1 00:00:03,792 --> 00:00:08,583 Tonight, it's the most notorious stretch of ocean on the planet. 2 00:00:08,708 --> 00:00:11,417 SAMI JARROUSH: Everyone knows about the Bermuda Triangle, 3 00:00:11,542 --> 00:00:15,125 but yet nobody knows what's going on over there. 4 00:00:15,208 --> 00:00:18,792 A place where ships, planes, and unsuspecting travelers 5 00:00:18,917 --> 00:00:21,208 sometimes disappear. 6 00:00:21,375 --> 00:00:23,125 JASON HORTON: An explosion, or a freak wave, 7 00:00:23,208 --> 00:00:25,958 or even just a crash would leave some debris behind. 8 00:00:26,083 --> 00:00:28,000 So, how come there isn't any? 9 00:00:28,083 --> 00:00:31,292 Now, we explore the top theories 10 00:00:31,375 --> 00:00:34,750 surrounding this enduring mystery. 11 00:00:34,875 --> 00:00:38,042 We have plenty of records of rogue waves 12 00:00:38,208 --> 00:00:41,333 outright destroying oceangoing vessels. 13 00:00:41,458 --> 00:00:43,667 SAMI: We know that Bermuda is teeming with volcanic rock 14 00:00:43,792 --> 00:00:45,667 that makes compasses go crazy. 15 00:00:45,792 --> 00:00:48,083 DUSTIN GROWICK: These planes are flying at 4,000 feet. 16 00:00:48,208 --> 00:00:50,000 I don't care if it's the perfect storm, 17 00:00:50,167 --> 00:00:52,625 no wave can do that. 18 00:00:52,750 --> 00:00:56,000 What could cause so many unexplained vanishings 19 00:00:56,083 --> 00:00:59,500 inside Bermuda's infamous triangle? 20 00:00:59,667 --> 00:01:02,125 [music] 21 00:01:14,750 --> 00:01:18,208 1881, Liverpool, England, 22 00:01:18,375 --> 00:01:20,958 a passenger ship named the Ellen Austin 23 00:01:21,042 --> 00:01:23,125 sets sail for New York City. 24 00:01:23,208 --> 00:01:24,167 SAMI: The Ellen Austin, 25 00:01:24,333 --> 00:01:25,958 helmed by Captain A.J. Griffin, 26 00:01:26,083 --> 00:01:27,958 has a full manifest of immigrants 27 00:01:28,042 --> 00:01:29,500 excited to start a life 28 00:01:29,625 --> 00:01:31,083 in the New World. 29 00:01:31,208 --> 00:01:33,167 Back then, it was a long journey across the Atlantic-- 30 00:01:33,292 --> 00:01:35,167 about six weeks' time. 31 00:01:35,333 --> 00:01:37,500 Now, halfway in, the captain decides 32 00:01:37,625 --> 00:01:39,500 to alter their route to the south. 33 00:01:39,625 --> 00:01:41,333 We can't say for sure why this is, 34 00:01:41,417 --> 00:01:44,292 but turns out to be a bad idea. 35 00:01:44,375 --> 00:01:47,833 LAURENCE: Soon after, the ship is becalmed, 36 00:01:47,958 --> 00:01:51,375 and without wind, it simply drifts. 37 00:01:51,542 --> 00:01:55,000 A few days later, another boat appears 38 00:01:55,167 --> 00:01:57,167 moving erratically. 39 00:01:57,292 --> 00:01:59,667 MARTIN PEPPER: No one can be seen aboard this ship, 40 00:01:59,792 --> 00:02:01,167 nor is there a name or a flag 41 00:02:01,333 --> 00:02:02,667 that identifies the vessel. 42 00:02:02,792 --> 00:02:04,917 It appears to abandoned. 43 00:02:05,042 --> 00:02:06,167 JASON: The captain pulls his ship 44 00:02:06,333 --> 00:02:07,667 alongside the strange vessel, 45 00:02:07,833 --> 00:02:08,875 and some of the sailors 46 00:02:09,042 --> 00:02:11,042 cautiously board it. 47 00:02:11,167 --> 00:02:13,625 DUSTIN: What the find, or rather, don't find, 48 00:02:13,708 --> 00:02:14,917 is very strange. 49 00:02:15,042 --> 00:02:16,458 It's an empty ship. 50 00:02:16,542 --> 00:02:19,042 There's no logbook, there's no sign of violence, 51 00:02:19,167 --> 00:02:22,083 nothing to explain the missing sailors. 52 00:02:22,208 --> 00:02:24,500 JASON: Stranger still, the valuable cargo, 53 00:02:24,625 --> 00:02:28,625 a hold of mahogany wood, is all still perfectly intact. 54 00:02:29,875 --> 00:02:32,042 LAURENCE: Captain Griffin takes the schooner as salvage 55 00:02:32,208 --> 00:02:35,167 and puts some of his best crewmen aboard. 56 00:02:35,292 --> 00:02:37,375 The wind picks up, and these two ships 57 00:02:37,500 --> 00:02:40,042 now set sail together to New York. 58 00:02:40,208 --> 00:02:43,500 LAURENCE: But soon, they meet a turbulent storm 59 00:02:43,667 --> 00:02:45,167 that separates them. 60 00:02:45,292 --> 00:02:47,250 SAMI: When the weather clears a few days later, 61 00:02:47,375 --> 00:02:50,292 Captain Griffin has to go searching for the other ship. 62 00:02:50,375 --> 00:02:53,250 And when they finally spot it and pull up alongside, 63 00:02:53,375 --> 00:02:55,375 it's eerily quiet. 64 00:02:55,500 --> 00:02:58,292 JASON: Shockingly, the ship is empty again. 65 00:02:58,375 --> 00:03:00,625 None of the new crew members can be found, 66 00:03:00,708 --> 00:03:03,750 there's no bloodshed, no damage from the storm, nothing. 67 00:03:03,875 --> 00:03:07,208 SAMI: It's as if they all just disappeared into thin air. 68 00:03:07,375 --> 00:03:09,583 Once, okay, that's a little bit weird, I'll give you that. 69 00:03:09,708 --> 00:03:12,500 But twice? Now, it's getting scary. 70 00:03:12,625 --> 00:03:15,833 LAURENCE: Afraid to lose any more of his crew, 71 00:03:15,917 --> 00:03:19,708 Captain Griffin leaves the mysterious ship behind. 72 00:03:19,833 --> 00:03:21,667 According to records we have from Lloyds of London, 73 00:03:21,750 --> 00:03:24,167 the Ellen Austin finishes its voyage alone, 74 00:03:24,292 --> 00:03:27,625 docking in New York on February 11th, 1881. 75 00:03:27,708 --> 00:03:29,292 I cannot imagine what the surviving crew 76 00:03:29,375 --> 00:03:30,875 must have been thinking. 77 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:33,458 Two crews on that boat, including some of their friends, 78 00:03:33,583 --> 00:03:36,167 just disappear seemingly into thin air. 79 00:03:37,625 --> 00:03:40,250 LAURENCE: What could explain the strange events 80 00:03:40,375 --> 00:03:43,667 witnessed by the crew of the Ellen Austin? 81 00:03:43,750 --> 00:03:45,542 SAMI: They don't know it at the time, 82 00:03:45,667 --> 00:03:48,625 but they've encountered this mysterious ship 83 00:03:48,750 --> 00:03:52,083 in an area of the Atlantic Ocean that has been known to mariners 84 00:03:52,208 --> 00:03:55,333 for hundreds of years as a place to fear-- 85 00:03:55,500 --> 00:03:58,667 a place they accidentally drifted into. 86 00:03:58,792 --> 00:04:01,000 LAURENCE: In this stretch of the ocean, 87 00:04:01,125 --> 00:04:05,458 there are countless stories of shipwrecks and lost boats. 88 00:04:06,792 --> 00:04:10,875 In 1800, the USS Pickering disappears en route to Delaware 89 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:13,000 carrying 90 people. 90 00:04:13,083 --> 00:04:19,667 In 1814, the USS Wasp vanishes along with 140 passengers. 91 00:04:19,792 --> 00:04:24,458 And in 1921, the Carroll A. Deering is lost 92 00:04:24,583 --> 00:04:27,917 and ultimately found abandoned near North Carolina. 93 00:04:28,042 --> 00:04:31,333 But the actual location where the vessels go missing 94 00:04:31,500 --> 00:04:36,000 isn't defined until 1964. 95 00:04:36,125 --> 00:04:38,208 SAMI: Journalist Vincent Gaddis 96 00:04:38,375 --> 00:04:40,500 catalogs some of the strange goings on in an article, 97 00:04:40,667 --> 00:04:43,000 and he finally comes up with a name 98 00:04:43,083 --> 00:04:45,458 for this mysterious area. 99 00:04:45,583 --> 00:04:49,500 LAURENCE: He calls it the Bermuda Triangle. 100 00:04:50,750 --> 00:04:53,417 The Bermuda Triangle covers about 500,000 square miles 101 00:04:53,542 --> 00:04:55,750 of the Atlantic Ocean, between Florida, 102 00:04:55,875 --> 00:04:57,375 Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. 103 00:04:57,500 --> 00:05:00,292 It has claimed numerous victims. 104 00:05:00,417 --> 00:05:02,667 SAMI: As recently as 2015, 105 00:05:02,792 --> 00:05:04,792 two boys disappeared in the Triangle 106 00:05:04,917 --> 00:05:07,875 during a fishing trip that left out of Tequesta, Florida. 107 00:05:08,042 --> 00:05:12,083 As the losses have piled up, the area has become infamous, 108 00:05:12,208 --> 00:05:13,750 legendary worldwide, even. 109 00:05:13,875 --> 00:05:16,625 Everyone knows about the Bermuda Triangle, 110 00:05:16,708 --> 00:05:20,667 but yet nobody knows what's going on over there. 111 00:05:20,750 --> 00:05:23,667 LAURENCE: There have been a number of different theories. 112 00:05:23,792 --> 00:05:27,917 One of the earliest comes from Christopher Columbus. 113 00:05:29,083 --> 00:05:30,792 SAMI: Columbus is actually one of the first Europeans 114 00:05:30,875 --> 00:05:34,000 to cross through the Bermuda Triangle in 1492, 115 00:05:34,083 --> 00:05:35,625 and wouldn't you know it, 116 00:05:35,708 --> 00:05:37,792 he almost immediately encounters a problem. 117 00:05:37,875 --> 00:05:39,750 DUSTIN: The Santa Maria and her sister ships 118 00:05:39,875 --> 00:05:41,833 get stuck in an abundance of algae, 119 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:45,750 which in Columbus' diary, he refers to as weeds. 