Transcribe your podcast
[00:00:02]

On March 4th, 1918, World War One was well underway, the Navy's largest and fastest fuel ship departed from the Caribbean island of Barbados. Newspapers called the nineteen thousand ton cargo colyer a monster and a floating coal mine. The vessel was known as the USS Cyclops.

[00:00:24]

The journey to Baltimore, Maryland, was supposed to take nine days, whether fair all well, the crew reported after their departure. But the ship never arrived in Baltimore as planned.

[00:00:38]

In the weeks following, military personnel scoured the seas and continued to radio for the lost vessel. Some people thought the Cyclops might have hit a mine or encountered an enemy submarine.

[00:00:50]

Others thought the ship's captain, a German who changed his name from Wickman to Worli, might have been a spy. Perhaps there was some sort of mutiny against him.

[00:01:02]

Despite the many theories, the military found no wreckage of the Cyclops after their three month search without even sending out a distress call, 309 people seemingly disappeared into the ocean's depths.

[00:01:17]

The event was the biggest loss of life in American naval history that didn't involve combat.

[00:01:24]

One hundred years later, we are no closer to knowing what actually happened to the USS Cyclops.

[00:01:32]

What we do know is that it disappeared into a mysterious expanse that's famous and feared the world over the Bermuda Triangle.

[00:01:48]

Welcome to Conspiracy Theories, a Spotify original from power cast every Monday and Wednesday, we dig into the complicated stories behind the world's most controversial events and search for the truth. I'm Carter Roy. And I'm Molly Brandenberg. And neither of us are conspiracy theorists, but we are open minded, skeptical and curious.

[00:02:12]

Don't get us wrong. Sometimes the official version is the truth, but sometimes it's not.

[00:02:19]

You can find episodes of conspiracy theories and all other Spotify originals from Park asked for free on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

[00:02:29]

This is our first episode on the Bermuda Triangle. The 500 thousand square mile patch of Atlantic Ocean has been the site of numerous unsolved mysteries. Today, we're going to cover just a few of those odd occurrences from the bizarre UFO sightings recorded by Christopher Columbus to a group of missing torpedo bombers known as Flight 19. Finally, we'll explore other areas of the globe that have a similar penchant for causing mysterious disappearances.

[00:03:01]

Next time, we'll cover a few conspiracy theories surrounding the Bermuda Triangle. We'll see if the phenomena may be the result of mysterious vortices or if it can be explained by various weather patterns. We'll also examine whether the Bermuda Triangle holds answers to the lost city of Atlantis.

[00:03:23]

We have all that and more coming up. Stay with us.

[00:03:30]

The Bermuda Triangle covers a vast region of the North Atlantic Ocean. The first point begins near Miami, Florida, spanning northeast to Bermuda and southeast to Puerto Rico. At least 75 planes and hundreds of boats have disappeared in this area over the last 500 years.

[00:03:50]

But people have been experiencing strange activity in these waters far longer than that.

[00:03:56]

Amoco and admiral and Explorer from 5th century BCE was certainly one of them. Emilio was a voyageur for the mighty Phoenician empire based in the country we now know as Lebanon.

[00:04:11]

The Phoenicians were renowned for producing fearless seafarers, navigators like Emeco, where some of the first people in history to make the journey from North Africa to Western Europe. Pliny the Elder, a philosopher, an Army commander of the early Roman Empire, later wrote that the Phoenicians invented the concept of trade entirely.

[00:04:32]

However, the Phoenicians were extremely protective over their trade routes, so much so that they imposed a mandatory death penalty on anyone who revealed them. They considered sharing those secrets the utmost form of betrayal.

[00:04:50]

Around five hundred BCE, Emeco took one of these covert voyages in search of tin and other precious metals. He sailed from Carthage or modern day Tunisia toward Cadiz, a city on the west coast of Spain.

[00:05:05]

In order to get there. Emilio had to sail a roundabout way through the Atlantic Ocean. He passed through a part of the world that only a handful of people had ever seen before. Later, he warned other seafarers of the dangers he'd faced.

[00:05:21]

In one account of his adventures in Wilko catalogued a patch of water so shallow that sea monsters were plainly visible. Amoco didn't elaborate on the monsters he saw, but he did mention a strange stillness in the air. When he spotted them, he wrote, No breeze drives the ship. So dead is the sluggish wind of this idle sea. There is much seaweed among the waves. It holds back the ship like Bush's.

