Bennington Triangle Introduction
In 1943 Hunter Carol Herrick went on a hunting trip about 10 miles around the town of Glastonbury, Vermont. Three days later his body was discovered and around his corpse authorities discovered massive footprints. Later, an autopsy confirmed that he had been squeezed to death. While the bizarre death shocked many, others weren’t surprised. Herrick had traveled into an area that had experienced strange, mysterious activity for centuries, an area that has become to be known as the Bennington Triangle.
Located somewhat close to the Bridgewater Triangle in Massachusetts, The Bennington Triangle is a region of southwestern Vermont in which several people went missing under strange circumstances between the years of 1920 and 1950. Given the name in 1992 by Author Joseph A Citro, the area is renowned for having a variety of unexplained phenomena such as UFO sightings, paranormal activity and bigfoot sightings.
While the area is not generally well defined, much of the activity seems to center around the ghost town of Glastenbury, once a small logging community.
Around the mid 1940’s, a series of high-profile disappearances raised questions as to what was happening in this area.
The Case of Middie Rivers
On November 12, 1945, 74-year-old Middie Rivers went on a hunting trip with four people in the area. As the men began hunting, Middie and his son in law Joe Lauzon, were leading the men back toward camp. After some time, they reached a fork in the path and Middie decided to head a different direction. Middie told Joe he’d only be gone for a short time and would meet up with everyone back at the camp. In a few hours’ time, Middie didn’t return.
There wasn’t much concern at first as Middie was an experienced hunter and knew the area well. However, soon the men set out to search for him, but with no luck. It wouldn’t be long before the police and Army were contacted, and hundreds began searching for him. However, after an exhaustive search for eight days, the only thing found was a single rifle cartridge in a creek. Many speculate that he leaned over, and the round fell into the water.
It’s important to point out that many weren’t that concerned even weeks after the event. This is because Middie was such a skilled hunter and survivalist, he would just turn up. However, no body was ever found or evidence of an animal attack.
The Disappearance of Paula Welden
Perhaps the most famous disappearance was that of Paula Welden, an 18-year-old college student.
On Sunday, December 1, 1946, around 1 year later, Paula Welden went hiking on the Long Trail. She wore a bright red jacket and the day she went for the hike several people saw her leave. One older couple even hiked behind her for quite some time on the trail. She would eventually pull ahead on the trail and that’s the last she was ever seen.
Paula didn’t show up for classes and soon a massive search was conducted. There was more than 1,000 people, including the FBI, who looked for her and a reward of 5,000 would be given to anyone who could locate her.
However, no evidence was ever found. It was as if she vanished from the face of the earth.
The Case of James Tedford in the Bennington Triangle
Three years after Paula’s disappearance, James Tedford vanished. This could be the most bizarre of all who have gone missing in this area.
Tedford lived in the area and resided at Bennington Soldiers’ Home. on December 1, 1949, Tedford was returning home on a bus after visiting family. According to multiple witnesses, some who even knew him, Tedford was on the bus still past the last stop before Bennington. However, when the bus arrived in Bennington, Tedford was nowhere to be found. His bags were still on the bus. This has led some to theorize he simply dematerialized somehow or was taken by something paranormal as the bus made no other stops along the way. Others believe the witnesses’ statements were inaccurate, and they mixed up where he was. No trace of Tedford has ever been found.
Paul Jepsen an eight-year-old boy went missing on Oct 12, 1959. Paul was playing in his dad’s pickup truck, and his mother left for a few minutes. When she came back, he wasn’t there. A search was conducted, including bringing in dogs, but unfortunately no evidence of the boy. Many speculate the boy was taken.
The Case of Frieda Langer
Frieda Langer is one case that occurred in the area where the body was found, but still questions remain. Frieda was camping with family and friends on October 28, 1950.
Langer and her cousin Herbert Elsner decided to leave the campsite and go on a hike. After a short time, Frieda slipped and fell in some water. Rather than quit the hike. Frieda told Herbert to stay put as she would run back to the camp and change quickly. Herbert waited for a while but, Frieda never came back. As the camp was just a short distance away, Herbert went back to camp and to his surprise Frieda had never come back.
Over the next few weeks, multiple searches were conducted in the area with hundreds looking. Nothing was found.
Then in May 1951, Frieda’s body was found around 3 miles away. The area she was found was reported to have been already extensively searched. No cause of death could be determined as her body had decomposed so bad.
While the aforementioned disappearances and deaths are the most famous cases from the Bennington Triangle, there’s been strange activity reported in the region for centuries.
The History of the Bennington Triangle
According to Native Americans, the area is cursed, and they avoided it.
In the 1800’s one famous story concerns a stagecoach going through the area.
A stagecoach was going down a dirt road when it saw huge footprints in the mud. The stagecoach was forced to stop. Then suddenly, a giant creature bumrushed the stagecoach and knocked it over. The passengers could see the monster’s eyes as it glared at them and then roared. After assessing its dominance, the beast ran into the woods.
Sightings of the creature would continue and typically it is described as large bi-pedal creature with dark hair.
In addition, sightings of a Bigfoot-like creature, other strange sightings have been reported as well. Many have alleged to see either orbs or UFOs and some report paranormal activity.
There’s no question that the area has a spooky history, and some have compared it to other places around the world that experience multiple types of unexplained phenomena. Examples of this include Skinwalker ranch, The Hoia Baciu Forrest (Read about this here) and the nearby Bridgewater triangle.
Over the years there’s been several theories put forth to explain what happened with the individuals who vanished.
One of the more popular theories is that during that time, a serial killer was stalking and killing people in the woods. Many believe this answers most of the questions such as how people, often experienced hunters vanished without a trace. Could a killer, who knew the land, been stalking and killing people who were alone?
Read about the Smiley Face Killers here
While it’s certainly a popular theory it doesn’t explain some of the cases well, such as what happened to James Tedford on that bus.
Some believe that these people simply got lost in the woods and disappeared due to the remoteness of the area. There’s no doubt the area is extremely remote. Still, some of the scenarios involve people who must have been lured away or attacked somehow. Middie Rivers would have known to shoot his gun if he was lost or injured himself. Frieda Langer only had a short walk back to her camp. Neither of those cases tend to make much sense.
People vanishing without a trace is certainly not a phenomenon that has stopped. The Missing 411 Series done by David Paulides does an excellent job exploring strange disappearances in the woods.
Many of the cases Paulides reviews shares common characteristics with some of the cases discussed today such as experienced hunters vanishing without a trace and hikers disappearing under very strange circumstances.
This all raises the question, what happened to those in the Bennington Triangle?
Many believe that either extraterrestrial or some other type of unexplainable phenomena is happening to people who vanish in the woods. Perhaps the most popular theory in this realm is alien abductions. On the surface, it seems to make sense as people could be taken quietly and with no one seeing. Some don’t believe this though and point out many alien abductions happen in towns and even highly populated cities.
While we may never know what happened to those people, strange sightings continue in the Bennington Triangle today and there’s no reason to believe the activity will stop anytime soon.
