All language subtitles for 9c4c9b7dd5b24d72a9048e153d8f9816_track3_eng

narrator:
over the centuries,

hundreds of ships
and dozens of aircraft

have gone missing in
a mysterious stretch of water.

one minute they are there,
the next they vanish.

they have one thing
in common.

they dared to enter
the bermuda triangle.

there's portals,
there's underground vortices,

advanced technologies,
secret naval bases.

these are just some
of the many explanations.

picknett: it's possible that
the presence of the military

in the area
of the bermuda triangle

is actually attracting ufos.

you've heard of ufos,
but there are also usos --

unidentified
submersible objects.

felix:
of course there are aliens.

of course, there a ufos.
there's something out there.

♪

♪

-- captions by vitac --
www.vitac.com

captions paid for by
discovery communications

narrator: the bermuda triangle
has both struck fear

and captivated the imagination
of people around the world.

yet no one can explain it.

commercial, private,
and military craft

all have fallen victim
to this most mysterious region.

picknett:
the bermuda triangle
literally is an area of water

in north atlantic
defined in triangular shape

by puerto rico,
bermuda, and miami.

it's believed over the course
of many years

that over 75 planes

have disappeared
mysteriously in that area

and hundreds of ships have
just gone without any trace.

although we've only given
the bermuda triangle a name

in the last 50 years,

it's been wreaking havoc
on sailors

for hundreds of years
before now.

walters:
the kind of romantic story,
the bermuda triangle,

that might be the part
of the planet

where seriously strange
things happen.

and once you go
in there you can never get out.

and it's very dangerous because
you may disappear forever down

some time warp
into another dimension.

mcmahon:
there's certainly been some
very high-profile

and unusual disasters

and disappearances
within the bermuda triangle.

whether or not
it's disproportionately high --

a lot of people, for example,

the coast guard services
say it's not true,

but there's a widespread belief
that it is true.

♪

narrator:
arguably, the most famous
disappearance occurred in 1945

when five u.s. bombers
and a rescue plane disappeared

while on a training flight
in the bermuda triangle.

mcmahon:
the most intriguing story
involving the bermuda triangle

is the flight 19 mission
five avenger torpedo bombers

that all fly out together

on what was a routine
training mission.

and at some point,

they seemed to become
totally disoriented.

their last messages back to base
showed that they had no idea

where they were going, their
instruments have gone haywire,

and they simply didn't know
if they could get back.

they were also
running out of fuel

because they'd been out
far longer than they expected.

at some point, contact was lost.

all five planes,
all 14 personnel,

wiped out disappeared.

felix:
a search party was sent out
to find the five planes

or at least look for
the wreckage.

and a flying boat was sent out
with 30 members of crew onboard.

that was never heard of again.
it vanished.

nickell:
we can imagine that there's
some mysterious vortex,

some other dimension,

some phenomenon called
an electronic fall.

but in fact,
this was a training mission.

these were rookies out on there
on their flight

with with a commander.

but he got disoriented
and they flew

and flew in a wrong direction

until they ran out of gas
and all of them went down.

we were more confident about the
search plane that went out

and also vanished.

that make of plane was nicknamed
the flying gas tank

and had a history of blowing up.

and it appears that this was
an untimely accident

at that point.

mcmahon:
the official explanation was
human error, tragic human error,

that the fuel ran out and they
simply ditched and were killed.

the unofficial explanation

is that something very strange
happened to lead

to five aircraft
disappearing simultaneously.

narrator:
but can the disappearance
of flight 19

really be attributed
just to pilot error?

in 1995,
civilian pilot cary gordon

had a truly terrifying
experience while airborne

and close to the original flight
path of the doomed mission.

her account echoes
some of the strange anomalies

the pilots reported over their
radios just minutes

before they vanished.

gordon-trantham: [ over radio ]
it was actually a day
just like today.

beautiful day.
i was --

and i can actually see
the everglades and the area

that i know exactly
where it happened.

i know exactly
where it happened.

getting a little nervous here.
[ chuckles ]

it's little scary
going over it again.

everything was going great.
it wasn't a smooth flight.

it was a little bumpy.

i was flying
along the everglades,

i could see miami
lights coming on.

and then all of a sudden it was

like somebody threw a blanket
over my airplane.

my instruments were
going crazy

with my airplane indicator.
i was showing me upside down

and i wasn't really sure
if i was upside down,

right side up how far
i had drifted east or west.

