Вермонттың жұмбақ үшбұрышы

Area in the U. S. state of Vermont

"Bennington Triangle" is a phrase coined by American author Joseph A. Citro to denote an area of southwestern Vermont within which a number of people went missing between 1945 and 1950. This was further popularized in two books, including Shadow Child, in which Citro devoted chapters to discussion of these disappearances and various items of folklore surrounding the area. According to Citro, the area shares characteristics with the Bridgewater Triangle in Southeastern Massachusetts. Precisely what area is encompassed in this hypothetical "mystery triangle" is not clear, but it is purportedly centered on Glastenbury Mountain and would include some or most of the area of the towns immediately surrounding it, especially Bennington, Woodford, Shaftsbury, and Somerset. Glastenbury and its neighboring township Somerset were both once moderately thriving logging and industrial towns, but began declining toward the late 19th century and are now essentially ghost towns, unincorporated by an act of the Vermont General Assembly in 1937. According to Citro's books, stories of strange happenings had been told about Glastonbury and the surrounding area for many years, the best known of which is probably that of the disappearance of Paula Jean Welden.

Between 1945 and 1950, five people disappeared in the area surrounding Bennington, Vermont. The first disappearance occurred on November 12, 1945, when 74 year old Middie Rivers disappeared while out hunting, in the vicinity of Long Trail Road and Vermont Route 9. Rivers was on a weekend hunting trip with four other hunters up the mountains. The morning of November 12, 1945, Rivers and his son in law, Joe Lauzon, were walking together before reaching a fork. Rivers and Lauzon would separate here with Rivers telling Lauzon he'd "only be going a short distance" before he would join them at camp for lunch. As 3 pm had come and gone, the rest of the hunting party would begin searching before getting authorities. An extensive search was conducted, but the only evidence discovered was a single rifle cartridge that was found in a stream. The speculation was that Rivers had leaned over and the cartridge had dropped out of his pocket into the water. Rivers was an experienced outdoorsman who was familiar with the local area.

Paula Jean Welden, aged 18, disappeared on December 1, 1946. Welden, a sophomore at Bennington College, had set out for a hike on the Long Trail. Many saw her depart, including Ernest Whitman, a Bennington Banner employee who gave her directions. She was not wearing a jacket during her journey; it was 50 °F outside, later dropping to 9 °F. Welden was alleged to have been seen on the trail itself by an elderly couple who were about behind her. According to them, she turned a corner in the trail, and when they reached the same corner she had disappeared. An extensive search was conducted, which included the posting of a $5,000 reward and help from the FBI, but no evidence of her was ever found. Welden's disappearance was the inspiration for the 1951 novel Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson.

James E. Tedford, a veteran, allegedly went missing on December 1, 1949, three years to the day after Welden was last seen. Tedford, a resident of the Bennington Soldiers' Home, had been in St. Albans visiting relatives and was accompanied to a local bus station, which was the last location where he was seen. According to witnesses, Tedford got on the bus and was still aboard at the last stop before arriving in Bennington. Somewhere between the last stop and Bennington, he vanished. His belongings were still in the luggage rack and an open bus timetable was on his vacant seat. Tony Jinks discusses this claim, saying that "The popular conception is that he vanished into thin air while on the bus, but like many missing person stories there's a gap between when he was last seen and when he was reported missing a week or so later. Regarding Tedford's disappearance, there's enough evidence to suggest he didn’t "dematerialize,” even though no trace of him was ever found."

On October 12, 1950, Paul "Buddy" Jepson, a special needs child aged 8, had accompanied his mother on an errand. She left her son unattended in the cab of their truck for about an hour while she fed some pigs. When she returned, her son was nowhere in sight. A bloodhound tracked the boy along a logging road to an intersection of backroads near a stream. Or, according to local legend, where Welden had disappeared four years earlier. No cause of death could be determined because of the condition of her remains. No direct connections have been identified that tie these cases together, other than the general geographic area and time period. The Bennington Triangle was featured as one of the haunted locations in the paranormal TV series Most Terrifying Places in America which aired on the Travel Channel in 2018. The episode, title "Unnatural World" told the stories about the reportedly missing persons in a five year span, and local lore of the "Bennington Monster", a Bigfoot like creature that supposedly roams these wooded areas. The Bennington Triangle is discussed in Episode 374 of the podcast My Favorite Murder. The episode aired on April 13, 2023. Robert Singley, a 27 year old Bennington College student got lost in Bennington Triangle but found safe by Vermont State Police in 2008. The Bennington Triangle is discussed in Episode 11, Cursed, of the podcast Scared to Death by Dan Cummins.