Episode 74: The Bridgewater Triangle Part 1 | Morbid

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Hey weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this is Morbid, a full size.

Sure is. She's thick. What does she think?

We're so funny. Uh, guys, just shut up.

We're funny. We're hilarious. So welcome back to another week of us.

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What you likely do. I think I spend more time at your house than I do at mine.

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You're cool. So much. I love you. I love this podcast.

People are going to be like, wow, that's annoying.

Bye. So we don't really have a whole lot of business to attend to this week.

And I think this might be a long episode. episode again so you guys love long episodes so we're here for you you really do we want to give the people what they want And one of the things we just wanted to quickly mention and just throw out there is how great the Facebook group is going.

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Bye. Murder apparel. We love you. Aye. So... tonight's episode is about the bridgewater triangle which we are in the center of yeah we are like right in there can we say that we are in there right now yeah because we're we're in there there's a lot of towns in there so Do you remember the time that that ghost hugged me in the Bridgewater Triangle?

I do remember that. What? What? A ghost hug?

Yeah, a ghost hug dash in the Bermuda Triangle.

I mean, maybe. I've been there before, too.

In the Bridgewater. I'm really popular among ghosts.

I like to hang out in triangles a lot. I'm not super popular among the living, but... The dead, eh.

So this is going to be a series of sorts.

I'm not going to split it into parts because it's not like it's... one continuous story it's like but there's so many stories to tell so many fun things about this that I feel like cramming it all like you know just skipping things or like just rolling over things too quick would not do this justice.

And since this is like our home that we feel very connected to, I feel like I want to give it its due diligence.

So this is going to be kind of a series.

Hopefully you guys dig it. Tonight we're going to be talking about the history of the Bridgewater Triangle.

How it became to be this crazy, haunted, satanic... sinister place.

How we think it did, at least, because what our theory is.

Who the fuck knows, really. It's pretty unexplainable.

We're going to give some history, some background, and we're going to talk mostly about...

Some cryptids that are seen in the Bridgewater Triangle.

We have a guest feature. We do. We have a firsthand account from my good friend and beloved fellow human, Lil.

She's cool. She's amazing. I met her once at Target.

That's how you know somebody's cool if you meet them at Target.

It's true. She's great. And I think we're also just going to it's going to be more of the paranormal side today and we'll continue that a little bit next time and then we'll move on to some of the. you know, real murders that have taken place here and some real like sinister shit.

Remind me to tell you my firsthand account of outsider, my driveway.

Yeah. Of the Bridgewater Triangle at the end of this.

Yeah. I just realized I could tell that story.

I'm so excited. Exactly. I know exactly which one you're talking about.

Holy shit. I just got goosebumps. So now we have two first stand accounts.

So strap in, hold on to those. But hold on to your butts.

So the Bridgewater Triangle. It's a 200 square triangle.

200 square. It's just a square triangle.

Yeah, it's a square triangle. 200 square mile triangle in southeastern Massachusetts and it boasts a very impressive and one might say quite overindulgent amount of paranormal, strange, spooky, gruesome, sinister, and even murderous activity.

Awesome. It's a great place. 10 out of 10 recommend.

It's a very metal triangle. it is screaming the morbid theme song it's or the mini morbid theme song it's very metal It's like the Bermuda Triangle except different in almost every conceivable way. apart from geometry aside from the fact that they're both triangles yeah like a lot of people are like oh the Bermuda Triangle and it's like yeah it's like the same thing it Except not at all.

Like we don't have planes going missing or like anything like that.

So you're telling me Amelia Earhart is not in my backyard?

Probably not. All right. I don't think so at least, but you know.

I don't know everything. Maybe a giant African cat, though.

It's 200 square miles, so I don't know at all.

But there's definitely a giant cat, though.

That's for sure. We'll get to that later.

Don't worry. It's revolving mostly around an epicenter, which is the 17,000 acre Hockamock Swamp.

The swamp is 17,000 acres? 17,000 acres.

That's also what they call our sports division.

Our sports division was the Hockamock League.

Yeah. So we really, like, feed into this ship.

It also... The center is the Hakamak Swamp, but it's also...

The Freetown Fall River State Forest is also.

That's where I drove past that lady with the bloody face. exactly which if you haven't listened to that episode i don't remember which one it was i think it was just in the beginning of a random episode it was i'll tell that story at the end yeah So the triangle's points are at Abington, at the tip of the triangle.

Freetown at the bottom right or the southeastern part and Rehoboth to the southwest.

Those are the tips. No one obviously has a definitive answer for why there's so much activity in this area.

But obviously some shit must have gone down here to cause some real bad juju to permeate the landscape in such a gnarly way.

It's got a lot of bad energy. Well, it's widely agreed upon that the craziness is due to the way Massachusetts settlers treated the Native American population that was here before them.

Which I'm sure you can briefly imagine it was not great.

No, and I say Massachusetts settlers, I mean English settlers, obviously.

Mm-hmm. In 1675, Massachusetts was separated into Massachusetts Bay Colony and Plymouth Colony.

It was in the summer of this year that the local Native American population consisting mostly of Wampanoag and Poconoket tribe members.

Had enough of the English shuttler shit.

And they fought back. Shuttler shit. Shuttler shit.

I've had enough of these shuttler shits.

And I'm going to fight back. Because I mean like, what the fuck, right?

Yeah. If you're a Native American, you're like, come on.

I lived here first. What the actual fuck.

They were led by Chief Medicom, also known as Chief Medicomet, Chief Pometicom, and King Philip.

He's known in history books as all of these, so no one fucking try to correct me.

And he's not a different guy. It's just one dude.

It's just one dude. Known by multiple names.

Yeah. I'm going to refer to him mostly as like Metacomet and King Philip.

Okay. But. Metacomet was the second son of Massasoit. who was the tribal leader that formed an alliance with the Mayflower pilgrims in 1621 and helped them basically get their shit together in the new world remember thanksgiving yeah and he just and he like helped them like he was like he like formed an alliance he was like all right If you're all going to be here, we might as well be chill with each other.

So he was like this good dude. Fun fact, one of the community colleges here is called Massasoit.

Hey, not the one I went to. Nope. And Massasoit died sometime around.

1660 or 1661. And he was, he was like 81 years old.

Wow. So that was like super up there. So like, good for him.

His oldest son, Wamsuda, and I might be saying that wrong and I apologize.

If you know how to say it, let us know. Exactly.

Cause this one, I'm just not, I'm pretty good at most of these pronunciations, but when Suda, I believe it is, he succeeded him.

And fun little like aside in Freetown, there's a rock called Profile Rock. which we'll mention again later because we're going to talk about some weird fucking rocks in Massachusetts.

And it's a natural granite formation that people think was from a glacial formation.

And if you look at it in profile, it very much resembles a human face in profile.

And people think it looks like an elder Native American, and people think it's an image of Chief Massasoit.

And they said, you know, that's why it's now it's sacred ground still considered.

So when Massasoit died. Wham Suda, who is becoming chief now, succeeding him, decided in recognition of this to change his name, which they did often when like English settlers came.

And they asked Plymouth leaders for an English name.

Okay. They named him Alexander Poconocket.

So Alexander also asked the English to give his brother, Medicom, a name too.

And they called him Philip. That's how he later became King Philip.

Got it. Which is also a town in Massachusetts.

It is. Or not a town, excuse me. Which is also a high school. wait for I for I agreed with you but I knew you were wrong I was like it is in my brain it was like no it's not And as I was saying it, I was like, nope, that's wrong information.

But I, like, finished the sentence. But do you love that I was like, it is.

And King Philip High School in Massachusetts is like three different towns put together.

And it's unfair because they're really fucking good at sports because they have three fucking options.

They really are. Ask me if I'm not about it.

In 1662, the Plymouth colonists began out of nowhere.

To kind of like suspect that the natives might be planning to attack the colony.

Okay. They were like, meh. I don't know.

We did come in here and just like rip all your land away.

Could you be angry at us maybe? Perhaps.

And so they arrested Alexander. Oh, no.

Philip's older brother. And he was like, dude, I was just trying to live peacefully amongst y'all.

Yeah. So he was brought to Plymouth and he had to stand trial and he had to prove his loyalty to the crown.

Okay. Which must be like a real pain in the ass.

So after proving loyalty, the English released him, but while he was there, he had contracted a disease while in Plymouth.

On the way home, he died. Oh, no. What a bummer.

