The Confessionals - 726: The Bennington Triangle

Episode Date: January 28, 2025

In episode 726: The Bennington Triangle, Tony is joined by Derek Olson of Stargate Voyager to unravel the mysteries of The Bennington Triangle, one of the most bizarre and unsettling locations in America. From five unexplained disappearances in just five years to Bigfoot-like creatures, eerie lights, and a legendary rock that swallows people whole, this conversation digs deep into centuries of paranormal activity in Vermont’s Glastonbury Mountains. Derek shares shocking historical accounts of mysterious vanishings, including those of a hunter who disappeared without a trace, a man who vanished from a moving bus, and an eight-year-old child whose last words hinted at something calling him to the mountains. They also discuss ancient megalithic structures, eerie geomagnetic anomalies, and whether The Bennington Triangle could be a paranormal vortex or even a portal.If you love Missing 411 cases, ancient mysteries, and high strangeness, you won’t want to miss this episode on The Bennington Triangle!Become a member for ad-free listening, extra shows, and exclusive access to our social media app: theconfessionalspodcast.com/joinThe Confessionals Social Network App:Apple Store: https://apple.co/3UxhPrhGoogle Play: https://bit.ly/43mk8kZSasquatch and The Missing Man: merkelfilms.comMerkel Media Apparel: merkmerch.comSPONSORSSIMPLISAFE TODAY: simplisafe.com/confessionalsUNCOMMON GOODS: uncommongoods.com/tonyGHOSTBED: GhostBed.com/tonyCONNECT WITH USWebsite: www.theconfessionalspodcast.comEmail: [e-mail] ADDRESS:Merkel Media257 N. Calderwood St., #301Alcoa, TN 37701SOCIAL MEDIASubscribe to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/2TlREaIReddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/theconfessionals/Discord: https://discord.gg/KDn4D2uw7hShow Instagram: theconfessionalspodcastTony's Instagram: tonymerkelofficialFacebook: www.facebook.com/TheConfessionalsPodcasTwitter: @TConfessionalsTony's Twitter: @tony_merkelProduced by: @jack_theproducerDerek Olson:Website: https://megalithicmarvels.comInstagram: @stargatevoyagerYouTube: @Stargate_VoyagerOUTRO MUSICJoel Thomas - SpinningYouTube | Apple Music | Spotify

Hey, everybody, before we get to this week's show, I want to let you know we do have our own social media platform now exclusively available to members to the confessionalspodcast.com. You can socialize on all the weird topics you always wanted to talk about. Join groups, DM people have access to your own profile page where you can post your own stuff right there. Comment on episodes, comment on other people's comments, reply to people, repost things. It's a social media platform available to members to the confessionalspodcast.com. Download your app in the app store to Now let's get to today's show. Merkel. Media. This was all circulating around the base that a giant had to kill, but no one was supposed to talk about it. I saw three long, bony fingers, reach up underneath the door, curl up to grab it, and then disappear. When he came over to me, dude, he slithered over to me. And this giant comes out of the cave and they're all frozen.

and he starts running and firing at this giant. Well, the giant moves. He's got a spear in one hand, and he's running really fast. It spears, Dan, holds him up like this. Somebody else, shoot him in the face, shoot him in the face. They basically decapitated. I look over, and there are two, and they're literally, I'm getting pulled off the bed. It's pushed, and I touch air.

Couldn't breathe, and I couldn't move, because I know I'm seeing a monster. Welcome to the show, everybody, listening to The Confessionals Podcast. I'm your host, Tony Merkel. Thanks for being here. If you've a crazy, wild experience, you want to share with me on the show, go ahead and shoot me an email. My email address is contact at theconfessionalspodcast.com. That's contact at the confessionalspodcast.com. Or go to the website, the confessionalspodcast.com, hit the contact section, and you can reach me that way as well.

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Become a member today. The Confessionalspodcast.com slash join. Now, today we have Derek Olson coming on the show, and he is the host of Stargate Voyager, and he wants to talk about the Bennington Triangle today. We've heard of the Bermuda Triangle. We've heard of Alaskan Triangles. We've heard of the Tennessee Triangle.

We've talked about it on the show, but we've never talked about the Bennington Triangle, and he's going to break down this mysterious location in Vermont right now. All right, today we have Derek Olson on the show. Derek, how the freak are you, man? Tony, so good to see him, man. I'm great. I'm excited to be back with you. Your smile is just giving me energy now. Oh, that's great. That's great. Hey, listen, I don't, I don't always get a chance to talk to you, man. And every time I get to talk to you, I always walk away feeling just good. Like, I just, like, you're one of those people that, I think everybody has people like this in their life where, you know, you don't even have to know that. person real well. You walk away and you're just like, that's a good guy. You know, and that's how I always feel. So when I saw you on the schedule for this week, I was like, yep, this is going to be

a good one. I'm enjoying it already. But Derek, for people, because it's been a little while since you've been on the show. I think it's been about a year or so. Let people know who you are. I mean, like, you, you had an Instagram account. You still have it, but it was Megalithic Marvels and then the man started, you know, shadow banning you. But it, you had a lot of it. But it, you had a It is a huge account and you're doing some marvelous things over there. So tell us about yourself. Yeah. Yeah.

