- 1 day ago
The Bermuda Triangle is one of the most famous mysterious places on Earth. Scientists still can't estimate how many ships and airplanes were lost there. And it keeps us wondering if those disappearances resulted from human error or weather phenomena.
Category
🎈
FunTranscript
00:00Hmm, can we estimate how many ships and airplanes were lost in the Bermuda Triangle?
00:05Have their disappearances resulted from human error or weather phenomena?
00:10Let's try to find out.
00:11We have a curious story of the SS Cotopaxi.
00:15This ship vanished in 1925, traveling from Charleston, South Carolina, to Havana, Cuba.
00:21It never reached its destination.
00:24Years later, in the 1980s, a wreck was found 40 miles off St. Augustine, Florida.
00:30Since specialists could not precisely determine what and where it came from, they nicknamed it Bear Wreck.
00:37It took many additional years of work, done mainly by marine biologists,
00:42to identify that this ship was indeed the missing SS Cotopaxi.
00:47This was confirmed in January 2020.
00:50How did the ship just reappear?
00:53And how did it get there, since this mysterious shipwreck isn't even in the Bermuda Triangle?
00:59Now, let's see who came up with this term, Bermuda Triangle.
01:03Can you actually pinpoint the triangle on a map?
01:06No, it's not an officially recognized location either.
01:10The Bermuda Triangle does not appear on any world map.
01:14Nobody has agreed on its exact boundaries.
01:16There are only assumptions with approximations of the entire area, ranging between 500,000 and 1.5 million square miles.
01:26By all approximations, the region has a vaguely triangular shape.
01:30In 1964, an American author named Vincent Hayes Gaddis first came up with the idea when writing an article for
01:39Argosy magazine.
01:41He used the Bermuda Triangle to describe a triangular region that has destroyed hundreds of ships and planes without a
01:49trace.
01:49It is pretty hard to get the number of lost ships and planes, because some ships and aircraft have gone
01:55missing without leaving a trace.
01:58Their wreckage in the region has not been recovered.
02:01But the recorded story should help us.
02:04Legends about the Bermuda Triangle date back to the 15th century, like that of the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus.
02:12When sailing through the Atlantic waters, he passed by this location in the late 1400s.
02:17In what we now know as the Bermuda Triangle, he saw a huge flame that seemed to just crash into
02:24the ocean.
02:25Later, he saw an unusual light flashing in the distance at the exact location.
02:29Like many other sailors since then, his compass had severe malfunctions.
02:35Flight 19, a Navy plane on a routine schedule back in 1945, also started the Bermuda Triangle legend.
02:43It was commanded by Lieutenant Charles Taylor, and it's recorded that he just got lost in the triangle for no
02:50reason.
02:50Since pilots had no GPS back then, they had to trust their compasses and keep track of how long they'd
02:57been flying in a specific direction
02:59and their speed.
03:01Shortly after completing the task, both of the compasses on board stopped working correctly.
03:07Records found after the plane's disappearance also indicate that Taylor didn't have a watch on that particular day.
03:14The initial report stated that pilot error was to blame for this unfortunate event.
03:19However, because people weren't satisfied with this outcome,
03:23it was changed to causes or reasons unknown after several reviews.
03:29One surviving pilot named Bruce Guerin suggested he went through an electronic fog while passing above the triangle,
03:36making him travel through time.
03:39In 1970, when this incident happened, he was flying his aircraft when it was surrounded by two huge clouds
03:46that formed a whirlpool and spiraled.
03:49Like many others before him, he noticed that his navigation devices were malfunctioning.
03:54When he eventually made it out of those clouds, he discovered that his flight had only taken 35 minutes.
04:01It should have taken 75 in total.
04:04Since he had no other reasonable explanation for what he went through,
04:08he believed he must have been pushed forward in time.
04:12It's not only strange-looking clouds that have been seen above the Bermuda Triangle.
04:17In 2014, a pilot recalled almost colliding with a flying object that he could not identify whatsoever.
04:25Some of these strange encounters were even caught on tape.
04:28It's the case of an early 2015 flight whose passengers noticed a curious object just floating over the ocean.
04:36The pilots have yet to figure out what they actually saw back there.
04:40Okay, not all of the possible explanations have been this unusual.
