Lawrence David Kusche | |
---|---|
Born | Racine, Wisconsin | November 1, 1940
Nickname | Larry |
Occupation | Writer |
Language | English |
Alma mater | Arizona State University |
Genre | Skepticism |
Notable work | The Bermuda Triangle Mystery – Solved |
Notable awards | CSI Fellow |
Spouse | Sally Jo Rhodes |
Lawrence David Kusche (born November 1, 1940) is an American author, research librarian, and pilot. He investigated unexplained disappearances and other unusual events related to the Bermuda Triangle to answer queries he was getting as a research librarian. He eventually wrote a book debunking most of the mysteries touted by other writers about that location. [1]
Kusche was born in Wisconsin, and his family moved to the Arizona area when he was six. [2] Interested in aviation, Kusche qualified for a commercial pilot's license at age 19, was a commercial pilot by age 21, a flight instructor by age 24, and an instrument instructor. [3]
In 1964, Kusche graduated from Arizona State University (ASU). He completed a training course to become a commercial flight engineer, but, as he told the Tucson Daily Citizen in 1975, "I decided I didn't like it, so the day I was supposed to report for work, I resigned and came back to Arizona. I just didn't like being an engineer, the guy with hundreds and hundreds of instruments and controls. You really can't see out of the airplane." He returned to Arizona to become a high school math teacher and librarian. Later, he acquired a master's degree in library science and began working at ASU's Hayden Library in June, 1969. [4]
Kusche took a leave-of-absence from ASU to complete his first book. After the success of the Bermuda Triangle book, Kusche abandoned his career as a librarian to become a writer. He has worked as a technical writer in the Phoenix area. After the publication of his investigative books, Kusche became a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI). [5]
As a research librarian at Arizona State University, Kusche received queries for all types of information from students writing term papers. [6] [7] In the early 1970s, he became interested in the Bermuda Triangle mystery, as he was confronted by numerous queries related to the Triangle. This prompted Kusche and fellow librarian Debbie Blouin to start gathering information, mostly by writing hundreds of letters to request information from official sources. Initially, the two librarians began selling (for $2) a bibliography of the information about the Bermuda Triangle that they had acquired. Later, it occurred to Kusche that somebody should put down all of the information they had gathered into a book. When the publishing company Harper and Row ordered a copy of the bibliography, Kusche sent them a copy with a note scribbled on it asking if they were interested in a book about the subject that he was writing – and they were. [4]
Initially intrigued by the mysteries surrounding the Triangle, Kusche's research convinced him that virtually all the incidents had been caused by storms or accidents, or they happened outside the Triangle, or no proof could be found that they ever occurred at all. His conclusion was that the Triangle was a "manufactured mystery," the result of poor research and reporting, and the occasional deliberate falsification of facts. [8] [9]
Kusche originally included a long chapter in his Bermuda Triangle book about Flight 19, five Navy Avenger torpedo airplanes on a training mission out of Fort Lauderdale Naval Air Station that disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean on December 5, 1945. Kusche later expanded this chapter into a book, The Disappearance of Flight 19. [10] He studied the Navy's report of the investigation, interviewed many of the Navy personnel who were involved at the time, and flew the likely route of the missing aircraft himself. At the time, the lost flight of five torpedo bombers was said to be a victim of the mysterious forces in the Triangle. Kusche explained why the flight leader erroneously thought he was in the Florida Keys, why he said his compass had failed, and why no wreckage has yet been found. [11] [12] [7]
Kusche is the author of Larry Kusche's Popcorn Cookery, [13] a 1977 cookbook detailing recipes involving popcorn, including baked goods made from ground-up popcorn "flour", [14] and Shape Up Your Hips and Thighs.[ citation needed ] [15]
Arizona State University is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the U.S.
The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is an urban legend focused on a loosely defined region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft and ships are said to have disappeared under mysterious circumstances. The idea of the area as uniquely prone to disappearances arose in the mid-20th century, but most reputable sources dismiss the idea that there is any mystery.
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Flight 19 was the designation of a group of five General Motors TBM Avenger torpedo bombers that disappeared over the Bermuda Triangle on December 5, 1945, after losing contact during a United States Navy overwater navigation training flight from Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale, Florida. All 14 airmen on the flight were lost, as were all 13 crew members of a Martin PBM Mariner flying boat that subsequently launched from Naval Air Station Banana River to search for Flight 19.
USS Cyclops (AC-4) was the second of four Proteus-class colliers built for the United States Navy several years before World War I. Named after the Cyclops, a race of giants from Greek mythology, she was the second U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name. The loss of the ship and 306 crew and passengers without a trace some time after 4 March 1918 remains the single largest loss of life in the history of the United States Navy not directly involving combat. As the loss occurred during World War I, she was thought to have been captured or sunk by a German raider or submarine, because she was carrying 10,800 long tons (11,000 t) of manganese ore used to produce munitions, but German authorities at the time, and subsequently, denied any knowledge of the vessel. The Naval History & Heritage Command has stated she "probably sank in an unexpected storm", but the cause of the ship's loss is not known.
Ivan Terence Sanderson was a British biologist and writer born in Edinburgh, Scotland, who became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Along with Belgian-French biologist Bernard Heuvelmans, Sanderson was a founding figure of cryptozoology, a pseudoscience and subculture. Sanderson authored material on paranormal subjects and wrote fiction under the pen name Terence Roberts.
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SS Marine Sulphur Queen, formally Esso New Haven, was T2 tanker converted to carry molten sulphur. It is notable for its disappearance in 1963 near the southern coast of Florida, taking the lives of 39 crewmen.
Vincent Hayes Gaddis was an American author who invented the phrase "Bermuda Triangle", which he used first in the cover article for the 1964 February issue of the magazine Argosy. He popularized many stories about anomalous and paranormal phenomena in a style similar to that of Charles Fort.
The disappearance of a Douglas DST airliner, registered NC16002, occurred on the night of 28 December 1948 near the end of a scheduled flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Miami, Florida. The aircraft carried 29 passengers and 3 crew members. No probable cause for the loss was determined by the official investigation and it remains unsolved.
Star Tiger was an Avro Tudor IV passenger aircraft owned and operated by British South American Airways (BSAA) which disappeared without a trace over the Atlantic Ocean while on a flight between Santa Maria in the Azores and Bermuda in the early morning of 30 January 1948. The loss of the aircraft along with that of BSAA Avro Tudor Star Ariel in 1949 remains unsolved, with the resulting speculation helping to develop the Bermuda Triangle legend.
The 1979 Arizona Wildcats football team represented the University of Arizona in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) during the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their third and final season under head coach Tony Mason, the Wildcats compiled a 6–5–1 record, lost to Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl, and outscored their opponents, 244 to 243. The team played its home games on campus at Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Arizona.
Amardeo Sarma is a qualified engineer for electrical and telecommunications engineering, chair of the Gesellschaft zur wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung von Parawissenschaften (GWUP) and former chair of the European Council of Skeptical Organisations. Professionally, he works for NEC Laboratories Europe.