The Spirits of Anawan Rock

Someone should write a book called Notable Rocks of New England, because there are just so many of them. For example there's Dungeon Rock, Dighton Rock, and of course Anawan Rock in Rehoboth Mass., where Tony I stopped last weekend on our way to Providence.

An inconspicuous sign on Route 44.

We knew the rock was somewhere on Route 44, but we couldn't quite find it, so we stopped to ask directions. We were hoping to find a grizzled old-timer in a rocking chair who would say "Anawan Rock? Why you be wantin' to go there? Stay away if you know what's good for you..."

Instead, we stopped at a really nice farm, and asked a very pleasant woman if she knew where the rock was. Our hopes for Scooby Doo style mystery rose briefly when she said "Anawan Rock? No one's asked for directions there since that guy on the bike last year..." But they were dashed when her co-worker chimed in, "No, he was looking for some other rock. Anawan Rock's down the street near Uncle Ed's ice cream store!" We followed their directions past the ice cream store (which was not spooky), until we saw the sign for the rock.

Tony clambers up the rock.

Nothing weird or eerie happened on our trip to Anawan Rock, but the rock has a history that is tragic, and there's also a creepy legend attached to it. Why else would we want to visit it?

The tragedy occurred in August of 1676, when the Algonquin sachem Anawan and his men took refuge at the rock as King Philips' War was winding down. Metacom, aka King Philip, had been killed by the English in early August and the tide had clearly turned in favor of the colonists. As one of Metacom's supporters, Anawan knew he was next on the colonists' hit list.

Despite the drought, the rock was still covered with lush moss.

It's not clear why he chose this particularly rock for a last stand, but it could be because it's located near a swamp. The Algonquins often retreated to swampy areas in times of trouble, both for practical defensive reasons and because spirit allies like Hobbomok were more accessible in such places. Whatever the reason he went there, things didn't work out well for Anwan. He was tracked down by Captain Benjamin Church of Plymouth Colony, and surrendered on August 28 after Church promised he would not be executed.

Unfortunately for Anawan, the Pilgrims didn't keep their word. He was beheaded, and his head displayed on a pole at Plymouth for several years.

Another side of Anawan Rock.

With such a tragic history, it's not surprising Anawan Rock is now considered to be haunted. Phantom camp fires have been seen, and voices are sometimes heard in the woods crying out "Iootash!", which means "fight on" in the local Algonquin dialect. Strange screams and shouts can also be heard in the rock's vicinity. And these aren't old ghost stories from the 1700 or 1800s - paranormal researchers claim these phenomena are still happening today.

We didn't see any ghosts, and happily the bug spray kept away mosquitoes and ticks as well.

Tony and I didn't have any weird experiences, but we did have a strange coincidence. We were there on August 28, 2010, 334 years to the day when Anawan surrendered.

I got my information from Thomas D'Agostino's Haunted Massachusetts and Cheri Revai's book, which has the same name. You can also find plenty of information on the Web.

Beyond Skinwalker Ranch: Orbs, Pukwudgies, and Sacred Chants

I don't watch a lot of paranormal TV shows, but I felt compelled to watch Beyond Skinwalker Ranch when I heard they filmed an episode here in Massachusetts. Pukwudgies, glowing orbs, and people wandering around a bleak wintry New England swamp? Count me in.

First, a little background. Skinwalker Ranch is a ranch in Utah where people have supposedly witnessed many strange phenomena over the years, like UFOs, Bigfoot, cattle mutilations, glowing orbs, and electromagnetic disturbances. The ranch is named after a type of legendary shape-shifting Navaho shaman, the skinwalker. Skinwalker Ranch has been the subject of books, movies and TV shows, including the History Channel's Secrets of Skinwalker Ranch. Beyond Skinwalker Ranch is a spin-off of that show, where paranormal investigators visit places that are not Skinwalker Ranch.

