Earth's 12 Vile Vortices
Well, the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle seems to have been solved. Contrary to stories of supernatural phenomena, scientists have proposed the idea that the infamous area bordered by Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico has such a high frequency of shipwrecks because of the how prone the area is to the creation of ‘rogue waves’. These waves occur spontaneously when normally large waves crash against each other in ways that multiply their strength. Think of it as one wave double bouncing another. It seems as if anyone considering an extreme tourism trip to the Bermuda Triangle will be cancelling their plane tickets.
Not all hope is lost, though. The Bermuda Triangle is one of twelve spots on the Earth considered to be a “Vile Vortex”, as coined and catalogued by scientist and writer Ivan Sanderson. These sites mark areas that are said to be a breeding ground for supernatural or extraordinary phenomena such as missing ships, mysterious plane crashes, and other unexplained events of historical scale.
These areas are evenly set along one of two latitudinal lines along the Earth, with the exception of the North and South poles, and follow a specific zig-zag pattern that can be seen on a map. The sites straddle the Earth’s equator and highly favour oceanic areas, with seven of the ten non-pole sites found either in the water. These areas are;
-The Bermuda Triangle -Lo’ihi Volcano -The Indus Valley
-The Devil’s Sea -The Loyalty Islands -Algerian Megaliths
-Easter Island -Wharton Basin -North Pole
-The South Atlantic Anomaly -East of Rio de Janerio -South Pole
As seen at the Bermuda Triangle, though, there is usually a scientific explanation behind what is happening at each Vortex. The Devil’s Sea, commonly referred to as the Pacific Ocean’s Bermuda Triangle, is a triangular area just off the southern coast of Japan. The area is considered to be supernatural because of the number of ships lost within its limits. Two ships, a Japanese research vessel named Kaiyō No. 5 and a British ore/oil carrier named MV Derbyshire, are two of the more notable wrecks of the mysterious waters. The only thing is that, though they were initially considered missing, investigations have shown that Kaiyō No. 5 was lost after being caught in an underwater volcanic eruption and MV Derbyshire was lost while sailing in the path of Typhoon Orchid. To add to that, many of the less notable ships that have gone missing in the Devil’s Sea have been found to be made up. Even the exact location of the Devil’s Sea is ambiguous as some say it begins just off the coast of Tokyo, while others say it begins over a thousand kilometers south at the island of Iwo Jima. Most of the shipwrecks that have been confirmed in the area have been attributed to underwater volcanoes, like Kaiyō No. 5, and rules the site as far from supernatural.
Moving on, Easter Island is somewhere many of us have heard or read about. The famous buried heads, or moai, make this small island nothing short of famous and interesting. Similar to Stonehenge and the pyramids, the Easter Island monoliths have an air of intrigue around them as they were constructed thousands of years ago, before modern technology made feats like designing and constructing these massive stone objects simple. This leads us to the first questionable trait though, as neither Stonehenge nor the pyramids are among the Vile Vortices, yet have a much more mysterious past than the moai. At the very least, we know now that the moai were hand carved and used as a way to honor ancestors, and were ‘walked’ in to place and buried. These statues are interesting, but there are marginally less stories about aliens helping out with the process.
Next is one of the most observed of all the Vortices, albeit if observed for its scientific nature. The South Atlantic Anomaly, or SAA, is a spot that begins just south of Brazil and stretches across the ocean towards South Africa. This area is known to be a danger zone for any orbiting satellites as it causes electronics to wear prematurely or, in a worst case scenario, malfunction while in orbit. Various space shuttle missions have reported their laptops failing after travelling through this area, and a company named Globalstar lost many of their early satellites due to what was then considered unknown circumstances. It seemed for quite a while that this part of the atmosphere was cursed when it came to technology. With time, though, scientists discovered that this area is scientifically unique. It is the point on Earth where the Van Allen Belt, a pair of rings surrounding the Earth made up of electromagnetic particles that are trapped by Earth’s magnetic field, comes closest to the Earth’s surface. These two rings, an average distance from Earth of 1000km and 13000km for the inner and outer rings respectively, surround the Earth relative to its magnetic poles. Due to Earth’s slight rotational tilt, though, part of the Van Allen Belt comes as close as 200km away. This is the area where we find the South Atlantic Anomaly, a region where the Sun’s electromagnetic radiation is close enough to disrupt electronics such as the laptops and satellites. To combat this, all electronics that pass through this area need to be equipped with radiation shielding. This is beginning to sound extraordinary, but maybe not to the extent of earning the name, ‘Vile Vortex’.
