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Debunking Bermuda Triangle Myths

Lloyd's of London and the United States Coast Guard have determined that there is no unusually high number of disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle area. The Coast Guard collects documentation that contradicts many Triangle incidents reported by authors. For example, in the case of the 1972 sinking of the tanker V.A. Fogg, the Coast Guard photographed the wreck and recovered bodies, unlike the author's claim that all bodies vanished except the captain. A 1976 Nova/Horizon episode was also highly critical of Triangle claims, stating that when going back to original sources, the mystery evaporates and that ships and planes behave the same in the Triangle as elsewhere. Skeptical researchers have noted that mysteries and the paranormal are popular and

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Ivanciuc Adrian
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39 views2 pages

Debunking Bermuda Triangle Myths

Lloyd's of London and the United States Coast Guard have determined that there is no unusually high number of disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle area. The Coast Guard collects documentation that contradicts many Triangle incidents reported by authors. For example, in the case of the 1972 sinking of the tanker V.A. Fogg, the Coast Guard photographed the wreck and recovered bodies, unlike the author's claim that all bodies vanished except the captain. A 1976 Nova/Horizon episode was also highly critical of Triangle claims, stating that when going back to original sources, the mystery evaporates and that ships and planes behave the same in the Triangle as elsewhere. Skeptical researchers have noted that mysteries and the paranormal are popular and

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Ivanciuc Adrian
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Further responses

When the UK Channel 4 television program The Bermuda Triangle (1992)[18] was being produced by


John Simmons of Geofilms for the Equinox series, the marine insurance market Lloyd's of
London was asked if an unusually large number of ships had sunk in the Bermuda Triangle area.
Lloyd's determined that large numbers of ships had not sunk there. [3] Lloyd's does not charge higher
rates for passing through this area. United States Coast Guard records confirm their conclusion. In
fact, the number of supposed disappearances is relatively insignificant considering the number of
ships and aircraft that pass through on a regular basis.[1]
The Coast Guard is also officially skeptical of the Triangle, noting that they collect and publish,
through their inquiries, much documentation contradicting many of the incidents written about by the
Triangle authors. In one such incident involving the 1972 explosion and sinking of the tanker V. A.
Fogg, the Coast Guard photographed the wreck and recovered several bodies, [19] in contrast with one
Triangle author's claim that all the bodies had vanished, with the exception of the captain, who was
found sitting in his cabin at his desk, clutching a coffee cup. [11] In addition, V. A. Fogg sank off the
coast of Texas, nowhere near the commonly accepted boundaries of the Triangle.
The Nova/Horizon episode The Case of the Bermuda Triangle, aired on June 27, 1976, was highly
critical, stating that "When we've gone back to the original sources or the people involved, the
mystery evaporates. Science does not have to answer questions about the Triangle because those
questions are not valid in the first place ... Ships and planes behave in the Triangle the same way
they behave everywhere else in the world."[2]
Skeptical researchers, such as Ernest Taves[20] and Barry Singer,[21] have noted how mysteries and
the paranormal are very popular and profitable. This has led to the production of vast amounts of
material on topics such as the Bermuda Triangle. They were able to show that some of the pro-
paranormal material is often misleading or inaccurate, but its producers continue to market it.
Accordingly, they have claimed that the market is biased in favor of books, TV specials, and other
media that support the Triangle mystery, and against well-researched material if it espouses a
skeptical viewpoint.
Benjamin Radford, an author and scientific paranormal investigator, noted in an interview on the
Bermuda Triangle that it could be very difficult locating an aircraft lost at sea due to the vast search
area, and although the disappearance might be mysterious, that did not make it paranormal or
unexplainable. Radford further noted the importance of double-checking information as the mystery
surrounding the Bermuda Triangle had been created by people who had neglected to do so. [22]

Hypothetical explanation attempts


Persons accepting the Bermuda Triangle as a real phenomenon have offered a number of
explanatory approaches.

Paranormal explanations
Triangle writers have used a number of supernatural concepts to explain the events. One
explanation pins the blame on leftover technology from the mythical lost continent of Atlantis.
Sometimes connected to the Atlantis story is the submerged rock formation known as the Bimini
Road off the island of Bimini in the Bahamas, which is in the Triangle by some definitions. Followers
of the purported psychic Edgar Cayce take his prediction that evidence of Atlantis would be found in
1968, as referring to the discovery of the Bimini Road. Believers describe the formation as a road,
wall, or other structure, but the Bimini Road is of natural origin. [23]
Some hypothesize that a parallel universe exists in the Bermuda Triangle region, causing a
time/space warp that sucks the objects around it into a parallel universe. [24] Others attribute the
events to UFOs.[25][26] Charles Berlitz, author of various books on anomalous phenomena, lists several
theories attributing the losses in the Triangle to anomalous or unexplained forces. [12]

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