These and many other disappearances are always accompanied by explanations, many of which have been accepted as facts, but most are merely theories. The factual explanations; the explanations that researchers know for certain can cause a plane or seagoing vessel to disappear, or simply get lost-are volatile weather, methane gas bubbles from the sea floor, piracy, and compass variations.
To start with the most obvious explanation, volatile weather will be discussed. As known by most people, the Bermuda Triangle area is the source of many of the hurricanes that ravage the southeastern coast of the United States from year to year. These are extremely dangerous storms which many seamen take for granted. Many a fishing vessel has either been sent to the ocean bottom or has been found run aground on a remote beach due to the effects of a recent storm because of their captain's disregard for safety. Hurricanes and other storms can cause dangerous ocean waves that can overturn and sink any vessel, small or large-in hours or even minutes.
Due to the rapid temperature variations in the triangle, some of these weather conditions can occur quickly, without any warning, and cause the sinking of a vessel overnight. On the next morning, the rescue crew sent out would find no remains and no evidence as to what happened, because the storm had quickly faded.
Due to these sudden weather occurrences, the Coast Guard answers about 8,000 distress calls a year; or twenty-three a day-although most of these problems could have been avoided if caution had been used. And many of these weather conditions are electrical/thunder storms, which can disrupt communications between the vessels and the shore. The communications of planes are also effected.
What about methane gas? How in the world can methane gas on the sea floor lead to the disappearance of ships and planes? It's possible. Researchers say that the high pressures of ocean water in the area lead to the decomposition of organic materials into methane gas which, after a sufficient amount is built up, rises to the surface. Because methane gas is a gas it displaces the water around it, decreasing its density.
A vessel floating above would feel a downward lurch when the disturbance reached the surface, similar to that of an elevator. This would happen because the seawater was not dense enough to allow the ship to remain buoyant. Depending on the size of the bubble, the ship or small vessel would fall down a meter or two, then rise back up; or descend far enough so that water could spill onto the deck and sink the ship. After the gas reaches the surface, it disperses in the air, where it can cause the engine failure of a plane.
What about pirates? When people think of pirates, they immediately recall a book or a movie such as Pirates of the Caribbean, where the setting is in the 1700-1800's when the world's oceans were a free for all. A time when these mean, nasty people could overtake someone's vessel during the night, strip it of all its valuables and possibly kill the people onboard, then leave without ever seeing any justice.
Many people refuse to believe it, but it continues to happen, even today in our modernized world where justice is properly served. Throughout the century many vessels have been found abandoned in the Bermuda Triangle. There is the possibility of a group of armed men overtaking a vessel overnight, robbing it of valuables, murdering the people on board; and leaving without providing any evidence for the authorities to find when they recovered the abandoned vessel.
Compass variations have caused many of the disappearances of ships and planes, but this problem is now being overcome through the use of modern technology, such as Global Positioning System (GPS).
Many paranormal theories have been proposed to explain the mystery of the Triangle. Theorists, researchers, and even respected scientists have supported claims that the Triangle is an area under frequent visits by UFO's, where time warps threaten to send people into another dimension, where still active Atlantis technology buried on the sea floor vaporizes ships and planes in a matter of seconds; and where sea monsters grasp ships in their tentacles and pull them under.
Many theoretical physicists support the theory that tiny wormholes pop in and out of existence in the open air, unseen to the naked eye; and somehow paranormal theorists have linked the disappearances in the Triangle to this. If such anomalies did exist, they would likely be too small to cause the disappearance of a giant tanker or an airplane.
There is much support for the theory that UFO's and extraterrestrials are responsible for the many losses in the Triangle. Seamen have reported sightings of “strange flying aircraft” and immediately claimed that they were occupied by ET's, and when they reach the media, the story spreads-though it may not be true. Before long, the idea spreads that the missing people may have been abducted. This had become popular in the mid-1950's; around the time of the testing of many experimental government aircraft. When sightings of one of these aircraft occurred, civilians would notify the Tabloids that an UFO have passed over their house, and even provide a photo that they had taken.
This is just an overview of the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle, it is not meant to persuade anyone to believe differently about the theories surrounding the mystery; although from the information above the reader might arrive at an opinion. The triangle in many aspects is a very fascinating place, and with deeper understanding the people can find the answer that solves the mystery altogether.
Is the triangle inhabited by aliens that randomly snatch planes and ships-and perform bizarre experiments on the occupants? Is their some powerful Atlantean Death Ray beneath the ocean that vaporizes ships and planes and leaves no trace of their disappearance? Maybe modern day pirates, or extreme weather, like hurricanes; is responsible. That... And all else, is to be determined by the reader.
Let the mind wonder... Just not too much.
