Human dependency on the laws of physics is so extravagant that we often forget that are places that defy them and, worse, where they seemingly cease to exist. In a state overrun by nature and green mountains, an onlooker might think there is little to worry about in a place like Vermont. That could not be further from the truth. It is often the quietest of places that breed the most vicious of secrets. An inland cousin to the Bermuda Triangle, the Bennington triangle as it was named, is housed by this viridescent landscape. The concept that something sinister has taken abode in the Glastenbury Mountain was first proposed by Joseph A. Citro, a local folklorist. Referred to as Ghost-Master General by those that admire him, he is a researcher of the paranormal and the occult. “Shadow Child”, a horror novel authored by Citro, was where the land that was swallowing up those who tread on it was titled. The Bennington Triangle is said to not only belong to Bennington but occupied Shaftsbury, Somerset, and Woodford as well.
This is not to be thought of as a kid’s tale cooked up to quieten children, but rather something that itself has silenced many. The macabre rumors about the place go beyond its infamous tragedies to the later of the 19th century. To the time when a young man working in a sawmill hammered his companion to dead, professing that the crime was forced upon him by the ‘voices’ in his head. On the other hand, the town around the mountain was rendered uninhabitable due to repeated strange happenings. It now stands as a ghost town with no more than eight alive in it. The absurdity mounts up, but the horror does not stop.
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The Bizarre Disappearances
The first victim of the vicious estate found his way into its premises when he went hunting with his son-in-law near Vermont Route 9 on the 12th of November, 1945. Middie Rivers, a 74-year-old man told his companion that he would be going a short distance and joining camp for lunch. Everything was good and the young man returned. When Rivers would not return after several hours of waiting, a hunting party was called in, but all they were left with was one rifle cartridge and nothing else. The very next year, on the 1st of December, an 18-year-old named Paula Jean Welden was hiking on the Long Trail. A number of the residents saw her pass by including a newspaper employee and an old couple but when she turned a corner on the trail, she vanished into thin air. Searches were made, and rewards of $5000 were posted, but the girl was gone. Author Shirley Jackson published a gothic novel in 1951 called “Hangsaman,” loosely based on the life and disappearance of the Welden girl. The site also saw a shushed-up misadventure when 26-year-old Betty Fraser would not come home after a night at the bar in May of 1948. The concerned husband filed a complaint, and the police arrested the barman. But the notion was pushed aside after it was proven that he had an alibi. What could be worse for the husband than having his wife missing and no accused found? A dead wife. Betty’s body was discovered in West Dover, seventeen miles away from where she was missing.
In the year after, on the very day the Welden girl vanished, a veteran went missing while traveling on a bus to Bennington. James E. Tedford was said to be missing ever since his luggage was located on the bus and a bus timetable in his empty seat. The following year demanded more than one death, perhaps for the one year, it did not prowl. On the 12th of October, 1950, a young boy and his mother went to their farm to feed the pigs. After she was done, she came back for her 8-year-old son Paul Jepson so that they could go home but he was nowhere to be found. Immediately, she knew in her heart he would never be found. Not when he had disappeared in the same place Paula Welden went missing four years ago. The same year saw another wicked fate when on the 28th of October 53-year-old Frieda Langer after getting herself wet went back to the campsite in the middle of a hike which her cousin could find no sign of. Until her rotting body was discovered three and a half miles away deep in Deerfield River a year later on 12th May. Her remains were defaced beyond recognition.
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What Is It About The Bennington Triangle?
While many accuse an unnamed serial killer of the brutal deaths and odd vanishings, some prefer holding different opinions. The Bigfoot being held responsible is not unheard of. The residents have accused the woods of harboring the giant creature dating back to the 1800s. Over 6 feet tall, the accounts tell that the monster knocked over a stagecoach and would go rampaging in the outskirts. Some blamed the UFOs, they said they were zapping people off the face of the earth for reasons which we might never know or there are none. Still, others talk of a wormhole near the foot of the Glastenbury Mountain, like in the German TV series ‘Dark’, which has been transporting the abducted into different timelines or different realities, adding fuel to the hypothesis of time traveling. Scientists believe that the unruly winds near the mountain accompanied by the disruptive growth of the plants might indicate an unstable magnetic field in the area that might be confusing the minds of the explorers causing them to lose their sense of direction and resulting in the disappearance and eventually death. While no conclusion has come up for this paranormal mystery, the people of Vermont along with the Press are perpetually happy to come up with more narratives.
No Red In The Evenings
One would reckon all would agree that there is no apparent cause linking the incidents to each other, the residents claim they are. They talk about an ancient time when Native Americans still walked the free soil. They say that they walked everywhere but the triangle. The Indians believed the land was cursed and would refuse to step on it if not to bury their dead. So, the legend carries on, and the current residents warn that one should not venture out between 3 pm and 4 pm wearing red. Since it is a sign used to signify sacrifice and most of the vanishings take place during the evening to people in red. Most pass this off as nonsense, but we will leave it up to your discretion.
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