Unpacking the Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle

Where Is the Bermuda Triangle?

The term “Bermuda Triangle” refers to the region of the Atlantic Ocean bordered roughly by Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico, forming a general outline of a triangle if you were to connect them all on a map. The area has no official coordinates, and nothing physically marks its boundaries. It’s not recognized as a formal geographic or maritime region, and to most scientists and navigators, it’s just ocean — albeit a rather storied section of sea. 

The intrigue dates as far back as the days of Christopher Columbus, who reported strange readings on his compass while sailing in the area. But the Bermuda Triangle didn’t fully capture the public’s imagination until the 20th century, when a number of unexplained disappearances were reported. 

What Disappearances Have Actually Happened There?

In 1918, the USS Cyclops, a U.S. Navy cargo ship, vanished without a trace while en route from Barbados to Baltimore with more than 300 people on board. A cause has never been determined and no wreckage was ever found. 

Nearly three decades later, the mystery deepened with the 1945 disappearance of Flight 19, a squadron of five U.S. Navy bombers on a routine training mission near the Bermuda Triangle. The pilots became disoriented and were presumed to have crashed into the sea. A rescue plane sent after them also vanished, cementing the incident as part of Bermuda Triangle lore. 

Civilian vessels and aircraft have reportedly vanished as well, including commercial flight NC-16002, which disappeared just 50 miles off the coast of Miami in 1948. While the exact number of ships and aircraft lost in the Bermuda Triangle is unknown, estimates typically hover around 50 ships and 20 planes as of 2025. Relative to the highly amount of traffic that passes through the Triangle, these numbers are actually fairly low — by comparison, more than 800 vessels were lost at sea around the world between 2013 and 2022. 

Why Is It So Mysterious?

The mysterious region got its name in 1964, when writer Vincent Gaddis coined the term “Bermuda Triangle” in a magazine article detailing the disappearances over the years. The article hinted that something unusual may be at work in the region, and this myth gained momentum over the next decade. 

Charles Berlitz’s 1974 bestseller The Bermuda Triangle popularized the idea of the area as a potentially supernatural waterway to the unknown. The book, which was presented as a nonfiction investigation into the Triangle and its associated incidents, took several liberties and featured some of Berlitz’s own sensationalized theories, speculating on the phenomena surrounding the area like never before.

Theories explaining the Bermuda Triangle’s alleged dangers have ranged from the scientific to the fantastical. Norwegian scientists theorized that methane gas eruptions from the seafloor could be responsible for sinking ships, while other theories suggest  magnetic quirks in the area could cause navigation errors that lead ships or planes off course. The most probable scientific reasoning points to erratic weather, strong ocean currents, or massive rogue waves — after all, the Gulf Stream flows directly through the Bermuda Triangle and can cause sudden, violent storms. 

Of course, there’s no shortage of more far-fetched theories that have helped perpetuate the region’s mythology. Some pilots have described flying through strange storms that acted like a time warp, whisking them along to their destinations at unusual speeds. Other conspiracy-minded ideas suggest alien abductions have occurred in the area. Berlitz’s book even suggested that the lost city of Atlantis — another persistent myth of the modern age — was linked to the reported disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle.

So What’s Really Going On?

Ultimately, theories about the Bermuda Triangle remain just that: theories — boiling down to unsubstantiated reports and scientific ideas without tangible evidence. In 2010, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) released a statement saying, “There is no evidence that mysterious disappearances occur with any greater frequency in the Bermuda Triangle than in any other large, well-traveled area of the ocean.” 

As one of the world’s most heavily traveled shipping corridors, the region most likely naturally sees the rate of incidents it does simply due to the higher volume of traffic. According to an interview in The Independent with Australian scientist Karl Kruszelnicki, “The number [of ships and planes] that go missing in the Bermuda Triangle is the same as anywhere in the world on a percentage basis.” Reported data regarding incidents along other heavily trafficked shipping routes supports Kruszelnicki’s statement.

Still, the legend persists. The idea of a mysterious zone swallowing up planes and ships continues to captivate us by tapping into our deep fascination with the unknown. The Bermuda Triangle is a maritime mystery that resists easy answers, even if evidence doesn’t support anything concretely out of the ordinary.