Just south of Big Island of Hawaii is the next point on Sanderson’s list of Vile Vortices. About 35km off the south end of the Big Island, and 3000ft below the surface of the water, is the summit of the Lō’ihi Seamount, one Hawaii’s youngest volcanoes. Lo’ihi was unknown until around 1940 when a series of seafloor surveys highlighted a large mount underneath the water. Researchers did not think Lō’ihi was active until 1970 when a swarm of earthquakes in the area was investigated. Twenty-six years later in 1996, Lō’ihi proved to be notably active when a swarm of 4200 earthquakes shook the area throughout July and August. The earthquake swarm was so violent that an 1800ft wide area originally titled ‘Pele’s Vents’ collapsed and became the new summit, known as ‘Pele’s Pit’. The volcano roared to life again in 2001 around the beginning of September with another smaller, weaker earthquake storm hitting. Though connected to Mauna Loa, the largest shield volcano on the Earth, and Kilauea, currently one of the most well-known volcanoes, Lō’ihi has been relatively inactive since the 2001 swarm. Lō’ihi has the most claim to being extraordinary among the Vortices though, and for a few reasons. Scientists have predicted that Lō’ihi is on its way to creating the next island in the chain of Hawaiian Islands, and will break the surface anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 years from now. That may seem far away, but in geological history, it is actually rather short. The second thing that makes this so extraordinary is the fact that Ivan Sanderson passed away in early 1973, well before Lō’ihi was as notable as it is today. While his suspicions of other Vortices may fall flat, the foresight on Lo’ihi is incredible.
Off of the east coast of Australia, are the French-owned Loyalty Islands. While the islands themselves are not so extraordinary, the New Hebrides Trench located in the center of the cluster is quite interesting. Discovered in 1910, but not explored until late 2013, the New Hebrides Trench is of the more notable trenches in the pacific. Though only 25,000ft deep, roughly 11,000ft more shallow than the Mariana Trench, the New Hebrides Trench was found to be the home to multiple species of crustaceans and fish, such as the cusk eel. While this eel is not native to the New Hebrides Trench, it is very rare in other areas. In the Trench, though, it is one of the dominant species, making up most of what researchers saw in the 2013 expedition. It seems as if Sanderson was on to something with these underwater Vortices.
Speaking of underwater Vortices, on the other side of Australia is the Wharton Basin which makes up the north-east quarter of the Indian Ocean. This is where things start to get supernatural, as the Wharton Basin is the area in which the mysterious Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 is suspected to have disappeared. The search for the wreckage began in the Basin, and slowly moved south as operations were unable to find anything. While the plane may very well be elsewhere, the inability to find it has placed MH370 as one of the most mysterious aviation disasters in history. The most notable non-supernatural event coming from this area, though, was the massive 9.1 magnitude earthquake that sent a tsunami towards Indonesia, causing one of the deadliest natural disasters to happen in human history. While this is a little more somber than astounding, it led to something quite extraordinary. The Wharton Basin is home to some of the rarest geological events, such as two earthquakes that happened within hours of each other on April 11th, 2012. The earthquakes had magnitudes of 8.6 and 8.2, respectively, yet did not trigger a tsunami like the 9.1 in 2004 did. These two earthquakes have come to be considered two of the most puzzling earthquakes in recent history, having incredible magnitudes for ‘intraplate’ earthquakes. These are earthquakes that happen within tectonic plates rather than at subduction zones like most others. Furthermore, the epicenter, or source, of the earthquakes happened as far as 50km below ground, which is even rarer for intraplate earthquakes. The most extraordinary thing to happen, though, is the possibility of a new tectonic plate being created. While not for certain, geologists are considering the idea that the 2004 earthquake put such incredible stress on the Indo-Australian plate that it could slowly be splitting. The two 2012 earthquakes can be seen as proponents for this theory, as seismic activity of this sort with such a rare epicenter could indicate a rift between plates opening up. While not supernatural, this event would be extraordinary on a historical scale.
The sites near Rio de Janerio and at the North Pole are actually rather normal and, despite my research, are yet to have anything supernatural about them. In addition to those two, The Indus Valley, specifically the ancient city of Mohenjo-daro, and the Algerian Megaliths are archeological sites. While they are fascinating and hold secrets of human history, they are far from supernatural. This just leaves one final, hype-inducing Vile Vortex to consider.
The South Pole, the polar opposite of where Santa Claus lives, is home to some of the most incredible supernatural theories. This most-southern-point is home to stories of mysterious plane crashes, aliens, otherworldly portals, and more due to its secluded nature. In the ‘warmest’ months of the summer, Antarctica is home to about 4000 researchers, while throughout the winter, this number drops down to 1000. While this still sounds like a lot of people, this number is spread across the 14 million km2 (or 5.4 million m2) of frozen wasteland. This number is even smaller when you consider that the designated area the Vile Vortex covers is substantially smaller, covering very little around the point of the Pole. The most recent claim about this area is that an alleged former US Naval Officer, who simply goes by ‘Brian’, claims to have seen an alien spacecraft, or UFO, along with a large black hole that he states is an entrance to an alien base. He continued on to claim that a dozen scientists disappeared at one point during his deployment and turned up two weeks later scared and unwilling to speak to anyone. This account is largely considered to be false, and that ‘Brian’ is nothing more than a conspiracist who was lucky enough to talk to the right people, but it makes you wonder if this could be why Sanderson chose the North and South Poles as two of his Vortices.
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