10 Explanations for The Bermuda Triangle: Facts or Myth?

The Bermuda Triangle is one of the most famous, or infamous areas know to man around the world. This place is home to numerous theories and legends that surround its depths. There have been over a dozen famous incidences attributed to the triangle, many resulting in death and repots of ghost ships frequent the area. There is no place on earth quite like the phenomenon known as the Bermuda Triangle.
According to many the Bermuda Triangle is an area just off the coast of Florida that many strange and amazing phenomena have taken place, however the exact location of the triangle can be disputed. Some even say the formation of the area in which ships disappear and water erupts freakily is not even a triangle at all but rather a square, a trapezoid, a parallelogram, or a variety of other shapes. Popular theory however places the boundaries of the triangle a three specific places on a map. One point in South Florida, one on the small island of Bermuda and one on the island of Puerto Rico.

This area, the fabled Bermuda Triangle has spawned many myths and legends surrounding its waters. Tails of aliens, ghost ships and disappearances are among the most common stories to come from the region. Another common story to come from the area is that of equipment failure, compass disruption, and lost time, but could there be possible explanations for all of these events? Well some events in nature can indeed attribute to these events.

Here's our top 10 Explanations for The Bermuda Triangle:

10 - Leftover technology from the lost city of Atlantis

Of the various claims about the Bermuda Triangle, the suggestion that it is the location of the lost city of Atlantis is one popularized idea and it comes in at number 10. The well-known Edgar Cayce prophesied that in 1968 archeologists would find the entrance to the drowned city of Atlantis near Bimini in the Bermuda Triangle. At that time a special submerged rock wall formation was found off an island in the Bahamas and many think this is evidence of the lost city of Atlantis. According to the legend, the city of Atlantis was powered by crystals and that they still send out waves of energy today as they lay buried under the sea causing ships and planes to be sent off course by effected navigational equipment. Conspiracy theorists today also speculate about an underwater military base known as Underwater Area 51 as reason for disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle.

9 - Time warps

ed note: couldn't resist
Portals leading into other dimensions, tears in space and time? This theory comes in at number 9 for serious lack of evidence, sorry Dr. Who fans. Some reports say that as many as 1,000 lives have been lost in the past 500 years and that more than 50 ships and 20 planes have been lost within the last century. The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard have said there is evidence of unusual activities in the area, but time travel? Still the idea circulates despite the fact that the Bermuda Triangle is one of the most trafficked areas in the world and therefore the number of supposed disappearances are insignificant according to the Navy. Still, believers exist that think the Bermuda Triangle has ‘blue holes’ thought to be the remains of wormholes where aliens cross dimensions to travel to Earth. A current theory now exists by Rob MacGregor and Bruce Gernon of an “electronic fog” that has time travel qualities.

8 - Alien abductions

Alien abductions come in at the top ten reasons for the Bermuda Triangle disappearances at number 8 because they are so popularized however unlikely. Part of the hype about ‘mysterious’ accidents in the area was heightened in 1967 with a press release by the National Geographic Society detailing strange phenomena in and around the Triangle. Of course alien abduction was not a suggestion, but people soon began filling in the blanks with explanations like aliens disrupting navigational equipment in order to abduct people. The fog of the psychedelic sixties was beginning to lift as people were moved into the 70s, but the idea of aliens continued long after the 60s became a transcendental memory. Even Steven Spielberg in this science fiction film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, features the lost Flight 19 aircrew that went missing in 1945 while over the Triangle. A massive land and sea search was mounted for the 5 Navy torpedo bombers that disappeared while in routine flight as well as a rescue plane that went missing after being sent to search for the missing crew. Flight 19 was made up of a 13 men with neither bodies nor wreckage ever being found including the rescue plane or the other 14 men who went in search of Flight 19. Shot down or beamed up to Mars?

