The Infamous Bermuda Triangle; Theories to Unravel the Mystery
As popular in cartoons as it is to scientists, the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle (also known as the “Devil’s Triangle” or “Hurricane Alley”) has been the subject of both entertainment and profound fear. Covering a triangular area of approximately 500,000 square miles in the Atlantic Ocean, the Bermuda Triangle sits off the coast of Florida, with its corners found at Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. At least 75 planes and hundreds of ships have entered this infamous Atlantic region and never emerged, yet no one knows why.
Over the centuries, numerous legends have been told about the region, and countless theories have been postulated — ranging from disturbing weather patterns to paranormal events — but none have, thus far, been confirmed as fact. Backed by modern technology and the experiences of their predecessors, scientists and explorers hone theories, both old and new, to answer the nagging question: What accounts for these mysterious Bermuda Triangle disappearances?
History of the Devil’s Triangle
Legends of the Bermuda Triangle can be traced back as far as Christopher Columbus’s first expedition to the New World. In one instance, Columbus noted a giant flame that plummeted into the sea; a few weeks later, he noted that a strange light appeared far into the distance. Not long after, Shakespeare wrote his play, “The Tempest,” which many believe to be based on an actual shipwreck within the Bermuda Triangle.
But it wasn’t until the 20th century that the mystery began to garner more attention, especially due to the number of Bermuda Triangle accounts that surfaced. The incident that seems to have tipped the scales occurred in 1918. That year, the U.S.S. Cyclops, a vessel carrying 309 sailors, not only disappeared without a trace, but was said to have disappeared without any plausible reason. No storms had been reported the day the 540-foot-long cargo ship vanished and there were no records of the crew radioing in distress. Sounds familiar doesn't it?
As it was still months before the end of World War I, there was some speculation as to whether German U-boats destroyed the vessel. But there was no evidence of such an attack. Even if that story did check out, there is nothing to explain the other 74 disappearances that followed — including the 2015 disappearance of El Faro, another cargo ship with a crew of 33.
Bermuda Triangle Theories
Atlantis
Some investigators claim the lost city of Atlantis lies within the confines of the Bermuda Triangle, sunken but still very much present on the ocean floor. While many theories revolve around the existence of Atlantis itself — and how the civilization functioned — many believe the ancient civilization was home to numerous advanced technologies. It has been suggested that certain devices, whatever these may be, are somehow still active and powerful enough to take down ships and aircraft entering into this mysterious vortex in the Atlantic.
Hexagonal Cloud Formation
Meteorologists recently posed a new theory involving the formation of gigantic hexagonal clouds, which create 170mph “air bombs.” Big Think explains, “By studying imagery from a NASA satellite, the scientists concluded that some of these clouds reach 20 to 55 miles across. Waves inside these wind monsters can reach as high as 45 feet. What’s more – the clouds have straight edges.” Not only would these clouds be capable of swatting a plane out of the sky, but they could also create colossal waves to sink ships in a single gulp.
Electronic Fog
One of the Bermuda Triangle’s survivors, pilot Bruce Gernon, presented his theory on the phenomenon through what he calls an “Electronic Fog.” In 1970, he was flying with two passengers when his aircraft was swallowed up by two massive, ominous clouds that formed a vortex and spiraled. Gernon found that his navigational devices were malfunctioning and that they were not perceivable on radar. When they emerged, they found their trip had only taken them 35 minutes, rather than the 75 minutes it should have, and he concluded that his aircraft had somehow been pushed forward in time.
Rogue Waves
Oceanographers have recently circled back to an old theory, that vanishing ships and planes can be attributed to rogue waves. These are monstrous walls of water that are prone to emerging suddenly — anywhere that storms from all directions can converge. According to LiveScience, “If each wave can reach over 30 feet (10 meters) tall, occasionally they can coincide at the right moment and create a rogue, or ‘freak,’ wave that can be over 100 feet (30 m) high.” Such waves can easily overtake ships — especially larger ships, which have a higher likelihood of capsizing and even snapping in two.
UFOs
For decades, UFOs have been spotted and recorded in the Bermuda Triangle and off the coast of Florida. Military pilots have reported seeing mysterious objects that could reach “hypersonic speeds,” five times the speed of sound, and maneuver in ways that are beyond the capability of advanced military aircraft.
With this sort of technology, any human-made aircraft would be defenseless in a confrontation with UFOs over the waters of the Atlantic. The New York Times reported, “In late 2014, a Super Hornet pilot had a near collision with one of the objects… Some of the incidents were videotaped, including one taken by a plane’s camera in early 2015 that shows an object zooming over the ocean waves as pilots question what they are watching.”
Theories surrounding the Bermuda Triangle are seemingly inexhaustible, and official explanations usually fail to cover all the bases or they leave out important information, such as the plethora of UFOs reports in the area. And while some claim the eerie occurrences are nothing short of fictitious, sailors and pilots alike often think twice before charting routes through these waters that are said to be haunted by thousands of lost souls.
In the final analysis, a mystery as old and alarming as the Devil’s Triangle demands the kind of investigation that has yet to be made by any government thus far. Incomplete or terse explanations about the disappearances of ships and planes in the area are, in the least, perpetually unsatisfying to the most curious.
Black Knight 13,000-Year-Old Satellite Mystery Decoded?