[00:05:50]

While Emeco didn't include many details in his journals, he did give just enough information to dissuade other seafarers from traveling these waters. Perhaps that was his true purpose. May be Amoco's account was just a scheme to keep rivals from trying to reach foreign ports, thus threatening his monopoly on metal.

[00:06:13]

That may be true, except other explorers later added to Amoco's terrifying tales about this stretch of ocean. One thousand years after Kyle Christopher Columbus made his own journey into the unknown in October 14 to Columbus and his crew were nearing an island in the Bahamas that the natives called one honey. This was to be Columbus's first stop in the new world in order to reach their destination.

[00:06:44]

Columbus had to guide his three ships, the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, through the southwest corner of what is now known as the Bermuda Triangle.

[00:06:55]

During this part of his journey, the Santa Maria became entangled with something deep in the murky waters. The boat was twisted in so much seaweed that Columbus believed they'd struck land.

[00:07:07]

Tube nosed seabirds and Gulf weeds surrounded his other two ships. Lou sticks floated on the waters glassy surface. All these signs of nearby vegetation caused a sailor named Rodrigo de Triana to yell that their destination had to be ahead.

[00:07:24]

Jubilant, the men on board sang the closing prayer of the rosary. In time, they'd be rewarded with gold from the king and queen of Spain. But in truth, Columbus and his crew were nowhere near the Americas.

[00:07:39]

Even stranger. There was no wind to push the fleet through the difficult waters.

[00:07:45]

After some time, without making any progress, Columbus realized that the situation was dire. They only brought enough potable water to make it through the trip without stopping. If they didn't get moving soon, they could all die of thirst before they ever stepped foot on land.

[00:08:04]

Two days passed while the three ships remained ensnared in seaweed. Some strands were larger than a school bus. Columbus knew it would take a miracle to push through.

[00:08:16]

Unfortunately, no miracles were forthcoming, and by October 11th, all hope seemed lost. But that evening aboard the Santa Maria, a deckhand named Gutierrez pointed something out to Columbus.

[00:08:34]

In the water beside them was a disc shaped object floating just beneath the surface.

[00:08:41]

The other sailors couldn't help but notice the brilliant lights coming from this craft. It was unlike anything they'd ever seen before.

[00:08:50]

Before the sailors could exchange a word. The object lifted from the water and hovered in the night sky.

[00:08:58]

All 120 men on Columbus's fleet watched as the UFO took off like a fireball shooting into space.

[00:09:06]

Columbus wrote about the experience in his diary, saying it was like a small wax candle that rose and lifted up.

[00:09:14]

As it turns out, the mysterious craft was a good omen.

[00:09:18]

Five hours after it flew away, Columbus and his ships broke free from the tangled seaweed.

[00:09:27]

One hundred years after Columbus journey, a larger fleet navigated the waters of the Bermuda Triangle in 16 09, seven English vessels were trying to reach the Jamestown colony in Virginia before the settlers starved the boats, transported men, women and children alike. They came bearing all kinds of food, supplies and livestock.

[00:09:52]

The 500 colonists on board were led by Sir Thomas Gates, a bald, stately gentleman who'd been knighted by the English crown. But when they reached the coast of Bermuda, Gates revered status didn't matter. Not when his fleet hit high winds and torrential rain.

[00:10:10]

One ship went down instantly in the deadly storm. As for the flagship, a vessel called the Sea Venture, it was so new that its timbers still hadn't set. As a result, its caulking didn't hold and the boat began to leak.

[00:10:27]

The ship's admiral, Sir George Summers, ordered all hands on deck. Every passenger bailed water for three days, and yet the ship kept sinking.

[00:10:41]

During this time, Admiral Summers reported a similar experience to Columbus, he saw a mysterious light bouncing through the skies. He claimed it was like no phenomenon of heaven or earth he'd ever seen before.

[00:10:57]

The secretary elect of the Jamestown colony was also on board the sea venture, he verified. Some are citing. He wrote in his diary that Summers had an apparition of a little round light like a faint star, trembling and streaming alone with a sparkling blaze. Allegedly, the UFO remained with them for four hours that evening as if it were keeping an eye on them. On the following morning, July 25th, Sommer's spotted land in the distance, the crew guided the ship towards the reefs of Discovery Bay just off the coast of Bermuda.

[00:11:37]

One hundred and fifty survivors reached shore there. They spent the next nine months building two seater boats that would eventually take them, plus one dog to Jamestown.

