The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 206

TRIANGLE (From Page 1 0 UFO is stronger than the North Pole, strong enough to cause power failures on boats and planes, strong enough to sometimes "grab" a plane out of the air and cleanse the ocean of telltale debris. UFOs traveling at high speeds underwater, he contends, can weigh up to 30 tons, but maneuver successfully in shallow water due to their "saucer" configuration. In short, Bean is convinced they are big enough and fast enough to literally "sink a ship." "Look, I'm aware if you listen to every crackpot theory, you'll lose your sanity and for that reason, believe it or not, I try to keep both feet on the ground about this thing," he laughs. J. Manson Valentine received his PhD from Yale University in 1928.

Today he is honorary curator of the Museum of Science and Natural History in Miami and a research associate with the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is also 72 years old, but that hasn't stopped him from pursuing his favorite hobby, skindiving, and his favorite cause, convincing today's scientific community man's development through the ages may have been more complicated than past research shows. On a diving expedition off the island of Bimini in 1968, Dr. Valentine discovered what he says is evidence of an ancient civilization which once existed on dry land.

"There's practically a sub-continent down there, which today exists as an underwater plateau," he says. "On my first trip down, we brought up connecting stones that could have been fashioned only by human hands." Dr. Valentine, who estimates his find is about 12,000 years old, contends the sunken remains cover an area approximately 350 miles north to south and 250 miles east to west in the Bahama area. The foundation of one city, he adds, is so large, it can be spotted from 10,000 feet in the air. "The most dramatic shallow water find, I suppose, would be the 300-yard Bimini Wall which extends from shore to well beneath the ocean bottom," he notes.

"There's no doubt it's an ancient complex, but most of it is covered by silt from the ages." Atlantis, then? "That's impossible to say, but it was something once." The scientist, who has also made extensive studies of ancient cultures in the Yucatan and Mediterranean, is convinced the Bimini clues relate to a once thriving "system" now lost forever. "If UFOs are what I suspect, our own relatives may be paying us visits," Dr. Valentine hints. "I'm sure the magnetic field power of a UFO, capable of moving large blocks and monoliths, did just that in ancient times." Today, he says, that same power causes mechanical malfunctions within the Triangle, usually accidentally. "If there have been four cataclysmic catastrophies on earth, as I maintain, life as we know it did not begin with our scientifically recorded history of the development of man it only began AGAIN," he points out.

"What the several pre-histories achieved is now only a guess." Perhaps men like Tony Raso solved the riddle of the silent waters before they claimed him. Maybe those who live beside it someday will penetrate the foggy veil. But that, too, is only a guess. For the Devil's Triangle guards its secrets closely silently. if Program for "Sunday Concert" October 27, 1974 OPERA LA BOHEME" 1 1 by Giacomo Puccini with Montserrat Cabaille' "THE PROOFS Jir SCREEN BmLDINGS WINDOWS Placido Domingo Mimi Rudolfo Ma reel lo Musetta SUNDAY NIGHT Sherrill Milnes CONCERT" judith Begen Georg Solti, Conductor with your host Paul Neal Sentinel Mat Florida's Most Interesting Mewspaper A two-hour program of Classical Music sponsored by the Sentinel Star Company every Sunday night at 8 P.M.

in Stereo over WLOQ-FM, 103.1 on your FM dial. ftcntinrl frtar FLORIDA MAGAZINE 12.