How to Understand the Bermuda Triangle

For over 50 years, the Bermuda Triangle—a thick wedge of the southern Atlantic cornered on Miami, Bermuda and Puerto Rico—has prospered in popular myth as the site of an unusual number sea and air catastrophes, which supposedly can be attributed to supernatural causes. Here’s a look at the history of this myth, and how it flies in the face of all the available evidence.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. “Flight 19” crystallized the legend. Although it was common knowledge that the southern Atlantic had seen its share of fatal accidents, the story that institutionalized the “Bermuda Triangle” was the sudden disappearance of a naval training flight in December, 1945. Supposedly, Flight 19 dropped off the radar on a clear day (not true) and with a competent pilot at the controls (also not true). What is true is that the Navy said Flight 19 vanished for “causes or reasons unknown,” which isn’t as mysterious as later conspiracy theorists made it sound.
2. The name “Bermuda Triangle” was coined in 1964. Starting in 1950, various articles had appeared focusing on the disappearance of Flight 19, including one that referred to a spurious SOS message from the pilot of the doomed plane (in which he supposedly babbled about mysterious “green” and “white” lights). In 1964, the magazine (and later book) writer Vincent Gaddis gave a name to this mysterious phenomenon, the Bermuda Triangle, which has endured since.
3. The Bermuda Triangle became the stuff of best-sellers. In the 1970’s, popular interest in pseudoscience was at a peak—and the Bermuda Triangle was well represented by such books as “Limbo of the Lost” and “The Devil’s Triangle.” Since the disappearance of a single flight was a thin premise on which to hang an entire book, authors dragged more and more “mysterious” occurrences into the Triangle’s domain, such as the sinking of the nuclear submarine USS Scorpion in 1968. (One countervailing tome was “The Bermuda Triangle: Solved,” which pointed out the shaky premises of the other books—for example, the Scorpion actually sank outside the Triangle!).
4. To scientists, the Bermuda Triangle has never been a mystery. The portion of the Atlantic enclosed by the Bermuda Triangle has a larger-than-usual amount of sea and air traffic—so, statistically, it’s perfectly logical that it has a larger share of accidents and mysterious “disappearances” as well. To seal the deal, the global companies that insure the world’s shipping don’t charge a premium for traversing the Triangle—and if anyone would be on the lookout for mysterious, profit-denting spookiness, they would.