7 - Deliberate attacks of destruction

Much more plausible, although much more tragic, are deliberate attacks of destruction coming in at number 7. It’s a cause caked with nothing more than the mundane reality of countless casualties at sea and at air from the long-time, human practice of war. Although as far as Flight 19 was concerned, there was no evidence or suggestions that the missing planes disappeared because of deliberate attacks of destruction, many believe these are the reasons for many other missing planes and ships in the Bermuda Triangle area. Deliberate acts of destruction includes acts of war and piracy. Records in enemy files during World Wars have documented numerous losses, and of those that aren’t recorded, many are assumed to have been sunk by either surface raiders or submarines. Piracy is the capture of crafts at sea by thieves, drug smugglers, and pirates. In the past and even today there are many recorded episodes of these acts of piracy being responsible for missing vessels at sea even long after captain Blackbeard went to his watery grave.

6 - Methane Gas

Coming in at number 6 for an explanation of the Bermuda Triangle as being a mysterious, ocean-eating triangle in the Atlantic is methane gas. An explanation for some disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle has focused on the presence of vast fields of a natural gas called methane. Laboratory experiments have proven that bubbles of methane could indeed sink a model ship by decreasing the density of the water with wreckage being very likely to rise to the surface to then be rapidly swept away by the Gulf Stream. It has additionally been proposed that these eruptions or ‘mud volcanoes’ can produce frothy water that is no longer capable of providing adequate buoyancy for ships causing them to sink very rapidly without warning. It has been proposed that this methane gas can also effect planes as well as ships. Publications by the USGS describes large stores of undersea hydrates worldwide but according to other papers, no large release of gas is believed to have occurred in the Bermuda Triangle for the past 15,000 years. No release or just no records?

5 - Geomagnetic fields

Strange disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle have been linked with evidence of compass and navigational problems, making geomagnetic fields a real, plausible case for disappearances in the Triangle. Problems with magnetic equipment from geomagnetic fields is 5 of the top ten reasons the Triangle became mystified. Many have theorized that there are magnetic anomalies in the area and that the region is unique in that it’s one of only two places on Earth where true north and magnetic north line up which can vary readings on navigational equipment. In relation to the ‘electronic fog’ theory by Rob MacGregor and Bruce Gernon, powerful electromagnetic storms from within the Earth break through to the surface and come into the atmosphere leaving a fog behind.

4 - Gulf stream variations

The Gulf Stream is virtually like a river within the ocean itself that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida into the North Atlantic. It spans a 40 to 50 mile-wide area and it can carry debris up to a surface velocity of 5.6 miles per hour to two to four knot currents depending on weather patterns. The Gulf Stream could easily move a plane or a ship off course, and furthermore, the Bermuda Triangle includes some of the deepest trenches in the world, some as deep to nearing 28,000 feet. Vessel remains are very likely to be swallowed up forever by the sea and into the trenches if not by the current. Unexpectedly high waves also have been reported up to eighty feet high outside of the Gulf Stream adding to the difficulty of finding ships and planes lost at sea bringing it through in the top ten list at number 4.

3 - Weather and rouge waves

Caribbean-Atlantic storms yield unpredictable weather and waterspouts within the area of the Bermuda Triangle making weather and rough waves one of the biggest causes of disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle at number 3 by many scientists. According to Norman Hooke who works for Lloyd’s Maritime Information Services in London, “The Bermuda Triangle does not exist.” He says instead the incidents are weather-related accidents. Destructive hurricanes in the area are well-documented occasions as well as rogue waves that sink ships and oil platforms. Recent satellite research has proven one single wave to reach as high as 80 feet or higher in open ocean areas.

2 - Human Error

Human error is the number one reason cited for losses of aircrafts and vessels at sea although I’ll list it here as number two. Spatial disorientation and sensory confusion is rare with pilots but are a well-known reason for a small percentage of flying accidents with 87% of those accidents resulting in fatalities. Also the fact that the area within the Bermuda Triangle receives a great deal of traffic, more so than in other areas, leads to more accidents and disappearances. Human error is most likely the number one cause of fatalities but something even greater is really the cause for all the speculation.

