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Sabtu, 28 Agustus 2010

The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a region of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean in which a number of aircraft and surface vessels have disappeared. Some people have claimed that these disappearances fall beyond the boundaries of human error or acts of nature. Some of these disappearances have been attributed to the paranormal, a suspension of the laws of physics, or activity by extraterrestrial beings by popular culture. Though a substantial documentation exists showing numerous incidents to have been inaccurately reported or embellished by later authors, and numerous official agencies have gone on record as stating the number and nature of disappearances to be similar to any other area of ocean, many have remained unexplained despite considerable investigation.

The Triangle Area
The boundaries of the Triangle vary with the author; some stating its shape is akin to a trapezoid covering the Straits of Florida, the Bahamas, and the entire Caribbean island area east to the Azores; others add to it the Gulf of Mexico. The more familiar, triangular boundary in most written works has as its points somewhere on the Atlantic coast of Florida; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and the mid-Atlantic island of Bermuda, with most of the accidents concentrated along the southern boundary around the Bahamas and the Florida Straits.
The area is one of the most heavily-sailed shipping lanes in the world, with ships crossing through it daily for ports in the Americas, Europe, and the Caribbean Islands. Cruise ships are also plentiful, and pleasure craft regularly go back and forth between Florida and the islands. It is also a heavily flown route for commercial and private aircraft heading towards Florida, the Caribbean, and South America from points north.
The Gulf Stream ocean current flows through the Triangle after leaving the Gulf of Mexico; its current of five to six knots may have played a part in a number of disappearances. Sudden storms can and do appear, and in the summer to late fall hurricanes strike the area. The combination of heavy maritime traffic and tempestuous weather makes it inevitable that vessels could founder in storms and be lost without a trace - especially before improved telecommunications, radar, and satellite technology arrived late in the 20th century.

History of the Triangle Story
According to the Triangle authors, Christopher Columbus was the first person to document something strange in the Triangle, reporting that he and his crew observed "strange dancing lights on the horizon", flames in the sky, and at another point he wrote in his log about bizarre compass bearings in the area. From his log book, dated October 11, 1492 he wrote:

    The land was first seen by a sailor (Rodrigo de Triana), although the Admiral at ten o'clock that evening standing on the quarter-deck saw a light, but so small a body that he could not affirm it to be land; calling to Pero Gutierrez, groom of the King's wardrobe, he told him he saw a light, and bid him look that way, which he did and saw it; he did the same to Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, whom the King and Queen had sent with the squadron as comptroller, but he was unable to see it from his situation. The Admiral again perceived it once or twice, appearing like the light of a wax candle moving up and down, which some thought an indication of land. But the Admiral held it for certain that land was near...
Modern scholars checking the original log books have surmised that the lights he saw were the cooking fires of Taino natives in their canoes or on the beach; the compass problems were the result of a false reading based on the movement of a star.
The first article of any kind in which the legend of the Triangle began appeared in newspapers by E.V.W. Jones on September 16, 1950, through the Associated Press.
Two years later, Fate magazine published "Sea Mystery At Our Back Door", a short article by George X. Sand in the October 1952 issue covering the loss of several planes and ships, including the loss of Flight 19, a group of five U.S. Navy TBM Avenger bombers on a training mission. Sand's article was the first to lay out the now-familiar triangular area where the losses took place. Flight 19 alone would be covered in the April 1962 issue of American Legion Magazine.
The article was titled "The Lost Patrol", by Allen W. Eckert, and in his story it was claimed that the flight leader had been heard saying "We are entering white water, nothing seems right. We don't know where we are, the water is green, no white." It was also claimed that officials at the Navy board of inquiry stated that the planes "flew off to Mars." "The Lost Patrol" was the first to connect the supernatural to Flight 19, but it would take another author, Vincent Gaddis, writing in the February 1964 Argosy Magazine to take Flight 19 together with other mysterious disappearances and place it under the umbrella of a new catchy name: "The Deadly Bermuda Triangle"; he would build on that article with a more detailed book, Invisible Horizons, the next year. Others would follow with their own works: John Wallace Spencer (Limbo of the Lost,1969); Charles Berlitz (The Bermuda Triangle, 1974); Richard Winer (The Devil's Triangle, 1974), and many others, all keeping to some of the same supernatural elements outlined by Eckert.

Kusche's Explanation
Lawrence David Kusche, a research librarian from Arizona State University and author of The Bermuda Triangle Mystery: Solved (1975) has challenged this trend. Kusche's research revealed a number of inaccuracies and inconsistencies between Berlitz's accounts and statements from eyewitnesses, participants, and others involved in the initial incidents. He noted cases where pertinent information went unreported, such as the disappearance of round-the-world yachtsman Donald Crowhurst, which Berlitz had presented as a mystery, despite clear evidence to the contrary.
Another example was the ore-carrier Berlitz recounted as lost without trace three days out of an Atlantic port when it had been lost three days out of a port with the same name in the Pacific Ocean. Kusche also argued that a large percentage of the incidents which have sparked the Triangle's mysterious influence actually occurred well outside it. Often his research was surprisingly simple: he would go over period newspapers and see items like weather reports that were never mentioned in the stories.
Kusche came to several conclusions:

    The number of ships and aircraft reported missing in the area was not significantly greater, proportionally speaking, than in any other part of the ocean.In an area frequented by tropical storms, the number of disappearances that did occur were, for the most part, neither disproportionate, unlikely, nor mysterious; furthermore, Berlitz and other writers would often fail to mention such storms. The numbers themselves had been exaggerated by sloppy research. A boat listed as missing would be reported, but its eventual (if belated) return to port may not be reported. Some disappearances had in fact, never happened. One plane crash was said to have taken place in 1937 off Daytona Beach, Florida, in front of hundreds of witnesses; a check of the local papers revealed nothing.
Kusche concluded that:

    The Legend of the Bermuda Triangle is a manufactured mystery ... perpetuated by writers who either purposely or unknowingly made use of misconceptions, faulty reasoning, and sensationalism.

