BERMUDA TRIANGLE

Most everybody has heard of the Bermuda Triangle, but the expression has become so clouded with popular hearsay and sensationalism that few can really give an accurate account of what it is. The first gut reaction many people give when asked about the Bermuda Triangle is I dont believe in it! Yet what is it they dont believe in? The Bermuda Triangle is actually two things. First off, it is a geographic area of the North Atlantic Ocean located off the SouthEast coast of the United States. It generally lies in and around three nodal points: the island of Bermuda, Miami, Florida, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. It can hardly be denied that this area of the Earth does exist. But, of course, when most refer to the Bermuda Triangle they really mean the enigma of the Bermuda Triangle. This is the areas great controversy. The enigma is that more ships and planes disappear in this area, in fair weather, more than in any other place in the world, for no readily explainable reason. The purpose of Bermuda-Triangle.Org is to provide a sober look at this phenomenon. It is not a site based on synthesizing hearsay, tabloid news or 35 year old books. What you will see on this website is based on official documentation gleaned over the last 2 decades. And it also inspired my book Into the Bermuda Triangle (McGraw-Hill, 2003). It began this as an innocent hobby before it escalated into a vast project, a project to get almost every report possible, to track down every clue, to verify every claim. . .and often to get the figurative door slammed in my face. These official reports form the bulk of the evidence used herein. Carefully sifting through these, with lines censored, pages cut out and paragraphs deleted, has brought to light a pattern interwoven with mystery and tragedy. For over 20 years now I have studied the Bermuda Triangle. For good or bad my name has become inexorably linked with the subject. My studies have proven to my satisfaction that the enigma is quite true. Anybody out there may form whatever opinion they wish on the subject, and even propose their own theories. That is a healthy thing to do. But these must be based on the facts to have any credence. And it is my hope that this site and my books help to bring those facts to everybody. As I am now redesigning this website and updating it, after 12 years of being the number 1 source on the web, it is best to lay some groundwork here that helps to start the reader off on the right foot. First, theories are NOT a part of the enigma. Some of them, especially the most esoteric, may give a chill up our collective spine, but theories and facts are not the same thing. Many may immediately think of UFOs when the Bermuda Triangle is mentioned, or perhaps even Edgar Cayces Atlantis. But these are not contributors to the enigma. These are all a part of the legend of the Bermuda Triangle. The enigma and the facts go back long before the moniker Bermuda Triangle and a long time before air traffic. In fact, the general area was the center of almost all nautical mysteries, including the dereliction of sound and stable ships, since the beginning of recorded sailing. The first mention of the general area was in 1894. For over 7 years commander S.D. Sigsbee, of the US Navy, studied the phenomenon of derelict vessels in the North Atlantic Ocean. Sigsbees work could almost have inspired a Jules Verne fictional adventure with its details of mysteries. He noted that over the 7 years of 1887 to 1893 inclusive there were recorded 1,628 derelicts in the North Atlantic. Most of these he wrote:

Pilot Charts show that most of the derelicts are sighted in the Gulf Stream off the United States coast, north of 30 degrees north latitude, and west of 60 degrees west longitude. The number gradually decreases to the eastward along the transatlantic steamer routes. A number of those which remain afloat the longest time make the circuit of the Sargasso Sea. The majority of the derelicts were vessels which were abandoned near the United States coasts.
No better definition of the area of the Bermuda Triangle can be given. The US Hydrographic Office published Sigsbees work in 1894, preserving a wealth of information. In this work Sigsbee notes that on an average 19 derelicts were afloat each month. Some of these were never boarded by other ships in order to determine why the crew abandoned them. Ships like the Fannie E. Wolston were afloat for years, making 2 or more complete circumferences of the Sargasso Sea. Many of these derelicts have explanations. The Drisko, for instance, which was found off Key West, was foolishly abandoned by her crew, who forgot that a wood vessel carrying lumber cannot sink. Many passing vessels sighted the derelict waterlogged but still afloat. The USS San Francisco finally had to sink it as a hazard. Other crews were found in their lifeboats and were picked up by other passing ships. But that does not diminish the conundrum. It is here, more than anywhere in the North Atlantic, and indeed the world, where crews lost their heads and their nerves and abandoned their vessel for a flimsy little lifeboat. Sigsbee believed that the number of derelicts increased over his 7 year period of study because the Hydrographic Office was perfecting its system of reporting and enlisting more ships in their network of