And then King Philip was fucking pissed.

Well, rumors began to spread among the Wampanoags that he had been poisoned by the colony.

Which is believable. So he died, and Philip, his younger brother, Metacomet, took over as chief.

Yeah. So this is when the colonists decided to continue to press the whole, are you going to attack us business?

And made him come to a meeting in Plymouth too.

And he was like, yeah, I don't want to go there because my brother died there.

Well, and basically he went. He was like, alright, I'm trying to keep peace here.

So basically he told them, I love the crown, it's awesome, I won't attack your dumbasses unless warranted, and I plan to honor my family's loyalty.

Yeah. That's in the history books. That's exactly what he said.

It's a brief summary. So for a while... There was a lot of land being sold back and forth and settled between the Native Americans and the settlers.

But there were tons of disputes here because they would promise not to encroach on native land.

And then they would like go ahead and encroach on native land.

So there was a whole lot of like, Hey, we, you said you wouldn't do that.

Maybe don't. And then they'd sell it off.

It was just a bunch of shit. So in 1671, apparently looked like a war might be happening at some point.

Right. Because tensions were high. In March of 1671, Philip apparently made a gesture that to the colonists signaled that he was getting ready to wage war on them.

So he got a band of armed warriors and he marched into the town of Swansea in Plymouth County, but he didn't attack anyone.

He just marched in there. Okay. Not sure what he did.

So the colonists were like, um, so they made him come to Taunton, Massachusetts to explain why he did this.

Okay. They were like, why did you just march in here?

And he was like, I was actually having a parade.

Thank you. He was like, it's fine. On April 10th, 1671, Philip went to Taunton.

He was questioned by the colonists. And after being pressed on the matter, Philip was like, Yeah, I kind of am plotting war against you.

And they were like, why? And he was like, I don't want to get into it.

Like, he just didn't explain. He was like, you know, I just am who I am.

And I'm doing what I'm doing. Like, good for him, man.

He's just like, you know what, guys? I think you can, maybe you can put the puzzle together yourself.

I don't know. Stop selling my damn land.

Yeah, stop being shitty. So the colonists then demanded Philip sign a peace treaty.

And this peace treaty was going to require the Wampanoags to surrender all their arms. no which he did but he never gave up his remaining weapons that weren't with them uh he was like sure you can he's like loophole bitches loophole So this is when things get really tense because they were still demanding all those guns and arms, but he was refusing.

And then they demanded his allies' guns, and some of them surrendered.

Okay. So Philip was accused in a war council of being insolent. and basically aiding and abetting, quote, strange Indians that posed a threat against the English.

So he was probably pissed off at all this.

He's like, can we stop now? Nathaniel Morton, who was the secretary of Plymouth Colony Court, sent a letter to Massachusetts Bay Colony government saying he wanted to summon Philip to Plymouth on September 13th. and said they were thinking if he didn't show, then they would use military force on the 20th to quote, reduce him to reason.

Oh. So the Massachusetts government said, yeah, totally.

But that might make Philip break all ties with the colony.

Right. They were like just... Good luck with that.

He's probably not going to be psyched that you do that.

He ended up meeting with them at the time they asked.

They didn't have to reduce him with force.

But he was like, guys, seriously, just leave me the fuck alone.

Right. He literally was like, can you just leave us alone?

Like, that's all we're asking. Just leave us alone.

I don't want to be friends with you anymore.

So it was declared that there was insufficient cause for Plymouth to propose war against Philip during this council because they really wanted to.

Yeah. And they were like, no, you can't do that.

So Plymouth then consented to give Philip another week to turn over his weapons. and asked that commissioners from Massachusetts and Connecticut be present at the next meeting.

Okay. On September 24th, 1671, Philip and the mediators from Massachusetts and Connecticut went to Plymouth like planned.

Philip was totally set up, though, because when he got there, those mediators from Massachusetts and Connecticut who were supposed to be on his like.

Kind of on his side to just read this whole thing.

They sided with Plymouth and were like, quote, amend your ways or we're going to war with you.

Meanwhile, the whole time they were like, we don't want to go to war.

Yeah. So he's like, guys, what the actual fuck?

Right. Mixed messages. So there's lots more land disputes.

And then an elder Native American named John Sassamon that worked with the settlers as an interpreter for the Native Americans, he was murdered.

Oh no. And it was thought that three Wampanoag tribesmen did it.

And they were tried and hanged for it, but people thought Philip had ordered that murder because he was paranoid about Sassaman giving settlers their secrets or something.

He denied any of this. Okay. So the battle was kind of kicked off with this, the great battle that we're going to talk about.

And most people think that this is the beginning of King Philip's War.

So King Philip's War began in Swansea, Massachusetts in June.

Poconoket warriors raided, looted, and burned several homes, and one of the Poconoket warriors was shot and killed by a colonist.

Philip was pissed, so he ordered an attack on Swansea on June 24th, 1675. which became the first official battle of King Philip's War.

So in response to all this, the colonial troops marched to Mount Hope, which was King Philip's base of operation, kind of.

They wanted to find him and they wanted to find his men, but they found that Philip had already fled for Pocasset.

So he was already out of there. He was like, bye.

Wampanoags attacked Middleborough, Massachusetts, and then Dartmouth, Massachusetts in July. of 1675 and the attacks continued while troops tried to find Philip in Pocasset Swamp later that month.

So Philip and his troops managed to escape once they were found in the swamp, and they went down the swamp on rafts and fled Pocasset, Massachusetts.

So the battles went on for the rest of the year, and in the meantime, Christian Native Americans throughout the colony were rounded up and imprisoned.

To prevent them from joining Phillip's team.

Mm-hmm. It's craziness. So in January of 1676, Philip and his warriors went to Mohawk territory in New York.

And they were trying to seek an alliance with that tribe.

Right. But unfortunately for him... Governor Edmund Andro had already offered the Mohawk tribe an alliance in exchange for assistance against Philip.

Oh, shit. So they were already... They had already agreed because the Mohawks were like, yep.

And they attacked Philip when he got there.

Oh, no. So he was driven back to New England.

Oh, fuck. Because he was like well I don't have an alliance here.

This is wild. It is. It's crazy. I learned about this but I forgot a lot of it.

Yeah, it's like a really interesting little piece of Massachusetts history.

It really is. By the spring, the war went to Rhode Island and Connecticut.

It spread that far. So in July of 1676, Philip and his, you know, his troops went back to the Pocasset region of Rhode Island. where it had begun basically the year before.

And they hid in local woods and swamps. And Native Americans were very familiar at that time with all the nooks and crannies and all that of the swamps and everything in the woods.

So that was smart. They knew they weren't going to have colonists trekking out in there.

Right. So English troops led by Captain Benjamin Church... began going all through Plymouth, Massachusetts, trying to find Philip and his soldiers.

They wanted Philip. Oh, no. On July 20th, Benjamin Church found Phillips Camp near Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and he led an attack on the camp.

So Philip managed to escape, but his wife and son were captured and sold into slavery in the West Indies.

Yeah. And according to a firsthand account by Benjamin Church, Because it's in a book, History of King Philip's War.

So this is his firsthand account. Yeah. The Native Americans told Church that Philip was absolutely heartbroken by the capture of his family.

Oh, no. Like it destroyed him. So by the late summer of 1676, the war was starting to chill out.

Mm-hmm. But Philip was still not found.

He was still on the run. Because he was like, I'm going to avenge this.

I will avenge. On August 12th of that year, church got a tip that Philip was in the Wampanoag village called Montauk near Mount Hope.

So he went with a bunch of his dudes, and he found Philip's small camp of warriors near... a place that later became known as King Philip's Seat and is still known that way today.

And, I mean, he was found... He was deep in the Hockamock Swamp because, again, white dudes were scared of the swamp.

Yeah. So... Philip was shot where he was sitting by a Native American named John Alderman, who was one of Church's soldiers.

He was kind of like a defender. vector oh shit so he was like um because they were all like uh christian soldiers ones that like took on that religion were like kind of defectors and went to the other side.

So he was one. So he was killed. He was shot and killed.

And Philip was then hanged, drawn, and quartered.

Whoa. Because that's the punishment for...

A subject of the crown who has been accused of treason.

Go listen to our torture episode. It's a good one.

We talk about drawing and quartering. It was horrific.

Church gave Phillips head in hand to John Alderman as a reward.