Natural Explanations

Methane Hydrates
An explanation for some of the disappearances focuses on the presence of vast fields of methane hydrates on the continental shelves. A paper was published by the United States Geological Survey about the appearance of hydrates in the Blake Ridge area, offshore southeastern United States, in 1981. Periodic methane eruptions are capable of producing ship-sized bubbles, or regions of water with so much dissolved gas, that the fluid density is no longer capable of providing adequate buoyancy for ships to float. If this were the case, such an area forming around a ship could cause it to sink almost directly and without warning. Experiments have proven that a methane bubble can indeed sink a ship by decreasing the density of the water.
Methane gas can also crash planes. The less dense air causes planes to lose lift. Also, the altimeter of planes (the instrument that measures the altitude) functions on the density of air. Because methane is less dense, the altimeter assumes the plane is climbing. Planes at night or in the clouds, where they can't see the ground, assume that they are climbing and dive, causing them to crash. Also, methane in the engine throws off the mix of fuel and air. Aircraft engines burn hydrocarbons (gasoline or jet fuel) with oxygen provided by the air. When the ambient oxygen levels drop, combustion can stop, and the engine stalls. All of these effects of methane gas have been shown experimentally.
Laboratory experiments carried out in Australia have proven that bubbles can, indeed, sink a scale model ship by decreasing the density of the water; any wreckage consequently rising to the surface would be rapidly dispersed by the Gulf Stream. It has been hypothesized that periodic methane eruptions (sometimes called "mud volcanoes") may produce regions of frothy water that are no longer capable of providing adequate buoyancy for ships. If this were the case, such an area forming around a ship could cause it to sink very rapidly and without warning.
A white paper was published in 1981 by the United States Geological Survey about the appearance of hydrates in the Blake Ridge area, off the southeastern United States coast. However, according to a USGS web page, no large releases of gas hydrates are believed to have occurred in the Bermuda Triangle for the past 15,000 years.

Hurricanes
Hurricanes are extremely powerful storms which are spawned in the Atlantic near the equator, and have historically been responsible for thousands of lives lost and billions of dollars in damage. The sinking of Francisco de Bobadilla's Spanish fleet in 1502 was the first recorded instance of a destructive hurricane. In 1988, Hurricane Gilbert, one of the most powerful hurricanes in history, set back Jamaica's economy by three years. These storms have in the past caused a number of incidents related to the Triangle.

Gulf Stream
The Gulf Stream is an ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico, and then through the Straits of Florida, into the North Atlantic. In essence, it is a river within an ocean, and like a river, it can and does carry floating objects. A small plane making a water landing or a boat having engine trouble will be carried away from its reported position by the current, as happened to the cabin cruiser Witchcraft on December 22, 1967, when it reported engine trouble near the Miami buoy marker one mile (1.6 km) from shore, but was not there when a Coast Guard cutter arrived.

Freak Waves
Extremely large waves can appear seemingly at random, even in calm seas. One such rogue wave caused the Ocean Ranger, then the world's largest offshore platform, to capsize in 1982. There is, however, no particular reason to believe rogue waves are more common in the Bermuda region, and this explanation cannot account for the loss of airplanes.
Research has shown that freak waves up to 30 m (100 feet) tall, capable of sinking the largest ships within moments, can and do happen. Although these are very rare, in some areas ocean currents mean they happen more often than the norm. Such waves have now been hypothesized as a cause for many unexplained shipping losses over the years.
The book was a best seller, and many interested readers offered theories to explain the nature of the disappearances. The list includes natural storms, transportation by extraterrestrial technology, high-traffic volumes (and correspondingly high accident rates), a "temporal hole," the lost Atlantis empire from the bottom of the ocean, and other natural and supernatural causes.

Glowing Water
Aerial photos taken in 2005 show the phenomenon of glowing water. Whatever causes this phosphorescence to vent up from the Bahama Bank bottoms, if that is its cause, remains a mystery.
The Triangle's location in the Caribbean makes it subject to unpredictable weather patterns. This takes us to Earth changes and the excalation of intense hurricanes in 2005 with more to come in the years ahead.
These weather extremes prey on inexperienced navigators and smaller boats and planes. Water spouts, sudden electrical and thunder storms, and the like, can cause havoc in the area. The Gulf Stream can also be brutal in that region and perhaps has swept away evidence of natural disasters.

Electronic Fog
Many people have reported seeing portals opening in cloudy skies - strange swirling lights sometimes accompanied by sounds - temporal distortions - electromagnetic distortions called 'electronic fog' that can cause a time storm, and the disappearance of planes and ships. There is something about this fog that is important and gives one the sense of all things paranormal. Something unexplained is definitely happening in that region of the Atlantic. This goes back to ancient explorers such as Christopher Columbus and his crew who experienced the phenomenon.

Acts of Man

Human Error
One of the most cited explanations in official inquiries as to the loss of any aircraft or vessel is human error. Whether deliberate or accidental, humans have been known to make mistakes resulting in catastrophe, and losses within the Bermuda Triangle are no exception. For example, the Coast Guard cited a lack of proper training for the cleaning of volatile benzene residue as a reason for the loss of the tanker V.A. Fogg in 1972. Human stubbornness may have caused businessman Harvey Conover to lose his sailing yacht, the Revonoc, as he sailed into the teeth of a storm south of Florida on January 1, 1958. It should be noted that many losses remain inconclusive due to the lack of wreckage which could be studied, a fact cited on many official reports.

Deliberate Acts of Destruction
This can fall into two categories: acts of war, and acts of piracy. Records in enemy files have been checked for numerous losses; while many sinkings have been attributed to surface raiders or submarines during the World Wars and documented in the various command log books, many others which have been suspected as falling in that category have not been proven; it is suspected that the loss of USS Cyclops in 1918, as well as her sister ships Proteus and Nereus in World War II, were attributed to submarines, but no such link has been found in the German records.
Piracy, as defined by the taking of a ship or small boat on the high seas, is an act which continues to this day. While piracy for cargo theft is more common in the western Pacific and Indian oceans, drug smugglers do steal pleasure boats for smuggling operations, and may have been involved in crew and yacht disappearances in the Caribbean. Historically famous pirates of the Caribbean (where piracy was common from about 1560 to the 1760s) include Edward Teach (Blackbeard) and Jean Lafitte. Lafitte is sometimes said to be a Triangle victim himself.
Another form of pirate operated on dry land. Bankers or wreckers would shine a light on shore to misdirect ships, which would then founder on the shore; the wreckers would then help themselves to the cargo. It is possible that these wreckers also killed any crew who protested. Nags Head, North Carolina, was named for the wreckers' practice of hanging a lantern on the head of a hobbled horse as it walked along the beach.

