5 Famous Mysterious Stories of the Bermuda Triangle

What is the Bermuda Triangle?

Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil’s Triangle, is one of the most mysterious places on this planet. Located off the southeastern coast of the US in the Atlantic Ocean, between Bermuda, Florida, and Puerto Rico, it has become the Center of unresolved mysteries.

The Bermuda Triangle covers 440,000 miles of sea and is part of a busy shipping route. Several vessels pass through the region every day to reach America, Europe, and the Caribbean.

Over centuries, many ships and planes have mysteriously disappeared in the region. This Devil’s Triangle has also been blamed for the disappearance of thousands of people.

Vincent Gaddis first used the term “Bermuda Triangle” in 1964 in an article published in Argosy magazine.

When did stories about the Bermuda Triangle Begin?

The stories around the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle began in Christopher Columbus’s time when he saw a flame of fire crashing into the sea in the Triangle during his first voyage to the New World.

However, the story of the Bermuda Triangle came to the forefront in the 20th century when the Navy cargo ship USS Cyclops, with more than 300 people on board, went missing inside the Bermuda Triangle.

The latest incident in the region was the disappearance of a small twin-engine plane in May 2021.

With four people on board, the plane suddenly disappeared from the radar while flying from Puerto Rico to Florida, and the debris from the missing plane was found later.

The recent incident that involved a ship was the sinking of a cargo vessel in the Bermuda Triangle during a deadly hurricane in October 2015.

As the accidents, often mysterious, continue to happen in the Bermuda Triangle, many explanations have been offered.

Popular Theories About the Bermuda Triangle

Paranormal activities & Aliens: Some strongly suggest paranormal activities and the presence of aliens, while many with scientific views have disputed this argument and offered rational explanations for the phenomenon.

Magnetic Fields: Among the few proposed scientific explanations, the most popular is the theory of electromagnetic interference that causes compass problems. This theory claims that the earth’s natural magnet has a very high pull, which redirects the compass and other sophisticated equipment.

Lost City of Atlantis: Some argue that the mythical underwater city of Atlantis could be the cause of the Bermuda Triangle mystery. The energy crystals that once powered the ancient city could still be active and interfere with ships’ navigational equipment.

USA’s AUCTEC Base: America’s Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center, or the AUCTEC Base, is located on Andros Island, Bahamas, in the centre of the Bermuda Triangle. Theorists argue that the government works with Aliens and the base is for testing alien technologies, not submarines and naval weapons, as the government claims. However, this is just a rumour.

Time Tunnel or Electronic Fog: This theory became famous after a pilot named Bruce Gernon was flying from Andros to Bimini Island, Bahamas, when he encountered a cloud that led to a tunnel. He flew into it, and when he came out, he was several hundred miles off course. He claimed that he could not have travelled that much distance in such a short time.

A Comet: Some point out that a comet might have ended in the Atlantic thousands of years ago, where the Triangle of Bermuda is located. This would have led to a change in the region’s electromagnetic properties that disrupted ships and aircraft navigational equipment.

Trapped Methane: Another widely accepted theory about the Bermuda Triangle is the existence of methane pockets. When released during seismic occurrences, these pockets release massive methane gas into the waters, decreasing its density, which destabilises ships. However, methane hydrates are present in several regions of the world.

However, as no single theory could offer a concrete explanation, many still believe there is nothing strange with the region as most incidents were inaccurately reported or fictionalised versions of the accidents.

Notwithstanding the lack of a proven theory about the exact reason behind the Bermuda Triangle mystery, accidents continue to happen in the region every year.

The legends of the Bermuda Triangle include several mysterious ship disappearances.

Here is a list of the most noted stories of ship disappearances or the unresolved mysteries in the Devil’s Triangle.

Famous Bermuda Triangle Stories 

1. The Mary Celeste

Possibly one of the most mysterious stories of shipwrecks, this ship is a tale of its own. Despite being found adrift in some other location in the Atlantic Ocean, the connection to the Bermuda Triangle had been somehow invoked to find an answer to the mystery of its fate.

Discovered on 4 December 1872 with everything right except for the entire crew, the ship was found stranded in the sea days after starting its journey from New York to Genoa, Italy.

There were seven crew members and Captain Benjamin Briggs, his wife, and their two-year-old daughter aboard the vessel, loaded with raw alcohol.

But days later, a passing British ship called Dei Gratia found Mary Celeste under partial sail in the Atlantic, off the Azores Islands. The ship was unmanned, with no crew abroad, and the lifeboat was also missing.

It was also found that nine of the barrels in the cargo were empty, and a sword was on the deck. No trace of the people aboard the vessel or the missing lifeboat has ever been found.

Studies of the ship ruled out the possibility of a pirate attack since everything on this ship, including the barrels of alcohol it was transporting and the crew’s valuable belongings, were intact.