I don't want it. And that's according to Church himself.

He was like, oh yeah, I did that. I don't want it.

So Alderman sold Philip's head to Plymouth authorities for 30 shillings, and it was placed on a stake in Plymouth County. where it remained for 25 years.

This is very Game of Thrones. Casual. And fragrant, I'm sure.

Ew. We're like pungent. Like very pungent.

Philip's hand was sent to Boston for display.

Of course. Because why not? And the four quarters of his body were strung up in four trees where they hung until they just wasted away.

Yummy. Like, everything must have just smelled like shit back then.

Oh, 100%. They used to just throw their shit out the window.

Yeah, like it's just garbage. Just the whole place.

Like, get it together, guys. Although it may seem he got a very bum rap, which he did.

King Philip. He's now seen in a heroic light.

He came out of it looking like a hero here.

And he's kind of known as one of the greatest Native American leaders in our history.

Meanwhile, all the non-Christian Native Americans left after all this war and everything.

They were like, fuck this place. Yeah, well, they were rounded up and sold into slavery.

So there's a lot of shit going down here that is not creating a lot of good juju.

Now it should be noted that this war was unprecedented in brutality.

Yeah. innocent men, women, and children were slaughtered throughout.

And it was gory as fuck. I mean, it was a gruesome shit show all around.

King Philip's War remains the bloodiest conflict in American history per capita.

That is insane. 5% of Massachusetts' combined population was killed in this battle.

Holy shit. It's estimated that 500 English settlers died and 3,000 Native Americans died.

During this battle. So that's why this land is probably cursed.

Probably or definitely. You decide. Well, that's the consensus.

That's what everybody kind of looks at as like, that's probably where the bad juju began.

But there's also some people who have another little side note about this.

Hit me up. They think that maybe this evil shit in this land predates...

That whole thing. And that was actually a product of the already sullied land.

Tell me what happened. But that's the thing.

Nobody knows what happened before that, but they're just saying maybe this land is just inherently evil.

And it's that was just a part of it. Like King Philip's War being this bloody, awful, like the, you know, taking away.

5% of Massachusetts combined population was just due to this land being so evil.

Oh. I'm stressed. Personally, I think King Philip's War was where it all began.

Because it all kind of stems back to that.

Yeah. Because it was fine before when the Native Americans had it.

They seemed like they were having a fine time.

Yeah. Now, we're going to go back to the Honkamok Swamp.

It sounded like you said honk a monk. We're going to go back to the honk a monk swamp.

Honk a monk swamp. The honk a monk swamp.

The honk a monk swamp. Which is, again, the epicenter.

Epicenter. It has the most tales and stories and sightings, for sure.

Like we said, it's 17,000 acres, so it covers a lot of ground.

I didn't know it was that big. That's fucking wild.

Yeah, it's insane. 17,000 acres. Well, when you think it, so the towns that it runs through are Bridgewater, Easton, Raynham, Taunton, West Bridgewater, and some parts of Norton.

I mean, it's beautiful. It's creepy. It's spooky.

It's mystical. It's ancient as fuck. Like, when you look at it, you're just like... whoa, that's ancient.

That's exactly what you say immediately.

You walk in there and you're just like, whoa, that's ancient.

Like, you have to. I loved that. That should be his shirt.

Whoa! Whoa! That's ancient. It really is, though.

It's got a lot of, you know, amazing wildlife.

It's important to the ecosystem. It's crazy important to... poignant it's like why can't i talk tonight i don't know and i'm sorry i keep calling you out for it but that one was funny It's crazy important to all the town's water supplies.

I mean, it's beautiful. Like we said, it's ancient.

It's got all these things. Did I say it was mystical?

It's mystical. Yeah. It's so mystical. But it's scary as fuck, too.

I feel like mystical things are, like, sort of scary.

Yeah, I feel like it goes hand in hand. Totes.

So according to the documentary that everybody should go watch on this because it's a really good one.

It's just called The Bridgewater Triangle.

I think you can find it on Amazon Prime.

There are at least... This is going to blow your mind.

Or at least it blew mine. I don't know. Hold on to your minds.

There are at least, at this point, a thousand graves out there that are at least 8,000 years old.

Whoa. Like what? Holy shit. Right? I can't even wrap my brain around that.

Spook. spook and throughout that time it's always been seen as sacred land to american native americans the hockamock swamp This swamp was where, I mean, this was where they lived, where they hunted, where they hid before, during, and after King Philip's War.

So it's like... It has a lot of gory battles happened throughout the swamp.

They are still finding bones in the swamp in Native American burial grounds.

They are found all the time. Yeah. Which, I mean, if you've seen and if you've seen Poltergeist, if you've seen any movie, you know that like you shouldn't be fucking around with Native American burial grounds.

You shouldn't do it. Definitely not. People say that when they go in or around the swamp that they get this feeling of being watched or like followed.

They get it like immediately. They also say that they get this uncomfortable, like sick feeling when they go through.

There's been tons of sightings of different cryptids. there's like ape like biped creatures.

Whoa. Big foots, big feet. I'm pretty sure you, I think, I think multiple big foot or big feet. which is funny to me i love that i think that's hilarious like look at that look at that gaggle of big feet over there holy shit i saw like three big feet I saw those big feet just hanging out over there.

But people have seen them. There's been sightings of enormous birds.

Huge snakes, giant cats, red-eyed dogs that are huge, and wolves.

Red-eyed dogs, no thanks. Yeah, no good.

Red-eyed anything, I'm not interested. Yeah, you don't want red eyes.

That's no good. No, get some Visine. Yeah, do it.

They've all been reported inside the swampland and in the towns that it runs through.

Lauren Coleman is a famous cryptozoologist. and he moved in the 1970s from California to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he became entranced by the Bridgewater Triangle.

It must be super interesting, especially if that's already your job title.

He was actually the one who figured out where the triangle points were and what were encompassed.

And he was the one who coined the Bridgewater Triangle.

Oh, shit. in his book mysterious america which is a very interesting book now let's talk about the big feet okay Let's do it.

In 1970, a ton of people saw a huge, hairy... ape-like thing in these areas, sometimes on two legs, and we're sometimes running on all fours, which freaks me out.

Right, like I can't, that image of like, like I can handle the big foot image of like him just like strolling through like.

Because I just pictured Chewbacca rolling through the woods being like, oh.

You know? Exactly. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa.

That was a very good Chewbacca. Thank you.

Thank you. Good night. Thank you and good night.

But when you see them going on all fours, I'm like, nope.

Not interested. No, I don't want to be there.

I'm busy that day and all the days following.

They found footprints. Shit. Yeah. Which, I mean...

I'm just saying. Just throwing it out there, folks.

I don't know. And for two days in 1970 and two nights, Bridgewater Police and Massachusetts State Police did like a massive search and brought like search dogs.

And they were actually thinking they were looking for like a bear.

They were like, it must be a bear. That must have been so fun.

Right? Like you're looking for big feet.

Yeah. Even though you're saying you're looking for a bear, you're really going for big feet.

You're looking for big feet. You're nerding the fuck out when you're doing that. fucking go and look at you are nerding out you are do it uh they didn't end up finding it but Still happened.

I want to know where Bigfoot feet goes. Bigfoot feet.

When... They're hiding. I know. Like, you're huge.

Where do you hide? They are smarter than us, man.

I mean, obviously. I'm sure there's a lot of things out there smarter than us.

Yeah, I'd say so. This is kind of a crazy story.

In 1978, a man and I believe his uncle shot what they thought was a bear in the swamp.

But when it got shot, it cried out like a human.

Excuse me? But they said it was like this hairy, huge thing.

That's terrifying. Can you imagine you do that and that's the reaction you get?

And then you just look at your dad and your dad looks at you and you just sit there looking at each other like...

Dad? Son? What? So do we walk away from this murder or what do we do?

Where do we go? Should we call someone? Let's not.

And also like... When it says cried out like a human, I just picture like... You think that's the noise you make when you get shot?

Or like... Did he say how? You're fucked.

I think he like, I bet he like yelped. Or did he, or was he like, what the fuck, asshole?

And like scampered off. I vote for that one.

I feel like that's very human, just being like...

Shit. I think I like that one. Yeah, well, then he just ran away.

Whatever he said. Or did. Or wailed. Oh, so he...

He got away? He ran away, yeah. But when they went closer to where it was, because they were like, what the hell?

They found like bloody hair. like hanging off of a tree.

