Chapter 15: The Seekers

A visitor in town brings answers and more questions with them as a local group provides an unexpected set of allies. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Bridgewater is a production of I Heart Radio three D
audio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey for full exposure.
Listen with headphones. Listener discretion advised. I know you're all
still grieving. I am too. I may not have known

(00:24):
Celeste personally, but she was beloved by everyone in the gathering,
not just the ones here in Bridgewater. I wish, I
wish we had time to properly mourn, to give Celeste
the goodbye she deserves, to determine who she would have
wanted to lead you in her stead. But unfortunately we don't. Celeste,

(00:51):
as much as she tried her best, has left us
with a less than ideal situation. What the children started
back in the seven Needs she tried to finish. But
as I'm sure you all know by now, that's not
what happened. Despite all her best laid plans, Celeste didn't succeed.
She didn't get all the way through the portal. The

(01:13):
liminal has been left wanting. Perhaps if she had finished
the ritual properly, we wouldn't be facing the situation we are.
But there are things that need to be dealt with.
Doors that need to be opened and closed protections that
need to be put in place. Things here in this

(01:33):
region were They were unbalanced long before Celeste's death. They've
been unbalanced for decades. But I think we all know
it's now worse than ever. It's up to us now
to fix it, to do whatever we can to put

(01:54):
things back into balance. There is a rift in the bridgewater.
Try I angle a tear big enough to let things out,
but too small to let us in. That has to change. Hey,

(02:49):
are you sure you're feeling okay? Because I can get
stuff for dinner on my own. I'm fine, Jerry, fine
that you collapse, I collapse. I got a little loozy.
It's no big deal. Um, So you've been in a
lot of earthquakes, Olivia explained a bit about climate change
to me. Does Massachusetts get a lot of earthquakes? Now? Uh? No, No,
it's that's not climate change is serious, but it's Uh,

(03:14):
there were some earthquakes when I was in California for college,
and my mom is still out there. Like I said, so,
I've I've been out to a visit a bit. Right,
come right, California r very exciting. What made you want
to come back? Uh? Here, it just seemed like a
good place. For folklore academics. Um, I don't know. I

(03:37):
never really felt right staying away too long for some reason.
I guess part of me knew that I had unfinished
business here. It must have been hard, you know, growing
up with what happened to me. I imagine it was
pretty big news at the time. Oh yeah, yeah, everyone
had their theories. Um, but you know, people lost interest eventually,

(03:59):
No sense. Mom did a pretty good job of shielding
me from it. Is she Her husband is a he's
a good man, he says, she happy. Um, yeah, I
think so. I don't know. I don't know. We're not
that close. Actually, uh right, I think that's good for Vinci's.

(04:23):
Let's get some pasta. Do you cook a lot? Not
as much as I should. Probably. I never really got
off my thesis diet, to be honest, Well, lots of
fast food and too much coffee. Oh so you're familiar.
I always worried steak out heals we're gonna put me
in an early grave. Well sorry, speaking of food, you

(04:48):
ate earlier, right with vipen in Olivia. Yeah, but that
was hours ago. By the time we get home, I'll
definitely be hungry for dinner. No, no no, no, I mean,
do you feel how did you feel afterwards? You didn't
get sick again? Did you? Oh? No, no, I'm fine.
You were fine, like you didn't get sick or you
felt okay, I didn't get sick. And have you been sleeping? Jeremy?
What is this? I know you think you're fine, but

(05:10):
I'm worried. Look if this is the pay round, then
they're not known for their fair deals. And if we
have accidentally broken some rule, I know. This is why
we need to get Olden out and make sure the
gate is cleared. Can you I'm just more focused on
keeping you alive and here for right now. Can we
just forget Alden and whatever monsters are rowing around out there?

(05:34):
You are now my responsibility, and if the in between
is really seeping out into our world, then I need
to make sure that it can't hurt you. I understand
your concerned, Jeremy, but this is bigger than just me,
and maybe if we focus on fixing things, whatever is
going on with me will just resolve itself. Okay, so
you're admitting that there is something going on with you.

