The Bennington Triangle
This area of Vermont has long been a hotspot for the weird and bizarre although there has been little published about it in the past years. UFO’s have frequently been spotted flying about the mountain although much of the hoopla for such sightings goes to Nevada and Florida. There have been sightings of a creature or creatures which resemble Bigfoot, and there again most of the stories we hear about come from the Pacific Northwest. There have been Anomalous sounds and lights, sightings of shadow people and various other paranormal events, with reports of the weird and odd going back well into the 19th century. Native Americans of the area considered it to be a cursed part of the region and shunned the area. And stories also have been recorded of people entering the area who never come back - or who suddenly go stark raving mad! But what of the vanishings?
Since colonial days, people have mysteriously vanished without a trace, leaving behind all they owned in an orderly fashion as if they would one day return for them. These disappearances which were common for the area, really didn’t make news outside of the region until a series of bizarre vanishings began over a five year span of time, starting in 1945 and continuing in regularity until 1950. It is these that I believe gave the area it’s reputation as a sinister place that is not to be taken lightly.
The first of these vanishings to have taken place was that of a man named Rivers which took place in November of 1945. A 75 year old local hunter and guide, his disappearance took place while guiding a group of four out of state hunters up the mountain. It was reported by the hunters that he was guiding, that they were headed back down the mountain and Rivers had gotten ahead of the rest of the group and just vanished. When the four made it back down the mountain on their own, they reported River’s disappearance to authorities who mounted an extensive search. The only clue that was found was a single rifle cartridge which had been found in a stream. It’s been speculated that River’s was crossing the stream when the bullet fell out of his pocket and fell into the water. His disappearance occurred in the Long Trail area and Vermont Route 9 area. No body was ever found and his whereabouts remain a mystery to this very day. What makes it even more puzzling is that River’s was an experienced hunter and fisherman who grew up in the area and knew every inch of the mountain, the trails and the vast wilderness which surrounded it!
The second disappearance to occur took place a year later on December 1, 1946. Her name was Paula Welden and she was a sophomore at Bennington College. She’d gone out that day for a hike along Long Trail and many had seen her leave, including a Bennington Banner employee named Ernest Whitman, who had given her directions. She also was allegedly seen on the trail hiking alone, by an elderly couple who was about a hundred yards behind her. They could see her quite plainly until she reached a curve in the trail and when they reached that same curve, she had vanished! When Welden failed to her college dorm, a search of the area where she had last been seen was undertaken and a posting of a $5,000.00 reward was made. Even the FBI helped in the search. Despite all of this, no trace of Paula Welden was ever found.
The third disappearance took place three years to the day of Paula Welden’s disappearance. On December 1st, 1949, James Tedford, a resident of Bennington Soldier’s Home, had been visiting relatives in St. Albans and was returning home on the local bus when he simply vanished. According to witnesses, Tedford was seen getting on the bus and was still on the bus at the last stop before arriving in Bennington. However, somewhere between the last stop and Bennington, Tedford vanished. His belongings were still in the luggage rack and an open bus time table was laying on his vacant seat. Among his belongings left behind they found his wallet which was still holding cash. Interviews done with those on the bus by police failed to turn up any information. He simply vanished.
The fourth to simply vanish without a trace was that of eight-year-old Paul Jepson, on October 12, 1950. Jepson had accompanied his mother in a truck out on their farm to feed their pigs. Like she had done a hundred times before, Mrs. Jepson left her son playing in the cab of the truck while she went about the chore of slopping the pigs. It took about an hour and although from where she was she could clearly see the truck, she was unable to see young Paul. Upon finishing her chore with the pigs, she made her way back to the truck only to discover that her son Paul was nowhere to be found. She searched the surrounding area for an hour, calling out to him in the hopes that he had merely wandered off but failed to locate him. Authorities quickly converged on the area with bloodhounds in an attempt to try and track the missing boy down, believing that he would be found quickly due to his bright red jacket, but no sign of the boy was ever found. At one point, the bloodhounds had picked up the boy’s scent and followed it to a nearby highway but the trail simply stopped. Hundreds volunteered to search for him but Paul was never found.
Not 16 days later, on October 28, 1950, Freida Langer who was 53, and her cousin Herbert Elsner were out camping with a group of friends near Somerset Reservoir and decided to go on a hike. At one point during the hike, Langer reportedly slipped and fell into a stream. The woman told her cousin that she was not injured, merely soaking wet and that if he would wait for her there at the stream, she would return to the campsite, change into dry clothing and return to meet him when she had changed. Since they were close to the campsite and it was daylight and there seemed to be no imminent danger present, Elsner agreed. When an hour had passed and there was no sign of Langer, he became concerned so making his way back to the campsite to see what was holding her up, he arrived only to find no sign of Langer. In addition, none of the other campers had seen Freida Langer return. After a quick search of the area turned up nothing, Elsner contacted authorities who proceeded to launch a total of five extensive searches over the next two weeks using dogs and helicopters. And yet, no trace of her could be found.
It was a very odd thing indeed. It had been the middle of the day, Langer had not been injured and she was very familiar with the area. But the story of Frieda Langer doesn’t end there. A few months following her disappearance, on May 12, 1951, Langer’s decomposed body was found in full view of an open clearing near the Somerset Reservoir, which had been extensively searched when she’d vanished and no trace of her had been discovered then. Decomposition was so bad that that no cause of death could be determined. The question remains --- Where did the body come from? Langer would become the only one of the missing to be found and that in itself, only hightened the mystery of the Bennington Triangle. She would also be the last one to vanish.
All five of these disappearances remain unsolved to date, which has invited a good deal of speculation as to what could’ve been behind them. Some will claim that they perhaps became lost in the woods but that would not explain the disappearance of Tedford from his bus in full view of the other passengers. Many theories exist - none have been proven. Whether or not it can be explained or not, this area of Vermont known as the Bennington Triangle is home to something unknown... If I were you, I’d not step foot in the area for fear of vanishing into nothingness... It could all start over you know... And I’m not taking any chances!
Have a good day everyone!
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