[00:11:49]

Ultimately, Pimlico, Columbus and the Jamestown settlers all made it through the Bermuda Triangle alive.

[00:11:57]

But not everyone who passed through this stretch of the Atlantic would be so lucky. In 1872, Captain David Moorhouse and his crew were 400 miles off the coast of Portugal, their ship the day Gracia was sailing toward the port city of Gibraltar, when suddenly a crew member spotted something strange.

[00:12:23]

In the distance was another ship called the Mary Celeste. She had left port in New York City eight days before the degradation. By now, the vessels should have reached her destination. But there she was, swaying erratically in the sea.

[00:12:40]

Her sails were drawn, which was odd given that the breeze over the Atlantic was so light. And instead of moving forward, she appeared stuck spinning in circles.

[00:12:52]

Morehouse grew concerned about the people on board the Mary Celeste. He knew that the ship's captain, Benjamin Briggs, had his wife and daughter traveling with him.

[00:13:03]

Concerned, Morehouse ordered his crew to get closer to the Mary Celeste for a better look. Three of his sailors hopped aboard the neighboring boat to investigate. At first, nothing seemed to be missing. Even the seventeen hundred barrels of industrial grade alcohol were still on board. They were worth an incredible amount of money, so it seemed unlikely that booze finding pirates had pillaged the ship.

[00:13:31]

The boat also appeared completely operable. The deck was in perfect condition. One sail was slightly tattered in the boat's bottom was mildly flooded, but only by about three and a half feet. Yet upon closer inspection, it became clear that something had gone terribly wrong.

[00:13:53]

Whatever lifeboats the Mary Celeste had were now missing.

[00:13:57]

Whoever had taken them seemingly did so in a hurry. In addition, maps and charts were tossed about, yet six months worth of food and other supplies had been left behind.

[00:14:10]

Things got even stranger when they examined the ship's cabins. To their surprise, the crew had left behind three trunks filled with clothing. The captain's wife didn't even take her prized possession, a small accordion with her even stranger.

[00:14:27]

The departure of the ship's inhabitants seemed to have been so sudden that one of the beds still had a fresh imprint of a child's body.

[00:14:36]

On top of that, the ship's main cabin had been boarded up. This seemed to suggest that before disappearing from the ship entirely, the frightened crew members had attempted to keep some unknown thing from coming in.

[00:14:52]

Unfortunately, that's all we know about what happened on the Mary Celeste. The vessel's crew disappeared after passing through the Bermuda Triangle and none of them were ever seen again.

[00:15:05]

And it's not just ships that fall victim to this stretch of the ocean. Numerous aircrafts have met a deadly fate there as well. Coming up, a group of torpedo bombers disappear in succession over the Bermuda Triangle, high power casters.

[00:15:27]

It's Carter like you. I have an eclectic mix of can't miss podcasts that I listen to each week. And one of my favorites is Supernatural with Ashleigh Flowers. Every Wednesday on Supernatural, host Ashleigh Flowers explains some of the biggest mysteries in the world, taking you on a journey through baffling events and sharing all the possible explanations.

[00:15:50]

No matter how strange or surreal they get, whether it's sudden disappearances, alien abductions or even mystifying murders, she presents the facts, we know for sure, and the theories that might be closer to the truth than we think. If you haven't had a chance to catch this Spotify original from podcast yet, you're in for a wild ride. Follow Supernatural with Ashley Flowers free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

[00:16:21]

Hey, it's Carter, and I'm excited to tell you about a phenomenal podcast show I know you'll love that dives deep into some of history's most notorious leaders. It's called Dictators. And every Tuesday, it examines the reign of a real life tyrant, exploring the unique conditions that allowed them to seize control. Dictators have a never ending thirst for power. Some seize this power through force, others through deceit. And all of them won't hesitate to eliminate anybody who stands in their way.

[00:16:57]

We've covered North Korean dictators like Kim Jong un, militant African dictators like Idi Amin, female dictators like Isabella of France and many more. There are over 40 episodes available to binge right now that I know you'll find intriguing. Discover the governments that fell, the lives that were destroyed and evil at its highest level. Follow dictators free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

[00:17:31]

Now back to the story by the middle of the 20th century, the Bermuda Triangle had become an entrenched part of ocean lore. Everyone from Christopher Columbus to Navy soldiers had experienced just how strange and dangerous it could be. But never before had an aircraft gone missing in the area. Not until December 15th, 1945.

