Welcome to the Bennington Horror Story!
Now, if this is to be a fair trade-off between us — you, the reader, and me, the eccentric columnist — I believe it is most imperative that you hang on to every word I write, and that I give it my all to make
you intrigued…
There are very few things in this world that are easily explained, and none of them seem to be the things we are
most curious about. Rather, it’s evident that we find ourselves most enthralled with occurrences we cannot quite define.
One such occurrence is the mysterious ‘Bennington Triangle.’ Some point their fingers at the
supernatural, the beasts and the ghosts, while others shake their head and suspect a serial killer or two.
Some have even speculated the involvement of alien life, and others just pass the blame to nature herself. Many
have kept themselves busy, pondering this mysterious place in southwestern Vermont, but the theorists, ranging from folklore aficionados to your everyday Joe, have found no answer. The stories about
the Bennington Triangle predate the colonies, known to be a focus of many Native American myths, and
have held up to date, with Bigfoot sightings and eerie disappearances.
The Bennington Triangle became a popular topic among true crime fans and paranormal activity
enthusiasts some 70 years ago, when a string of missing persons shook up the Glastenbury area. Bizzare
disappearances, unsolved murders, strange sightings, and even stranger sounds left the town abandoned.
Missing person cases, 1945-1950
The first disappearance, which is believed to have started the mysterious tale of the Bennington
triangle, happened in 1945 when Middie Rivers strangely disappeared and was never seen again. As a 74-
year-old hunter, who was well acquainted with the area, the townsfolk believed that he couldn’t have simply
gotten lost, and if he had, he’d surely find his way back soon. As days passed, however, with no indication of Rivers’ return, some 300 locals and US army soldiers started their search in the hopes of finding him. As time passed and no evidence came up, the case was discarded and regarded as unsolved.
No more than a year later, in 1946, the inexplicable vanishing of Bennington College’s own
Paula Walden spurred the area into a hysterical frenzy. More than one thousand people participated in search parties, yet no clues about her whereabouts or fate were ever discovered. The case of Paula Walden is still
regarded as one of the most famous disappearance cases Vermont has ever had.
Three years after the vanishing of Paula Walden, the Bennington Triangle saw its first (possibly)
supernatural and most peculiar case yet. In December of 1949, James E. Tedford boarded a bus
to Bennington after visiting his relatives. When it reached its final destination, Tedford was nowhere to be found, despite that his luggage remained on the seat, and that countless eyewitness accounts, including the driver, confirmed that Tedford had never left his seat, much less the bus, in the whole trip. This could indicate that, if the eyewitnesses were to be trusted, this man simply vanished into thin air while inside a moving bus. Seeing as the bus was traveling through the Bennington Triangle, many believe this to be an account of a supernatural occurrence.
Roughly a year later, in October 1950, eight-year-old Paul Jepson fulfilled the role of that year’s missing
persons enigma of the Bennington Triangle area. While his parents were feeding the pigs at the family farm, he disappeared from their truck and was never to be seen again. No search party, bloodhound,
Private Investigator, psychic — not a single person — could come up with a shred of evidence of the boy’s whereabouts. Many speculated that the parents were involved in the boy’s disappearance, some even accepting they killed him, disposing his the remains at the farm.
Just about two weeks later, Frieda Langer, an experienced hiker and survivalist, disappeared
from her campsite along the Long Trail area, which borders Glastenbury. After looking for hours to no avail, Langer’s husband and cousin alerted the officials. Soon, a meticulous search was held from Connecticut to Vermont, conducted by 400 volunteers, the Massachusetts National Gaurd, Connecticut Coast Guard, and the US army. The search was branded a failure at first, but 6 months later, Langer’s body was found near the Somerset Reservoir. Bizarrely, the place where her body was found was an open space area that had been thoroughly searched just months before. Unfortunately, even with a body, the officials couldn’t find a single piece of evidence to indicate as to what could’ve led to her demise.
Theories
The mysteries and bizarre events, which plague the Bennington Triangle area, have produced some
of the most interesting theories in the spooky community. As with most disappearances, many were quick
to blame a serial killer for the eerie vanishings of these people. However, due to the lack of consistency in
age or gender patterns, the state officials ruled out this theory long ago. Nonetheless, this theory is still regarded as plausible in many true crime chatrooms or forums.
Others believe that this is the work of a mountain cat, such as a lynx, catamount, or bobcat. But
seeing as catamounts have been considered long extinct and lynxes and bobcats rarely travel all the way
down to the highway, let alone snatch people from buses… this theory doesn’t seem all that plausible
either.
This all led to the ‘paranormals’ thinking that only their theories are to be trusted. Citing strange
voices and odd sightings of mysterious figures, as their main sources of evidence, the paranormals believe
that this is all to be credited to ‘not so human’ beings. Ranging from ghosts and spirits to witch covens
and devil worshipers, the fans of the supernatural cannot seem to settle on one theory either.
Thus, it is no surprise really that the Bennington Triangle cases have never been resolved.
Catamounts are definitely not extinct.