So I started out as Megalithic Marvels on Instagram. I had a blog back in the day. My YouTube channel is well. Everything was called Megalithic Marvels. I've since changed the name to Stargate Voyager. Yeah, there was some crazy censorship to hit me a couple years ago. And I might have overreacted in changing the name, trying to unlock my account on Instagram, basically. But so yeah, Stargay Voyager, but man, I'm just a guy that's always loved history, always been enamored by our ancient past, and always felt like there was so much more than they were telling us, if you know what I mean.

So, yeah, for me, it started years ago back in like 2016, I took a trip to Peru, got to see these megalis up close, and I was hooked, got to see the elongated skulls. And I just started to post about it on Instagram, post my pictures, and I was overwhelmed by the hunger for this stuff, right? And then so, yeah, since then, it's just like, man, this has been a fun ride. Stuff's grown and having fun with the podcast now. So I'm just trying to be like Tony. Oh, man, well, I'm trying to be like you. And like, if I had your YouTube numbers and Instagram, I'd be a happy camper. So, listen, man, the, um,

the YouTube channel I was looking at is awesome and it has a lot of great content on there. And I'm looking at the Instagram here. And I was telling you before we started, like your Instagram, I was, I was lacking words at first. I was, because I almost wanted to say ClickBee, but it's like, it's not ClickBade. What is it? It's Doom Scroll ability. Like if people are, you know, I don't know, sitting on the toilet or something and they're just like, they're bored and they want something to do, you go to Stargate Voyager and you just start doom scrolling on there because everything just grabs

you and just like, really? And that's, I almost missed our appointment because I was on your Instagram. I love it. Oh man, I'll tell you. So speaking of your Instagram and your podcast, Dargate Voyager and, you know, that you can find them on YouTube as well, your your most recent post or your second most recent post on your Instagram, I told you, because today I want to talk to you, we're going to talk about this, the Bennington triangle. And that's going to be a fun conversation. I've heard about the Bennington triangle, but I've never had anybody talk about it. But before we get into that, let's talk about, I think it's your most recent episode on your podcast. I don't know how to pronounce the last two words, but the first three is the wormhole of. And I'll let you fill in the rest.

But it seems like it's about some kind of like ancient serpent that these civilizations, you know, talked about or something? Yeah, this is a fascinating legend. And the video, I think, on YouTube and Spotify and the blog on Stargatevojure.com, it's called the legend of the Poldna Pais, which translates as the wormhole of Inismore. And this is a place in Ireland in Galway Bay on the Aran Islands, In Ishmur is the largest of these islands. And if you go there, you see this strange. site, which is this gigantic, which looks almost like a precision cut rectangle into the limestone

bedrock. And the locals call it the serpent's lair or the wormhole. And this relates to a legend of a reptilian sea monster from Golic folklore. And it's one of the most unusual sites that you'll see if you ever make it out to these islands. And this thing's like 82 feet long, 30 feet wide, 70 feet deep. Jeez. And it's basically a pool, right,

connected to the sea by underwater channels. If you see a drone shot of this site, you can see the ocean and then not far in. Literally looks like it's cut right into the limestone

is this giant rectangle. And there's so many legends relating to it. But this place is very enigmatic. Not far from it is some ancient megalithic structures called Dunangasa up on the cliff 300 feet high. And so it's by other

ancient sites. But when you look closely at it, it appears to have cuts on its seaward side. So the mainstream narrative is that this is just a natural pool created by millions of years of pounding waves that happen to make this perfectly precision rectangle. But when you dig into the legends. This again is related to a Golic folklore about this sea monster called the Pist or the Ali Pist, which was believed to be massive in length. It had scales, teeth, and it lived in lakes and rivers around Ireland and in bodies of water. And this thing was thought to be like this great serpent. And it was believed, according to some legends, that the wormhole was the passageway for this creature to transfer from land to sea. And some legends even hint that the ancient

locals would bring sacrificial offerings through the hole to appease the pious. And so the big question is, was it just a natural creation or was it crafted by the ancients? What do you think, I think it was crafted by the ancients. I think it was crafted by the ancient nephelum technology. I'm telling you, man. When I saw the rectangular hole, I was like, that is absolutely huge. And let me guess, mainstream science says that it's natural. And sure enough, that's what they say. I don't, I don't understand the, I don't understand the process, the thought process behind some of that. Because, you know, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for. claiming to be such highly intelligent people, they really stretch some really, like, their claims very far to prove a point that, uh, that we are the, the tip, the tip of the iceberg of civilization and, and genius. And there's never been any civilization before us that

has had any kind of remote technology like we have now. And, and forget about the supernatural aspect of it. And it's just like at some point, like, we can, can see it, but they don't see it, that they're doing like mental gymnastics just to get the, the, you know, the, the, the answer of one plus one equals five, you know, it's just like, it doesn't work that way. Yeah, that's the mainstream narrative for you. In every avenue it feels like, especially history, you know, it's like the further you look back, the more kick, everything was. And I believe the main goal is to just get us not to look back, because if we look back, we're going to ask questions.

