Tuesday, November 13, 2018

The Weird Creatures of the Eerie Bridgewater Triangle – Thunderbirds





The Weird Creatures of the Eerie Bridgewater Triangle – Thunderbirds





What is the Bridgewater Triangle?

A group of 17 towns and cities in Southeastern Massachusetts in the New England region of the United States. The area has seen massive amounts of hauntings, UFO sightings, ghastly creatures, and satanic cult activity dating back to colonial times.

When the Europeans first came to America, they killed off millions of Native Americans with two things they carried with them: muskets and diseases.  The indigenous people had few defenses for either one.  With his dying breath one of the Wampanoag chiefs cast a perpetual curse on both the people and the land of the Bridgewater Triangle.  Some researchers believe that might be the reason for the spate of problems that have plagued the region for the last four hundred years!





Thunderbirds





I’ve often said that I lived in the Bridgewater Triangle for over a decade without realizing there were scary creatures in it until I met one – a Puckwudgie in 1990.  When I made that comment in the 2013 film, The Bridgewater Triangle Documentary, I forgot that years earlier I knew an area police officer who had a scary scrape with a giant winged beast that may have been a Thunderbird.

As editor of a suburban newspaper in the 1970s my duties included checking the daily police logs of area communities for possible news items.  As part of my job, I spoke to, and interviewed many police officers and knew quite a few of them by sight and exchanged hellos with them.  One of those policemen was Sergeant Thomas Downy of the Norton, Massachusetts Police Department.

A hard working, veteran police officer who did his job well, Officer Downy would have retired respected and unknown, but for one early morning incident in the summer of 1971 on Bird Hill at the edge of the haunted Hockomock Swamp.  The Sergeant completed his shift in Norton and left the station and was driving through neighboring Mansfield to get to his home, one town further up the road in Easton.

It was well after midnight when he reached Bird Hill, near his house.  Appropriately, or perhaps ironically, the Sergeant saw a bird – a massive creature with a wingspan far larger than the width of a police car.  He later said that the enormous flying thing dropped down to the pavement and towered two or three feet above the roof of his car – making it at least six feet tall.  The wingspan of the Pterodactyl-like creature was estimated to be ten to 12 feet.

Sgt. Downy stopped his vehicle at an intersection and studied the strange winged giant.  Flapping its massive wings, the gigantic bird flew straight up and over the trees before it disappeared into the darkness of the Hockomock Swamp.  When he got home he thought about what he saw for a moment or two and reported it to the Easton Police.

A car was dispatched but after a check of the area, no giant bird was spotted.  In the following days, we of the area news media reported the sighting merely as a routine ‘blotter’ item- no hoopla, buzz or sensationalism.  Though Sergeant Downy was kidded about the encounter, most people who knew him, regarded him as a serious individual not prone to making up stories and not one who would make false claims about what he saw.

Within a few weeks the whole episode was pretty much forgotten by the residents of Mansfield, Norton, and Easton.  But over the years as more and more paranormal incidents were reported in these towns, people started pressing Sergeant Downy for more information.  After literally hundreds of queries from individuals from all walks of life, including the news media, Officer Downy said “Enough - no more” and refused further comments.  As far as I know he stopped talking about the big bird in the 1980s and never made a single additional statement. 

What was that brobdingnagian flyer? The easy answer is that Officer Downy saw a Thunderbird.  But there are two kinds – one more eerie and dangerous than the other.

There were real, live Thunderbirds back in the days when man was much more hairy than he is today.  As evolution began the gradual removal of the hair and fur of mankind, the giant beasts died off. 

Those early Thunderbirds (also known as ‘Teratorns’) were fearsome creatures weighing more than 30 pounds with wingspans close to 20 feet.  Partial remains of the mammoth flying creatures who lived 8000 years ago, have been recovered from the fames Labrea Tar Pits in the Western United States. Scientists report that despite their bulk, there is no doubt about their flying abilities.  Even the largest species which had a wingspan of some 26 feet, could take to the air after a few springing jumps. 





Nobu Tamaru's drawing of a Teratorn





The real life Thunderbirds were not a threat to humans.  They were vulture like, pouncing down on their prey and swallowing it whole.  Creatures up to rabbit size and even a little bigger, were the favoured food of the winged wonders of ancient history.