An illustration of a pukwudgie from Beyond Skinwalker Ranch

On July 18, Beyond Skinwalker Ranch aired an episode where two investigators, Andy Bustamente and Paul Beban, visit the Bridgewater Triangle in Massachusetts to find similarities between the weird phenomena there and what goes on at Skinwalker Ranch. The Bridgewater Triangle is an area in southeastern Massachusetts where a lot of strange phenomena have been reported, and was given its name by cryptozoologist Loren Coleman in the 1970s. I'm not sure when they filmed the episode, but Bustamente and Beban wear winter coats and you can see their breath, so I'm guessing sometime last winter or fall? I'm a sucker for anything filmed in the New England woods, particularly when the leaves are down, so I was hooked. 

Bustamente and Beban first visit three locations in the Triangle. The first is Skim Milk Bridge, an old Colonial-era stone bridge in West Bridgewater. The bridge was once part of a busy commercial route, but roads were rerouted and now it's part of a hiking trail in the woods. In 1916, a young woman went missing while canoeing, and her body was found under the bridge. There have been rumors since that time that the bridge may be haunted, but blogger Kristen Evans contacted me after reading this post and said the body may have actually been discovered at another bridge. 

Location number two is Anawan Rock, a large rock where Chief Anawan was captured by English colonists in 1676 during King Philip's War. Anawan was executed shortly thereafter. Much like Skim Milk Bridge, Anawan Rock is also said to be haunted. 

Finally, Bustamente and Beban wander into the Hockomock Swamp looking for pukwudgies, the small, hairy, magical humanoids that are said to lurk in the swamps and woods of New England. But before they head into the swamp, they talk with Raynham resident Bill Russo about his famous 1990 encounter with a pukwudgie. This is one of my favorite pukwudgie stories and is very creepy to hear. 

Andy Bustamente in Beyond Skinwalker Ranch

Do the Beyond Skinwalker crew actually find anything? They don't find a pukwudgie, but while walking around the swamp at night they do find an animal den which their infrared equipment shows to be very warm. They also hear something walking around and snapping branches. The investigators say this is strange, but maybe it was just a fox or a raccoon walking back to its cozy den? All of Bustamente and Beban's equipment also malfunctions at one point, leaving them with no recorded data. "No data is data," someone says at the end of the show. 

At another point, their equipment shows high levels of background radiation and their compasses all indicate that north is in different directions. I thought this was interesting, but a local resident who is with the two investigators expresses some concern about the high radiation. He raises a good point. Should people who live nearby be worried about radiation? No one answers the question, so I'm assuming they don't? 

The highlight of the episode is that they see two glowing objects in the sky. UFOs? UAPs? Call them what you will. They see the first one at Anawan Rock. Bustamente and Beban discuss playing some kind of Algonquin chant to summon the spirits haunting the rock, but since they don't have one handy they instead play a recording of a Hebrew religious chant that was used in an earlier episode. As the chant plays, a glowing object flies above them through the night sky. They insist it is not a plane, and although I suppose it could be a drone I was willing to suspend my disbelief. The weirdness of the situation was very appealing to me. Playing a Hebrew chant at a rock haunted by Algonquin ghosts to summon a UFO? It doesn't quite make any sense but seems very appropriate somehow for 21st century America. 

They see the other glowing object when they're out looking for pukwudgies. Again, it flies above them through the night sky, and this time one of the Beyond Skinwalker crew says the FAA shows no planes flying near them. This glowing object appears spontaneously without any Hebrew chanting. The crew doesn't get a pukwudgie, but does get another UFO, which is a good consolation prize. 

Overall, I enjoyed the episode. It was great to see some local people and locations on the show, and I liked seeing the UFOs, whatever they were. Did Beyond Skinwalker Ranch find any definite evidence of weird paranormal phenomena? Not really, and I doubt anyone ever will. By it's very nature, the paranormal can't be pinned down, categorized, or satisfactorily explained. That would just make it normal, not paranormal. It's the little hints at an answer, and the mystery itself, that keeps us watching these shows, and lures us into the New England swamps and woods.

Movie Review: The Bridgewater Triangle

If you read this blog you're probably familiar with the Bridgewater Triangle, a large area in southeastern Massachusetts that's famous for a wide variety of strange phenomena. There's now a documentary about the Triangle, and I think its worth seeing.