1 - Sheer myth

The only explanation is no explanation, that is to say, the Bermuda Triangle theory is based on superstition that took hold of people’s imagination mostly starting in the 20th century making the propensity people have to gravitate to tall tales the number one reason the Bermuda Triangle story exists at all. Over time, writers took previous claims of old, sailor tales and legends and even records by Christopher Columbus himself of the area having “strange dancing lights on the horizon” “flames in the sky” and “bizarre compass bearings” and continued to embellish and add to the mystery with more up-to-date embellishments. Today it is believed that what Columbus was observing were Taino natives cooking fires from their canoes or on the beach. The compass readings were off because of a miscalculation of the movement of a particular star, and the flames in the sky were meteors falling to earth which are easily seen while at sea.
According to The Skeptics Dictionary, many of the disasters claimed to have occurred in the area did not even happen in the Bermuda Triangle. As the Dictionary points out, “The real mystery is how the Bermuda Triangle became a mystery at all.” Yet, although the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle has been put to rest by many credible researchers and scientists, the name and the mystery, continues on.

• Reference/Source: Toptenz.net

The Top 10 Most Mysterious Creatures of Modern Times

Source: http://paranormal.about.com |
THERE ARE CREATURES that lurk out there in the dark, that haunt the isolated forests of the world, that hide in the icy depths of the deepest lakes. They appear unexpectedly and inexplicably, then vanish just as mysteriously, usually leaving witnesses dumbfounded, frightened and, unfortunately in most cases, without a shred of evidence. Yet the eyewitness stories of these creatures persist, haunting the darkness as well as our imaginations. Here, for your consideration (and in no particular order) are the top 10 most mysterious, unexplained creatures of all time. Some are more likely to really exist than others, but we'll leave that judgment up to you.
1. Bigfoot / Sasquatch / Yeti
These hairy apemen are probably the most consistently witnessed unknown creatures in the world. Whether they are called Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yeti, Skunk Ape or Yowie, they have been seen in isolated woodlands and mountain areas in virtually every corner of the globe. And the descriptions - from the North American northwest to Florida to Australia - are remarkably consistent:

• taller than an average man (seven to eight feet)
• covered with long brown or auburn hair (or white hair in the case of the Yeti)
• a strong, repugnant odor
• large feet, as evidenced by castings of footprints
• an aversion to man
• a piercing, eerie howl

The vast number of sightings, many by highly reliable witnesses, gives Bigfoot, in my estimation, the best likelihood of being a real creature as yet unknown to science. But what is it? A missing link? Some ancient relative of humans that somehow has survived in the wilderness? An unknown species of ape?
We may find out someday soon. Sightings seem to be on the increase as mankind encroaches deeper and deeper on the wilderness. And technology may aid in the search. The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization recently announced its intention to place motion-triggered digital webcams in various areas of US forest where the hairy beast has been seen. This 24-hour surveillance with potentially thousands of computer-based witnesses looking on will dramatically increase the chances of obtaining credible evidence.
For the diehard skeptic, nothing less than a captured specimen will do - or at least some other tangible evidence. And one that could qualify has recently emerged: an impression of Bigfoot's butt. No kidding. Researchers in the American northwest have found what appears to be the impression in the ground of where a large hairy primate has sat. Hey, he's got to rest those big feet sometime.
2. Loch Ness Monster (and other Lake monsters)
Despite excellent expeditions with sophisticated electronic equipment, the lake monsters of the world continue to elude scientists. Yet spontaneous sightings by good witnesses, although rare, persist.
The Loch Ness monster, or Nessie, is undoubtedly the most well-known of these aquatic mysteries. But other deep, cold lakes around the world have their own legendary beasts: Chessie in Chesapeake Bay, Storsie in Sweden's Lake Storsjön, Selma in Norway's Lake Seljordsvatnet and "Champ" in New York's Lake Champlain among others.
Descriptions of this creature, too, are amazingly similar:

• a large creature with a long neck
• a horse-like head
• a humped back

Most sightings report the humps protruding from the surface of the water (which skeptics dismiss as being almost anything, from schools of fish to floating logs), but occasionally a lucky witness will see the creature stretch its neck high above the water and look around a bit before submerging.
Photo and video evidence is rare. And although some of the photos are tantalizing (most notably the famous "flipper" photo taken by the Rines expedition in 1975), most such "proof" is fuzzy or inconclusive at best.
If the creature does exist, many researchers suspect that it could be a kind of plesiosaur - an animal from the age of the dinosaurs that is thought to have become extinct more than 66 million years ago. Could a lineage of these incredible creatures possibly have survived?
3. Chupacabra
Even though some sightings date back to the 1970s, El Chupacabra - "the goat sucker" - is primarily a phenomenon of the 1990s, and its fame has largely been spread by the Internet. The sightings started in earnest in 1995 with reports coming out of Puerto Rico of a strange creature that was killing farmers' livestock - chickens, ducks, turkeys, rabbits and, of course, goats - sometimes hundreds of animals in one evening. The farmers, who were familiar with the killing practices of wild dogs and other predators, claimed that the methods of this unknown beast were different. It didn't try to eat the animals it killed, for example; nor did it drag them away to be devoured elsewhere. Instead, the creature killed by draining its victims of blood, usually through small incisions.
Then came the bizarre eyewitness descriptions:

