1. Mystery Spots: Places Where
Bizarre Forces Obscure Reality
By Anna Goldwater Alexander 04.20.09
<< previous image | next image >>
Lat: 25°12'26.43quot; N || Long: 69°30'17.93quot; W
Bermuda Triangle
Atlantic Ocean—Vanishing ships and planes
The Mystery: On December 5, 1945, five torpedo bombers took off from a US Naval base in Florida for a routine training flight
and were never seen again. That's just one of about 70 such incidents that have fueled the legend of the Bermuda Triangle, a
roughly 450,000-square-mile area of sea between Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. Mariners and aviators alike fear an
quot;electronic fogquot; in the region's atmosphere that some say spins compass needles, jams radar signals, and consumes planes and
ships.

2. The Reality: Statistical coincidence and sloppy research, according to the US Navy, which doesn't recognize the existence of the
Bermuda Triangle.
Photo Portfolio: Uta Kögelsberger
In broad daylight, the Bermuda Triangle just looks like the ocean. So photographer Uta Kögelsberger waited until nightfall to coax
whatever creepy aura she could from the mysterious deep. quot;When we are in the darkness,quot; she says, quot;the brain fills in what the eye
can't see. Darkness is a fundamental instrument to induce terror, it can trick our minds into thinking a simple creak in a
floorboard is an intruder.quot;

3. Uta photographs the Bermuda Triangle from Miami Beach. She and assistant Uwe Zirpner scouted locations along the Florida
coast as far south as Key West to look for the right spot for the shoot.
Photo: Uwe Zirpner

4. A woman sunning herself on Miami Beach, the Bermuda Triangle in the distance.

5. The Bermuda Triangle at dusk, as seen from Miami Beach before the sweepers arrive.

6. A cruise ship sets out into the Bermuda Triangle from Miami Beach.