The second type of Thunderbird, the one known in the mythology of The Wampanoag people and other tribes of the United States, is a far more fearsome and dangerous predator than the actual giant birds that flew in the skies over what was to become the United States for many thousands of years before going extinct

The Wampanoag people, who lived in what is now called Southeastern Massachusetts, believed that the Thunderbirds were supernatural creatures of great strength and ability.  They could create thunder by flapping their giant wings and cast lightning-bolts from the claws of their huge feet.

Their shape appeared to be a form of the letter “X” to the people of the tribe.  The example shown has a French caption referring to a ‘marque mal’ which translates to a ‘bad mark’.  





In recent times there have been reports of Thunderbirds attacking humans and even carrying them off in flight after digging their claws deeply into a person’s body.

From Illinois comes this report:

Inside her home while doing her housework a mother heard noise outside.  She dashed outside and was startled to see a pair of massive Thunderbirds flying wing to wing chasing after her son.  She ran to the boy’s aid but before she could reach him one the birds succeeded in sinking its claws into the shoulders of the 56-pound youth and lifted him off his feet, into the air.

The mother kept chasing after the bird, which reportedly dropped the boy after a flight of about 10 yards.  The birds ran off, apparently in fear of the Mom’s terrible wrath.

This account is part of a series of articles about a strange, beautiful area of the United States – a pocket of about 200 square miles in Southeastern Massachusetts. Researchers claim it is a hotspot of paranormal activities.  Other articles in this collection appear under the same heading, or a similar one:  Eerie Creatures of the Haunted Bridgewater Triangle.












Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Boston Red Sox Bring Back Vaudeville and Shatter the L.A. Dodgers






Boston Red Sox Bring Back Vaudeville 
and Shatter the L.A. Dodgers
by Bill Russo Oct. 24, 2018


The Keith Theater near Boston Common



The Red Sox were supposed to play game one of the 2018 World Series last night in Fenway Park but somehow found themselves in Bigtime Vaudeville at the 1894 Keith Theater on Washington Street in downtown Boston. 

The packed house was treated to a great opening act, the Betts-Benintendi-Martinez trio. The three lads conjured up a stunning magic trick when they reached behind the ears of a bystander named Clayton Kerhshaw and came up with a gleaming pair of golden coins.

Act Two on the Bill was a little strange.  A tall, lanky fellow walked to center stage and did an imitation of Chris Sale for a brief time.  It was not a perfect likeness but still was well received.

J.D. Martinez appeared next for Act Three as part of a duet with Steve Pearce, a veteran performer who has played all the Big Time Theaters from New York to Toronto.  Their short act added another gold coin to the pile.

Throughout the evening’s entertainment Andy Benintendi kept coming on stage and to the great appreciation of the assembly, channelled the Boston Bruins as he performed a Hockey Hat Trick Plus One.  

“A spectacular performance,” said one critic.

The show continued for nine fabulous acts and space does not permit a full review.  The highlight of the entire entertainment was a substitute act – not even listed on the bill.

“Noonie the Magnificent” appeared from nowhere with an amazing feat of prestidigitation that shocked the entire audience and produced three more golden coins from thin air.

Though the performances were long and lasted late into the night, the 37,000 fans assembled in the old Keith Theater wanted more.  It truly was Vaudeville worth leaving home for.

Eager patrons will get another chance to see the performers again tonight at eight.  It’s hard to imagine a show as great as that of Tuesday night, but these 2018 Red Sox are magicians and can do anything – even transform Fenway Park into the 1894 Big Time Keith Theater on Washington Street in Boston.


Monday, October 22, 2018

The All Time Number One Scariest Movie to Watch This Halloween


The All Time Number One Scariest 
Movie to Watch This Halloween
by Bill Russo




The two most outstanding features of Halloween to me are pumpkins and haunted houses.  Pumpkins are fun and decorative, but haunted houses are much more interesting to those of us who love writing and film.  The number of novels and movies about pumpkins is quite small – but the horrors of eerie mansions are as common as Trick or Treat candies.




Here are my three nominees for 
the greatest haunted house films of all time. 