Theories surrounding the mystery of Mary Celeste also included criminal conspiracy, alien abduction, and even an attack by a giant squid.

The possibility of a natural disaster was also on the list. Many suggested the role of an undersea earthquake behind the accident, while few proposed an accidental foraying of the vessel into the Bermuda Triangle.

However, as much as these speculations seem reasonable, they don’t fit. After all, why would a perfectly skilled crew on a good weather day, with their ship entirely uncompromised, abandon it and then never surface again?

2. Ellen Austin

In 1881, Ellen Austin was on its way to New York from London when she stumbled upon a derelict near the Bermuda Triangle. Everything seemed fine with the unidentified schooner drifting just north of the Sargasso Sea, but the missing crew.

Captain Baker of the Ellen Austin asked to observe the derelict for two days to ensure it was not a trap. After two days with no response from the ship, the captain entered the abandoned vessel with his crew to find the well-packed shipment, but there was no sign of the crew.

To tow it back with Ellen Austin, the captain placed a prize crew on the ship and set it to sail together. However, after two days of sailing on calm waters, a squall separated the two ships’ paths, after which the derelict vanished.

According to the stories, days after the storm, Captain Baker’s lookout could spot the vessel through his spyglass only to realise it was drifting far away aimlessly once again. Finally, after hours of effort, Ellen Austin could catch up with the vessel.

Strangely, no one was on board. Another version of the story suggests a second attempt by Baker to bring her back to land, but in vain.

Other reports suggest that the derelict was spotted again.

The story of the ship’s disappearance and the reappearance is quite intriguing. It is more like a secret of the Bermuda Triangle, one that seems unlikely to be unravelled anytime soon.

3. USS Cyclops

The disappearance of the USS Cyclops, one of the Navy’s biggest fuel ships, marks the largest loss of life in the history of the US Navy.

In March 1918, this massive ship sailed from Brazil to Baltimore through the Bermuda Triangle. It was carrying 10,800 tons of manganese ore and 309 crew members. Setting off on a good day, the ship’s first and only message indicated no troubles.

However, the ship was never heard from again. The entire area was searched, but nothing was ever found.

No remains of the ship or any crew members have been found. The captain of the USS Cyclops never sent a distress signal, and no one responded to radio calls from other vessels.

The naval investigators also failed to find a definite cause for its disappearance.

Due to its mysterious disappearance, Cyclops is among the 100 ships and planes that have vanished under strange circumstances in the Bermuda Triangle.

4. Carroll A. Deering

Carroll A. Deering, a five-masted commercial schooner, is one of the most written-about maritime mysteries of the 20th century due to the mystery around its abandonment.

On January 31, 1921, Carroll A. Deering was found hard aground on the treacherous rocks of Hatteras Diamond Shoals, North Carolina. There were speculations that the vessel was involved in rum-running.

However, when the Barbados investigation team reached the vessel, they found a deserted ship with all crew members missing, along with the crew’s personal belongings, navigational equipment, logbooks, and life rafts, among other things.

Often known as the “Ghost Ship of the Outer Banks,” the disappearance of Carroll A. Deering and a few other vessels during the same time period in the Bermuda Triangle has provided valuable information on the mysterious waters, but nothing could bring anyone closer to solving this mystery.

Reports suggest that as many as nine vessels disappeared from the region during this period- none of which was ever heard from again.

5. Witchcraft

On December 22, 1967, a cabin cruiser named Witchcraft left Miami with its captain, Dan Burack, and his friend, Father Patrick Horgan.

The two gentlemen on the 23-foot luxury yacht wanted to enjoy the fantastic view of Miami’s Christmas lights. However, after reaching just one mile offshore, the captain called the Coast Guard, stating that his ship had hit something, but there was no substantial damage.

The Coast Guard set off immediately, reaching Witchcraft in 19 minutes.

The area indicating the ship’s location was utterly deserted, with no signs of any vessel having been stranded or previously present.

What’s most intriguing about this story is that this particular cruiser was virtually unsinkable, not to mention numerous life-saving devices present aboard, including life jackets, lifeboats, flares, distress signal devices, etc.

None of them was used, and the ship was gone. Over the next few days, the Coast Guard officials searched hundreds of square miles of the ocean but were unsuccessful. Nothing from this ship has been found to this day.

Over to you…

Do you know any other mystery that can be added to this list?

Let us know in the comments below.

You might also like to read:

• Reasoning Out the Mystery: The Bermuda Triangle
• Unexplained Mystery: The Devil’s Sea (The Dragon’s Triangle
• The Mystery of the Mary Celeste Ghost Ship
• The Mystery of Ghost Ships: HMS Erebus and HMS Terror
• Top 10 Amazing Ocean Mysteries and Phenomena
• The South Atlantic Anomaly: Understanding the SAA Phenomenon