(05:54):
I think I spent a long time in a very
strange place and maybe that put my body through a lot.
I think it's not your job to worry about it. Hey,
focus on what you're good at. You spent your life
understanding all of this stuff, and you're going to figure
it out. I know you will. Dad. I feel like
I'm going crazy. I don't know where to put my focus.

(06:18):
I don't know what to worry about. I had to
I had to go to my job yesterday, and I
had to get up in front of a group of
college students and pretend like everything was normal. No, it's
it's like seeing a natural disaster on the news. You know,
it's terrifying and it's awful, and you want to help
people affected by it, but there's really nothing that you
can do, not at the moment, because you can't stop
a storm, and you can't protect all those people because

(06:38):
you're just a single person thousands of miles away. Right
But in this situation, the natural disaster is in the
next town over, So maybe I do have to worry
about the tornado hitting me, except for right now. My
house is also on fire, so it also feels like
I should focus on that first. But while all that
is going on, I have been handed this winning lottery

(06:59):
to get you I don't know if I'm making any sense. Yeah,
it's a lot. Yeah, it's a lot. It's a fucking lot.
And I don't know how you'reself fucking calm. I've had
at least forty years to come to terms with magic
or whatever. This is being real. It's not just about

(07:20):
all of this has to be overwhelming for you. I
mean you you last saw your son when he was five,
and now I'm a middle aged man, and your girlfriend
is an old woman, and you have a daughter that
you haven't even matt, and I don't know how you're
not freaking out every second. I actually did meet Shelly
earlier today. What I haven't told Anne yet, Olivia brought me.

(07:42):
Oh Christ, I don't even know how to react to this.
She did not react. Well, Olivia is going to work
on her. Jesus. It's not that I'm unaffected, but I'm
gooding a crisis. I always have been. Well. I guess
that's the cop in you. Huh, it's dad in me.
You can't fall apart when you've got a kid to

(08:03):
take care of. Yeah, well, you don't need to worry
about me. I'm not a kid anymore. No, you're not.
But I'm still going to worry, especially since, especially since
I am having a breakdown in the middle of the
dry goods aisle. Look, you'll buck up. You're just not
used to all this high stress stuff. I get it.
What do you mean by that? But you're not alone
in this all right. We've got a real brain trust.

(08:24):
You've got all the folklore stuff and the best investigator
I've ever met, and Hippin and Olivia are going to
that weird group you found tonight. We've got it all covered.
You don't have to put out the fire and prepare
for the tornado all by yourself. You just have to
stay tough. Mhm. Okay, but come on, let's get out

(08:44):
of here. Let's get the pasta go home. Are we
sure this is the right place? Pretty sure? They said
they'd be in the back, right, Maybe there's another room, right?

(09:05):
Should we order something? It feels rude to come to
a bar and non order something fried. Well, it's not
like we're taking up seats that could go to paying customers, right,
I mean, this place is dead. I'm telling you something
is different. But what could have changed? There's been no
full moon, no planet movement. Always think it's the planets.
This is why I think we should revisit the ley

(09:26):
Line theory. I'm just saying, why would can we help you? Yeah?
Is this the paranormal seekers? Who's asking? Oh my god,
so dramatic. Yes, we are some of them, at least
he always wants to act like we're some secret ghost
hunting squad. I'm Cindy, this is Kevin and Spencer, and

(09:49):
you guys are totally welcome to join. Just pull up
a chair. I'm Olivia. This is Vippin. Nice to meet
you guys. We're pretty new to the whole legend tripping thing,
so when we saw that you guys were actually meeting
in person. Yeah, it's exciting, isn't it. This is actually
the first time we are meeting face to face. So

(10:10):
you guys aren't all from here. I live here, but
Cindy's up in Vermont and Kevin's out in Indianapolis and
you came to Bridgewater just because what weird stuff is happening?
Something's changing. Besides, I had some vacation days to use.
We've been talking about getting together for some group legend
tripping for a while now. So did you all go

(10:33):
and see the cows? The cows, the ones at Oakley Farms.
What happened? Oh weird? I thought one of your members
went to look into it. It's possible. I know some
of the other folks are Boston based, so we're not
all in regular touch with each other. The three of
us have just been talking online for a long time.
We bonded over our shared obsession with the Bridgewater Triangle.