[00:17:59]

At around 2:00 p.m., a group of five planes departed the Naval Air Station in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. That day's mission was nothing more than a routine exercise. The plan was to fly east for about 150 miles, turn north for another 40 and head home.

[00:18:17]

It was supposed to be an easy, even pleasant journey. All five pilots were experienced. Their planes had been carefully checked for departure.

[00:18:27]

The pilots and nine crew members ascended into the clouds and flew east towards the Butta triangle. The conditions were perfect. It was 65 degrees and sunny with a barely perceptible wind. Each Navy bomber had enough fuel to cruise for 1000 miles, plenty for that day's flight, especially since the mission was only supposed to last for a couple of hours.

[00:18:52]

Once the group successfully completed their exercise, they turned around to head back to Fort Lauderdale. But about 90 minutes after takeoff, the cruise leader, Charles Taylor, realized he was lost. He couldn't tell what direction he was headed, and land was nowhere to be seen. Even the ocean looked strange in a way that he couldn't quite describe. Taylor wasn't just another trainee. He was a U.S. Navy lieutenant. He had over 2500 hours of flying experience and had flown similar aircrafts through this flight path dozens of times before.

[00:19:32]

So if someone like him was confused, it had to be because what he was seeing was inexplicable. At around three forty five pm, Taylor phoned the base in a panic he said cannot see land. We seem to be off course. Meanwhile, the four other planes tailing him were similarly confused and feeling adrift.

[00:19:57]

The tower paged back asking, what is your position? A few moments of silence passed before Taylor gave his response. He said, We cannot be sure where we are. Repeat, cannot see land.

[00:20:13]

Radio Command told Taylor to fly north and search for the coast of Florida. By that time, the squadron should have been over the Florida Keys. However, on attempting to implement the instructions, it soon became clear to Taylor that his plane wasn't flying over any land at all.

[00:20:33]

Ten minutes later, the instructors radio signal weakened, then dropped the base, lost contact with Flight 19.

[00:20:41]

They could, however, overhear fragments of communication between the planes. The voices coming in through the radio sounded less like those of experienced navigators and more akin to frighten Boy Scouts. One said everything is wrong. Then another came on the line stating We can't be sure of any direction. In addition, their communications conveyed that their compasses had stopped working and some of the crafts were running short on fuel at around six thirty pm.

[00:21:15]

The tower operator caught one final message from Taylor to his crew, saying all planes close up tight will have to ditch unless we reach landfall. Barring that, when the first plane drops below 10 gallons, we will all go down together. Then silence.

[00:21:36]

Flight Nineteen had officially vanished over the Bermuda Triangle.

[00:21:43]

Later that night, two planes and two Martin Mariner flying boats went in search of the missing crew. Each boat was equipped with rescue equipment and a team of 13 men.

[00:21:55]

About 20 minutes after the Martin Mariners ascended over the Bermuda Triangle, one of them also lost contact with air control.

[00:22:04]

By that time, it was dusk. So ground control in Fort Lauderdale reached out to the Coast Guard in Miami. In response, they sent a plane to retrace the missing Mariners route.

[00:22:16]

The Second Mariner and the Coast Guard made it back alive, but they reported no signs of debris in the water.

[00:22:23]

One of the biggest rescue missions in history commenced the following morning. The search covered 200 miles of ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico. The Coast Guard and the Navy combed the seas for the next five days, but there are 30 planes and 21 sea vessels encountered nothing but calm waters and light winds.

[00:22:46]

The downed plane should have been able to float. In addition, each craft was equipped with inflatable life jackets. Every crew member had been trained to survive for weeks in open waters.

[00:22:59]

Still, no one saw a flare or any piece of wreckage that might indicate what had happened. Even the military couldn't formulate a good guess. A formal report from the Navy deemed it a total mystery.

[00:23:17]

Flight 19 would later become the central component of the Bermuda Triangle story, the idea that five planes could just disappear astounded people all over the world.

[00:23:30]

The incident also coincided with the popularity of Pulp Magazine's cheap periodicals that contained action based mysteries.

[00:23:39]

A writer for one of the biggest fringe publications started to connect the dots as part of a February 1964 cover story for a magazine titled Argosy.

[00:23:50]

A reporter named Vincent Gaddis recounted the fate of Flight 19.

