The region of western Atlantic Ocean that has become associated in the popular imagination with mysterious maritime disasters, Also known as the Deadly Triangle or Devil's Triangle, has been blamed for hundreds of plane crashes, shipwrecks, mysterious disappearances, craft instrument malfunctions and other unexplained phenomena. The triangle-shaped area covers about 1,140,000 sq km (about 440,000 sq mi) between the island of Bermuda, the coast of southern Florida, and Puerto Rico. The sinister reputation of the Devil’s Triangle may be traceable to reports made in the late 15th century by Christopher Columbus (navigator) concerning the Sargasso Sea, in which floating masses of gulfweed were regarded as uncanny and perilous by early sailors. In the mid-19th century, a number of reports were made of unexplained disappearances and mysteriously abandoned ships. The earliest recorded disappearance of a United States vessel in the area occurred in March 1918, when the USS Cyclops vanished.
In December 1945, Flight 19 training squadron of five U.S. Navy torpedo bombers disappeared. The squadron left Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with 14 crewmen and disappeared after radioing a series of distress messages, a seaplane sent in search of the squadron also disappeared. Aircraft that have disappeared in the area since this incident include a DC-3 carrying 27 passengers in 1948 and a C-124 Globemaster with 53 passengers in 1951. In 1963, a tanker ship Marine Sulphur Queen have disappeared which vanished with 39 men aboard.
Ivan T. Sanderson (zoologist & UFO researcher) said, "Tremendous hot and cold currents crossing the most active zones might create the electromagnetic gymnastics named as "vile vortices", affecting instruments and vehicles." And the Bermuda Triangle wasn't the only place on earth where this occurred. Sanderson drew out elaborate charts on which he identified 10 such locations precisely distributed around the globe, five above, and five below at equal distances from the equator.
The Coast Guard over 30 years ago, Proposed a Magnetic Variation theory states: "The majority of disappearances can be attributed to the area's unique environmental features. First, the "Devil's Triangle" is one of the two places on earth that a magnetic compass does point towards true north. Normally it points toward magnetic north. The difference between the two is known as compass variation. The amount of variation changes by as much as 20 degrees as one circumnavigates the earth. If this compass variation or error is not compensated for, a navigator could find himself far off course and in deep trouble.”
MacGregor and Bruce Gernon in their book “The Fog” asserted that an “electronic fog” is responsible for many incidents and disappearances in the infamous Bermuda Triangle. Gernon himself is a first-hand witness and survivor of this strange phenomenon. On December 4, 1970, he and his dad were flying their Bonanza A36 over the Bahamas. On route to Bimini they encountered strange cloud phenomena - a tunnel-shaped vortex - the sides of which the plane's wings scraped as they flew. All of the plane's electronic and magnetic navigational instruments failed and the magnetic compass spun inexplicably. As they neared the end of the tunnel, they expected to see clear blue sky. Instead, they saw only a dull grayish white for miles - no ocean, sky or horizon. After flying for 34 minutes, a time corroborated by every clock on board, they found themselves over Miami Beach, a flight that normally would have taken 75 minutes.
Dr. Kenneth McAll (psychiatrist) believed the area may be haunted by the spirits of the many African slaves who had been thrown overboard on their voyage to America. In his book, “Healing the Haunted” he wrote of his strange experiences while sailing in these waters, "As we drifted gentle in the now warm and steamy atmosphere, I became aware of a continuous sound like mournful singing, I thought it must be a record player in the crew's quarters and as it continued through a second night, I finally, in exasperation, went below to ask if it could be stopped. However, the sound down there was the same as it was everywhere else and the crew was equally mystified." He later learned how in the 18th century, British sea captains defrauded insurance companies by tossing slaves into the ocean to drown, then cashing in on a claim for them.