I have three criteria for for judging non-fiction movies and TV shows about paranormal phenomena:

1. Did I learn something new?

2. Is it skillfully made?

3. Did it creep me out?

I'm usually satisfied if just one criterion is met. For example, I might enjoy watching a poorly made and laughably unscary show just because it teaches me about some new monster. "Oh, hey, I never knew there was a humanoid lizard monster in East Podunk. Cool!"


But happily, The Bridgewater Triangle meets all three. First, I did learn quite a few new things. I already knew that the Triangle's 200 square miles have been home to Bigfoot, giant black dogs, UFOs, monster snakes, and strange birds. But after watching I did learn that...

• The first UFOs in the area was seen by two undertakers on Halloween night in 1908!
• The red-headed hitchhiker of Route 44 has a rival, the mad trucker of Copicut Road, a phantom pickup truck that forces people off the road in the Freetown State Forest.
• In addition to Bigfoot, small orange ape-like creatures have been seen in the area.
• In 1993, a rare African cat called a serval was found dead on the Easton/Raynham border. Where did it come from?

The Bridgewater Triangle is also well-made and easily could air on any TV station. The film conveys its information through dramatic re-enactments, still photos, drawings, and a lot of interviews. The talking heads include paranormal investigators and cryptozoologists like Loren Coleman, Jeff Belanger, Tim Weisberg, Christopher Balzano, and Joseph DeAndrade, as well as former police officers, TV newscasters, and plenty of area residents. There's also lots of footage from notorious locations like the Hockomock Swamp, Anawan Rock, and the Freetown State Forest, giving the viewer a good feel for the area. Even suburban streets acquire a creepy vibe as the camera glides slowly past well-trimmed yards surrounded by deep, dark, woods...

I did find portions of The Bridgewater Triangle quite spooky. An account of some children seeing Bigfoot in 1970 creeped me out, as did Joseph DeAndrade's story about hearing a voice telling him to turn around while exploring a swamp. I won't tell you what he saw, but it was large and hairy!

For me, the creepiest part of the movie was the interview with Bill Russo, which is either a great report of a paranormal encounter or a fantastic campfire story.

In 1990 Russo lived in Raynham and worked the late shift. One night after midnight he took his dog for a walk near some high-tension power lines. As he walked through the deserted area he heard a high-pitched voice wailing the following words:

"Ee wah chu. Ee wah chu. Keer. Keer."

A strange creature stepped into the light cast by a streetlight. It was about three feet high, covered in brown hair, potbellied, and seemed to be old. It continued to cry out "Ee wah chu. Ee wah chu. Keer. Keer" and beckoned to Russo with one hand. It wanted him to join it.

"Ee wah chu..." Image from The Bridgewater Triangle documentary.

Russo didn't. He and his dog were both frightened and walked away as fast as they could. When Russo looked back the being was gone. Only after he got safely home did he realize it had been trying to say, "We want you. We want you. Come here. Come here." Creepy!

Even though it conjures a spooky atmosphere the movie includes multiple perspectives, and some of them are skeptical. Was the mysterious Dighton Rock carved by ancient Phoenicians or the medieval Portuguese? Well, maybe it was just carved by the local Indians. After all, one expert points out, it has the same carvings as documented Indian petroglyphs in Maine.

This inclusive viewpoint extends to explanations about the Bridgewater Triangle itself. Perhaps all the strange phenomena are the psychic residue of atrocities committee against Wampanoag Indians in the 1600s, or perhaps there's just something inherent in the land itself. Or maybe when we walk out into the dark woods or the gloomy swamp, something inside us that our modern society represses wakes up. The Bridgewater Triangle gives us an opportunity to fully experience something that is always with us but normally unseen.

If you like the paranormal and local folklore, or just like some scary stories, I would recommend watching The Bridgewater Triangle. It would also make a good Christmas or Halloween gift for that special person in your life. You can watch it online through Vimeo or buy the DVD. It's definitely worth 90 minutes of your time!

Special thank to Aaron Cadieux, one of the film's directors, for giving me free access to the movie online.

Another Mystery in the Bridgewater Triangle: A Giant Flying Egg?