[00:23:55]

He also covered other strange anecdotes surrounding the 500000 square foot area of the Atlantic, like the missing USS Cyclops data stated during the past two decades alone, this mystery at our back door has claimed almost 1000 lives in this series of disasters. Not one body has ever been discovered.

[00:24:20]

Thanks to Gadis, the Bermuda Triangle was introduced to the public lexicon before his report.

[00:24:28]

No one had ever given a firsthand account of their experience over the Bermuda Triangle. However, soon after Gaddis published the article, he received a shocking letter from an ex Air Force pilot named Dick Stern.

[00:24:43]

In December of 1944, toward the end of the Second World War, Stern was flying from the U.S. to Italy, but he needed to stop for fuel in Bermuda.

[00:24:56]

After refueling and resuming his journey, Stern's plane inexplicably picked up speed. Then it started to flip and was tossed through the air. He said it was as if an unexplained force had suddenly taken over his craft, hands shaking.

[00:25:13]

Stern finally regained control over his plane. He couldn't account for the strange turbulence he just experienced. It was such a clear night that the stars were visible. There were no weather patterns that could have explain the bizarre conditions instead of continuing on to Italy.

[00:25:32]

Stern headed back to the United States. Later, he discovered that only one other plane out of the seven in his company had survived the trip.

[00:25:42]

What's even more unusual is that Stern survived a second encounter inside the Bermuda Triangle just a few years after the war.

[00:25:54]

In the letter to Gadis, Stern described his experience aboard a commercial airliner. He and his wife were traveling to Nassau in the Bahamas when the craft suddenly dropped. Passengers food flew into the air and for the next 15 minutes, the plane jerked around, shaking violently. Stern claims that the trouble only began when they were flying over the Bermuda Triangle.

[00:26:20]

Stern wasn't the last person to relay his experiences from the ominous stretch of ocean.

[00:26:26]

Merchant ships have been required to carry black boxes called voyage data recorders since the 2000s. That means that even though people might not live to tell their tale, we've been able to capture some of their experiences from beyond the grave. On October 1st, 2015, a ship called El Farro was passing through the same area, Columbus reportedly saw those strange lights.

[00:26:55]

How far away constantly traveled between Florida and the Puerto Rican capital, transporting anything that might end up on a store shelf. It also had a black box.

[00:27:05]

Danielle Randolph, the hard working second mate, had taken this trip many times before, but she had a bad feeling that early October morning. For starters, the weather was unlike anything she'd ever seen.

[00:27:21]

The age S. freighter was lunging through the waves. The sky was dark and it was impossible to see from the navigation bridge.

[00:27:30]

Randolph had faith in Alfaro, but was nervous about what the day may bring. The black box recorded her saying she's doing good. I'm impressed. Knock on wood. As it turns out, Alfaro was not, in fact, doing good. The ship was tilting so much that oil couldn't reach the engine as a result. It was difficult for the motor to generate enough power to balance the ship.

[00:28:00]

The crew tried to use the wind to force the boat upright. If they were successful, maybe they could outrun the storm and reach some sort of land.

[00:28:10]

But nothing worked. Alfaro had been tossed through the water so much that the ship was severely let off course.

[00:28:18]

Suddenly, Alfaro hit a swell and plummeted the equivalent of three stories. The pressure dropped in the crew's ears and their stomachs sprung to their chests.

[00:28:29]

They couldn't even use their radar while it flickered off and on its location. Data was hours old, making it utterly useless without anything to guide them. Randolph and the 32 other people aboard Alfaro were soon lost in the Bermuda Triangle.

[00:28:49]

Meanwhile, the ship's captain, Michael Davidson, didn't appear worried at all. He was accustomed to driving freighters in Alaska. There he faced some of the toughest weather conditions in the world.

[00:29:02]

Davidson also had a chip on his shoulder. He refused to even consider changing routes. He wanted to prove to the owners of the vessel that he could make the cargo run on time, even in the face of a major storm.

[00:29:17]

Just after 7:00 a.m., Davidson called the cargo company's answering service onshore. Despite the fact that the main engine was out and the weather was a bit rough, he declared that everyone had remained calm. He also said he'd be turning on an emergency beacon just in case someone needed to find them.

[00:29:38]

The situation was far more dire than Davidson let on. Immediately after hanging up, he ordered everyone to get their life jackets ready. The ship's bow had begun to dip into the black ocean depths.