120 00:05:45,875 --> 00:05:48,375 The ships are stuck for three days 121 00:05:48,500 --> 00:05:50,833 and the sailors become paranoid and panicked. 122 00:05:50,958 --> 00:05:53,583 They fear running aground or being tangled in the weeds 123 00:05:53,708 --> 00:05:56,625 and being dragged to the ocean floor. 124 00:05:56,708 --> 00:05:58,958 The crew would eventually manage to cut their way out, 125 00:05:59,083 --> 00:06:02,458 but they remain convinced that this is a dangerous area, 126 00:06:02,542 --> 00:06:04,792 all thanks to highly unusual seaweed. 127 00:06:09,625 --> 00:06:11,667 What Columbus and his men call weeds, 128 00:06:11,792 --> 00:06:14,250 scientists eventually name sargassum, 129 00:06:14,375 --> 00:06:17,000 from the Spanish word sargasso, meaning seaweed. 130 00:06:18,250 --> 00:06:20,167 LAURENCE: The area ultimately becomes known 131 00:06:20,292 --> 00:06:22,000 as the Sargasso Sea. 132 00:06:22,125 --> 00:06:25,333 SAMI: The Sargasso Sea measures about 700 miles wide 133 00:06:25,458 --> 00:06:27,333 and 2,000 miles long. 134 00:06:27,417 --> 00:06:30,417 It takes up about two-thirds of the Bermuda Triangle, 135 00:06:30,542 --> 00:06:34,250 and is full of these dense mats of sargassum. 136 00:06:34,375 --> 00:06:38,208 LAURENCE: Could seaweed explain the loss of so many vessels? 137 00:06:38,375 --> 00:06:40,625 PAUL SUTTER: Sargassum is a seaweed. 138 00:06:40,750 --> 00:06:43,292 It's made of long thin stalks, 139 00:06:43,375 --> 00:06:45,000 and then there are lots of leaves, 140 00:06:45,167 --> 00:06:47,083 and air-filled sacs 141 00:06:47,208 --> 00:06:49,292 called pneumatocysts. 142 00:06:49,375 --> 00:06:51,292 JASON: If you get stuck in it, the sargassum 143 00:06:51,375 --> 00:06:52,875 wraps around the rudder so you can't steer, 144 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:55,042 and barnacles begin to grow on the ship, 145 00:06:55,167 --> 00:06:56,667 slowing it down. 146 00:06:56,792 --> 00:06:58,667 LAURENCE: But getting stuck 147 00:06:58,833 --> 00:07:01,833 is just one small part of the problem. 148 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,792 When sargassum groups together and begins to rot, 149 00:07:04,917 --> 00:07:08,542 as it decomposes, it produces hydrogen sulfide gas. 150 00:07:08,708 --> 00:07:11,375 This gas smells really awful, like rotten eggs, 151 00:07:11,542 --> 00:07:13,500 and it's toxic. 152 00:07:13,583 --> 00:07:15,917 SAMI: If you breathe in this hydrogen sulfide, 153 00:07:16,042 --> 00:07:19,042 it can irritate your eyes, your nose, and your throat. 154 00:07:19,167 --> 00:07:22,625 But it can also cause some serious psychological issues 155 00:07:22,750 --> 00:07:24,375 if inhaled for an extended period of time, 156 00:07:24,542 --> 00:07:26,625 possibly even insanity. 157 00:07:26,750 --> 00:07:30,042 JASON: A recent study in Nanchang, China, in 2021 158 00:07:30,208 --> 00:07:32,708 tested the effects of hydrogen sulfide on rodents. 159 00:07:32,833 --> 00:07:34,833 And they concluded without a doubt 160 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:37,042 that it causes depression-like behavior. 161 00:07:38,208 --> 00:07:40,792 SAMI: Obviously, just getting tangled in the seaweed 162 00:07:40,875 --> 00:07:43,167 could explain a disappearing or a wrecked ship 163 00:07:43,333 --> 00:07:44,667 if it's stuck out there for long enough. 164 00:07:44,833 --> 00:07:48,500 But when you take into account this psychological effect, 165 00:07:48,583 --> 00:07:52,500 this might explain the wilder Bermuda Triangle stories. 166 00:07:57,458 --> 00:07:59,500 LAURENCE: Could this deadly gas 167 00:07:59,667 --> 00:08:03,708 explain the experience of ships like the Ellen Austin? 168 00:08:03,833 --> 00:08:05,917 SAMI: Remember, the mysterious ship 169 00:08:06,042 --> 00:08:08,167 that they find doesn't wreck or disappear. 170 00:08:08,292 --> 00:08:10,000 It's the passengers that do. 171 00:08:10,125 --> 00:08:13,833 So, could it have been those toxic brain-altering fumes 172 00:08:13,958 --> 00:08:16,917 from the sargassum that drove them to dive overboard? 173 00:08:17,042 --> 00:08:18,375 It's possible. 174 00:08:18,500 --> 00:08:20,333 LAURENCE: An eerily similar incident 175 00:08:20,500 --> 00:08:23,708 appears to take place in 1968, 176 00:08:23,875 --> 00:08:27,583 but this time, there's more evidence. 177 00:08:27,708 --> 00:08:30,500 DUSTIN: On October 31st, 1968, British businessman 178 00:08:30,625 --> 00:08:32,667 and amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst 179 00:08:32,833 --> 00:08:35,792 sets off on the Sunday Times Golden Globe race. 180 00:08:35,875 --> 00:08:37,833 It's a competition to be the first man 181 00:08:37,917 --> 00:08:41,583 to singlehandedly nonstop sail around the world. 182 00:08:42,583 --> 00:08:44,417 JASON: Unfortunately, he's ill-prepared, 183 00:08:44,542 --> 00:08:46,333 and his boat has been hastily constructed. 184 00:08:46,458 --> 00:08:47,875 He barely makes it out to sea 185 00:08:48,042 --> 00:08:49,292 when he starts encountering problems 186 00:08:49,375 --> 00:08:51,167 with navigation and leaks. 187 00:08:51,250 --> 00:08:53,083 SAMI: But if he goes back home, 188 00:08:53,208 --> 00:08:55,583 he'll lose everything he's invested in this race 189 00:08:55,708 --> 00:08:58,792 and be a laughing stock, he'll be humiliated. 190 00:08:58,875 --> 00:09:04,375 LAURENCE: Instead, Crowhurst devises a plan, to cheat. 191 00:09:04,542 --> 00:09:06,042 SAMI: He decides to stay in the Atlantic 192 00:09:06,208 --> 00:09:07,875 and radio back false coordinates 193 00:09:08,042 --> 00:09:10,000 to make it seem as though he's traversing the globe. 194 00:09:10,083 --> 00:09:12,667 JASON: Eventually, race organizers catch on 195 00:09:12,792 --> 00:09:14,875 that Crowhurst's radio communications 196 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:17,000 are not coming from the coordinates he's giving. 197 00:09:17,125 --> 00:09:18,708 So, Crowhurst goes silent. 198 00:09:18,875 --> 00:09:21,458 Sometime thereafter, he makes the mistake 199 00:09:21,542 --> 00:09:23,667 of drifting into the Bermuda Triangle. 200 00:09:23,750 --> 00:09:25,375 And that's it, he's never seen 201 00:09:25,542 --> 00:09:27,250 or heard from again. 202 00:09:28,667 --> 00:09:31,583 LAURENCE: Crowhurst's empty boat is eventually found 203 00:09:31,708 --> 00:09:34,667 in the Atlantic along with a logbook. 204 00:09:34,750 --> 00:09:36,708 DUSTIN: The writings paint a clear picture 205 00:09:36,875 --> 00:09:38,583 of a descent into madness. 206 00:09:38,708 --> 00:09:40,333 They start off perfectly normal, 207 00:09:40,417 --> 00:09:42,500 but once he hits the Sargasso Sea, 208 00:09:42,625 --> 00:09:44,625 Crowhurst starts writing mathematical formulas 209 00:09:44,750 --> 00:09:47,625 that he claims represent a universal truth. 210 00:09:47,750 --> 00:09:50,250 He disputes Einstein's theory of relativity, 211 00:09:50,375 --> 00:09:51,792 and his magnum opus-- 212 00:09:51,875 --> 00:09:55,500 a rambling 25,000-word meditation 213 00:09:55,625 --> 00:09:58,250 on freewill, perception, and the nature of God. 214 00:09:58,375 --> 00:10:01,625 SAMI: He wraps all of this up with his final words, 215 00:10:01,750 --> 00:10:04,875 quote, "I have no need to prolong the game. 216 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:07,583 "It is finished. It is finished. 217 00:10:07,708 --> 00:10:09,583 It is the mercy." 218 00:10:09,708 --> 00:10:11,167 This is someone who has experienced 219 00:10:11,292 --> 00:10:12,667 some sort of mental instability, 220 00:10:12,750 --> 00:10:14,500 which may have led to his suicide. 221 00:10:14,583 --> 00:10:17,000 But was this due to prolonged exposure 222 00:10:17,167 --> 00:10:19,542 to rotting sargassum? 223 00:10:19,708 --> 00:10:22,667 MARTIN: Let's just assume that sargassum is to blame 224 00:10:22,792 --> 00:10:25,500 for the Ellen Austin and the Crowhurst incidents, 225 00:10:25,625 --> 00:10:28,333 along with other entanglements and shipwrecks. 226 00:10:28,500 --> 00:10:30,667 The problem is, this doesn't solve 227 00:10:30,750 --> 00:10:33,042 all the mysteries of what's been going on here. 228 00:10:33,208 --> 00:10:37,208 SAMI: While the Sargasso Sea is pretty sizeable, 229 00:10:37,333 --> 00:10:40,333 it only takes up part of the Bermuda Triangle. 230 00:10:40,500 --> 00:10:42,500 There are many incidents on ships 231 00:10:42,667 --> 00:10:44,792 that didn't come anywhere close to the seaweed. 232 00:10:44,875 --> 00:10:47,708 So, we know for sure that it's not the whole answer. 233 00:10:47,875 --> 00:10:49,208 There must be something else going on. 234 00:10:53,375 --> 00:10:54,875 LAURENCE: From the time of Christopher Columbus, 235 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:56,625 the dangers of the Bermuda Triangle 236 00:10:56,708 --> 00:10:59,250 are ascribed to deadly seaweed. 