AREA 51 AND RELATED CONTROVERSIES

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The Bermuda Triangle

The Bermuda Triangle located between Bermuda, the Florida Keys, and Puerto Rico, has been one of the most dangerous places to travel for the last 500 years. Hundreds of ships have sunk there making it a hot spot for research for decades.

The first reported strange occurrence happened in 1492 with Christopher Columbus. He was on his first voyage from Europe to the new world. As he passed through the area we know today as the Bermuda Triangle. When he sailed through the area, he noticed that his compass had malfunctioned, but just continued to sail straight until he got out of the region. Historians think that he was sailing through the Bermuda triangle because he experienced it just before he reached the island we know today as Hispaniola, which lies just west of the Bermuda triangle.

The Bermuda triangle is roughly 500,000 square miles (1,295,000 square kilometer). This is about twice the size of Texas. The most disappearances occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries. The first recorded event of a ship going missing was the Atlanta. It disappeared in the 1890’s. More importantly, though, the largest military vessel to ever go missing without any trace was the U.S.S Cyclops. The ship was traveling from the island of Barbados to Maryland during The First World War. The ship went missing somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle. The ship’s remains have never been found. Many skeptics say that the ship was most likely caught in a freak storm.

Perhaps the most famous of all the disappearances in the Bermuda triangle was Flight 19. On December 5^th, 1945, 5 torpedo bombers called Avengers, lead by Lt. Charles Carroll Taylor, were on a training mission from Fort Lauderdale Florida to Miami. They departed at 2:10 P.M. About a half hour after the crew left the base, Lt. Charles Carroll Taylor claimed that he became disoriented. He said that his compasses had gone haywire. Within another half hour, communications were lost with the five plans.

The air base figured out that the planes had gone missing. They alerted all planes and ships going through the area. Within 18 hours they had a search plane in the area. Within a few hours of that, the search plane had been lost. No remains of any of the planes have ever been found.

There are many explanations for the Bermuda Triangle. There are two basic kinds of theories for the Bermuda Triangle: paranormal and scientific. The scientific theories are mainly weather related. In the Bermuda Triangle there are tons of freak weather storms, from violent thunder storms to water spouts. Water spouts are especially dangerous. They are highly spontaneous and dangerous. They are just like a tornado, but over the water. These storms can travel very fast. In the dark they are extremely difficult to see, especially in rough seas.

Another popular theory is the methane theory. In the Bermuda triangle there are large under water fields of methane. Methane (a.k.a. natural gas) is a gas found naturally in the earth. It forms from the decay of prehistoric organisms. Methane can be released at any time. There are quantities of methane large enough to sink a massive ship. If there is a large methane release under a ship, the ship will loose buoyancy. Large crafts are not meant for this kind of force and will break apart. Methane can be inhaled and cause lack of judgment. It can also get into engines. This really isn't a problem for ships; it would just cause them to stop. Planes on the other hand don't have that luxury. Methane will cause then engines to stall and the plane could possibly fall into an uncontrolled spiral. This is because for an engine to work, it needs oxygen to burn with gasoline, ceresin, or diesel. When methane gets into engines there isn’t enough air for the engine to work properly. As a result, the plane stalls even if only for a moment. If a plane were to fly behind another aircraft, it will stall due to something called jet wash. Jet wash occurs when there is a lack of oxygen flowing into the engine. It doesn't take much to make an aircraft stall.

Another propriety of methane is that it is lighter than air. This means that planes don't get as much lift. This is because air resistance is needed for planes to fly. In a vacuum, there would be no lift because there is no air to support it. Imagine you jump off a diving board into a pool. As you are jumping through the lightweight air, there is little resistance. This means you fall quickly. In the water on the other hand, you will fall much slower because there is much more resistance from the heavier water.

There are other theories regarding weather. For about the last 100 years, there have many reports by mariners about waves up to 100' high out in the middle of the ocean. These waves often occur in storms where there are swells higher than 40 feet and found in wind against current conditions. These waves are extremely dangerous and have sunk large container ships. These waves were considered a myth until in the late 1980's when an oil platform off of the coast of Norway was hit by one. The height of the wave was 95’.

But as most people know, there are just as many paranormal theories as there are logical ones. One of the more realistic of these theories is the comet theory. The comet theory states that about 11,000 years ago, a comet hit earth around the Bermuda triangle region. The comet could have had some electromagnetic properties, causing the many strange occurrences in the triangle. However, this is highly unlikely because the comet had to loge itself into the earth instead of exploding. There should be tons of evidence for this theory. There should be a huge crater in the triangle. Scientists believe they have found the crater for the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. That asteroid fell to earth over 65 million years ago. There needs to be more evidence for the comet theory to be valid. This theory is on the boarder of scientific and paranormal.

Another theory is the government cover-up theory. This is the idea that the government is responsible for all of these strange disappearances. AUTEC (The Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center) is located on the coast of Florida. It is an area where the United States Navy tests new navel weapons. Some say that could be responsible for much of the strange activity in the triangle. That same group of people claims that the reason for many of the disappearances is UFO’s. Almost all experts say that that is almost indisputably false.

As fascinating as these theories are, there is no evidence that the Bermuda triangle is at all strange. According to the United States Coast Guard, there are no more ships that sink there than in any other highly traveled part of the ocean. We have simply let our imaginations create ideas that there is something far beyond our comprehension, when really there is nothing at all.

Sources-

Books:

The Bermuda Triangle

Aaron Rudolph

Mankato Minnesota

Cape Stone Press

2005

The Bermuda Triangle

Harriet Ables

Mankato Minnesota

Crestwood House

1987

Internet sights-

Howard Rosenburg

Naval Historical Center

The Bermuda Triangle

April 11^th, 2007

2-8-07

http://www.history.navy.mil/Faqs/faq8-1.htm

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Last modified: 04/02/08