"Is there a person that hasn't heard of the Bermuda Triangle? Well, definitely *grin*, but how many know the facts, and how many even know where the Bermuda Triangle actually is? That's what I thought... well fear not. This site will guide you through the Bermuda Triangle. Oh, don't mind the disappearances, they just "happen"...
The Legend
The Bermuda Triangle is an imaginary triangle stretching from the east coast of Florida to the island of Bermuda and back to Puerto Rico. Ever since the passage of Columbus through these lime green waters countless stories have been told (and re-told) of curses, balls of fire, swooping dragons, methane gas, sea monsters, and deadly tides. What is true? No one knows for sure. No one. But, we can speculate, we can hypothesize, and we can eat corn flakes all at the same time.Yes, I am being slightly ironic because I'm a bit tired of all the tales surrounding the Bermuda Triangle. But I have to admit being enchanted by it (yes, I love the X-Files, and no, I hate Star Trek) so this site is like a tribute. My tribute to one of the 20th century's greatest mysteries.
So let's get back to that Bermuda Triangle. Columbus was the first to record strange occurrences in the area of the Bermuda Triangle. Specifically he saw a ball of fire in the sky. Later these islands were stalked by pirates and even in the oldest maps you will see them referred to as "the Devil's Islands". Lovely place for vacation, eh?
The term "Bermuda Triangle" was first used in an article written by Vincent H. Gaddis for Argosy magazine in 1964. In the article Gaddis claimed that in this strange sea a number of ships and planes had disappeared without explanation. Gaddis wasn't the first one to come to this conclusion, either. As early as 1952 George X. Sands, in a report in Fate magazine, noted what seemed like an unusually large number of strange accidents in that region. Further articles and reports in such magazines as National Geographic and Playboy merely repeated the legend without additional research. Many of the disappearances discussed in these articles and others did not even occur in the area of the Triangle.
In 1969 John Wallace Spencer wrote a book called Limbo of the Lost specifically about the triangle and, two years later, a feature documentary on the subject, The Devil's Triangle, was released. These, along with the bestseller The Bermuda Triangle, published in 1974, permanently registered the legend of the "Hoodoo Sea" within popular culture.
Many disappearances have been recorded ever since Columbus and the Bermuda Triangle has spawned many (fictional?) stories and plays. Off the top of my head I can remember Shakespeare's play The Tempest.
The Events
Columbus
As the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria sailed through the area in 1492, it is reported that Columbus's compass went haywire and that he and his crew saw weird lights in the sky, but these events have mundane explanations. From the account in Columbus's journal, it is thought that his compasses slight inaccuracy stemmed from nothing more than the discrepancy between true north and magnetic north. As for the lights, Columbus wrote of seeing "a great flame of fire" that crashed into the ocean -- probably a meteor. He saw lights in the sky again on October 11, which, of course, was the day before his famous landing. The lights, brief flashes near the horizon, were spotted in the area where dry land turned out to be.
Mary Celeste
Another historical event retroactively attributed to the Bermuda Triangle is the discovery of the Mary Celeste. The vessel was found abandoned on the high seas in 1892, about 400 miles off its intended course from New York to Genoa. There was no sign of its crew of ten or what had happened to them. Since the lifeboat was also missing, it is quite possible that they abandoned the Mary Celeste during a storm that they wrongly guessed the ship could not weather. But what makes it even harder to call this a Bermuda Triangle mystery is that it the ship was nowhere near the Triangle -- it was found off the coast of Portugal. But of course this means it might have sailed that far alone (even, though it's not likely).
On November 5, 1872 the Marie Celeste left New York Harbor with a cargo of industrial alcohol. On board were Captain Benjamin Spooner Briggs, his wife, his two year old daughter, and eight crew members. On December 5, 1872 the Ship Dei Gratia found the Marie Celeste floating in the Atlantic Ocean. The Captain, his family and the crew were all missing, as was the one lifeboat. The cargo, supplies, and personal belongings were all safely on the Marie Celeste. Evidence aboard showed that the Marie Celeste had clearly been abandoned quickly. Sufficient supplies could not have been on the lifeboat, with many basic supplies left behind. Why was it abandoned? This remains a great nautical mysteries. Some other factors that almost nobody knows is that the ship had a different name before the Marie Celeste, and it had been said to be cursed, until Captain Briggs bought it and renamed and painted it. Coincidence?
Flight 19
The Bermuda Triangle legend really began in earnest on December 5, 1945, with the famed disappearance of Flight 19. Five Navy Avenger bombers mysteriously vanished while on a routine training mission, as did a rescue plane sent to search for them -- six aircraft and 27 men, gone without a trace. Or so the story goes.
When all the facts are laid out, the tale of Flight 19 becomes far less puzzling. All of the crewmen of the five Avengers were inexperienced trainees, with the exception of their patrol leader, Lt. Charles Taylor. Taylor was perhaps not at the height of his abilities that day, as some reports indicate that he had a hangover and failed in his attempts to pass off this flight duty to someone else. With the four rookie pilots entirely dependent on his guidance, Taylor found that his compass malfunctioned soon into the flight. Taylor chose to continue the run on dead reckoning, navigating by sighting landmarks below. Being familiar with the islands of the Florida Keys where he lived, Taylor had reason to feel confident in flying by sight. But visibility became poor due to a brewing storm, and he quickly became disoriented. Flight 19 was still in radio contact with the Fort Lauderdale air base, although the weather and a bad receiver in one of the Avengers made communication very spotty. They may have been guided safely home if Taylor had switched to an emergency frequency with less radio traffic, but he refused for fear they would be unable to reestablish contact under these conditions. Taylor ended up thinking they were over the Gulf of Mexico, and ordered the patrol east in search of land. But in reality, they had been heading up the Atlantic coastline, and Taylor was mistakenly leading his hapless trainees much further out to sea. Radio recordings indicate that some of them suggested to Taylor that Florida was actually to the west. A search party was dispatched, which included the Martin Mariner that many claim disappeared into the Bermuda Triangle along with Flight 19. While it is true that it never returned, the Mariner did not vanish; it blew up 23 seconds after takeoff, in an explosion that was witnessed by several at the base. This was unfortunately not an uncommon occurrence, because Mariners were known for their faulty gas tanks. In 1991 five Avengers were found in 600 feet of water off the coast of Florida by the salvage ship Deep Sea. Examination of the planes showed that they were not Flight 19, however, so the final resting place of the planes, and their crews is still the Bermuda Triangle's secret."
