Nature's mysteries underlie the Bermuda Triangle

By Amal Hewavissenti

The Bermuda Triangle and the strange disappearances associated with it have baffled the people and have provided a readymade topic for discussion among writers and reporters. But scientists and certain explorers are fiercely critical of the reports of mystery and defy the validity of the reported sightings of mysterious occurrences.

The total triangular boundaries of the Bermuda Triangle (or Devil's Triangle as it is popularly labelled) cover the points of Florida, Puerto Rico and the Atlantic island of Bermuda. The massive area of sea has accounted for the disappearance of a number of planes and ships without any trace whatsoever of the crew or the craft either on surface or underwater.

As most of these disappearances have remained largely unexplained, some others say that it might be an activity by aliens of the paranormal. Those who treat the 'reports of incredible happenings' with a high degree of scepticism claim that acts of piracy or other natural geographical factors must be outright responsible for the 'Bermuda Phenomenon'.

Perished

Numerous cruise ships and a number of pleasure craft regularly travel to harbours in Florida, Europe, and the Caribbean Islands. At the same time, it is a highly flown route for many a commercial and private planes making for Florida, Caribbean and South America. The explorers assertively express that the combination of violent storms and hurricanes striking the sea stretch make it inevitable that ships could flounder in tempestuous weather and be lost without a trace. These strange happenings had remained unexplained mysteries specially before the improved telecommunication, radar and satellite technology came into wider use in the 20th century.

The Bermuda Triangle definitely accounts for more than 50 ships and 20 aircraft to have vanished without leaving a trace and for over thousand men who have perished in the sea in the past 200 years.

There have been several subsequent attempts to unravel the baffling mystery by means of possible or imagined situations but no theorist has ever been able to trace the reality underlying the phenomenon. In almost every account of mystery surrounding the triangle, there is special reference to strange compass anomalies where a compass points to the north rather than magnetic north and makes ships and planes get off-course.

Compass

A compass works because its magnetic needle is attracted by the earth's magnetism which makes it point to the constantly shifting North Pole. The magnetic anomalies of 'Devil's Triangle' are assumed to have caused compass needle to swing violently.

Moreover, an explanation for some of the disappearances has indicated the presence of a vast area of methane, within the triangle and experiments have proved that bubbles can make ships go down by decreasing the water's density.

There are powerful water currents which might have carried wreckage away from its reported position on the sea.

Extremely huge waves even in calm seas,can cause even the world's largest ship to capsize or to keep a boat adrift or carry it away for thousands of miles. The powerful hurricanes generated within the Bermuda Triangle region are also presumed to have been responsible for thousands of lives lost and ships and aircraft turned to wreckage.

Acts of war and piracy are yet another plausible theory for the mysterious disappearances within the region of the 'Devil's Triangle' which took the world by fright. Human error, whether deliberate or accidental has been accountable for the catastrophes and losses within the Bermuda region. Lack of proper training, negligence and stubbornness are thought to be the prime cause of disappearances within this region of sea but how they were responsible for the destruction will never be known.

Christopher Columbus and his crew were the first historic sailors to espy the 'strange dancing lights on the horizon and flames in the sky' and the unusual compass bearings.

However, many of the sinkings in this strange region have been ascribed to the secretly organised attacks by pirates and submarines particularly during the world wars.

Some observers are highly sceptical about the disappearances stories are of the view that the triangle's mysterious influence is a manufactured mystery. They maintain that some writers who either purposely or unknowingly might have used fallacious concepts and sensations, boost the Bermuda happenings.

They emphasise that the number of supposed disappearances is relatively insignificant considering the number of ships and aircraft which pass through regularly.

On December 4, 1970 Bruce Gernon and Rob Mac Gregor were flying in the Bermuda Triangle in perfectly clear skies when they saw a bizarre cloud hovering over Bermuda shore.

As they flew over the cloud, the cloud began to open out in a speed exceeding that of their aircraft which was by then at 11,500 feet above the sea. Gernon clearly saw the lines on the walls of the fog tunnel curling counterclockwise and then he understood that the single way to escape the cloud was to go through it until they would come out of it.

Gernon saw his compass running counterclockwise while his navigational equipment were operating into confusion.

He was completely astonished to see a haze instead of the blue, clear sky when they came out of the fog tunnel and Gernon and his friend noticed nothing ahead of them - no horizon, no sky, no ocean below them.

At the same time, he saw the cloud tunnel fading away in long strips. The navigational instruments began to operate normally and the Miami beach was directly below them.

The plane's clock and their watches indicated that there had been a loss of time in the fog tunnel and they had arrived at Miami, 45 minutes ahead of usual time which showed that the 'electronic fog' had time travel qualities.

A Swedish scientist has revealed that the fog is more in the Bermuda area than elsewhere.

In the 'popular reports' the pilots are said to have radioed the 'most astounding messages' which said that they were surrounded by sky suddenly made deadly and their navigational equipment were really going crazy while the sea below was getting sparingly violent.

On the other hand there are some disappearances of ships and aircraft which have been ascribed to the 'paranormal activity' of the Bermuda Triangle but have really taken place thousands of miles away from Bermuda.