 Number three is “The Conjuring”,

 a 2013 movie that grossed over $300 million on a budget of just $20 million.  The story is about real life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren who travel to Rhode Island to aid a family who have moved into a farmhouse in Rhode Island.  Bad things happen almost immediately and as they escalate the family contacts the Warrens who agree to come to the house to investigate the phenomena. The success of the first film quickly led to a Conjuring Two and the third film in the series is currently in production.




My second favorite pick for Halloween viewing, Poltergeist,



 is a work that resulted from the 1982 odd-couple pairing of Texas Chainsaw Massacre guru Tobe Hooper and Stephen Spielberg, who created E.T., in the same year.  Spielberg conceived, wrote and produced Poltergeist and wanted to direct it – but was not allowed to do so because of a clause in his E.T. contract.  He selected Hooper and the resulting film became a massive hit.  It was the eighth highest Box Office success of 1982. 

The number one project of the year was Spielberg’s E.T. which passed Star Wars as the highest grossing motion picture of all time, selling over $600 million dollars worth of tickets.  When it was released as a VHS tape, it did $250 million in sales and untold millions more in video rentals (remember those?)

As for Poltergeist, the story of a young family visited by ghosts in their home; the film spawned at least three sequels, and holds up very well as a treat for Halloween season viewing.


The Scariest of them All....



My top pick for October 31st chills is Stephen King’s story of a haunted hotel, ‘The Shining’.  There are many great chills in the film but for me the crowing moment is Jack Nicholson’s classic,“Here’s Johnny”.  According to one study, 10,000 people were polled and they voted ‘Here’s Johnny’, the number one scariest film scene ever. 




Whatever you watch this October, I hope you enjoy it and have pleasant dreams – no nightmares please!



 -0-

Saturday, October 20, 2018

How Women Over Fifty Can Benefit From Doing Pirates




How Women Over the Age of 50 
Can Benefit from Doing Pirates


Doing Pirates gets you involved in a type of exercise that is designed to increase the strength and flexibility of your core muscles.  The beauty of Pirates is that they can be done by just about anyone at any fitness level.  Pirates can be done anywhere.

Pirates are not just for the young, athletic woman.  Because they don’t put undue strain on the heart, Pirates can safely be done by older people, including women over the age of 50 years.  Pirates can improve the health of women over 50 and doesn’t take a heavy toll on the body.  

Why Pirates are Good for You

There are many reasons why Pirates can be good for women over the age of 50 years of age.  Some of these benefits include the following:

·         Pirates involve you in an invigorating mind-body workout. 

·         Pirates help you develop strong core muscles. Pirates can help you find integration 
between your pelvis, trunk, and shoulder muscles so that they function as a strong unit. 

·         Pirates helps increase flexibility and allows your muscles to lengthen. With Pirates your muscles will become more elastic and you will have increased flexibility of your joints. When you achieve these kinds of muscles, you are less likely to become injured. 

·         Pirates can help you prevent muscle injuries and can improve your performance in other sports. 

·         Pirates condition the entire body. In doing Pirates, you strengthen not only your core muscles but also strengthen the muscles of your extremities.  When you do Pilates, you can function better in daily living and will be better at sports with a decreased chance of becoming injured while doing other types of sports. 

·         Pirates helps you move with better efficiency.  When you do Pirates, you train many different muscles at the same time.  

·         As you can see, Doing Pirates is an activity with many benefits for women over 50.  You can do Pirates every day with a low risk of suffering from any kind of overuse injury to your muscles. 

Ladies, I beg your pardon.  I mis-typed portions of this article because my letter  “L” wasn’t working.  Every time I tried to type “L”, the computer came up with an “R”.   I’m sorry that I do not have time to retype this article right now.  For the correct version just substitute L every time you see the word PIRATES.  The computer was supposed to type the word PILATES.
OOPS!


Thursday, October 18, 2018

The Weird Creatures of the Eerie Bridgewater Triangle – Thunderbirds





The Weird Creatures of the Eerie Bridgewater Triangle – Thunderbirds





What is the Bridgewater Triangle?

A group of 17 towns and cities in Southeastern Massachusetts in the New England region of the United States. The area has seen massive amounts of hauntings, UFO sightings, ghastly creatures, and satanic cult activity dating back to colonial times.