• about the size of a chimpanzee
• hops about like a kangaroo
• large glowing red eyes
• grayish skin and hairy arms
• long snake-like tongue
• sharp fangs
• quills running along its spine that seem to open and close like a fan
• some believe it may even have wings

Toward the end of the '90s, the sightings of Chupacabra began to spread. The creature was blamed for animal killings in Mexico, southern Texas and several South American countries. In May and June of 2000, a rash of incidents took place in Chile, according to certain newspapers there. In fact, some of the most incredible claims yet came out of those sightings: that at least one of the creatures was caught alive by local authorities, then handed over to official agencies of the US government.
What is it? Theories abound, including: an unknown but natural species of predator; misidentified known predators; the result of genetic experimentation; an alien. Most serious researchers consider Chupacabra merely folklore, perpetuated by over-enthusiastic locals immersed in superstition or a penchant for telling tall, exaggerated tales.
Yet you can be sure that we haven't seen or heard the last of Chupacabra.
4. The Jersey Devil
There is a terrifying creature, they say, that haunts the dense pine barrens of New Jersey, and its frightening appearance earned it the name of The Jersey Devil. The legend of the Jersey Devil dates back to about the mid-1700s when it was considered an omen of disaster or war, but multiple sightings did not begin until the early 1900s. Some researchers claim that more than 2,000 witnesses have reported seeing the creature over the centuries. Although rare, sightings continue up to the present day.
Descriptions vary, but these are the most commonly cited attributes:

• about three-and-a-half feet high
• a head like a collie dog and a face like a horse
• a long neck
• wings about two feet long
• back legs like those of a crane
• horse's hooves
• walks on its back legs and holds up two short front legs with paws on them

It's interesting to note the similarities to Chupacabra!
Unexplained animal deaths and mutilations have been blamed on The Jersey Devil. Dozens of eyewitnesses claim to have been frightened out of their wits by it. What could this creature possibly be? The theories are similar to those cited for Chupacabra, but something scary definitely seems to be out there in the New Jersey woods.
5. Mothman
For about 13 months beginning in November, 1966, a series of bizarre sightings took place around the area of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Aside from a spate of UFO reports and claimed poltergeist activity, several witnesses came forward with descriptions of an astonishing creature that may have been the focal point of all the weird goings-on. As detailed in John Keel's classic book, The Mothman Prophecies, hundreds of witnesses allegedly saw a large, winged humanoid being.
Here is how they described it:

• approximately seven feet tall
• a wingspan over 10 feet wide
• gray, scaly skin
• large, red, glowing and hypnotic eyes
• able to take off straight up in flight, traveling up to 100 miles an hour
• liked to mutilate or eat large dogs
• screeched or squealed like a rodent or electric motor
• caused radio and television interference
• had some mind control powers.

Dubbed Mothman by a local newspaperman, the creature seemed to have a peculiar affect on those with whom it came into contact: they began to "channel" information from what Keel called "ultra-terrestrial" entities. Keel himself was affected in this way, receiving "prophecies" from some unknown origin that were, more often than not, oddly less than accurate.
Weird stuff indeed.
6. Elves and Fairies
There aren't many people who take seriously the existence of elves and fairies in today's society. Yet there are people who will swear on the heads of their grandchildren that they have seen them with their own eyes - just as plainly as others have seen ghosts, Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster.
The stories of elusive little people are as ancient as civilization itself and can be found in virtually every culture on Earth. Most familiar to us are the legends of elves, dwarfs, leprechauns and trolls from Europe and Scandinavia. They have been the subject of dozens of children's fairy tales, books, myths and inebriated tales. William Shakespeare made them central characters in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

• Generally, fairies were described as tiny ephemeral beings with wings who resided in forests.
• Elves, dwarfs and leprechauns were likewise residents of the forest. Unlike fairies, however, they were quite human in appearance - except for their diminutive size. They were often pictured as having their own miniature civilization, hidden away from the human world.