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relaying reports. This gives us an idea of how many derelicts were floating about the Atlantic long before his study. One brief window into this period is found in 1873. The New York Times commented on the case of the Abd-El Kader. She was sailing to America and encountered two derelicts at sea. The first (Robert C. Winthrop)was boarded and found shipshape, but a squall was brewing so the crew decided to leave the vessel to its fate. Then on approaching Boston yet another was come across (Kate Brigham). Exasperated, the Times reporter wondered what was causing American sailors to abandon their vessels. Was it the Flying Dutchman coming across their bow, the reporter jibed tongue-in-cheek? The phenomenon of abandoned, drifting vessels is often associated with the Sargasso Sea. This area lies in the middle of the North Atlantic, clutched in the surrounding grasp of very strong currents like the Gulf Stream, North Atlantic Drift, and the North Equatorial Current, among others. Together they seal off this area from the often tempestuous Atlantic. As a result it is an area of weak currents and, also, little wind. It was cursed by sailors since Columbus time, and later got the name of the Doldrums, from which we borrowed the expression for a fatigued depression. It was also called the Horse Latitudes, because the Spanish had to throw their horses over the side to conserve water while they drifted and waited for a wind to fill their vapid sails.

The Sargasso Triangle. It gets grows over its surface called sargassum.

Sea. Its its name

westernmost part from the unique

overlaps form of

the Bermuda seaweed that

Sea lore turned the Sargasso Sea into the Port of Missing Ships. According to the legend, it is here where all sorts of derelict vessels could be found drifting in the languid currents, lifeless and haunted. It has been said that the Bermuda Triangle mythos grew out of that of the Sargasso Seas. But Sigsbees work shows us how this is not possible. Most derelicts actually happened in the area of the Bermuda Triangle and the result is that the vessels drifted out and along the powerful currents that clutch the Sargasso Sea. One such case is the tern Wyer G. Sargent. She was sighted first on March 31, 1891, at 34 degrees of latitude in the Triangle. She was spotted again at only 35 degrees of latitude 615 days later. It would seem she had barely drifted. However, from reports of some 32 ships, it was made plain that the vessel drifted around the entire Sargasso Sea and was already on its second course around it. It had drifted 5,500 miles in those days and was still going strong like the Fannie Wolston. Those ships that drifted into the Sargasso Sea were perhaps preserved longer or simply idled in a general area longer than those that drifted in the fast currents. Because of this the Sargasso Sea rightly received the moniker Port of Missing. But for the most part, the mysteries began in the Bermuda Triangle. With so many derelicts afloat for years haunting the North Atlantic it is hardly surprising that a legend of mystery developed. Even if the crews escaped these sound ships safely, for whatever reason, many of the crews that spotted the vessels never knew that. As far as witnesses were concerned these ships were truly cursed drifters, and entire crews continued to avoid them. The Fannie Wolston had drifted over 7,000 miles when last reported, and Sigsbee noted that this range, the longest and furthest on record, would be increased as she was still drifting at the time of his reports publication.

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The modern legend that this area of sea had more ghost ships than others was hardly without its kernel of truth. It deserved to be studied, as the Hydrographic Office was attempting. The legend didnt need to be sensationalized. Obviously, it was in some accounts. The concentration of derelicts inspired many stories of the Sargasso Sea. But modern scholars were surprised when Sigsbees work was again republished today and we discovered the salient fact that more derelicts occurred in the precise area where the modern legend of missing ships and aircraft should also be centered. This is not simply a mathematic probability in heavily crowded shores off the United States. Sigsbee broke down the stats to show that American and British ships constituted the higher percentage (160 American and 134 British respectively) but also that 95 Norwegian ships, 24 German, 20 Italian, 11 French, 10 Swedish and even 9 Russian ships, among other nationalities, join the list of vessels where their crews fled safe ship for treacherous waters. Sigsbees studies, and those reports of independent Hydrographic bulletins, reveals a genuine enigma. The area we today call the Bermuda Triangle has always stood out for mystery. Whether many of these derelicts can be explained or not does not change the overall enigma. It is here where crews took flight more than elsewhere, and this must be explained, for it is a pattern and a pattern that overlaps the pattern of disappearances of entire ships and planes. Further reports from ships, including the now-infamous Mohican in 1904, have only added to possible reasons why crews have panicked. A connection with todays enigma of the Bermuda Triangle is underscored by the fact that old accounts like the Mohican had long been buried and forgotten. Yet long before this old newspaper account was rediscovered in the 21st century, we had published accounts from those who sailed the Triangle and reported encounters with electromagnetic forces. They, too, spoke about unusual clouds and electronic fogs that caused compasses to go haywire, power to be drained, the horizon to disappear, and all electronic gear to malfunction. To what extent do these forces have to do with disappearances? That can only be determined by continuing to gather and collate data, as I continue to do. But as for the enigma of the Bermuda Triangle, we can safely say that it is quite real. Unusual electromagnetic aberrations do happen there, and there are more disappearances than elsewhere. However, we cannot let theories replace facts or let favorite guesses solve what is not solved. Supernatural explanations cannot be allowed to wipe out the genuine and intriguing enigma this sea really holds. Mystery is an invitation to look and to learn, not to deny and mock. Disappearances by the hundreds have joined the derelicts. They add an even greater tangibility to the Triangles enigma. A disappearance of materiel as big as ships and airliners is not a subjective mystery, such as sightings of UFOs or Bigfoot. These ships and aircraft existed. They had people aboard, and now they are missing. They exist by registration number in archives and official registers, and investigations were made of most of the cases, so that it is possible to go back centuries and find records where an investigator puzzled over why a ship disappeared. In the aviation age, however, mystery intensified. Aircraft travel relatively quickly compared to ships. Their flight paths are carefully vectored. Their ETAs are known. Yet they disappear as often as ships. They present many more mysteries than ship disappearances. They are not subject to piracy in mid-air. Seaquakes will not upset them. Whales cannot harm them. They often dont vanish far from our eyes either. Radar has captured them. One moment they are there. A sweep of the scope 20 seconds they are gone. Many vanished over shallow water and left no trace. And, most of all, rescuers have come quickly to the suspected scene and yet, even minutes later, find nothing. Some 50 plus years has now elapsed since people sought the cause of all this. Truth and error has intermixed, but together they have revealed enormous potential about our planets and brought to our attention intriguing discussions and possible solutions. Study carefully for yourself. Theories and speculation will vary, but in the end all will agree that the enigma is quite true. Let me anticipate one: . . ..