Bye. Yeah, like fur hair. They said it was like a lot and it was... bizarre and then they moved to nebraska and then they moved to nebraska I believe it was the same year.

This is just funny. Two police officers were in their car by like sitting by the Hockamuck swamp, one part of it.

I think they were just filling out reports or just... Like a traffic thing or whatever.

Just not doing anything. And they said... both of them felt the entire back of their car lift up off the ground.

And when they looked behind it, There was a giant hairy man holding the back of their car up.

They flipped out and it dropped to the car and ran off into the woods.

And what did they do for the rest of their lives?

And they both said that they saw it. And then they retired.

And then they were like, whelp. Seen all I could see.

Sorry, Chief. We're out. Gotta go. Bye. imagine yeah I mean no like you're just sitting in your car and like and also I'm like what was he doing also like what like what he was a big hairy man okay but like are we talking like six foot two no like they said like five eleven or eight feet Oh, like clearly not like just some tall guy.

A hairy basketball player. Like a very hairy basketball player.

Shit. Lifted the back of their car. automatically i don't know why but i just picture like a ginger right because i don't know because basketball like You just picture like Brian Scalabrini.

Yeah, I do. Lifting the back of the cop car and being like, suckers.

Suckers. I don't know. I don't know. It's just what I saw.

That's what happened. I can't help what I saw.

It was Brian Scalabrini. Brian, we're on to your case, okay, buddy?

We know what you're doing out there. He's been around for a while.

In the Bridgewater Triangle. I can't. Well, in the documentary, there's also a guy who... is now like a paranormal investigator and is really interested in this stuff.

He grew up around, you know, Massachusetts.

His name is Carlston Wood. And he recounts a terrifying story in the documentary.

So in the winter of 1970, he was super young.

And he said he and a few other kids sometimes would go into the swamp to, like... you know if it because it was winter so like the swamp had iced over and they'd kind of play in there and just like you know fuck around And they were like... He said him and a bunch of other kids, like girls and boys... were in there and they said they were like a mile into it when one started screaming.

Oh, great. So they all were like, what the hell?

And one of them yelled, there's a huge hairy man over there.

Which, to me, is the scariest thing someone could yell at me in a swamp.

What if you were the Hugh Terry man, though?

I feel like you'd just be really offended.

That would be really offensive. I'd be like, listen you little bitch.

You know, not all of us have razors. Not all of us.

I'm a feminist, okay? He's like solidarity sister, okay?

Like chill. Get out of here. You're a big hairy man.

It's winter. I don't have to change. I am hibernating, bitch.

Do not put your social bullshit on me, okay?

It's the end of the tale. This is really scary.

Spook, spook. Don't put your social norms on me, you little bitch. so what really happened that's not what happened One of the kids was like, there's a huge hairy man.

I just can't stop picturing a really offended Bigfoot.

I just, like, he literally is like, he's like, like, bitch, what?

Did your parents teach you manners? No one taught you not to scream.

Like, excuse you. That someone's huge and hairy?

Like, jeez. basic manners let's all just teach you know like real talk let's all teach our kids not to scream there's a huge hairy person over there like don't point out people's hugeness in there listen everyone has flaws okay Sorry.

Sorry, sorry, sorry. So yeah, there's a huge hairy man over there.

And then he said... we all turned because obviously you're like, what?

And he said, we all saw it. Like everyone saw it.

He said they ran as fast as they could back to the road.

And he was like, when we got back to the road, we were like, yep, I want to go home.

Like, bye. Let's never play. in the swamp again.

And he said they all got together Monday morning at the bus stop and they were all just like...

Remember that time? Hey, so what did you see?

And they all just started saying it to each other, and they all saw the same thing.

Oh, shit. So he was like, I don't know what it was.

I'm not saying it. And he's like, but what I saw was a huge hairy man that like an impossibly huge hairy ape. like man oh god so outside of the swamp bigfoot has also been seen and i say bigfoot like a bigfoot type creature Yep.

In Bridgewater, around two small ponds. They're Claybanks 1 and 2 is what they're called.

A resident, Joseph D'Andrade, said he saw it in the forest near Claybanks, too.

In the winter of 1978, he and a friend who he was like, my friend Wayne.

He kept saying he was like, and then Wayne did this and Wayne did that.

Like Wayne's world. So Wayne was with him.

And they went looking around there in the area because they had heard of, like, sightings of different things.

Mm-hmm. And he said at one point, he was turned with his back to the lake, or the pond, and he said he suddenly heard, and he even says in the documentary...

He's like, let me be clear that I'm not in the habit of hearing voices.

He's like, Just to be clear. Let's just put that out there.

But he said he heard, like, in his head, he felt someone tell him, like, turn around.

Oh. So he's like, I felt compelled to turn around and look at the pond.

And he said when he did this, he saw a huge man with long, dark brown hair all over.

And he said he saw it across the pond. And he was standing there looking right back at him.

Oh God. He said he saw him from the waist up but didn't see his face because it was like covered with some of the trees.

He grabbed Wayne and was like, do you see that?

And he said as soon as Wayne turned around, it was gone.

Oh, no. Come on. So he's like, I know that sounds crazy, whatever.

And again, who knows? All this could be just craziness, but it's like, there's a lot of reports of these things.

I mean, yeah. entertain some of them he has since founded the paranormal investigation organization and he's written extensive extensively on various investigations he's done in the bridge on a triangle so uh another story about big feet is a guy named john baker who has since passed away R.I.P.

He was fur trapping in the Hockamuck Swamp in the 1980s.

The reason that this one is told is because it showed up in the Boston Herald in an article that interviewed him.

And he said, quote, something. So he was in a canoe like going down. in the hockmock swamp yeah he said quote something was following me and i knew it was big So he said he took his boat to a drier area of the swamp to stop and kind of like check out what the hell was going on.

And he said, quote, I knew it wasn't a human because when it passed by me, I could smell it.

It smelled like skunk, musty and dirty like it lived in the dirt.

And he said he had no idea what it was but he said, I know what I saw.

And he said the exact same thing. A huge, hairy man stalked him all the way up the swamp.

But like, here's my thing. like big feet foot keeps following everyone yeah but then they like he doesn't do anything so like why is he even following you Because I think he's just like, he likes, maybe he just likes it.

Yeah, he just likes the chase. And once they see him, he's like, ooooh.

And he just runs away. So I feel Big Feet Foot.

Big Feet Foot. I think he just likes being, like, that guy.

Like, he's like... Do you think that he gets the Herald and like reads all these reports about him?

I think he's got like on his wall somewhere in the woods.

Oh my God. stop a whole wall full of it yeah just all his clippings and he's like do you think he changed when he got famous i think he changed when he got famous i really do maybe i think he did So that's as far as we go with Big Feet.

I like your next chopper headline that I just looked down at.

Can I tell them what it is? So our next topic is huge cats.

That's our next fucking topic is huge cats.

I just looked down and it's in all capital letters in Elena's notes.

It is. It just says huge K. That's amazing.

And that's precisely what it is. Love it.

So huge cats are seen in the Bridgewater Triangle. quite a bit actually i'm not a cat fan this is one of those things that you can look it up google any of this like any of the towns like easton rainham bridgewater taunton all these places huge cats have been written about in legitimate newspapers.

We'll pop up of people being like, funny story, we've been seeing weird huge African cats all over the place.

You know. It's a Friday. And I mean, if you're not in Massachusetts, let me just lay it out for you.

We're not Africa. So... When we have African cats here, it doesn't make a lot of sense to us.

How did that happen? How did you get here, cats?

So there was one that was dubbed the Mansfield Mystery Cat, which just sounds fun.

I like that. The man's feeling mystery cat.

Like, I feel like he's like, that's a jazz band, actually.

He's just walking around like snapping, smoking a cigar.

He's like, I'm a Mansfield mystery cat. This Mansfield mystery cat started being reported widely in 1993.

They said it was a huge tan cat, like bigger than a mountain lion.

Shit. Which we shouldn't have. I don't want anything to do with that.

It was reported in Easton as well. And there were also sightings of a black pig. panther type cat in the swamp areas nope nope like a giant black and people kept this is like over and over dozens and dozens of reports would come into police being like i just saw a black panther in the swamp like why So this wasn't just one person being like, so I was walking down the swamp and I saw a black pizza.

It was crazy. Why is everybody talking like that?

I don't know why we're all talking like that.