On a summer night in 1919, 13-year-old Harry Anderson claimed to have seen a column of 20 little men marching in single file, made visible by the bright moonlight. He noted they were dressed in leather knee pants with suspenders. The men were shirtless, bald and had pale white skin. They ignored young Harry as they passed, mumbling something unintelligible all the while.
In Stowmarket, England in 1842, a man claimed this encounter with "faries" when walking through a meadow on his journey home: "There might be a dozen of them, the biggest about three feet high, and small ones like dolls. They were moving around hand in hand in a ring; no noise came from them. They seemed light and shadowy, not like solid bodies. I... could see them as plain as I do you. I ran home and called three women to come back with me and see them. But when we got to the place, they were all gone. I was quite sober at the time."
Elves and fairies were considered quite real in past cultures, and were a familiar part of their rich folklore. In today's technological society, perhaps, we've simply replaced them in our imaginations with little gray aliens.
7. The Dover Demon
Dover, Massachusetts was the location of the sighting of a bizarre creature for a few days beginning on April 21, 1977. Although the creature, which became known as "the Dover Demon," was only seen by a few people in this short period of time, it is considered one of the most mysterious creatures of modern times.
The first sighting was made by 17-year-old Bill Bartlett as he and three friends were driving north near the small New England town at around 10:30 at night. Through the darkness, Bartlett claimed to have seen an unusual creature creeping along a low stone wall on the side of the road - something he had never seen before and could not identify. The other boys did not see it, but it was obvious to them that Bartlett was shaken by the experience. When he arrived home, he told his father about his experience and sketched a drawing of the creature.
Just a few hours after Bartlett's sighting, at 12:30 a.m., John Baxter swore that he saw the same creature while walking home from his girlfriend's house. The 15-year-old boy saw it with its arms wrapped around the trunk of a tree, and his description of the thing matched Bartlett's exactly.
The final sighting was reported the next day by another 15-year-old, Abby Brabham, a friend of one of Bill Bartlett's friends, who said it appeared briefly in the car's headlights while she and her friend were driving. Again, the description was consistent. This is the creature they allegedly saw:

• about four feet tall on two legs
• hairless body with rough-textured skin
• long, spindly peach-colored limbs
• a large watermelon-shaped head, nearly as big as its body large glowing orange eyes.

Subsequent investigations into this unusual case turned up no hard evidence for the reality of the creature, but neither was there evidence of a hoax nor a motive for perpetrating one. Skeptics suggested that what the teenagers saw was a young moose, while UFOlogists who looked into the case wondered if there was an extraterrestrial connection.
8. The Loveland Lizard
This remarkable creature has earned its place in the annals of the unknown primarily because of the credibility of the involved witnesses: two police officers on two separate occasions.
The scene is the early hours of March 3, 1972. A police officer is cruising on Riverside Ave., which runs for a few blocks along the Little Miami River in Loveland, Ohio. On the side of the road he sees what he at first thinks is a dog lying there. He slows his vehicle on the icy road to avoid hitting the animal should it get up and run in front of him. He nears the animal and stops his patrol car, at which point the creature quickly stands on two legs to a crouching position. Illuminating the creature with his headlights, the officer can now clearly see that it is not a dog at all, but something he cannot explain:

• three to four feet tall
• 50 to 75 pounds
• leathery skin
• possibly wet, matted hair on its body that made it look textured possibly a short tail
• a head and face like a frog or lizard

