You Do – Main Idea

You Do - Implicit – Main Idea – Grade 8

The Bermuda Triangle

For more than forty years, the Bermuda Triangle has been considered a place of mystery and danger. Bounded by Miami, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda, the Bermuda Triangle has also been called the "Devil's Triangle" due to its allegedly dark powers. According to oft-repeated stories, those who ventured into the triangle were never seen or heard from again. This legend began with a 1964 article in Argosy magazine. The article described how five military airplanes had set out on a training mission, flown over the Bermuda Triangle, and vanished. The cause of the planes' disappearance was considered inexplicable. Following the Argosy article, the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle was taken up by several other magazines. All of them basically repeated the same point: The Bermuda Triangle was a dangerous place. Since nobody did any additional research into the planes' disappearance, it wasn't long before a legend was born. Turns out, when someone did do the research, there were a lot of practical reasons why the planes could have vanished. The leader of the mission was ill, and there was little up-to-date navigational equipment on board. The fuel supply was inadequate, and the crew members inexperienced. Any one of these factors alone could have accounted for the planes' mysterious disappearance without the Bermuda Triangle playing any role.