Bermuda Triangle Theories

Howard, an expert on Bermuda Triangle, claims that more than 50 ships and 20 planes have
disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle over the last century itself, and up to 1000 over the
past 500 years. So how did the planes and ships disappear? What went wrong? Actually
there is no single theory that can explain all disappearances. The planes and ships have
been victims of different circumstances & situations while cruising over the vast triangle area
and were in different physical locations.
And therefore there are several theories that explain the different incidents of missing ships
and planes in Bermuda Triangle. Here are some of the top and most popular theories that try
to explain and solve the mysteries.
Methane Gas Theory
Large amount of methane gas is known to exist below the ocean floor trapped in the
sediments. If such gas finds its way out and starts rising through the water, it can significantly
reduce the density of water in that area. And ships passing over that area can sink in no time.
Check out Methane Gas Theory for details.
Gulf Stream
The Gulf Stream is an ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico, and then moves
through the Straits of Florida, into the North Atlantic and passes through Bermuda Triangle
area. It is like a river within an ocean and can easily carry floating objects along its flow. A
small plane making a water landing or a boat having engine trouble will be easily carried
away. It happened to the cabin cruiser Witchcraft on December 22, 1967, when it reported
engine trouble near the Miami buoy marker one mile from shore, but was not there when a
Coast Guard cutter arrived.
Electronic Fog: A Hutchison effect
It has been heard several times that ships and aircraft get engulfed in some kind of electronic
fog and the fog keeps moving along with the ship or the plane. And eventually, all the
electronic equipment and other instruments start malfunctioning. Then the ships and
airplanes either disintegrate or disappear without a trace. Vancouver based scientist John
Hutchison through his experiments has shown occurrence ofElectronic Fog that causes
some strange phenomena.
Compass Variation
Do you know that magnetic and absolute North are not the same. Which means that the
north where a compass points and the absolute geographic north which is the north pole are
different. So ships need to make adjustment for this difference to keep to the right direction.
But in Bermuda Triangle, there is a narrow strip where both these North's become the same.
Some claim that such Compass Variation could have been the cause for fatal accidents as
ships failed to determine the correct direction.
Strange Weather & Hurricanes
At times there are violent storms in the Bermuda Triangle area. These short but intense
storms can build up quickly and go away so fast that even a satellite can't detect them
properly. But these storms are strong enough to destroy ships or planes completely. There
are also waterspouts seen in this area. A waterspout is like a tornado at sea that sucks water
from the ocean thousands of feet into the sky.
Hurricanes are extremely powerful swirling storms that sometimes appear in the Atlantic near
the equator. They usually originate from south eastern Atlantic and pass through the
Bermuda Triangle area towards the south eastern coast of the US. June to November is the

time when possibility of such hurricane occurring is the most. Such hurricanes have
historically been the cause for loss of many lives and extensive damage. The sinking of
Francisco de Bobadilla's Spanish fleet in 1502 was the first recorded instance of such
destructive hurricane. Hurricanes have in the past caused a number of fatal damages to the
sailing vessels passing through the area.
Freak Waves
Very large waves can appear suddenly even in calm seas. One such rogue wave caused
the Ocean Ranger, then the world's largest offshore platform to capsize in 1982. Research
has shown that freak waves up to 30m high & capable of sinking a large ship within
moments, can and do happen. Although these are very rare, in some areas ocean currents
indicate that they happen more often than normal.
Unusual Seafloor
The seafloor in Bermuda Triangle area is also found to be quite strange. There are some
unusual formations. From a gentle slope it takes a sudden deep drop. In fact, some of the
deepest trenches in the world are found in this area. Ships or planes that sink into these
deep trenches will probably never be found.
Human Error
Human mistakes can not be ruled out in this area. More so because the vast water area in
Bermuda Triangle has so many islands that look so similar. It is easy to make a mistake
confusing one with another. And in such confusion if the captain takes a wrong turn or
direction, then he can slowly but surely get to such water area where it would be too late to
turn back and reach a land to refuel. And then eventually it'll be a question of how long the
ship can sustain the foul weather.
Supernatural Theories
There are also explanations based on some supernatural theories like the lost city of Atlantis,
UFOs and Aliens. Check out Supernatural Theories to know about such explanations that try
to explain the disappearances.
Skeptic's Theory
And like in any other subject, there are skeptics and critics here as well who do not believe
that Bermuda Triangle area has any mystery to be solved at all. They say there is nothing
unusual about all these disappearances... it's nothing different from any other part of the
ocean where such incidents also take place in similar numbers, and most can be explained
with science or some logic. Check out the Skeptics Theory to find out what the skeptics of
Bermuda Triangle have to say.
And, there are many more explanations...
Strange magnetic fields from the bottom of the ocean causing compass to malfunction,
pirates capturing ships, explosive cargo destroying vessels etc are also believed to be other
causes. Another possibility is underwater earthquakes. Scientists have actually observed a
great deal of seismic vibrations taking place in the Bermuda triangle area and under the
seafloor.