237 00:10:59,375 --> 00:11:00,625 It's an interesting idea, 238 00:11:00,708 --> 00:11:02,125 but because seaweed only covers 239 00:11:02,208 --> 00:11:03,500 part of the Triangle, 240 00:11:03,667 --> 00:11:05,625 it can't explain everything. 241 00:11:05,708 --> 00:11:07,500 LAURENCE: Could another sailor's tale 242 00:11:07,583 --> 00:11:09,833 offer a different explanation? 243 00:11:09,958 --> 00:11:12,750 SAMI: It starts off as something of a legend 244 00:11:12,875 --> 00:11:14,125 among weather-hardened, 245 00:11:14,208 --> 00:11:15,417 sea-weary sailors. 246 00:11:15,542 --> 00:11:17,167 As they share stories 247 00:11:17,292 --> 00:11:19,125 over a pint in the pub, you may hear a tale 248 00:11:19,208 --> 00:11:21,958 of some enormous wave as big as a mountain 249 00:11:22,083 --> 00:11:24,000 capable of destroying a ship, 250 00:11:24,125 --> 00:11:27,000 sweeping away its crew, or just swallowing it whole. 251 00:11:27,125 --> 00:11:30,375 And for most of the 500-or-so-year history 252 00:11:30,542 --> 00:11:32,042 of transatlantic shipping, 253 00:11:32,167 --> 00:11:35,542 these have been thought to be myths or exaggerations. 254 00:11:35,667 --> 00:11:38,667 LAURENCE: Then, in the 19th century, 255 00:11:38,792 --> 00:11:41,333 French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville 256 00:11:41,500 --> 00:11:45,583 reports seeing 100-foot waves in a different body of water-- 257 00:11:45,708 --> 00:11:47,667 the Indian Ocean. 258 00:11:47,792 --> 00:11:50,917 However, no one believes him. 259 00:11:51,042 --> 00:11:53,750 During that time, the models that oceanographers use 260 00:11:53,875 --> 00:11:56,792 to predict wave height say that these random giant waves 261 00:11:56,875 --> 00:11:58,667 are an impossibility. 262 00:11:58,792 --> 00:12:01,583 LAURENCE: But a recent discovery shows d'Urville 263 00:12:01,708 --> 00:12:03,333 might have been right. 264 00:12:03,500 --> 00:12:07,417 These phenomena have been observed, measured, and proven, 265 00:12:07,542 --> 00:12:09,333 and we call them rogue waves. 266 00:12:13,208 --> 00:12:17,667 LAURENCE: The proof comes on New Year's Day, 1995. 267 00:12:17,750 --> 00:12:20,333 SAMI: About 100 miles off the coast of Norway, 268 00:12:20,500 --> 00:12:23,125 there's an oil-drilling platform called the Draupner. 269 00:12:23,208 --> 00:12:24,625 In addition to its main equipment, 270 00:12:24,750 --> 00:12:27,125 it contains a whole slew of instruments 271 00:12:27,208 --> 00:12:31,333 that can monitor wave height, slope, acceleration, et cetera. 272 00:12:31,417 --> 00:12:34,333 On January 1st of 1995, 273 00:12:34,458 --> 00:12:37,042 a laser range finder 274 00:12:37,167 --> 00:12:39,958 on the bottom of this oil-drilling platform 275 00:12:40,042 --> 00:12:43,750 measures a wave headed for the Draupner. 276 00:12:43,875 --> 00:12:46,000 DUSTIN: The Draupner wave, as it becomes known, 277 00:12:46,083 --> 00:12:49,500 seems to come out of nowhere and measures 85 feet high. 278 00:12:49,667 --> 00:12:51,250 It has characteristics that don't fit 279 00:12:51,375 --> 00:12:53,125 any previous wave model. 280 00:12:54,875 --> 00:12:57,500 SAMI: Researchers have found that rogue waves differ 281 00:12:57,625 --> 00:12:59,208 from regular waves in a few ways. 282 00:12:59,333 --> 00:13:02,667 First is that they are greater than twice the size 283 00:13:02,792 --> 00:13:04,583 of surrounding waves-- these things are massive. 284 00:13:04,708 --> 00:13:07,125 And they are also notoriously unpredictable 285 00:13:07,208 --> 00:13:09,500 and arise unexpectedly from directions 286 00:13:09,667 --> 00:13:11,167 other than the prevailing winds. 287 00:13:11,250 --> 00:13:13,375 So, these things could potentially come from anywhere. 288 00:13:13,542 --> 00:13:17,208 PAUL: These rogue waves, because they are so gigantic, 289 00:13:17,375 --> 00:13:20,000 so tall, so steep, and moving so quickly, 290 00:13:20,167 --> 00:13:24,333 they can carry up to 16 times the amount of force 291 00:13:24,500 --> 00:13:26,583 than a regular wave. 292 00:13:26,708 --> 00:13:30,125 And in fact, the bigger the ship, 293 00:13:30,208 --> 00:13:34,292 the worse you fare when it comes to rogue waves, 294 00:13:34,417 --> 00:13:37,375 because these rogue waves, they don't come on slowly. 295 00:13:37,542 --> 00:13:41,000 They're not giant, wide things. 296 00:13:41,167 --> 00:13:44,250 They're very sharp, they're like cliffs of water. 297 00:13:44,375 --> 00:13:47,167 And so, when a ship encounters a rogue wave, 298 00:13:47,250 --> 00:13:50,167 it gets sent straight up the side of the cliff, 299 00:13:50,292 --> 00:13:53,167 and then when it reaches the top, it teeters over 300 00:13:53,292 --> 00:13:55,583 and slams back down into the water. 301 00:13:55,708 --> 00:13:57,583 And the bigger the ship you have, 302 00:13:57,708 --> 00:13:59,458 the more force there is, 303 00:13:59,542 --> 00:14:02,250 and the more damage that rogue wave can do. 304 00:14:02,375 --> 00:14:06,167 That kind of massive force grossly exceeds the limit 305 00:14:06,292 --> 00:14:09,083 of what ocean vessels today can tolerate. 306 00:14:09,208 --> 00:14:11,667 So, you could only imagine what it would do to a wooden ship 307 00:14:11,833 --> 00:14:13,250 from hundreds of years ago. 308 00:14:13,375 --> 00:14:16,833 It would decimate it in one fell swoop. 309 00:14:18,125 --> 00:14:20,833 LAURENCE: But scientists still aren't certain what causes them. 310 00:14:22,083 --> 00:14:23,458 DUSTIN: One idea is that they're caused 311 00:14:23,583 --> 00:14:25,500 by constructive interference. 312 00:14:25,583 --> 00:14:28,000 This is when different waves travel at different speeds 313 00:14:28,125 --> 00:14:30,000 and start to pile up on each other. 314 00:14:30,125 --> 00:14:32,042 SAMI: Now, constructive interference can occur 315 00:14:32,208 --> 00:14:36,542 when huge storms converge from multiple directions at once. 316 00:14:36,667 --> 00:14:41,208 LAURENCE: The Bermuda Triangle is well known for such storms. 317 00:14:41,375 --> 00:14:43,625 The Triangle is right in the middle of Hurricane Alley, 318 00:14:43,750 --> 00:14:45,000 where storms from the north 319 00:14:45,167 --> 00:14:46,792 and the south can come together. 320 00:14:46,917 --> 00:14:48,583 If there's a third storm that comes in from Florida, 321 00:14:48,708 --> 00:14:50,167 forget about it. 322 00:14:50,333 --> 00:14:52,500 You've got the recipe for a deadly rogue wave. 323 00:14:54,042 --> 00:14:56,000 LAURENCE: This phenomenon might explain 324 00:14:56,083 --> 00:14:59,042 a series of mysterious shipwrecks. 325 00:14:59,208 --> 00:15:01,083 SAMI: One ship that may have been impacted 326 00:15:01,208 --> 00:15:03,917 by these rogue waves is the USS Cyclops. 327 00:15:04,042 --> 00:15:06,292 Back in 1918, it was one of the largest ships 328 00:15:06,375 --> 00:15:09,208 in the U.S. Navy, measuring 550 feet long 329 00:15:09,333 --> 00:15:11,500 with a crew of over 300 people. 330 00:15:11,667 --> 00:15:14,125 MARTIN: On March 4th, after the ship is loaded up 331 00:15:14,208 --> 00:15:17,875 with over 11,000 tons of manganese ore, 332 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:19,500 it embarks on a voyage from 333 00:15:19,667 --> 00:15:21,875 the West Indies to Baltimore. 334 00:15:23,042 --> 00:15:26,000 After nine days at sea, the Cyclops sends a message 335 00:15:26,125 --> 00:15:29,667 that reads, quote, "weather fair, all well." 336 00:15:29,792 --> 00:15:32,042 This is the last message it ever sends. 337 00:15:32,167 --> 00:15:35,083 The entire ship just seems to vanish, 338 00:15:35,208 --> 00:15:38,083 along with its crew, without even an SOS. 339 00:15:38,208 --> 00:15:41,208 MARTIN: It's an absolute heartbreaking catastrophe. 340 00:15:41,333 --> 00:15:43,625 To this day, aside from active combat, 341 00:15:43,750 --> 00:15:47,708 the USS Cyclops was the largest loss of life to the Navy. 342 00:15:49,542 --> 00:15:52,833 LAURENCE: In 1941, two more Navy ships 343 00:15:52,958 --> 00:15:55,333 meet a similar fate. 344 00:15:55,458 --> 00:15:57,167 JASON: The USS Proteus, decommissioned 345 00:15:57,292 --> 00:15:59,542 after World War I, departs the Virgin Islands 346 00:15:59,667 --> 00:16:02,708 with 58 crew members and a cargo of bauxite. 347 00:16:02,833 --> 00:16:05,042 It never reaches its destination. 348 00:16:05,167 --> 00:16:07,500 A month later, the USS Nereus 349 00:16:07,583 --> 00:16:10,167 leaves from the same place with the same type of cargo. 350 00:16:10,250 --> 00:16:12,667 Sadly, it suffers the same tragedy. 351 00:16:12,792 --> 00:16:14,625 The ship and the 61 people aboard 352 00:16:14,708 --> 00:16:16,500 are never seen again. 