 |
|
|
|
Completing the Triangle is the capitol city of San Juan, Puerto Rico. San Juan receives the distinction of being the third corner of the Triangle not because it is necessarily a radial spot for mystery, but because it is the largest industrialized port in the hemisphere. But it is, like Miami, a jump-off port to the warm waters of the Caribbean and Atlantic. Within the register of missing ships and planes, San Juan is a familiar name. Many were leaving from or headed to this tropic port before they went into mystery.
|
|
|
|
The entire island of Puerto Rico is considered in the Triangle, as well as the
|
|
neighboring Virgin Islands, plus most of the Windwards
|
|
|
|
|
and Leewards. Just as the Keys often vie with Miami for the distinction of the second corner, so do these tropical islands have a claim on some spectacular mysteries.
|
|
|
|
|
|
El Morro makes a stark contrast with modern San Juan, with its boulevards and byways.
|
|
|
|
But everything is not beautiful on the Isla Bonita. There is a side to Puerto Rico which connects it inexorably with the Bermuda Triangle. There are no tourist guidebooks for this side; true mystery has none.
|
|
Puerto Rico’s west coast and western mountains are a major area for UFO reports, such as around Adjuntas, Aguadilla and Cabo Rojo. A number of unexplained disappearances have also occurred in these same areas. Although officially they are not linked, one incident makes their consideration unavoidable.
This was the disappearance of an Ercoupe 415D in June 1980. In the refreshingly frank National Transportation Safety Board report on this missing plane, they obligingly included the dialogue of the pilot’s strained voice speaking about a “weird object” interfering with his plane and fritzing his navigational equipment. When this aircraft vanished it was right
|
|
|
|
|
|
in this same vicinity as the Adjuntas “flap” in 1972. (Actually Adjuntas is in the mountains, but the flap radiated out toward the ocean during the 3 months it
|
|
|
occurred. During this same time, at Cabo Rojo, several derelict yachts were brought into port, abandoned though they were in no sinking condition.)
While the pilot, Jose Maldonado Torres, described his menacing foe as a “weird object,” his passenger’s father had a more detailed opinion. Jose Pagan Jimenez, an Aero Police officer of Puerto Rico, also owner of the aircraft, lost his son who was Torres’ passenger. In describing the object, from the information he had obtained as both a police officer and as one of the search pilots, he referred to it as an objetto luminoso or “glowing object” in his personal affidavit.
|
|
|
Other mysteries off Puerto Rico’s coast call to mind the ancient mysteries of our planet. Puerto Rico gives its name to a huge fissure in the earth below the sea called the Puerto Rico Trench. It is a staggering 5 miles deep and runs east to west for about 220 miles. This must truly have been made by an enormous cataclysm, which etched this in the crust and probably noticeably effected the ocean levels of the Atlantic at some ancient point. The stresses that caused it may still be latent in the area. A cauliflower-like boiling mound of ocean was seen by the flight crew of a Boeing 707, who jointly estimated it at a mile diameter.
Other stresses may exist in the area, invisible counterparts to this huge scar. Magnetic compass deviations are reported over this area as well. The area of the trench is also home to many “magnetic faults.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bending southward from this large island are the Leeward and Windward islands of the Caribbean. After leaving the gateway of San Juan these islands stand open before the traveler with their tall, verdant mountains, extinct volcanoes and white- washed port towns. Red roofed homes dot up the hillsides. Windy roads cut through luscious jungles. Surrounding the islands are a halo of white beaches and
|
|
|
|
|
|
turquoise waters. Several yachts lie idle, anchored in protective blue lagoons. L1011s constantly bring in another load of tourists to sample the waters, fishing, beaches, clubs and calypso music. After
|
|
|
|
this, inner island charters do for the rest: commuter prop liners, small jets or private planes. Sloops and yawls and sailing clippers are sampled by the more adventurous.
Their names are synonymous with paradise: Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Saint Vincent, Grenada, St. Kitts,
|
|
|
St. Lucia, Martinique, Guadaloupe, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados.
Some of the most outstanding disappearances in this corner of the Triangle have occurred within these peaceful islands. But none of them as remarkable as a Piper Navajo which vanished while on approach to Harry S. Truman airport on St. Thomas in 1978.
|
|
|
|
Around St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, some 3 have vanished after having signaled approach. In the above case, it happened between the Tower operator’s glance out the window at its running lights and his glance back at the radar scope which now suddenly showed nothing.
|
|
|
|
“Cleared to land St. Thomas. Failed to arrive. Presumed lost at sea.” Thus the fate of one Britten Norman-Islander was officially summed up, when it disappeared on Feb. 10, 1974. The same phenomenon repeated itself in 1978 and 1982.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other disappearances have happened after briefly clutching safety. Such as a Twin Otter, which broke out of approach twice before it vanished on its last circumference of St. Vincent.
|
|
Many of these pilots were charter captains with thousands of hours flight experience. Pilot error seems far removed. Other seasoned pilots, who often have searched for the missing, are equally at a loss to explain such sudden loss, especially when it is without trace and so close to land.
|
|
|
|
Electronically, however, there should still be a trail, for modern private and commercial aircraft carry what is called an ELT “Emergency Locator Transmitter.” It is an electronic device that jettisons from an aircraft when it impacts. Dozens have carried these handy devices, yet not one has ever left even this electronic SOS behind. It is not dependent on the human equation to operate; everything is automatic. Yet everything is wrong in these losses. They should have left a trace, at least something, some signal, some shred of evidence. . . But nothing. Always nothing!
On ships as well. The freighter El Caribe vanished in the Caribbean, without a sound from her automatic alarm. The pattern seems undeniable, whether from ships or planes, there is sudden, total and permanent silence.  |
|