And if we ask questions like, well, how are they precision cutting rose granite, which is an eight on the most skill of hardness, how are they doing that with rocks that are softer? That gets to questions they don't want us asking because then we're

going to ask, well, where's the technology today? Where'd it go? Right? Yeah, you start asking those questions and they're like, ah, drones, look at the drones in the sky, you know? California fires. Right. From coast to coast, we have anomalies.

Start looking inside the house. Don't look outside, guys. Yes, one after the other. It's like, man, the drones, it was all we were hearing, seeing, and they just vanished. Yeah. And now it's the fires. Yeah. Yeah.

No, it's, there's constant distraction. Sometimes the distraction is an actual thing happening that they elevate to levels it doesn't need to be just to distract you with it. And sometimes that distraction is absolutely manufactured. And we've seen it throughout history. And speaking of history, we have a place in Vermont that historically has had some really bizarre things happening. And it is known as the Bennington Triangle. I have never had anybody on the show talk about the Bennington Triangle. And from what I understand, there have.

been a lot of missing person cases that involve almost missing 411 vibes to paranormal explanations, to ancient folklore, to geomagnetic anomalies. Like, I've heard so many different things. What's your take on all this? This is a fascinating story, the Bennington Triangle, which that name was dubbed by an author back in the 90s who did some research and wrote a book that detailed, some of its crazy anomalies. But the more I looked into this, it was one of these things where, man, the deeper I researched.

And the deeper I researched, I was blown away by what makes this such a fascinating case to me is it's historical. And you got strange events happening back in the 1800s, mid-1800s that involves creatures, involves lights, involves murders. But then in the 1950s, you have a string of high-profile disappearances that all happened within a five-year period. And a lot of these disappearances involve several strange similarities between cases. And if that's not good enough for as sad as it was for the victims, there's also this ancient element that I can get to at the end that involves. mysterious stone structures on top of Glastonbury Mountain.

Wow. Wow. So when it comes to the Bennington triangle, what's the starting point? Is it the missing people cases or is it, you know, cases of people seeing, you know, these creatures or lights in the sky? Yeah, so the Bennington triangle, just for people who have never, you know, heard anything about this, this is in Vermont. It's Bennington County's an area in the southwest portion of the Glastonbury Mountain Foothills. And Glastonbury is a town. It was first established as a logging and mining town in the late 1700. So this is an old area. The logging and mining operations drew hundreds to reside in this area for a time period after the Civil War.

And in 1880, the town boasted a population of 241 people. So that was like a boom town back in the day. What's crazy is today it sits virtually abandoned. I guess as of the 2020 census, only nine people lived there. So what happened to Glastonbury? To answer this, we got to go way back in time, like I said, to the 1800s, where there's first reports of mysterious lights in the sky, sounds with no explanation.

And you'll love this. odd odors on the mountain that have these these have predated colonial settlements these legends and um a guy named joseph citro wrote a book in 96 called passing strange where he documents how the native americans themselves refused to set foot on glastonbury mountain unless they were burying their dead so according to him even the native americans don't want anything to do with this mountain. Now, you're going to love this, Tony. Legend has it that the forests of Glastonbury are home to what's referred to as the

Glastonbury Monster. And this is a hairy man-like creature who cryptozoologists believe could actually be an early an early version or siding of Bigfoot. And we actually have an account from the 1800s of a siding that took place of that this creature. And this was, again, in the 1800s, a group is traveling by way of stagecoach. They're on their way to Glastonbury. And they find out that the road leading into town is completely washed out. There's a lot of floods in this area. And so as this party is preparing to turn around the horses and the stagecoach to turn back, they begin to hear noises coming from

the forest. And suddenly this hairy creature or beast, or beast, if you want to call it, emerges. And it literally attacks the stage coach, knocking it over with force on its side before disappearing into the darkness. And so the travelers were left shocked and stunned. And so that's kind of the earliest strange phenomena we have. We don't know the exact year, but that happened in the 1800s. That's wild.

Is there any Is there any legend or connected to that of any kind of provoking this monster creature or was it just a random drive-by hit and hit and run? Yeah, it was like a hit and run.

Some reports said they saw eyes in the woods and then other reports said that once it knocked over the stage coach it let out a roar. But fortunately none of these pioneers or travelers were injured or killed. They were just left shocked and horrified. But the year of 1867 marks the first actual year that we have more bizarre reports coming from the area.

And this creature appeared to be different than the Glastonbury Monster. They dubbed it the Glastonbury Wild Man. And there was numerous reports of a. cave dwelling wild man who was known to terrorize women in town of Bennington and Glastonbury. And according to the reports, he would pull back his long coat exposing himself, if you know what I'm saying? Geez. While waving his rifle or pistol before running back into the forest to a cave near Somerset that he's supposed to live. So another weird report there.