353 00:16:16,625 --> 00:16:19,583 SAMI: Both the Proteus and the Nereus 354 00:16:19,708 --> 00:16:21,458 are sister ships to the Cyclops. 355 00:16:21,542 --> 00:16:24,833 All three, massive, strongly fortified vessels, 356 00:16:24,917 --> 00:16:26,250 all gone. 357 00:16:26,375 --> 00:16:29,458 How can an enormous ship just go "poof" 358 00:16:29,583 --> 00:16:30,875 and just disappear? 359 00:16:31,042 --> 00:16:33,500 PAUL: Even if you destroy a big ship, 360 00:16:33,625 --> 00:16:36,583 there's gonna be lots of bits and pieces floating around. 361 00:16:36,708 --> 00:16:39,708 It is very odd for a giant ship 362 00:16:39,833 --> 00:16:41,417 to go missing without a trace. 363 00:16:41,542 --> 00:16:44,250 MARTIN: But in these cases, there's nothing. 364 00:16:44,375 --> 00:16:46,083 These certainly sound like candidates 365 00:16:46,208 --> 00:16:48,125 for rogue wave disasters. 366 00:16:48,208 --> 00:16:52,792 LAURENCE: In 2018, oceanographer Simon Boxall 367 00:16:52,917 --> 00:16:55,208 attempts to prove this theory. 368 00:16:55,375 --> 00:16:57,458 PAUL: At the University of Southampton, 369 00:16:57,542 --> 00:17:02,208 Boxall conducts an experiment to investigate if rogue waves 370 00:17:02,375 --> 00:17:05,208 could destroy modern oceangoing vessels. 371 00:17:05,333 --> 00:17:09,167 And specifically, Dr. Boxall was trying to explore 372 00:17:09,292 --> 00:17:13,917 whether the USS Cyclops was destroyed by a rogue wave. 373 00:17:14,042 --> 00:17:16,333 And we can't recreate that exact scenario, 374 00:17:16,417 --> 00:17:19,292 so instead, he built a scale model. 375 00:17:19,375 --> 00:17:21,583 SAMI: And once the simulators are turned on, 376 00:17:21,708 --> 00:17:25,708 enormous waves rise up and easily destroy the model. 377 00:17:25,875 --> 00:17:29,667 Boxall's study demonstrates just how powerful these waves are. 378 00:17:29,792 --> 00:17:33,125 PAUL: They come out of nowhere. You don't have warning. 379 00:17:33,250 --> 00:17:36,375 You may not even have time to send a distress signal 380 00:17:36,542 --> 00:17:38,458 before you're simply consumed by it. 381 00:17:39,708 --> 00:17:41,333 LAURENCE: For some, this experiment 382 00:17:41,458 --> 00:17:44,292 solves a long-standing mystery. 383 00:17:44,417 --> 00:17:47,167 We've actually proven the existence of rogue waves, 384 00:17:47,292 --> 00:17:49,042 and we've proven that they can happen 385 00:17:49,167 --> 00:17:50,542 all over the Bermuda Triangle. 386 00:17:50,667 --> 00:17:53,458 Some people would say that, yeah, rogue waves 387 00:17:53,542 --> 00:17:55,458 are likely responsible for the disappearance 388 00:17:55,542 --> 00:17:58,708 of the USS Cyclops as well as a number of other ships 389 00:17:58,833 --> 00:18:00,250 in the Bermuda Triangle. 390 00:18:00,375 --> 00:18:02,417 MARTIN: And for the non-wrecked boats 391 00:18:02,542 --> 00:18:04,333 that have turned up with their crew missing, 392 00:18:04,458 --> 00:18:06,667 perhaps a small rogue wave could have tipped the boat, 393 00:18:06,792 --> 00:18:08,750 and everybody fell overboard. 394 00:18:08,875 --> 00:18:13,167 LAURENCE: But this still doesn't explain every incident. 395 00:18:13,333 --> 00:18:15,458 Now, if you came to me with all of this information 396 00:18:15,583 --> 00:18:17,750 and told me that rogue waves are responsible 397 00:18:17,875 --> 00:18:21,333 for every single missing ship in the Bermuda Triangle, 398 00:18:21,458 --> 00:18:24,333 I might have a difficult time arguing with you, 399 00:18:24,458 --> 00:18:28,333 but ships aren't the only things that have disappeared here. 400 00:18:28,458 --> 00:18:30,083 What about all the airplanes? 401 00:18:33,792 --> 00:18:35,792 LAURENCE: For centuries, ships have gone missing 402 00:18:35,875 --> 00:18:39,500 in the notorious Bermuda Triangle. 403 00:18:39,583 --> 00:18:43,333 But after airplanes are invented in 1903, 404 00:18:43,417 --> 00:18:46,292 some follow the same mysterious fate. 405 00:18:46,417 --> 00:18:48,375 Perhaps the most famous incident 406 00:18:48,500 --> 00:18:52,667 occurs on December 5th, 1945. 407 00:18:52,750 --> 00:18:56,833 Around 2pm, five U.S. Navy torpedo bombers 408 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:00,167 collectively known as Flight 19 409 00:19:00,292 --> 00:19:02,792 take off from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, 410 00:19:02,917 --> 00:19:05,125 on a routine training flight. 411 00:19:05,250 --> 00:19:07,042 SAMI: The 14 men on these planes 412 00:19:07,167 --> 00:19:09,417 are extremely competent soldiers. 413 00:19:09,542 --> 00:19:11,542 They've logged over 300 hours in the air. 414 00:19:11,708 --> 00:19:13,667 They know what they're doing. and the flight's leader, 415 00:19:13,792 --> 00:19:17,000 Lieutenant Charles Taylor, is an incredibly experienced pilot 416 00:19:17,125 --> 00:19:18,875 who successfully flew numerous 417 00:19:19,042 --> 00:19:20,500 combat missions in World War II. 418 00:19:20,667 --> 00:19:22,750 So, we're talking about the best of the best. 419 00:19:22,875 --> 00:19:25,292 These are Top Gun type of guys. 420 00:19:25,375 --> 00:19:27,417 MARTIN: The exercise begins normally. 421 00:19:27,542 --> 00:19:29,250 Everything starts smoothly. 422 00:19:29,375 --> 00:19:30,708 But soon after entering 423 00:19:30,875 --> 00:19:32,083 the Bermuda Triangle, 424 00:19:32,208 --> 00:19:33,833 something strange happens. 425 00:19:33,958 --> 00:19:37,208 SAMI: Lieutenant Taylor radios that his plane's compass 426 00:19:37,333 --> 00:19:38,833 is malfunctioning, and he believes 427 00:19:38,917 --> 00:19:40,708 that they're flying in the wrong direction. 428 00:19:40,833 --> 00:19:42,292 But they're not. 429 00:19:42,375 --> 00:19:44,958 Something has caused the airmen or their equipment 430 00:19:45,083 --> 00:19:48,458 to become mysteriously disoriented. 431 00:19:49,750 --> 00:19:53,333 LAURENCE: The situation worsens when a heavy storm rolls in. 432 00:19:53,458 --> 00:19:55,333 DUSTIN: At this point, the pilots are very confused. 433 00:19:55,417 --> 00:19:56,500 They believe they've drifted 434 00:19:56,583 --> 00:19:58,500 hundreds of miles off course, 435 00:19:58,667 --> 00:20:00,583 somewhere near the Florida Keys. 436 00:20:00,708 --> 00:20:03,500 SAMI: As they get farther and farther away, 437 00:20:03,625 --> 00:20:06,667 their radio communications become increasingly faint. 438 00:20:06,750 --> 00:20:10,000 And after hours of flying, they're running out of fuel. 439 00:20:10,125 --> 00:20:12,292 Their last recorded communications 440 00:20:12,417 --> 00:20:14,208 discuss having to ditch the planes 441 00:20:14,333 --> 00:20:16,667 when they get below 10 gallons of fuel. 442 00:20:17,792 --> 00:20:20,000 MARTIN: From that point on, their transmission cuts out. 443 00:20:20,125 --> 00:20:21,708 The only thing the naval base hears 444 00:20:21,875 --> 00:20:23,250 is an eerie buzz. 445 00:20:23,375 --> 00:20:26,750 LAURENCE: It's the last time any of these men 446 00:20:26,875 --> 00:20:29,042 are seen or heard from. 447 00:20:29,167 --> 00:20:31,333 DUSTIN: Despite their high-level skills and some of the day's 448 00:20:31,458 --> 00:20:33,708 most technologically advanced aircraft, 449 00:20:33,833 --> 00:20:37,625 all five planes and 14 crew members are lost. 450 00:20:37,708 --> 00:20:41,208 LAURENCE: The tragedy doesn't end there. 451 00:20:41,375 --> 00:20:44,333 The Navy immediately releases two large seaplanes 452 00:20:44,500 --> 00:20:46,417 to hunt for Flight 19. 453 00:20:46,542 --> 00:20:49,167 After 27 minutes, one of those seaplanes 454 00:20:49,292 --> 00:20:51,292 radios back that they're approaching 455 00:20:51,417 --> 00:20:53,958 Flight 19's last location. 456 00:20:54,083 --> 00:20:56,333 SAMI: But then, this rescue plane 457 00:20:56,458 --> 00:20:57,833 is never heard from again. 458 00:20:57,917 --> 00:20:59,833 It vanishes off the radar. 459 00:20:59,917 --> 00:21:02,417 The blip just disappears. 460 00:21:02,542 --> 00:21:04,667 Shockingly, the remains of that plane 461 00:21:04,792 --> 00:21:07,667 and its 13 crewmen are never recovered either. 462 00:21:07,792 --> 00:21:11,250 The other plane keeps looking, but finds nothing, 463 00:21:11,375 --> 00:21:13,000 and ends up just returning to the base. 464 00:21:13,125 --> 00:21:15,792 DUSTIN: No bodies, no debris. 465 00:21:15,875 --> 00:21:17,458 No sign at all that these aircraft 466 00:21:17,542 --> 00:21:19,167 even ever existed. 467 00:21:19,292 --> 00:21:21,833 JASON: Six planes and 27 men are gone. 468 00:21:21,958 --> 00:21:23,125 It's like they just vanished 469 00:21:23,208 --> 00:21:24,500 off the face of the Earth. 