What's Really Going on At the Bottom of the Bermuda Triangle?

Key Concepts

• Bermuda Triangle (BT)
• Christopher Columbus's voyage
• Asteroid impact theory
• SS Cotopaxi
• Michael Barnett and the "Bear Wreck"
• Bruce Gernon's flight
• Electromagnetic fog
• Dark energy
• Sunspots and solar wind

The Legend of the Bermuda Triangle

The Bermuda Triangle, a mysterious region between Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and Florida, is known for the unexplained disappearances of ships, boats, and planes. While many stories exist, the exact causes remain largely unknown.

Christopher Columbus's Encounter

The legend traces back approximately 600 years to Christopher Columbus's voyage in 1492. While sailing towards Asia, he reported seeing a "huge flash in the sky" and his compass needle began to "dance all over the place." He did not report strong winds or heavy rain.

Theory: Scientists now suggest that an asteroid crashing into the ocean could explain these phenomena. Asteroids, rich in minerals and metals, can possess magnetic fields that might have interfered with Columbus's compass.

The SS Cotopaxi Mystery

The cargo ship SS Cotopaxi, en route to Havana, Cuba, with coal, disappeared on November 29, 1925, after sending a distress signal indicating it was caught in a strong tropical storm with high winds and lightning.

Debunked Theory: A fictional account by Steven Spielberg suggested aliens moved the ship to the Gobi Desert. In reality, the ship was never found, and its crew vanished.

Resolution: In 2020, Michael Barnett, a shipwreck researcher, identified a large shipwreck off the coast of Florida, known locally as the "Bear Wreck," as the Cotopaxi. His extensive research, including examining newspaper archives, insurance records, and artifacts, led him to this conclusion. Divers found brass valves with "SV" initials, which Barnett linked to the Scott Valve Manufacturing Company, a supplier for the Cotopaxi.

Actual Cause: Barnett discovered testimony from the ship's carpenter indicating that the hatches covering the coal were in poor condition and not fully repaired before the voyage. This allowed water to flood the ship's hold during the tropical storm, causing it to sink. The disappearance was attributed to human error, not a supernatural event.

Other Disappearances

Despite the Cotopaxi's explanation, other incidents in the Bermuda Triangle remain unexplained.

• 1948 Passenger Jet: A passenger jet traveling from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Miami disappeared in the same area. All 32 people on board vanished. While the weather was clear, experts theorize a strong wind might have knocked the plane off course. A similar plane was found later in the area, but its identity could not be confirmed.
• 1945 Training Planes: Five trainee pilots practicing navigation disappeared. While running out of fuel is a possibility, the circumstances were considered strange, especially as they were supervised by an experienced pilot.

Bruce Gernon's Flight

On December 4, 1970, pilot Bruce Gernon, his father, and business partner were flying a Beechcraft Bonanza from Andros Island, Bahamas, to Miami. This was a routine flight that usually took about 90 minutes.

Unusual Experience:

• Gernon encountered a small cloud that rapidly grew larger.
• He then flew through a massive, dark cloud that blocked all sunlight, despite no rain or storm.
• He observed bright, white flashes of light, unlike lightning.
• The plane entered a cylindrical cloud, about one mile wide, which Gernon described as an endless trap.
• The walls of the cloud tunnel began to narrow, creating a vortex.
• Navigational and electronic instruments malfunctioned, with the compass spinning counterclockwise.
• Gernon felt weightless for five seconds upon exiting the tunnel.

Inexplicable Outcome:

• The plane reappeared in Miami airspace, but the flight had taken only 47 minutes, a physically impossible duration for the distance and the aircraft's speed (approximately 180 mph).
• Ground control could not initially detect the plane on radar.
• Gernon found he had significantly more fuel remaining than expected for the flight.

Theories:

• Bruce Gernon's Theory: He proposed the phenomenon was caused by "electric fog with white flashes."
• Dark Energy Theory: This theory suggests that dark energy, responsible for the universe's expansion, could have curved spacetime, forming a tunnel that Gernon accidentally entered. This could explain the rapid travel time.
• Scientific Explanation: Archive records from that day show 84 sunspots and a massive solar wind (almost 440 miles per second). These could have caused disturbances in the Earth's magnetosphere, affecting the plane's instruments and radar, potentially aligning with Gernon's "electronic fog" experience. The unusual clouds are also explained as common occurrences where zones of low and high pressure collide.

Conclusion: While the SS Cotopaxi incident has a plausible explanation, many other disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle, including Bruce Gernon's extraordinary flight, remain subjects of debate and speculation, with no definitive answers for all cases.