The Blurton Triangle

The "Blurton Triangle" is an area located off the southern edge of Stoke, which is noted for its high incidence of unexplained disappearances of vehicles and aircraft. The apexes of the triangle are generally believed to be the desert wastelands between Blurton, Stone and Uttoxeter.

The UK government does not recognise the Blurton Triangle as an official name and does not believe the Bermuda Triangle exists. Stoke City Council does however, and has made sure the area is heavily signposted.

Since the days of early civilization many thousands of people, camels, vehicles and aircraft have diappeared in the Blurton Triangle due to navigational and other human errors, storms, piracy, fires, and structural/mechanical failures. Often, there were no living witnesses to the disappearance or crash, and hence the exact cause of the loss and the location of the lost vehicle or aircraft is unknown.

 The area is one of the most heavily travelled flight paths in the world, with planes crossing over it daily to and from Stoke Airport, other airports in the UK and RAF Trentham.

A significant factor with regard to missing vehicles in the Blurton Triangle are the desert sand or dust storms. They are extremely swift and turbulent and can quickly erase evidence of a disaster. Prior to the development of telegraph, radio and radar, people did not know a storm was nearby until it appeared on the horizon. Sudden local storms can sometimes spell disaster for local "sand people" or air crews.

A typical sand storm in the Trentham Desert

It has been claimed that the Blurton Triangle is one of the two places on earth at which a magnetic compass points towards true north. Normally a compass will point toward magnetic north. The difference between the two is known as compass variation. The amount of variation changes by as much as 60 degrees at various locations around the World. If this compass variation or error is not compensated for, navigators can find themselves far off course and in deep shit.

Popular culture has attributed disappearances in the Triangle to paranormal reasons such as alien activity.