When the Europeans first came to America, they killed off millions of Native Americans with two things they carried with them: muskets and diseases.  The indigenous people had few defenses for either one.  With his dying breath one of the Wampanoag chiefs cast a perpetual curse on both the people and the land of the Bridgewater Triangle.  Some researchers believe that might be the reason for the spate of problems that have plagued the region for the last four hundred years!





Thunderbirds



I’ve often said that I lived in the Bridgewater Triangle for over a decade without realizing there were scary creatures in it until I met one – a Puckwudgie in 1990.  When I made that comment in the 2013 film, The Bridgewater Triangle Documentary, I forgot that years earlier I knew an area police officer who had a scary scrape with a giant winged beast that may have been a Thunderbird.

As editor of a suburban newspaper in the 1970s my duties included checking the daily police logs of area communities for possible news items.  As part of my job, I spoke to, and interviewed many police officers and knew quite a few of them by sight and exchanged hellos with them.  One of those policemen was Sergeant Thomas Downy of the Norton, Massachusetts Police Department.

A hard working, veteran police officer who did his job well, Officer Downy would have retired respected and unknown, but for one early morning incident in the summer of 1971 on Bird Hill at the edge of the haunted Hockomock Swamp.  The Sergeant completed his shift in Norton and left the station and was driving through neighboring Mansfield to get to his home, one town further up the road in Easton.

It was well after midnight when he reached Bird Hill, near his house.  Appropriately, or perhaps ironically, the Sergeant saw a bird – a massive creature with a wingspan far larger than the width of a police car.  He later said that the enormous flying thing dropped down to the pavement and towered two or three feet above the roof of his car – making it at least six feet tall.  The wingspan of the Pterodactyl-like creature was estimated to be ten to 12 feet.

Sgt. Downy stopped his vehicle at an intersection and studied the strange winged giant.  Flapping its massive wings, the gigantic bird flew straight up and over the trees before it disappeared into the darkness of the Hockomock Swamp.  When he got home he thought about what he saw for a moment or two and reported it to the Easton Police.

A car was dispatched but after a check of the area, no giant bird was spotted.  In the following days, we of the area news media reported the sighting merely as a routine ‘blotter’ item - no hoopla, buzz or sensationalism.  Though Sergeant Downy was kidded about the encounter, most people who knew him, regarded him as a serious individual not prone to making up stories and not one who would make false claims about what he saw.

Within a few weeks the whole episode was pretty much forgotten by the residents of Mansfield, Norton, and Easton.  But over the years as more and more paranormal incidents were reported in these towns, people started pressing Sergeant Downy for more information.  After literally hundreds of queries from individuals from all walks of life, including the news media, Officer Downy said “Enough - no more” and refused further comments.  As far as I know he stopped talking about the big bird in the 1980s and never made a single additional statement. 

What was that brobdingnagian flyer? The easy answer is that Officer Downy saw a Thunderbird.  But there are two kinds – one more eerie and dangerous than the other.

There were real, live Thunderbirds back in the days when man was much more hairy than he is today.  As evolution began the gradual removal of the hair and fur of mankind, the giant beasts died off. 

Those early Thunderbirds (also known as ‘Teratorns’) were fearsome creatures weighing more than 30 pounds with wingspans close to 20 feet.  Partial remains of the mammoth flying creatures who lived 8000 years ago, have been recovered from the fames Labrea Tar Pits in the Western United States. Scientists report that despite their bulk, there is no doubt about their flying abilities.  Even the largest species which had a wingspan of some 26 feet, could take to the air after a few springing jumps. 





Nobu Tamaru's drawing of a Teratorn





The real life Thunderbirds were not a threat to humans.  They were vulture like, pouncing down on their prey and swallowing it whole.  Creatures up to rabbit size and even a little bigger, were the favoured food of the winged wonders of ancient history.



The second type of Thunderbird, the one known in the mythology of The Wampanoag people and other tribes of the United States, is a far more fearsome and dangerous predator than the actual giant birds that flew in the skies over what was to become the United States for many thousands of years before going extinct

The Wampanoag people, who lived in what is now called Southeastern Massachusetts, believed that the Thunderbirds were supernatural creatures of great strength and ability.  They could create thunder by flapping their giant wings and cast lightning-bolts from the claws of their huge feet.

Their shape appeared to be a form of the letter “X” to the people of the tribe.  The example shown has a French caption referring to a ‘marque mal’ which translates to a ‘bad mark’.  





