Bridgewater Triangle (film)

The Bridgewater Triangle is a 2013 documentary about the area in Southeastern Massachusetts known for supernatural phenomenon.

4 out of 10 stars.  Interesting, but every other minute they’re advertising someone’s book, talk show, radio show, or another book.  They relentlessly hawked these materials through the entire documentary.  This was basically one long ad with some interesting information thrown in.

The Bridgewater Triangle is an area of southeastern Massachusetts made by connecting the cities of Abington, Freetown, and Rehoboth and includes the Hockomock Swamp and Freetown Fall River State Forest.  In this area there have been satanic rituals, cattle mutilations, UFO sightings, Bigfoot sightings, and other unusual pheonomena.

In 1675 this area was the Plymouth Colony and also home to the Wapanoag Indians.  After years of being treated poorly by the English settlers, the Wapanoag, led by their Chief who was nicknamed King Philip, started a war against the settlers.  This was called King Philip’s War.  In August of 1676 King Philip was killed in Rhode Island by being drawn and quartered.  His head was then put on a pike which was left at the entrance to the Hockomock Swamp where it remained for approximately two decades.  King Philip’s War was considered the most deadly war in the U.S.  Five percent of the population was killed.

The Hockomock Swamp is 17,000 acres.  Hockomock is Algonquin for “place where spirits dwell” and has been haunted since the King Philip’s War.

Bigfoot sightings:

• In 1970, police tracked a bear in the swamp which apparently was Bigfoot.  At one point the creature lifted one of the police cruisers off the ground.  In the same year there was another sighting of Bigfoot by a man named Carlston Wood.
• In 1978, Joseph DeAndrade saw Bigfoot in Clay Banks Pond.
• In the 1980s, John Baker sighted Bigfoot in Hockomock Swamp as it followed him.
• In 1990, William Russo saw a four foot high ape-like creature with a pot belly.  He appeared to be of old age, not a baby.  He repeated the words “Ee wan choo kia kia”.  Russo believed he was speaking English and saying, “We want you.  Come here.  Come here.”
• There were multiple sightings of orangutan-like creatures in Lake Nippenicket.

Large animal sightings:

• In 1971, a Norton city cop named Downy saw a massive bird in the swamp with a six foot wing span.  These are thought to be the thunder birds that the local Native American tribes spoke of.
• In the 1930s there were records of huge snakes found in Hockomock Swamp, the size of anacondas.
• In March of 1993, a large brown cat was seen in the swamp and nicknamed the Mansfield Mystery Cat.  Two months later, they found the head of an African serval.
• In 1976 Philip Kane’s two ponies were attacked by a huge black dog that was itself the size of a pony.

UFO sightings:

• James Michael Rice saw balls of light dancing in the sky over the Bridgewater Triangle.
• In 1908 there was a UFO sighting on Halloween night by two undertakers.
• In the 1970s there were more UFO sightings, especially in 1979.  Steve Sbraccia and Jerry Lopes saw a UFO in 1979.
• In March of 2011, Derek Holt saw a UFO and caught it on video.

Hauntings:

• In 1928, Edmund Delabarre’s expedition found graves with red ochre floating in the top then it disappeared.  Red ochre was used in magical ceremonies.
• Profile Rock is one of the historical landmarks in the area.  It is a large rock with the profile of a Wampanoag Indian male thought to be either King Philip or Chief Anawan.
• On August 28, 1676, the last of the Wampanoag Indians led by Chief Anawan surrendered to Benjamin Church.  Chief Anawan was promised safety and freedom for his people.  Two days later he was killed and his head was placed on a pike.  That was the end of King Philip’s War and the beginning of hauntings in the area.  Luann Joly is one of the people who saw Chief Anawan’s ghost in the swamp.
• On Route 44 where it goes through the triangle, there have been hauntings of a red-haired hitchhiker.
• In 1636 there were numerous accounts of hauntings in the Rehoboth cemetery. In the 1990s, several paranormal investigators went to the cemetery and successfully recorded ghosts speaking.
• In 1979 the city of Fall River had the murders of two prostitutes, Doreen Lavesque and Barbara Raposa.  A young woman named Karen Marsden came to the police and told them the two women were murdered in satanic rituals performed by Carl Drew and Robin Murphy.  She was found murdered a week later.  In 1980, Carl Drew and Robin Murphy were arrested and convicted of the murders.
• In the 1970s and 1980s there were grave robberies in the city of Freetown.  Satanic cult members were digging up remains from the pet cemetery too.
• In 1999, twelve baby calves were found murdered and bled dry in a satanic offering.

Pukwudgies:

• The Wapanoag Indians believed there were little human-like elves with big noses that haunted the swamp.  They called these creatures Pukwudgies.  In the beginning their tales of the pukwudgies were mischievous, but in later tales they become evil.  Their skin was gray.
• In May 2008, a group of paranormal investigators caught on camera a woman possessed by a pukwudgie.  They showed the film and it looked completely fake.  🙁

4 out of 10 stars.  There were a few facts, but not that much was convincing.  The hauntings I can believe because a lot of murders took place in the Hockomock Swamp.  But the rest is short on facts.  The documentary kept referring the viewer to numerous books and radio shows.  No, I don’t think so.