470 00:21:24,583 --> 00:21:26,292 Now, all of a sudden, the sargassum 471 00:21:26,375 --> 00:21:28,083 and rogue wave theories, 472 00:21:28,208 --> 00:21:30,292 though they are scientifically credible, 473 00:21:30,375 --> 00:21:32,292 they seem a lot less likely as the root cause 474 00:21:32,375 --> 00:21:34,167 of the Triangle's problems, 475 00:21:34,292 --> 00:21:36,375 because they simply don't impact the air. 476 00:21:36,542 --> 00:21:38,500 The planes are flying at 4,000 feet. 477 00:21:38,625 --> 00:21:40,167 I don't care if it's the perfect storm, 478 00:21:40,250 --> 00:21:41,625 no wave can do that. 479 00:21:41,750 --> 00:21:43,833 SAMI: People have studied Flight 19 480 00:21:43,958 --> 00:21:46,667 for almost 80 years now, and nobody believes 481 00:21:46,833 --> 00:21:49,083 that they were brought down by waves or seaweed. 482 00:21:50,458 --> 00:21:55,000 LAURENCE: Then, in 2015, Russian scientist Igor Yeltsov 483 00:21:55,167 --> 00:21:57,792 offers a possible explanation. 484 00:21:57,875 --> 00:21:59,667 SAMI: While working at the Trofimuk Institute 485 00:21:59,833 --> 00:22:02,333 of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics, 486 00:22:02,458 --> 00:22:05,500 Yeltsov proposes that the Bermuda Triangle's dangers 487 00:22:05,583 --> 00:22:07,667 are caused by an undersea build-up 488 00:22:07,792 --> 00:22:10,875 and subsequent explosion of methane gas. 489 00:22:15,875 --> 00:22:18,833 PAUL: Methane itself is a colorless, odorless gas. 490 00:22:18,958 --> 00:22:20,125 You might be familiar 491 00:22:20,250 --> 00:22:22,000 with methane as natural gas 492 00:22:22,083 --> 00:22:23,167 to heat your home. 493 00:22:23,250 --> 00:22:25,458 But in very special cases, 494 00:22:25,583 --> 00:22:27,417 especially at the bottom of the ocean, 495 00:22:27,542 --> 00:22:30,542 these pockets of natural gas can get so compressed, 496 00:22:30,667 --> 00:22:33,042 that they turn essentially into an ice, 497 00:22:33,208 --> 00:22:34,292 into a form of solid. 498 00:22:34,417 --> 00:22:36,333 DUSTIN: If the sea floor cracks, 499 00:22:36,417 --> 00:22:38,667 or that ice gets pushed up to touch the water, 500 00:22:38,833 --> 00:22:40,875 an exceptional amount of gas can be released. 501 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:43,667 SAMI: You ever drop dry ice into water, 502 00:22:43,750 --> 00:22:45,958 like, for Halloween, you know, so you can make that fake fog? 503 00:22:46,042 --> 00:22:49,500 Now, imagine all that happened in the span of an instant 504 00:22:49,625 --> 00:22:52,833 with all that gas trapped in a bubble under water. 505 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:56,167 LAURENCE: The gas heats up the surrounding water 506 00:22:56,292 --> 00:22:59,417 and surges quickly to the surface. 507 00:22:59,542 --> 00:23:01,625 DUSTIN: Methane is highly flammable, 508 00:23:01,750 --> 00:23:03,667 so the intense heat from the plane's exhaust 509 00:23:03,833 --> 00:23:05,708 could cause a massive explosion, 510 00:23:05,875 --> 00:23:08,458 enough to blow the plane to smithereens. 511 00:23:09,583 --> 00:23:12,000 LAURENCE: Could this also explain what happened 512 00:23:12,083 --> 00:23:14,250 to the missing rescue plane? 513 00:23:14,375 --> 00:23:15,708 JASON: The night of the Flight 19 incident, 514 00:23:15,833 --> 00:23:18,750 a tanker ship, the SS Gaines Mills, 515 00:23:18,875 --> 00:23:21,167 reports seeing flames from an apparent explosion 516 00:23:21,292 --> 00:23:23,375 billowing 100 feet high. 517 00:23:23,542 --> 00:23:24,833 SAMI: Maybe the search-and-rescue seaplane 518 00:23:24,958 --> 00:23:27,208 flies through the same patch of methane gas, 519 00:23:27,375 --> 00:23:29,083 their engine exhaust ignites the methane 520 00:23:29,208 --> 00:23:31,833 and destroys the plane. 521 00:23:31,917 --> 00:23:33,500 JASON: But let's say the plane doesn't explode 522 00:23:33,625 --> 00:23:35,917 and the pilot manages to keep it aloft. 523 00:23:36,042 --> 00:23:38,708 DUSTIN: If an airplane were to hit this gas bubble, 524 00:23:38,833 --> 00:23:40,833 there's a few possible things that could go wrong. 525 00:23:40,917 --> 00:23:43,292 SAMI: For example, if a plane suddenly flies 526 00:23:43,375 --> 00:23:45,208 into a patch of methane gas, 527 00:23:45,333 --> 00:23:47,542 a pilot would quickly lose control. 528 00:23:47,667 --> 00:23:50,250 His wings, his engines, his instruments 529 00:23:50,375 --> 00:23:52,917 are all calibrated to create loft in air, 530 00:23:53,042 --> 00:23:55,333 not methane, which has a totally different density. 531 00:23:55,417 --> 00:23:58,375 So, the plane would just drop. 532 00:23:58,542 --> 00:24:01,333 JASON: Well, methane affects the human brain too. 533 00:24:01,458 --> 00:24:02,833 If a pilot inhales the gas, 534 00:24:02,917 --> 00:24:04,417 it will reduce the amount of oxygen 535 00:24:04,542 --> 00:24:05,708 they draw in from the air. 536 00:24:09,542 --> 00:24:12,500 SAMI: This can cause mood changes, slurred speech, 537 00:24:12,583 --> 00:24:14,667 vision problems, memory loss, 538 00:24:14,792 --> 00:24:17,833 and most notably, disorientation. 539 00:24:17,917 --> 00:24:21,667 So, if those 14 men that were a part of Flight 19 540 00:24:21,833 --> 00:24:24,583 inhaled a significant amount of methane gas, 541 00:24:24,708 --> 00:24:27,833 it is possible that they would become so disoriented 542 00:24:27,917 --> 00:24:29,667 that they'd have trouble reading their compasses 543 00:24:29,792 --> 00:24:31,583 and discerning where they are. 544 00:24:31,708 --> 00:24:35,667 LAURENCE: In 2016, one year after Yeltsov 545 00:24:35,792 --> 00:24:38,750 publishes his theory, another team 546 00:24:38,875 --> 00:24:41,792 looks for further evidence to support it. 547 00:24:41,875 --> 00:24:44,875 Researchers at Arctic University in Norway 548 00:24:45,042 --> 00:24:48,333 study multiple giant craters on the floor of the Barents Sea. 549 00:24:48,458 --> 00:24:52,250 PAUL: These massive craters on the sea floor 550 00:24:52,375 --> 00:24:55,667 were created thousands of years ago, 551 00:24:55,792 --> 00:24:58,167 and the best explanation for them 552 00:24:58,250 --> 00:25:01,083 is exploding methane deposits. 553 00:25:01,208 --> 00:25:04,167 SAMI: And these same craters are present in the Bermuda Triangle. 554 00:25:04,250 --> 00:25:07,000 So, these methane gas explosions 555 00:25:07,125 --> 00:25:09,125 have almost certainly happened there. 556 00:25:10,292 --> 00:25:13,083 LAURENCE: If true, this story could also explain 557 00:25:13,208 --> 00:25:15,292 the Triangle's lost ships. 558 00:25:16,458 --> 00:25:18,000 SAMI: When the gas explodes underwater, 559 00:25:18,125 --> 00:25:20,875 it creates this giant sinkhole at the surface. 560 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,833 Think of a toilet flushing with extreme force. 561 00:25:23,917 --> 00:25:25,833 The suction created from the blast 562 00:25:25,958 --> 00:25:28,500 would suck any large object down below the surface, 563 00:25:28,667 --> 00:25:30,458 never to be seen again-- 564 00:25:30,583 --> 00:25:32,875 even something as large as a ship. 565 00:25:33,042 --> 00:25:34,708 MARTIN: Just like in an airplane, 566 00:25:34,833 --> 00:25:38,000 methane offsets the oxygen which we need to breathe, 567 00:25:38,125 --> 00:25:40,167 so it could easily confuse sailors 568 00:25:40,292 --> 00:25:41,875 that are in the ocean around it. 569 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,542 It checks most of the boxes of what we've seen 570 00:25:44,667 --> 00:25:46,167 in the Bermuda Triangle. 571 00:25:46,333 --> 00:25:49,333 Unfortunately, until we get some sort of eyewitness account, 572 00:25:49,458 --> 00:25:51,250 we won't know if it's the answer. 573 00:25:55,208 --> 00:25:57,750 Over the last 500 years, the Bermuda Triangle 574 00:25:57,875 --> 00:25:59,792 has claimed some 8,000 lives 575 00:25:59,917 --> 00:26:02,208 and hundreds of ships and airplanes, 576 00:26:02,375 --> 00:26:04,667 none with a definitive cause. 577 00:26:04,792 --> 00:26:09,333 But in 2019, a shocking new theory emerges 578 00:26:09,500 --> 00:26:11,833 thanks to a scientist who experienced 579 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:15,000 a surprising event in the area. 580 00:26:16,583 --> 00:26:18,833 PAUL: One of the top investigators 581 00:26:18,958 --> 00:26:21,792 studying shipwrecks in the Bermuda Triangle 582 00:26:21,875 --> 00:26:24,167 is Dr. Phillipe Rouja. 583 00:26:24,250 --> 00:26:25,583 He's the Custodian 584 00:26:25,708 --> 00:26:27,417 of Historic Wrecks at Bermuda's 585 00:26:27,542 --> 00:26:28,792 Department of the Environment 586 00:26:28,875 --> 00:26:30,917 and Natural Resources. 587 00:26:31,042 --> 00:26:33,208 SAMI: It's his job to go in and out of the Triangle 588 00:26:33,375 --> 00:26:34,833 all the time, and to investigate 589 00:26:34,958 --> 00:26:36,625 and keep tabs on the hundreds 590 00:26:36,750 --> 00:26:38,667 of shipwrecks surrounding Bermuda. 