i was totally in the black.

and people said,
"well, what do you see?"

i didn't see anything.
it was black.

and i was, i was so, so scared

and and, you know,
i didn't have engine problems.

i didn't have --
it was just like something.

and it's hard to explain.

so, when i finally did
get control of the airplane,

i tried to get radio contact
because i had lost radio contact

and nobody was responding.

finally, i saw
the marathon lights

and i was able to make it
to the airport.

when i landed, i actually had
to pry my hands off the yoke

because i was just frozen.

i was still in a state
of shock.

and i couldn't hardly walk

when i climbed out of
the airplane.

very scary.
like something like that.

you just don't get over.

this could well be,
for all we know,

a portal to another dimension
that these aircraft,

these huge ships -- it doesn't
matter how big they are --

all of a sudden,
for some reason,

disappear
into another dimension.

are they still out there
in that dimension?

will they come back one day?

i don't know.

our sciences are young, yet
there's so much we don't know.

and, you know, quantum physics
has opened up a few doors

and who knows?

a parallel universe?

you know?

a tunnel, you know,
to a parallel universe.

these people went someplace.
where?

you know, i'm just thankful
to whomever that i'm still here.

narrator: hugh willoughby is
a professor of meteorology

at florida
international university.

he lectures on the dangers
of extreme weather,

and he's certain
that what happened to flight 19

and cary gordon
can be attributed

to one simple reason --
atmospheric conditions.

interpretation of cary
gordon's experience

could be cast in terms of
meteorology over the everglades.

you have turbulence.

you get almost
invisible precipitation

falling from the cloud.
[ thunder rumbles ]

you get a strong electric field,
you get clear air turbulence,

and all of those things
combined to challenge

a pilot's perception of what's
going on around him or her.

narrator:
there could also be another,

more rare explanation
for what cary experienced.

willoughby: st. elmo's fire
is a possibility,

having some sort of mist
which you can fly into

without knowing it's there.

st. elmo's fire happens
when the airplane

accumulates an electric charge.

it can produce a hissing sound
in the radios and can interfere

with electrical devices
inside the airplane.

what happens is you can see
the ground

because you're looking through
a little bit of mist.

but when you look horizontally,
you're looking through the layer

and you can't see the horizon.

st. elmo's fire is a glow,
usually kind of yellowish.

it appears on leading
edges of wings,

anything that sticks out
from the airplane,

but it can spread over
much of the fuselage.

narrator:
so can the weather and pilot
error really be responsible

for all the disappearances
and strange occurrences?

or is there
another explanation,

one that is connected
to an underwater anomaly

that some believe is
the mythical city of atlantis?

♪

narrator:
within the bermuda triangle,

hundreds of souls have perished
over the centuries.

although many theories
have been put forward

to explain
the mysterious vanishings,

we are still no closer
to a definitive answer.

some of the more extreme
melodramatic ideas

to explain
the alleged disappearances

in the bermuda triangle
include sages from atlantis

drawing them down to their doom,
or portals to other worlds

is certainly one of the most
enduring mysteries around.

but just how much truth
is there in it?

narrator: in recent years,

one hypothesis
has gained scientific approval,

and it has to do with gas.

gough:
scientists have recently
developed a technology

that is a radar examination
of the ocean floor.

and what they find is that
there's pockets of methane gas

which are exploding up
through the ocean,

creating this change
in density,

and these huge sort of bubbles
that come up to the surface

that would have a detrimental
impact on any ship

that happen to be in the wrong
place at the wrong time.

mcmahon: and the affect
that this has is at sea level

to make it very hard
for vessels to float.

if the methane rises
into the air

and there's a plane flying
overhead,

it can react with
the electrical devices on board,

effectively ignite.

of course, the result of that is
you then have a plane exploding,

suddenly disappearing, crashing
into the sea without trace.

narrator:
convincing as the methane
gas theory is,

it doesn't explain all of
the strange anomalies

reported within
the bermuda triangle.

in 1968, an archeological
discovery in the bahamas

threatened to challenge not just
our understanding of history,

but of science itself.

mcmahon:
geologists say this is just
a natural rock

formation under the sea,

but it has a very kind
of angular look to it.

it looks like
it could be the ruins

of some kind
of ancient structure.

and that's exactly what
some people believe it is.

gough:
the bimini road is allegedly
a manmade structure

in the bahamas
on the floor of the ocean

that runs for about
a third of the mile.