Popular Theories
Triangle writers have used a number of supernatural theories to explain the events. One explanation pins the blame on leftover technology from the lost continent of Atlantis. Sometimes connected to the Atlantis story is the submerged rock formation known as the Bimini Road off the island of Bimini in the Bahamas, which is in the Triangle by some definitions. Followers of the purported psychic Edgar Cayce take his prediction that evidence of Atlantis would be found in 1968 or '69 as referring to the discovery of the Bimini Road. Believers describe the formation as a road, wall, or other structure, though geologists consider it to be of natural origin.
Other writers attribute the events to UFOs. This idea was used by Steven Spielberg for his film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which features the lost Flight 19 as alien abductees.
Charles Berlitz, grandson of a distinguished linguist and author of various additional books on anomalous phenomena, has kept in line with this extraordinary explanation, and attributed the losses in the Triangle to anomalous or unexplained forces.

Famous Incidents

Flight 19
Flight 19 was a training flight of TBM Avenger bombers that went missing on December 5, 1945 while over the Atlantic. The impression is given that the flight encountered unusual phenomena and anomalous compass readings, and that the flight took place on a calm day under the supervision of an experienced pilot, Lt. Charles Carroll Taylor. Adding to the intrigue is that the Navy's report of the accident was ascribed to "causes or reasons unknown." It is believed that Taylor's mother wanted to save her son's reputation, so she made them write "reasons unknown" when actually Taylor was 50 km NW from where he thought he was.
While the basic facts of this version of the story are essentially accurate, some important details are missing. The weather was becoming stormy by the end of the incident; only Taylor had any significant flying time, but he was not familiar with the south Florida area and had a history of getting lost in flight, having done so three times during World War II, and being forced to ditch his planes twice into the water; and naval reports and written recordings of the conversations between Taylor and the other pilots of Flight 19 do not indicate magnetic problems.
On December 5th, 1945, five Avenger torpedo bombers lifted into the air from the Navel Air Station at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at 2:10 in the afternoon. It was a routine practice mission and the flight was composed of all students except for the Commander, a Lt. Charles Taylor.
The mission called for Taylor and his group of 13 men to fly due east 56 miles to Hens and Chicken Shoals to conduct practice bombing runs. When they had completed that objective, the flight plan called for them to fly an additional 67 miles east, then turn north for 73 miles and finally straight back to base, a distance of 120 miles. This course would take them on a triangular path over the sea.
About an hour and a half after the flight had left, a Lt. Robert Cox picked up a radio transmission from Taylor. Taylor indicated that his compasses were not working, but he believed himself to be somewhere over the Florida Keys (the Keys are a long chain of islands south of the Florida mainland). Cox urged him to fly north, toward Miami, if Taylor was sure the flight was over the Keys.
Planes today have a number of ways that they can check their current position including listening to a set of GPS (Global Positioning Satellites) in orbit around the Earth. It is almost impossible for a pilot to get lost if he has the right equipment and uses it properly.
In 1945, though, planes flying over water had to depend on knowing their starting point, how long and fast they had flown, and in what direction. If a pilot made a mistake with any of these figures, he was lost. Over the ocean there were no landmarks to set him right.
Apparently Taylor had become confused at some point in the flight. He was an experienced pilot, but hadn't spent a lot of time flying east toward the Bahamas which was where he was going on that day. For some reason Taylor apparently thought the flight had started out in the wrong direction and had headed south toward the Florida Keys, instead of east. This thought was to color his decisions throughout the rest of the flight with deadly results.
The more Taylor took his flight north to try to get out of the Keys, the further out to sea the Avengers actually traveled. As time went on, snatches of transmissions were picked up on the mainland indicating the other Flight 19 pilots were trying to get Taylor to change course. "If we would just fly west," one student told another, "we would get home." He was right.
By 4:45 P.M. it was obvious to the people on the ground that Taylor was hopelessly lost. He was urged to turn control of the flight over to one of his students, but apparently he didn't. As it grew dark, communications deteriorated. From the few words that did get through it was apparent Taylor was still flying north and east, the wrong directions.
At 5:50 P.M. the ComGulf Sea Frontier Evaluation Center managed get a fix on Flight 19's weakening signals. It was apparently east of New Smyrna Beach, Florida. By then communications were so poor that this information could not be passed to the lost planes.
At 6:20 a Dumbo Flying Boat was dispatched to try and find Flight 19 and guide it back. Within the hour two more planes, Martin Mariners, joined the search. Hope was rapidly fading for Flight 19 by then. The weather was getting rough and the Avengers were very low on fuel.
The two Martin Mariners were supposed to rendezvous at the search zone. The second one, designated Training 49, never showed up.
The last transmission from Flight 19 was heard at 7:04 P.M. Planes searched the area through the night and the next day. There was no sign of the Avengers.

Nor did the authorities really expect to find much. The Avengers, crashing when their fuel was exhausted, would have been sent to the bottom in seconds by the 50 foot waves of the storm. As one of Taylor's colleagues noted, they didn't call those planes 'Iron Birds' for nothing. They weighed 14,000 pounds empty. So when they ditched, they went down pretty fast.
What happened to the missing Martin Mariner? The crew of the SS Gaines Mill observed an explosion over the water shortly after the Mariner had taken off. They headed toward the site and there they saw what looked like oil and airplane debris floating on the surface. None of it was recovered because of the bad weather, but there seems little doubt this was the remains of the Mariner. The plane had a reputation as being a 'flying bomb' which would burst into flame from even a single, small spark. Speculation is that one of 22 men on board, unaware that the unpressurized cabin contained gas fumes, lit a cigarette, causing the explosion.
So how did this tragedy turn into a Bermuda Triangle mystery? The Navy's original investigation concluded the accident had been caused by Taylor's confusion. Taylor's mother refused to accept that and finally got the Navy to change the report to read that the disaster was for "causes or reasons unknown." This may have spared the woman's feelings, but blurred the actual facts.
The saga of Flight 19 is probably the most repeated story about the Bermuda Triangle. The planes, and their pilots, even found their way into the science fiction film classic, 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind.'
Where is Flight 19 now? In 1991 five Avengers were found in 600 feet of water off the coast of Florida by the salvage ship Deep Sea. Examination of the planes showed that they were not Flight 19, however, so the final resting place of the planes, and their crews is still the Bermuda Triangle's secret.

