Mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle

Over the years, a lot has been written about the Bermuda Triangle, which is more infamously known as the Devil’s Triangle.

This triangle is located in the western part of the North Atlantic. The area is called a triangle because it encompasses 3 vertices that include Miami, Florida, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the mid-Atlantic island of Bermuda.

This small patch of the ocean has been blamed for hundreds of shipwrecks, plane crashes and mysterious disappearances.

Over the years many theories have been put forth in an attempt to solve what was considered in the 1970s, a scary mystery.

Today, over forty years later, some state that most of the stories written about these lost wrecks, crashes, and disappearances were inaccurate or embellished. In some cases, this is true. In others, it is not.

Scientific Theories

Over the years, there have been many debates as to the cause of all these accidents and disappearances.

Excluding human error--most theories that have been put forth involve some kind of environmental force that made ships and planes compasses or navigational equipment malfunction, which caused them to go off course and become lost.

The list of possible causes is too long, so instead, here is one of the most intriguing theories.

Dr. Richard Mclver an American geochemist and Dr. Ben Chennell of Leeds University in England purpose that Methane hydrates, which are sediments that bubble up from the ocean floor might cause ships to disappear.

Landslides on the ocean floor can release vast amounts of this gas--which can be disastrous because, in some instances, it reduces the density of the water.

What this means is it could make any ship floating above sink like a rock. This gas could also cause plane engines to ignite--causing them to explode.

Paranormal Theories

There have been so many spooky stories and theories told about the triangle that people literally are afraid to travel through this area.

Stories of alien UFO abductions and other paranormal phenomena became as varied as the scientific theories.

The stories told of disappearances in the triangle, such as the Carroll A. Deering in 1921, and an entire squadron of Naval planes in 1945, fueled these more alternative theories.

One stark example of this follows...

An English psychiatrist, Dr. Kenneth McAll put forth a theory in a book he wrote that the souls of black slaves had cursed the triangle, and their spirits still haunt the area.

While traveling by ship across the triangle, McAll stated he and the crew heard continuous mournful singing everywhere on the vessel, but they could find no discernible source for it.

He later did research and discovered it was in the triangle region where 18^th century English sea captains defrauded insurance companies by tossing African slaves into the ocean to drown, and then cashed in on the claims.

Simplest Theory

Skeptics state that there is no mystery connected to the Bermuda Triangle.

They propose a simple explanation. The triangle is a relatively small region that has some of the most heavily traveled shipping lanes in the world.

Because of this, it should not be surprising that a large number of accidents occur in the area.

I must note here that vessels started to disappear in this region long before the area was heavily used.

Another problem with this theory is it does not explain why hundreds of planes and large ships, over more than a century, just disappeared without a trace.

The Ghosts of Flight 401

Flight 401 crash site.

Much has been written about Eastern Airlines Flight 401 that crashed in the Florida Everglades in December of 1972. 

Every time I encounter this story, chills run up and down my spine. The reason for this is because this story is about ghosts that were seen multiple times by people who knew them before they died. 

What is even more impressive is these hauntings were well documented despite an attempted cover-up.

A TriStar  L-1011

When this wide-body L-1011 jet crashed, it killed 101 people. 77 people survived the crash. All but 17 of the surviving passengers and crew sustained significant injuries. 

Among the dead were the pilot Robert ‘Bob’ Loft and the flight engineer Donald ‘Don’ Repo. Two of the ten female flight attendants perished as well. The crash happened as the plane neared its destination-- Miami International Airport.

After the crash, it was determined the cause was the flight crews’ failure to recognize that the autopilot, which kept them on course at 2000 feet, had been accidentally bumped and deactivated. 

When this happened, the flight crew were busy troubleshooting a malfunction in the landing gear.

When the plane gradually lost altitude, the crew were preoccupied and failed to notice the alert sound their flight instrument made.

It indicated they had dropped 200 feet warning them to correct their attitude. 

It was at night, and they were flying over the Everglades where there were no ground lights or visual clues to warn them they were descending into the swamp. 

When they realized what was happening, it was too late to do anything about it.

Two books have been written about Flight 401. Also, two films were produced. But the crash wasn’t their primary focus. Instead, they talked about happened in the months after the accident.