In recent times there have been reports of Thunderbirds attacking humans and even carrying them off in flight after digging their claws deeply into a person’s body.

From Illinois comes this report:

Inside her home while doing her housework a mother heard noise outside.  She dashed outside and was startled to see a pair of massive Thunderbirds flying wing to wing chasing after her son.  She ran to the boy’s aid but before she could reach him one the birds succeeded in sinking its claws into the shoulders of the 56-pound youth and lifted him off his feet, into the air.

The mother kept chasing after the bird, which reportedly dropped the boy after a flight of about 10 yards.  The birds ran off, apparently in fear of the Mom’s terrible wrath.

This account is part of a series of articles about a strange, beautiful area of the United States – a pocket of about 200 square miles in Southeastern Massachusetts. Researchers claim it is a hotspot of paranormal activities.  Other articles in this collection appear under the same heading, or a similar one:  Eerie Creatures of the Haunted Bridgewater Triangle. 
Join me for more stories from the Triangle at Adventures in Type and Space: https://billrrrrr.blogspot.com/












Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Where is the Wreckage of the "Titanic of New England"?





Where is the Wreckage of the ‘Titanic of New England’?

By Bill Russo



There is no denying that the side-wheeler, “The Portland” went to the bottom of the turbulent North Atlantic Ocean.  There’s also no doubt that all hands were lost – some fifty crewmen and as many as 200 passengers.



Further, there is no argument about the date of the tragedy.  On 27 November, 1898 the vessel fought a losing battle with a massive Northeaster that crippled most land based activities, claimed at least 400 souls, and destroyed 150 ships – the largest of which was The Portland, powered by a 1200 horse-power steam engine. The craft was capable of transporting more than 200 passengers and plied the waters between Boston and Portland for nine years from her launching in 1889 until her sinking.







The mystery of the “Titanic of New England” is that she seems to have sunk in two separate places!  According to Wikipedia, she was lost off the rocky coastline of Cape Ann in Northern Massachusetts, about 30 miles East of Boston. The premiere online news and information site further claims that divers have found the location of the wreckage, and that the site has been confirmed by the scientific agency NOAA.



I have however discovered credible accounts that say that the ship actually sunk in Nantucket Sound, off the Cape Cod village of Truro.  The town of 2,000 people has some of the nation’s finest beaches, but the water is cold and the waves are often very large.  Its waters were shark infested in 2018 resulting in the death of one man who succumbed to injuries suffered after being bitten by a Great White.



From news accounts more than 120 years old here is what I found, starting off with the newspaper headline:



1898 – ‘THE PORTLAND SUNK’; 118 LIVES LOST. STEAMER FROM BOSTON WRECKED SUNDAY OFF CAPE COD. WENT DOWN IN THE STORM.



Boston, Mass., Nov. 29. - The steamer Portland, bound from Boston to Portland, went down off Truro, on the outside of Cape Cod, Sunday morning. Every man, woman, and child on board at the time of the disaster was drowned, in all 118. 


NONE LIVES TO TELL.


“The Portland left Boston on Saturday evening and was last seen afloat by a fisherman in the vicinity of Thacher's Island several hours later. Nobody knows what happened in the awful hours on the angry sea which followed, and the lips that might tell the tale are sealed in death.

The surmise is that with the wind blowing a gale at the rate of seventy miles an hour, a rate which has never been equaled except once before in the written history of weather along this coast, with the waves running to mighty heights, the steamer became disabled and was swept by the raging seas across the entrance to Massachusetts Bay and down upon the graveyard of Cape Cod. The Portland, with its side paddlewheels and large exposure of hull, must have been smashed by the seas and rolled by the mad waves, and at last foundered in the height of the gale Sunday morning.

-0-

It took nearly a day and a half for the news of the disaster to get from Truro to Boston, a distance of 106 miles. A courier on horseback struggled through the wreckage of downed telegraph wires and over the tracks of the railroads which were blockaded by massive snow drifts.



The newspaper report continued with a partial listing of passengers and crew that were known to be on board the doomed ship.  It further stated that as of date of publication, two days after the disaster, 34 bodies had been tossed from the sea to the soft sand of the Truro Beaches.



