When I was right out of high school I worked at a Waffle House in Dacula, Georgia. Among all the counties and cities that are now considered “Metro Atlanta”, Dacula is still pretty rural and out in the boonies. I was still a stoner at the time, and a third-shift worker (9pm-7am). Behind the Waffle House is this old graveyard, and my co-workers and I would go back there during work, and at other times too. I rambled back there occasionally before work to smoke a joint. The graves are very old- 18th and 19th century with a few modern graves of long family lines. I was completely floored (and probably stoned- seeing as it is still one of my top 20 creepiest experiences) when I saw a monument to the U.S.S. Cyclops, a military ship lost in the Bermuda Triangle in WWI.

Thinking about it lately, and curious about it all, I looked up some info on the ship. This is a short history of the ship, found at the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships:

“With American entry into World War I, Cyclops was commissioned 1 May l917, Lieutenant Commander G. W. Worley in command. She joined a convoy for St. Nazaire, France, in June 1917, returning to the east coast in July. Except for a voyage to Halifax, Nova Scotia, she served along the east coast until 9 January 1918 when she was assigned to Naval Overseas Transportation Service. She then sailed to Brazilian waters to fuel British ships in the south Atlantic, receiving the thanks of the State Department and Commander-in-Chief, Pacific. She put to sea from Rio de Janiero 16 February 1918 and after touching at Barbados on 3 and 4 March, was never heard from again. Her loss with all 306 crew and passengers, without a trace, is one of the sea's unsolved mysteries.”

Now, upon further inquiry, I saw what the Bermuda-Triangle.Org has to say on the matter. These articles are not for the faint of the historical heart, and I have to say that I skipped forward a bunch during my reading. What pulls me in though, is the theory of that the ship captain, Worley, was a German supporter; and one of the passengers, Alfred Louis Moreau Gottschalk, was a German supporter also- and he (purportedly) had contacts in Argentina and Brazil who were German spies. So maybe it was one big set-up, brought about by their connections in the area.

The bottom line is that it still remains a mystery. There isn’t and never was any proof of a mid-sea disaster. There was no distress signal, and no debris nor survivors to substantiate any mutiny theories. And the Navy still maintains that:

“Since her departure [Barbados] there has been no
trace of the vessel. The disappearance of this ship has
been one of the most baffling mysteries in the annals of
the Navy, all attempts to locate her having proved unsuc--
cessful. Many theories have been advanced, but none that
satisfactorily accounts for her disappearance. There were
no enemy submarines in the western Atlantic at that time,
and in December 1918 every effort was made to obtain
from German sources regarding the disappearance of the
vessel. Information was requested from all attachés in Europe
with the result that is is definite that neither German U-boats
or German mines came into the question.”
-Navy's Statement

Is the Bermuda Triangle a real phenomena, or did we have some really crafty traitors in our midst in WWI? Who Knows? And what about all the other Bermuda Triangle claims?

And furthermore who in Dacula, Georgia had a family member lost on board? Why is there a monument to this ship in the middle of bumblef**k Georgia?

I’m writing this as the thunder rolls around my house, and I implore you to put the Twilight Zone theme-song in your head……..