The Bermuda Triangle Isn’t Statistically Any More Dangerous Than Any Other Place



The Bermuda Triange — a section of the North Atlantic Ocean off North America — is where more than 50 ships and 20 airplanes are said to have mysteriously disappeared. The area, whose boundaries aren’t universally agreed upon, has a vaguely triangular shape marked by the Atlantic coast of the Florida panhandle, Bermuda, and the Greater Antilles. Reports of unexplained occurrences in the region date to the mid-19th century. Some ships were discovered completely abandoned for no apparent reasons, while others transmitted no distress signals and were never seen or heard from again. Aircraft have been reported and then vanished, and rescue missions are said to have vanished when flying in the area. Although theories of supernatural causes for the disappearances abound, geophysical and environmental factors are most likely responsible. One hypothesis is that pilots failed to account for the agonic line — the place at which there’s no need to compensate for magnetic compass variation — as they approached the Bermuda Triangle, resulting in significant navigational error and catastrophe. Another popular theory is that the missing vessels were felled by so-called “rogue waves,” which are massive waves that can reach heights of up to 100 feet and destroy all evidence of a ship or plane. According to NOAA, there’s no evidence that mysterious disappearances occur with any greater frequency in the Bermuda Triangle than in any other large, well-traveled area of the ocean.