Bolstering the claim that the Portland met its fate off Cape Cod, is a report in a 1940s book by Edward Rose Snow that says the wreckage of the ship was found near Race Point in Provincetown, just a few miles from Truro.



Where did the Portland really sink?  Was it Cape Cod, where it was tossed like flotsam during the storm?  After the storm, did the sea push the wreckage like jetsam across the ocean bottom some 100 miles towards Gloucester?



 If I find any answers, I’ll update this post.  Thanks for reading.



 P.S. Here’s a little bit of an ironic conclusion to this article.  Note the following illustration of The Portland, which was called “The Titanic of New England”. The drawing is by Samuel Ward Stanton.  He died a few years later.  He was a passenger on the Titanic. 



Important Update
with information from the
U.S. National Archives

Confirmation that Cape Cod was the  location where 'The Portland' sank has been discovered in a report from the Independent Agency of the United States Government, The National Archives and Records Administration (known as the National Archives)

Quoting directly the document states: "There are recoreds related to the Potland in the Life Saving Service Station logs along the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  

These provide information on the aftermath of the storm, noting the bodies and artifacts washed ashore. At the Cahoon's Hollow Station, on November 28,1898, the body of George Graham, a Negro, washed ashore.  He is identified by name in the log entry and he is the only crew member whose body was identified at the time of recovery."

The Cahoon Hollow station, near the nationally known beach with the same name, operated in Cape Cod from 1872 into the 1900s.  The keeper of the Station in 1898 was Daniel Cole who served from 1879 to 1905. It was Mr. Cole who filed the first reports of the Portland victims washing ashore on the Cape Cod beaches.

The fact that the bodies washed ashore in Cape Cod certainly proves that the ship met disaster in Cape Cod waters.  It would have been virtually impossible for the ship to have been destroyed in Cape Ann waters and have the lifeless forms of the crew and passengers drift all the way to Cape Cod.

Somewhere along the line, a reporter or clerk preparing a report must have typed Cape Ann - instead of Cape Cod, into a document.  Without checking, others repeated the mistake until it 'seemingly' became a fact.

The above information  certainly seems to be correct but it does not explain the so-called 'discovery of the wreck' off Cape Ann.

-0-













The Weird Creatures of the Eerie Bridgewater Triangle - The Puckwudgie



IN THE WOODS.  Listen to the Lore Podcast for a fascinating take on
Bill Russo's meeting with a fuzzy creature from the Bridgewater Triangle. Or watch
his-in person account in the Bridgewater Triangle Documentary on Prime.


The Weird Creatures of the Bridgewater Triangle
by Bill Russo




Eerie Creatures of the Haunted Bridgewater Triangle


What is the Bridgewater Triangle?
A group of 17 towns and cities in Southeastern Massachusetts in the New England region of the United States. The area has seen massive amounts of hauntings, UFO sightings, ghastly creatures, and satanic cult activity dating back to colonial times.
When the Europeans first came to America, they killed off millions of Native Americans with two things they carried with them: muskets and diseases.  The indigenous people had few defenses for either one.  With his dying breath one of the Wampanoag chiefs cast a perpetual curse on both the people and the land of the Bridgewater Triangle.  Some researchers believe that might be the reason for the spate of problems that have plagued the region for the last four hundred years!