Down in southeastern Massachusetts there's a 200-square mile area called the "Bridgewater Triangle." The term was popularized by Loren Coleman, a Maine resident and famous cryptozoologist.

In his book Mysterious America, Coleman writes

The Hockomock Swamp area claims its own share of strange occurrences. Because of its long history of evil, bedeviled, and ominous occurrences, residents have recognized this area of the state for its strange and often sinister character and have, over the years, dubbed it "The Bridgewater Triangle." This Hockomock Swamp region covers an area of approximately 200 square miles and includes the towns of Abington, Freetown, and Rehoboth at the angles of the triangle, and Brockton, Taunton, the Bridgewaters, Raynham, Mansfield, Norton, and Easton within the triangle. 

My friend Ed grew up in Taunton, and said he was always warned not to pick berries in the Hockomock Swamp. Was it just because his parents were afraid he'd get lost in some quicksand, or perhaps something else? A couple years ago Tony and I went down to Raynham for a birthday party Ed organized. We drove through the swamp to get there, and I remember noticing the road was particularly dark, and that wisps of mist drifted across it. It was a little creepy.

Residents of the Bridgewater Triangle have encountered a wide variety of strange creatures, including gigantic birds, mysterious black dogs, enormous snakes, and of course Bigfoot. The area is also host to many different ghosts, including those who haunt Anawan Rock and the maniacal red-headed hitchhiker of Route 44.

Paranormal phenomena tend to cluster together, so naturally a lot of UFOs have been seen in the Bridgewater Triangle. Mysterious flying objects have been seen since at least 1908, and my friend Ed's parents told him they had once seen something strange in the sky.


The most recent UFO was seen just last week, on April 12. A resident of Rehoboth and their daughter were outside raking leaves during the day when they saw something overhead: a gigantic, flying egg.

"It was an egg-shaped object, white in color. Not sure if it was glowing or if reflecting, but it was definitely white. It seemed to slow a little before slightly curving its course and staying straight after doing so, ascending upward and then not visible anymore."

Is an egg-shaped UFO "evil, bedeviled, and ominous," like some of the other Bridgewater phenomena? I suppose maybe it could be ominous, but it definitely doesn't seem evil or bedeviled. Mostly, it just sounds puzzling and kind of cool, and also seasonally appropriate. After all, what better time to see a giant flying egg than the week before Easter!

I got my information about the UFO from this report by Roger Marsh, who writes about UFOs for MUFON, the Mutual UFO Network. 

Boise Rock!

Tony and I recently went up to northern New Hampshire to visit family, and the trip took us through Franconia Notch near Cannon Mountain. Luckily the weather was good, because when it's bad driving through the Notch is miserable.

In the early 1800s, a local man named Thomas Boise found out just how miserable. Boise was heading through the Notch on a horse-drawn sleigh when a howling snowstorm struck. He tried to drive the horse through to the comparative safety on the other side, but his efforts were futile. There was too much snow, and the horse, sleigh and Boise became stuck in Franconia Notch in blizzard conditions.

The foreboding cliffs of Cannon Mountain seen from Franconia Notch.

Fearful that he would freeze to death, Boise devised a gruesome but ingenious plan. He killed and skinned his horse, and then wrapped himself in its warm bloody hide. A convenient overhanging boulder provided extra shelter during the storm.

His plan worked. The next day a rescue party found Boise alive and wrapped in the horse hide under the boulder. The hide had been frozen solid, and the rescuers had to cut him out of it with axes.

Tony under Boise Rock. Just a light dusting of snow!

Luckily these days most travelers don't need to go to such extreme lengths, but the overhanging boulder (now called Boise Rock) is still around in case you need emergency shelter. It's right off Route 93 and there's a sign guiding you right to it. It's not the most exciting tourist attraction in the area, but I like the legend attached to it.

Thomas Boise's story reminds me a little bit of The Empire Strikes Back, where Han Solo saves Luke from freezing by putting his body into the dead body of a steed called a Tauntaun. Maybe this is a recurring theme in folktales? If anyone has more examples I'd be happy to hear about them!

If you like reading about famous New England rocks, you might like my earlier posts about Anawan Rock and Dungeon Rock.