In 1993. I don't know why we're in 1920s New York and I'm like, hey, I saw a Black Panther.

Little lady. Little lady, I saw a cat. No, it was more like, hey, I saw a Black Panther cat.

Yeah. So a lot of people like police would get flooded with reports from this newspaper would just would go crazy about it.

It was actually a thing. And... The one that I remember vividly, because I was like eight years old at this point.

I wasn't alive. No, you were not. Three years until you were alive at this point.

It was in May of 1993. A decapitated body of an African serval cat.

What? Was found near the Eastern Rainham line.

The head had been cleanly severed and was missing, and the body had no signs of injury, so the method of death may have well been decapitation.

The town of Agde in France is famous for sun, sand, sea and sex But lately, life on the coast has taken a strange turn.

The town's mayor, a respected pillar of the community, has been arrested for corruption.

His wife claims he's been bewitched by a beautiful clairvoyant.

Then there's the mysterious phone calls that local people have been getting.

I am the Archangel Michael. The whole town has been thrown into chaos.

As the mayor is unable to carry out his duties I would like to address you all.

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I just want to know who tamed that cat enough to cut its fucking head off.

Well. And why would you cut its head off?

Why do you have an African jungle cat? In Easton or Rainham?

Like, what do you... What? Well, I'm already past that.

And also... So did you just cut its head off and then just dump it?

Like they just dumped it in like a big field.

Like an open field. So did people think that it was a...

Well, people were like, what is this? Why is there an African cat in the middle of a field in Easton?

Like it was. Well, and a human must have cut its head off.

It was bizarre. Well, that was the thing.

When it was first reported, you were like, wait, so did something else eat its head? and, like, what is bigger than an African cat around here?

What's going on? But then you come to the whole, like...

So somebody cut its head off and you're like, how did they, how are they able to do that?

And it's just like bizarre as fuck. And then I believe in next episode.

We're going to get into, there were a lot of animal mutilations around this area too.

A little likely. Which we'll get into because it ties into the idea that there was this like traveling cult that was going on.

But we'll get into that next episode. A traveling cult? yeah which they still believe could be a thing right now but we'll get into that next episode like they're still traveling yeah they're still traveling In the triangle?

Yeah. Shit keeps going down. Oh, God. So, I just remember that, like, very vividly, that... that cat being found in 1993 and it was like close to where we were at the time.

And I remember being like, uh, Excuse me?

What's happening right now? You're not allowed to play at recess.

Yeah, it was not a good... Because there was, for a while, when these cats were being spotted around... people they were like keeping kids into rate for recess and stuff yeah i bet they were worried they were like like literally like lions walking through the woods like what's happening That's so cool.

Very bizarre. I love how like spooky that is.

Cause like, like that's not scary, but it's like weird.

Yeah. It's just spooky. I just love that.

Yeah. It's very spooky. So the next thing we're going to talk about are giant birds.

Okay. So basically what these giant birds that are always spotted in like flying over the swamp.

They're thought to be thunderbirds. What's that?

And basically it's an ancient bird. And in Algonquin mythology, the Thunderbird controls the upper world while the underworld is controlled by the underwater panther or great. horned serpent.

Thunderbird was said to throw lightning at the underworld creatures and creates thunder by flapping its wings.

Love that. That's badass as fuck. Right.

So people think that these are the birds that we're seeing or that there's some kind of like ancient pterodactyl type thing because they're supposedly like 12 foot wide. wingspans and shit.

These aren't like condors who are huge and we do have around but like No, these are like something ancient and crazy.

And again, dozens and dozens of reports will come in in one time, too.

It's not like they get spread over this long period of time of all these people just being like, I saw a big bird today.

It's like, it's literally like one day they get a dozens of reports like on the same day.

We all saw this giant ancient thunderbird.

And it's like, okay, well, maybe you did then.

So in 1971, a Norton police sergeant named Thomas Downey, so a police sergeant.

Mm-hmm. said he saw a huge bird, six feet tall with a 12-foot wingspan. while driving down Winter Street in Mansfield, which is an area known as Bird Hill.

Oh, kind of funny. He said he watched it like just stand there, like spread its wings and then just slowly lift itself into the air and like flap away.

Can you imagine seeing something like that?

I would be in straight up stun town USA.

I'd be like, what is this a sign for? I would not.

Like, is that a good omen or a bad omen?

Like, is this the end times? Is this what's happening right now?

I don't know. Apparently it wasn't. And what's funny here is it's not like he immediately ran to papers and stuff and we're like...

I'm gonna tell you about this big Thunderbird I saw.

Right? So he said he just like slowly started telling a few people here and there because he was like, I gotta get this off my chest that I saw a pterodactyl.

You know, you might want to do that. And by the way, if you guys hear any sizzling in the background, my husband is cooking dinner.

It smells really fucking good. It does. So he wasn't like running to like to go tell the story to like newspaper outlets and all that.

And in fact, a lot of newspapers wanted to interview him about this.

And so he was asked multiple times to give his account of this.

And he said no. He refused. He wouldn't talk about it.

Why? Because he was freaked out by it. He was like, I don't want people to think I'm crazy.

To me, that's like more credible because he didn't want the attention from it.

He was like, no, people are going to think I'm nuts.

And this is what I saw. And I just want to.

And I want to unsee it. I just want to unsee it.

So, yeah. So those are the Thunderbirds that a lot of people seem to see.

And I don't think they, they don't like mean anything bad or anything like that.

It's kind of scary to see a fucking 12 foot.

Wide bird. One might say. Yeah. Imagine if that thing took a shit on your windshield.

Oh my damn. Let me tell you. Yeah, that'd be rough.

No car wash for that, sweetie. So there's also angry red-eyed dogs.

I don't like that at all. That is like a bad omen.

Yeah. And people will see these when they're walking down trails in those like near the swamp or around the swamp.

People will like. randomly because a lot of people are like oh so i was walking in the swamp at like dusk and you're like why are you doing that you're like yeah not not a solid plan yeah don't do that and ma'am Do not do that.

I only have one quick little tale about a red-eyed dog that was seen, but this is a pretty rough one.

Oh good. In 1976, an Abington fellow watched a huge black dog, he said huge, like bigger than a Great Dane.

Size of a pony, basically. Oh, shit. Rip open the throats of his two ponies, killing them.

And he said it was as large as a pony and was standing over them, killing them.

What? And he shot at it, but it got away.

And he said for three days, he and like local law enforcement and some neighbors hunted this thing because they were like, is this a fucking dire wolf?

Like, what the hell is this? Yeah, like, excuse me.

And they couldn't find it again. But he said it was a huge black dog with like red fiery eyes.

That's the most. And it was ripping out horse throats.

Nope. Like, that's no joke. Like, don't fuck with little Sebastian like that.

So another one, this one's like, this one to me is one of the spookiest tales.

Oh, I? I hate this tale. And the guy who tells it tells it so well.

I remember watching this documentary when he tells the tale.

It's a tale, man. But I hate this. one now it freaks me out this involves this isn't so this guy does not claim that what he saw was a puck wadgie but Pukwudgies are something that are often spotted in the swamp.

We might cover, maybe we'll go into them a little more in the next episode.

Because this is not confirmed, obviously, to be a Pukwudgie.

Right. But it's similar. It seems similar to what they are.

So Pukwudgies are small troll-like creatures associated with the Wampanoag Native American folklore.

They're said to be two to three feet tall, have big noses, big fingers, big ears. covered in smooth gray skin a lot oh i don't like that and they're just like weird and mischievous and try to like lure you places and shit picture like dubby the hell house Goodbye.

Picture Dobby the hell elf. That's what I was about to say.

That's literally what it is. Dobby the house elf, but picture a hell elf.

A hell elf. So this story that we're going to tell you is from 1990.

It's a guy named William Russo. And he never, for decades, he didn't tell anyone this.

And then he just said that he figured he was getting up there in age.

And he said, I feel like people should know about this.

It's time to tell the tale. Tell this tale.

I want it to be out there so people know.

So at the time in 1990, he was working a three to midnight shift at work.

And he worked and lived in Rainham, Massachusetts.

Mm-hmm. He would walk his big dog, who was a Rottweiler slash German Shepherd mix named Samantha.

When he got home at midnight every night.

Because, you know, he's a good dog owner and he knows she has to go.

So he said she was like 90 pounds and huge.

