Sam Weber THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE, SUPERNATURAL…. OR NOT?

BRIEF INFORMATION “Devil’s Triangle” Located off the Southeastern coast of the United States in the Atlantic Ocean Apexes in the vicinities of Bermuda, Miami, Florida, and San Juan, Puerto Rico

SUPPORTING REASON #1 – ELECTRIC FOG “On December 4, 1970, Bruce Gernon and his father were flying to Bimini in clear skies when they saw a strange cloud with almost perfectly round edges hovering over the Miami shore. As they flew over it, the cloud began spreading out, matching or exceeding their speed. At 11,500 feet, they thought that they had escaped the "cloud," only to discover that it had formed a tunnel. It appeared the only way they could escape the cloud was to go through the tunnel. Once inside, they saw lines on the walls that spun in a counterclockwise direction. Gernon's navigational instruments went haywire and the compass spun counterclockwise. When Gernon contacted Miami Air Traffic Control to get radar identification, the controller said that there were no planes on radar between Miami, Bimini and Andros. After several minutes, Gernon heard the air traffic controller report that a plane had been spotted directly over Miami. Gernon didn't think he could possibly be over Miami Beach, because it usually took 75 minutes to get to Miami and only 47 minutes had passed. At this same time, the cloud tunnel began to peel away in what he described as ribbons of fog. The instruments began operating normally and Miami Beach was directly below them. This loss of time, confirmed by their watches and the plane's clock, made Gernon believe that the electronic fog had time travel qualities.”

THE FOG Rob MacGregor and Bruce Gernon wrote a book describing their experiences with the electronic fog called, “The Fog: A Never Before Published Theory of the Bermuda Triangle Phenomenon.” Bruce recorded, “[I] realized that something very bizarre had happened. Instead of the clear blue sky that we expected at the end of the tunnel, everything appeared a dull, grayish white. Visibility appeared to be about two miles, but there was absolutely nothing to see - no ocean, no horizon, no sky, only a gray haze." Bruce said he experienced this situation a second time with his wife. Many other pilots have also admitted to encountering a similar situation like the one Bruce described. He believes that there are powerful electromagnetic storms within the Earth and that they can break through the surface and enter the atmosphere where they disappear shortly after, leaving the electric fog.

SUPPORTING REASON #2 – U.S.S. CYCLOPES WW1 542 foot long steel hull collier assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service Scheduled to sail to Brazil to refuel British ships in the south Atlantic Left from Rio de Janeiro on February 16, 1918 and arrived in Barbados March 3 Left Barbados March 4. Never seen again. 306 crew members and passengers disappeared with the U.S.S. Cyclopes. This is the largest loss of life in the history of the United States Navy of a U.S. warship where there is no direct evidence of why it happened.

SUPPORTING REASON #3 – DC-3 FLIGHT NC December 28, 1948 DC-3 commercial flight NC set out to Miami, Florida from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Captain Robert Lindquist requested landing instructions from Miami 50 miles out. Instructions were sent, but the plane never landed. Weather conditions: clear with high visibility After losing radio contact, it was recorded that the wind direction had changed and without the radio contact, Captain Lindquist could not be informed of the weather change. It is believed that this result could have sent them up to 50 miles of course. “Douglas Dakota or the DC-3 has been probably the most reliable aircraft ever designed and built.”

SUPPORTING REASON #5 – FLIGHT 19 December 5th, 1945, Five Avenger torpedo bombers left from Fort Lauderdale, Florida at the Naval Air Station at 2:10 in the afternoon. Mission: 14 men fly due east 56 miles to Hens and Chicken Shoals to conduct practice bombing runs, then to fly an additional 67 miles east, 73 miles north, 120 miles southwest straight back to base. Total distance: 316 miles. 4:00 pm radio message received from the senior flight instructor stating that they were lost and that their compasses had malfunctioned. Believed to have departed in the wrong direction and be somewhere around Florida Keys. Told to fly north if they were for sure located over the keys. It is estimated that they were never over the Keys and had traveled in the proper directions, when told to head north, they flew north into the endless ocean disappearing. One of two PBM patrol planes also disappeared searching for the Five Avengers. It was believed to have burst into flames.

Estimated paths of Flight 19

REASON AGAINST #1 – GULF STREAM The Gulf Stream is a very powerful and turbulent body of water which is partially located within the Bermuda Triangle. The strong currents and deep waters can hide and remove evidence from a disaster in a moments notice. It is about 300 times faster than the flow of the Amazon River. This refutes the idea of supernatural disappearances and promotes the idea of a crash landing or another wreckage of a sort. The water is strong enough to overturn wreckage and make it sink, especially heavy material.

REASON AGAINST #2 – LLOYD’S OF LONDON STATISTICS “A check of Lloyd's of London's accident records by the editor of Fate in 1975 showed that the Triangle was no more dangerous than any other part of the ocean. U.S. Coast Guard records confirmed this and since that time no good arguments have ever been made to refute those statistics.” This states as it is read that the area within the Bermuda Triangle has no abnormally large number of accidents on record than those of other areas in the oceans surrounding our land masses.

REASON AGAINST #3 – METHANE HYDRATE Methane hydrate is a large stored up capacity of methane within a large crystalized structure of water similar to ice. These hydrates can be located on the bottom of the ocean floor. When a methane hydrate breaks and releases the methane, it travels straight up in the water, decreasing the density of the water. Depending on the current density of the water, weight of the material on a boat or vessel, and the strength of the released methane, a ruptured methane hydrate underneath a boat can decrease the density of the water to the point where the water cannot uphold the vessel, causing it to sink. This can be a direct solution to many disappearances of boats, especially scenarios with large heavy vessels like the U.S.S. Cyclops.

REASON AGAINST #4 – NATURAL DISASTERS Possible oceanic weather interferences: Hurricanes, water spouts, thunder storms The first radar was not developed until 1935 by Robert Alexander Watson- Watt. Until the development of radar and other telegraphic devices, sailors and pilots could not locate or recognize the action of a storm like a hurricane until it was visible on the horizon where if could be possibly too late. Current devices used by sailors and pilots can still malfunction and can cause a captain to be unaware of a storm.

Scientific Sources Scientific Explanation Logical Explanations Primary sources Secondary sources Stories CONCLUSION SupportingAgainst The U.S. Navy does not believe in the Bermuda triangle and there is also no government issued map with the boundaries of the Bermuda Triangle, but there is no definite answer for either side of the argument. This leaves the decision up to you. Is the Bermuda Triangle real, or not?

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