591 00:26:38,792 --> 00:26:41,667 LAURENCE: So far, Rouja has managed 592 00:26:41,792 --> 00:26:45,625 to defy the odds, despite some unusual incidents. 593 00:26:45,708 --> 00:26:47,458 MARTIN: When he was out diving in the early 2000s, 594 00:26:47,542 --> 00:26:49,625 he encountered a strange phenomenon. 595 00:26:49,750 --> 00:26:52,458 None of his compasses were actually working. 596 00:26:52,583 --> 00:26:56,000 He had multiple compasses on his dive gear and his boat, 597 00:26:56,125 --> 00:26:57,958 and they were all pointing in different ways, 598 00:26:58,083 --> 00:26:59,583 none of which were accurate. 599 00:26:59,708 --> 00:27:01,458 And because he's a lifelong local 600 00:27:01,542 --> 00:27:03,083 and conditions were clear, 601 00:27:03,208 --> 00:27:05,417 he was able to find his way back to Bermuda by sight. 602 00:27:06,708 --> 00:27:08,625 LAURENCE: Rouja has since discovered several more 603 00:27:08,708 --> 00:27:11,667 of what he calls hotspots in the Triangle, 604 00:27:11,750 --> 00:27:15,000 places that make navigational tools useless. 605 00:27:15,125 --> 00:27:16,875 Clearly, this could be the reason 606 00:27:17,042 --> 00:27:20,333 why some of the wrecks, both planes and boats, 607 00:27:20,458 --> 00:27:21,917 could have happened in the area. 608 00:27:22,042 --> 00:27:23,833 LAURENCE: But why is it happening? 609 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:26,375 MARTIN: After hearing many stories like Rouja's, 610 00:27:26,500 --> 00:27:28,542 scientists investigate. 611 00:27:28,667 --> 00:27:31,667 In a 2019 study published in Nature, 612 00:27:31,792 --> 00:27:33,500 they might have found the cause, 613 00:27:33,583 --> 00:27:36,500 and it has to do with the make-up of Bermuda itself. 614 00:27:36,625 --> 00:27:38,542 JASON: Bermuda is a volcanic island, 615 00:27:38,667 --> 00:27:40,500 like Hawaii and many others. 616 00:27:40,625 --> 00:27:41,833 But researchers discover that 617 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:43,875 Bermuda has one major difference. 618 00:27:44,042 --> 00:27:46,625 DUSTIN: Most lava comes from about 20 miles deep. 619 00:27:46,750 --> 00:27:48,667 But the lava that formed Bermuda 620 00:27:48,792 --> 00:27:50,917 came from a whopping 400 miles 621 00:27:51,042 --> 00:27:52,833 below the surface of the Earth. 622 00:27:52,958 --> 00:27:54,333 JASON: That's immensely deeper, 623 00:27:54,417 --> 00:27:56,667 and obviously much closer to the Earth's core. 624 00:27:56,792 --> 00:27:59,208 This is entirely unique to Bermuda. 625 00:27:59,333 --> 00:28:01,375 LAURENCE: This geologic feature turns out 626 00:28:01,500 --> 00:28:04,125 to have surprising consequences. 627 00:28:04,208 --> 00:28:06,875 Because this volcanic rock in and around Bermuda 628 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:09,167 originated so deep within the Earth, 629 00:28:09,292 --> 00:28:13,042 it has a heavy concentration of a mineral called magnetite. 630 00:28:13,167 --> 00:28:16,875 In fact, Bermuda is 18-20% magnetite, 631 00:28:17,042 --> 00:28:19,500 nearly 20 times more than typical soil. 632 00:28:19,625 --> 00:28:23,417 Magnetite is the most magnetic naturally occurring mineral 633 00:28:23,542 --> 00:28:25,000 on the planet. 634 00:28:25,125 --> 00:28:27,042 DUSTIN: And this is what could be making so many ships 635 00:28:27,208 --> 00:28:29,417 and airplanes go haywire in the Triangle. 636 00:28:34,542 --> 00:28:35,875 LAURENCE: In other words, 637 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:39,833 Bermuda is basically a giant magnet. 638 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:42,167 SAMI: This phenomenon can be pretty easily demonstrated. 639 00:28:42,250 --> 00:28:44,917 If you pass a compass over a small amount 640 00:28:45,042 --> 00:28:47,583 of Bermuda's magnetite-rich limestone, 641 00:28:47,708 --> 00:28:49,542 it can throw it off by several degrees. 642 00:28:49,667 --> 00:28:52,000 DUSTIN: And that's just one little rock. 643 00:28:52,125 --> 00:28:54,708 There's 500 billion tons of this stuff 644 00:28:54,875 --> 00:28:56,500 in the Bermuda Triangle, 645 00:28:56,625 --> 00:28:58,125 so just imagine what that could do. 646 00:28:58,208 --> 00:29:01,375 Without a trustworthy compass, ships can easily veer off course 647 00:29:01,542 --> 00:29:02,708 and crash into the rocks. 648 00:29:02,833 --> 00:29:05,458 LAURENCE: But what about planes? 649 00:29:05,542 --> 00:29:08,542 Planes would have problems with not only their compass, 650 00:29:08,667 --> 00:29:10,250 but also their altimeter readings. 651 00:29:10,375 --> 00:29:12,583 A pilot could get quite disoriented 652 00:29:12,708 --> 00:29:14,667 and potentially make a fatal mistake. 653 00:29:14,792 --> 00:29:16,208 LAURENCE: According to one pilot, 654 00:29:16,375 --> 00:29:19,417 magnetite could also be powerful enough 655 00:29:19,542 --> 00:29:23,292 to generate a literal cloud of magnetism. 656 00:29:23,417 --> 00:29:27,000 MARTIN: In 2017, Bruce Gernon publishes a book 657 00:29:27,125 --> 00:29:29,542 called "Beyond the Bermuda Triangle." 658 00:29:29,708 --> 00:29:32,167 In it, he recounts many pilots' stories 659 00:29:32,292 --> 00:29:35,917 saying they've been in this electronic fog. 660 00:29:37,042 --> 00:29:39,833 SAMI: Until the modern advent of GPS navigation, 661 00:29:39,958 --> 00:29:41,958 the compass is the tool that enables travelers 662 00:29:42,083 --> 00:29:44,167 to accurately navigate the globe. 663 00:29:44,292 --> 00:29:46,125 It does this by always pointing 664 00:29:46,250 --> 00:29:49,167 in a constant direction-- magnetic north. 665 00:29:49,333 --> 00:29:52,000 JASON: It can, however, be instantly rendered inaccurate 666 00:29:52,167 --> 00:29:54,167 by the presence of a strong magnet. 667 00:29:54,292 --> 00:29:56,750 DUSTIN: According to Gernon, electronic fog 668 00:29:56,875 --> 00:29:59,625 is like a grayish cloud of electromagnetic fields 669 00:29:59,708 --> 00:30:01,167 that form above the ocean. 670 00:30:01,292 --> 00:30:02,750 It can appear out of nowhere 671 00:30:02,875 --> 00:30:04,333 and completely engulf an aircraft. 672 00:30:04,458 --> 00:30:08,125 SAMI: Gernon himself says he experiences this phenomenon 673 00:30:08,208 --> 00:30:10,500 while flying through the heart of the Bermuda Triangle. 674 00:30:10,583 --> 00:30:13,500 His airplane is suddenly surrounded by a strange fog 675 00:30:13,625 --> 00:30:15,458 that he can't break through. 676 00:30:15,542 --> 00:30:17,542 It seems to stick to his plane, 677 00:30:17,667 --> 00:30:21,333 and he experiences the sensation of zero gravity 678 00:30:21,458 --> 00:30:23,708 as it propels his aircraft forward. 679 00:30:23,833 --> 00:30:26,000 LAURENCE: According to Gernon, 680 00:30:26,083 --> 00:30:29,833 once he's out of the Triangle, the cloud disintegrates. 681 00:30:29,958 --> 00:30:31,792 SAMI: When his instruments work again, 682 00:30:31,917 --> 00:30:35,333 he realizes that he just traveled 100 miles 683 00:30:35,458 --> 00:30:38,042 in only three minutes and 20 seconds. 684 00:30:38,208 --> 00:30:41,042 He landed 30 minutes ahead of time. 685 00:30:41,208 --> 00:30:44,917 The fog practically teleported him. 686 00:30:45,042 --> 00:30:46,958 Gernon and the others he cites in his book 687 00:30:47,042 --> 00:30:48,583 believe that the natural magnetism 688 00:30:48,708 --> 00:30:51,208 in the Bermuda Triangle may be giving the droplets 689 00:30:51,375 --> 00:30:54,417 within the fog an electromagnetic charge. 690 00:30:54,542 --> 00:30:57,667 SAMI: If this is true, then those droplets 691 00:30:57,833 --> 00:31:00,167 would naturally be attracted to anything they encounter, 692 00:31:00,292 --> 00:31:02,792 and once they're attached, they're dense enough 693 00:31:02,875 --> 00:31:05,292 to carry a vessel right along with them. 694 00:31:05,417 --> 00:31:07,833 MARTIN: It's kind of like a magical carpet ride, 695 00:31:07,958 --> 00:31:10,083 where if you're lucky, it'll send you 696 00:31:10,208 --> 00:31:12,000 in the direction that you wanna go. 697 00:31:12,125 --> 00:31:14,000 But if you're unlucky, it might send you 698 00:31:14,125 --> 00:31:15,542 into a watery grave. 699 00:31:15,708 --> 00:31:18,000 LAURENCE: Despite Gernon's claims, 700 00:31:18,125 --> 00:31:20,667 mainstream science has yet to support the existence 701 00:31:20,792 --> 00:31:23,000 of electronic fog. 702 00:31:23,083 --> 00:31:26,208 Gernon himself isn't a scientist. 703 00:31:26,333 --> 00:31:29,000 He's an accomplished pilot and flight instructor, 704 00:31:29,167 --> 00:31:30,917 but not a physicist. 705 00:31:31,042 --> 00:31:32,625 SAMI: And based on a lot of his experience 706 00:31:32,708 --> 00:31:33,917 flying through the Triangle, 707 00:31:34,042 --> 00:31:36,667 this is what he personally believes. 