Like she was a big dog. One night when he was walking her in his neighborhood, he took like a slightly different route than he normally did.

And he said he didn't know why. There was no like...

He didn't feel compelled to do this. He said he just did.

Took a different route. He said he went behind his home and there were a bunch of huge... pine trees and power lines lining this and it's you know the swamp runs through here He went about a half a mile when he came upon a big old water wheel from an old ironworks building in the area, like from hundreds of years ago.

Mm-hmm. And at that point, there was a street light at the road that was there that cast a big, huge circle of light on the road below.

He said it was like a 10 feet in diameter light.

As he got to the road he said Samantha was pulling and started quivering.

Like a 90-pound Rottweiler was quivering.

So you know some shit's about to go down.

Yeah, and he was like... I've never seen her do that in my life.

He said she was, quote, rattling like an old Chevy.

Oh my God, I love that. And then he said at that moment when he looked down to see her shivering, he heard something.

And he said he heard a high-pitched wail.

But they literally said, I want you. I want you.

Here. Here. And that's what he said it kept saying.

Excuse me? And he said, that's what it's saying.

I want you. I want you. Here. here which sounds to me like he wants you come here yeah like we want you we want you here Here.

No, thank you. And he said when he looked up to see what the fuck was saying these weird things...

He said he saw something about three or four feet tall standing in the middle of that light, that streetlight.

And he said he was standing on two legs and he was covered in hair.

Ew. It also had a pot belly, he said. That's adorable.

And a face that had slightly bigger eyes. for its head, but he said not like overwhelmingly huge, but like slightly bigger than what a human size would be.

And he said it kind of looked like he had the face of like a chipmunk almost.

Oh, that's cute. He said he thought he looked like... At first glance, he said it looked like a child because it was so small.

Right. But he said, when I looked at it more...

It looked like it was in the early stages of old age.

Okay. Like it was like an elder. And he said, and it was obviously speaking to me and he said, and it was holding its arm out to me.

So, and he said, he literally said it kept saying the same thing over and over again and like beckoning him.

And he was saying, I want you, I want you, here, here.

So he said he didn't feel threatened, like it was gonna run at him or attack him or anything, But he said it definitely felt like he was trying to get him into his space.

Right. He was trying to get him over to him.

Right. So he was fucking terrified. And he says, he goes, I wish I could tell you that I was like this big tough guy and I walked over to it to see more about it.

But he was like, nope. I don't blame you, sir.

He said, I was terrified. My huge dog was terrified.

So they ran home. And he said he stayed up the whole night. thinking over and over about what just happened because he was like am i nuts like did i just lose my fucking mind and he said what i think he was saying was we want you We want you.

Here. Here. Nope. And he said that's, he goes, I think he was trying to speak English to me.

And he said he really didn't tell anyone about it, like I said, because he said he had never seen anything paranormal in his whole life.

Well, and he probably didn't want people to think he was crazy.

Well, that's her thing. And he was like, I was never, I'm not this person who sees ghosts or anything.

I've never seen anything weird or paranormal in my whole life.

And then I fucking watched. one night see this shit.

Then I see like the golden ticket of all creepy ass things.

Like, congratulations, you've made it to the chocolate factory.

Jackpot. Whoa. He said 20 years later, like I said, he was getting older and he wanted to tell this story because he was like, it has to be out there.

People need to know that I saw this. and he never saw it again uh so that that story to me is just like when he says like when he says the words like he want you he want you and he's like care here like he says it like come on come on let's go and it's like i'd be like i'm so busy that day.

And they have this crazy ass drawing. The drawing is a banana.

And it's maybe I'll post it because it's just the It's like both scary and adorable all at the same time.

That's the thing. But if I just saw this little hairy thing being like...

Eat one chew. Eat one chew. I'd be like, I know chew, I know chew.

No, sir. No. I need to go. So another place that has a lot of happenings is a place called Lake Nipponippick.

Excuse me? Nippin' Nickit. Nippin' Nickit?

Nippin' Nickit. That's fun. That's what it is.

Nippin' Nickit. Nippin' Nickit. It's also referred to as the Lake of Doom.

That's not so fun. is what I'd like to say and locals call it the nip the nip that's great that is gold You know, we're going to the nip.

Just go to the nip. Let's take a dip in the nip.

That's great. Thank you. Dip in the nip.

So it's in right in the middle of this, you know, right.

Of course, the swamp is running all through here.

This place has a lot of weird, weird, weird reports.

There's, there's Bigfoot creatures. Big feet.

And people say when they're on the lake that they can hear sounds like monkeys. what and people will be like yeah hey are those monkeys in massachusetts like hey are we in africa again literally like what's happening In Lorne Coleman, that famous cryptozoologist, he said people told him many times, he's heard many reports of seeing... a red-haired orangutan-type creature there.

You know, typical for this part of the country, the world.

Super typical Massachusetts creature. There's always orangutans running around here.

If you're not from Massachusetts, just know, when you walk down the street... Orangutans.

Orangutans on every tree. Why do you think we say it's bananas?

It's because we grew up with bananas. With orangutans and bananas.

No. No, orangutans are not native to Massachusetts.

No, sir. So that's weird. If you're hearing and seeing orangutans.

If you see an orangutan in Massachusetts, call someone.

Call someone. Call Lorne Coleman because he needs to know.

So there's also people, and this happens a lot in this area and then in another area that I'll talk about in a minute.

People see Phantom Fires? On the shore.

Where they'll see this big fire. And sometimes they'll also see like tribal dancers.

Yeah. around this fire or they'll hear like chanting or they'll hear things on the shore and when they get closer to it it's not there it just goes away And it's not like it dies out.

It's not like it's a big bonfire and it's just all of a sudden it's gone.

It's just gone. Gone. I don't know how I would feel if that happened to me.

And phantom fires seem to be like a theme throughout the swamp.

Really? Like, people will see fire... through the trees when they're in there and they'll be like, and they're like, and I can't, you can't really like hear it or like feel the heat from it or smell it.

You just follow it and it's just gone. Okay.

Note to self, don't go in the woods. Don't follow the fire.

Don't go near the swamp. Yeah, it's not cool.

It's also been the site of a lot of drownings and a lot of accidents.

Oh, I don't like that. But it's only six to eight feet deep at its deepest part.

Oh. That's what's really weird. That is super weird.

Yeah. I mean, unless you can't swim. Obviously, people drown in any amount of water, but...

For the amount of drownings and accidents that have happened here, which there are quite a few, for decades, it's odd.

Yeah. It's a very odd phenomenon. And this is a weird one.

The skies over the Nip have rained frogs.

What? Like frogs have literally. I just went no shut what?

No shut what? They've literally like frogs have fallen from the sky.

No. It's like a published report. No. Legit.

What? Explain. Just frogs falling from the sky.

What? Like when? What day? I cannot explain.

Thursday? Like when? I think it was a Thursday.

I'm not really sure. Frogs were falling from the sky.

And in 2012... People are going to turn this podcast off and be like, yeah, those girls went fucking crazy.

Crazy. It's published a report. I'm not making this up.

What the fuck? And in 2012, something called a bryozoin. which is a rare jellyfish like creature that survived the ice age what was found in the net what yeah Is there like electromagnetic energy that is just like pulling the weirdest shit from around the world?

There's something. I'll tell you that much.

Now, we're going to go over to Weird Rocks, of which we have a few.

So there's something called Dighton Rock, which is a 40-ton boulder that was pulled from the water of the Taunton Riverbed and is covered in etchings.

Etchings, like drawings? Like etchings, yeah.

Etchings, like no, the other kind of etchings.

I don't know, shut up. There's a museum that houses this rock across from the Taunton Riverbed, and it's a place called Grassy Island.

Where in 1928, a Native American burial ground was discovered.

Oh, shit. And that was discovered by this, like, I think it was a Brown University professor, psychology professor.

He led like an expedition and they ended up finding a Native American burial ground.

I wouldn't want to find one. I wouldn't lead an expedition to one.

I wouldn't join an expedition to one. Well, and so across from where this happened, there's this tiny little museum that houses this Dighton. rock and the crazy thing about this rock is nobody knows where these etchings came from weird but they look They appear very ancient.

And in the museum, you can see all the speculation about where they could have come from.

They have like the Phoenicians, the Norse, the Portuguese, like all different ideas of where I came from, but no one has been able to definitively say.

It's really, it's spooky. It's like a spooky mystery. rock called Profile Rock that we mentioned earlier.