The Mary Celeste
The mysterious abandonment in 1872 of the Mary Celeste is often but inaccurately connected to the Triangle, the ship having been abandoned off the coast of Portugal. Many theories have been put forth over the years to explain the abandonment, including alcohol fumes from the cargo and insurance fraud. The event is possibly confused with the sinking of a ship with a similar name, the Mari Celeste, off the coast of Bermuda on September 13, 1864, which is mentioned in the book Bermuda Shipwrecks by Dan Berg.

Ellen Austin
The Ellen Austin supposedly came across an abandoned derelict, placed on board a prize crew, and attempted to sail with it to New York in 1881. According to the stories, the derelict disappeared; others elaborating further that the derelict reappeared minus the prize crew, then disappeared again with a second prize crew on board. A check of Lloyd's of London records proved the existence of the Meta, built in 1854; in 1880 the Meta was renamed Ellen Austin. There are no casualty listings for this vessel, or any vessel at that time, that would suggest a large number of missing men placed on board a derelict which later disappeared

USS Cyclops
The incident resulting in the single largest loss of life in the history of the U.S. Navy not related to combat occurred when USS Cyclops under the command of Lieutenant Commander G. W. Worley, went missing without a trace with a crew of 306 sometime after March 4, 1918, after departing the island of Barbados. Although there is no strong evidence for any theory, storms, capsizing and enemy activity have all been suggested as explanations.

Theodosia Burr Alston
Theodosia Burr Alston was the daughter of former United States Vice President Aaron Burr. Her disappearance has been cited at least once in relation to the Triangle, in The Bermuda Triangle by Adi-Kent Thomas Jeffrey (1975). She was a passenger on board the Patriot, which sailed from Charleston, South Carolina to New York City on December 30, 1812, and was never heard from again. Both piracy and the War of 1812 have been posited as explanations, as well as a theory placing her in Texas, well outside the Triangle.

Spray
Captain Joshua Slocum's skill as a mariner was beyond argument; he was the first man to sail around the world solo. In 1909, in his boat Spray he set out on a course to take him through the Caribbean to Venezuela. He disappeared; there was no evidence he was even in the Triangle when Spray was lost. It was assumed he was run down by a steamer or struck by a whale, the Spray being too sound a craft and Slocum too experienced a mariner for any other cause to be considered likely, and in 1924 he was declared legally dead. While a mystery, there is no known evidence for, or against, paranormal activity.

Carroll A. Deering
A five-masted schooner built in 1919, the Carroll A. Deering was found hard aground and abandoned at Diamond Shoals, near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina on January 31, 1921. Rumors and more at the time indicated the Deering was a victim of piracy, possibly connected with the illegal rum-running trade during Prohibition, and possibly involving another ship, S.S. Hewitt, which disappeared at roughly the same time. Just hours later, an unknown steamer sailed near the lightship along the track of the Deering, and ignored all signals from the lightship. It is speculated that the Hewitt may have been this mystery ship, and possibly involved in the Deering crew's disappearance.

Douglas DC-3
On December 28, 1948, a Douglas DC-3aircraft, number NC16002, disappeared while on a flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Miami. No trace of the aircraft or the 32 people onboard was ever found. From the documentation compiled by the Civil Aeronautics Board investigation, a possible key to the plane's disappearance was found, but barely touched upon by the Triangle writers: the plane's batteries were inspected and found to be low on charge, but ordered back into the plane without a recharge by the pilot while in San Juan. Whether or not this led to complete electrical failure will never be known. However, since piston-engined aircraft rely upon magnetos to provide electrical power and spark to their cylinders rather than batteries, this theory is unlikely.

Star Tiger and Star Ariel
These Avro Tudor IV passenger aircraft disappeared without trace en route to Bermuda and Jamaica, respectively. Star Tiger was lost on January 30, 1948 on a flight from the Azores to Bermuda. Star Ariel was lost on January 17, 1949, on a flight from Bermuda to Kingston, Jamaica. Neither aircraft gave out a distress call; in fact, their last messages were routine. A possible clue to their disappearance was found in the mountains of the Andes in 1998: the Star Dust, an Avro Lancastrian airliner run by the same airline, had disappeared on a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Santiago, Chile on August 2, 1947.
The plane's remains were discovered at the melt end of a glacier, suggesting that either the crew did not pay attention to their instruments, suffered an instrument failure or did not allow for headwind effects from the jetstream on the way to Santiago when it hit a mountain peak, with the resulting avalanche burying the remains and incorporating it into the glacier. However, this is mere speculation with regard to the Star Tiger and Star Ariel, pending the recovery of the aircraft. It should be noted that the Star Tiger was flying at a height of just 2,000 feet (610 m), which would have meant that if the plane was forced down, there would have been no time to send out a distress message. It is also far too low for the jetstream or any other high-altitude wind to have any effect.

KC-135 Stratotankers
On August 28, 1963 a pair of U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft collided and crashed into the Atlantic. The Triangle version (Winer, Berlitz, Gaddis) of this story specifies that they did collide and crash, but there were two distinct crash sites, separated by over 160 miles (260 km) of water. However, Kusche's research showed that the unclassified version of the Air Force investigation report stated that the debris field defining the second "crash site" was examined by a search and rescue ship, and found to be a mass of seaweed and driftwood tangled in an old buoy.

SS Marine Sulphur Queen
SS Marine Sulphur Queen, a T2 tanker converted from oil to sulfur carrier, was last heard from on February 4, 1963 with a crew of 39 near the Florida Keys. Marine Sulphur Queen was the first vessel mentioned in Vincent Gaddis' 1964 Argosy Magazine article, but he left it as having "sailed into the unknown", despite the Coast Guard report which not only documented the ship's badly-maintained history, but declared that it was an unseaworthy vessel that should never have gone to sea.

SS Marine Raifuku Maru
One of the more famous incidents in the Triangle took place in 1921 (some say a few years later), when the Japanese vessel Raifuku Maru (sometimes misidentified as Raikuke Maru) went down with all hands after sending a distress signal which allegedly said "Danger like dagger now. Come quick!", or "It's like a dagger, come quick!" This has led writers to speculate on what the "dagger" was, with a waterspout being the likely candidate (Winer). In reality the ship was nowhere near the Triangle, nor was the word "dagger" a part of the ship's distress call ("Now very danger. Come quick."); having left Boston for Hamburg, Germany, on April 21, 1925, she got caught in a severe storm and sank in the North Atlantic with all hands while another ship, RMS Homeric, attempted an unsuccessful rescue.

