The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil’s Triangle, sits in the ocean between Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and the tip of Florida. This western region of the North Atlantic is shrouded in mystery. An absurdly large number of ships and planes have had accidents under mysterious circumstances, and in some of the creepiest Bermuda Triangle cases, have vanished without a trace while traveling over this dangerous stretch of water.
Scientists have attempted to make sense out of the strange phenomenon surrounding the Bermuda Triangle. The methane gas theory attributes the disappearances of ships to rapid sinking caused by methane gas escaping from beneath the ocean floor, reducing the density of the water. But this doesn’t explain the planes. Theories have ranged from electronic fogs and magnetic pulls interfering with navigational equipment to freak waves and an unusual seafloor capable of first battering and then swallowing these massive metal structures.
Some believe aliens are responsible. Others think it’s a portal to another world. One of the most outrageous claims is that leftover technology from the lost city of Atlantis is located here and causing interference.
So many theories, none of them able to provide a definitive explanation for why more planes and ships have disappeared within this triangular section of the ocean than anywhere else in the world. This list contains some of the freakiest Bermuda Triangle cases in history.
1. Five US Navy Torpedo Bombers Vanished On Flight 19
Flight 19 is one of the most famous Bermuda Triangle cases in history. In December 1945, a group of five US Navy Avenger torpedo bombers, collectively known as Flight 19, left Fort Lauderdale, FL, for a three-hour exercise and vanished. Flight leader Lieutenant Charles C. Taylor became convinced his compass was malfunctioning and that they were flying in the wrong direction. A storm blew in and Flight 19 became increasingly disoriented. Taylor thought they were over the Florida Keys, but that didn’t seem possible.
Less than an hour after the scheduled pass over Hen and Chickens Shoals in the Bahamas, he became convinced they’d somehow drifted hundreds of miles off-course. Disagreements over whether they should be flying east or west were heard over the radio. Taylor’s final words came through, preparing his men for an ocean landing as they ran out of fuel, then static.
The Navy deployed search planes; a pair of PBM Mariner seaplanes took off. They followed in the footsteps of Flight 19, disappearing first from radar and then from existence. Neither one of the seaplanes or Flight 19 were ever seen again.
2. The Ellen Austin Found A Mysterious Derelict Ship – And Then It Vanished
The Ellen Austin is a particularly unnerving tale. In 1880, the ship left London, bound for New York when it came across a derelict ship. In order to tow it back, they spared a few of their own experienced crew members and the two set sail together. A storm separated the two vessels, the derelict vanished, and the Ellen Austin sailed back to London. There’s one more report of that same derelict being spotted again. Mysteriously enough, a completely different crew from those who left the Ellen Austin were aboard.
3. The USS Cyclops Was Doomed From The Start
The mystery surrounding the USS Cyclops is also the largest human loss on a non-combat ship in US Naval history. In February 1918, the ship left Brazil, headed for Baltimore. It was overloaded and had a cracked cylinder in its starboard engine – rendering the engine inoperational. Still, the ship took off, down one engine and seemingly doomed from the start. The USS Cyclops had to make an unscheduled stop in Barbados because the water was slopping over the waterline, putting her in danger of sinking. After getting rid of the excess water, the ship continued on. But what happened after it left Barbados is still unknown, because the USS Cyclops and all 306 of its crew and passengers vanished without a trace.
4. Witchcraft Was Only One Mile Offshore When It Disappeared
On December 22, 1967, Captain Dan Burack climbed aboard Witchcraft, his luxury cabin cruiser and set sail from Miami with a friend, Roman Catholic priest Father Patrick Horgan. They went just far enough out to get a view of the Christmas lights on the shore. At 9 p.m., Captain Burack radioed the Coat Guard to report he hit something. He didn’t think the damage was too bad, but he would need a tow back in – he even said he lit up some flares. The Coast Guard took off immediately. It took them 19 minutes to reach Witchcraft’s last known location. By the time they arrived, the ship was gone.
Burack was an experienced and cautious yachtsman. He’d even installed a special floatation device in the boat to make it unsinkable. Even if the boat flooded, a part of the hull would still float, but nothing was visible to the Coast Guard. There was no wreckage or flares. They searched 24,500 miles out and found nothing. What became of Witchcraft and her passengers remains a mystery.