now, many believe
this is proof of atlantis.

narrator:
david childress is an author
and self-confessed

rogue archeologist.

he has ventured into and dived

the bermuda triangle
multiple times.

david believes
that the mysterious

vanishings are connected to
this ancient rock formation

known as the bimini road,
which many believe

is the gateway
to the mythical atlantis.

childress:
right now, we're just off
the coast of florida

in the bermuda triangle.

and this is where
a lot of the mysteries

of the bermuda triangle occur,
right in this area.

not far from here
is the island of bimini.

and on the northwest
coast of bimini

is what's called
the bimini road.

and i have scuba dived
this a number of times,

it's it's only in about
30 feet of water, actually.

but what you see
at the bimini road

is very similar to the megaliths
that we see in peru,

particularly at sacsayhuaman
and fortress above cusco.

and what that is, is huge,
pillowy blocks of stone

that are perfectly
fitted together.

and it's a it's
a megalithic formation

that appears to be manmade.

so the big question
with the bimini road

is whether it is
an artificial structure

or somehow just an unusual
natural structure,

as some geologists believe.

but if it is
an artificial structure

and it's under water,
what is it doing there?

and that's where
atlantis comes in.

and that is why
many people think

that the lost city of atlantis

is somewhere
in the bermuda triangle.

mcmahon: in the 1970s,
it was very widely believed

that the bermuda triangle
may indeed

have been the site of the
legendary kingdom of atlantis,

which included a pyramid on top
of which was a magnetic crystal

that powered that society,
some kind of primitive,

maybe extraterrestrial form
of electricity.

but unfortunately,
this magnetic crystal

also seems to have drawn
in cosmic forces

that led to the terrible
destruction of atlantis.

the whole thing collapses
and that magnetic crystal falls

to the bottom of the sea.

and it's believed by some
it's still there.

it's still pulsating.

and it's these shockwaves
from that magnetic crystal

that's responsible for downing
planes and sinking ships.

childress:
the story of atlantis
comes to us

from the greek
philosopher plato.

it was a city with concentric
canals that went to it

that had a huge navy,
but they also had electricity.

they had airships.

and many people think
that these energy crystals

that were part
of these pyramids

and perhaps obelisks
that were part of atlantis

were a power source
for these airships

and for the electrical power
in atlantis.

now, you have to wonder
if the american military

isn't interested in this, too.
and it's very possible

that if there is evidence
of atlantis in the bahamas

or elsewhere
in the bermuda triangle,

that the american navy
has actually discovered it

and that they know about
these pyramids and perhaps

they are studying these pyramids
here in the bermuda triangle.

narrator: is it possible
that atlantis exists

in the waters
of the bermuda triangle?

and if so, is there any evidence
the u.s. navy

may be harnessing
the same alternative power

used by
the mythical civilization?

♪

narrator: the bermuda triangle
is the stuff of legends.

with hundreds of ships and
planes disappearing within it,

some speculate the lost city
of atlantis is buried below

and still emitting
strange forces.

perhaps the u.s. navy
has discovered the ancient city

and harnessed its power.

with several naval bases
located within the triangle.

one installation in particular
stands out,

the top secret,
autec.

autec is the atlantic undersea
test and evaluation center.

and what that is,
is a naval base

where underwater
forms of warfare

are being tested by scientists.

and you know,
that might involve submarines

and other secret technology.

but it's also believed
that those scientists

may have been working
with alien technology

and may even have made contact
with extraterrestrials.

gough:
autec is a laboratory,
under the water,

that performs
advanced warfare tests

with technology
that is highly confidential.

it's unidentified
flying objects,

but also unidentified
submersive objects.

we really don't know
what they do.

but we do know that they operate
in the vicinity

of the so-called
bermuda triangle.

and isn't that curious?

narrator: self-confessed
rogue archeologist

david childress has his
own theories about autec

and how this top-secret
military installation

is connected to
the mysterious vanishings.

childress:
on the bahamian island
of andros,

which is the largest of all
the islands of the bahamas,

is a u.s. naval facility
known as autec.

it's a top-secret submarine,
and oceanography base.

what goes on there?
we don't really know.

this is right in the heart
of the bermuda triangle.

and you have to suspect
that some of the things

that are happening
in the bermuda triangle

might have to do
with secret technology

that's being developed
by the u.s. military.