And then in 1879, there's a report of two hunters who had an encounter with a strange creature in the mountains that appeared to look like a man with wild eyes, yet he was covered with hair from top to bottom. And as he began to approach the guys, they began to fire at it as they ran away. So maybe this was another encounter with the Glastonbury Monster, or was this the Glastonbury Wild Man who grew a bunch of. a hair years later. I wonder if there's... So you know how like you hear stories and you consider the idea of things being passed down over generations and the stories change a little bit. With what you're talking about, either way, it's kind of crazy.

And it makes you wonder which way could that have gone. Is it that the wild man is actually a big. Bigfoot that's kind of got passed down over time and watered down to, oh, it's just a man that's crazy? Or is the Bigfoot, the wild man, or they could be completely separate, but you know how this works? And it's just like, it makes you wonder. But the description of that wild man and revealing himself, especially with the weaponry,

I'm sure people could have a lot of fun with wondering when it comes to, watering down stories. It's like, was that really a rifle? Are you just happy to see me? Yeah, so we got this Glastonbury monster. We got the Glastonbury Wildman. But then we've got some murders that take place in the late 1800s. And so in 1892, the little town of Fayville in the Bennington triangle, a 38-year-old worker who worked for the Eagle Square sawmill named John Crowley was bludgeoned to death with a rock by fellow millworker Henry McDowell. And you can find old newspaper reports about this. So McDowell, the murderer, said he did it because he heard voices telling him to attack him. And so McDowell jumps on a train. He flees to Canada.

He later turns himself in, though, on the way to authorities in Connecticut. He confesses to the murder. And McDowell is declared insane. again after complaining of voices in his head. So a judge orders him to serve out his sentence in a Vermont state asylum. McDowell ends up escaping, conceals himself in a train car hauling coal, and he was never seen again. And many reports state that he ran into the Glastonbury Mountains to live the rest of his days. So again, a strange report there. This was an actual murder.

like I was hearing voices. And then in 1897, a few years later, after McDowell's escape, a second murder occurs in the Bennington Triangle. And it was the first day of Deer season. And 40-year-old John Harbor, a prominent Woodford citizen, set out to a place called Bickford Hollow, which would also become known as Hell Hollow. And this is on the long trail in Vermont, a famous trail. on a famous trail.

And he was, again, hunting, hoping to shoot a buck. Instead, he was found shot dead. His body was discovered. When his body was discovered, it appeared that he'd been dragged several yards, and he was left below a tree to bleed out. What's crazy is his fully loaded rifle was found right beside him. So that's another strange event that takes place in the 1800s. era of the Bennington triangle. So you got the murders of Crowley and Harbour and whispers of

the area being cursed began to emerge. The mining and timber areas began to wane, which caused many residents to move away. And so this town just, this area just begins to shrink, shrink, shrink. It's interesting. It becomes a ruinous ghost town. And Ripley's believe it or not actually documented a family called the Mattson family in the 30s. And the three members of this family made up the entire town in the 30s. And they held every office available to them. And then in 1937, the town was officially unincorporated because it just shrunk to nothing. So four decades would pass with little activity in the Bennington Triangle.

but then that's when the high-profile disappearances began. So I can tell you more about those if you want. Yeah. Yeah, please do. Before you go into that, I'm curious, I'm looking at the map here.

I was trying to look up different, you know, landing spots here of what you're talking about. And it just struck me, do you have any idea, like, what, you know,

the triangle, but like what are the points of the triangle that people might be able to kind of look at and stuff to just see. Like, is it like, so I'm looking at now in Albany's probably not too far, like Albany, New York. I'm assuming in this kind of area, there might be a crossover in the lines or something that, or do they not define exactly what the triangle is? Yeah, great question. I mean, it's, so if you're, if listeners or viewers are wanting to Google this and see it, again, just Google the Bennington Triangle or Bennington County, it's this area in the southwest

portion of Vermont. So the very southwest portion nestled right there in the foothills under Glastonbury Mountain. And it basically incorporates a handful of, again, what were towns, Glastonbury, Somerset, and Bennington. And so I guess that's the best I can tell you right now. Yeah, that makes sense. I know there's, it seems like there's a triangle for every state anymore. Like I was, I was, I think I even have an episode called the Tennessee triangle and I think I made that one up. It's got to ring to it. Yeah, I was talking, I think I was talking to a lady and she was laying some, some, she's like a historian of Tennessee. And she was saying certain areas.

And I was looking at the map. It's like, hey, it kind of makes a triangle. There's the episode title. Tennessee triangle. But, yeah, go, go into some more of these stories and the history there. Hey guys, this episode is brought to you by Merkmerch.com. Go ahead and get your Mercklemedia apparel at Merkmerch.com. We got some new hoodies up there on the store.

Go ahead and check it out. Cop years before it's too late. Also, Merkelfilms.com is where you can get your on-demand streaming of documentaries we've put out. And we have new content from other creators coming to that site very soon, mercilfilms.com. Okay, so now that was the 1800s legends and stories. and now we jump to the 1940s. So November 12th, 1945, a 70-year-old guy named Middy Rivers is hunting.

