Excerpt
Introduction: A Mysterious Place
Out in the Atlantic Ocean, there’s a stretch of water where strange things are said to happen. Ships disappear. Planes vanish. People report weird lights in the sky. Some call it the "Devil’s Triangle," but most people know it by another name—the Bermuda Triangle.
The Bermuda Triangle isn’t a place you’ll find on a regular map. There are no official borders or warning signs saying, “Stay Away!” It’s simply an area between three points: Miami, Florida; Bermuda; and San Juan, Puerto Rico. If you connected those spots with lines, you’d get a rough triangle shape. That’s where the mystery begins.
Where Did the Mystery Start?
People have been telling stories about this part of the ocean for hundreds of years. Back in 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed through the area on his way to the Americas. His crew wrote in their logs about strange lights in the sky and their compasses acting strangely. That might not seem like much, but over time, more and more stories started to pile up.
One of the first major incidents that got people talking happened in 1918. A massive U.S. Navy ship called the USS Cyclops was traveling from Brazil to Baltimore with over 300 sailors on board. It never made it. No distress signal, no debris, nothing. It was as if the entire ship had just blinked out of existence.
Then, in 1945, something even stranger happened. Five U.S. Navy planes took off from Florida for a training mission. It was a simple flight, the kind they had done before. But as they flew into the Bermuda Triangle, their radio messages became panicked. They said their compasses weren’t working, and they couldn’t tell which way was west. Their voices grew more desperate—and then, silence. The planes never returned. A rescue plane was sent to look for them. It disappeared too.
That was when the legend of the Bermuda Triangle really took off. Books, news articles, and TV shows spread stories about ships vanishing, compasses spinning wildly, and even whispers of supernatural forces at work. Some people believed there was something powerful lurking beneath the waves. Others thought there might be a scientific explanation.
What Do Scientists Say?
Even though the stories sound mysterious, most scientists don’t believe there’s anything unusual about the Bermuda Triangle. The ocean is a dangerous place, and storms can sink ships faster than people realize. Strong currents, like the Gulf Stream, run through the area and can quickly carry away debris. That’s why wreckage is often never found.
There’s also something called magnetic variation that can make compasses behave strangely. The Earth’s magnetic field isn’t perfectly even, and in some places, like parts of the Bermuda Triangle, compasses can point slightly off from true north. Pilots and sailors have to adjust for this, but if they don’t, they can easily get lost.
But What About the Weird Theories?
Of course, not everyone is convinced by the science. Some people believe that something else is at play.
One theory is that there’s a giant underwater crystal from the lost city of Atlantis buried beneath the ocean. According to this idea, the crystal gives off powerful energy waves that mess with ship and plane instruments. There’s no real proof of this, but it makes for a good story.
Another idea is alien abductions. Some people claim that UFOs are responsible for the missing planes and ships. They believe that extraterrestrials use the Bermuda Triangle as a place to take humans for experiments. Again, no real evidence—just a lot of speculation.
Then there’s the time warp theory. This one suggests that there’s a rip in space and time over the Bermuda Triangle, like an invisible portal. Ships and planes accidentally fly into it and end up in another dimension—or another time period altogether. There have been stories of pilots flying through the area and suddenly seeing old-fashioned ships below them, as if they had gone back in time.
Of all the theories, the one that might have some real science behind it is methane gas explosions. Large amounts of methane gas can be trapped under the ocean floor, and when it suddenly bursts free, it can create huge bubbles in the water. If a ship happens to be above one of these, the water beneath it becomes less dense, making it sink almost instantly. There’s some evidence that this has happened in other parts of the world, but whether it explains the Bermuda Triangle mystery is still up for debate.
Out in the Atlantic Ocean, there’s a stretch of water where strange things are said to happen. Ships disappear. Planes vanish. People report weird lights in the sky. Some call it the "Devil’s Triangle," but most people know it by another name—the Bermuda Triangle.
The Bermuda Triangle isn’t a place you’ll find on a regular map. There are no official borders or warning signs saying, “Stay Away!” It’s simply an area between three points: Miami, Florida; Bermuda; and San Juan, Puerto Rico. If you connected those spots with lines, you’d get a rough triangle shape. That’s where the mystery begins.
Where Did the Mystery Start?
People have been telling stories about this part of the ocean for hundreds of years. Back in 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed through the area on his way to the Americas. His crew wrote in their logs about strange lights in the sky and their compasses acting strangely. That might not seem like much, but over time, more and more stories started to pile up.
One of the first major incidents that got people talking happened in 1918. A massive U.S. Navy ship called the USS Cyclops was traveling from Brazil to Baltimore with over 300 sailors on board. It never made it. No distress signal, no debris, nothing. It was as if the entire ship had just blinked out of existence.
Then, in 1945, something even stranger happened. Five U.S. Navy planes took off from Florida for a training mission. It was a simple flight, the kind they had done before. But as they flew into the Bermuda Triangle, their radio messages became panicked. They said their compasses weren’t working, and they couldn’t tell which way was west. Their voices grew more desperate—and then, silence. The planes never returned. A rescue plane was sent to look for them. It disappeared too.
That was when the legend of the Bermuda Triangle really took off. Books, news articles, and TV shows spread stories about ships vanishing, compasses spinning wildly, and even whispers of supernatural forces at work. Some people believed there was something powerful lurking beneath the waves. Others thought there might be a scientific explanation.
What Do Scientists Say?
Even though the stories sound mysterious, most scientists don’t believe there’s anything unusual about the Bermuda Triangle. The ocean is a dangerous place, and storms can sink ships faster than people realize. Strong currents, like the Gulf Stream, run through the area and can quickly carry away debris. That’s why wreckage is often never found.
There’s also something called magnetic variation that can make compasses behave strangely. The Earth’s magnetic field isn’t perfectly even, and in some places, like parts of the Bermuda Triangle, compasses can point slightly off from true north. Pilots and sailors have to adjust for this, but if they don’t, they can easily get lost.
But What About the Weird Theories?
Of course, not everyone is convinced by the science. Some people believe that something else is at play.
One theory is that there’s a giant underwater crystal from the lost city of Atlantis buried beneath the ocean. According to this idea, the crystal gives off powerful energy waves that mess with ship and plane instruments. There’s no real proof of this, but it makes for a good story.
Another idea is alien abductions. Some people claim that UFOs are responsible for the missing planes and ships. They believe that extraterrestrials use the Bermuda Triangle as a place to take humans for experiments. Again, no real evidence—just a lot of speculation.
Then there’s the time warp theory. This one suggests that there’s a rip in space and time over the Bermuda Triangle, like an invisible portal. Ships and planes accidentally fly into it and end up in another dimension—or another time period altogether. There have been stories of pilots flying through the area and suddenly seeing old-fashioned ships below them, as if they had gone back in time.
Of all the theories, the one that might have some real science behind it is methane gas explosions. Large amounts of methane gas can be trapped under the ocean floor, and when it suddenly bursts free, it can create huge bubbles in the water. If a ship happens to be above one of these, the water beneath it becomes less dense, making it sink almost instantly. There’s some evidence that this has happened in other parts of the world, but whether it explains the Bermuda Triangle mystery is still up for debate.