Over the past 100 years, the Bermuda Triangle has seen
what some say is a significant and inordinately high
number of unexplained disappearances of planes, ships
and people. Some reports say that as many as 100 ships
and planes have been reported missing in the area and
more than 1,000 lives have been lost. The U.S. Coast
Guard, however, maintains that the area does not have
an unusual number of incidents.
In 1975, Mary Margaret Fuller, editor of "Fate" magazine,
contacted Lloyd's of London for statistics on insurance
payoffs for incidents occurring within the Bermuda
Triangle's usually accepted boundaries. According to
Lloyd's records, 428 vessels were reported missing
throughout the world between 1955 and 1975, and there
was no greater incidence of events occurring in the
Bermuda Triangle than anywhere else in the world.
Gian J. Quasar, author of "Into the Bermuda Triangle:
Pursuing the Truth Behind the World's Greatest Mystery"
and curator of Bermuda-triangle.org , argues that this
report "is completely false." Quasar reasons that because
Lloyd's does not insure small crafts like yachts and often
doesn't insure small charter boats or private aircraft, its
records can't be the definitive source. He also states that
the Coast Guard's records, which it publishes annually,
do not include "missing vessels." He requested data on
"overdue vessels" and received (after 12 years of asking)
records of 300 missing/overdue vessels for the previous
two years. Whether those vessels ultimately returned is
unknown. His Web site has a list of these vessels .
The National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB)
database indicates (according to Gian J. Quasar) that
only a handful of aircraft have disappeared off the New
England coast over the past 10 years, while over 30 have
occurred in the Bermuda Triangle.
The mystery of the Triangle probably took hold with the
first well-publicized disappearance in 1945, when five
Navy Avengers disappeared in the area. The cause of the
disappearance was originally "pilot error," but family
members of the pilot leading the mission couldn't accept
that he had made such a mistake. Eventually they
convinced the Navy to change it to "causes or reasons
unknown."
The myth gained momentum after reporter E.V.W. Jones
compiled a list of "mysterious disappearances" of ships
and planes between the Florida coast and Bermuda. Two
years later, George X. Sand wrote an article for "Fate"
magazine, titled "Sea Mystery at our Back Door." The
article was about a "series of strange marine
disappearances, each leaving no trace whatever, that
have taken place in the past few years" in a "watery
triangle bounded roughly by Florida, Bermuda and Puerto
Rico."
As more incidents occurred, the reputation grew and
past events were reanalyzed and added to the legend. In
1964, "Argosy Magazine" gave the triangle its name in an
article titled "The Deadly Bermuda Triangle" by Vincent
Gaddis. Argosy magazine's tagline a "magazine of master
fiction," but that did nothing to halt the spread of the
myth. More articles, books, and movies have appeared,
suggesting theories ranging from alien abductions to a
giant octopus.
what some say is a significant and inordinately high
number of unexplained disappearances of planes, ships
and people. Some reports say that as many as 100 ships
and planes have been reported missing in the area and
more than 1,000 lives have been lost. The U.S. Coast
Guard, however, maintains that the area does not have
an unusual number of incidents.
In 1975, Mary Margaret Fuller, editor of "Fate" magazine,
contacted Lloyd's of London for statistics on insurance
payoffs for incidents occurring within the Bermuda
Triangle's usually accepted boundaries. According to
Lloyd's records, 428 vessels were reported missing
throughout the world between 1955 and 1975, and there
was no greater incidence of events occurring in the
Bermuda Triangle than anywhere else in the world.
Gian J. Quasar, author of "Into the Bermuda Triangle:
Pursuing the Truth Behind the World's Greatest Mystery"
and curator of Bermuda-triangle.org , argues that this
report "is completely false." Quasar reasons that because
Lloyd's does not insure small crafts like yachts and often
doesn't insure small charter boats or private aircraft, its
records can't be the definitive source. He also states that
the Coast Guard's records, which it publishes annually,
do not include "missing vessels." He requested data on
"overdue vessels" and received (after 12 years of asking)
records of 300 missing/overdue vessels for the previous
two years. Whether those vessels ultimately returned is
unknown. His Web site has a list of these vessels .
The National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB)
database indicates (according to Gian J. Quasar) that
only a handful of aircraft have disappeared off the New
England coast over the past 10 years, while over 30 have
occurred in the Bermuda Triangle.
The mystery of the Triangle probably took hold with the
first well-publicized disappearance in 1945, when five
Navy Avengers disappeared in the area. The cause of the
disappearance was originally "pilot error," but family
members of the pilot leading the mission couldn't accept
that he had made such a mistake. Eventually they
convinced the Navy to change it to "causes or reasons
unknown."
The myth gained momentum after reporter E.V.W. Jones
compiled a list of "mysterious disappearances" of ships
and planes between the Florida coast and Bermuda. Two
years later, George X. Sand wrote an article for "Fate"
magazine, titled "Sea Mystery at our Back Door." The
article was about a "series of strange marine
disappearances, each leaving no trace whatever, that
have taken place in the past few years" in a "watery
triangle bounded roughly by Florida, Bermuda and Puerto
Rico."
As more incidents occurred, the reputation grew and
past events were reanalyzed and added to the legend. In
1964, "Argosy Magazine" gave the triangle its name in an
article titled "The Deadly Bermuda Triangle" by Vincent
Gaddis. Argosy magazine's tagline a "magazine of master
fiction," but that did nothing to halt the spread of the
myth. More articles, books, and movies have appeared,
suggesting theories ranging from alien abductions to a
giant octopus.