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS

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Common Questions
Q. What are the precise coordinates, I mean latitude and longitude of the Triangle?
A. There are no such coordinates. One can give those for Bermuda, Miami, Florida, and for San Juan, Puerto Rico, but the actual triangle cannot be so easily defined. The man who coined the term in 1964, Vincent Gaddis, did so saying in and about this area. No one expected any reader to embrace the idea that it is a very precise triangle. The Bermuda Triangle is not the first name or the exclusive triangle for the area.

This is a much more accurate idea of its location.

Q. I would like to travel out there. Are there any Scientific Expeditions going out there that I can go with?
A. You dont need a scientific expedition to go out there. Thousands travel through the area daily. Any scientific expedition investigating the Bermuda Triangle would actually have to be searching for one of the lost aircraft or ships or trying to encounter one of the areas famed but elusive characteristics, such as electronic fog. You can do that on your own, if thats your game.

Q. Thousands of people in thousands of ships and planes travel out in the Triangle. The losses merely seem statistical. Why is there so much interest?
A. We are not speaking about accidents here. We are speaking about disappearances. What is a statistically acceptable number of disappearances under the greater category of accident? I would call your attention to the Coast Guards SAR Statistics published each year and broken down by district. In the decade of the 1990s, for instance, the 1st Coast Guard District (off New England) received almost as many distress calls as the 7th District (the Triangle). This is reflective of the amount of traffic and trouble in both locations. During this time there were thousands of accidents in each district, but there was about about 6 or 7 disappearances in the 1st district as opposed to more than 20 disappearances of planes in the Triangle and possibly twice that number in boats. Q. Can Static Electricity explain the disappearances? A. No. Aircraft are designed to absorb electrical charges, so are boats. The little item used is called a Zinc or a leach line. . . .and Ill add one of my own: Ive never heard of a pilot going unconscious because of static electricity. Q. Would anything be left at all from the 5 Avengers if they went into the Okefenokee Swamp?

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A. Yes, most certainly. Rhonda Kimbrough assures me that even if you put aluminum is straight vinegar for 100 years something would be left. The engine is cast iron, and the plexiglass would still remain. Q. Why do a lot of the other sites constantly debunk the Triangle but never list anything new? A. Well, for one none have done the research. I carefully wrote the introduction to my home page when saying that this site is not based on relating hearsay or repeating stories from 30 year old books. Also, no one but me has done research in the last 20 years, so the debunkers have no new catalog of mysteries to debunk. This limits them to aping Larry Kusches 1975 book The Bermuda Triangle Mystery-Solved. If I recall correctly none of the other sites are self owned, but are under the umbrella of a host, judging by their web site addresses which are not their own domain names but pages under other indexes. The cost of research is far in excess of maintaining a web site. These are more or less opinion sites. Q. Where do most of the ships and planes disappear? A. Around the Bahamas and Caribbean, southern Florida. Q. You mention some of the older theorists on the Atlantis Theory, but not the more modern ones. Why?

