The Mysterious Disappearance of Ships and Airplanes in the Bermuda Triangle

Introduction

            Mystery – secret, a riddle or a puzzle. It can be an unsolved case that gives researchers the urge to investigate further for the root cause. Researchers seek for answers to the different clues, and they become detectives searching for the culprit. The very term confuses the imagination. Exploring the missing paths, the unknown, and the theories to uncover the mystery are just to name few in search for the truth (Lombardi).

            We are living in a world of mysteries and we are so curious we tend to investigate on all these. In a short span of time, we’ve struggled to uncover the great secrets of the universe. We’ve built pyramids, went to the moon, and explored the depths of the sea and – just recently – conquered cyberspace in our unyielding mission for knowledge (Floyd).

            One of the greatest mysteries in the world is the controversy of the Bermuda Triangle. True believers, testify that more than 20 aircrafts and 40 ships were lost without a trace in the triangle. However, during the time of 1973, the Coast Guard team responded to over 8,000 reports from that area thus making this numerical figure rather low. The same group of believers would theorize on alien space crafts, which had time warps to alien abductions to supernatural powers (Mondout).

            As we go along with the paper, we will then try to investigate further on Bermuda Triangle in search for the truth. What was all behind these disappearances?

The Bermuda Triangle

            The Bermuda Triangle, Devil’s Triangle or Devil’s Sea, to name few of its names, is around half-million square mile area of ocean roughly defined by Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and southernmost tip of Florida. This portion of the ocean is known for its high occurrences of lost ships, boats and aircrafts. Furthermore, it became more famous for its public’s representation as “a paranormal site in which the known laws of physics are either violated, altered, or both” (“Bermuda Triangle”).

            Though these incidences remain bewilderment, some kind of electromagnetic abnormality does happen in this area which contributed to the loss of these chips and aircrafts. One could only hypothesize based on reported or documented events (“Bermuda Triangle – Devil’s Sea “).

            Till now, no satisfactory evidence has come forth. The Triangle still baffles everybody and people avoid taking this route (Mahal).

The Mysteries: How it all began?

            In the beginning the sudden and unexpected disappearance of the ships and human beings was considered to be just coincidental. But gradually the number of victims increases so unexpectedly that people became curious to know the root cause. They could not arrive at any conclusion. The victims had not left any evidence behind. The case became interesting and the scientists took it as a challenge (Mahal).

            It all began with the disappearance of Flight 19 in one afternoon of December 1945. Five navy bombers, which were led by Lt Charles Taylor, were out for a training mission took off from Florida. They were supposed to be in air for two hours, but radio contact deteriorated 2 hours after takeoff, and was never heard again. The planes and fourteen people on board got lost. The planes that were sent for the search operation, Martin Mariners, were also lost and left no trace at all (Mondout).

Disturbing radio messages were received from the Flight 19 leader. He reported that his compasses were busted, and clueless of where he was. The navy lost radio contact with the planes before anyone could tell the flight leader which way to go. The weather got worse. After five hours, Flight 19 was nowhere to be found and totally disappeared (Gorman).

Another famous incident of loss happened even before Flight 19. This was the lost ship of Christopher Columbus in 1942 where he was caught in the Sargasso Sea, during his trip to the Americas. Similarly to Flight 19, Columbus’ ship’s compasses did not work. However, he was lucky to get off the Triangle safely (Gorman).

The loss of Tudor IV airliner names Star Tiger was again, almost of the same cause as Flight 19. When Star Tiger took off on the Azores, on January of 1948, the same compass failed again, followed immediately by the heating system. They made it to Santa Maria though, landing in the teeth of a sixty-knot gale. The huge Tudor touched down and came to a dead stop in two hundred yards.

When they were 400 miles out from Bermuda, they attempted by radio contact to have Bermuda get a bearing on the airliner. After several fruitless attempts, Bermuda radioed: “your bearing from us is seventy-two degree. Class One.” Which meant that were no more less than two degrees from course, and they could improve their bearing accuracy the closer they got to Bermuda. After that contact, the airline was not reached by the operator anymore.

It was concluded that Star Tiger had already vanished. Not a trace was ever found. No wreckage. No bodies. Nothing (Caidin).

Different Explanations

             The five navy planes that made up Flight 19 were called Avenger torpedo bombers. They probably ran out of fuel and crashed at sea. The search plane that disappeared may have exploded after takeoff (Gorman).

             Another group was sent to see the remains of the Mariners and saw oil and plane debris floating on the surface of the ocean. The explosion of the search planes were probably caused by the gas fumes present in the airplane’s cabin. A man on board may have lit a cigarette which ignited the blowup. However, the men remained doubtful of these remains; because of the bad weather, none of these remains were recovered (“Bermuda Triangle – Devil’s Sea “).

            Some people blame supernatural forces for the unsolved mysteries that have happened in the Bermuda Triangle. Some say aliens in UFOs are stealing ships and kidnapping the crews. Others blame black holes, time warps that are sending ships to another time or place, or the lost city of Atlantis is sunk beneath the Triangle, sending out energy rays.

            No one has yet found answers to all of the Triangle’s mysteries. Compasses that sometimes don’t work, loss of radio contact and radar are still instances in the Triangle that hasn’t been explained until now. According to some stories, gravity seems different inside the Triangle (Gorman).

Commentary

            The most coherent argument as to why Flight 19 vanished without traces is that Taylor’s compass failed. The team was unstable and simply, though unfortunately, ran out of fuel. Mysterious forces were not probably to have been associated other than the mysterious force of gravity on planes with an empty tank. One of the Mariner truly blew up shortly after take-off, but this was likely caused by its faulty tank rather than, again, to any mysterious factors.

            It seems that, even at the past, whenever man was unable to find answers for mysteries, and even what are naturally occurring around him, things beyond our imaginations become the answers. It might be then caused by gods, demons, monsters and just recently, the occurrence of alien invasions.

            Since there was inefficient scientific investigation regarding these mysteries in the Triangle, imagination takes over. Surreal phenomenons are associated to them. To someone who is “lazy” to make some scientific research, supernatural imaginations make for an easy answer. It’s just amazing that sometimes through time; these supernatural things become natural when scientifically researched.

Perhaps, the mystery of Bermuda Triangle can be summed up in the following sentence – ‘at times truth is stranger than fiction’ (Mahal).

References:

“Bermuda Triangle.” World-Mysteries.com, 2007.

“Bermuda Triangle – Devil’s Sea ” Crystalinks.com, 2007.

Caidin, Martin. Ghosts of the Air: True Stories of Aerial Hauntings. Introduction by John Keel. Lakeville, Minnesota: Galde Press, Inc., 2003.

Floyd, E. Randall. 100 of the World’s Greatest Mysteries: Strange Secrets of the Past Revealed. New Age/ Body, Mind and Spirit. Augusta Georgia: Harbor House, 2000.

Gorman, Jacqueline Laks. The Bermuda Triangle. Wisconsin USA: Gareth Stevens inc., 2002.

Lombardi, Esther. “What Is a Mystery?” About.com: Literature: Classic, 2007.

Mahal, Pustak. World-Famous Unsolved Mysteries. 23rd ed. New Delhi: World Famous Series, 2005.

Mondout, Patrick. “Bermuda Triangle.” Super70s.com – Where the 1970s Never Ended, 2007.