[00:29:53]

Frank Ham, a helmsman, cried out for two jackets. He was frozen with fear.

[00:29:59]

The captain tried to snap them out of it by shouting, Don't freeze up.

[00:30:03]

Ham screamed, I'm a goner. As the entire ship sank to the sea floor, killing everyone on board.

[00:30:14]

After months of searching the Bermuda Triangle, officials were finally able to recover the sunken ship's black box from details they're in, they managed to piece together the final moments of Alfaro's demise, and yet they never discovered a single body.

[00:30:36]

Coming up, we explore the possibility of more than one deadly aquatic triangle.

[00:30:43]

Now back to the story.

[00:30:46]

After the disappearance of Flight nineteen in nineteen forty five, the Bermuda Triangle was brought into the popular lexicon by pulp reporter Vincent Gaddis. Since then, other famous UFOlogists paranormal investigators and historical scholars have taken an interest in the subject that includes author Charles Berlitz.

[00:31:07]

After graduating from Yale, Berlitz took a job working in Army intelligence. Later, he transitioned into writing but dabbled in ideas that were a little unorthodox. For instance, he was a proponent of the theory that extraterrestrials gave humans technology in prehistoric times.

[00:31:28]

Berlitz also became obsessed with locating the lost city of Atlantis, which he believed was somewhere within the Bermuda Triangle. He hypothesized that the area might even be connected to the destruction of Atlantis.

[00:31:44]

In addition to these beliefs, Berlitz hypothesized that the 500000 square mile location was home to sea serpents. Electromagnetic aberrations in space time warps far from people laughing at his theories.

[00:31:59]

Berlitz, his book, The Bermuda Triangle, sold 20 million copies outside of easily becoming a bestseller. The Bermuda Triangle also sparked a brand new theory that there was another similarly mysterious stretch of ocean just outside of Japan. In 1952, an underwater volcano erupted near the ISOO islands about 400 miles south of Tokyo, 31 people on board a Japanese research vessel were killed in the catastrophic event following the devastation. Another ship called number five, Caillaux Maru, set out to investigate what had happened.

[00:32:44]

No one ever returned from this mission.

[00:32:47]

The Caio Maru was not the only ship to disappear in this region. Approximately nine other Japanese vessels went missing near the ISS between 1950 and 1954 alone following the Caillaux Maru incident.

[00:33:03]

The New York Times flew to Tokyo to research it further. They found that local fishermen spoke of a devil that lurked just south of the mainland.

[00:33:13]

They may have been referring to Eugene. According to Japanese mythology, he's the dragon God of the sea. When Mongolian General Kublai Khan tried to invade Japan in the 13th century, his ships were thwarted by an enormous typhoon. At the time, many people believed it was Eugene who'd save them.

[00:33:35]

The Japanese called the mysteriously dangerous area monogamy. It roughly translates to troublesome sea.

[00:33:44]

According to that New York Times report, the devil sea stretched all the way from Tokyo to the Micronesian state of Yap.

[00:33:54]

Berlitz took the idea of another Bermuda Triangle and ran with it, writing whether the ships have been lost from underwater volcanoes or sudden tidal waves. The Devil's Sea enjoys, at least officially, an even more sinister reputation than the Bermuda Triangle. So much so that the Japanese authorities have declared the area a danger zone.

[00:34:19]

However, when world famous fashion designer Vittorio Missoni disappeared on January 4th, 2013, people began to speculate about the existence of a third Bermuda Triangle like region.

[00:34:33]

Missoni had just finished vacationing with his wife and two friends when the group boarded a small aircraft on the loose Rockies' Islands near Venezuela. But 11 miles into their journey to Caracas, their twin engine aircraft vanished. More than 400 boats, planes and helicopters search for the missing craft, but the only item they recovered was a piece of luggage. And bizarrely enough, it didn't belong to anyone who'd been aboard that flight.

[00:35:05]

Missoni son told ABC News about a worrisome text message he'd received from his father. According to him, it came from the plane two days after the aircraft went missing, the text said, Call now, we are reachable.

[00:35:25]

Despite this missive, nobody was able to reach anyone aboard the plane. It wasn't long before some people began hypothesizing that the loss Rocha's archipelago was coerced.

[00:35:38]

For many, that was the only way to explain 15 disappearances in the same 25 square mile area, in addition to allegations of a supernatural curse.