708 00:31:36,792 --> 00:31:38,750 Now, Gernon claims to have worked 709 00:31:38,875 --> 00:31:40,833 with numerous scientists who all believe 710 00:31:40,958 --> 00:31:42,708 that this phenomenon is plausible, 711 00:31:42,833 --> 00:31:44,875 and maybe to him, it is. 712 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:47,958 But until we have some hard data 713 00:31:48,042 --> 00:31:50,458 or visual evidence like a video recording, 714 00:31:50,583 --> 00:31:54,042 I think it's too early to blame electronic fog 715 00:31:54,167 --> 00:31:56,083 for disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle. 716 00:31:56,208 --> 00:32:00,000 DUSTIN: Meanwhile, the magnetite around Bermuda is proven, 717 00:32:00,167 --> 00:32:01,917 and we're still only beginning to uncover 718 00:32:02,042 --> 00:32:04,333 all the strange effects it might be causing. 719 00:32:08,292 --> 00:32:10,125 LAURENCE: For some, the most startling thing 720 00:32:10,250 --> 00:32:12,125 about the Bermuda Triangle mystery 721 00:32:12,250 --> 00:32:15,125 isn't the number of lives it's claimed. 722 00:32:15,208 --> 00:32:18,375 It's the number of vessels that have seemingly vanished 723 00:32:18,500 --> 00:32:20,000 into thin air. 724 00:32:20,083 --> 00:32:22,000 When ships and planes go down, 725 00:32:22,083 --> 00:32:23,542 most of the time, we can find 726 00:32:23,667 --> 00:32:25,542 at least some of the wreckage. 727 00:32:25,667 --> 00:32:28,292 Even 2014's Malaysia Flight 370, 728 00:32:28,375 --> 00:32:31,708 one of the most mysterious plane crashes of all time, 729 00:32:31,833 --> 00:32:33,542 we still don't know where it crashed. 730 00:32:33,667 --> 00:32:36,333 But a bunch of wreckage eventually washed up. 731 00:32:36,458 --> 00:32:38,583 LAURENCE: However, with the disappearances 732 00:32:38,708 --> 00:32:43,000 in the Bermuda Triangle, it's a different story. 733 00:32:43,167 --> 00:32:44,458 JASON: These things just disappear 734 00:32:44,542 --> 00:32:45,583 like they never existed. 735 00:32:45,708 --> 00:32:47,417 Not even a trace of an airframe 736 00:32:47,542 --> 00:32:49,333 or an anchor chain. 737 00:32:49,458 --> 00:32:50,917 For a number of these disappearances, 738 00:32:51,042 --> 00:32:52,667 such as Flight 19 739 00:32:52,792 --> 00:32:54,333 or the USS Cyclops, 740 00:32:54,458 --> 00:32:56,500 massive search efforts are undertaken, 741 00:32:56,625 --> 00:32:58,833 yet nothing is ever found. 742 00:32:58,958 --> 00:33:01,583 But logically, an explosion, or a freak wave, 743 00:33:01,708 --> 00:33:04,250 or even just a crash would leave some debris behind. 744 00:33:04,375 --> 00:33:06,208 So, how come there isn't any? 745 00:33:07,375 --> 00:33:11,333 LAURENCE: In 2014, physics and meteorology professor 746 00:33:11,500 --> 00:33:15,708 David Pares suggests a surprising new answer 747 00:33:15,875 --> 00:33:17,458 to that question. 748 00:33:17,583 --> 00:33:18,750 He thinks that some of these vessels 749 00:33:18,875 --> 00:33:19,833 were never found because they 750 00:33:19,958 --> 00:33:21,042 were transported out 751 00:33:21,167 --> 00:33:22,500 of the Bermuda Triangle 752 00:33:22,625 --> 00:33:23,625 and into another place-- 753 00:33:23,750 --> 00:33:26,667 not by magic, but a scientific phenomenon 754 00:33:26,750 --> 00:33:29,000 that he calls a space warp, 755 00:33:29,083 --> 00:33:31,042 but you might know as a wormhole. 756 00:33:35,458 --> 00:33:37,667 A wormhole is a tunnel or a passage 757 00:33:37,750 --> 00:33:39,250 through space and time. 758 00:33:39,375 --> 00:33:42,375 It's basically a shortcut created by gravity 759 00:33:42,500 --> 00:33:44,083 which can take you from one part of the universe 760 00:33:44,208 --> 00:33:46,125 and place you in another. 761 00:33:46,208 --> 00:33:48,458 Wormholes are strictly theoretical 762 00:33:48,583 --> 00:33:50,208 at this time, they've only been proven 763 00:33:50,375 --> 00:33:52,167 to be mathematically possible on paper. 764 00:33:52,250 --> 00:33:54,167 They were discovered in 1935 765 00:33:54,250 --> 00:33:56,708 by physicists Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen, 766 00:33:56,833 --> 00:34:00,208 which is why they're also called Einstein-Rosen bridges. 767 00:34:00,333 --> 00:34:03,167 PAUL: And these are based on Albert Einstein's 768 00:34:03,292 --> 00:34:05,250 general theory of relativity, 769 00:34:05,375 --> 00:34:07,500 which tells us that space 770 00:34:07,667 --> 00:34:09,417 and time are interwoven. 771 00:34:09,542 --> 00:34:10,833 We actually live 772 00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:13,333 in a four-dimensional universe-- 773 00:34:13,417 --> 00:34:16,375 three dimensions of space and one dimension of time. 774 00:34:16,542 --> 00:34:19,333 LAURENCE: Is it possible that a wormhole 775 00:34:19,458 --> 00:34:21,875 could exist in the Bermuda Triangle? 776 00:34:22,042 --> 00:34:25,375 SAMI: If you take a look back at Christopher Columbus' accounts 777 00:34:25,542 --> 00:34:27,333 traveling through the Bermuda Triangle, 778 00:34:27,458 --> 00:34:30,000 he mentions something incredibly strange. 779 00:34:30,125 --> 00:34:33,125 He reports seeing a great flame of fire 780 00:34:33,250 --> 00:34:35,333 crashing into the sea one night. 781 00:34:35,458 --> 00:34:38,833 And afterwards, he sees strange lights in the distance, 782 00:34:38,917 --> 00:34:41,167 and his compass readings are erratic. 783 00:34:41,292 --> 00:34:43,875 Today, experts believe Columbus was witnessing 784 00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:46,333 a meteor strike, and if that's true, 785 00:34:46,458 --> 00:34:48,375 there are those that believe it could cause 786 00:34:48,542 --> 00:34:52,458 enough of a gravitational anomaly to form a wormhole. 787 00:34:52,542 --> 00:34:55,750 LAURENCE: Today, many institutions 788 00:34:55,875 --> 00:35:00,250 and top physicists are delving into the complex science 789 00:35:00,375 --> 00:35:02,583 behind possible wormholes. 790 00:35:03,750 --> 00:35:05,708 SAMI: Quantum mechanics is the science of studying 791 00:35:05,875 --> 00:35:08,292 subatomic particles, the smallest building blocks 792 00:35:08,417 --> 00:35:10,500 of our universe, and how their motion 793 00:35:10,625 --> 00:35:13,333 and interaction relates to energy. 794 00:35:13,458 --> 00:35:15,708 PAUL: Within quantum mechanics, we understand 795 00:35:15,833 --> 00:35:19,583 we know that at the tiniest scales in nature, 796 00:35:19,708 --> 00:35:22,333 microscopic wormholes can naturally form 797 00:35:22,500 --> 00:35:25,500 and then just snap out of existence. 798 00:35:25,583 --> 00:35:27,833 MARTIN: Now, we don't know how to scale wormholes up 799 00:35:27,958 --> 00:35:32,542 to fit a giant ship or aircraft, but anything can happen. 800 00:35:32,667 --> 00:35:35,333 PAUL: Theoretically, wormholes allow you 801 00:35:35,458 --> 00:35:37,625 to travel not just through space, 802 00:35:37,708 --> 00:35:39,750 but also through time. 803 00:35:39,875 --> 00:35:44,250 It is actually possible, if wormholes do exist, 804 00:35:44,375 --> 00:35:46,792 for you to be able to travel through them 805 00:35:46,917 --> 00:35:49,458 and end up in your own past. 806 00:35:49,583 --> 00:35:52,167 DUSTIN: And when you start thinking about that possibility, 807 00:35:52,292 --> 00:35:54,333 there's some stories from the Bermuda Triangle 808 00:35:54,458 --> 00:35:56,333 that perfectly fit that description. 809 00:35:56,500 --> 00:35:59,292 LAURENCE: Including one that takes place 810 00:35:59,417 --> 00:36:03,042 on June 7th, 1964. 811 00:36:03,208 --> 00:36:05,667 There's a veteran pilot who charters vacations 812 00:36:05,750 --> 00:36:08,500 in the Bahamas, and her name is Carolyn Cascio. 813 00:36:08,625 --> 00:36:10,292 She's flying through the Triangle, 814 00:36:10,417 --> 00:36:12,750 and when she approaches Grand Turk Island, 815 00:36:12,875 --> 00:36:15,333 something odd happens. 816 00:36:15,458 --> 00:36:19,042 Cascio radios the tower and says that despite her instruments 817 00:36:19,167 --> 00:36:20,917 telling her that she's above the island, 818 00:36:21,042 --> 00:36:24,625 when she looks out her window, it appears to be uninhabited. 819 00:36:25,917 --> 00:36:27,375 DUSTIN: This doesn't make sense. 820 00:36:27,542 --> 00:36:29,958 Grand Turk has buildings, farms, houses, 821 00:36:30,042 --> 00:36:31,625 and a Navy base. 822 00:36:31,708 --> 00:36:33,375 It has an airport and a population 823 00:36:33,500 --> 00:36:35,958 of nearly 5,000 people. 824 00:36:36,042 --> 00:36:38,042 LAURENCE: The tower assures Cascio 825 00:36:38,208 --> 00:36:40,125 that she is at the right place 826 00:36:40,208 --> 00:36:43,375 and clears her to land at any time. 827 00:36:43,500 --> 00:36:46,167 She circles frantically over a dozen times, 828 00:36:46,250 --> 00:36:48,542 and all she sees are beaches and trees. 