04:45Oceanographers, for example, have also tried to explain why ships disappear around here.
04:51So, they recently came back to one of their old theories.
04:55Rogue waves.
04:56These are immense walls of water that just pop up suddenly.
05:00If multiple such waves rise simultaneously, they overlap like a wave sandwich.
05:06If one single wave can reach over 30 feet tall and happen simultaneously,
05:11it can create a rogue wave that can surpass 100 feet high.
05:16These types of waves can quickly overtake even the biggest of ships.
05:21Meteorologists came up with their own explanation, too.
05:24Hexagonal clouds.
05:26These unusual types of clouds can generate winds of up to 170 miles per hour.
05:31And they're pretty significant, too, some reaching 20 to 55 miles across.
05:37As such, waves inside these wind giants can go as high as 45 feet.
05:43The Earth's own magnetic force might also have something to do with it.
05:48Within the Bermuda Triangle, compasses point to true north, the geographic north pole,
05:53rather than magnetic north, the shifting magnetic north pole.
05:57Some have even explained that, since these two perfectly overlap in the Bermuda Triangle,
06:03it can cause a magnetic phenomenon that could make navigational devices malfunction.
06:08It's called the agonic line.
06:11The problem is that scientists have discovered that this line moves each year.
06:16It might have passed through the Bermuda Triangle at one point,
06:19but it's now through the Gulf of Mexico.
06:22Other strange natural phenomenon found along the coast of Norway could help explain why the
06:28Bermuda Triangle has claimed so many ships.
06:31There are some deep craters there, measuring up to half a mile wide and are 150 feet deep.
06:38Scientists believe they were created by methane gas bubbles.
06:41This gas seems to be leaking from deposits hidden deep in the seabed.
06:45Once the gas reaches a certain quantity, it bursts to the surface and causes eruptions.
06:52So, do pilots and ship captains actually avoid this area today?
06:57Could this explain why there are fewer ships that get lost there nowadays?
07:02But, if you've ever flown from Miami to San Juan, Puerto Rico, you probably know that's not true.
07:08As for ships, if people would avoid the Bermuda Triangle, nearly all Caribbean vacations would be spoiled.
07:16To this day, there are a lot of flights that go over the Bermuda Triangle, so it's clear nobody is
07:22avoiding it.
07:23This place is one of the most heavily traveled shipping lanes in the world.
07:27Nowadays, the Bermuda Triangle has heavy daily traffic, both by sea and air.
07:33But, the Bermuda Triangle is indeed subject to tropical storms and hurricanes that happen very often.
07:40Let's also keep in mind that the Gulf Stream, a strong ocean current that causes sharp changes in local weather,
07:47passes through the Bermuda Triangle.
07:49Besides, the deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean, the Milwaukee Depth, is also located in the Bermuda Triangle.
07:57The Puerto Rico Trench reaches almost 27,500 feet at the Milwaukee Depth.
08:03So, if you think about it, the whole mystery is a perfect combination of human error, bad weather, and a
08:10lot of ship traffic.
08:11This was confirmed by data provided by the U.S. Coast Guard.
08:15If you look at percentages, the number of ships or planes that go missing in the Bermuda Triangle isn't different
08:22from anywhere else.
08:24Disappearances do not happen more often than in any comparable region of the Atlantic Ocean.
08:29Official statistics say around 50 ships and 20 airplanes have vanished while traveling through this region.
08:36So, that's another reason why the total number is so hard to pinpoint.
08:41Nobody could describe its rescue in official records if a boat was reported missing.
08:46There were also some events that, it turns out, didn't happen at all, adding to those false reports, like that
08:54of a plane crash back in 1937 off Daytona Beach, Florida, that local papers surprisingly revealed nothing about.
09:02It was the wealthiest and most beautiful city ever to be seen.
09:07Stepping through its central gate alone would take your breath away with its elaborate decorations and towering marble statues.
09:14Everywhere you'd look, you'd find yet another marvel of civil engineering and cultural prowess.
09:19Yes, the lost city of Atlantis was truly the pinnacle of ancient civilization.
09:25That is, if it ever existed.