[00:35:51]

People might have co-opted elements of the Bermuda Triangle mythology and transplanted them to showcase. Some theorists even went as far as to claim that sea serpents or underwater aliens were to blame.

[00:36:06]

Meanwhile, news outlets all over the globe fed into the hype. The Guardian posted headlines like Are the Rocks Islands, The New Bermuda Triangle. The Huffington Post reported. Vittorio Missoni s disappearance gives rise to new fears of Bermuda triangles worldwide.

[00:36:26]

However, the fervor around these so-called new Bermuda triangles didn't reach a fever pitch until the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370.

[00:36:40]

On March 8th, 2014, the commercial airliner was traveling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, China, about 250 people from 14 countries were on the redeye that took off at twelve forty two a.m.. Zahari Ahmed Shah, the 53 year old captain, was at the helm of this Boeing 777 that day.

[00:37:04]

Ahmad Shah, first officer, was completing his last training flight after helping MH 370 get to China. He would become fully certified.

[00:37:16]

Unbeknownst to that first officer, however, he would never receive his certification. Instead, at 119 a.m., he radioed air traffic control in Kuala Lumpur to say good night.

[00:37:30]

That was the last anyone ever heard of MH 370 since air traffic control in Kuala Lumpur was busy dealing with other flights, they didn't even realize MH 370 had disappeared.

[00:37:44]

And then early in the morning, air traffic control in Vietnam noticed the plane appeared briefly on their radar before quickly vanishing off the screen. The controller repeatedly tried to contact MH 370 rather than alert officials in Kuala Lumpur, which was meant to be the standard protocol.

[00:38:05]

That delay meant that an emergency response wasn't issued until just after six thirty a.m.. By then, it was too late.

[00:38:15]

Those two hundred and fifty passengers were never seen again.

[00:38:21]

People all over the world searched for a plausible explanation for what had happened. Planes are equipped with two kinds of radar and air control officials are on call 24 hours a day tracking their every move. It was shocking when Flight 19 vanished decades ago, but losing a commercial airliner in this day and age was unfathomable.

[00:38:45]

The Australian government conducted an underwater search effort. The Malaysian police performed background checks of everybody who had been on board. An American man decided to travel the world in search of the flight's debris, but nothing suspicious or telling came to light.

[00:39:03]

Soon after the news broke of MH 370 disappearance, a Malaysian politician tweeted something that would reignite the world's most enduring conspiracy theory. He wrote, New Bermuda Triangle detected in Vietnam waters.

[00:39:19]

Well-equipped, sophisticated devices are of no use.

[00:39:24]

His proclamation made many people afraid to sail or fly. After all, if Bermuda Triangle like territories did exist all over the planet. Who is to say where the next one would crop?

[00:39:38]

Up next time, we'll discuss some of the theories behind what is actually happening in the Bermuda Triangle. We'll go over a conspiracy theory. No one which claims the 12 vial vortices are to blame for some of the science guy is most baffling.

[00:39:57]

Disappearances will also cover conspiracy theory. Number two, investigating whether ancient technology developed in the lost city of Atlantis lies under the Bermuda Triangle, thus bringing planes and ships to their watery graves.

[00:40:13]

Then finally, we'll detail a conspiracy theory. Number three, it suggests that there are a number of rational scientific explanations as to what is happening in or under the Bermuda Triangle that might explain its gruesome history. Thanks for tuning in to conspiracy theories. We'll be back Wednesday with part two of the Bermuda Triangle. Amongst many of the sources we used, we found Charles Berlioz's book, The Bermuda Triangle useful. In our research, you can find all episodes of conspiracy theories and all other Spotify originals from podcast for free on Spotify.

[00:41:02]

Until then, remember, the truth isn't always the best story, and the official story isn't always the truth.

[00:41:10]

Conspiracy Theories is a Spotify original from podcast. It is executive produced by Max Cutler, Sound Design by Dick Schroder with production assistance by Ron Shapiro, Carly Madden and Travis Clark. This episode of Conspiracy Theories was written by Ali Conti with writing assistance by Lori Gottlieb and Abigail Adams. Megu, fact checking by Cheyenne Lopez and research by Brad Kline and Brian Peatross. Conspiracy theory stars Molly Brandenberg and Carter Roy.

[00:41:49]

Remember to check out the dictator's podcast every Tuesday, they go deep into the minds of some of history's most despised despots. You'll get insight into their rise to power and the impact of their downfall. Search for dictators in the Spotify app and listen free today.