829 00:36:48,667 --> 00:36:51,250 There are no towns, no buildings, 830 00:36:51,375 --> 00:36:53,792 and definitely no airport. 831 00:36:53,875 --> 00:36:55,833 SAMI: Cascio finally decides to turn around 832 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:57,208 and go back the way she came. 833 00:36:57,375 --> 00:37:00,583 Sadly, she is never seen again. 834 00:37:00,708 --> 00:37:04,667 Her last words are, quote, "Is there no way out of this?" 835 00:37:04,750 --> 00:37:07,583 MARTIN: Wormhole enthusiasts believe that this is proof 836 00:37:07,708 --> 00:37:10,167 that she actually traveled back in time 837 00:37:10,333 --> 00:37:13,667 to a time before Grand Turk Island was developed. 838 00:37:14,875 --> 00:37:17,375 SAMI: Even if you accept the possibility of a wormhole 839 00:37:17,500 --> 00:37:19,875 large enough to transport a plane, 840 00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:22,458 based on our current understanding of science, 841 00:37:22,583 --> 00:37:26,375 it would be impossible for a person or object 842 00:37:26,500 --> 00:37:28,333 to even survive the trip 843 00:37:28,458 --> 00:37:30,167 due to the crushing gravity within. 844 00:37:30,333 --> 00:37:32,000 DUSTIN: Obviously, if we could prove 845 00:37:32,125 --> 00:37:33,500 the existence of wormholes, 846 00:37:33,583 --> 00:37:34,708 that would be one of the greatest 847 00:37:34,833 --> 00:37:36,875 scientific discoveries of all time. 848 00:37:37,042 --> 00:37:39,708 SAMI: But until that day comes, 849 00:37:39,833 --> 00:37:42,708 researchers are gonna have to stick to the science they know 850 00:37:42,833 --> 00:37:44,542 to solve the Bermuda Triangle mystery. 851 00:37:49,458 --> 00:37:51,125 LAURENCE: The phrase "Bermuda Triangle" 852 00:37:51,208 --> 00:37:53,583 conjures both curiosity and fear, 853 00:37:53,708 --> 00:37:56,417 and has inspired many differing theories 854 00:37:56,542 --> 00:37:58,500 around the strange disappearances 855 00:37:58,625 --> 00:38:00,667 in this mysterious area. 856 00:38:00,750 --> 00:38:02,167 SAMI: Now, you might be thinking, 857 00:38:02,292 --> 00:38:03,417 "Well, the sargassum theory 858 00:38:03,542 --> 00:38:05,000 "seems plausible, 859 00:38:05,125 --> 00:38:06,917 "but that's just one small area 860 00:38:07,042 --> 00:38:08,417 of the Bermuda Triangle." 861 00:38:08,542 --> 00:38:10,583 Okay, so then, how 'bout the rogue waves? 862 00:38:10,708 --> 00:38:12,292 They certainly happen in the Triangle, 863 00:38:12,375 --> 00:38:15,208 but like sargassum, they don't explain 864 00:38:15,333 --> 00:38:17,458 the disappearance of airplanes. 865 00:38:17,542 --> 00:38:19,958 MARTIN: Well, then how 'bout a methane gas explosion? 866 00:38:20,042 --> 00:38:22,917 Maybe, but you'd think that a large explosion 867 00:38:23,042 --> 00:38:24,208 would leave debris behind. 868 00:38:24,375 --> 00:38:27,500 What about magnetite, wormholes, 869 00:38:27,583 --> 00:38:29,833 or even electromagnetic fog? 870 00:38:29,958 --> 00:38:32,167 Honestly, any one of these could be attributed 871 00:38:32,292 --> 00:38:34,125 to the disappearances within the Triangle. 872 00:38:34,250 --> 00:38:38,750 LAURENCE: Or, perhaps, could all these theories be true? 873 00:38:44,667 --> 00:38:46,125 DUSTIN: We generally talk about the Bermuda Triangle 874 00:38:46,208 --> 00:38:47,417 like there's only one 875 00:38:47,542 --> 00:38:48,833 explanation for this mystery. 876 00:38:48,958 --> 00:38:50,917 But given the numerous disappearances 877 00:38:51,042 --> 00:38:54,500 across more than 500 years, there's absolutely no reason 878 00:38:54,583 --> 00:38:56,667 why it needs to be only one of these things. 879 00:38:56,792 --> 00:38:58,833 There's a combination of deadly factors 880 00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:00,375 that are existing here. 881 00:39:00,500 --> 00:39:03,167 MARTIN: Let's start with the methane gas theory. 882 00:39:03,250 --> 00:39:05,583 We know these things happen within the Bermuda Triangle 883 00:39:05,708 --> 00:39:08,792 based on evidence of craters on the ocean floor. 884 00:39:08,875 --> 00:39:11,417 So, it's likely that some of these boat disappearances 885 00:39:11,542 --> 00:39:13,750 were caused by methane bubbles. 886 00:39:13,875 --> 00:39:15,000 SAMI: Other ships 887 00:39:15,167 --> 00:39:17,042 have almost certainly been hit with rogue waves. 888 00:39:17,208 --> 00:39:20,000 We now know that they've been scientifically proven to exist. 889 00:39:20,083 --> 00:39:22,292 PAUL: We have records, we even have photographs. 890 00:39:22,375 --> 00:39:24,167 And the Bermuda Triangle 891 00:39:24,292 --> 00:39:25,667 is in a location on the Earth 892 00:39:25,792 --> 00:39:28,875 that is ripe for the formation of rogue waves. 893 00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:31,833 DUSTIN: So, it's quite possible that a freak wave 894 00:39:31,958 --> 00:39:34,958 could rise out of nowhere and snap a vessel in two, 895 00:39:35,042 --> 00:39:38,792 causing it to quickly sink and essentially disappear. 896 00:39:38,875 --> 00:39:40,500 There also may be a simple explanation 897 00:39:40,625 --> 00:39:42,167 for why no wreckage is found. 898 00:39:42,333 --> 00:39:44,500 LAURENCE: Within the Bermuda Triangle 899 00:39:44,625 --> 00:39:48,625 is an undersea trench called the Milwaukee Deep. 900 00:39:48,708 --> 00:39:50,958 MARTIN: This is the deepest spot within the Atlantic, 901 00:39:51,042 --> 00:39:53,750 over 27,000 feet down. 902 00:39:53,875 --> 00:39:56,708 PAUL: The Milwaukee Deep is relatively unexplored. 903 00:39:56,833 --> 00:39:59,333 There have only been a couple expeditions 904 00:39:59,417 --> 00:40:02,500 to those depths in that location throughout all of history. 905 00:40:02,667 --> 00:40:04,875 DUSTIN: If your ship ends up sinking this deep, 906 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:08,083 it's really unlikely anyone's gonna be able to spot it. 907 00:40:09,375 --> 00:40:12,250 LAURENCE: What about the vessels that aren't destroyed? 908 00:40:12,375 --> 00:40:14,417 Not every anomaly in the Bermuda Triangle 909 00:40:14,542 --> 00:40:15,917 involves destruction. 910 00:40:16,042 --> 00:40:19,417 Sometimes vessels just get hopelessly lost. 911 00:40:19,542 --> 00:40:21,958 We know that Bermuda is teeming with volcanic rock 912 00:40:22,042 --> 00:40:24,833 called magnetite that makes compasses go crazy. 913 00:40:24,958 --> 00:40:28,000 There are even warnings on British admiralty charts 914 00:40:28,125 --> 00:40:30,917 near Bermuda cautioning sailors that their compasses 915 00:40:31,042 --> 00:40:33,500 may be off by as much as 14 degrees. 916 00:40:33,667 --> 00:40:35,125 JASON: I think the magnetic anomalies 917 00:40:35,208 --> 00:40:36,500 are the most likely culprit 918 00:40:36,667 --> 00:40:38,417 for the region's plane crashes as well. 919 00:40:38,542 --> 00:40:39,833 While they used to be more common, 920 00:40:39,917 --> 00:40:42,333 we've seen very few casualties since the advent 921 00:40:42,417 --> 00:40:44,000 of GPS navigation. 922 00:40:45,375 --> 00:40:47,667 SAMI: One day, we may finally get some substantial evidence, 923 00:40:47,792 --> 00:40:50,833 or capture a video of a destructive rogue wave, 924 00:40:50,958 --> 00:40:53,167 or of the mysterious electronic fog, 925 00:40:53,292 --> 00:40:55,875 or, I don't know, maybe a wormhole will open up 926 00:40:56,000 --> 00:40:57,833 right over Bermuda for the whole world to see. 927 00:40:57,958 --> 00:41:00,958 But until then, I think it's best 928 00:41:01,042 --> 00:41:03,125 not to limit our minds to what the Bermuda Triangle 929 00:41:03,208 --> 00:41:06,500 could or couldn't be, because there could be 930 00:41:06,625 --> 00:41:08,375 a new scientific explanation next year. 931 00:41:08,542 --> 00:41:11,000 The possibilities are endless, 932 00:41:11,125 --> 00:41:12,958 and that's what's kept people fascinated 933 00:41:13,083 --> 00:41:15,167 by the Bermuda Triangle for so long. 934 00:41:18,958 --> 00:41:22,333 In 2022, a particularly tragic 935 00:41:22,417 --> 00:41:23,625 discovery was made 936 00:41:23,708 --> 00:41:25,167 in the Bermuda Triangle 937 00:41:25,292 --> 00:41:26,833 by an underwater film crew-- 938 00:41:26,917 --> 00:41:28,708 not the wreckage of a plane 939 00:41:28,833 --> 00:41:31,083 or boat, but of the destroyed 940 00:41:31,208 --> 00:41:34,125 1986 space shuttle Challenger, 941 00:41:34,250 --> 00:41:36,667 another unexpected moment 942 00:41:36,792 --> 00:41:40,500 in the long saga of this mysterious area. 943 00:41:40,583 --> 00:41:42,375 I'm Laurence Fishburne. 944 00:41:42,500 --> 00:41:43,833 Thank you for watching 945 00:41:43,958 --> 00:41:46,667 "History's Greatest Mysteries."