Back to Bermuda

It’s interesting to see the Bermuda Triangle issue revisited via history and science documentaries on cable TV these days. I became intrigued by the Triangle while in high school when I read Invisible Horizons, Vincent Gaddis’ study of nautical mysteries (Ace/Chilton, 1965). This was not long after Gaddis’ article in Argosy magazine first had aroused public interest in the phenomena which seem to occur off the southeastern coast of the U.S. I read all the books I could get my hands on after author Charles Berlitz raised the Triangle to fad status with his 1974 best-seller on the subject. However, Lawrence David Kusche’s “solution” examination, also a best-seller, seemed to put the lie to the hoopla a year later. Nonetheless, The Cyclops, the Atalanta, the “lost patrol” and the many other disappearances have continued to fascinate me.

What amuses me presently is that a new generation of “investigators” seem to have successfully reopened the Triangle case, at least in the eyes of the media. With the aid of newer science (detailed images of the region taken from space, the latest aircraft and shipboard equipment, recent underwater discoveries), they believe they’ve turned up fresh evidence suggesting something strange truly is happening out there. I must confess I’m not especially impressed by the new studies and commentaries. Perhaps what gives me pause is that few of the investigators seem to agree on any one possible explanation -- or on any two or three. They seem to be competing with one another for novel ideas. Their theories are all over the place -- moreso than ever before. It seems to me that if we actually were progressing in our exploration of the Bermuda Triangle, we would be finding clarity in the puzzle. Instead, new people are tossing new pieces (with varying shades of legitimacy) into the puzzle box. Confused and frankly a little bored, I fear I’m beginning to agree more and more with the position of Kusche, published 30 years ago. But I do like to read about it from time to time.