Connemara IV
A pleasure yacht found adrift in the Atlantic south of Bermuda on September 26, 1955; it is usually stated in the stories (Berlitz, Winer) that the crew vanished while the yacht survived being at sea during three hurricanes. The 1955 Atlantic hurricane season lists only one storm coming near Bermuda towards the end of August, hurricane "Edith"; of the others, "Flora" was too far to the east, and "Katie" arrived after the yacht was recovered. It was confirmed that the Connemara IV was empty and in port when "Edith" may have caused the yacht to slip her moorings and drift out to sea.

Skeptical Responses
The marine insurer Lloyd's of London has determined the Triangle to be no more dangerous than any other area of ocean, and does not charge unusual rates for passage through the region. United States Coast Guard records confirm their conclusion. In fact, the number of supposed disappearances is relatively insignificant considering the number of ships and aircraft which pass through on a regular basis.
The Coast Guard is also officially skeptical of the Triangle, noting that they collect and publish, through their inquiries, much documentation contradicting many of the incidents written about by the Triangle authors. In one such incident involving the 1972 explosion and sinking of the tanker V.A. Fogg in the Gulf of Mexico, the Coast Guard photographed the wreck and recovered several bodies despite one Triangle author stating that all the bodies had vanished, with the exception of the captain, who was found sitting in his cabin at his desk, clutching a coffee cup (Limbo of the Lost by John Wallace Spencer, 1973 edition).
The NOVA / Horizon episode The Case of the Bermuda Triangle (June 27, 2006) was highly critical stating that "When we've gone back to the original sources or the people involved the mystery evaporates. Science does not have to answer questions about the Triangle because those questions are not valid in the first place. ... Ships and planes behave in the Triangle the same way they behave everywhere else in the world"
Skeptical researchers, such as Ernest Taves and Barry Singer, have noted how mysteries and the paranormal are very popular and profitable. This has led to the production of vast amounts of material on topics such as the Bermuda Triangle. They were able to show that some of the pro-paranormal material is often misleading or not accurate, but its producers continue to market it. They have therefore claimed that the market is biased in favour of books, TV specials, et cetera. which support the Triangle mystery and against well-researched material if it espouses a skeptical viewpoint.
Finally, if the Triangle is assumed to cross land, such as parts of Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, or Bermuda itself, there is no evidence for the disappearance of any land-based vehicles or persons. Located inside the Triangle, Freeport operates a major shipyard, an airport which yearly handles 50,000 flights and is visited by over a million tourists annually.

Compass Variations
Compass problems are one of the cited phrases in many Triangle incidents. Some have theorized the possibility of unusual local magnetic anomalies in the area, however these have not been shown to exist. It should also be remembered that compasses have natural magnetic variations in relation to the Magnetic poles. For example, in the United States the only places where magnetic (compass) north and geographic (true) north are exactly the same are on a line running from Wisconsin to the Gulf of Mexico. Navigators have known this for centuries. But the public may not be as informed and think there is something mysterious about the compass "changing" across an area as large as the Triangle, which it naturally will.

Located on the 80th degree longitude, the Bermuda Triangle is one of the two areas on Earth where a compass will point at true north rather than magnetic north. This compass variation can be as much as 20 degrees, enough to throw one catastrophically off course. The other is the Devil's Sea.
Bermuda Triangle Wikipedia
List of Bermuda Triangle Incidents Wikipedia



Devil's Sea - Devil's Triangle - Dragon's Triangle
The Devil's Sea is classified by many as having the same paranormal effects as the Bermuda Triangle. It is located in a region of the Pacific around Miyake Island, about 100 km south of Tokyo. Although the name is used by Japanese fishermen, it does not appear on nautical maps. In popular culture, especially in the United States, the Devil's Sea is widely believed to be, together with Bermuda Triangle, an area where ships and planes particularly often disappear mysteriously. The Japanese, on the other hand, do not consider the Devil's Sea to be any more mysterious or dangerous than other coastal waters of Japan.
Contrary to several claims, neither the Devil's Sea nor the Bermuda Triangle is located on the agonic line, where the magnetic north equals the geographic north. The magnetic declination in this area is about 6 degrees. As is the case with all things mysterious, there are many theories regarding the Devil's Sea. One of the most prominent is that there is a large amount of volcanic activity around the area, and an underwater volcano could obliterate a ship without a trace.



Columbus and the Sargasso Sea
The Sargasso Sea is located in the east side of the triangle in the middle of the Atlantic. It houses a few small islands and masses of clumped floating seaweed. A warm water current within it swirls clockwise, affecting the weather of the area, keeping it calm and steamy. Having little wind, this area greatly affects unpowered ships.
Christopher Columbus wrote in his diary about this sea. In fact, it so fooled his crew that it almost led them to mutiny. There exists the possibility exists of never leaving this legendary sea, he wrote. Another fascinating feature he noted is its ability to draw things in from all over the Atlantic. Some even claim it to be the "catch-basin" of the Atlantic.
Columbus' crew was greatly disappointed when seaweed and land birds were sighted, but after a few days no land was to be seen. Soon after, Columbus wrote, My compass acts strangely. I will not report this to my crew because of their deep superstitions about the area. Days later, Columbus saw a large meteor fall from the sky. He wrote, A large ball of light has fallen from the sky. It is unsure whether he mentions this occurrence in awe, because of its great size, or in fright. Later on their journey, in that area, Columbus and several of his crew members sighted unexplained dancing lights on the horizon. They wandered around for over a week before finally sighting land.



