"MysteryQuest" Devil's Triangle (TV Episode 2009) Poster

(TV Series)

(2009)

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New Low for the History Channel
horaceb4 March 2010
Yet another 'investigation' in to the Bermuda triangle. Officially (I.e. go and look up the real figures at the maritime institutions and see for yourself) there is no statistical aberration with regards to vessels disappearing here. So to propose a theory as to how this happens seems a little odd.

Most of this program is focused on a theory of electronic fog. The idea of electronic fog is introduced to us by David Pares, and he is in fact the inventor (not discoverer) of this phenomenon. After a brief introduction in to what it could be and how it might be created we are told this could be an explanation as to why so many aircraft have disappeared here.

The basic idea is solar wind interacting with local thunderstorms creating localised phenomena. All the science and naval and investigative authorities in the world have apparently, so far, missed it.

The program quickly falls in to 'triangle fever' and runs through the usual clichéd footage. We are shown a plane flying through clouds. The nature of the clouds is switched between real (light and wispy) and artists impressions of what a Bermudan cloud tunnel might look like. We see the compass spinning and a plane possibly in trouble (or at least a dramatic camera shot).

Pares is filmed in the aeroplane with what appears to be a radio frequency/power meter which is 'flying of the scale'; that's real data - show it somebody. I was more interested in the camera actions. Whenever the meter is jumping then the camera and/or plane are shaking (otherwise its stable). This is incredible, just repeat it and half the worlds real scientists will be up there investigating and a billion people will tune in and the missing people will be returned and .....

Pares suggest this is a new theory and one he is actively investigating (check his web site - google "David Pares"). Well all solar activity IS monitored and we could easily know if any activity hit this far south on a particular day, in fact it is so unusual it would have been on the news and the power grid would have felt it. Well theories need questions. Why was this not crossed referenced? Why don't we go up there when we know solar storms are coming? Why didn't the program focus exclusively on the aeroplane wobbling; an original scientific observation?. I could suggest, because they have made the whole thing up.

Some attempt at counter arguments are shown. But countering what. This is mostly a man flying through a cloud showing that no clocks have unexpectedly jumped forward. Hope that didn't cost. Also there was some conversation with a triangle sceptic whom on further investigation is another member of the triangle/ufologist family.

I just cannot understand why this program was made or why it is presented as anything like real science. David Pares is the single source for this theory yet no alternative (in this sense real) opinion was given; I propose the following hypothesis "It is not happening which is why you cannot find it".

These type of shows are becoming more prevalent on The History Channel, they are clearly cheap to make, generally cobbled around 20 minutes of footage repeated with varying commentary. There appears to be no background research or attempt to verify radical claims by dubious experts and pseudo-scientists. Standards seem to have dropped a long way from the award wins of several years ago.

So this is new low. Recently I saw John Hutchison (the high prince of pseudo-science) on a show introduced as a futurologist (once he hung a toy plane of a piece of wire and claimed it was floating - he forgot to hide the wire and attempted to publish the findings).

Is David Pares a real scientist. He has a website. He claims to have researched several different areas, including weather, and taught at several real institutions, respected ones. Well he is not listed at any I checked (I am not ringing from the UK). The levels of research he claims look like a life's work, so where were they done? where are the papers? This kind of stuff requires resources, where did they come from? And quick Google shows David Pares' other interests to be UFOs. Do schools and colleges in the US employ ufologists as science teachers?

Anyhow, facts. Those bombers in World War II just got lost (the captains says, and was recorded saying, "I am lost"). Ships that totally disappear inevitably leave flotsam and jetsam that does and will turn up on beaches (just like everywhere else in the world). Magical weather systems don't happen, if they did scientists would investigate them. A Compass spins when you spin it with a magnet. Cameras that shake at key moments is 'fakery'.
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