The Bermuda Triangle has been a mystery to humans for a long time with incidences of planes, ships, and people disappearing and never being found. Some resort to more supernatural and mysterious conclusions: it’s a place where extraterrestrials will abduct humans to study, it’s a vortex into another dimension, and there are those who even believe that the Bermuda Triangle is tied to Atlantis (NOAA 2021). There are more scientific explanations as well, such as  oceanic flatulence, which is methane gas that comes from ocean sediments, and disruptions in geomagnetic lines of flux (NOAA 2021). Environmental conditions could have an impact in the Bermuda Triangle as well. Before we had more accurate and improved weather forecasting, the tropical storms that passed through the area took many ships. Quick and violent changes in weather can also be caused by the Gulf Stream (NOAA 2021). 

The Bermuda Triangle is infamous for its mysterious disappearances, one being that of Amelia Earhart. On July 2, 1937, Earhart and Fred Noonan departed from Lae, New Guinea. This was one of the last trips of their flight around the world. The plan was to land on Howland Island, located in the Pacific Ocean slightly north of the equator. Earhart and Noonan never reached this island and were never found, lost in the Bermuda Triangle. There are many who believe Earhart and Noonan’s disappearance was caused by whatever mysterious force lies in the Bermuda Triangle. However, despite the peculiar cases of Earhart and many others, the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard claim that none of the supernatural explanations hold valid or true (NOAA 2021).

Many will claim that the less advanced or not as accurate navigation systems at the times are to blame, but how do we explain disappearances as recent as December 29th, 2020? On that tuesday, a 29 foot long vessel carrying 20 people went missing in the Bermuda Triangle. Jose Hernandez, U.S. Coast Guard Public Affairs Petty Officer First Class, claimed that rough waters and the limited information they had on the boaters proved especially challenging during the search and rescue operation (Cohen 2021). However, even after searching for 84 hours and covering an area roughly double the size of Massachusetts, no trace of the vessel or its passengers was found.

The story of the lost city of Atlantis is a fascinating one. Plato mentioned it

in his works “Timaeus’ and “Critias.” He described it as, “a powerful and advanced kingdom that sank, in night and a day, into the ocean around 9,600 B.C….an  island larger than Libya and Asia Minor put together, located in the Atlantic just beyond the Pillars of Hercules” (History.com Editors 2018).  There was much debate over whether or not Plato’s dialogues were fact or just another one of his metaphors. However, potential evidence of Plato’s Atlantis appear from time to time. Archaeologists and historians have discovered prehistoriccities in coastal Spain, an undersea rock formation in the Bahamas, and most convincingly, the Greek island of Santorini, the half submerged caldrea created by a volcanic eruption in the second millenium B.C.

The Megalodon was the largest fish to exist for 13 million years, with the earliest fossils dating back to 20 million years ago (Davis). Although it is believed to have gone extinct about 3.6 million years ago, there are those who still believe that it dwells deep in the unexplored parts of our ocean, most likely in the Mariana Trench. Roughly 11,034 meters deep, the Mariana Trench would be a suitable home for a creature the size of the Megalodon, which is believed to have measured 15 to 18 meters in length, with a jaw that spans 2.7 by 3.4 meters wide (Davis). However, the Megalodon was a warm-water species, so the cold temperatures of the trench and other deep waters would not provide liveable conditions. Its existence would also be evident through its bitemarks and teeth that would be littering our ocean floors (Davis). If the megalodon still existed today, there would most likely not be enough large fish left in the oceans for humans, given that the megalodon ate roughly 2,500 lbs of food a day. Also, the recreational beaches that humans flock to would turn hazardous since megalodons gave birth in warm, shallow waters.

Human fascination with the idea of mermaids dates back thousands of years. Researchers believe that sightings of sea creatures such as manatees and dugongs sparked legends of merfolk. It is commonly assumed by most people that mermaids are simply legends, given that there has been so solid proof or scientific evidence of their existence. However, people still report sightings. In 2009, news reports claimed that there was a mermaid sighting in Kiryat Yam, a town off the coast of Israel (Radford 2017). Animal Planet held a special in 2012 on mermaids called, “Mermaids: The Body Found.” The story in this special about scientists finding actual proof of mermaids was actually fictional, but it was presented in a fake-documentary format that caused many people to send inquiries to the NOAA about the existence of mermaids. This caused the NOAA to release a statement officially denying the existence of mermaids (Radford 2017).