The Michigan Triangle
According to Linda S. Godfrey in her book Weird Michigan, the Michigan Triangle is located over central Lake Michigan. One side stretches from the town of Ludington to Benton Harbor in Michigan; another links from Benton Harbor to Manitowoc, Wisconsin; the final side connects Manitowoc back to Ludington.
There are numerous stories of the supposed appearance of strange creatures, unexplained vanishings, time standing still, slowing to a crawl, or speeding up, or other weird happenings.
One well-documented and well-known case includes that of Captain George R. Donner, who commanded the Great Lakes freighter O.M. McFarland. While on a journey back from Erie, Pennsylvania after picking up 9,800 tons of coal, the ship made course westward through the lakes. It was slow going due to late-spring ice floes, but the ship was making steady progress toward its destination, Port Washington, Wisconsin, when Donner disappeared.
On the night of April 28, 1937, the captain took to his cabin, with instructions to be awakened as the ship drew near to port. About three hours later, with Port Washington growing close, the second mate appeared at the captain's cabin, prepared to awake him, but found no one. He and the crew searched the ship, but the captain was nowhere to be seen. The mate reported that the cabin door was locked from the inside, adding to the mystery of the triangle. Reportedly, the ship was in the dead center of the triangle when the captain disappeared.
Another disappearance took place on June 23, 1950, and involved a Northwest Airlines DC-4 aircraft carrying fifty-five passengers and three crew members. This flight 2501 had departed from New York City and was due to land at Minneapolis. The last radio contact recorded with the plane was that it was 3,500 feet over Battle Creek, Michigan and was going to change its course to a northwesterly path over Lake Michigan, due to bad weather near Chicago. After this, the plane was never seen again, nor were the occupants. Even after an extensive search by the Coast Guard, only a blanket with the airline's logo was found. Once again, the aircraft was in the center of the supposed triangle when it disappeared.



Formosa Triangle
The Formosa Triangle is a roughly 5 million square kilometer region of the Pacific between Gilbert Islands, Taiwan, and Wake Atoll, where, allegedly, ships frequently disappear under mysterious circumstances. It is supposed to have similar paranormal properties to the Bermuda Triangle. According to Muhammad Isa Dawud, it also has an increased activity of the jinni. The name is not used by the inhabitants of the area, nor does it appear on nautical maps.



Paranormal Theories


Edgar Cayce on Atlantis
In 2005, as part of a Sci Fi Channel documentary on the Bermuda Triangle, researcher David Childress explored underwater artifacts called the Scott Stoneswhich he and others believe is linked to Atlantis - one of its locations being the heart of the Bermuda Triangle. No one is certain what the 'stone looking' formations are. Chisel marks would have to be found for them to be determined as manmade, not to mention dating their age.
Edgar Cayce said that the Bahama Banks were the last part of Atlantis to sink, and the last place where these glorious advanced electromagnetic machines went below the ocean. He prophezied that elements of Atlantis would rise in 1968 and 1969. The Bimini Wall or Road was discovered off the coast of Bimini in 1968.
The electromagnetic anomalies in the area, Childress states, are linked to advanced technologies under the water in the Bermuda Triangle that are still active. This goes to ancient mysteries, and perhaps ancient astronauts, about powerful Atlantean crystal technology developed being buried beneath the ocean floor when Atlantis sank into the sea due to cataclysmic events over 10,000 years ago.



Comet Theory
The Comet Theory proposes that a comet, of unknown composition, crashed to Earth 11,000 + years ago and embedded itself in the area of the Bermuda Triangle, beneath the ocean floor. If such an object exists there, it could still possess electromagntic properties that we don't entirely understand causing the anomalies in the Bermuda Triangle.



Conspiracy Theory and Government Cover-ups - AUTEC
The Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center is allegedly located in the Bermuda Triangle and is sometimes called Underwater Area 51. This US Navy Research Center is a top-secret facility whose exact mission statement is not known to the general public. No one is allowed to visit there or film in or near the facility. Conspiracy theorists suspect they make have created or reproduced these electromagnetic anomalies.
This theory takes the viewer to the events of the Philadelphia Experiment in 1943 - rips in space-time in the Atlantic region - government secret projects and more.





USO's - Unidentified Submerged Objects
Could extraterrestrials have anything to do with the Bermuda Triangle, perhaps using it as a vortex - indwells and out wells for spaceships, perhaps since the beginning of time?



Planetary Grid PointsMajor planetary grid points pass through the Bermuda Triangle.




Dr. Ray Brown's Alleged Subterranean Crystal Pyramid Experience



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UFO Gallery

UFO Photo Gallery

UFO and Flying Saucer Photos

UFO at school 2 May 2003

UFO Over Baghdad 9 April 2003


Bra Fence UFO: Dunedin, New Zealand 28 December 2002


UFO speck in Mussel Shoals, California 30 November 2002

UFO Wreckage Photos

UFO Abduction Photos

Special Sections

Crashed Flying Saucer in Russia - 1987

Crashed Flying Saucer in Russia - 1987


This photograph depicts what appears to be a flying saucer that crashed almost vertically into the soft earth. The UFO in these pictures is allegedly related to this report from Russia:
In the beginning of August 1987, five soldiers of the Leningrad Military District went to the North Karelia region on a special mission, and were required to guard an object of unknown origin. It measured 4 meters long, 4 meters wide, and 2.5 meters high. The 'flying saucer' was found on the territory of another military unit near the town of Vyborg. The object had neither doors nor hatches, and all attempts to open its hull were unsuccessful. The military attempted to break parts off the disc, however, they were only able to remove some rods from the stern. By the end of September 1987, the object had mysteriously disappeared without a trace from the hangar where it was kept.

Flying Saucer in Peralta, New Mexico June 1963

Flying Saucer in Peralta, New Mexico
June 1963


These UFO photographs were taken by Paul Villa in Peralta, New Mexico (near Albuquerque) in June 1963. Although analysis has shown that these pictures are hoaxes, Villa maintains that UFOs comprise just a small portion of God's great army that will soon invade Earth to redeem humanity from its present fallen immoral condition. He believes that aliens presently live among us to help us prepare for the great day when we shall meet our maker.

UFO in Iceland - circa 12 April 2002

UFO in Iceland - circa 12 April 2002


This photo was submitted to us from Diddi in Iceland on 15 April 2002.  She initially contacted iwasabducted.com throughAlien Chat.  The webmaster followed up with her and was informed that this photo was taken just a few days before it was sent it to us.
We wrote to her again:
Hello Diddi:

Thank you for your response. We have a few more questions:

Do you know the exact date and time the picture was taken? What city or town is it in? If it is not Reykjavik, how far is the city or town from Reykjavik? Have you ever seen any other UFOs before this one?

Thank you for your information. We have also published your picture on our website.