09:29Since it was supposedly swallowed by the sea in its entirety, it's no wonder some curious minds linked it to
09:35the Bermuda Triangle,
09:36another subject of endless mystery in popular culture, suspected of swallowing quite a few missing planes and ships.
09:43In the late 1960s, it's said that a group of treasure hunters stumbled upon the remains of an ancient city
09:50while diving in the Bermuda Triangle off the coast of Miami.
09:54Not only did they claim to encounter some intricate-looking ruins, but they also claimed that they found a glass
10:00pyramid there,
10:02larger than any other pyramid ever discovered in Egypt.
10:06A huge glass pyramid on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean?
10:11No. That story turned out to be a hoax.
10:14Nevertheless, we do know that strange phenomena are still happening in the Bermuda Triangle,
10:19like volatile water currents or even the occasional vortex.
10:23But anyone mentions the Bermuda Islands, this mythical triangle is often the first thing that comes to mind,
10:29due to all the mysterious disappearances or unexplained malfunctions.
10:33There's a lot more to this territory than one mysterious triangle.
10:39Let me tell you about it, just in case you might want to visit.
10:43For a time after its discovery, Bermuda was briefly known as the Somers Isle,
10:48named after George Somers, a British privateer and naval hero.
10:52But a name that eventually stuck was the initial name, Bermuda,
10:56named after Juan de Bermudes, an explorer from Spain who discovered it in 1505.
11:01It's the oldest remaining British territory overseas,
11:05going back to a time before even the United Kingdom was established.
11:08The island's geographical creation is also unique.
11:12Scientists have recently discovered that the volcano that had generated this piece of land is like no other on Earth.
11:18Since it has pleasant weather almost all year, it's a great place for golfing,
11:23sporting eight world-class courses, often frequented by famous golf players or celebrities.
11:28You might just run into one by accident, if you're lucky.
11:31If you're more of a music fan, you would be interested to know that John Lennon
11:35got the inspiration for about 25 of his songs right here on this island,
11:40including classics such as Watching the Wheels, Woman, and Just Like Starting Over.
11:47Bermuda's official online travel guide even provides a Lennon-inspired itinerary,
11:52taking you from the Bermuda Botanical Gardens to the Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art
11:58to Front Street, a district well-known for its very active nightlife.
12:03William Shakespeare himself has an interesting connection with this island.
12:07His famous play, The Tempest, a story about a shipwreck crew that end up on a magical island
12:13where they are tormented by an old man and his servants,
12:16was initially going to be set in the Mediterranean.
12:18But after learning about a real-life shipwreck in Bermuda,
12:22Shakespeare was supposedly inspired and so moved the setting here.
12:28The island is also home to some fascinating animal wildlife.
12:31On hot summer nights, a special insect that glows in the dark,
12:35called the Bermuda fireworm, can be found and protected by areas.
12:39There's also a unique species of birds here, the cowhouse, also known as Bermuda petrels.
12:44Believed to be extinct for about 300 years, they were rediscovered back in the 1950s,
12:50and a sanctuary was built for their protection.
12:53Currently, there are about 300 of these birds in Bermuda, total.
12:58Some of the first sailors to end up on the island at times reported strange sounds
13:02coming from inland and the surrounding waters after sunset.
13:06They even described what they heard as children screaming.
13:09So, of course, they thought it must have been because of witches or sea monsters.
13:14It took a little more time and research to figure out the sounds were coming from the cowhouse.
13:19These birds emit a very specific sound that can be easily confused with distressed human noises.
13:25Just that the Netherlands are famous for their tulips and Brazil for its coffee,
13:30Bermuda is well known for, drumroll please,
13:35Yes, Bermuda used to export an amazing amount of onions back in the day,
13:39and the general quality of the vegetables produced here is said to be very high.
13:44Bermudians, that's how people living in Bermuda are called,
13:47are so proud of their onion heritage that when the clock strikes 12 on New Year's,
13:51a giant-sized onion decorated with beautiful lights is dropped in St. George's Town Square
13:57to usher in a new year.
13:59This is a big part of Bermudian tradition, as their onion heritage is a point of pride for the Bermudian
14:05people.
14:05The community of Bermuda is known to be tight-knit and to be very friendly and sociable.
14:11It's common to say hi to everyone on the street, even if you aren't properly introduced.