one of the big stories about
bermuda triangle is about

usos -- unidentified
submersible objects.

so these are essentially
mystery submarines

that people are seeing here
in the bermuda triangle.

and this may have been going on
for hundreds of years.

we don't really know.
but what is interesting

is that some of these
unidentified submersible objects

are suddenly seen emerging
from the water,

then come out of the water
and they fly.

and they're now ufos.

narrator:
incredible as david childress'
assertions are about usos,

there is one man
who can corroborate

his extraordinary claims.

david malcolm is an ex-employee
of all autec.

and he believes beyond
a shadow of a doubt

that the top-secret naval base
is connected

to the strange anomalies
within the bermuda triangle.

in the early '70s, i worked as
a defense contractor at a base

on andros island
called autec.

it was the atlantic undersea
testing and evaluation center.

some people consider it
to be the navy's area 51.

and a lot of testing
of naval warfare and equipment,

it takes place there.

andros, is the largest
bahama island,

but it's also
the least inhabited.

so it's a pretty
remote location.

and the tongue of the ocean
is an area

where it's a deep trench.

it's actually
a thousand fathoms deep.

and it's a perfect place
for acoustical testing

and a place
for the military to operate

without endangering
commercial shipping

because no one else is in there.

this is a very beautiful
location,

but it's also a very secure
location,

it's guarded, fenced,
and patrolled.

and no one gets in or out

without having a need
to be there.

the job required a top secret
security clearance

because of the nature
of what was going on there

with nuclear submarines

and other classified
warfare systems.

my job title
was a weapons technician,

and we'd go out during
the testing operations

and we'd chase down missiles
or torpedoes,

whatever had been fired.
recover them,

bring them back into the shop
to be analyzed for telemetry

and any other items
they might be interested in.

mcmahon: you've heard of ufos,
but there are also usos --

unidentified
submersible objects.

and these uso shows have been
reported have been seen

in the bermuda triangle by,
for example, fishing fleets.

and there is a strong belief
among many

that there's a link between
these objects and whatever

autec is up to,
and possibly proof

that autec has indeed
developed alien technology.

we were on
a recovery operation,

one winter day,
and i was in

the back of the boat,
and you can see here,

recovering a torpedo that more
than likely had been fired

from that sub in the background.

and i noticed something
rising up out of the depths

and i wasn't
quite sure what it was.

as it slowly rose,
it looked like a pipeline.

and i remember thinking,

"what is a pipeline doing
in the middle of the ocean?"

and as it continued
to rise, silently,

i noticed
i couldn't see either end.

and as quickly as it rose,
it again faded into the depths

and it was gone.

at the time, i was used to
seeing odd things in the water

because of the nature
of the work we were doing.

it never occurred to me
to say anything,

mainly because we didn't discuss
things we saw on the test range.

it was classified information
not to be discussed.

and years later,
i came to wonder,

specially when news of usos
became more widespread.

i started thinking, perhaps
that's what i might have seen.

and it's interesting now,
because i've read accounts

since then
of cigar-shaped objects

that people tend to find
flying around in the sky.

i could pretty much
relate to that.

and, you know,
you could consider this pipe

a cigar-shaped object as well.

picknett: it's possible that
the presence of autec

in the area
of the bermuda triangle

is actually attracting ufos,
just like in area 51,

where the military seem
to be attracting ufos.

we don't know how it happens,
which comes first,

but certainly the two
do go together.

narrator:
if autec tech is connected
to the mysterious usos,

then what about
their more famous

flying counterparts, ufos?

is it possible
that recent sightings of ufos

in the bermuda triangle

could be linked to highly
classified military craft?

♪

narrator: over the centuries,

navigators through
the bermuda triangle

have reported
strange anomalies --

from bizarre lights
and spinning compasses,

to giant unidentified
submersible objects.

with a strong presence
in the area,

could the u.s. military have
discovered something mysterious

and otherworldly?

picknett: historically,
traditionally,

the intelligence
behind the ufo phenomenon,

it seems, are attracted
to the military.

maybe out of curiosity,

maybe they get some
some kind of power out of it.

maybe they're just
keeping an eye.

a curious event occurred in 2015
that might change how we think

about what's been occurring
in the bermuda triangle.

there was an unidentified
flying object

that was observed by about
a dozen air force personnel.

