Rural Legends

AMC Outdoors, October 2006

For as long as people have ventured into the New England woods, certain spots have raised prickles on the backs of their necks. Some are rumored to be blessed. Others are haunted by their tragic pasts.

Triangle of Doom: Bennington, Vt.

On picturesque Glastenbury Mountain, near Bennington, Vt., five people vanished on the Long Trail between 1945 and 1950. Middie Rivers, a 74-year-old hunting and fishing guide, walked into the woods in 1945 and was never found. Paula Welden, 18, a sophomore at Bennington College, disappeared on a solo dayhike in 1946. James Tedford, 68, who passed through the area on a bus, vanished three years to the day after Welden. Eight-year-old Paul Jepson evanesced from his mother’s truck in 1950. Only one missing person was ever recovered. The body of 53-year-old Frieda Langer was discovered three days after she vanished in 1950, remarkably in a spot that had been searched several times before.

Some blame the disappearances on the Bennington Monster, a Bigfoot-like beast that hikers, cyclists, and drivers have reported seeing for more than 100 years. Writer Joe Durwin has a book in the works, In the Shadow of Glastenbury: The Complete Guide to the Bennington Triangle, and maintains the Bennington Triangle blog at www.bennington-triangle.blogspot.com. He says he’s interviewed several people who saw the beast. These witnesses include a woman who said the monster stalked her, and a man who spent a night in a cellar hole hiding from the same predator. Other theories pin the missing-persons cases on UFO abductions, or to an apparent interdimensional trapdoor. Writer and storyteller Joe Citro coined the term “Bennington Triangle” in 1992, and points out that Native Americans once feared the mountain because all four winds met on its top. They would only use the summit as a burial site.

A more mundane explanation is troubling nonetheless: a serial killer who managed to evade detection. The fact that most of the disappearances took place in the fall supports this theory, because the perpetrator could have been someone who visited the area on a consistent schedule—a hunter, or a holiday visitor with family nearby. But what about the widely varying ages and genders of the victims? As crime readers know, most serial killers exhibit a more consistent pattern in their choices. Without evidence, we may never know.

Proof of Ancient Life? Salem, N.H.

In a 30-acre site in the woods outside Salem, N.H., a mysterious congregation of rocks and stones is a litmus test for those who visit. Is it a formation placed here by European visitors before Columbus? Is it a record of 18th century farming technology? Or is it simply a marketing gimmick to attract visitors and tourists?

The site’s most prolific speculators point to stones—which pre-date the arrival of Columbus—embedded in trees. Inscriptions of Celtic and Phoenician origin have been found in the rocks, and carbon dating puts some of the pieces at 4,000 years old. Some also believe that a group of stones near the entrance to the site align with the sun on solstices and equinoxes, just like the monoliths at Stonehenge.

Doubters, meanwhile, point out that much of the site has been disturbed by inferior excavation. This includes work done by William Goodwin, who purchased the site in 1936 and believed that Irish monks called the Culdees once lived there. Goodwin apparently was willing to move things around to make his theory fit, destroying pieces of archaelogical evidence in the process. Also, one of the “experts” who identified some of the ancient writings was a marine biologist by training, casting doubt on his authority. Other archaeologists say that farmers simply put the stones there during the course of normal work. Regardless of what you think, $9 gets you in the door, where you can buy postcards and crystals in the gift shop and pet the tame alpacas kept by the current owners of the site. Most formations are still accessible to the public.

Rural Legends, cont'd >>