The Puckwudgie
It’s said that there are many weird and dangerous things in the Triangle, but I can only vouch for one, the Puckwudgie. It was only half my size and kind of looked like a living, oddly shaped stuffed animal – but I ran from it.  In doing so, I believe I saved my life.  Before I tell you about it, let me set the stage.  In the 1990s I lived in Raynham, a quiet residential community of Southern Massachusetts. The village was so peaceful the Police Department didn’t even have a second shift.  The occasional call for the authorities was relayed to the neighboring city of Taunton.  The Taunton cops handled any overnight summons from Raynham and most nights there weren’t any.
I was working a second shift job from 3:30 to midnight.  As soon as I got home after work the first thing I did was to take a walk with my best pal Samantha; a gentle 80-pound mix of Rottweiler and Shepherd who thought she was a lap dog.   
Sammy and I ventured out every night summer and winter. My home was at the edge of the Hockomock Swamp, an especially active part of the triangle with a great many paranormal sightings and reports. At the time, I had never heard of the Bridgewater Triangle and certainly had no idea there were ghastly, fearsome creatures in it until I met one.
On the night that singular incident happened, the walk had been pleasant and uneventful.  We traipsed through woods near an old ironworks that operated continuously from the 1700s up to the early 1900s.  Skirting around a small pond where an ominous, towering pile of fishbones was mounded five feet high at the water’s edge, we left the Forest and got back on the sidewalk, about a half mile from home.
Not a single light shone in any house, the hard-working people of Raynham were usually fast asleep before Johnny Carson began entertaining the rest of America with his ‘Tonight Show’.  The tree lined streets were empty.  No cars would be on the asphalt until about 5:30 in the morning when the newspaper delivery people began their rounds distributing fresh copies of the morning newspaper.
Sammy started whimpering and pulling on her leash when we were only a few hundred feet from my house.  Acting terrified she strained and struggled to get loose.  I never knew that canine to be afraid of anything, but suddenly she was petrified.
“What’s wrong Sam?  What’s the matter baby?”
I finally heard what her sharper ears had caught several moments before mine were able to.
“Keer.  Keer. Ee wan chu,” came the high-pitched cry of some unseen thing.  “Keer. Keer.  Ee wan chu,” it repeated.  Over and over, it whined the same unintelligible garble.  Keer, keer. Ee wan Chu.”
A street lamp just in front of us broke the darkness by casting a bright circle of light on the street.  Suddenly the creature strode into it, walking upright.   About three feet tall, it was covered in fur about one inch in length with bright eyes a little bit too big for its face.  The thing stopped in the middle of the illuminated area. Raising its arm in a beckoning motion, it began waving a paw/hand. Looking directly at me, more intensely it implored; “Keer. Keer.  Ee wan chu. Chu.  Ee wan chu!”
It didn’t look especially frightening.  It was short, had the beginnings of a pot belly, had no fangs or visible claws and certainly weighed less than a hundred pounds. It made no threatening gestures.  The beast stood its ground. but made no move towards us. It kept motioning for me to come closer. I would have.  I’m pretty sure I would have – except for Sammy.  Dogs have some kind of a sixth sense and Samantha sensed that this furry little thing was evil.  After a minute or so I bowed to her judgement and retreated in a hasty walk, that nearly became a full-bore run.
Back at home, I made a pot of coffee and sat in my dining room drinking cup after cup.  Occasionally, I’d snuff out the lights and peer through the windows to see if the thing was outside, trying to get in.  It wasn’t.  I didn’t see it again that night, nor have I seen it since.
“Keer, Keer.  Ee wan chu.”
That’s what the furry little thing said.  It almost looked half human when it spoke and as I considered it, the words seemed to change.  Keer – near - mere – here .  Come here!  Keer could have been a jumbled version of ‘come here’. As I put more thought into it, I suspected that the thing was trying to speak English.
What about Ee wan chu?  Could it have meant ‘We want you’.  Was the little creature some sort of a scout for a humanoid tribe? Was it saying “Come here. Come here, we want you”.  I now believe exactly that.  The creature from the Bridgewater Triangle was trying to summon me to him.  But was it merely for the chance to talk with a ‘human’ or did it have a far more evil idea in its shaggy head?
After speaking with some experts in the paranormal community, in particular, the researcher Andrew Lake, I became convinced that what I saw was indeed a Puckwudgie.    According to those who believe, Pukwudgies have the ability to appear and disappear at will, lure people to tragic deaths, use evil magic, launch poison arrows, and create fire from their fingertips.
The people of the Wampanoag and other Native American groups say that Pukwudgies were once friendly with the ‘people’ (The Native American groups), but then turned against them and are now sworn enemies of all human beings. If they succeed in luring a person into coming within arm’s reach they can pitch sand into the person’s eyes causing blindness.  They can grasp the hapless victims and carry them to the edge of a cliff where they gleefully push them over the side. With tiny spears or knives, they can torture their prey, or maim and even kill their captives.
I told my wife and a few other people about what happened and then pretty much forgot about it for years.  In 2010, after I retired I wrote about the eerie adventure in my blog and movie producer Aaron Cadieux read it and contacted me.  He explained that he and co-producer Manny Famolare were doing a documentary on the Bridgewater Triangle and asked if I would appear on camera and tell my story.
The film, the Bridgewater Triangle Documentary was released in 2013 and won a number of awards. It had success in a limited theatrical run followed by showings on national TV and on Amazon Prime, where it is currently available.   
My part in the movie lasts about five minutes and has been well received.  It led to other appearances including one episode of Monsters and Mysteries in America on Discovery’s Destination American channel. 

