The Bermuda Triangle
Ships and aircraft are said to vanish in a stretch of ocean off Florida more often than anywhere else.
What was reported
The idea of a deadly triangle was popularised in a 1964 magazine article by Vincent Gaddis and became famous with Charles Berlitz's 1974 bestseller. The cases usually cited include the loss of the US Navy collier USS Cyclops in 1918 and of Flight 19, five Navy bombers, in 1945.
Explanations offered over the years have ranged from magnetic anomalies and methane bubbling up from the seabed to the lost city of Atlantis.
Explanations offered
When the librarian Lawrence Kusche checked the original records in 1975, he found many losses exaggerated, misplaced or not mysterious at all. The area is among the busiest stretches of ocean in the world, with strong currents and sudden storms, and insurers and the US Coast Guard say ships are not lost there at a higher rate than elsewhere.
- When
- Named in 1964
- Where
- Western North Atlantic, between Miami, Bermuda and Puerto Rico
- Witnesses
- Writers, sailors and pilots
- Status
- Mostly explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.