So we got another hunter here. He's with his son, Joseph, and three others. And they are near Bickford Hollow, also known as Hill Hollow. And it's like 7.30 a.m. that day, they leave camp to hunt. They hike together for a while. They reach a fork in the trail.

And Middy tells the group, Hey guys, I'm going to go this way, and I'll meet you back for lunch at camp. He goes off on his own. He's a veteran hunter. However, when he doesn't return back to camp by 3 p.m., his son Joseph starts to worry. They begin searching for midi until dark, but there's no sign of him anywhere. Authorities are alerted. By the next day, they scour the forest for hours and days.

No trace of this guy. Eventually, the search is called off as winter sets in. And now months later, a hiker finds a blue handkerchief with a 30 cents wrapped inside that apparently belonged to Middy. But Midd himself is never found. And the interesting thing is this guy was an experienced outdoorsman, according to his son and friends. He had matches on him. He had a gun. So you'd think that he would start a fire if he was lost or even fire his weapon to alert rescuers.

but in the end, he vanishes without a trace. So this is the first of the five big disappearances. Jeez. The following year, oh, go ahead. No, I was just going to ask you if you have any, and maybe this is a question for after you do the other four, but do you have any thoughts on, like when it comes to these disappearances,

them being natural versus a supernatural type disappearance? Because, I mean, it sounds like they were a duck. the guy was abducted. That's what it sounds like. You know, it does, it sounds like that could have happened, but as we're going to learn with these other four, and then when I share the piece at the end that relates to these ancient stone canes that were found, I can't help but believe there's some kind of paranormal piece here.

And so, and that's what the Native Americans themselves believed in their legend. So that was 1945 the following year in the winter of 1946 and this is one of the most high profile cases here. A girl named Paula Wilden is

attending Bennington College just about a 30 minute drive from Glastonbury. She's a sophomore and on Sunday December 1st she finishes her shift at the dining hall returns to her dorm room. She tells roommate that she needs a break from her studies and wants to go on a hike to get some fresh air. It's like almost as if the mountain is calling her.

And she leaves campus that afternoon wearing a red sweater. And she gets a ride from a driver named Lewis Knapp who tells, and she tells him she needs a ride to Glastonbury Mountain to go to the long trail. And being that he lives in that area, he offers to take her as far as his house. and according to NAP, she appeared to be in a good mood. When they reach his house, Paula, thanks him for the ride, continues toward her destination about three miles away. And witnesses say they later saw her down the road approaching the trailhead. And about 4 p.m., Paula makes it to the mountain

and talk to a group of hikers near Bickford Hollow, known as Hills Hollow. And she's asking them for directions to the long trail, They tell her, well, you're actually on it. It goes all the way over the mountain, and she begins her hike. And then Paula is reported missing the next day. Her disappearance becomes major news. Back in the day, authorities mobilized this massive search and rescue mission. Helicopters, bloodhounds, national guard, FBI, she's never found.

So that is our second disappearance. exactly three years to the day after the disappearance of Paula on December 1st, 1949. This one's crazy. There's a 68-year-old military vet named James E. Tedford. And this guy's riding on a bus from the town of St. Albans back to his home in Bennington. And the bus drives along Route US7 that will take James. straight through the heart of the Bennington triangle. And the bus makes several stops along the way.

According to reports at the stop right before his, James apparently sees someone he knows standing outside at the bus stop, and he gets off the bus to talk with his friend for a little bit for about a minute or two, and then he gets back on the bus. However, when the bus finally arrives in Bennington, every passenger gets off except for James. And his suitcase and a bus schedule was found left on the seat, James is gone. And he was last seen wearing an overcoat and gray suit. And no one starts searching for him immediately because it took his family a few days to realize he was missing.

But the search party ended with no James. What do you think about that one? Well, I was just writing a note down in case I forgot, but I'll tell you, there's two things going through my mind. One, on the surface, that's crazy. So, like, he was in a group of people and just seems to vanish. I feel, the skeptic side of my, believe it or not, anybody listening right now, I do have a skeptical side of me.

But I wonder, is it possible that when that bus stopped, he got off to talk to a friend, did somebody else get on that was similarly looking to him? And it drove off without him getting back on the bus. And there you go. The guy went missing. The only problem with that is they never found him, right? Like, it's not like he met up at the bus stop. He was like, oh, I forgot my suitcase. You know, it's just, he's gone.

Yeah. even if he did get off like you said, yeah, he still was never found. So a strange case indeed. And then on October 12th, 1950, so this is the following year. And all these disappearances seem to happen in the late fall or early winter. So in 1950, October 12th, a lady named Margaret Jepson is driving her truck to the Bennington County dump where she takes care of the property's many. and she brings along her eight-year-old son named Paul. They arrive about 3 p.m.