MYTHS AND FACTS

In reality, the designation Overdue Vessels is more important. But because it is hard to determine the number of people on board and exactly where the vessel last was, stats cannot be maintained with any reliability. Even overdue cannot be easily calculated. They may be categorized under aused by other factor, if at all. The last time I received a full printout of overdue vessels from the 7th District was 8 years ago (as of July 28, 2011). It covered the 2 fiscal years of 2001 -- 2002. About 300 vessel names or types were on the list. It was up to me to start a search to see which reported back to port, what the weather conditions were like, etc. This is a daunting task, and it is certain neither Lloyds nor the Coast Guard has done it. It is not negligence on their part. It is something merely beyond practicality to do. I myself received this list after 12 years of asking for and being denied missing vessel statistics, always receiving the reply Nobody tracks such statistics. When I wanted more, the Coast Guard was ready to charge me out the wazoo to cover man hours. I declined. There are better and cheaper ways to track missing vessels, especially with other boaters reporting friends and acquaintances overdue at sea. Thus I never bothered to get such overwhelming and tenuous lists again. The Coast Guard is not even capable of accurately determining the numbers, and therefore could never have conducted a study. Part of Myth Number 1 probably originates with a Coast Guard comment on the popular notion that 20 aircraft and 50 ships are missing in the Bermuda Triangle in the last 100 years, as of the 1970s. That number was bandied about incessantly since the 1970s and it is still in the Encyclopedia Britannica. This number is not extraordinary for 100 years, though it is more aircraft than elsewhere over seas. NTSB database searches reveal that in the 1990s alone only a handful of aircraft disappeared off New England while over 20 have happened in the Triangle. These are American statistics only, and do not reflect other nationalities. Altogether, probably about 150 aircraft have vanished since World War II. Then there are those who claim the disparity is due to the Triangles greater amount of traffic. In reality, the 1st Coast Guard District answers about just as many calls for assistance as the 7th, but the number of disappearances is still remarkably different. Similar traffic and trouble, but a disappearance is still a different matter. Myth 2 Investigations to date have not produced scientific evidence of any unusual phenomena involved in the disappearances. Thus, any explanation, including so-called scientific ones in terms of methane gas being released from the ocean floor, magnetic disturbances, etc., are not needed. The real mystery is how the Bermuda Triangle became a mystery at all. Fact 2

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Not only utterly false, but actually stupid. One would have to witness a disappearance in order to determine what was directly involved. This has obviously not be done, and such a comment, as a result, is a lame one. There have been NO scientific expeditions to investigate the overall Triangle. Independent people, often possessing degrees in one of the sciences, have made their own, sometimes truncated study. Most have produced some very interesting discoveries. Dr. A.J. Yelkins study revealed unexplained magnetic deviations during phases of the Moon. Dr. Zinks observations at Bimini revealed unexplained magnetic variations in the compass at the precise time each year in early August (consistent in some ways with Yelkins theories). Wilbert Smiths studies revealed areas of reduced binding in the magnetic field that came and went. Dr. David Pares of the U of Nebraska, is currently gathering data. But as for any scientific expeditions into the Triangle to take readings or tests or to see if something would happen, none has ever been done. Questions and Hypotheses are mandatory steps in the Process Skills of Scientific Inquiry which together comprise Scientific Method. Therefore no hypothesis can be considered unnecessary if it is based on genuine observations and comparative analysis . Q&H are required before the final two points can be engaged in: Experimenting and Model Building. Anybody who employs the term science as in Myth 2 is really only using some concept of established order to bolster their own uninformed popularist point of view. Myth 3 In short, the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle became a mystery by a kind of communal reinforcement among uncritical authors and a willing mass media to uncritically pass on the speculation that something mysterious is going on in the Atlantic. Fact 3 Wrong. And the acrimony is hypocritical since that is how the first 2 myths above became established, usually by debunkers spreading communal reinforcement that they have evidence by having no evidence or that the status quo as experienced by suburban America is the ultimate interpreter of experiences. Myth 4 In 1492, shortly before making land in the West Indies, Christopher Columbus recorded in his ships log that he and his crew had observed a large ball of fire fall into the sea and that the ships compass was behaving erratically. Fact 4 False. That happened shortly after leaving the Canary Islands. The erratic compasses readings were recorded thrice while in the Sargasso Sea and Triangle. Myth 5 The Bermuda Triangle mystery is answered with latest science- - static electricity is the culprit, not 4th dimensional hogwash that a severe electrostatic charge on the human body and in turn in the central nervous system and the brain is the cause for the human pilot to lose consciousness. This unconscious state happens both in astronautics and aeronautics and has also been observed and recorded in the Bermuda Triangle aviation disasters. The Bermuda Triangle is a static electricity exchange place. The Bermuda Triangle is on [sic] of Earths places where natural electricity is neutralized. Fact 5 False. The effects of the Earth as a weak driver is interesting and the subject of some studies, as well as over water locations where it might affect electromagnetism. But there is absolutely no evidence for static electricity in the Triangle cases, as claimed above. The claim that there was is utterly untrue. No pilots have been reported to pass out. How could you tell in a disappearance anyway? This originates with a man named Peter Staheli. He accepts the old and defunct lines attributed to Charles Taylor, the leader of Flight 19, everything is strange, wrong etc., and so forth. This gives you an idea of his research methods. Electromagnetic and electrical effects in the area are being studied by others right now, with far better research methods than those that sponsored Stahelis strange dogma. Since Staheli never really gave reasons for his conclusionary comments, his views cannot even rate the level of natural logic, which is defined as conclusions that are supported by the reasons one gives.

