17 September: The Bermuda Triangle

This date in 1950 saw the publication of the first article suggesting that unusual disappearances took place in the Bermuda Triangle. Here are 10 things you might not know about the Bermuda Triangle:

1. The article in question was written by Edward Van Winkle Jones for the Miami Herald. Two years later, another article about mysterious disappearances in the area was published by George Sand in Fate magazine. The disappearances he reported on included Flight 19, a group of five US Navy Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bombers lost during a training mission.

2. It wasn’t called The Bermuda Triangle until 1964, when Vincent Gaddis wrote an article called ‘The Deadly Bermuda Triangle’, which was published in Argosy magazine. It’s also known sometimes as the Devil's Triangle.

3. So where is it? It has no officially defined boundary, the total area varies between writers from 1,300,000- 3,900,000 square kilometres or 500,000- 1,510,000 square miles. Generally it’s said to stretch roughly between Miami, Florida, to Bermuda Island and to San Juan in Puerto Rico. However, some writers have suggested it goes as far as the coast of Ireland.

4. Strange occurrences have been reported in the area since 1492. Christopher Columbus, on his historic voyage that year, made some strange observations: his Compass malfunctioned; stars appeared to move around in the sky; he saw a mysterious light, like a Candle flame moving up and down in the distance, disappearing and appearing again; and a fireball rising from the water and going up into the Sky.

5. According to Wikipedia, 10 ships sank or disappeared in the area from 1800 to 1963, and five planes crashed there between 1945 and 1965.

6. So why do odd things seem to happen there? There’s no shortage of theories. Some say it’s the location of the lost city of Atlantis and some of the powerful energy crystals used to power the city are still hanging around at the bottom of the sea emitting disruptive rays which can mess with compasses and navigation systems.

7. Others say there’s a portal to a parallel universe or another world located here and the vanished ships and planes have been sucked through a warp in time and space. This, they say, might be the reason for the number of UFO sightings in the area.

8. Then again, there could be more mundane explanations. The Bermuda Triangle is one of only two places on Earth where the compass does not point towards the magnetic North but towards the true North. This would no doubt explain Columbus’s compass issues and perhaps has caught out many more navigators who weren’t aware of this fact.

9. Also, the area has some of the deepest ocean trenches in the world so anything sinking or crashing there could easily disappear without a trace. Scientists have determined that decomposing sea creatures trapped on the bottom produce more methane gas than in other parts of the ocean and that eruptions of methane can make the water frothy and ships less buoyant. Another explanation offered by science is that the Gulf Stream runs through here which can result in unpredictable weather and storms and would also carry any wreckage away from its reported position very quickly. Finally, there might seem to be a lot of incidents purely because of sheer weight of traffic. Several important shipping routes pass around and through it; not to mention it being a popular area for recreational boating and flying. The more traffic there is, the more incidents and accidents there will be.

10. The Bermuda Triangle isn’t the only place with a reputation for strange disappearances. The ‘Devil’s Sea’ and the Dragon’s Triangle situated in the Philippine Sea off the eastern coast of China has a similar reputation.

Character birthday

Anarchist, a member of the Demolition Squad. He has no powers but is skilled at brawling, smashing things and rioting. His given name is John Smith but he changed it by deed poll to Adolph Mussolini. He came to the attention of Leopold Smythe-Warner when he appeared in TV footage of a National Front riot. While Anarchist is prejudiced against genetic variants in general, he developed a grudging respect for the other variants on the team.