The mystery of flight MH370: 7 other planes that

vanished
Flight MH370 is not the first to disappear. Here are seven other mysteries and one farfetched lunar tale

Flight MH17: Malaysia Airlines plane 'shot down' over Ukraine

THE disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has gripped the public imagination.
Unanswered questions such as why the communication system was disabled, and why the
aircraft apparently executed a U-turn before it disappeared have deepened the mystery. But
this is not the first time a plane has gone missing. Here are seven other planes that vanished
from the skies leaving barely a trace.
The stolen Boeing 727-233
In 2003, a Boeing 727-233, registered N844AA, began taxiing along the runway at Quatro de
Fevereiro Airport in Luanda, Angola with no communication between the crew and the tower.
The mid-sized plane manoeuvred towards the runway and took off without clearance. The jet
then headed west over the Atlantic ocean with its lights off and its transponder not
transmitting, and has never been seen since. On board were two men, neither of whom were
believed to have been capable of flying the aircraft, [1]Air and Space magazine reports. A
worldwide search by the FBI and CIA failed to locate either the plane or its crew and was
eventually called off. To this day, the whole incident remains a mystery.
Mid-air art heist?
A cargo plane belonging to Varig Brazilian Airlines disappeared in January 1979 just 30
minutes after it took off from Narita International Airport in Tokyo. Adding to the mystery of the
planes disappearance, on board were 153 paintings valued at more than $1.2 million
(700,000). Neither the plane, its crew or nor the paintings have been seen since.
Flying Tiger Line Flight 739
One of the most enduring mysteries in aviation history is what happened to the Flying Tiger
Line Flight 739 in 1932. The US military flight carrying 90 military personnel took off from
Guam, in the western Pacific, but never arrived at its destination in the Philippines. The plane
issued no distress call and no wreckage has ever been found. The crew of a Liberian tanker
claimed to have seen an "intensely luminous" light in the sky, which some believe may have
indicated the flight exploded in mid-air, but the US Civil Aeronautics board ruled it was
"unable to determine the probable cause of the incident", Time Magazine reports.
Bermuda Triangle
Several planes disappeared in the region between Florida, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda in the
1940s in mysteries that have been the focus of intense interest from conspiracy theorists and
aeronautical historians ever since. Two British South American Airways passenger jets
vanished in the area in 1948 and 1949. Fifty-one passengers and crew were lost in the two
incidents, one involving a Star Tiger plane and the other a Star Ariel plane. In an official
report into the Tiger incident, investigators said they were "baffled" by the aircraft's
disappearance. Several other planes have disappeared in the region including five US
bombers that vanished in 1945, but in spite of massive air and sea searches, no trace of the
bodies or aircraft was ever found.