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Myth 6 Lt. Charles Taylor, the leader of Flight 19, was actually a lazy slob, a drunk, and a careless navigator. Fact 6 This rubbish stems from Larry Kusche who was all over the place in his 1980 book The Disappearance of Flight 19 which he wrote between two of his other stellars on how to scientifically pop popcorn. I cannot answer for what was in Kusches mind, but I would consider the result akin to clear victimization, as well as misrepresentation. I suggest the reader delve into my tome They Flew into Oblivion (shameless plug). As far as I am concerned there is nothing worthwhile in his book. I have criticized his methods in The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved, but still recommend it. However, with Disappearance I see no reason. There is no mystery why in the last 31 years it was never republished. Myth 7 The majority of disappearances can be attributed to the areas unique environmental features. First, the Devil's Triangle is one of the two places on earth that a magnetic compass does point towards true north. Normally it points toward magnetic north. The difference between the two is known as compass variation. The amount of variation changes by as much as 20 degrees as one circumnavigates the earth. If this compass variation or error is not compensated for, a navigator could find himself far off course and in deep trouble. Fact 7 False. The Agonic Line the area of no difference in calculation moves over time as the axis of the magnetic field slowly changes in response to the Earths rotation. It is now approaching the middle of the Gulf of Mexico as far as debunkers are concerned far outside of the Triangle. Disappearances, however, continue to occur in the same areas within the Triangle as they have for decades i.e. the Bahamas and off the east coast of the US. Compass variation was, obviously, never a factor. Myth 7 above, taken from the old Coast Guard opinion circa 38 years ago is obsolete. They have now updated it and removed the above statement. Myth 8 You receive money to do this. You are not a professional researcher, nor do you have a degree in BermudaTriangleology. Since you are not a who according to this standard, all of the evidence you present must be dismissed. ED. All right, maybe a little bit of that is tongue-in-cheek, but it captures the acrimony of one detractor on the web who calls himself Tobias Gibson, a man who seems to promote himself and his degree in Research as giving him an edge on the Triangle, though he seems to have little knowledge of what has transpired in the last 35 years. His research, degree or no, translates down to having watched a couple of PBS videos and to having read a couple of 35 year old books, as his bibliography testifies. Fact 8 Suffice it say, I am usually not paid for my appearances on TV. A couple of times Ive received an honorarium of 500 bucks. Wow! My web site has cost me over $8,000 smackerals since I put it up in March 1999. There is very little paid advertising, no pop-ups, and these are only in the last year (as of July 28, 2011). At the time of the above comment I had none whatsoever. Ive estimated that my web site has cost me over 8,000.00 dollars. One BBC reporter basically implied I was stupid in how I managed my value. Hes probably right. The $8,000.00 bucks above is compounded by travel and research coasts. To give you a small idea of what my actual costs ultimately amount to, the documents relating to the USS Cyclops cost me $500.00 dollars alone, and that is only one case out of hundreds that I have official documents on. ED. Another myth perpetrated by this spinmeister about me, a man who propagates many falsehoods on his web site, conjures up a frightful picture of what his reading comprehension must be like. The following myth is courtesy of this man and his inability to realize people take their reputations seriously. Myth 9: Bermuda-Triangle.Org description according to Tobias Gibson: is by far the best and most comprehensive site that purports the myths around the Bermuda Triangle. The journalist who does the page claims to do it as a hobby but seems to have connections with many cable channels that continue to

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purport the myth. The author also likes to trash this site and Larry Kusches book. Still, it is a very useful site. He has sections devoted to all the major theories. Unfortunately, the theory that weather and nature are the culprits is the one section he has yet to develop (as of March 27, 2001). He has a low opinion of this site because it is on Tripod and I don't pay for it to be on the web (Im not sure how this makes my site inaccurate or flawed). He also claims it is easier to just debunk a myth rather than support or create one. The site has lots of pretty pictures, many of which are glorified icons for sponsors (Im not sure how this differs from a Tripod Banner Ad) and may load slow but is definitely worth a look, despite the difference in opinions.

ED. Senator Alan Simpson once publicly declared: An attack unanswered is an attack believed. Let people know who you are and what you stand for.
For over a year I have not taken this sound advice. I have refrained from replying to his innuendoes or directly correcting the numerous outright errors his site contains for the reason he seems eager to promote my websites purpose as designed to trash his opinion site. By yielding to a rebuttal I was afraid this might help him promote the idea he likes to cultivate: that he is the reigning expert on the subject warring against the mass of sensationalists and mythmakers. This unenviable image would be relatively inoffensive were it not for his weak attempt to create it at my expense. Mercifully, he does not seem to impress a large audience, as his sluggish odometer previously testified before, like the missing in the Bermuda Triangle, it recently mysteriously vanished as his site underwent a move from near defunct status to another server, befitting its move downward in the search rankings. This site claims to have been up since 1995, but its odometer never reached 100,000 hits. Such misrepresentations as he makes in these comments, couched as a bibliographical statement of his sources, are hardly surprising considering the quanta of inaccuracies and misrepresentations he makes in his site altogether. Most of what he claims as myths are the result of poor reading comprehension, a limited scope of knowledge on the subject, and a predisposition to berate anything outside his own personal suburban experience. His facts in response to these myths are either bumbling error or pure exaggeration and fabrication. It is time, I think, that I finally respond to this mythmaker.

