There have been approximately 50 ships and 20 planes that have disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle in the last century. Each one has a story without an ending, leading to a litany of conspiracy theories about the disappearances in the area, marked roughly by Florida, Bermuda and the Greater Antilles. Australian scientist Karl Kruszelnicki doesn’t subscribe to the Bermuda Triangle’s supernatural reputation. Neither does America’s own National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Both have been saying for years that there’s no Bermuda Triangle mystery. In the loss and disappearance of ships and planes is a mere fact of probabilities. “There is 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,” NOAA wrote in 2010. Kruszelnicki has been saying the same thing since 2017. NOAA says environmental considerations can explain away most of the Bermuda Triangle disappearances, highlighting the Gulf Stream’s tendency towards violent changes in weather, the number of islands in the Caribbean Sea offering a complicated navigation adventure, and evidence that suggests the Bermuda Triangle may cause a magnetic compass to point to true north instead of magnetic north, resulting in confusion for pilots trying to find their way. While culture clings to Bermuda Triangle conspiracy theories, Kruszelnicki points out that every instance contains a degree of poor weather, human error, or both as the true culprit. Both NOAA and Kruszelnicki say the idea of sea monsters, aliens, and even the entirety of Atlantis dropping to the ocean floor are nothing more than fodder for books, television, and movies.