no one knows what it was,

but it gives credence
to the fact

that there are
unexplained events

occurring in the area
of the bermuda triangle

that might be causing
these disappearances.

picknett:
having seen the video
taken by the pilots,

it does actually fit precisely
with other descriptions of ufos

over decades,
and leaves us really no closer

to putting our finger on
what they are.

it's not enough to say,

"oh, there's some form
of alien craft."

ufos don't necessarily
imply alien anyway,

but they are something
outside our comprehension

because they shape shift.

one minute
you're looking at them

and they look like a hard nuts
and bolts craft

and suddenly they seem to be
amorphous and made of light

and they just turn like that
and zip around.

and one that i saw,
many years ago,

started as i thought it was
a plane crossing a night sky

and suddenly it split
into five different lights,

danced around the sky,
went back together and zoom.

so personally, i think it's all
part of the same phenomenon,

whatever that might be.

narrator: it's not just
military air force pilots

in rare circumstances

who have reported seeing ufos
in the bermuda triangle.

yaniel garriga
is a commercial pilot

whose job requires him
to regularly fly

into the bermuda triangle.

he encountered two ufos
while flying

near the bahamian island
of andros,

home of a top
secret naval base autec.

of all witnesses to ufos,

surely the most reliable
must be members of the military,

or professional pilots.
they are trained observers.

and they are trained
not to be fanciful.

there's so many theories
about the bermuda triangle.

but when you hear
a firsthand observation

by air force personnel.

there's something about hearing
about these unusual observations

from someone who is so well
trained to discern the ordinary

from the extraordinary
that it just makes you believe

there's a lot more
that we don't understand.

why are these ufos
attracted to this triangle?

it's obviously because of energy
in the same way

as we possibly believe
that stonehenge

and various other sites
also for some reason

attracted ufos
or still attract uf--

it's all back to earth energy.

narrator: and what about
bermuda itself?

the island that spawned
the legend of the triangle?

is there anything in its history

which could explain
the mysteries

of the bermuda triangle
once and for all?

♪

narrator:
the bermuda triangle instills
both wonder and fear.

the very name itself
is a catchphrase

for all that is dark,
strange and mysterious.

but is there anything
in the island's history

that could help explain
the enigma?

gough:
although the bermuda triangle
is a label

that we've created
in the last half a century.

the area around
the bermuda triangle

has been a source of mystery
and fear

and confusion for hundreds,
if not thousands of years.

narrator: philippe rouja
is an anthropologist,

historian,
and bermuda native

who believes that the answer
to the bermuda triangle

may lie in its dangerous past.

rouja: it's entirely logical
that this would be the place

where in the 20th century,
when they started talking about

or inventing the myth
of the bermuda triangle.

it makes sense that that
it's not just a triangle,

it's the bermuda triangle.

bermuda can literally handle
that sort of tagline

because bermuda has this true
history of disaster

and tragedy surrounding it.

you know,
literally surrounding it,

in terms of the number
of shipwrecks we have.

so we speculate
that there's over

300 shipwrecks around, bermuda.

and my job is a custodian
of historic wrecks

is to essentially try
and locate those shipwrecks.

narrator:
because in bermuda,

shipwrecks were something
the locals hoped for.

rouja: every ship that sank off
of bermuda,

especially those early days,
was like a store.

you know, all the things
that you couldn't

possibly produce here.
iron, rope, cloth.

imagine all those things
suddenly arriving

all in one basket.

and so bermudians
became very adept

at actually what
they call wrecking.

they would actually
encourage shipwrecks

so that they could create
this kind of like, you know,

almost like a delivery,

if you want, of the goods
and products that they needed.

they couldn't get any other way.

and so that reputation then
of bermuda just being dangerous

from an environmental
point of view

is enhanced by
the bermudians themselves

who are then actively
encouraging shipwrecks.

and so that's why bermuda was,
early on, from the earliest days

called the isle of devils.

in the early charts, bermuda
is actually painted upside down.

and that doesn't make sense
because these guys knew

how to draw charts.

and so we imagine
that it's done on purpose

as a warning to mariners to say,
look, this place is dangerous.

you know, when you put flag
upside down,

it's a sign
that you're in distress.

narrator: there are also
naturally-occurring dangers

surrounding the island.

mcmahon: this is an area
that's extremely volatile.

it's where three
weather systems meet

and you get phenomena
like obviously hurricanes

which are growing in frequency
and in strength.

