The Theories

Howard, an expert on Bermuda Triangle, claims that more than 50 ships and 20 planes have gone down in the Bermuda Triangle over the last century itself, and up to 1000 over the last 500 years. 

Many theories exist to explain the mystery of the missing ships and planes in the Bermuda Triangle. 

While some of them use extreme natural disasters or amazing science, some theories even talk about super natural events and mysterious technologies. 

Methane Gas 

Huge amounts of Methane gas, trapped thousands of feet under the ocean floor at Bermuda Triangle can be a possible cause of the planes and ships getting lost in the triangle area. The gas if released, can cause the water to become very light and make a ship sink in no time. Since the gas is also inflammable, its eruption can also completely burn a plane flying over the area. 

I had also heard another similar Methane theory directly from Teddy Tucker at a conference in Bermuda. Teddy is the legendary scuba diver and a treasure collector in the island. 

  

Compass Variation 

Magnetic and absolute North are not the same. Not adjusting for the compass variation between the two can lead to major navigational hazards. And in Bermuda Triangle, there is a narrow strip where the compass points to absolute North. 

US Coast Guards communicated that incorrect compass adjustment would have led to many ships and planes getting lost in the triangle. Read Compass Variation Theory for the full justification. 

Electronic Fog - A Hutchison effect? 

It has been heard several times that ships and aircraft get engulfed in some kind of electronic fog and the fog keeps moving along with the ship or the plane. And eventually, all the electronic equipment and other instruments start malfunctioning. 

Those ships and airplanes either disintegrate or disappear without a trace. Can this be true? Experiments by Vancouver based scientist John Hutchison shows that this can be possible. Read Electro Magnetism in Triangle to know the full theory.  

Strange Weather 

At times there are violent storms in the Bermuda Triangle area. These short but intense storms can build up quickly and go away so fast that even a satellite can't detect them properly. But these storms are strong enough to destroy ships or planes completely. 

There are also waterspouts seen in this area. A waterspout is like a tornado at sea that sucks water from the ocean thousands of feet into the sky. Other possibilities include underwater earthquakes. Scientists have actually found a great deal of seismic vibrations in the Bermuda triangle area. They have also noted freak waves up to 100 feet high. 

Gulf Stream 

The Gulf Stream is an ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico, and then moves through the Straits of Florida, into the North Atlantic. It is like a river within an ocean and can carry floating objects. A small plane making a water landing or a boat having engine trouble will be easily carried away. It happened to the cabin cruiser Witchcraft on December 22, 1967, when it reported engine trouble near the Miami buoy marker one mile from shore, but was not there when a Coast Guard cutter arrived.  

Freak Waves 

Very large waves can appear suddenly even in calm seas. One such rogue wave caused the Ocean Ranger, then the world's largest offshore platform to capsize in 1982. Research has shown that freak waves up to 30m tall, capable of sinking a large ship within moments, can and do happen. Although these are very rare, in some areas ocean currents indicate that they happen more often than normal.

Hurricanes 

Hurricanes are extremely powerful storms which are generated in the Atlantic near the equator, and have historically been responsible for thousands of lives lost and billions of dollars of damage. The sinking of Francisco de Bobadilla's Spanish fleet in 1502 was the first recorded instance of such destructive hurricane. These storms have in the past caused a number of incidents related to the Bermuda Triangle.  

Unusual Seafloor 

The seafloor in this area is also quite strange. There are some unusual formations. It goes from a gentle slope to a sudden deep drop. In fact, some of the deepest trenches in the world are found in the area of the Bermuda Triangle. Ships or planes that sink into these deep trenches will probably never be found.  

Supernatural Theories 

There are also explanations based on some supernatural theories like the lost city of Atlantis, UFOs and Aliens that also try to solve the Bermuda Triangle mystery. 

Skeptic's Theory 

And like in all other subjects, there are skeptics who do not believe that Bermuda Triangle area has any mystery to be solved at all. They say there is nothing unusual about all these disappearances and they can all be explained with science or some logic.  

 

There are many more explanations.  

Strange magnetic fields from the bottom of the ocean are favorites among those who are technically-minded. Weather like thunderstorms, hurricanes, earthquakes, high waves, pirates, explosive cargoes, incompetent navigators etc. are favorites among skeptical investigators. 

Another popular theory is that extraterrestrials are abducting planes and ships, or that their activities are indirectly causing the disappearances. Others have suggested that the Bermuda Triangle area is an anomaly of space and time in which planes, ships, and people are sucked into a vortex that transports them to different times, and possibly even different dimensions