14:16Not greeting people when entering a shop or jumping into a bus is actually considered rude,
14:21so be sure to get accustomed to locals saying hello when paying a visit.
14:25Another fascinating aspect of Bermuda is its architecture.
14:28The houses are all painted in bright, zesty colors.
14:32Bermudians take very good care of their homes, even repainting them every four to five years.
14:37And they can even choose the color of their house without any limits.
14:40The roofs, however, are a completely different story.
14:43When visiting, you will notice that they are all white and terraced.
14:47Here's why.
14:48Since there is no public water system in Bermuda,
14:51people living here have to collect their own water.
14:54And that's what the roofs are for.
14:56Rainwater is collected on the roofs and then funneled into water tanks for storage and future use.
15:02That's why it's so important that the roofs remain white.
15:05Not only is it much easier to spot debris on a white surface,
15:08but the white cement also helps with sanitizing the water.
15:12What about transportation?
15:13Well, only residents can drive a car here,
15:16and only a single car is permitted per household in terms of ownership.
15:19So if your trip itinerary includes renting a car, you may want to rethink it.
15:24If riding a bus is not your preference, there's always the option of renting a scooter.
15:29You just have to remember to drive on the left side of the road.
15:32It is a British colony, after all.
15:35This wonderful location is also one of the few places on Earth with pink, sandy beaches.
15:40Because it's surrounded by coral reefs that are responsible for the special red pigment,
15:45Bermuda is home to some of the most spectacularly colored beaches in the world,
15:50such as Horseshoe Bay Beach, West Whale Bay, or South Shore Park.
15:55For those interested in more of a culinary experience,
15:59Bermuda has some interesting local dishes to explore.
16:02It's geographical location and the fact that it's surrounded by water
16:06mean that most local courses are based on fish and seafood.
16:10Here you can get a nice codfish breakfast, a Bermuda fish cake,
16:13or their famous Hoppin' John.
16:16A dish made with black-eyed peas, sliced sausage, bacon or chicken,
16:22Bermuda onion, of course, and some brown rice, often seasoned with garlic and thyme.
16:27They do this last one for special occasions, like in January,
16:31during the Bermuda Restaurant Weeks,
16:33a culinary festival that you'd better not miss if you love a good feast.
16:37For a place to chill with a fantastic view,
16:40Bermuda offers two historic lighthouses,
16:42each with its own delightful peculiarities.
16:45To get to Gibbs Hill Lighthouse, for example,
16:47you would have to make a long pilgrimage up 185 steps.
16:52There's no elevator to get you there,
16:53so be sure you're properly hydrated before starting the journey.
16:57The panoramic view of the ocean, however, will make up for all the effort.
17:01There is also St. David's Lighthouse,
17:04which is known as an ideal spot for whale watching.
17:06Particularly in March and April,
17:09humpback whales generally pass through these waters
17:11as they travel north to their feeding grounds in Canada.
17:15The National Museum of Bermuda also provides an array of unique experiences,
17:19such as the Dolphin Quest.
17:21Through this program, tourists have the opportunity to view,
17:24meet, and interact with dolphins
17:27in a sheltered, natural ocean lagoon environment.
17:31Searching for the best hidden Instagrammable spots?
17:33Then Crystal and Fantasy Caves is the place for you.
17:37They were actually discovered by accident in 1907.
17:40Two young boys, Carl Gibbons and Edgar Hollis,
17:43lost their ball while playing cricket.
17:45When one of the boys went down a hole to get the ball back,
17:48he discovered this magical place
17:50full of crystal formations surrounding a beautiful lake.
17:54Crystal and Fantasy Caves attract a huge number of tourists each year,
17:58and through a number of recently constructed bridges,
18:01they are now more easily accessible.
18:03Be sure to wear comfortable shoes, though.
18:06There's lots of other geographic, historic, and cultural attractions
18:10I could talk about, but I think you get the gist.
18:13Bermuda is a lovely and vibrant island paradise
18:16that offers so much more than conspiracy theories
18:19about missing planes and lost cities.
18:21The weather is pleasant, the people are friendly,
18:23and there's so much to do on this beautiful island.
18:26So what are you waiting for?
18:28Book a flight today!