(10:55):
So the cows, Oh right, Well, these cows were viscerated,
totally torn apart by something. Yeah, it was really rough.
You saw them. Yeah. Here, if you're squeamish, you might
not want to look. Oh my god, are those teeth

(11:16):
marks on its ribs? What the actual hell? It's exactly
our question. So you guys are real believers, then whoa
what constitutes a real believer? I mean, we've all got
our different perspectives, things we agree on and don't agree on.
I just think if you read a little bit more
about planet alignment and moon phases, it's astrology, Cindy, It's

(11:38):
the same thing. It's not ignore them. This argument is
ancient and it will never be resolved. But that's not
the point. Regardless of what we believe, we all think
there's something unexplainable out there, not just in the world
in general, but specifically here in the Bridgewater Triangle. In
that case, then yeah, I think you could call us

(11:59):
true believers. There's definitely something more here. So what what
exactly do you both believe? We're still figuring that out,
or at least I am. I think that monsters are real,
like the big teeth, supernatural strength beasts of myth monsters.
As to where they come from or what exactly they are,

(12:20):
I'm still figuring that bit out. And what about you, Vivien?
Do you believe in monsters? Uh? Yeah, I think I do.
I think I was attacked by one. Why what? What kind?
It was about a week ago? See this scratch here?

(12:40):
Holy shit. The doctor told me it was an owl,
but you were the owl attack? Yeah? How do you?
I'm a nurse at the hospital. I'd heard we had
an owl attack come in and I thought it was
weird that it it might be something else. You didn't
tell us that. Well, it's not exactly ethical to share
information from my job. It's not like you would have

(13:01):
told us anything about who it was. We don't even
live here. Still a gray area. You said this was
a week ago. So do you guys have also had encounters? Well, no,
none of us have ever actually seen anything, but there's
been lots of report, just never any hard proof, which
doesn't mean those things didn't happen, but it can be

(13:24):
hard to weed out the drug trips from the genuinely paranormal.
And there have been more reports overall recently, big time
like what it'd almost be faster to list the things
that haven't happened in the last few weeks. At least
three bigfoot sidings, a thunderbird siding which hasn't happened in years,
a bunch of reports of either UFOs or willow whisps

(13:46):
or some kind of hovering lights all over the place,
freetown hawk mock the net, and and and the return
of a bunch of the classics ghost laughter at Melrose Cemetery,
the red Headed Hitchhiker, even spotting of the dover demon.
The three of us puts a they're an official submission
forum on the forum for just the Bridgewater Triangle and
it has been blowing up. Yeah, and now and owl

(14:08):
attack and animal of asceration. We were right, things are
definitely escalating. Okay, But what does that all mean let's
say all of it is true, the sidings, the hauntings,
the monster attacks, all in the last month. What would
that mean that we're n I don't see how it
could mean anything else. Something's pissed and ready to get

(14:31):
its revenge. Revenge the big Foot settings are would tipped
me off. A lot of people think Bigfoot is this
like gentle giant, but that's not based in anything. What
we do know is that most human interactions with Bigfoot
have been bad, and there's a growing suspicion among people
like us that Bigfoot is actually an apex predator who
functions as a kind of queen bee for other monsters.

(14:53):
He's overstating it. There is Kevin and a few of
his friends who think that, think about it's Cindy big
Foot Star attacking because we've encroached on his territory. But
it's not enough. We still stick around, so he starts
to send other creatures after except a lot of what's
happened is definitely ghost related, which can't be explained by
big Foot at all. But if stuff has gotten misaligned

(15:14):
in the cosmos as a whole, it would make sense
for ghosts to be more visible than they have been previously. Okay, Cindy,
but then you have to admit that lay lines could
provide the exact same kind of explanation. No, I don't, Spencer,
because there's no proof that lay lines exist, whereas the
planets actually doing, but no one has proven that their
orbits can cause spiritual activity. Wait wait, wait, wait, okay,