Fact 9
My site is loaded with actual pictures of people, the vessels, planes, and of the Triangle. Out of 180 pages or so, I have about 4 banners on the whole site. His statement shows he did not browse the site at all, or he is an outright prevaricator. As far as I can tell, he saw some of my answers in answering confused surfers. Their questions reflect their confusion after browsing his confused site. I was correcting the mistakes quite unaware of their origin. He translates this as trashing his site. His site was not mentioned.

Fact 10:
I do not create myth, nor do I support it. I have stated it is easier to mock a subject (debunk) than it is to do the actual research, expend time, money and effort to locate documents and interview people.

Myth 11: According to Gibson: The latitude and longitude of the Triangle are Before creative license takes over:
NW SW NE edge, Miami: 25.48N, 80.18 W edge, Bermuda: 32.20 N, 64.45 edge, San Juan: 18.5 N, 66.9 W. W

Fact 11:
As most of you noticed, who are neither brain dead nor had the one-day-lobotomy operation, Bermuda is not in the NorthWest of the Triangle, nor is Miami in the SouthEast, nor is San Juan in the SouthWest. Bermuda is NorthEast edge of the Triangle, Miami is SouthWest, and San Juan is SouthEas t.

Myth 12:
According to Gibson: The Sargasso Sea has nothing to do with the Bermuda Triangle. It is entirely east of Bermuda, just take a peek at any globe.

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Fact 12:
It is hard to image such cross-referencing having as its provenance a Masters in Research. After reading my correction in Q&A he apparently modified the above statement: The Sargasso Sea has really little to do with the Bermuda Triangle except a portion of its boundaries lies within the Triangle.

ED. When reading Gibson it is clear that analysis does not necessarily go hand-in-hand with research. Myth 13:
Most myth supporters like to plot Bermuda as centrally located within the Sargasso; this is not the case. However proponents of the myth will then expand the dimensions of the Triangle to include the area of the Sargasso Sea, having the uninformed assume that the two are synonymous. In reality, by doing so they have more than doubled the size of the triangle, while still leaving one with the impression that everything occurred within the original boundaries.

Fact 13: Complete exaggeration. I know of no such most myth supporters. I know of only one map, and that is on my site, courtesy of the National Geographic. We must assume that the NG are myth supporters since they show the Sargasso Sea encompassing Bermuda, as it does in reality, though this may not be reflected on Gibsons household globe.

The Sargasso National Geographic.

Sea

and

the

Island

of

Bermuda,

courtesy

of

the

ED. His comment shows his style of exaggeration one map on my site becomes most myth supporters. No writer, whether Berlitz, Winer, Spencer, Gaddis, Godwin, Sanderson, or Burgess, ever left their reader in doubt about the fluid shape of the Triangle, and always clarified the differences in opinion before discussing the missing. All their books are still available in used book stores or online at ABE, etc., and the surfer can buy them cheaply. One wonders what creative license Gibson is using when, to bolster his claim of authority on the subject, he makes the nebulous statement he lived in and about the area for 10 years but does not say where and considering his unusually pedantic view on the strict shape of the Triangle, he would have to have lived off shore Miami or in the Bahamas to have qualified. About or around the area does not count to him if its a disappearance, but he uses this same generalization when trying to give himself an edge as an authority on the Triangle.
One may assume this creative license was responsible for his claims of having investigated the Triangle for 20 years, which he now admits started when he was a kid; of having lived in the area for 10 years, though by his own criterion for disappearances he probably did not. What constitutes investigate also seems subject to his creative license. His site bibliography proves he has done nothing in excess of having watched a couple of videos and believed word-for-word Larry Kusches 36 year old book.

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Being unable to explain peoples encounters with electromagnetic phenomena and weird atmospheric aberrations, he once again misrepresents these as paranormal experiences, and then fabricates a scientific response.

Myth 14:
While scientists can assure them that nothing strange actually happened, they will cling to their belief that something truely [sic]strange happened. For them the Bermuda Triangle is as real as the air we breathe. This isnt actual proof in the existence of the Triangle but unfortunately their strong belief is shamelessly used my [sic] the perpetrators of the myth. Fact 14 No sailor or pilot reporting these went to any scientific personnel for an explanation except Frank Flynn. And all the oceanographers he spoke to were at a loss to explain it. No one who ever experienced unusual encounters with electronic fog claimed it was supernatural or paranormal. Many such stories were cataloged by the late Dr. J. Manson Valentine, but I suppose he is not a scientific authority since he did not debunk them out-of-hand like Gibson. Gibsons dictated explanation is another pure

Myth 15
Most if not all of the so-called mysteries are no more than over-active imaginations.

