air we breathe. This isn't actual proof in the existence of the Triangle but unfortunately their strong belief is shamelessly used my [sic] the perpetrators of the myth.”

Fact 14

No sailor or pilot reporting these went to any scientific personnel for an explanation except Frank Flynn. And all the oceanographers he spoke to were at a loss to explain it. None ever claimed it was supernatural or paranormal. Many such stories were cataloged by the late Dr. J. Manson Valentine, but I suppose he is not a “scientific authority” since he did not debunk them out-of-hand like Gibson.

Gibson’s dictated explanation is another pure

Myth 15

“Most if not all of the so-called mysteries are no more than over-active imaginations.”

Fact 15

Gibson never spoke to any of them and has no way to determine this. His claim that scientists have done so is, again, pure myth.

Myth 16:

“ . . .if an aircraft crashes *into the water* and then is submerged, the ELT signal will not be heard since the ELT is submerged, so the effect is, as you note, that it is quite difficult to find a plane that has crashed into the water.”

Fact 16:

ELTs, as most any aviator knows, are designed to float. They are contained in the fuselage and jettisoned by the force of impact. His former statement that they sink with the plane because they are in the seat must have been inspired by some vague knowledge of military automatic alarms. These are contained in fighter pilot seats and triggered by ejection. Since one does not eject from the seat of a civilian aircraft, the ELT is placed in the fuselage. He has now altered this after reading my Q&A answer to a confused surfer. He now claims ELTs merely sink with the plane.

ED. What the hell is the point in having an automatic alarm that is designed to be destroyed with the aircraft?! His 20 years of aviation interest and “all things nautical” never got him near a plane or he never would not have made such an exaggeration to apply that to all aircraft.

Myth 17:

His ideas on the size of the Triangle:

Consider these sizes:
According to the Myth, the Bermuda Triangle is anywhre [sic]from 600,000 square miles to 1,500,000 square miles of ocean. The Sargasso which is almost entirely outside of the Triangle is over 2,000,000 square miles of ocean.
ED. Again, anything outside the shape and size he wishes to give the area, based on Gaddis’ article in 1964, is his criterion for determining “myth.”

Fact 17:

However, the 1,500,000 square miles is directly referencing me and my article 500 Leagues of Sea. This Master in Research apparently has never read the Encyclopedia Britannica: “Bermuda Triangle, section of the North Atlantic Ocean. . . The triangle extends roughly between latitude 25 degrees to 40 degrees N and longitude 55 to 85 degrees W and covers an area of more than 1,500,000 sq miles (3,900,000 sq km).” The Encyclopedia Britannica is now a “myth supporter” one must assume.

ED. His bizarre “skepticism” has handicapped any kind of real analysis or research. He doesn’t realize that Gaddis was not the first to describe a shape, nor did he have to be the last. See History of Triangle and Sea of Expanding Shapes.

Myth 18:

“There are only two longitudes in the world where Magnetic and Grid, or Magnetic, and True North align. These locations are near the center of Europe and near the eastern part of the United States.”

Fact 18:

FALSE! They are off Japan and down the Eastern US and through the Gulf. Not even Wrong Way Corrigan made that kind of mistake! Nevertheless, he writes, with true geographical obtuseness:

Myth 19:

At the tip of Portugal the difference between Magnetic and Grid North is about four degrees. As you travel west across the Atlantic, the difference between Magnetic and Grid North begins to increase. This difference can get as much as 22 degrees. This increase continues until you reach the middle of the Atlantic and the Sargasso Sea, and then slowly Grid and Magnetic begin to realign so that by the time you reach the southern tip of Florida the two are only one and a half degrees different.

Fact 19: Wrongy. Southern Florida, as any navigator knows, is about 3 degrees off. Any current chart will show that. 30 years ago the Agonic Line may have been off the eastern Florida coast. No longer. The Agonic Line is now near the center of the Gulf of Mexico. The area of increase or decrease is measured from the Agonic Line. It increases the further one travels into the Atlantic until at the Azores it is about 24 degrees (as I recall). I have no idea what he is talking about when he is mentioning Portugal and that somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic they begin to realign. That happens in the Gulf and off Japan.

Myth 20:

“The author also likes to trash this site and Larry Kusche’s book . . . He has a low opinion of this site because it is on Tripod and I don't pay for it to be on the web (I'm not sure how this makes my site inaccurate or flawed)”

Fact 20:

Never heard of him at the time. His site had never been mentioned— ever (until today, June 24, 2002). Any general comment about other web sites was that they are opinion sites. But the fact he immediately assumed he was being singled-out from amongst many sites (all of which have more hits on their odometers than he ever had), I find bizarre.

