The Claim
The Bermuda Triangle is a loosely defined region of the Atlantic Ocean between Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico where an unusually high number of ships and aircraft are said to have disappeared under mysterious circumstances — explanations offered over the years range from magnetic anomalies to sea monsters to outright portals.
The Evidence
- Flight 19, a squadron of five Navy bombers that vanished during a 1945 training flight, along with the rescue plane sent to find them.
- The USS Cyclops, a Navy cargo ship that disappeared without a distress call in 1918 with over 300 people aboard.
- Claims that compass readings behave erratically in the area.
- Dozens of smaller boats and private planes lost over the decades.
The Official Story
Lloyd's of London, one of the world's oldest marine insurance markets, has stated the Triangle isn't statistically more dangerous than any other heavily trafficked stretch of ocean — insurance rates there are no higher than elsewhere. The U.S. Coast Guard agrees, pointing to sudden violent weather, the powerful Gulf Stream current, and simply enormous volumes of both recreational and commercial traffic, all of which naturally produce more incidents. Flight 19 is now generally attributed to a navigation error compounded by worsening weather and fading light.
File Notes
The “Triangle” has no official, agreed-upon boundaries — different authors have drawn its edges differently over the years, which is part of how it keeps accumulating incidents: widen the shape enough, and almost any disappearance in the western Atlantic can be filed under one of its mysteries.