Space debris or a 13,000-year-old satellite? A mysterious object, dubbed the Black Knight, orbits the Earth, puzzling scientists of the past and present. Some, like inventor and scientist Nicola Tesla, claim to have received radio signals from the orbiting figure. Astronaut Gordon Cooper was adamant that, in 1963, he saw it from his own spacecraft. The documented history of the existence of the Black Knight continues to mystify scientists.
Nicola Tesla and the Black Knight
Although Nicola Tesla’s inventions changed the way people live today, back in 1899 his peers viewed him as eccentric and somewhat of a mad scientist. When he built a laboratory and a 210-foot tower in Colorado Springs in order to experiment with electricity and record electromagnetic disturbances, his colleagues did not take him seriously. When he reported that he had received signals from extraterrestrials, the newspapers of the day mocked him.
Despite the ridicule of his peers, Tesla was excited about the signals he received, and came to fervently believe that he “had been the first to hear the greeting of one planet to another. A purpose was behind these electrical signals.” Researchers now believe the signals Tesla received likely came from the Black Knight.
Modern History of the Black Knight
Although there were some reports in the 1930s of astronomers around the world receiving strange radio signals, in 1954, the St. Louis Dispatch ran an article titled, “Artificial Satellites Are Circling Earth, Writer on ‘Saucers’ says.” The referenced writer was Donald E. Keyhoe who wrote about unidentified satellites orbiting the Earth. He claimed the government knew about them and was trying to discover their source.
Keyhoe later wrote a book, “Aliens in Space: The Real Story of Unidentified Flying Objects,” where he documented his knowledge of UFOs including what he knew about the Black Knight. Gaia’s Deep Space series discusses some of his work.
Scientists and astronomers reported seeing the satellite as it orbited the Earth. In 1953, a professor at the University of New Mexico saw a “blip of unknown origin.” In 1957, Dr. Luis Corralos, with the Communications Ministry in Venezuela, was taking pictures of the Russian satellite, Sputnik II, as it passed over Caracas. The Black Knight showed up in his photographs. This was the first known actual picture of the object.
In 1960, an American satellite showed the object following Sputnik 1, which was still orbiting the Earth. The UFO was in a polar orbit. At that time, neither the U.S. nor the Russians were capable of putting a satellite in that type of orbit. The object also appeared to be much larger and heavier than anything either country could launch.
In the 1960s, TIME magazine, as well as other news publications, reported on the Black Knight and referred to it as possibly having an extraterrestrial origin. Some North American Ham operators had detected signals coming from the object. Some even reported receiving coded messages. On September 3, 1960, the Black Knight showed up on radar for the first time. People on the ground viewing it with the naked eye could see it for about two weeks. The government reportedly established a committee to investigate the object, but no report was ever made public.
In 1963, Astronaut Gordon Cooper was orbiting the Earth when he said he saw a “glowing green light” ahead of his space capsule. At the same time, a tracking station in Australia, over which the spacecraft was orbiting at the time, reported seeing the object on radar. The evening news reported on Cooper’s sighting, and for the first time, the object was referred to as the Black Knight Satellite. The name stuck, but Cooper’s report did not.
NASA soon debunked Cooper’s UFO sighting, claiming there had been a malfunction in the space capsule which caused gases to emit what appeared glowing light. The result, said NASA, was that Cooper had a hallucination and did not see a UFO. Cooper later confirmed that he had definitely seen a UFO on his 1963 space orbit and that NASA had prohibited him from discussing it. Until his death in 2004, Cooper claimed that he did not have a hallucination in the spacecraft, but saw a UFO. He was very vocal during his lifetime about his belief in the existence of extraterrestrial life and his frustration that the U.S. government continued to cover up evidence of alien contacts.
In 1998, astronauts on the space shuttle Endeavor, on their way to the International Space Station (ISS), took photographs of the object. NASA again disagreed with the astronauts and claimed what they saw and photographed was not a UFO, but instead, just space debris, most likely a thermal blanket.
Black Knight Communications with Human Beings
Influential people and highly respected authors, movie producers, and directors and members of secret societies have claimed to receive communications from alien beings including signals from the Black Knight. Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the Star Trek television series and movies, is almost a household name. In 1973 to 1974 he was reportedly associated with a secret society called “The Council of Nine.” The Nine, in brief, were a group of prominent people who believed that the channeled messages received by their leaders were actually messages sent by extraterrestrials. Roddenberry allegedly based his Star Trek episodes on what he learned from the Nine, including the giveaway title he chose for a post Star Trek series called, “Deep Space Nine.” Many believed the source of the channeled messages was the Black Knight.
Author Philip K. Dick claimed to have communications with alien beings. The way he described his first encounter with the being in February 1974 is consistent with some of the captured coded messages from the Black Knight. Dick’s VALIS trilogy was, according to those who knew him or researched him, really a fictionalized autobiography and not science fiction. It pulled from his communications with an alien entity, which were likely from the Black Knight.
Is the Black Knight still with us?
Two separate people in different parts of the country who were each photographing the Blue Moon on July 31, 2015, captured what they believe is the Black Knight. The object was once again passing by the ISS. Is the Black Knight an ancient alien vessel? Could it be a satellite from somewhere in deep space that is trying to communicate with humans on earth? Or, is simply a piece of space debris left behind by spacecraft made by Earthlings? You decide.
Want more like this article?
Don’t miss Deep Space on Gaia for more on the long and hidden history of Earth’s secret space program.
