For centuries, sailors and pilots have told tales of strange events in the world's most remote places. But few mysteries have captivated the public imagination quite like the ominous legends of the world's "mystery triangles." While the most famous is the Bermuda Triangle, a lesser-known but equally baffling region exists on the other side of the globe: the Dragon's Triangle.
Together, these two areas present an unnerving pattern of disappearances that science alone struggles to explain.
The Bermuda Triangle: Where the Legend Began
The Bermuda Triangle, a vast expanse of the Western Atlantic stretching from Bermuda to southern Florida and Puerto Rico, earned its eerie reputation in the 20th century, but its strangeness was first recorded centuries earlier. Christopher Columbus himself noted bizarre compass readings and a strange "ball of fire" crashing into the sea during his 1492 voyage.
However, the legend was cemented on 5th December 1945, with the disappearance of Flight 19. Five US Navy Avenger torpedo bombers, tough combat-tested machines, simply vanished during a routine training mission in ideal weather. Their commander, an experienced pilot, radioed in a state of utter confusion: "We don't know which way is west. Everything is wrong. Strange. We can't be sure of any direction." Moments later, the tower heard a student pilot confirm, "Both my compasses are out." All five planes were lost, and a rescue plane sent to find them vanished as well.
This pattern of disappearing aircraft was mirrored by a long history of maritime vanishings. Ships were found completely abandoned, their crews gone but their lifeboats in place. The American schooner Ellen Austin was found with its crew gone, and a new "prize crew" put aboard to sail it to port. Shortly after, the ships were separated in a storm, and when the Ellen Austin was found again, the second crew had vanished too. The most famous naval loss, the USS Cyclops, disappeared in 1918 with over 300 men, leaving no trace. The last radio message from a Japanese freighter in 1924, "Danger like a dagger now. Come quickly. We cannot escape," perfectly encapsulates the terror of these inexplicable events.
The Dragon's Triangle: The Sea of the Devil
On the other side of the world, a similarly dangerous stretch of ocean is known to the Japanese as "Ma no Umi," or the "Sea of the Devil." Ancient Chinese legends dating back to 900 BC speak of a dragon's palace beneath a small island, where strange noises and lights were seen and ships were pulled to their doom.
This ancient folklore has a modern parallel. Following World War II, the disappearances in this area of the Pacific resumed with renewed ferocity. Two Japanese research vessels, the Hayomaru No. 5 and the Kuroshio Maru No. 3, were sent to investigate the phenomena and vanished without a trace, becoming part of the very mystery they were sent to solve. One of the most chilling accounts came from a Japanese pilot during the war, who radioed a final message before his plane disappeared: "Something is happening in the sky. The sky is opening up."
Seeking an Explanation
For both triangles, experts have proposed a range of theories, from the scientifically plausible to the truly weird.
Scientific Explanations: Both regions are subject to extreme natural phenomena. The Dragon's Triangle sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a hotbed of volcanic and seismic activity. One major theory suggests that underwater volcanoes and seismic shifts can destabilise frozen methane hydrates on the seabed, causing massive bubbles of gas to erupt to the surface. A ship caught in one of these bubbles would instantly lose buoyancy and sink without a trace.
Extreme Weather: Both areas are notorious for sudden, violent storms and massive rogue waves. The "divine winds" that saved Japan from Kublai Khan's invasion fleet were likely devastating typhoons, a common occurrence in the Dragon's Triangle. A sudden, unexpected storm could easily swallow a ship whole.
The Vile Vortices: For the truly unexplainable, there's the theory of Ivan T. Sanderson. He proposed that both the Bermuda and Dragon's Triangles are "Vile Vortices," specific areas on the globe where powerful electromagnetic and gravitational anomalies are concentrated. These vortices could cause instruments to fail and even warp the perception of pilots and sailors, explaining the profound disorientation reported by the crew of Flight 19.
Interdimensional Portals: Other theories suggest that the intense energies in these regions can tear the fabric of space-time, pulling ships and planes into another dimension or a different point in time. This would explain why no wreckage is ever found.
Whether these vanishings are a product of extreme natural forces or something far more bizarre, the fact remains that two distinct areas on opposite sides of the world share an uncanny history of unexplained disappearances. The Bermuda and Dragon's Triangles continue to hold their secrets, reminding us that there are still mysteries in our world that defy all logic.