Air France Flight 447

In 2009 a flight from Rio De Janeiro to Paris crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 228
passengers and crew. After a day of searching wreckage was spotted and parts of the plane,
including the black boxes, were eventually recovered. But the bodies of 74 passengers were
never located, and it took three full years to conclude that the crash had been caused by a
combination of ice build-up, mechanical failure and pilot error.
Top Gun crash
Stunt pilot Art Scholl crashed and disappeared without trace when his Pitt S-2 camera plane
crashed during filming for a scene for the Hollywood film Top Gun. Scholl had intentionally
put the plane into a flat spin to film a scene for the movie, but the aircraft never recovered
from the manoeuvre and plunged into the ocean. Scholl's last recorded words were: "I've got
a problem here," the LA Times reports. The film was dedicated to his memory.
Amelia Earhart
Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart disappeared in her Lockheed Model 10 Electra somewhere
over the central Pacific Ocean in 1937 while attempting to circumnavigate the globe. In spite
of a multi-million pound search effort, no remnants of her plane have ever been found.
Earhart was officially declared dead in 1939, but speculation about the circumstances
surrounding her disappearance continues to this day.
World War 2 bomber found on the moon
Since its birth in 1986, the Sunday Sport newspaper has printed major "scoops" including the
discovery of a B-52 bomber on the moon in 1988. The incredible find turned out to be just as
true as other celebrated Sunday Sport stories, such as "Aliens turned our son into a fish
finger" and "Statue of Elvis found on Mars". When it emerged that no such bomber could be
found on the lunar surface, the paper ran a follow-up headline on its front page: "World War 2
bomber found on moon vanishes".
This weekend the paper reprised its best-known story, printing the headline "Missing plane
found on moon" under a "world exclusive" banner. The report draws attention to an
unexplained blip on the radar seen close to the flight MH370, and draws its own
conclusions. The simplest explanation is that this is an intergalactic spacecraft that has
swallowed the Boeing 777 whole and transported it to the moon for some extra- terrestrial
reason." It also prints an image apparently showing the aircraft - intact and undamaged - on
the surface of the moon.

South Korea ferry: Hundreds missing as ship

sinks

The ferry, carrying mainly school students, was travelling from the port of
Incheon, in Dramatic rescue
Emergency teams are using floodlights and flares to search the stricken vessel
through the night. Those rescued have been taken to a nearby island.
Four people are now said to have died and dozens of others have been hurt.
South Korean officials had earlier said that 368 people had been plucked to safety,
but later said there had been a counting error.
They have now revised down the number rescued to 174.
Images showed the ferry listing at a severe angle and then later almost completely
submerged, with only a small part of its hull visible. It sank within two hours of sending
a distress signal, reports said.
There are fears this could turn out to be South Korea's biggest maritime disaster for
more than 20 years, says the BBC's Martin Patience in Seoul.

Cause unclear
Several coast guard, military and commercial vessels were involved in the rescue
effort, which unfolded rapidly on Wednesday morning.
Pictures from the scene showed rescue teams balanced on the sinking hull pulling
teenagers from cabin windows. Some of their classmates jumped into the sea as the
ship went down.

Reports suggest some of those rescued were picked up by nearby commercial

vessels.
The US Navy has sent an amphibious assault ship, the USS Bonhomme Richard, to
assist with the search, officials say.

MV Sewol

459
Maximum capacity: 900
Length: 146 metres
Built: 1994
Passengers on board:

Source: Reuters
REUTERS

Military and civilian ships and helicopters have been searching for survivors

Repo
rts said the ship capsized and sank within a period of two hours

Teams of navy divers were now searching the scene for those unaccounted for,
officials said, but the work was challenging.
"There is so much mud in the sea water and the visibility is very low," said Lee
Gyeong-og, vice-minister of security and public administration.
One body, of a female crew member, had been recovered from the ship, the
coastguard said. Another person, a male high school student, died after being
rescued.
One student told local media her friends became trapped.

"Currently, I am in the middle of being rescued. At the time, the ship was turning on its
side, and none of us were moving as we were told not to move as it was dangerous,"
the unnamed student said.
"So, I am not well aware of the situation, but I am told that my friends and other
friends could not escape as the passage was blocked. It seems that there are many
students who could not get out as the passage was blocked by water."
It is not yet clear what caused the incident, but witnesses described hearing an
impact, before the ship listed and quickly sank.
One passenger told the YTN news channel: "We heard a big thumping sound and the
boat stopped."
Major maritime accidents in South Korea

1970: Sinking of passenger vessel Namyoung leaves 323 dead

1993: Sinking of passenger vessel Seohae Ferry leaves 292 dead

2007: Sinking of freighter Eastern Bright leaving 14 sailors Messing

2009: Sinking of cargo ship Orchid Pia after a collision leaves 16 sailors missing

Team
s have brought rescued passengers to shore - at least 13 are reported to be hurt

Flare
s light up the sky as the search for missing passengers continues through the night

Relati
ves of the missing are waiting to hear of the fate of their loved ones

"The boat is tilting and we have to hold on to something to stay seated," the
passenger said.
Another passenger said the ship was "shaking and tilting", with people tripping and bumping into each
other.