The Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle

Over the past century, hundreds of ships and planes have gone missing in a mysterious stretch of water in the Atlantic Ocean called the Bermuda Triangle.  Is there a scientific explanation for these disappearances?

Miami, Puerto Rico and Bermuda are prime holiday destinations boasting sun, beaches and coral seas. But between these idyllic settings, there is a dark side: countless ships and planes have mysteriously gone missing in the one and a half million square miles of ocean separating them. About 60 years ago, the area was claiming about five planes every day and was nicknamed the Bermuda Triangle by a magazine in 1964. Today, about that many planes disappear in the region each year and there are a number of theories explaining what could be happening.

The Bermuda Triangle, a stretch of water between Puerto Rico, Bermuda and Florida, has been the site of many plane and ship disappearances.

Twins George and David Rothschild are among the first passengers to have experienced bizarre effects in the Bermuda Triangle. In 1952, when they were 19 years old, the two naval men had to make an emergency trip home on a navy light aircraft, north over the Florida Keys, to attend their father's funeral. "We had been flying for probably 20 or 30 minutes when all of a sudden the pilot yelled out that the instruments were dead and he became very frantic," says George Rothschild. He had lost his bearings, and not only did he not know where he was, he also had no idea how much gas was left in the fuel tanks. After what seemed like hours, they landed safely in Norfolk, on the Florida coast.

Some speculate that it had nothing to do with the location, but rather the instruments that were available at the time. Pilot Robert Grant says that back in the 1940s, navigating a plane involved a lot of guesswork since they relied completely on a magnetic compass to guide them. "Dead reckoning" was used, which means that pilots would trust their compass and then estimate how the wind would influence their planned flight path to remain on track. "No matter what your mind tells you, you must stay on that course," says Grant. "If you don't, and you start turning to wherever you think you should be going, then you're toast."