Fact 15
Gibson never spoke to any of them and has no way to determine this. His claim that scientists have done so is, again, pure myth.

Myth 16:
. . .if an aircraft crashes *into the water* and then is submerged, the ELT signal will not be heard since the ELT is submerged, so the effect is, as you note, that it is quite difficult to find a plane that has crashed into the water.

Fact 16:
ELTs, as most any aviator knows, are designed to float. They are contained in the fuselage and jettisoned by the force of impact. His former statement that they sink with the plane because they are in the seat must have been inspired by some vague knowledge of military automatic alarms. These are contained in fighter pilot seats and triggered by ejection. Since one does not eject from the seat of a civilian aircraft, the ELT is placed in the fuselage. He altered his statement after reading my Q&A answer to a confused surfer. He now claims ELTs merely sink with the plane.

ED. What the hell is the point in having an automatic alarm that is designed to be destroyed with the aircraft?! His 20 years of aviation interest and all things nautical never got him near a plane or he never would not have made such an exaggeration to apply that to all aircraft. Myth 17:
His ideas on the size of the Triangle: Consider these sizes: According to the Myth, the Bermuda Triangle is anywhre [sic]from 600,000 square miles to 1,500,000 square miles of ocean. The Sargasso which is almost entirely outside of the Triangle is over 2,000,000 square miles of ocean.

ED. Again, anything outside the shape and size he wishes to give the area, based on Gaddis article in 1964, is his criterion for determining myth.

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Fact 17:
However, the 1,500,000 square miles is directly referencing me and my article 500 Leagues of Sea. This Master in Research apparently has never read the Encyclopedia Britannica: Bermuda Triangle, section of the North Atlantic Ocean. . . The triangle extends roughly between latitude 25 degrees to 40 degrees N and longitude 55 to 85 degrees W and covers an area of more than 1,500,000 sq miles (3,900,000 sq km). The Encyclopedia Britannica is now a myth supporter one must assume.

ED. His bizarre skepticism has handicapped any kind of real analysis or research. He doesnt realize that Gaddis was not the first to describe a shape, nor did he have to be the last. History of the Triangle Myth 18:
There are only two longitudes in the world where Magnetic and Grid, or Magnetic, and True North align. These locations are near the center of Europe and near the eastern part of the United States.

Fact 18:
FALSE! They are off Japan and down the Eastern US and through the Gulf. Not even Wrong Way Corrigan made that kind of mistake! Nevertheless, he writes, with true geographical obtuseness:

Myth 19: At the tip of Portugal the difference between Magnetic and Grid North is about four degrees. As you travel west across the Atlantic, the difference between Magnetic and Grid North begins to increase. This difference can get as much as 22 degrees. This increase continues until you reach the middle of the Atlantic and the Sargasso Sea, and then slowly Grid and Magnetic begin to realign so that by the time you reach the southern tip of Florida the two are only one and a half degrees different. Fact 19: Wrongy. Southern Florida, as any navigator knows, is about 3 degrees off. Any current chart will show that.
35 years ago the Agonic Line may have been off the eastern Florida coast. No longer. The Agonic Line is now near the center of the Gulf of Mexico. The area of increase or decrease is measured from the Agonic Line. It increases the further one travels into the Atlantic until at the Azores it is about 24 degrees (as I recall). I have no idea what he is talking about when he is mentioning Portugal and that somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic they begin to realign. That happens in the Gulf and off Japan.

Myth 20:
The author also likes to trash this site and Larry Kusches book . . . He has a low opinion of this site because it is on Tripod and I don't pay for it to be on the web (I'm not sure how this makes my site inaccurate or flawed)

Fact 20:
Never heard of him at the time. His site had never been mentioned ever (until today, June 24, 2002). Any general comment about other web sites was that they are opinion sites. But the fact he immediately assumed he was being singled-out from amongst many sites (all of which have more hits on their odometers than he ever had), I find bizarre.

ED. As it stands today, Gibson has retired in favor of a protg who will not only keep the torch of debunkery alive but do so with equally nebulous claims to authority. While Tobias lived in the area for ten years, I have not. I do however visit the area frequently (four times in the last three years) and without incident. I call these visits, Summer Vacation and/or Spring Break.
The a la mode upon Gibsons frivolous claims of authority is now promoting cruising the bars and party hotspots of Daytona Beach or Miami (or other Spring Break meccas) as investigating the Triangle. Both imply that since nothing has ever happened to them (presumably along these drags), there is little chance anything mysterious has happened to those 500 miles out at sea. But she reasserts she is his pupil and that he lived in and around the area for 10 years while growing up and has been researching so-called [Myth 21 warning] paranormal activity, particularly the Bermuda Triangle, off and on, for over two decades. He did this as a hobby and not for pay.