5. The BSAA Star Tiger Did Everything It Could to Avoid Bad Weather
On January 28, 1948, the British South American Airlines passenger plane Star Tiger was preparing to take off from Lisbon for Bermuda with a short refueling stop in Santa Maria. Before they even left Lisbon, however, Captain Brian W. McMillan ordered everyone off the plane because there was a problem with one of the engines. Two and a half hours later, passengers reboarded and the plane took off for Santa Maria.
The Star Tiger made it to Santa Maria with no trouble. However, the weather was so bad that Captain McMillan postponed the second half of their trip. The next day, January 29, the flight to Bermuda resumed. The winds were still strong, but Captain McMillan believed they could avoid the worst of it by keeping the aircraft below 2,000 feet.
The flight’s radio operator requested and received the plane’s position from Bermuda’s radio operator around 3:15 a.m. They were at 72 degrees, the Bermuda radio operator reported. Around 3:50 a.m. the Bermuda operator tried to check in with the Star Tiger again, but there was no reply. He reached out to the plane again at 4:05 and 4:40 a.m., and still, no one responded to him.
There were no distress calls, no response to any attempts to reach them. The Star Tiger just disappeared. The USFA launched a five-day rescue operation but turned up nothing. There were 25 passengers, a crew of six, and a World War II hero, Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham, on board. They were never heard from again.
6. A C-54 Skymaster Flew Directly Into A Storm
A plane crashes into the ocean during a bad storm, killing all six onboard. It’s tragic, but it makes sense, seeing as they were facing inclement weather, right? But the strange thing about the crash of the C-54 Skymaster is why it was heading into the storm in the first place. If it stayed on its originally intended course, there wouldn’t have been a storm to strike them down. The pilot was experienced and the navigator was a class II; they were both qualified and knew how to avoid storms. They just… didn’t.
On July 3, 1947, Major Ralph Ward and five other crew members left Bermuda and went off course almost immediately. They were far south of their scheduled course and then suddenly made a course change north and then southwest, flying straight for the eye of the storm. Two very faint SOS calls came into the ground operator. They were very low and garbled, and then there was nothing but silence. About 209 miles northeast of Florida, debris was found which reflected sudden destruction, (common in severe storms). But how this huge blunder was made in the first place remains a topic for debate, especially among people who believe in extraterrestrials.
7. An Airborne Transport DC-3 Was 20 Minutes From Landing When It Ceased Radio Contact
On December 28, 1948, an Airborne Transport DC-3 took off from Puerto Rico for Miami, FL at 10:03 p.m. At about 11:23 p.m., Captain Robert Linquist sent a radio transmission reporting the plane’s position and an ETA of 4:03 a.m. The next report was sent at 4:13 a.m., saying the DC-3 was 50 miles south of Florida with only 20 minutes left before landing. That was the last transmission, and the DC-3 never showed up. Three crew members and 28 passengers simply vanished 20 minutes before landing.
8. Flight 441 Was Carrying US Naval Officers And Their Families When It Disappeared
In 1954, a US Military carrier aircraft full of Naval officers and their families disappeared. The officers were being transferred from Maryland to Lajes, a military base in the Azores. A total of 42 passengers simply vanished within the region of the Bermuda Triangle. No distress calls were made, no bodies or debris were ever found. The pilot was more than capable, as was the plane – until it reached the Bermuda Triangle.
There wasn’t a concrete cause that could be determined. The board of investigation simply stated, “The possibility of structural failure during transit of frontal weather cannot be discounted in this accident, but the possibility appears remote.” What happened to Flight 441 remains one of the biggest mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle.
9. The SS El Faro Was Found Intact, Sitting Upright On The Ocean Floor
The Bermuda Triangle claimed another victim on October 1, 2015. The container ship SS El Faro left Jacksonville, FL for Puerto Rico with 33 people on board on September 30, 2015. The captain charted a course leading them a safe distance away from a tropical storm. The next day, October 1, 2015, that tropical storm had turned into a category 3 hurricane and it was circling the ship with winds of 90 mph. Hurricane Joaquin assaulted the vessel with waves of up to 40 feet before looping around and going back the way it came. After weeks of search, the SS El Faro was found in one piece, sitting upright 15,000 feet below the ocean’s surface.
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