Christopher Columbus was the first to notice the peculiarities of the Bermuda Triangle, who spoke about a strange flash of light and the sudden breakdown of navigation devices on his ship. But theories about the anomalies of this place became especially popular in the 20th century, and each ship that sank here or a plane crashed here began to be explained by the influence of supernatural forces.
The term "Bermuda Triangle" appeared in 1964
The term "Bermuda Triangle" was used in 1964 in his article for the men's magazine Argosy by a certain Vincent H. Gaddis (although before him another American published a pamphlet with the same name, but it went unnoticed). In the article, Gaddis argued that several ships and aircraft disappeared without a trace in the area of the "triangle". The following year, Gaddis included this material in his book Invisible Horizons: The True Secrets of the Sea. It described nine mysterious disappearances that no one could explain. The book became a sensation and soon all the American media took up the topic. But the Bermuda Triangle gained international fame only in 1974, after the release of the eponymous bestseller by the famous linguist Charles Berlitz.
Mysterious disappearances
It is well known that ships and planes did go missing in the Bermuda Triangle, and more than once. One of the strangest and most famous cases - when on December 5, 1945, a flight of five Avenger torpedo bombers disappeared during a training flight. The rescue seaplane PBM-5 Martin "Mariner" was sent in search of them, but he also did not return.
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Recent disappearances
If you think that disappearances occurred only in the past, you are wrong. This is the case today. For example, in 2003 in the Bermuda Triangle, a 16-foot yacht disappeared, on which a couple of newlyweds went out to fish. All forces were thrown into their search, but to no avail. In 2008, an aircraft with 12 people on board, en route from Santiago to New York, unexpectedly disappeared from radar. Then they also looked for at least some traces - and with the same result. Well, in 2015, the SS El Faro cargo ship, heading from Florida to Puerto Rico with a crew of 33 people, was caught in a storm. Communication with him ceased, and when a couple of weeks later the ship was found in the middle of the Atlantic, there was no trace of the crew on it.
Various mystical theories
Many different theories have been put forward to explain these disappearances. For example, that ships and airplanes that disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle ended up in the world of antimatter. Presumably this happens when a “rift” in one world comes into close contact with a “rift” in another world, and the Bermuda Triangle is a kind of corridor used by supernatural beings from other dimensions to enter our world. Or here's another theory: ships and planes disappear, moving into the past or the future. And, of course, this "triangle" is simply a "door" for aliens who can travel through dimensions. However, the strangest theory is the idea that there is a huge crystal pyramid in the Bermuda Triangle at a depth of 2 km, which is causing all these inexplicable disappearances.
Bimini Road - traces of Atlantis?
In 1940, the American fortuneteller Edgar Cayce announced that Atlantis would rise from the ocean floor off the coast of one of the Bahamas (which are part of the Bermuda Triangle) in 1968 or 1969. In September 1968, off the coast of North Bimini Island, divers found 700 meters of tightly fitted limestone blocks. This find was named "Dear Bimini". Dozens of expeditions have already been carried out, dozens of assumptions have been made about what it is, the age of the stones has been determined - and a lot says that the stones were laid by people, were originally on land, are the tops of walls and buildings, there are voids and metal structures under them, the age of the structures - X century BC e. (and according to Plato, Atlantis died just then). By the way, two expeditions to Bimini went missing,and many researchers encountered very strange phenomena there - luminous objects emerging from the bottom and flying into the sky, bluish glow of the bottom and other inexplicable things.
Explaining with Natural Causes
Of course, the disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle are explained not only by mystical theories, but also by quite reasonable reasons - hurricanes and whirlpools. Storms and hurricanes are known to have caused many accidents in the area. So are the whirlpools. And the cause of misfortune can be giant single waves ("crazy waves", killer waves) that appear out of nowhere and crash onto the ship, dragging it to the bottom.
One of the latest theories - hexagonal clouds
Literally last year, a fresh theory appeared: unusual hexagonal clouds, which American meteorologists saw on satellite images, may be the cause of air anomalies in the Bermuda Triangle. The nature of these clouds is still a mystery, but the nature of their action is compared to a bomb strike. The clouds form powerful descending gusts of wind that cause waves up to 40 meters high and powerful turbulent eddies. Such waves and vortices are capable of sinking any ship and even throwing a plane into the ocean.
Bruce Gernon and the mysterious electronic fog
Bruce Guernon is an aviator who got into a startling history in the Bermuda Triangle and luckily survived. In December 1970, he flew from the Bahamas with his father and a friend and headed to Miami Beach. Soon the plane flew into a strange semicircular cloud, outside it seemed white, but inside it was dark and sparkled with flashes. The pilot decided that he was caught in an electric storm and directed the plane into a gap barely visible to the right. Then the strange began: the navigation devices went out of order, the passengers felt something like weightlessness, and when the pilot eventually managed to contact the ground, the dispatcher told him that he did not see him on the radar at all. And when the plane reappeared on the radar screen, it turned out that it was not in the middle of the way, but almost at the target. That is, the flight instead of 75 minutes took only 47 minutes, as if the plane was caught in a huge vortex,carrying him abnormally quickly in space.
Skeptics
Skeptics argue that the Bermuda Triangle is just a "horror story" that has nothing to do with reality. They declare that if you carefully study all the materials related to the disappearances, there are no mysteries left and there is a reasonable explanation for everything. It's just that people are very fond of mysticism, secrets and stories about paranormal phenomena - besides, for someone it can also bring considerable income. That is why everyone writes and writes about the Bermuda Triangle, everyone is filming and filming. Magazines, books, television programs … Moreover, the facts are often distorted in favor of ratings - after all, people, according to skeptics, like to read sensational stories more than well-researched studies.
Debunking a mysterious phenomenon
Do you remember how the world glory of the Bermuda Triangle began? That's right, from the bestselling book The Bermuda Triangle, written in 1974 by Charles Berlitz. So, in 1975, a certain Lawrence Kush, a librarian at the University of Arizona, became very interested in this issue and studied everything connected with it. And soon he published the results of his research, from which it is quite clear that Berlitz, while writing his book, "pulled by the ears" a lot. There was a lot of inconsistencies between the actual testimony of witnesses and his notes, and in addition, he included in the number of incidents even those that occurred far beyond the Bermuda Triangle.
By the way, Lloyd's British ship insurance company clearly states that the Bermuda Triangle area is no different from others in terms of the number of shipwrecks. The US Coast Guard also denies the existence of the Bermuda Triangle and does not think the ships there are under any threat. In their official opinion, all this is a myth, and the explanation of any incident is usually the human factor, multiplied by the elements.
Well, the cherry on top: when the list of the most dangerous places in the world ocean was compiled in 2013, the Bermuda Triangle was not included there. Checkmate to those who still believe in him.
