V Is for Vermont’s Bennington Triangle

This month I'm participating in the A to Z Challenge. My theme this year is Unsolved Mysteries. Today's letter is:




On December 1, 1946, 18-year-old Paula Welden went on a hike in an area of Vermont known as the Long Trail. It was a few miles away from Bennington College, where she was an art major.


Paula Welden
She hitchhiked her way there. A local contractor picked her up and dropped her off at the trail that afternoon. She was seen on the trail by several people that afternoon. At approximately 4pm, she approached a man and asked how far the trail went. An elderly couple who were walking 100 feet behind her said they saw her turn a corner and when they got to the corner, she was nowhere in sight.



Paula was one of five people who went missing in the area between 1945 and 1950. The cases have led to the area being nicknamed "The Bennington Triangle" after the similarly legendary Bermuda Triangle. Legend goes that if you enter the woods, you may never emerge.



The last missing person was Frieda Langer, who disappeared in 1950 while hiking with her cousin. She slipped and fell in a stream, at which point she said she was going back to the campsite to change. She was never seen again.


Frieda Langer
Locals say the area was deemed "cursed" by Native Americans, who always avoided it. Over the years, there have been numerous claims about the area, including reported sightings of UFOs, hairy "wild men," and strange beasts.



Were these disappearances connected to the same killer? Or is there a more supernatural explanation?

⬅️ U Is for UFOs