(15:36):
back up. What are lay lines invisible lines drawn across
the world that contain earth energies. They connect different historical structures,
and we're supposedly used by different ancient civilizations. Yeah exactly. Wow,
you know your stuff, study mythology, so see mythology. Okay,

(15:58):
but there's so much evidence of this supernatural in texts
from ancient civilizations, So wouldn't it make sense that they
figured out what was causing all of it before we
got so bogged down in empirical science. You say that
like it's a bad thing. Look, I still want hard
proof for things, but just because something doesn't have proof
doesn't mean I'm not going to believe it. Can't that
logic be used to excuse a whole lot of dangerous

(16:20):
pseudo science though, Sure, But I mean anything can be
used for evil. That feels like a weak justification. Spencer's right, Yeah,
maybe other people will use the whole You can't prove
a negative argument to support bad ideas. But people throughout
history have also used the trappings of real hard science
to justify their shitty pseudo sciences. There are assholes everywhere.

(16:46):
I guess that's true. If you guys are so skeptical,
does that mean you have proof of what you believe?
Whoa we we're in the woods the other night and
and saw something odd, right, odd? Yeah, like um enormous

(17:07):
ferreal monster dog odd? Oh my god? And this this
is the thing that attacked you. We don't know. We
were hoping you maybe had some ideas. The giant dog.
Was it black? Yeah, yeah it was. I mean that
could be anything. Black dogs are all over myths. Yeah, no,
I know, hell hound's guard dogs, ghost dogs, fairy dogs.

(17:28):
That's why we need your help narrowing it down. Where
did you say you were? Freetown State Forest. The last
black dog siding that I know of was the one
in Abington in Oh god, yeah, when's that seventy six?
I don't know, it was a while ago. Abington' that's
not that close to Freetown, No, but it was also

(17:51):
forty years ago. I'm sure the dog moved. It might
not be the same one. Did anyone have a guess
what the one in the seventies was like? What specific
brand of mythic old black dog? Something impervious to bullets?
Apparently someone shot it and it just walked away and disappeared.
How did we miss this? Avington was included in a

(18:12):
research right, I've only been looking at see. I didn't
think anything more than a year out would be relevant.
Year out from what? Oh, We've just we've been doing
our own collecting of incidents. It seems like there was
another high concentration in and around, so we're just trying

(18:33):
to find patterns. Well, consider us your data collectors. Seems
you guys are more tapped in than the usual newcomers.
So we can all help each other. Sure, and who knows,
maybe we'll actually find some real proof. Mm hmm. Jeremy

(19:11):
side side, where are you? Dad? Where are you? Daddad?
I'm here? Never come here, Dad, Dad? Ain't Jeremy come here?
Who are you? I'm a friend, Jeremy, come on, m jesus.

(19:46):
Mm hmmm mm hmm h um. Okay, going for a walk,
be back soon, Jeremy, m M, Jeremy, pull it together,

(20:14):
um and stop talking to yourself. What is that? Maybe
I should just get out of here. Why did I
think coming out here was a good idea? Hello? Hello?
Is somebody there? Who you? Well? This is a weird coincidence,

(20:38):
No kidding. Come here often you'd be surprised. What are you?
What are you doing here? It's the lake in Freetown Forest.
I couldn't make a trip to the Bridgewater Triangle without
coming here, right, What about you? I am a friend, uh,
well a woman that I knew, not a friend. Really. Um,

(21:00):
she died here? Oh god, Oh I'm so sorry. I no,
thank you, thank you. It's okay, I think, Um, I
know what happened, and I know why she did what
she did, and I know why she would say it's okay.
But it's I don't know what it is. I don't
know if that doesn't make any sense, But I think
I was hoping that by coming back here become okay

(21:23):
with it. I guess, yeah, I don't know, something like that. Um.
Did you just hear a sound? A sound? What kind
of sounds it was like? Um, like a humming sound.
I've heard it before. Anyway, you didn't hear anything? No,
I didn't, But um, did it sound anything like this? Yep,

