What is the Burmuda Triangle? What is the background story on it?

ak2

"The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a region of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean in which a number of aircraft and surface vessels have disappeared in what are said to be circumstances that fall beyond the boundaries of human error or acts of nature... Although substantial documentation exists showing numerous incidents to have been inaccurately reported or embellished by later authors, there is no doubt that many ships and airplanes have been lost in the area." Christopher Columbus was the first to document strange occurances in the Triangle. More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bermuda_Triangle Dec 21 07, 11:55 PM

author

While there is a common belief that a number of ships and airplanes have disappeared under highly unusual circumstances in this region, the United States Coast Guard and others disagree with that assessment, citing statistics demonstrating that the number of incidents involving lost ships and aircraft is no larger than that of any other heavily traveled region of the world. Many of the alleged mysteries have proven not so mysterious or unusual upon close examination, with inaccuracies and misinformation about the cases often circulating and recirculating over the decades. http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060626055608AAwc0Ny This site is also sceptical and claims that the story is a mass media myth. Quote: 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. Communal reinforcement is the process by which a claim becomes a strong belief through repeated assertion by members of a community. The process is independent of whether the claim has been properly researched or is supported by empirical data significant enough to warrant belief by reasonable people. Often, the mass media contribute to the process by uncritically supporting the claims. http://skepdic.com/bermuda.html http://skepdic.com/comreinf.html Dec 22 07, 2:11 AM

Baloo55th

It's the old 'cut and paste' syndrome. Someone says it's mysterious, and most people repeat that. Someone else says there is a perfectly rational explanation, and most people don't hear. Dec 22 07, 11:06 AM

MonkeyOnALeash

As for "Mysterious Waters and Forces"....Nah. But having sailed along the waters in the Triangle, the weather does change in the "blink of an eye". Placid to deadly. Blue skya to blinding rain. But the porpoises riding your bow-break are wonderful! There is a "Methane Release" theory that has been explored and documented, that would rationally solve the mystery. http://www.crystalinks.com/bermuda_triangle.html http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/10/22/1066631498889.html http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00110/bermudatriangleframeset.htm There is no dispute...There is an inordinate amount of inexplicable disappearances that have occurred within this zone. Dec 22 07, 2:01 PM

Baloo55th

There is dispute. Very many of the mysterious disappearances aren't at all mysterious. There is also dispute about the location of some disappearances. And there are disappearance and strange occurrences elsewhere. http://science.howstuffworks.com/bermuda-triangle.htm http://geography.about.com/od/culturalgeography/a/bermudatriangle.htm http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/1205_021205_bermudatriangle.html http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/hydrates/bermuda.html Please note: no crystals, no mysteries and no Charles Berlitz (who rates as great a scientist as von Daniken and Velikovsky, i.e. somewhat lower than G. W. Bush...) The gas upwellings were in the geological past, the statistics do not show any greater accident rate than can be expected in a busy area (compare the accident rates of the M1 and Pit Lane, Royton...). Trawlers have for many years disappeared in the North Sea. Ships go down in the Great Lakes - the Edmund Fitzgerald for one. Once a Charles Berlitz scents an opportunity for a book, scientific explanation takes a back seat. To show how people don't stop to think, the other day a former teacher was seriously telling me that on his birthday a hole in a particular broken cross lines up with the sun at 4.00pm or some such time. The broken cross also lines up with a nearby church. It also, but he didn't say so, lines up with my house, Simone's house (if you allow for the curvature of the Earth) and Preston Town Hall. Any two points can be joined. The point I'm making is that once a theory has come to mind, the facts can be bent or ignored to fit it. This also applies in politics.... Dec 22 07, 3:21 PM