but you also get a phenomenon
like rogue waves

which can capsize a ship,
even ships of huge size.

narrator: and history can prove
this has been happening

for hundreds of years.

this is the wreck of
the lartington.

she sunk in 1879.

and what's interesting
about this shipwreck

in terms of the myth
of the bermuda triangle

is it actually does speak
to one particular element

that has some veracity to it.
you know, this ship

supposedly encountered
a 100-foot wave.

that's literally just
a mass of hard, heavy water.

the ship was literally bowled
over by a 100-foot wave.

you can see
it's a big iron ship.

this notion of rogue waves
in the atlantic,

these sort of random appearances
of massive waves

and the damage
that it caused to the ship,

they couldn't keep up
with the water coming in.

meant that then they gave up
on their journey

from savannah, georgia,
to russia and ran for bermuda.

and so they purposely
crashed on bermuda.

so it's as much as a shipwreck
as it is a crash.

this was done with intention.

the thing about the area
around the bermuda triangle

is that the weather conditions
are really extreme.

not only is this literally
hurricane alley,

but there's also this phenomena
of a rogue wave

or conflicting weather fronts.

and weather events literally
create a perfect storm,

a perfect wave.

they can have all sorts
of detrimental effect

for any ship or boat
that comes in its path.

narrator:
professor of oceanography

from the university
of south hampton, simon boxall,

believes what caused
the lartington's demise

can happen just as easily today

because, while
rogue waves may be rare.

they are firmly
rooted in science.

so the scenario we have
in the bermuda triangle

is that we have storms
coming across the atlantic,

along the tropics, the classic
hurricanes that come across.

and we've got bermuda over here.

we've got florida keys
and florida down here.

and these storms are creating
the classic sort of textbook

tall textbook
pictures of waves.

most waves are maybe as much
as 10 meters high.

up here, maybe we've got another
storm system from grand banks.

and that's creating waves
coming along at about

10 meters high as well.

where these two come together,
the two waves can combine.

and we're going to find that
if you've got your two waves

like this,
that are slightly out of phase,

sometimes they'll let up,
sometimes they'll cancel out.

so the real waves that you'll
see in the real ocean

look like this.

that means that when
these two storms come together,

we've got a perfect storm.

and we then end up
with a 20-meter wave.

and that can be fatal
for a ship.

we see that every time
we get down to the coast.

know you'll stand
on the shore side

and you'll see those waves
lapping it.

and every so often
your feet get wet

as an extra big wave
comes in or

for standing there
on a stormy day,

the wave crashes
over the harbor, off the pier.

and that's exactly
what's happening

in the bermuda triangle area.

and if a ship gets caught
on these super waves,

one of these rogue waves,
then it's in trouble.

narrator: with its dangerous
history of shipwrecks,

looting, and furious storms,
it's easy to see how the islands

spawned the legend
of the bermuda triangle.

but there's one more secret
left to reveal.

and it traces back to the
beginning of the cold war.

♪

narrator: the dark history
of the shipwrecks

off the mainland of bermuda

certainly contributed to the
legend of the infamous triangle.

but, there is still one more
secret the island has to reveal.

mcmahon:
the bermuda triangle
is an area

with three points --
bermuda, miami, puerto rico.

and it's believed that
within that area,

there are a disproportionate
number of accidents,

of tragedies, of fatalities.

way more than other areas of sea
around the world.

theories about the bermuda
triangle include things

such as ufos,
underground vortexes,

entrances
to the hollow earth,

weather conditions that are
extreme and unique to this area.

really, it's all
over the map.

narrator:
but the bermuda triangle

still has one more secret
to reveal.

rouja:
the u.s. military came here
post-world war ii.

and established quite
a significant military base,

essentially to keep a watch
on the atlantic

during the cold war.
and they set up

some very advanced
listening sort of systems

to listen to what was going
on the atlantic,

what what was the traffic

of the russian submarine fleet
and all the rest of it.

and so bermuda
was a central part,

if not the central sort of hub
for figuring out

what was going on in the
atlantic, in the cold war.

narrator:
just along the coast,

is the now decommissioned
top-secret naval

underwater system center
at tudor hill,

where american intelligence
used advanced technology

to listen for russian submarines

we're heading up to
the old naval,

one part of the naval base
called tudor hill,

which was the landing point
for the underwater array

that went out into the atlantic
and around reading

and listening
for russian submarines.