ED. As it stands today, Gibson has retired in favor of a protégé who will not only keep the torch of debunkery alive but do so with equally nebulous claims to authority. “While Tobias lived in the area for ten years, I have not. I do however visit the area frequently (four times in the last three years) and without incident. I call these visits, Summer Vacation and/or Spring Break.”

The a la mode upon Gibson’s frivolous claims of authority is now promoting cruising the bars and party hotspots of Daytona Beach or Miami (or other Spring Break meccas) as investigating the Triangle. Both imply that since nothing has ever happened to them (presumably along these drags), there is little chance anything mysterious has happened to those 500 miles out at sea. But she reasserts she is his pupil and that he lived in and around the area for 10 years while growing up and has been “researching so-called [Myth 21 warning] paranormal activity, particularly the Bermuda Triangle, off and on, for over two decades. He did this as a hobby and not for pay.”

Fact 21:

The Bermuda Triangle is not a paranormal pursuit. It is a tangible investigation of missing aircraft and ships, vast tonnages of both, and the possible theories of what might have caused it. There are no ghosts, demons or angels involved.

ED.His comment about receiving no pay seems to be another hatchwork based on his impression there is money where TV walks! In his bibliography of my site he describes me thusly:

Myth 22:

“The journalist who does the page claims to do it as a hobby but seems to have connections with many cable channels that continue to purport the myth.” (Ed. On the other hand, his pupil brags about him being a “Professional Researcher.”)

Fact 22:

A lame inference. In actuality I am not paid for appearing on TV, nor do I receive money for doing my research. My hobby has, in fact, cost me thousands because I bothered to get documents and travel in the Triangle, because I bothered to enter the subject tangibly and not just stew in my own conceited second guesswork. I have been doing this since 1990, and for most of this time I received no public recognition. For this tenacity and for the evidence I can present I get on TV. They approached me.

ED. Gibson’s obvious failure in the area of which he had once bragged of self-expertise might be sponsoring his new denigration of the whole subject. His pupil writes of his farewell: “However the Bermuda Triangle was never his only interest in life and he doesn't have time to focus, in his words, on "debunking half baked theories that could easily be explained away with more complete research in the first place".”

But his site claims to have already presented the facts to debunk it, has it not? After 20 years is he admitting he never researched it completely? Theories need more research or the incidents? It’s often hard to follow his illogical progressions.

I must assume this webmaster’s apparent lack of reading comprehension has also prompted his basic mistakes and also his overall glowing appraisal of his meager research. His mistakes above have not been the only ones. But it is not practical or possible to critique his entire site. It may not be necessary either. As the surfer of his guestbook discovers, he is not taken too seriously. This seems haunted by equally immature approaches to the topic. The comment of one high school girl, left on June 21, 2002, reflects the outlook of those who find his site interesting enough to leave a message: “My toilet is my Bermuda Triangle. Large objects keep disappearing daily.” But such an attitude is not surprising in the guestbook of a website whose webmaster originally approached the subject from behind such an impressive pseudonym as Bubba, the Salty Dog.

In short, this webmaster’s claims and approach have no merit. All those “in and about the Triangle” in aviation or nautical authority are not familiar with his name, nor are any family members of the missing, friends or other researchers. His web site shows he has gotten no documents, not even an old newspaper article, despite his claim he backworked most of Kusche’s bibliography. Though he claims to have lived “in and about the area,” he is completely unaware of its most basic geography. His claims and reputation, in essence, have no cross-reference in reality outside of the cyber reality of the world-wide-web and what he wishes to represent of himself. His conclusions seem based on nothing more than a few videos and Kusche’s 1975 book. This lack of serious approach to the subject is befitting the moniker “Bubba, the Salty Dog.” And such a flippant nomen befits 3rd grade intros like his typical exaggeration: “Okay Let me tell you right off that the Bermuda Triangle is a myth that started off as old-time stories that sailors used to tell new ship mates to give them the heebie-jeebies.”

Well, it’s time to go on. It’s unfortunate such things must be written. Gibson should not have taken the reputation of another person so lightly. It is well his site has a sub-page devoted to Spatial Disorientation, for his entire site is a mastery of spin, of exaggerations of what the “myths” are, and outright error takes the place of his facts.