Sincerely,

iwasabducted.com administration
Most of our questions were not answered by Diddi, however, we did get a lead on the photographer. Here's her reply:
It's a country place with few people, around 200. My friend told me he's sure this is only some dirt on the car window.  The photographer's email is (censored).
Car window? She didn't mention that before. This website certainly understands the skepticism that surrounds anomalous objects when photographed through windows. But was that really the case with this particular photo? We were confident that we would receive better details from the photographer, Simon. Unfortunately, he proved to be only slightly cooperative:
Hi there!

My name is Simon, and I took the picture of the "thing" (in Iceland) out of a car window. I have no intention of telling you anything more about this "thing". Sorry.

Yours respectfully,
Simon
Is this photo evidence of alien space craft? Or is it merely some dirt or a squashed insect on a car windshield? Decide for yourself - an enlargement of the photo appears below:


Correction: This website had originally reported in error that sender of this photograph was named Kip. Review of records by the administration of this website indicate that Kip was the sender's internet username, but not the senders "real name". The sender had identified herself only as Diddi. An investigation into the records was made after this website was informed that Kip is not an Icelandic name. This website acknowledges, however, that an internet username may not necessarily provide an accurate reflection of one's national origin. Additionally, the name with which one chooses to identify himself or herself over the internet provides no guarantee that the person is being truthful regarding his or her identity, and that he or she may be withholding true identity information in the reasonable interest of personal privacy. Additional unpublished correspondence relating to this photograph was also discovered in the archives, and henceforth added to this report on 25 January 2004.

UFO in Tasmania - 16 January 2004

UFO in Tasmania - 16 January 2004


FROM:       Nic
DATE:        Wed, 28 Jan 2004 20:58:43 +1100
TO:            Report UFO sightings 
SUBJECT:  UFOs seen near my property

"Hello. Over the past few nights, out in the front of my family's farm, there has been some strange lights rotating very fast around what seems to be a disc. They fade from red to a pale white. Can anyone please help me here and tell me what is going on?"
We followed up with Nic and learned that he photographed this object with a Kodak digital camera on 16 January 2004, approximately 11:00 PM. Nick provided these additional details of his sighting: 
"I was at home alone, working on my motorcycle, and I looked out the garage door and saw the object in the distance. At first, I thought is was a plane or something, but it was different! So I ran and grabbed the camera and took a photo."
"I am unsure the size of the object and how far it was away. I think it was about 200 meters away (very rough guess). I did not hear any 'unnatural noises', but some of the animals were fretting a bit."
The photo above is an enlargement, the first photo below is a second enlargement. The bottom picture is the original size.

UFO in Pakenham, Victoria, Australia

UFO in Pakenham, Victoria, Australia


This anomalous object was photographed with a Canon A70 digital camera by Lindsay Knowles in Pakenham, Victoria, Australia on 29 November 2003.  She did not notice the object at the time. Since small, dark, anomalous objects are often explained as flying insects or distant birds, we commented on this as a possibility.
Lindsay replied, "My first thought was a bird but I have tried to take photos of birds in the same light and they look like birds, plus there are two areas of red lights coming from it."
Lindsay informed us that another UFO sighting was recently made within 100 miles of the area. Enhancements of the photo seem to indicate heat and turbulence coming from the object. She said that some 'experts' mistakenly believed that it was the space shuttle coming in for a  landing. (The space shuttle does not land in Australia).
Red lights appearing to come from the object can also be explained as photo quality degradation that occurs with enlargement, or as light from the sunset shining through a thin layer of bird feathers. A bird also produces heat, and when in flight, turbulence. Additionally, digital photographs of UFOs also seem to carry less weight as evidence due to the lack of a negative and easy digital manipulation with software programs.
Is it a flying saucer - or just a bird? You decide.

Pulsating UFO: 24 November 2003

Pulsating UFO: 24 November 2003


FROM:      An Insider
DATE:       Mon, 24 Nov 2003 02:36:06 +0100
TO:           Report UFO Sightings
SUBJECT: Air Battle with UFO

Let me make it clear that I simply cannot divulge any information about myself of that might possibly lead to my identification. I can't reveal my name, exact location, the location of the event, nor even the exact date of the event. Let it suffice for me to say that I work on a military installation that isn't known for 'black projects'. As far as most people know, both on and off the installation, nothing exciting goes on here, and that's exactly how the military wants to keep it. But the common perception about the installation and the reality of it are two different things.

I've been an amateur astronomer for many years, and I often take my telescopes out to a remote area of the installation in order to get away from light pollution so I can observe under nice dark skies. Technically, I'm not supposed to be doing this for security reasons (especially since the events of 9-11-01) but the security personnel only patrol the boundary fence itself. (Once you drive through the installation gate, they don't really know if you're driving to your workplace or someplace else.)

One night while out observing I noticed an object moving across the sky to my south. At first it looked like a satellite, but rapidly grew larger until it became very obvious that this wasn't any satellite!

The object began hovering and began pulsating while emitting a low, barely audible hum. I just stood there with my mouth open for a few minutes, when it occurred to me to take a picture. As I went to my car to retrieve my camera, I heard the sounds of rapidly approaching aircraft. I grabbed the camera and snapped a picture when all of a sudden the roar from the approaching aircraft became deafening as if they were at very low altitude and flying directly overhead.

The UFO very suddenly shot straight up in the sky several thousand feet at fantastic speed as the aircraft passed beneath it! The aircraft were totally blacked out with no external lights on at all. The only way I spotted them was by the light given off by the hot exhaust of their engines. The aircraft came back towards the UFO a second time and once again the UFO executed a rapid vertical maneuver to avoid them. It was if the UFO was toying with them, or perhaps trying to convey the message, 'You're out of your class, don't mess with us'.

The aircraft began a third pass at the UFO, this time at staggered altitude with one plane several thousand feet above the other and with their external strobe lights on. Why they decided to turn them on after flying blacked out escapes me, unless they decided that flying blacked out wasn't giving them any particular advantage anyway and only increased their chances of colliding with each other. As to them flying at staggered altitude, perhaps this was in response to the UFO having evaded them twice with a rapid vertical maneuver. Perhaps the pilots reasoned that if the UFO evaded the low flying jet with a vertical maneuver again, then it would pass right in front of the jet flying at the higher altitude. Of course this is just speculation on my part.