Whatever this creature was, it looked at the officer briefly, then leapt over the road's guard rail toward the river.
The officer reported the odd sighting to the police dispatcher, then later returned to the scene of the incident with another officer. All they found was evidence that something had scraped the hillside as it made its way down to the river.
The creature may have been completely forgotten had not a second police officer seen it again two weeks later. The second officer also at first thought the thing lying in the middle of the road was a dog or roadkill. When he got out of his car to haul it to the side of the road, it got up, climbed over the guard rail this time, all the while keeping its eyes on the officer, and disappeared toward the river. His description of the creature pointed out the same frog-like characteristics. A subsequent investigation uncovered only one other possible sighting around the same time; a farmer claimed to have seen some kind of large, lizard-like creature. It thereafter became known as the Loveland Lizard or Loveland Frog.
What was it? Good question. If is was a frog or similar amphibian, it's the largest one ever recorded - and the only one known to get up and walk away on its hind legs.
9. Living Dinosaurs
We were all awestruck by the incredibly realistic digital effects of the Jurassic Park movies, and tantalized by the possibility that cloning of long-extinct dinosaurs might one day be possible.
But what if dinosaurs are still alive? What if some dinosaurs have somehow survived extinction to coexist with us today? Some people believe they actually might have. Living dinosaurs!
For over 200 years, rare but fascinating reports have filtered out of the dense isolated rain forests of Africa and South America that native tribes - some of which live very much as they have for thousands of years - were familiar with large creatures that can only be described as resembling sauropods, like the apatosaurus.
The tribes had names for them, such as jago-nini ("giant diver"), dingonek, ol-umaina, and chipekwe. In 1913, Captain Freiheer von Stein zu Lausnitz, a German explorer, was told by Pygmies of a fearsome creature they called mok'ele-mbembe ("stopper of rivers"). This is the description of mok'ele-mbembe provided by the natives:

• smooth brownish gray skin
• approximately the size of an elephant; at least that of a hippopotamus; possibly about 30 feet long
• a long, flexible neck
• a vegetarian diet, but would kill humans if they came too close

During an expedition to search for mok'ele-mbembe in 1980, cryptozoologist Roy Mackel and herpetologist James Powell allegedly showed pictures of local animals to the natives, all of which they correctly identified. When they showed them an illustration of a large sauropod, they identified it as mok'ele-mbembe.
Aside from the testimony of these tribespeople (which some skeptics have written off as making fools of the white man), the evidence for living dinosaurs is scant. Supposedly, a few explorers have found extraordinarily large footprints (as large as a Frisbee), and in 1992, a Japanese expedition is said to have about 15 seconds of film footage taken from an airplane that shows some large shape moving in water, leaving a V-shaped wake. Unfortunately, it could not be identified.
Recent expeditions in search of mok'ele-mbembe have taken place. They explored the Likoula region of the Congo for four weeks with the official mission objective of a "scientific investigation and analysis of reports of a living dinosaur." Unfortunately, again, they returned empty-handed. New expeditions will undoubtedly continue to search for living dinosaurs. The prospect of actually documenting a find is just too tempting.
10. Spring-Heeled Jack
He appeared out of the shadows of 19th century London nights, attacked his victims with dreadful scratches, then bounded away with superhuman ability before he could be apprehended.
The case of Spring-Heeled Jack, as this creature came to be known, is one of the most baffling to come out of Victorian England, and one that has never been solved or fully explained. According to most accounts of the story, the attacks began in 1837 in southwest London. Polly Adams, a pub worker, was one of three women accosted by Spring-Heeled Jack in September of that year. He allegedly tore her blouse off and scratched at her stomach with iron-like fingernails or claws.
His victims painted a bizarre portrait of the ghoul:

• man-like, but with a hideous face
• sharp iron-like fingernails or claws
• tall, thin and powerful
• glowing eyes
• the ability to spit blue flames from his mouth
• wore a dark cloak over a tight-fitting white oilskin suit
• some claimed he wore a helmet of some kind
• the ability to jump incredible heights and distances

The attacks continued into early 1838, prompting official action by the Lord Mayor of London who declared him a public nuisance, and resulting in at least one vigilante group that systematically tried to capture the creature, all without success.
Rumors of sightings persisted into the 1850s, '60s and '70s. In these cases, he is said to have frightened people with his appearance, slapped army sentries, and in each case leapt away to the astonishment and frustration of those who tied to catch him. Interestingly, Spring-Heeled Jack never killed or seriously hurt anyone, except 18-year-old Lucy Scales who was reportedly blinded temporarily by the searing blue flames Jack vomited into her face.
Who or what was Spring-Heeled Jack? A clever if diabolical maniac? An alien? A demon? Chances are we will never know, and he will remain one of the most mysterious creatures of modern times.