18:31Just a suggestion, of course.
18:32More than 50 ships and 20 planes
18:35have disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle
18:37since the middle of the 19th century.
18:40This region isn't put on any paper map
18:42and is not an official region of the Atlantic.
18:45This massive water area
18:47is located not far from the southeastern coast of the U.S.
18:50and still scares many sailors.
18:53But you aren't afraid
18:54and want to prove that there is nothing special in this place.
18:58You sail to the center of the Bermuda Triangle
19:00on a small fishing boat.
19:01You turn off the engine and wait.
19:06Several hours pass.
19:08The sun goes below the horizon.
19:10Night comes.
19:11You're about to return to the shore.
19:13But suddenly, it becomes too quiet.
19:16Then, you hear a splash of water.
19:19You look overboard
19:20and see hundreds of fish swimming to the surface.
19:24Something big scared them away.
19:26Something that comes straight from the depths.
19:29The next second,
19:31you notice big sparkling eyes
19:33and long tentacles reaching for the boat.
19:35It seems that one of the most terrible myths
19:38about the Bermuda Triangle turned out to be true.
19:41A huge squid dragging ships to the bottom.
19:44Stories about these squids appeared long before the emergence
19:47of the Bermuda Triangle myths.
19:49For centuries, sailors from Norway and Greenland told stories about a scary sea monster,
19:55the Kraken.
19:56In those stories, the Kraken broke the decks of ships with its giant tentacles
20:01and dragged them to the bottom.
20:03The approach of this creature is impossible to see
20:05since it's coming to you not from the side,
20:07but from below.
20:08But all these were just stories.
20:11Only in the 19th century,
20:13scientific evidence of the existing of these monsters appeared.
20:17A beak of an unknown squid was found on the coast of Denmark.
20:21The size of the find was about 3 inches in diameter,
20:24which is about the size of a human pond.
20:27Then, it became clear that the Kraken was real,
20:30and it's just one variety of giant squid.
20:33Since then, more than 21 species of giant squid have been described.
20:37But the first video with this monster was recorded in 2004
20:41in the waters of North Atlantic,
20:43not far from the Bermuda Triangle.
20:45Marine biologists used a lure to draw the squid out of the depths.
20:49The huge monster was about 30 feet long,
20:52which is about half a subway car.
20:54It suddenly appeared out of the ocean darkness
20:56and quickly attacked the lure,
20:58squeezing it with its tentacles.
21:00After that, many cases of squid have been recorded on photos and video.
21:04Huge squids were washed up on the shore,
21:07swam past ships.
21:09According to some records,
21:11the largest monster ever found was 59 feet long
21:14and weighed almost a ton.
21:15This is the size of a big bus.
21:18Some scientists believe that giant squids can reach 150 feet in length,
21:22which is almost twice the size of a basketball court.
21:25But the big size is not enough to sink a ship.
21:28The first thing that helps squids do this is the surprise effect.
21:32Squids come from the depths,
21:34which means they can be seen from the deck.
21:36But the monster can see a boat from afar.
21:38It has the biggest eyes in the world.
21:41One eye is about the size of a basketball.
21:43The eyesight of a giant squid allows them to see prey in the black sea depths
21:48and from a big distance.
21:49Most sea creatures on the planet can't see in such conditions.
21:53So, the squid notices your ship and decides that it's food.
21:57It quickly approaches the boat
21:58and attacks with its tentacles.
22:00The squid has eight limbs
22:02and two extra longer tentacles the monster uses
22:05to bring food to the beak-shaped mouth.
22:07The others are covered with dozens of suction cups
22:09filled with sharp teeth.
22:11Nothing can escape if the squid grabs it.
22:13The squid wraps its tentacles around your boat.
22:16With the teeth on each arm,
22:18it bites the deck.
22:19Two long tentacles can grab you
22:21while you're running around in panic.
22:23The squid can rock the ship from side to side
22:25until one of its parts sinks in the water.
22:27You fight off two long tentacles and fall off your feet.
22:31The squid's eight arms are squeezing stronger.
22:34You can hear the boat's hull cracking.
22:36The squid is big,
22:38but still can't sink a large metal object.
22:41Possibly, it couldn't have sunk huge ships
22:43that disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle.
