The Bridgewater Triangle Casebook - The Puckwudgie

The Bridgewater Triangle Casebook:

 The Puckwudgie

by Bill Russo

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 many thousands 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 well known researcher Andrew Lake, of Rehoboth, Mass., 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.

When Destination America featured me in a segment of Monsters and Mysteries in America, they used a heavily made up actor in an elaborate costume to portray the creature that I saw.

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 talented Boston artist John Geig was one of the illustrators of the Bridgewater Triangle Documentary.  The producers showed me a number of pictures that were drawn based on my description of what I saw.  John Geig nailed it 100 per cent.  Magically, he drew what I saw as if he had seen it himself.  This photo is used with the kind permission of Mr. Geig. 

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.   The film continues to be a success on prime, five years after its release, with many millions of viewing minutes being streamed every month or so.

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. My story was also featured in Season One, Episode 7 of Aaron Mahnke’s award winning series Lore – a podcast and a TV series on Amazon.  

Look for more unusual stories from the strange area of the Hockomock Swamp in The Bridgewater Triangle Casebook in Bill Russo's blog, Adventures in Type and Space.

-0-

Bill Russo is the author of both non-fiction and fiction books.  His work is available on all major online retailers.  Many of his books and short stories are free on Smashwords.  Bill is the producer of Short Story Theater, which has produced 39 of his stories as dramatic audio productions.  They are all free on Spreaker, and all other podcast sites.