As the jets approached the UFO suddenly brightened...so bright that I could barely stand to look at it with my dark-adapted eyes. Then, both aircraft fired two missiles each at the UFO! But the missiles never actually reached the UFO! The missiles simply vanished! The UFO vanished! No explosions, no sound of any impact, no nothing! One second you could see four missiles streaking across the sky, and then the missiles and the UFO were gone! It was like they just vanished into thin air!

The aircraft circled the area for about ten minutes as if they were trying to figure out what had happened. I wanted to get the hell out of there, but the aircraft gave no indication that they had spotted me yet, and I didn't want to do anything to draw attention my way. After they finally left the area, I waited until morning twilight to drive out of the area fearing that driving out during darkness with my lights on would attract unwanted attention. I made it out of the area without being stopped by anyone. I told myself, 'You can never tell anyone about this', but it's been eating at me ever since.

I decided for my own protection to destroy the negatives and original print some time ago. I decided to keep my personal notes and the scanned image on hidden various sites around the net so I wouldn't have to keep any materials in my possession. Even if the military denied the whole thing, I'd still be in big trouble for being in an unauthorized area.

An Insider 

Triangle UFO flap in Belgium

Triangle UFO flap in Belgium


A highly publicized flap of illuminated triangular UFOs occurred in Belgium during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The first two photographs on this page were taken by J. S. Henrardi in Wallonia, Belgium on 15 June 1990, and were just released for public viewing in 2003. The third UFO triangle at the bottom of this page is from an unknown source and was photographed at an unknown location in Belgium on 29 November 1989. Photos and videos of the Belgian UFO triangles are considered by many to be convincing evidence of alien visitation.


Watch the video:

UFO Triangle Telescopic Photos

UFO Triangle Telescopic Photos


FROM:      Jack
DATE:       Sat, 9 Aug 2003 21:38:09 -0700 (PDT)
TO:           Pictures
SUBJECT: First three of five triangle UFO pictures...

I forward these pictures from a friend (first three of five). Here is what he says about these pictures...

I had purchased a cheap digital camera and had cannibalized it to make an inexpensive CCD imaging system for my telescope.

That morning I had gotten up early in the AM to try and get some pictures of Mars - which was rising early in the morning that time of year. As I recall Mars was close to Venus and it was a very pretty morning. Anyway I took a few pictures but was not pleased with the results - Mars was very small. It was also very blurry because Mars was somewhat lower on the horizon than would be desired. It was very cold, and it was just starting to get light out (although the sun was about a half hour or so from rising). Also, although the sky was clearer than normal, there were still just too many clouds. So I decided to try just a few more and then pack up.

If you ever used a telescope you know that you have to constantly readjust the direction that it is pointing because as the earth turns the object that the telescope is pointing at quickly moves out of view. It was while doing this that I noticed a bright object passing slowly overhead. I assumed it was a satellite - but I thought it would be fun to try and point the telescope at it and take a picture. It took me a few moments to readjust the telescope. When I finally got it pointed at the object I was surprised to see on my LCD that through the telescope the camera picked up quite a bit of detail. I knew then that this wasn't an ordinary satellite. I was expecting just a fine point of light. However the sunlight on the object indicated (to me at least) that the object was quite high, since down on the ground it was still dark.

It was quite difficult to maintain the telescope so that it remained pointed at the moving object (as you can imagine). But I managed to take about 20 pictures and fill up the memory card on my camera. Most of the pictures did not turn out very well and are horribly blurred. What I sent you is the best few.
Thanks,

(I've deleted my friend's name per his request)

Thanks,
Jack


NOTE: This website received these photographs on 9 August 2003. The objects were originally photographed on 8 January 2003.

UFO lights at Hanbury, Worcestershire, UK 22 July 2003

UFO lights at Hanbury, Worcestershire, UK
22 July 2003


People in the county of Worcestershire have probably started wondering if extraterrestrials have been visiting them recently.

BBC cameraman Tom Hines noticed three mysterious bright lights hovering in the sky near Hanbury on Tuesday, 22 July 2003 and filmed them with a video camera. Skeptics assert that the lights may have been flares, but Hines remains convinced it was a UFO and described the objects as disappearing and reappearing lights:

"I kind of saw two bright lights and thought they were stars at first," Hines states. "I pointed out where they were and started filming. They started disappearing and reappearing and at one point there was three bright lights. They kept appearing very randomly in different areas of the sky."

Local Hanbury resident John Dawson also noticed the lights.

"We went through all kinds of evaluations, like could they be fireworks, could they be flares and to be honest with you we couldn't come to any decision as to what they were," Dawson said.

Science correspondent David Gregory of BBC Midlands Today examined the tape and has spoke to local UFO experts about it. Gregory explains, "It could have been the Hanbury Orbs, which are a series of lights which are known to hover above the landscape in this area. But nobody knows for sure." 

Watch the streaming BBC video filmed by Tom Hines:

UFO over Bucharest, Romania: 4 July 2005

UFO over Bucharest, Romania:
4 July 2005


Subject: Bucharest UFO
From: Alina
Date: Tue, July 5, 2005 1:08 am
To: Report UFO Sightings
My name is Alina and I am from Romania. I saw these things on 4 July 2005 in Bucharest. Please answer to me. I was really scared. Was that a UFO? Please answer to me if you got the e-mail

Bye 


At first glance, one might think that there are two UFOs in the first photo.  Actually, by inspecting the lights on the stationary terrain at the bottom of the picture, one can clearly determine that the camera was jolted or moved while the photograph was being taken.  
As a result, a sort of double image appears from the same lights being exposed to different parts of the film while the shutter was open.  Since a flash was not used, the camera shutter must remain open longer in order to thoroughly expose the film.
The first two photos indicate camera movement.  A tripod is especially helpful in maintaining stability when using slower shutter speed.




Photographs 3, 4, and 5 above do not indicate that there was any significant camera movement contributing to distortion of the anomalous objects.  In these examples, the distortion is most likely explained by movement of the object.  


Photo number 6 (above) is exceptionally intriguing, as it appears that the UFO is morphing, or changing shape.  Unfortunately, the lack of clarity and a noteworthy background makes it impossible to explain this photograph.


In photo number 7 (above) one notes that the object appears to be descending, leaving a trail of light behind it, however, in this particular case, the camera was once again moved during the exposure.
Photo number 8 (below) shows that the camera was held steady, however, the craft appears to be a different shape from the first few photos in the sequence, possibly explained by a change of the UFOs direction, thus providing a different angle and perspective.