22:46You see how the squid swims away into the depths.
22:48You're lucky this time,
22:50but you definitely wouldn't handle two such monsters.
22:53The existence of giant squids was proven
22:56more than 150 years ago,
22:58but people still don't know anything about them.
23:00The fact is that they are some of the most elusive creatures on Earth.
23:04They swim fast,
23:05spending most of their time at depths of 1,300 to 3,000 feet.
23:09To descend there,
23:10people need sturdy submarines and bulky equipment
23:12that create a lot of noise.
23:14The squid will notice them much earlier
23:16and swim away.
23:17Scientists don't know anything about their behavior,
23:20social life,
23:21habits,
23:21or a distance they swim during the day.
23:23And most importantly,
23:25we don't know how many of them are hidden in the water.
23:27The ocean is only 5% explored.
23:30It's possible that millions of giant squids
23:32swim in the sea depths.
23:34Just imagine hundreds of giant tentacles
23:36reaching out to a group of ships
23:38sailing through the Bermuda Triangle.
23:39In the past centuries,
23:41they could easily sink an entire fleet.
23:43Since the ships were made of wood and were lighter,
23:46squids wrapped decks with their strong tentacles,
23:49made holes in the ship's bodies with their sharp beaks.
23:52Toothy suction cups could break the mass and tear the sails.
23:55The water was filling the holes
23:57and slowly rising to the deck.
23:59The ship sank in a matter of minutes.
24:02Survivors reached the shore
24:04and told everyone about huge monsters.
24:06This is how the legends of the Kraken appeared.
24:09Fortunately,
24:10now people have sonars
24:11and equipment for monitoring the sea space.
24:14You start the engine to swim to the shore
24:16and notice that about 30 tentacles
24:18are reaching out to you from the water.
24:20Three giant squids squeeze the boat from all sides
24:22and pull it down.
24:23It looks like there's no way out.
24:25You look overboard
24:26and see black eyes looking right at you.
24:29At this moment,
24:30you find a solution.
24:32Squids spend their whole life in darkness
24:34and are afraid of the light.
24:35Fortunately,
24:36you have a signal rocket.
24:38You use it to scare the monsters away.
24:40Squids go back down into the water,
24:43but apparently not for long.
24:44You release a few more rockets into the ocean
24:46and scream in fear.
24:48The red light illuminates the sea darkness
24:50and you see hundreds of moving tentacles.
24:53They quickly swim away from the fire
24:55to a safe distance.
24:56At full throttle,
24:57you're sailing to the shore
24:58and releasing all the signal fires into the water.
25:02You don't give the squids a chance
25:03to get close to you.
25:05Finally,
25:06you get to land,
25:07confident that you will never return to this place.
25:09The bad news is,
25:11these creatures swim not only in the Bermuda Triangle.
25:14People found giant squid in the oceans
25:16all over the world.
25:17Yeah,
25:18it's possible the giant squid is the main reason
25:20for the disappearance of ships,
25:22but this doesn't make the Bermuda Triangle
25:24a unique place.
25:25Boats and cargo ships disappear
25:27all over the Atlantic Ocean.
25:29The triangle is not even included
25:31in the top 10 of such places.
25:34Also,
25:35this area is one of the most popular
25:37shipping routes of the Atlantic.
25:38And the more ships sail in one place,
25:41the more ships are lost.
25:42Many scientists believe
25:44the reason of the disappearances here
25:46is strong storms and hurricanes.
25:48Bermuda is located in an area of high pressure,
25:51which diverts thunderstorms towards the triangle.
25:54The waves reach such sizes here
25:56that they can turn ships over.
25:58Thunder and frequent flashes of lightning
26:00disable planes.
26:02The Earth's magnetic field
26:03is weakened at the location of the triangle.
26:06This field works as a shield,
26:08which repels solar particles.
26:10Here,
26:11solar radiation passes through
26:12the upper layers of the atmosphere
26:14and can negatively affect
26:16the electronics operation.
26:18Also,
26:19there is a theory that says
26:20that the Bermuda Triangle
26:21is the center of a magnetic anomaly.
26:24But scientists made many checks
26:26of the magnetic map of this region
26:28and haven't found any oddities.