Charles Berlitz

Charles Frambach Berlitz (November 20, 1913 – December 18, 2003) was an American polyglot, language teacher[1] and writer, known for his language-learning courses and his books on paranormal phenomena.

Charles Berlitz
Charles Berlitz (right) with Antonio Las Heras ("Pájaro de Fuego" magazine)
Born(1913-11-20)November 20, 1913
New York City, USA
DiedDecember 18, 2003(2003-12-18) (aged 90)
Tamarac, Florida, USA
Alma materYale University
OccupationLinguist, author
Spouse(s)Valerie Seary (1916–2003)

Life

Berlitz was born in New York City. He was the grandson of Maximilian Berlitz, who founded the Berlitz Language Schools. As a child, Charles was raised in a household in which (by his father's orders) every relative and servant spoke to Charles in a different language: he reached adolescence speaking eight languages fluently. In adulthood, he recalled having had the childhood delusion that every human being spoke a different language, wondering why he did not have his own language like everyone else in his household. His father spoke to him in German, his grandfather in Russian, and his nanny in Spanish.

He began working for the family language school, The Berlitz School of Languages, during college breaks. The publishing house, of which he was vice president, sold, among other things, tourist phrase books and pocket dictionaries, several of which he authored. He also played a key role in developing record and tape language courses. He left the company in the late 1960s, not long after he sold the company to publishing firm Crowell, Collier & Macmillan. He graduated magna cum laude from Yale University.[2]

Berlitz was a writer on paranormal phenomena. He wrote a number of books on Atlantis. In his book The Mystery of Atlantis, he claimed Atlantis was real, based on his interpretation of geophysics, psychic studies, classical literature, tribal lore, and archeology.[3] He also attempted to link the Bermuda Triangle to Atlantis.[4] He claimed to have located Atlantis undersea in the area of the Bermuda Triangle. He was also an ancient astronaut proponent who believed that extraterrestrials had visited Earth.[5]

Berlitz spent 13 years on active duty in the U.S. Army, mostly in intelligence. In 1950, he married Valerie Seary, with whom he had two children, a daughter Lin, and son, Marc. He died in 2003 at the age of 90 at University Hospital in Tamarac, Florida.

Reception

Berlitz's statements about the Bermuda Triangle and the Philadelphia Experiment were heavily criticized by researchers and scientists for their inaccuracy. He has also drawn criticism for ignoring possible natural explanations and promoting pseudoscientific ideas.[6][7][8][9]

Larry Kusche has accused Berlitz of fabricating evidence and inventing mysteries that have no basis in fact.[10][11]

See also

Bibliography

Anomalous phenomena
  • The Mystery of Atlantis, 1969
  • Mysteries from Forgotten Worlds, 1972
  • The Bermuda Triangle, 1974, ISBN 0-285-63326-0
  • Without a Trace, 1977
  • The Philadelphia Experiment – Project Invisibility, 1979
  • The Roswell Incident, 1980
  • Doomsday 1999 A.D., 1981, ISBN 0-586-05543-6
  • Atlantis – The Eighth Continent: G. P. Putnams Sons, New York, 1984
  • Atlantis: The Lost Continent Revealed, Macmillan, London, 1984
  • The Lost Ship of Noah: In Search of the Ark at Ararat, 1987
  • The Dragon's Triangle, 1989
  • World of the Incredible but True: Ballantine Books, New York, 1991
  • World of Strange Phenomena: Little Brown & Company, New York, 1995

Language

References
  1. Bernstein, Adam (2003-12-31). "Linguist Charles Berlitz Dies". WashingtonPost. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
  2. See section on Charles Berlitz in Encyclopedia of occultism & parapsychology, Lewis Spence, Nandor Fodor, Gale Research Inc, 1991.
  3. New Scientist Mar 11, 1976
  4. Trevor Palmer, Perilous planet earth: catastrophes and catastrophism through the ages, 2003, p. 316
  5. David Hatcher Childress, Technology of the Gods: The Incredible Sciences of the Ancients, 1999 p. 43
  6. Cogan, Robert. (1998). Critical Thinking: Step by Step. University Press of America. pp. 207-208. ISBN 0-7618-1067-6
  7. Brys, Maarten. Bermuda Triangle. In Michael Shermer. (2002). The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience. ABC-CLIO. pp. 52-53. ISBN 1-57607-654-7
  8. Neher, Andrew. (2011). Paranormal and Transcendental Experience: A Psychological Examination. Dover Publications. pp. 274-277. ISBN 0-486-26167-0
  9. Ball Philip. (2015). Invisible: The Dangerous Allure of the Unseen. University of Chicago Press. p. 253. ISBN 978-0-226-23889-0
  10. Regal, Brian. (2009). Pseudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia. Greenwood. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-313-35507-3
  11. "Bermuda (or "Devil's") Triangle". The Skeptic's Dictionary.
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