Bennington Triangle

The Bennington Triangle is the colloquial term for an area of southwestern Vermont surrounding Glastenbury Mountain which is said by some to be a "window" area for paranormal phenomena.

The Bennington Triangle

The term "Bennington Triangle" was coined by New England author Joseph A. Citro during a public radio broadcast in 1992 to denote an area of southwestern Vermont within which a number of persons went missing between 1920 and 1950 [ [http://paranormal.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.strangenation.com.au/articles/vanish.htm About.com: http://www.strangenation.com.au/articles/vanish.htm ] ] . This was further popularized in two books, in which he devoted chapters to discussion of these disappearances and various items of folklore surrounding the area. The area shares characteristics with the Bridgewater Triangle in neighboring Massachusetts.

Precisely what area is encompassed in this hypothetical "mystery triangle" is not clear, but it centers around Glastenbury Mountain and would include some or most of the area of the towns immediately surrounding it, especially Bennington, Woodford, Shaftsbury, and Somerset. Glastenbury and its neighboring township Somerset were both once moderately thriving logging and industrial towns, but began declining toward the late 19th century and are now essentially ghost towns, unincorporated by an act of the state legislature in 1937.

According to Citro's books, stories of strange happenings had been told about Glastenbury and the surrounding area for many years prior to the disappearances in the 1940s, and other sources do seem to corroborate that such folklore does appear to date back as far as the late 19th century and perhaps even earlier. This includes the local folk belief that Native Americans regarded Glastenbury as "cursed" and avoided it, as well as tales of hairy "wild men" and other strange beasts in the woods.

Disappearances

It is known for certain that at least five persons from this area went missing, some of them on Glastenbury Mountain itself, between 1945 and 1950. These include 74 year-old Middie Rivers, 68 year-old James Tedford, 8 year-old Paul Jepson, 18 year-old Paula Jean Welden, and 53 year-old Frieda Langer. Of these, remains of only one was found, that of Frieda Langer. Most sources on the subject view the circumstances as mysterious, as her body turned up in some tall grasses in an area that had been searched extensively a number of times in the seven months between her disappearance and the discovery of the corpse in an area that had been searched many times, making it unlikely that the search teams had simply missed her. There were several strange circumstances surrounding these disappearances. Middie Rivers lived in the region all his life, and was with other people. He got slightly ahead, and no one ever saw him again. Paula Welden simply went on what was supposed to be a short hike. Jim Tedford was on a bus with other people. No one saw him get off, he was simply gone. Jim's disappearance was also on the third anniversary of Paula Welden's disappearance. Freida Langer was an experienced woodswoman and gun handler. She was also with a friend, and simply walked just out of sight to change her clothes after falling into a stream. Frances Christman vanished on a half-mile hike to a friend's house. Which was some many miles north of Glastenbury not affiliated with the Bennington Triangle. Some sources also included rumored instances of the disappearance of "three hunters" in 1948 and of "Melvin Hills" in 1942, but these cases have since been debunked and no longer can be associated with The Bennington Triangle. Melvin Hill's real name is actually Melvin Hill and according to a Bennington Banner article the 13 year old boy was found riding his bike in Massachusetts a couple weeks later. The trio of hunters that is referred to came out of Glastenbury fine the next day and were only stranded overnight on the mountain. Because of the wide ranges of age and gender of the missing persons, it is thought that the possibility of them being victims of a serial killer is unlikely. This, combined with a lack of any evidence to offer support for any more prosaic explanation, has led many to speculate on possible paranormal causes, including abduction by UFO occupants, "interdimensional trapdoors", or attack by the "Bennington Monster." Stone Cairns also exist on Glastenbury mountain.

This area has been discussed in paranormal-themed literature and popular works since at least 1957, and in the last few years, under the "Bennington Triangle" label has been an item of increasing interest, spawning numerous web articles and even an entire discussion group devoted to it on Yahoo, as well as being featured in a segment on the Travel Channel.

A Documentary about Glastenbury and The Bennington Triangle is currently in the post-production phase more information will be available at a later date.

References

* Adams, Mary Gavel "The Bennington Monster." Green Mountain Whittlin's, 1950
* Stock, R.D.; Zeller, J. "The Strange Disappearances at Mt. Glastenbury." FATE, July 1957
* Brandon, Jim. Weird America. Penguin Publishing |Year=1978
* Jacobs, Sally. "Ghost Towns." Burlington Free Press|Year=Oct 25, 1981
* Citro, Joseph A. Green Mountain Ghosts, Ghouls, and Unsolved Mysteries. University of New England/ Vermont Life, 1994
* Citro, Joseph A. Passing Strange: True Tales of New England Hauntings and Horrors.
* Globe-Pequot, 1997(Link dead as of May 6, 2008)

External links

* [http://bennington-triangle.blogspot.com A blog devoted to this topic] (Link dead as of May 6, 2008.)
* [http://www.geocities.com/hfcac/welden.html Paula Welden information]
* [http://www.ufoarea.com/aas_bennington.html UFO Area: The Bennington Triangle] (Paid subscription site.)