Vincent Hayes Gaddis was an American author who coined the phrase "Bermuda Triangle

Bermuda Triangle

The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft and surface vessels allegedly disappeared under mysterious circumstances....

" in a February 1964 Argosy

Argosy (magazine)

Argosy was an American pulp magazine, published by Frank Munsey. It is generally considered to be the first American pulp magazine. The magazine began as a general information periodical entitled The Golden Argosy, targeted at the boys adventure market.-Launch of Argosy:In late September 1882,...

 cover piece. He popularized many stories about anomalous phenomena in a style similar to that of Charles Fort

Charles Fort

Charles Hoy Fort was an American writer and researcher into anomalous phenomena. Today, the terms Fortean and Forteana are used to characterize various such phenomena. Fort's books sold well and are still in print today.-Biography:Charles Hoy Fort was born in 1874 in Albany, New York, of Dutch...

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Gaddis was born in Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 to Tilden H. and Alice M. (Smith) Gaddis. He married Margaret Paine Rea on July 14, 1947. Gaddis worked as a newspaper reporter and writer-editor for a Warsaw, Indiana

Warsaw, Indiana

Warsaw is a city in and the county seat of Kosciusko County, Indiana, United States. Cradled among Winona Lake, Pike Lake, Hidden Lake and Center Lake, Warsaw is nicknamed "Lake City," though other cities in the surrounding area are also referred to by that nickname...

, radio station from 1947 to 1952. He was a feature writer for the Elkhart Truth, a daily newspaper in Elkhart, Indiana

Elkhart, Indiana

Elkhart is a city in Elkhart County, Indiana, United States. The city is located east of South Bend, northwest of Fort Wayne, east of Chicago, and north of Indianapolis...

, from 1952-1959. He then worked as a public relations writer for Studebaker-Packard Corporation

Studebaker-Packard Corporation

The Studebaker-Packard Corporation was the entity created by the purchase of the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, in 1954.Packard acquired Studebaker in the transaction...

 and Mercedes Benz Sales in South Bend, Indiana

South Bend, Indiana

The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663...

. In 1962 he became a free-lance

Freelancer

A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is somebody who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular employer long term. These workers are often represented by a company or an agency that resells their labor and that of others to its clients with or without project management and...

 writer. He died in Eureka, California

Eureka, California

Eureka is the principal city and the county seat of Humboldt County, California, United States. Its population was 27,191 at the 2010 census, up from 26,128 at the 2000 census....

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Published works

• Winona Lake: A Memory and A Vision, 1949
• Invisible Horizons: True Mysteries of the Sea, 1965
• Mysterious Fires and Lights, 1967
• Wide World of Magic, 1967
• Strange World of Animals and Pets, 1970
• The Curious World of Twins, 1972
• Courage in Crisis: Dramatic Tales of Heroism in the Face of Danger, 1973
• American Indian Myths and Mysteries, 1977, ISBN 0-88029-755-7
• Gold Rush Ghosts, 1990, ISBN 0-945685-06-8

External links

• "Electrical Ghosts," article by Gaddis in Borderland Sciences Journal, 1988
• "The Art of Honest Deception," article by Gaddis in Strange Magazine
• Gaddis family tree
• Fiction Mags Index, list of stories by Gaddis