Lawrence David Kusche (November 1, 1940 — July 22, 2024) was an American author, research librarian, and pilot. He investigated unexplained disappearances and other unusual events related to the

Bermuda Triangle The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a loosely defined region in the North Atlantic Ocean, roughly bounded by Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. Since the mid-20th century, it has been the focus of an urban legend sug ...

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.

Early life and education

Kusche was born in

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, and his family moved to the

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

area when he was six. 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.

Career

In 1964, Kusche graduated from

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

(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. Kusche took a leave-of-absence from ASU to finish his first book. After the success of the ''Bermuda Triangle'' book, Kusche left 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 A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

Committee for Skeptical Inquiry The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), formerly known as the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), is a program within the U.S. non-profit organization Center for Inquiry (CFI), which seeks to " ...

(CSI).

Books

Bermuda Triangle

As a research librarian at

, Kusche got queries for all types of information from students writing term papers. In the early 1970s, he became interested in the

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. 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.

The Disappearance of Flight 19

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''. 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.

Other books

Kusche is the author of ''Larry Kusche's Popcorn Cookery'', a 1977 cookbook detailing recipes involving popcorn, including baked goods made from ground-up popcorn "flour", and ''Shape Up Your Hips and Thighs''.

Bibliography

* ''The Bermuda Triangle Mystery – Solved'' () (1975) * ''Larry Kusche's Popcorn Cookery'' () (1977) * ''Shape Up Your Hips and Thighs'' () (1979) * ''The Disappearance of Flight 19'' () (1980)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kusche, Larry 1940 births American non-fiction writers Aviators from Wisconsin Bermuda Triangle Living people Writers from Phoenix, Arizona Writers from Racine, Wisconsin American skeptics American commercial aviators