You’ve heard of the Bermuda Triangle—but did you know Vermont has its very own mysterious zone?
Enter Vermont’s Bennington Triangle, a term coined by storyteller and broadcaster Joseph A. Citro. Citro is a well-known figure when it comes to the folklore, legends, and ghost stories of New England, particularly Vermont. While conducting local research, he recognized patterns tying together a number of disappearances in the area and—with a touch of local lore and legend added in—came up with the now infamous Bennington Triangle theory.
The Bennington Triangle soon became synonymous with strange occurrences, unsolved mysteries, and eerie tales, largely thanks to Citro’s dedication to documenting and publicizing these stories.
The Puzzling Bennington Disappearances
While the exact perimeters of the Bennington Triangle remain a tad ambiguous, we do know it is set around Glastenbury Mountain and encompasses the surrounding ghost towns of Glastenbury and Somerset, as well as Bennington, Woodford, and Shaftsbury.
Although the area around the Bennington Triangle has seen a number of weird events and disappearances for a long time, the “Bennington disappearances” refer to five particular cases that took place between 1945 and 1950.
In November 1945, the curious case of Middie Rivers, a 74-year-old veteran of the outdoors, captured local attention. Rivers was out on a hunting trip with his son-in-law when the pair separated for what was supposed to be a few minutes—except that Rivers was never seen again. An extensive search only recovered a solitary rifle cartridge left behind as a memento.
Paula Jean Welden. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Fast forward to December 1946, and Paula Jean Welden, an 18-year-old Bennington College sophomore, went for a hike in the early afternoon. Witnesses recount her turning a corner and then, just like that, she was gone. Despite the case getting a lot of attention, no evidence was ever found of a crime.
The Disappearances Continue
The Bennington Triangle took a break before claiming its next victim. But in December 1949, exactly three years after Welden’s puzzling absence, James E. Tedford vanished after boarding a bus. Tedford got on a bus in St. Albans and was seen right up to the last stop before Bennington. However, when the bus reached its destination, Tedford was nowhere to be found.
The tale grows eerier with the disappearance of young Paul Jepson in 1950. After being left briefly unattended by his mother, the eight-year-old vanished. During a police search, bloodhounds tracked him to the same highway where Welden disappeared four years prior—but the boy was never found.
Just when you think things couldn’t get stranger, sixteen days post-Jepson’s disappearance, Frieda Langer also vanished. While hiking near Somerset Reservoir with her cousin, she fell into a stream and left to change, promising to return in just a few minutes—but she never did. Langer was the only disappearance to ever be solved, but only partially. While her body was eventually found, the remains were too decomposed to determine the cause of death.
The Theories Begin…
So what’s the deal with this mysterious spot? The most obvious theory is that Mother Nature is to blame. The dense, impenetrable forests, coupled with unpredictable terrains, could potentially spell disaster for even the most experienced adventurer. Getting lost, encountering wild animals, or just plain bad footing might explain these vanishings.
That, of course, doesn’t explain why there was no evidence left behind by those who vanished. Footprints? A lost jacket? Nothing definitive has ever been found.
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With no signs to explain what really happened to the people who disappeared, conspiracy theorists have looked for other possible explanations.
Many believe the Bennington Monster is to blame. A local legend that’s been chilling spines for over two centuries, the Bigfoot-esque monster is described as a towering, long-haired creature. Sightings and eerie tales about the creature abound, like the unsettling 1943 discovery of the body of Carol Herrick in 1943. The hunter, who had disappeared three days earlier, was found surrounded by large, mysterious footprints. According to reports, he had been “squeezed to death.”
Questions Left Unanswered
Native American legends paint Glastenbury Mountain as sacred but cursed. So much so that the area is only used as a burial ground. In his book The Vermont Monster Guide, Citro also talks about the man-eating stone of Glastonbury Mountain, another local Native legend. According to Citro, “No one alive has seen this dangerous anomaly on Glastonbury Mountain. Native Americans knew of it, and warned people away. We can only imagine it as a sizable rock, large enough to stand on. But when someone stands upon it, the rock becomes less solid, and, like a living thing, swallows the unfortunate trespasser.”
Amid the eerie stillness of the backcountry, there have also been whispers of other potential culprits—from UFO abductions and wormholes to secret government projects All adding more layers to the enigma.
Skeptic or believer, Vermont’s Bennington Triangle is likely to send a few shivers down your spine. So if you ever venture to Vermont, maybe tread cautiously around Glastenbury Mountain… just to be safe!
By Diana Bocco, contributor for Ripleys.com