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This account is part of a series of articles about a strange, beautiful area of the United States – a pocket of about 200 square miles in Southeastern Massachusetts. Researchers claim it is a hotspot of paranormal activities.  Other articles in this collection appear under the same heading, or one similar to it, : The Eerie Creatures of the Haunted Bridgewater Triangle. 

Join me for more stories at 
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Monday, October 15, 2018

The Eerie Creatures of the Haunted Bridgewater Triangle - The UFOs







Eerie Creatures of the Haunted Bridgewater Triangle - UFOs


What is the Bridgewater Triangle?
A group of 17 towns and cities in Southeastern Massachusetts in the New England region of the United States. The area has seen massive amounts of hauntings, UFO sightings, ghastly creatures, and satanic cult activity dating back to colonial times.
When the Europeans first came to America, they killed off millions of Native Americans with two things they carried with them: muskets and diseases.  The indigenous people had few defenses for either one.  With his dying breath one of the Wampanoag chiefs cast a perpetual curse on both the people and the land of the Bridgewater Triangle.  Some researchers believe that might be the reason for the spate of problems that have plagued the region for the last four hundred years!

The UFO Sightings
Appropriately the very first recorded UFO sighting in the Bridgewater Triangle was in Bridgewater itself.  The whole town got excited one morning when a strange vibrating noise was heard in the sky.  Bewilderment from that racket was soon forgotten when something even more astounding happened.  A hulking, glowing white sphere floated between the clouds.  From the phantom orb, a great light shined down upon the village.  The rays emitted by the sphere were so strong that they cast shadows upon the roadways, though they were already bathed in full sun.  

No, it was not an airplane or a satellite, for such things had not been invented when this sighting took place. It was more than 300 years ago in 1710. The object was viewed by many people. The phenomenon was duly recorded in the Boston News-Letter, the first newspaper in the British Colonies of the New World, which began publication in 1704.

The most famous and credible UFO sightings in the triangle are much more recent.  Some of the newer sightings were in the sky above Raynham, a town that shares a border with Bridgewater.  

Hundreds of people near the Raynham Dog Racing track reported seeing a bright light in the sky moving across the night sky in 1979.  What bolsters the credence of this sighting is that two of the observers were respected, veteran newsmen from Boston radio station WHDH.
  
Both men still work in broadcasting.  Steve Sbraccia is currently a reporter for a major TV outlet in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Jerry Lopes is president of a radio network.  Back in 1979 they worked together at WHDH.

One night they were driving back from an assignment when they spotted something in the sky near the race track, which is near the paranormal hotspot, the Hockomock Swamp. They got out of the car.  Other cars had pulled over and people were looking up at the strange light in the sky.

In the Bridgewater Triangle Documentary film, Steve Sbraccia said,
“we saw this, this thing coming at us with this very bright light….it passed directly overhead. It was as big as three Boeing 707s, wingtip to wingtip. It hovered for a couple of minutes, and then it took off.”

Steve said the object was shaped like home plate on a baseball field.  He saw it two more times in two other locations.  Newspaper reports in the Brockton Enterprise and other outlets confirmed that many people had seen the UFOs and their description matched that provided by Steve and Jerry. 

Though I saw a Puckwudgie in the same area, I have never seen a UFO.  One of my sons however, has seen eerie tree lighting in the woods surrounding a pond at the edge of the swamp.

He said that on three separate occasions he has been in the woods at night and seen whole sections of the trees glowing with an eerie white light.  Not bright, the illumination was faint.  He said they looked like giant glow sticks using up the last of their energy.  They had a dim but discernable light. One tree, he said, might not even have been noticeable, but when 75 or a hundred trees have the same dim glow, it’s very unsettling.

In the daylight he examined the trees to see if they had moss or lichen that could have been the reason for their illumination.  There was however, no moss on the trees and no rational explanation for the glowing effect – except for the fact that they are growing and glowing in “The Bridgewater Triangle”. 

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