In the west of North Atlantic Ocean, somewhere between Florida, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda lies the most mysterious places on Earth, the Bermuda triangle. Also called the Devil’s Triangle, the area is notorious for the mysterious disappearance of many ships and aircraft. This 434,000 mile stretch of sea has claimed about 1000 lives so far and has since become the focus of a gazillion conspiracies as insane as aliens, black holes, and even sea monsters.
Pilots and sailors passing through the area do not enter without fear to this date, but scientists have finally figured out what the actual mystery is. The first vessel to be abducted by the busiest shipping lane in the world, the Bermuda Triangle was a World War I fuel tanker, the USS Cyclops back in 1918.Two sister ships subsequently disappeared in 1941, passing through the same route. In 1945, an entire squadron of five torpedo bombers, Flight 19 disappeared while on a routine mission. A rescue plane with 13 people disappeared on the very same night.
You can go dig the conspiracy theories but popular Australian Science communicator Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki has the simplest of answers for the mysterious disappearances. Dr. Karl dismisses the space, and time travel theories, calling “human error” to be the prime cause behind all the happenings.
“According to Lloyds of London and the US coast guard, the number of planes that go missing in the Bermuda Triangle is the same as anywhere in the world on a percentage basis, ” he explains. “It is close to the equator, near a wealthy part of the world, America, therefore you have a lot of traffic.”
The weirdest of all the disappearances was that of Flight 19, and Dr. Karl pointed out the reason to be the squadron commander Lieutenant Charles Taylor who was flying with a hangover. Statistically speaking, as many accidents happen in the Bermuda triangle as in other parts of the world, percentage wise and the reasons can be associated with the bad weather, weaker boats, and aircraft.
In most of these incidents, no wreckage was found. Many theories emerged, some salted with a slight science backing and others as absurd as unicorns. Recently, some people suggested that methane bubbles rising from the water depths could be causing the ship to sink. This could make for a reasonable explanation if only the area held any methane reserves.
So which explanation do you believe in? Let us know in the comments section.