Rating: 
Summary: To the point...
Review: This book is "just the facts" without the hyperbole and sermonizing that so many "debunking" authors relish indulging in. Kusche was the first to systematically and methodically study many of the "Bermuda Triangle" mysteries and his hard work is often cited in many publications and televised programs with no credit going to Kusche. If more Paranormal investigators took this much time and effort to substantiate their facts I suspect many more "mysteries" would be solved.
Rating:
Summary: a light of truth in the darkness of hype
Review: Until I moved to the Bay Area of California in 1972, I had never heard of the Bermuda Triangle. This is significant because for the ten years previous I had lived in Indialantic, Florida, fished regularly in the Gulf Stream and had made a few passages to the Bahamas. What those of us who actually lived in the area and sailed the waters did not know was that some creative people had been generating a sensation, and a good bit of revenue, by spinning a wild myth out of misinformation and a few isolated disappearances. And let's face it, in the age before geolocators and satellite systems, there were several disappearances at sea every year. Actually, there still are. The ocean is a big, deadly pace.Flight 19 is a classic example. On a training flight, the trainer's instrument panel went out. Not unheard of. He turns navigational duties over to a trainee; again not unheard of and understandable under the circumstances. The trainee has trouble with his readings, so the flight eyeballs the surface to see were they are. They see the Bahamas, but think they're looking at the Florida Keys. Going above the clouds, they sight by the sky and head for Florida. Tragically, that course carries them over the open Atlantic. Throughout all of this, ground control can hear their radio chatter, but the planes can not hear base. In those days this was a fairly common occurrence with the primitive radio systems available. A plane was dispatched to intercept and rescue the wayward pilots. What happened aboard that plane really is a mystery. According to witnesses, it exploded in midair over the ocean within sight of land. However, by the time it was verified the first plane was lost (remember, this was before or modern instant communications and flight transponders) and another could be dispatched it was too late. Though three position due east of New Smyrna had been calculated by those on shore, Flight 19 had gone down in the swiftly flowing currents of the Atlantic. Rescuers literally had no idea where to look. Charlatans used this tragic story to manufacture a myth. The failed instrument panel became wildly spinning compasses, the instructor telling the other trainees to follow the one he designated navigator instead of him became a desperate warning to rescuers not to try and follow. A mysterious message about the sky and sea seeming "wrong" was manufactured. (Often quoted, by charlatans and true believers alike, but still false.) Other examples include the Revnoc, which went down in 40-foot seas during one of the worst hurricanes of the decade. In legend, it disappeared in front of witnesses in bright sunlight while sailing on a calm sea. A sulfur ship which sank in the Gulf and a freighter that disappeared off the coast of Africa are also included in the chronicle. Some disappearances are not explained. The ocean is very big, very secretive, and very unforgiving. The nature of the environment -- not any mysterious forces -- means there will always be questions we can never answer. This book does a lot to seperate the genuine mysteries from the hype.
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