For a year and a half after Flight 401 went down, both crew members and passengers reported seeing the deceased Captain Robert Loft and flight engineer Donald Repo on other L-1011 flights. 

Most believe their presence was a result of the fact that Eastern Airlines, to save money, used salvaged parts from this crashed plane. They put these spare parts in other L-1011’s. It was on these planes with the salvaged parts that the hauntings most frequently occurred.

Bob Loft

Many of the witnesses who saw the ghosts were crewmembers who recognized Loft and Repo because they had known them when they were alive. 

There were so many sighting that the 1974 Flight Safety Foundation’s newsletter published information about it. 

The Flight Safety Foundation, to whom the sightings had been reported wrote, “The reports were given by experienced and trustworthy pilots and crew. We consider them significant. The appearance of the dead Flight Engineer (Repo)…was confirmed by the Flight Engineer.”

Eastern Airlines always refused to discuss the topic, and at one point they threatened to sue the producers of the film ‘The Ghost of Flight 401’ for defamation. 

The reports from their employees became so prevalent they told them they could face dismissal if they were caught talking about the ghostly sightings. 

It is interesting to note, that even though Eastern publicly denied their planes were haunted, they quietly removed all the salvaged parts from their L-1011 fleet.

Today, Eastern Airlines no longer exists.

Witnesses who saw Loft and Repo described them as very lifelike. These two ghosts did more than just appear they often spoke or conversed with the living. 

Several Eastern Airline crew members described in vivid detail their encounters with the spirits of Loft or Repo. 

These witnesses included: pilots, flight officers, and even ironically the vice-president of Eastern Airlines. This executive started a conversation with an officer sitting in first class. He believed this officer was the captain in charge of the Miami bound flight he was on. But he realized as he watched this man vanish into thin air that it was actually Loft who he had been conversing with.

Most of the sightings were corroborated because there were multiple witnesses. 

One account is of a captain and two flight attendants who reported seeing and speaking to Loft just before take-off, he then vanished before their eyes. This shook them up so much they canceled the flight. 

Another multiple sighting occurred when a woman passenger reported to a flight attendant, that the man sitting next to her wearing an Eastern Airlines uniform was pale and unresponsive. 

This man disappeared in front of her, the flight attendant, and several other passengers. A full report was written about this incident, because the woman passenger went into hysterics, and had to be calmed down. 

Later, shown a photo of Repo, this female passenger, identified him as the uniformed man who had been sitting next to her.

Don Repo

One crew member who saw Repo was a flight engineer who was doing his routine pre-flight inspection on an L-1011 that had salvaged parts from Flight 401. 

Repo appeared in front of him and stated, “You don’t need to worry about the pre-flight, I’ve already done it.” 

On another flight, a captain reported that Repo had appeared before him and assured him, “There will never be another crash. We will not let it happen.” 

The ghosts of Loft and Repo were never witnessed on the same flights.

Both these ghosts took a hands-on role when they appeared. 

Repo was the more active of the two. On one occasion a flight attendant spotted a flight engineer fixing the galley oven. When she later approached the flight engineer, he stated he had not fixed the oven and that there had not been another engineer on board. This mysterious engineer was identified as Repo. 

On another occasion, Repo was seen by a flight engineer who was investigating the compartment below the cockpit because he had heard knocks, which led him to find an unknown problem.

Repo was seen yet again in another plane’s galley when a flight attendant spotted his reflection, looking out at her from the galley oven. This plane’s kitchen had salvaged parts from Flight 401. 

Alarmed at sight, this flight attendant fetched two of her colleagues, one was a flight engineer who had been a friend of Repos and recognized him. All three witnesses heard Repo state, “Watch out for fire on this airplane.” 

The records show the plane did have serious engine trouble, a fire did break out, and the last leg of its journey was canceled.

Today, it is believed that if Eastern had not put a stop to their employees discussing these hauntings, even more witnesses would have come forward. 

Loft and Repo were not the only ghosts spotted on L-1011’s after the crash of Flight 401, the two flight attendants who perished in the accident were also seen…

Recovery crews sent to retrieve the various parts of the crashed plan also reported seeing and hearing strange things in the swamp.