She tells Paul to wait in the truck while she's finishing her chores. However, when she returns to the truck about 30 minutes later, Paul is gone. She calls the police shortly after 5 p.m. Bloodhounds are sent out. The track is sent from the dump to a fork in the road not far away, but the scent vanishes as if he had stepped into a car. And Paul has never seen again. His father made an interesting statement in some reports I saw

that his son had previously expressed the urge to go up into the mountains, which may kind of seem like a strange thing for an eight-year-old to say. So again, almost as if the mountain was calling to him. and also, just as Paula Weldon was wearing a red coat, Paul was coincidentally wearing a red sweater or a red coat. So that is our fourth, I think that's our fourth disappearance. And then we've got our fifth on October 28th, 1950. So again, these all happened in a five-year period.

Frida Langer is camping with her family. on the eastern side of Glastonbury Mountain. She's with her husband Max and her cousin Herbert. And this afternoon, Frida and Herbert decided to go on a hike. Her husband Max stayed back as he apparently had some knee pain. And Frida and Herbert leave camp about 3 p.m. They're hiking. They're having a good time.

Around 3.45, she slips and falls into a stream. And so she's cold. She's wet. She tells her cousin Herbert. I got to go run back to the camp, get a dry set of clothes, and I'll catch back up with you later. However, when Frida doesn't return,

Herbert's assuming, oh, she must have stayed back at camp, right? But when Herbert returns back to camp an hour later at 4.45 p.m., he finds out that Frida's not there. And so he talks to her husband, Max, and he's like, I thought she was with you. And so this massive search party's long. to find Frida, starting that evening. It continued through November the next month. But what's odd is this Langer family had owned this camp for 10 years and spent almost every weekend there

together. So how did Frida become so lost in one hour's time and a place that she was so familiar with? And so the search is eventually called off as winter sends in, sorry, and her family fears the worst. one thing sets Friedel's case apart from the rest, and that is that less than a year later on May 12th, 1951, two fishermen find Friedelanger's body near the dam at the Somerset Reservoir, about four miles from where she was last seen. And it turns out that 18 months before she disappeared, she had an operation to have a brain tumor removed, which had caused her to occasion.

which had caused her to occasionally black out. So is this what happened again? On her way back to the stream, did she blackout, slip, fall into the waterhole, and have an accidental drowning? But what's strange, though, is the search parties had already scoured this area extensively the year prior. So another crazy case, we did find her body in this one, though. And then in 1950, we got this statement from the Vermont state attorney, Edward A. John, he stated this, five persons in five years mysteriously missing, not knowing whether they are dead or alive, is not a record for the state, county, or any town to be proud of. Everyone is watching to see what Vermont will do. If this isn't solved, it will be a disgrace. So crazy to have the Vermont state attorney on record.

stating that, giving credence to all of this, right? So there's been speculation regarding, you know, all of these mysterious events surrounding what's known as the Bennington Triangle. Again, of these five most disappearances, most famous ones, they all, all these people disappeared within a six-mile radius, all five went missing in late fall, early winter. Most of them disappeared between 3 and 4 p.m. and all seemed to vanish in to thin air. And like I said earlier, going back to the 1800s,

there's been rumors and whispers of mysterious lights in the sky. But I did a little research, and the most recent sightings of strange lights actually occurred in 1984 when numerous witnesses claimed seeing silo-like lights jetting above the sky as they were hiking through Glastonbury Mountain. And then another report claims that a farmer who lived near the Green Mountains

arrived to find 23 of his 25 cows dead near the barn or in the barn, one of those two. The dead ones were all arranged in a circle, and the two living cows acted as if nothing happened. And a veterinarian determined that the dead cows had all been electrocuted, yet the barn showed no sign of damage. And two other witnesses reported seeing a UFO that night as well. So so much crazy anomalies happening in this area known as the Bennington Triangle. And if you want, I can end talking real quick about these mysterious stone structures at the top. But do you got any more thoughts, Tony?

I mean, do I? I'm doing so many freaking searches over here trying to find a comment out. and connections. One thing that I see here is that attracting malevolent forces in many cultures, red is believed to attract spirits, demons, and supernatural entities. And when you mentioned, when you mentioned about the two red coats, I was like, I wonder if there's something there, you know. And then in a similar vein, there's another thing here that says, some theory suggests that red could serve as a marker for individuals chosen to be taken to alternate dimensions or through portals.

Wow. So, I mean, that's, I think it's kind of crazy. You just said the key word there, portals. And, yeah, again, my new name for my platform is Stargate Voyager. So like you, I get excited hearing about portals or Stargates. and that and this whole Bennington triangle story involves that so let me end with that here unbeknownst to most large mysterious artificial stone mounds known as cairns are located on the very top of glastonbury mountain now you can find these cairns scattered all over new england

and again the mainstream narrative will tell people that well these were put up by the colonialists to mark territories or they might have been Native Americans, but, you know, it was just a pile of stones. I believe absolutely these are way older. These predate everything in the area. You know, at best, they might have been made by Native Americans, but I believe they actually predate the Native Americans. I believe these are prehistoric. And so 20 years ago, there was an archaeologist named David Lacey, who works for the Green Mountain National Forest. in Vermont. He was up checking on the status of an old fire tower on Glastonbury's summit, the mountain summit. And he discovered several of these cairns, three of them, literally right off