We did. In Freetown Fall River State Forest.

And that's the one that they think is possibly the face of Massasoit, Chief Massasoit.

It's a very sacred space, even though it's covered in graffiti now.

Oh, fuck that. I know, isn't that shitty?

Yeah. There's also, in Abington, there was a profile rock called Lady Abington.

It was in a woman's face. But it's gone now because of road building.

Oh. So that's it. Humans ruin everything.

Yeah. In Middleborough, Massachusetts, there's a rock with a literal handprint embedded in it.

No. Yeah. There's also a boulder with a face carved into it.

Cool. Yeah. like a smiley face almost, like it's a very, but it's like an ancient-y kind of look to it.

Again, like total mysteries, like where this came from.

Right. And then there's one specific rock called Anawan Rock, and it's along Route 44 in Rehoboth.

Now, the reason that this one is so... That has like a very spooky history and... there's a lot, a lot of activity around this one, is two weeks after Chief Metacomet King Philip. was killed.

Benjamin Church led a team into Plymouth Colony into the forest to get the rest of the Native Americans. how they were gonna round up and sell them into slavery like they did.

The rest of Metacomet's tribe of warriors that were surviving surrendered peacefully to church.

They did this August 28th, 1676. Chief Anawan was captured during this, and it became the official end to King Philip's War.

That sounds fine and peaceful. It does. except once they were taken out of there and shipped to Plymouth, churches orders to, that they were peaceful and they should be.

Right. That was ignored. Right. And the whole group of Wampanoags that they captured were beheaded.

Oh. So taken at the same time as this whole thing was a belt of Metacomets, King Philip's, his wampum belt.

Now, the wampum belt basically tells the history of the tribe.

Oh, that's cool. So it's a very special belt.

And they took it? They took it and... What happened was it was said that Philip gave the belt to Anawan at Profile Rock before he was killed.

Okay. There are records... that church received this, like, took this belt, and then he lost it.

What a douche. Somehow it was going to be shipped somewhere, and it ended up in transit.

Nobody knows where it went. Well, I hope that they got it back.

Well, now they didn't. Because now Native American spirits are said to haunt Anoran Rock.

And people will hear the Algonquin language.

They'll hear chanting and drums beating.

Oh wow. Like imagine going in there in the middle of the night and hear drums beating.

Nope, because I don't go to places at the middle of the night.

People also report phantom fires there, like I said, in full spectral ghost sightings.

Like they'll see a full Native American chief standing in front of them.

And then you run out of the forest so fast that you die.

Exactly. people believe that whenever they see like this elder native american standing in front of them that it's anawan that and it's called anawan's rock There was a report of someone going in there and hearing yelling, and they were yelling, which is Algonquin for stand and fight.

Oh wow. Yeah. And a woman who runs a paranormal investigation company decided she wanted to learn some key words in the Wampanoag language. deal with possible Native American spirits that are not super psyched to see anybody in there.

And so she really wanted to remember the word knee-tomp because it means friend.

Okay. So she wanted to go in there and be like, knee-tomp, knee-tomp. and so she said as she went in there she kept repeating the word over and over she was like i just wanted them to know we were friends i'm not trying to hurt them And she said as they left the woods, they recorded on recording.

Oh, my God. I'm going to get the chills.

I can feel a voice repeating knee top. And they also heard somebody, and it was on the recording, someone saying kinsmen in Algonquin. kinsmen so like we're bros yeah like so we're bros oh my god and they have it like recorded that's awesome Now, during an interview on that Bridgewater Triangle documentary... about this specific place in the Bridgewater Triangle.

This guy was talking about the belt, the wampum belt.

And he cited it and he said... Quote, the weirdness and hauntings at Anorwan Rock will probably happen until the Wampum Belt is returned.

As soon as he finishes this, all the power went out.

What? And in the documentary, they like put everything back on and they're like, holy shit, dude, like that everything just went out.

So they're like, yes, it will. So they're like, whoa.

So they like laugh about it because they're like, oh, my God, that was creepy.

Like, what the hell? And they get the power back up.

They're laughing. And this guy says like into the like ether, like he looks up.

And is like, we hear your message. If I could, I would return it.

Boom, lights go out again. Holy shit. Holy shit.

And it's on the documentary. It's so creepy.

It's crazy. That's wild. So the last thing we're going to talk about tonight...

And trust me, there's lots more in the next episode.

So hang tight. is the Phantom Hitchhiker.

This one's bananas and also my worst fear.

Exactly. Because I've driven down this road multiple times.

Oh, yeah. And I'm so afraid to see this.

Oh, yeah. He's also known as the redheaded hitchhiker.

It's you? It's me. He's seen on Route 44 at night, usually near the Seekonk-Rehoboth line.

That's where most of the reports come. Again, this is one of those things that gets reported. over and over and over, and it's also drilled into every kid's head in Massachusetts.

Like, you hear this story. So he's usually said to be a well-built man between the ages of 45 and 55.

He has red hair. Crazy, I know. He usually has a beard as well.

Yep. Also red. They say he's usually dressed in a red flannel shirt with jeans or brown work pants and work boots.

Got it. It doesn't really stray from that description.

Sometimes he's super well put together. like clean and together.

And other times he looks super disheveled with like overgrown facial hair, like dirty and untouched.

It just depends how we're feeling that day.

Aren't we all just, sometimes we're super put together, sometimes we're disheveled as fuck.

There's no in between for me to be honest with you.

You don't get away from that in the afterlife.

Sometimes you just gotta do it. Everybody has a bad hair day.

Yeah, I mean, I'm not gonna judge him. Nope.

So most times he appears totally solid to drivers, like an actual person.

But then some people will say like, and then when I looked at him more, he was like slightly transparent and I didn't notice it at first.

And I was like, what are you, sir? Who among us has not seen someone and been like...

They look slightly transparent and I didn't realize that at first.

We get that a lot. We get that a lot. I am 100% transparent.

Literally same. Like, you can look at my circulatory system in my arms.

Same. 110%. The sun sucks. So... I stand by that statement.

The biggest thing that kind of like varies is his eyes.

The description of his eyes. Some people say they look totally normal.

But they say they'd get this feeling that they just don't feel right.

Hate that. But some say they're black and totally empty.

Awesome. Well, other people say they're glowing, but lifeless.

Okay. So there's a lot of variations in the eyes.

This one really spooks me. I know. I'm getting chills.

So, the earliest written record of this guy being seen was... by Charles Turek Robinson in his 1994 book, New England Ghost Files, which is like every Massachusetts kid has read that.

So one story is absolutely terrifying of this.

So a couple... Broke down on Route 44 at about 10 p.m.

Oh, fuck that. The woman stayed in the car and the guy went to go like, you know, call for a tow.

They both had different experiences with the hitchhiker at the same time.

The man saw him on the side of the road and tried to talk to him and be like, hey, we need a little help.

Can you help us? And he said the redheaded man began yelling at him.

Oh God. which is like, what the fuck? And then disappeared.

But he said when he was disappearing, he heard laughing from all directions.

No, thank you. And as he made his way back to his car, he could hear the laughing all around.

Hate that, hate that, hate that. The woman who was sitting in the car waiting for her dude Heard the voice come over the radio laughing and taunting at her through the radio until she ran from the car.

I'm all set. Yeah. So that was not cool.

Fuck. And it's usually this kind of thing is like kind of typical.

Like someone is driving along. usually alone but as long as there's like an open place in the car he can kind of appear no And they see a man on the side of the road and they stop to pick him up.

He'll get into the passenger seat or the back seat.

Every single time they say he stays silent.

He ignores any questions you ask him. Which automatically is terrifying.

And a lot of the times they'll say he's just staring at them.

Oh my God. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm not into it.

No. Eventually, he'll just disappear. He either does it right in front of their eyes or they'll look back to say something to him and he's gone.

Oh my God, I hate this one. And this is usually, no, this is like my favorite.

I'm sorry, this is just funny to me. It wouldn't be funny if it happened to me, but it's funny from afar.

When he vanishes, it's not like he just vanishes and that's it, and you're like, well, that was weird.

Like, why is this funny? Did he, like, fart and go or something? kind of no he usually will disappear and then you'll either hear him laughing or Or yelling or taunting you.

Which to me... That's not funny. I just wonder if he's like... he just vanishes slowly.

Then it's like, what does he say to taunt you though?