and this is essentially
the sort of seaward edge

of that naval annex.

no one really understood
or knew

what the americans
were doing here.

it was like a weather station
out at sea.

and these cables
purportedly communicated

with that weather station.

and that was the sort
of cover story

for the actually incredibly
technologically-advanced

activities
that were going on here.

they were testing really
the first arrays of sort of

underwater long-distance sonar.

and they were detecting things,

literally, hundreds
of kilometers away.

and they did tests that
encompassed the entire atlantic

trying to figure out
just how this machine worked

and just what it could detect.

and so over time, they got super
refined at figuring this out

to the point where
they could detect and identify

each individual
russian submarine

and know where it was going,
where it was on its route.

you know, by its sound,
by its movements, et cetera.

so it was a really important
part of the cold war.

♪

imagine this is
the 1960s, 1970s.

you know, you see this level
of heightened security in this,

you know, we don't even
see this in airports,

these kind of turnstiles.

so this speaks to the what
it represented for them

in terms of the secrecy and the,
you know, the power of it

and the cold war to kind of
help them deal with, you know,

all of the big global issues
that they were trying to handle.

it's kind of difficult
to see how this ties into

this whole of the myth
of the bermuda triangle.

and all the rest of it.

but having people
imagining that there was

some myth
or some other-worldly story

that explained
a lot of the things

they might be seeing
that might be military in,

you know, might be connected
to military activities.

that probably was very
convenient for the military.

so it doesn't surprise me at all
that this might actually

have some part to play in
the bermuda triangle myth story.

narrator:
author david childress
is convinced

that the military presence
in the bermuda triangle region

connected to the top
secret installations

like autec
and tudor hill,

are the real explanation for
the more recent disappearances.

childress:
i genuinely feel that there
is real mysteries

to the bermuda triangle

and that they go back
for centuries.

there's no doubt
that high-tech experiments

and high-tech submarines
are being launched from autec.

the united states navy has
all kinds of unusual technology.

it's quite possible
that they are also creating

anti-gravity type ufo craft.

the idea of making submarines
that can also fly.

these are all things
that the u.s. navy

is for sure looking into
and studying.

and it's quite possible
that for decades

they've even had this technology
and have kept it a secret.

gough:
personally, i don't believe
there is anything other worldly

going on
in the bermuda triangle.

there have been some
some fantastic examples

of lost planes and ships
that are really quite curious.

but the world is a big place.

the oceans are two thirds
of that world.

and we don't understand
half of what we think we do.

narrator:
the bermuda triangle
is one of the most

enduring and iconic enigmas
around the world.

it's impossible to deny
that genuine mystery

surrounds the region.

the disappearance
of flight 19

continues to cast a long shadow.

and today, people are still
vanishing without a trace.

walters:
i think what's also seductive
about the bermuda triangle

is that it appeals
to our frustration

when we don't get
the sense of an ending.

and that's why disappearance,
i think,

is scary on
a very, very deep level.

this idea of people
neither being dead nor alive,

and we don't know them
to be that,

it is very compelling
and very scary.

it's this idea of people
being on the threshold.

liminality is what it's called.

and so therefore,
that is endlessly fascinating

so that there might be
a part of the world

in which you end up
being neither dead nor alive.

i can see why that is always
going to be seductive.

narrator: it is true that
the bermuda triangle

does have a unique meteorology
and dangerous weather patterns

could certainly explain
some of the disappearances.

there may well be something
going on, energies,

different sorts
of earth energies

that happen to be there
that we haven't proved yet.

narrator:
but storms and rogue waves

do not explain
the uso and ufo activity

that has been reported
by highly credible witnesses,

including civilian
and military pilots.

it is plausible that
top-secret bases, like autec,

have been working on advanced
warfare technology for decades.

and historically,
there is a correlation

between heightened ufo activity
and the military.

but how far has the u.s. navy
taken their top secret projects?

and is it possible
they may have found

and be using alternative power

from the mythical
lost city of atlantis?

picknett: it is strange
because the area does seem

to have some kind of
relationship with weirdness,

and some areas do.

the saying is if that
the veil is thin

and that that there are portals
to another world

or another dimension
or another dimension of being.

but it's the whole idea
that there's this this place

that is weird and anything
that's weird can happen there.

narrator:
perhaps we will never know.

humankind has always been
drawn to and pondered

the unexplained.

there is something primal
which drives us

to try and understand
the unknowable.