the legendary long trail, also known as Bickford Hollow, also known as Hell Hollow. And in his report, David, this academic himself wrote at the summit of Glastonbury Mountain on the Appalachian trail corridor, at least three stone cairns whose cultural origins are uncertain, but which could be prehistoric. I think these are very old. I have never seen any colonial stone piles generated in the late 1700s and early 1800s that have vegetated growth like this on them. Moss coverage is one thing, but this structure has succeeded to cub moss in herbaceous coverage. So that's academics speak to say that the moss that's on these things tells him that these are very, very, very old. And so I think these predate everything else. And many believe when you look

into these cairns that they had a ritualistic ancient purpose. And here they are located at the top of Glastonbury Mountain, which overlooks the Bennington Triangle. Now, what's more? This is crazy. according to the Native American legends of this area, there is an enchanted stone among the cairns on top of the mountain that could swallow a manhole and they would never be heard of again. And it's crazy when you look into that the Native Americans have that legend themselves. So did these cairns play a part in activating this area in a strange paranormal way? that links all of the strange anomalies we've covered.

Is there a connection between the Cairns and all of the bizarre events? Now, this is crazy too. I'll end with this. I was doing a little research and I found this story that just took place this October in Glastonbury. October 4th, 2024.

This is from the Bennington Examiner, the area's newspaper. And the title was lost in Glastonbury. And it documented the recent experience of a guy named Robert Singley, who serves as the Bennington College music teacher. Okay, so this isn't some goofball. This is a college professor who loves to hike. He's known as an avid hiker.

And the story talks about how he went out for a day hike on the Sunday prior to October 4th, to Harbor Road in Woodford Hollow. This is the exact place where Paula Wilden was lost. And he states in the article, quote, right before I lost the trail, everything like crescendoed into this weird sort of dizzying confusion. It just suddenly got dark, and then I was like,

where am I? What's going on? I was totally lost, end quote. So wet and cold, he takes shelter into this large tree for the night, the next morning he's trying to find his way back home and the Vermont police find him. And his last quote I'll read is this. I thought I was camped about a quarter mile from my car.

Instead, I woke up totally on the other end of this ridge, literally six or seven miles away from where I thought I was. It didn't make any logical sense at all, end quote. So, Tony, what do you think of that? We've got a modern day, a couple months ago, repeat. from a college professor saying that. Yeah. Yeah. So, all right, this, all right, I don't want to forget about the giant rock to swallow

people, okay? So we got to make sure we get back to that. But this, what you just said, has a lot of similarities to a location in the south. And it's being heavily researched right now. and some of the people on the research team have had similar things happen where they they it's the location is called the meadow i've talked about it on the show before but the people who are researching this place it's it's a meadow out in the middle of the wilderness that has a lot of weird things happening and uh one of the situations was the the one guy he had crossed the creek and he he thought he crossed the creek. And when he got to the other side of a creek, he found a new meadow.

And he's like, this is beautiful. I can't believe we haven't seen this before. And he calls on the radio to one of the team members, they come. And he's like, this is, look at this. This is amazing. And they had to tell him that this is the actual meadow that they've been researching for years. Like, for some reason, he crossed the creek and had this displacement where he was back on the other side of the creek but didn't recognize the meadow that they've been researching for years. And another team member, not far from that location, had a GPS tracker on him. I forget the details of the complete details of the story, but he did have this GPS tracker on him that showed this pattern where he had some, I think he got sick or he got lightheaded.

Something happened. He called over the radio, told him what was going on. He started making his way to the meadow and they they lost track of him he just kind of like was uh i i'm going to mess up the details here but the the the the main punch of the story is he wound up cross it to go to the meadow it's just follow the path and he and i've been there like i like i he was probably i don't know 200 yards away from the opening of the meadow and he he wound up crossing the creek to his right, traveling through the woods on that side and crossing back over to the creek at the entrance point of the meadow. And what's really weird about it is he doesn't have any recollection of crossing the creek. There was no evidence of him crossing the creek,

like physically. And on his GPS tracker that I think was glitching out, no, it wasn't glitching out. The other thing was glitching out. It was it showed him crossing the creek going through the woods and cross it back over in a straight line. Like he was picked up and like hovered over the trees in a straight line and then drop back over. So there's this displacement stuff. And I've had other people in the show talk about the displacement stuff. The fact that this professor is having this displacement in this location that has all this crazy stuff happen, it kind of gives a lot of validity. I mean, you have historical data showing weird things.

happening. And to the fact that this happened at the time of this recording, what, three months ago, that this professor, somebody who is, you know, an intellectual willing to come out and say that, you know something happened to him. Yeah, to me, it was kind of like the icing on the cake there to find this three-month-old report of a college professor. This is, again, this isn't me making these claims who took a trip out here to investigate a, this is a college professor. who's an avid hiker who is stating, how did I end up here? You know, stuff got bizarre and dark and so interesting. And then you wanted to ask about the Native American legend of the man-eating rock.