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Fact 21:
The Bermuda Triangle is not a paranormal pursuit. It is a tangible investigation of missing aircraft and ships, vast tonnages of both, and the possible theories of what might have caused it. There are no ghosts, demons or angels involved.

ED.His comment about receiving no pay seems to be another hatchwork based on his impression there is money where TV walks! In his bibliography of my site he describes me thusly: Myth 22:
The journalist who does the page claims to do it as a hobby but seems to have connections with many cable channels that continue to purport the myth. (Ed. On the other hand, his pupil brags about him being a Professional Researcher.)

Fact 22:
A lame inference. One, I am no journalist. In actuality I am not paid for appearing on TV, nor do I receive money for doing my research. I have received an honorarium on a couple of occasions. I dont knock people who have learned to make money at their hobby. I have simply failed to do so. My hobby has, in fact, cost me thousands because I bothered to get documents and travel in the Triangle, because I bothered to enter the subject tangibly and not just stew in my own conceited second guesswork. I have been doing this since 1990 and until 1999 I received no public recognition. For this tenacity and for the evidence I can present I get on TV. They approach me.

ED. Gibsons obvious failure in the area of which he had once bragged of self-expertise might be sponsoring his new denigration of the whole subject. His pupil writes of his farewell: However the Bermuda Triangle was never his only interest in life and he doesnt have time to focus, in his words, on "debunking half baked theories that could easily be explained away with more complete research in the first place".
But his site claims to have already presented the facts to debunk it, has it not? After 20 years is he admitting he never researched it completely? Theories need more research or the incidents? Its often hard to follow his illogical progressions. I must assume this webmasters apparent lack of reading comprehension has also prompted his basic mistakes and also his overall glowing appraisal of his meager research. His mistakes above have not been the only ones. But it is not practical or possible to critique his entire site. It may not be necessary either. As the surfer of his guestbook discovers, he is not taken too seriously anymore. This seems haunted by equally immature approaches to the topic. The comment of one high school girl, left on June 21, 2002, reflects the outlook of those who find his site interesting enough to leave a message: My toilet is my Bermuda Triangle. Large objects keep disappearing daily. But such an attitude is not surprising in the guestbook of a website whose webmaster originally approached the subject from behind such an impressive pseudonym as Bubba, the Salty Dog. In short, this webmasters claims and approach have no merit. All those in and about the Triangle in aviation or nautical authority are not familiar with his name, nor are any family members of the missing, friends or other researchers. His web site shows he has gotten no documents, not even an old newspaper article, despite his claim he backworked most of Kusches bibliography. Though he claims to have lived in and about the area, he is completely unaware of its most basic geography. His claims and reputation, in essence, have no cross-reference in reality outside of the cyber reality of the world-wide-web and what he wishes to represent of himself. His conclusions seem based on nothing more than a few videos and Kusches 1975 book. This lack of serious approach to the subject is befitting the moniker Bubba, the Salty Dog. And such a flippant nomen befits 3rd grade intros like his typical exaggeration: Okay Let me tell you right off that the Bermuda Triangle is a myth that started off as old-time stories that sailors used to tell new ship mates to give them the heebie-jeebies. Well, its time to go on. Its unfortunate such things must be written. Gibson should not have taken the reputation of another person so lightly. It is well his site has a sub-page devoted to Spatial Disorientation, for his entire site is a mastery of spin, of exaggerations of what the myths are, and outright error takes the place of his facts.

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SOME IMPORTANT POINTS
The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft and surface vessels reportedly disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Popular culture has attributed these disappearances to the paranormal or activity by extraterrestrial beings.[1] Documented evidence indicates that a significant percentage of the incidents were inaccurately reported or embellished by later authors, and numerous official agencies have stated that the number and nature of disappearances in the region is similar to that in any other area of ocean.[2][3][4]

The Triangle area

The area of the Triangle varies by author The boundaries of the triangle cover the Straits of Florida, the Bahamas and the entire Caribbean island area and the Atlantic east to the Azores. The more familiar triangular boundary in most written works has as its points somewhere on the Atlantic coast of Miami; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and the mid-Atlantic island of Bermuda, with most of the accidents concentrated along the southern boundary around the Bahamas and the Florida Straits. The area is one of the most heavily traveled shipping lanes in the world, with ships crossing through it daily for ports in the Americas, Europe, and the Caribbean Islands. Cruise ships are also plentiful, and pleasure craft regularly go back and forth between Florida and the islands. It is also a heavily flown route for commercial and private aircraft heading towards Florida, the Caribbean, and South America from points north.