8. The Bermuda Triangle took on an ominous reputation in the 1960s
Following Gaddis’s article in Argosy, other writers jumped on the bandwagon with articles they claimed were based on historical and scientific research. Stories about the triangle shared many similarities. Ships entered it only to vanish without a trace. No wreckage was ever found. On occasion ships or boats came out of the triangle without anyone aboard, and no evidence could be gleaned to explain their disappearance. Aircraft, military, commercial, and private, flew into the region and vanished forever. There was never an explanation, the incidents all remained unexplained by the authorities. In triangle lore, it quickly became an area of the ocean where ships and airplanes vanished at a rate unknown anywhere else in the world. Ships vanished without sending emergency messages. No crews survived in lifeboats. Entering the triangle, which spans some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, was hazardous, according to promoters of the idea.
The causes of all these nautical and aerial disasters were proposed in many different guises. Some called the triangle an extension of supernatural power. Some connected it to the lost city of Atlantis. Others supported the belief the triangle was a portal to a time warp, which whisked some who entered it into another dimension. There were proponents of the UFO theory, and there were those who believed the dangerous area was plagued with rogue waves, microbursts, and severe gales. But ships which encounter the latter usually have time to send messages and man lifeboats. Natural disasters didn’t explain the lack of evidence left behind after a vessel vanished. A popular theory is the triangle possessed a strange force which allowed it to render magnetic compasses unusable. That theory was especially popular with those who don’t comprehend magnetic deviation.