The dangers associated with sailing through the Bermuda Triangle have been a part of American folklore since the 1960's. To this day, the myths associated with the Bermuda triangle still hold a place in the hearts of the superstitious. According to the legend, countless planes and ships have gone missing traversing the area south-east of the United States, and no one really knows why. Some hypothesize that the loss of so many ships and planes may be associated with some undiscovered natural phenomenon, alien abductions, or wormholes.
According to the myth, countless ships and planes have disappeared without a trace when travelling through the Bermuda triangle. Surprisingly, however, captains and pilots do not avoid this region. In fact, the area actually sees a great deal of traffic, both in the air and the sea. Every day, commercial flights fly through that region. In reality, a plane or boat hasn't gone missing in the Triangle in over 10 years.
Larry Kusche, a research librarian at Arizona University, wanted to learn more about the history of the Bermuda Triangle, so he began to research major disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle. Surprisingly, none of the disappearances were mysterious at all. The mystery comes purely from misinformation and exaggeration. For example, bad weather was often a cause of accidents, yet writers often mentioned that the ship or plane was traveling in good weather. This was done purely to sensationalize the news and sell newspapers. According to Kusche, no one ever finds the crashed boats or planes because the Bermuda Triangle area is so large that searching for lost ships is like looking for "a needle in a field of haystacks". Some writers aren't even in agreement on the size of the haystack. Originally, the area was defined by the triangle formed by a point in Florida, a point in Puerto Rico, and a point at Bermuda, but the number of different definitions is proportional to the number of writers who've taken up the topic.
More evidence to suggest that the Bermuda Triangle is not a death-zone for ships and planes is the fact that the US Navy "does not believe that the Bermuda Triangle exists". The Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard have all conducted extensive investigations on incidents that occurred within the Triangle and have not concluded that there is any mystery to be solved. The Navy report of Flight 19, the incident that is often pointed to as evidence of some mystery around the Bermuda Triangle, is that the planes crashed simply because the planes ran out of fuel, and nothing more.
Furthermore, vessels travelling through the Bermuda triangle are not charged higher rates of insurance. Surely, if so many vessels were being lost, insurance companies would be losing money insuring these vessels. But the fact remains: The rate of damage to ships and planes over the Bermuda Triangle are so low that it would be fraudulent for insurance companies to charge vessels higher rates.
For years, the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle has been used to entertain and to scare travellers. For almost as long, the Bermuda Triangle myth has been refuted, yet it still persists in the world culture due to our fascination with the paranormal.
What are you opinions on the Bermuda Triangle?
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