Like, I don't like that. He's just like, You're never getting a promotion at work.

Bye. And you're just like, God damn it, that was taunting and mean. he probably has a lot of fun in the afterlife like you know he's just having fun he does I just like I just can't imagine something disappearing and then just yelling no I just be like, ah.

Well, I feel like it's not that. I feel like it's probably a lot scarier.

Yeah, I bet it's not. you shouldn't make fun of it because like i hate it oh don't even because i'm like yeah i'm stressing yeah no it's not funny it's not funny at all it's not i don't think it's funny in the slightest Well, in some people, if he's not just if he didn't pick him up, some people will see him on the side of the road and he's usually like vanishing into the woods or he's just waving. and then disappearing if you fucking wave at me and then disappear no don't We have problems.

I have an issue with that, sir. This is awful.

Some have seen him just suddenly be in their backseat.

Yeah, that I've heard. And I'm just like, no, if I don't invite you, it shouldn't be allowed.

Yeah, like some people will literally look in their rearview mirror and boom, he's just there.

And that's when you get into a car accident because I would literally roll my car over five times.

100%. No. Oh, that's my biggest fear. Well, and then some people, a lot of people will drive through. through him like he'll suddenly appear in front of their car and they think they hit somebody oh my god And then they find, obviously, that they didn't hit anybody and nobody's there.

But they think they did. Which brings me...

To Lil's story. Oh, God. So this is my friend of like a billion years, Lil. telling her story, her firsthand account of seeing the redheaded hitchhiker.

So let me preface the story by saying I practically grew up with a copy of the New England Ghost Files. pretty much on my nightstand for most of my childhood.

My sister and I would read from it a lot, probably after listening to Robert Stack's voice for hours.

Unsolved Mysteries, my OG binge show. Now, in this book, since I grew up in Dighton, Massachusetts, there's a particularly popular story which was featured You might have heard of it.

Fast forward now quite a bit. Picture it.

Rehoboth, 2004. I, a now 16-year-old new driver... transporting my best friend to Starbucks because who doesn't need a Frappuccino at 9 p.m.?

? Oddly enough, and I say oddly because Elena will find this part particularly rad.

I vividly remember listening to the piano bridge of Hurricane by Something Corporate.

Naturally, I was playing the piano while driving the car, completely safe, but I was amazing until I always switched to the drum solo.

I digress. So it's dark. We're on 44 driving my 1995 Toyota Tercel, who I aptly named Terry.

I'm mid-drum solo when I full-blown panicked just panicked started screaming and pointing nearly hitting hitting the man standing on the side of the road I guess if I hadn't known the legend before, if I hadn't been exposed to it growing up, I probably would have just been a 16 year old who was giggling. at the disappearing hitchhiker or what I thought I saw.

But instead, I lost my shit. My friend had no idea what I was freaking out about because she didn't actually see him.

I know, I know, whatever. I probably didn't really see him.

That's what everybody says. But I did. I know what I saw.

My friend still thinks I'm crazy to this day, so it's OK if you do too.

Initially, I did pull over and confirm that there was no sign of human life anywhere.

We drove up and down that road no less than 10 times that night to make sure. or kind of wanting to see him again.

But we didn't. We never saw him again. Just as the legend said, he was wearing red flannel.

And to be fair, that is about all that I noticed before I started to scream.

I guess the fact that he then disappeared tipped me off to the level of creep that existed that night as well.

We did try many times after that to see him again 90% of the places we went to in high school were on Route 44 so We would always look, especially at night.

And we never ended up seeing him again except for that one fateful night.

So, yeah, he's legit. It was real. I saw it with my own two eyes.

Lil's funny. She is funny. I love that she was listening to something corporate and having a drum solo.

She's like, first I was doing the piano, which I was really good at.

And then I transitioned to the drums and then he fucked up my world.

I wonder if she can listen to that song anymore.

I know. I bet you can. They're a great band.

Yeah you can't stop. So this is just like really quick but I swear to you guys one day I was taking out the trash.

I was in my driveway. And there's like a little section of woods like right there. across the street from my house like there's a house like adjacent to my house and then there's just woods still to this day I hate going home at night Because I always feel like someone is watching me from those woods.

Always, always, always, always. That always spooks me.

I'm not kidding you. I get out of the car and I book it.

I used to be the same way. And nine out of ten times when we're finishing up recording, I'm like, shit, I have to go home and I have to run and I have to get inside the house and lock the door.

Now that I've been spooked sufficiently.

But one time it was still light outside and I was bringing out the trash and I...

Just felt weird. I felt like someone was watching me.

And I swear to you, I heard someone go, Ash.

And I ran the fuck inside and that's the day that I started running inside.

I'm not into it. Yeah. I am not into it.

Nope. Me either. And then if you haven't heard this episode where I talked about, I had to drive to fall river for something.

Oh yeah. And I think I might have been in, like I think I had just seen a sign for like the Freetown State Forest or something like that.

You did, that's what you said, yeah. And I am driving behind this car.

And then the car in front of me suddenly changes lanes and like really abruptly.

And I'm like, whoa, shit. And then the car in front of me, there's like stuff like flying at my car from their car.

Like they had just gotten an accident or something.

So I switched lanes and I kind of just like looked at the car and I saw this woman with blood literally dripping down her face.

I can never unsee it. I was so freaked out.

I can't even express to you how freaked out I was.

I literally called the police and I was like, yo, just so you know.

Good. And I still don't know what happened.

That's exactly what you do. I still don't know if it was real.

I mean, I think it was because the car in front of me was like, bye girl.

Like I'm fairly certain. And I drove, I think I remember like driving past the next person and like us looking at each other like we're in this and we're horrified together.

Did you see that bloody face later? And then I was just so, it gave me the most fucked up feeling.

I wonder what happened to the bloody face lady.

Why was she bleeding? I just need to know.

Well, I think she had just been in an accident.

And it's like still. I don't like to talk about it too much because then I see it for a long time.

Yeah, that's sketchy, so... But it was near Freetown, and I live in the middle of the, well, I don't know where exactly in the triangle I live.

Yeah, somewhere in there. I'm in it. I'm in it.

I've heard things and I feel people watching me from the woods.

Yeah. So I said it out loud. So it's real.

So that. That is the beginning of our series on the Bridgewater Triangle.

We hope that you enjoyed it. Yeah. That was a lot of fun.

Lots of cryptids. Lots of ghosties. Lots of pukwudgies.

Lots of spook. We'll talk a little bit more about next week.

Yeah. But we hope you dug it and let us know if you did.

And if you're around here, stay out of the swamp.

Yep. Don't go in the Freetown Forest. Cool. uh that's another thing that we're going to be getting into in the next couple of installments of this is a lot of bad things have happened in there so stay tuned because there's a lot of bad stuff coming so But yeah, so in the meantime, if you want to keep listening to us, you should do that.

You should. And you should follow us on Instagram at Morbid Podcast.

Follow us on Twitter. A Morbid Podcast. Join the Facebook group with the awesome fucking moderators.

Morbid colon A True Crime Podcast. Send us a Gmail.

Morbidpodcast at gmail.com. Check out the website that my lovely co-host so efficiently and awesomely designed. morbidpodcast.com.

Is that it? Yeah. Oh, no, no, no. Donate to the Patreon if you're feeling so inclined.

Patreon.com slash Morbid Podcast. We hope you keep listening.

And we hope you keep it weird. But not so weird that you get into this Native American war and you're really fucking mean to the Native Americans because you shouldn't be mean to the Native Americans and then it causes all this disruptiveness.

And then you go into the forest and you see a big hairy guy and your mom never taught you not to yell at the big hairy guy.

And then you run out of the forest and you go to the bus stop and you're like, Like, oh, my God, what did we see?

And then pukawudgies and then yochi come here.

And then it's just a lot of shit that happens.

Also, if you see a big bird, just don't keep it that weird. don't do it i tried on that one bye Thank you.

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[The Enigma of the Bridgewater Triangle: A Deep Dive into Paranormal Activity]-[Episode 74: The Bridgewater Triangle Part 1]

📋 Summary

Unveiling the Bridgewater Triangle: A Hotbed of the Supernatural

The Historical Roots of "Bad Juju"

A Menagerie of Cryptids

Sacred Sites and Spectral Mysteries

The Legend of the Redheaded Hitchhiker

🎯Key Sentences

📝Key Phrases

📖 Transcript