Devil's Triangle

File: UFO64

FISHING BOAT SKIPPER BARNEY SPOONER DIED AND WAS BURIED AT SEA OF THE BERMUDA ISLANDS HE LOVED. BUT HIS CORPSE WAS SNATCHED BY MYSTERIOUS FORCES IN THE DEVIL'S TRIANGLE - AND HE WAS RETURNED TO THE REALM OF THE LIVING.

FOR MORE THAN 72 HOURS, THE 69 YEAR OLD SEAMAN DRIFTED IN THE LIMBO OF THE LOST, THE TRIANGULAR GRAVEYARD IN THE ATLANTIC WHERE HUNDREDS OF PLANES, SHIPS AND PEOPLE HAVE VANISHED. I SAW THEM ALL - THE SIGHTLESS EYES, THE LIFELESS SHAPES, THE GHOST SHIPS AND THE PHANTOM PLANES OF THAT UNHOLY PLACE, CAPT. SPOONER TOLD THE NEWS FROM HIS HOME NEAR THE BAY OF IRELAND ISLAND IN BERMUDA.

IT WAS LIKE SOME UNIMAGINABLE NIGHTMARE, BUT I REMEMBER THAT I WASN'T AFRAID. THEY WERE ALL DEAD. BUT I KNEW I WAS AS DEAD AS THEY WERE.

YET I HAD THE FEELING THAT I WASN'T REALLY ONE OF THEM...THAT I WAS MERELY AN OBSERVER. I HAD THE FEELING I WAS IN A WORLD WHERE I DIDN'T BELONG.

SPOONER'S JOURNEY TO THE NETHERWORLD BEGAN WHEN HE SUFFERED A HEART ATTACK ABOARD THE MATILDA II WHILE FISHING IN THE FERTILE WATERS SOUTH WEST OF GRAND BERMUDA ISLAND.

ABOARD THE BOAT WERE HIS 64 YEAR OLD WIFE, LILLIAN THEIR GRANDSON, JONATHON, AND CREW OF 30 MEN.

THERE IS NO DOUBT IN OUR MINDS THAT GRANDFATHER DIED, SAID JONATHON,27. HE JUST KEELED OVER AND THAT WAS IT. HE HAD NO HEARTBEAT, NO PULSE AND NO BREATHING. HE WAS DEAD. WE WERE GOING TO TAKE HIM INTO ST. GEORGE, BUT GRANDMOTHER SAID NO. SHE SAID, DAD ALWAYS INSISTED HE BE BURIED AT SEA AND THAT'S JUST THE WAY IT WILL BE - HERE AND NOW.

WE TIED HIM UP IN A BLANKET, ATTACHED AN OLD ANCHOR AND THREW HIM TO THE SEA HE LOVED.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT ISN'T CLEAR TO SPOONER. HE RECALLS ONLY THAT HE WAS IN A STRANGE WORLD, AS IF HE AWOKE FROM A DREAM - AND PLUNGED INTO A NIGHTMARE.

I SAW THEM ALL ... EVERY ONE OF THOSE SHIPS AND PLANES THAT HAD BEEN SWALLOWED UP IN THE DEVIL'S TRIANGLE, SPOONER SAID I SAW THE LOST SHIPS - THE CYCLOPS, THE RAIFUKU MARU AND THE WITCHCRAFT.

AND I SAW PLANES - THE FIVE NAVY AVENGERS, THE STAR TIGER AND SO MANY OTHER PLANES.

I SAW THE FACES OF ALL THE PEOPLE WHO HAD VANISHED OVER THE DECADES. THEY FLASHED BY ME LIKE A SLOW MOTION FILM SPOONER SAID NEXT HE WAS SUDDENLY LOOKING DOWN AT THE SEA FROM ABOVE AND SEEING HIS OWN LIFELESS BODY IN THE WATER. I COULD SEE EVERYTHING AS PLAIN AS DAY, HE SAID. I COULD SEE THE MATILDA II COMING TO RETRIEVE MY BODY.

SPOONER'S WIFE AND GRANDSON SAID 72 HOURS HAD PASSED BETWEEN THE TIME HIS CORPSE WAS COMMITTED TO THE SEA AND THE TIME HE WAS PULLED ABOARD THE DINGHY - ALIVE.

THE SEA IS A PLACE WHERE MANY MYSTERIOUS THINGS HAPPEN, HE SAID. I GUESS THIS IS JUST ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE MYSTERIES. SO BE IT.