Acharya: Let’s dive into the Bermuda Triangle, shall we? Should we call it the Devil’s Triangle? It has swallowed a lot of aircraft and ships…
Shishya: So, is it like a triangle with actual borders and gates?
Acharya: No, it’s not an actual triangle with borders. It’s a loosely defined area we call the Bermuda Triangle. The triangle has 3 vertices:
- Bermuda: An island in the North Atlantic Ocean, the northern point of the triangle.
- Miami, Florida: A major city on the southeastern coast of the U.S., the western point of the triangle.
- San Juan, Puerto Rico: The capital and largest city of Puerto Rico, the southern point of the triangle.
Shishya: So why do we call it Bermuda then? Why not the Florida Triangle or Puerto Rico Triangle?
Acharya: Well, we don’t really know, to be honest. The name just stuck after its first use.
Shishya: When was this term first used?
Acharya: The term ‘Bermuda Triangle’ was coined by Vincent Gaddis in his article ‘The Deadly Bermuda Triangle,’ published in Argosy magazine in 1964.
Shishya: Before 1964, were there no disappearances?
Acharya: Things still happened there, but the term ‘The Bermuda Triangle,’ coined by Vincent, became popular and stuck.
From 1950, Edward Van Winkle Jones mentioned unusual disappearances in the Bermuda area for the Miami Herald.
In 1952, George X. Sand published an article “Sea Mystery at Our Back Door” in Fate magazine, discussing various disappearances like the Sandra steamer, Flight 19 in 1945, and several others through the late 1940s.
Now, let’s check out some facts…
Larry Kusche, in his book ‘The Bermuda Triangle Mystery: Solved’ (1975), pointed out that many claims by earlier writers were unverifiable, exaggerated, and dubious. He noted that the number of ships missing in that area wasn’t higher than in any other part of the ocean. He also highlighted that while disappearances were reported, the return of these vessels often wasn’t, leading to a manufactured mystery.
The United States Coast Guard has stated that the number of supposed “disappearances” is relatively insignificant, given the large number of ships and aircraft that pass through the area. They also clarified the incident of the tanker V.A. Fogg sinking. Contrary to mystery writers’ claims of vanishing bodies, photographic evidence exists showing the bodies and the wreck, which, by the way, sank near Texas, far from the Bermuda Triangle!
So, now you know what’s fact and what’s fiction!