Yes. Yes. So, like, you have obviously a history of looking at ancient artifacts and ancient structures, megalithic structures. At what point did the giant swallow? rock come across your path because I assume you found that maybe I'm wrong but just judging knowing who you are you were looking at the Cairns and then uncovered all this other stuff how did this whole thing come across your path I mean the whole Bennington triangle and stuff

because at the end here you say about the Cairns and I'm like okay that makes sense why he was even looking at the area or was it something else that tipped you off to the area like a giant swallowing rock again I love history. I like mystery. So the Bennington triangle, again, the whole story with the disappearances and all these anomalies, the lights, was good enough. But then as I was researching and I found the piece about the cairns, my eyes lit up if you know me. Because like you said, I'm a megalithomaniac. I love, you know, rocks and I love megaliths. And so when I found there was this connection between these ancient stone circular structures with the Bennington triangle I was

blown away. But then when I found the Native American legend that talks about a rock, and one example that was given was that in some other reports, for example, in the 1800s, you'd have an old surveyor on top of the mountain with his equipment looking out trying to mark off the city and he would step on this rock and literally would be swallowed alive and disappeared. So to find out that this was part of the oldest Native American legends was, again, the icing on the cake because this story just involves all of these different parameters. Do we know where this giant swallowing rock is located? Is it like an actual rock that we can find or is it like a legend of the rock?

It's a legend of the rock. But again, based on some reports, I read it mentioned that it was near or within the cairns. And again, there's three of these cairns on top of the mountain. And again, there's cairns all over New England. And in interviews I've even done with other guys who document the giants of North America, they believe there's a connection between cairns. and lost civilizations of potential giants whose skeletons we read about in the late 1800s and early 1900s. So fascinating stuff.

You know, this is probably not anything related, but it literally just popped in my head and I got to get it out or else I'll forget about it. I used to live in the Philly area and I went to Bible College. and when I was in Bible college, there was a rival Bible college in the Philly area called Caring University. And I never understood, like, why did they call it Cairn University? Like, Karen must have been a big donor.

It was, it's spelled the same way as, you know, these rock formations. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. I wonder if there is some kind of story behind the naming of the Bible college and Cairns. maybe it's got some ancient roots there man some esoteric roots yeah yeah yeah that's interesting that's really interesting i mean maybe it's just a bunch of grumpy ladies i don't know but uh i i you know

the big question i end with this whole bennington triangle mystery is and this is a question for all of your listeners and viewers is the bennington triangle just a series of strange coincidences or was there something strangely sinister happening in Vermont? There's definitely something strange and sinister happening in Vermont, always. I was hoping you'd say that. Derek Olson, I appreciate you joining me on the show today, man. It's been great. Let people know where they can find you again before we get out of here.

Yeah, hey, anybody can follow me. Starget Voyager, YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcast. That's where all my, you know, full-length video episodes go. But then I'm on Instagram, X, you know, Facebook, even got a TikTok account.

So are you dancing? Are you dancing on TikTok? No. No dancing. And I do have a tour coming up in May. It's an Easter Island, Peru combo tour. So we've got a couple spots left.

If anybody's interested, Got a special discount as well. You can go to Stargatevojutor.com slash tours. And we're going to go look at the ancient megalis of South America and get an up close view at some of the strangest skulls on the planet. Man, that's so cool, man. I know you were talking to me about that Peru trip. I was like, man, I want to go on that thing so bad.

That's what? In May, right? That's when you said? Yep. Yeah. May 1st through the 14th. 14th, and it's a special tour where we're going to hit Machu Picchu, all the big sites in your Cusco, Nazca Lines,

and do an extension to Easter Island. So what makes this tour cool is it's super affordable, lowest prices I've seen, and people can pick the whole tour to do together, or you can just pick a part. Like if you've been to Peru and you haven't been to Easter Island, you can just go to Easter Island with us. If you don't want to do Easter Island,

you can just go to Peru with us. Yeah, that sounds great. Go ahead and check it out. It's stargatevojager.com slash tours if you're interested in joining Derek on an epic adventure. Derek, man, it's been great. I appreciate it. Tony, thanks, man.

Sometimes I feel alone when I'm looking at myself because I look down the road full of those broken nails. So I just try to call, swirming off the road. I used to do it for the roses adulation, they noticed used to say they weren't my focus line, Jones and for the Jones's things. I know that everything that's going on can start to overwhelm like the war on terror is just a war within ourselves.

Are you woke or are you wake? Genuine are you fake? I'm feeling like I'm sent by UPS with all the tape. These boxes are all made by delusions that we chase, but I'm just staying based. Snakes are slither and they keep it snate. She coming with the cake but how it's bait is important, but so is what you bring. Because being real ain't acting like a king I feel I'm spinning round and about to crash

Chaos all around this pressure mind Round a circle Bother look at leashes on the collars of these people Follow monsters like a mark why in the water Then they multiply It's easy to get bitter I'd rather justify Anything by selling me

Mike like a spelling B-A's But you disagree I ain't have to change your mind I'm just hoping that you're a little bit of what I'm saying saying we'll make you take a second and see that everything ain't adding up i know it's hard i know it's hard i feel i'm spinning round and about to crash chaos all around press your mind round a circle