• Question: I know the Bermuda triangle/ devils triangle exists but is it actual magical or has it got something to do with science. even though many ships have disappeared, planes have gone missing or have crashed while flying over it, has it actual been proven that it causes all these strange occurrences and if so how is it said to work?

    Asked by baeby to Chris, Josh, Rebecca, Rob, Susan on 22 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Rebecca Dewey

      Rebecca Dewey answered on 22 Jun 2015:

      I think the Bermuda triangle is all science – no magic involved at all! Nothing has been proven but I think it is because of a combination of the following:
      (1) just plain bad luck. The probability of all those ships going missing in the same place might seem low – like the probability of you rolling a dice 6 times and getting 6 sixes in a row – or the probability of you winning the lottery – but it doesn’t mean that it’s impossible!
      (2) there are a lot of strong ocean currents and bad weather out there and that means that ships and planes are a bit more likely to get into trouble in that region. Also, there are some underwater sources of methane (natural gas like you have coming out of taps in the chemistry lab). These might be able to take ships down.
      (3) because it has become famous for being spooky, a lot of people have travelled to the Bermuda Triangle to try and figure it out.

      So you’ve got what’s already quite a rough bit of sea where there are weird changing weather conditions and people are intrigued by it so they travel there more often. With a large dollop of probability and bad luck, I reckon that explains it enough that it doesn’t need to be magical or supernatural!

    • Photo: Susan Cartwright

      Susan Cartwright answered on 22 Jun 2015:

      This is a classic case of what psychologists call “confirmation bias”: people “know” that the Bermuda Triangle exists, so whenever anything happens in that area of the ocean it’s always noted as “a Bermuda Triangle mystery”, whereas planes going down or ships sinking elsewhere are not so noted. There is, in fact, very little evidence that loss of vessels in that area is any greater than anywhere else, and maritime insurers do not charge extra premiums for ships sailing in that region (and they would, if the accident risks really were higher – insurance people are entirely driven by profit, not by theory). So, bluntly, you may *think* you “know the Bermuda triangle exists”, but the data do not support your assertion.

      There are, in fact, reasons why one might expect losses of small vessels (which might not come to the attention of Lloyds’ Register) to be higher in this general area than elsewhere. It’s at the right latitude for hurricanes, there are a lot of islands and sandbanks to run aground on, and it’s popular with tourists who might not be experienced sailors. But there’s actually very little hard evidence of anything that needs explaining. Don’t believe all you read.

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