(21:48):
yes it did. What what is that? It's an e
n F detector? Oh? I mean it's great for tracking
down disturbances in the electromagnetic field, but not so much
for being able to hear anything while you're doing it.
They don't all sound like this, but I made some
of my own modifications. Oh so it's a bespoke e
m F detector. Wow? Are you sure this is just

(22:09):
a hobby? Okay? If I could turn it into a career,
I would, but not a lot of demand for paranormal investigators. Yeah,
maybe not, but you could think out of the box
on this one. That I basically made it into a career, right,
the cool professor, Your words, not mine. Hey, I stand

(22:30):
by it. I would have been front row of your
class if you were taught at my college. Though, running
into the woods is just as good. Okay, So what
are you hoping to find with that? I never really know.
That's kind of the point. Just let the MF tell
me where to look. What have you found with it
in the past, Nothing super definitive yet, but it's been

(22:52):
going haywire since I got to Bridgewater, so I haven't
given up. Hope, how did you How did you get
into all this stuff that, the legend tripping and the
E M F detector modifying. It doesn't seem like something
you just fall into. Yeah, definitely not. I mean, how
does anyone become interested in this stuff? Right? We have

(23:15):
an encounter with something we can't explain. So you you
had an encounter? Yeah? So, Um, I may not have
been totally honest when I said I was making the
pilgrimage to Bridgewater. Oh, I actually used to live here.
We moved away when I was a kid. Yeah, because
something happened right here in Freetown Forest. I just got

(23:36):
sound crazy, but I was hearing these voices and I
thought I saw someone, but I could never catch up
to them. I actually got lost for like an entire night, wandering,
just wandering through the woods. I never found anything. Yikes.
That probably sounds like a whole lot of nothing. Huh,

(23:57):
A kid's overactive imagination that I've I'm now turned into
a lifelong obsession. Um, no, not at all. I have
the chills right now. I actually, um really get it.
Really yeah, I don't really remember it that clearly. But
when I was a kid, I got lost here too. No,

(24:19):
you're kidding, I'm not. No, Like I said, I it's
very foggy. I don't remember it much. But um, it's funny.
I've spent a lot of time in this forest in
the last few weeks, and none of it has brought
back memories of that time. But then I had this
dream last night, and when I woke up, I just

(24:43):
I just knew I had to come here. That this
sounds so strange, but it's it's like I'm I'm I'm
seeing it differently. Somehow are you remembering stuff? I don't
know it. It all just feels more familiar, like I can. Okay,
you know there was a voice for me too, Yeah yeah,

(25:05):
but it wasn't. Um. You know, I've I've heard voices here, uh,
but but this one was it was it was friendly. God,
this is so weird. I I have barely been able
to remember that time at all, but now it's it's
all just rushing back. Maybe it just took someone saying

(25:26):
the same thing happened to them to make you feel
not crazy. I know it's certainly helping me. Yeah, I
can't believe we got lost in the same forest as kids. Well,
I guess it's an easy place to get lost. Yeah,
but maybe not such a bad place to find something either, right, sure? Sorry? Yeah? Where?

(25:51):
Uh yeah I can. I can be there in twenty probably. No,
I'm just in Freetown, yeah, by the lake. No no,
no, no no, I'm gonna be fine. I just yeah, okay,
all right, see you soon by Cryptic Hunting our over
Um no, actually, just just changing locations. It seems like

(26:12):
there was a potential bigfoot sighting in hawk a Mock.
So I'm I'm meeting some folks there. Wow, busy day. Hey,
would you like to join me? The The people that
I'm meeting there are into this stuff too. I think
you like them. Oh that's okay. I would love to,
but um, I've got some more stuff to take care

(26:33):
of here. Okay, Well, it was really great running into you.
You too. Oh and hey, listen, um if you hear
when we're should iding. If you need him one st
Hunting Warner, Uh, this is my number here there, or
if you just want to talk about weirdly overlapping childood trauma. Um,

(26:55):
that's good too. Thanks. I'm going to take you up
on that. I just don't know what you were thinking
going back to the lake. I just wanted to make
sure we weren't missing anything about what happened to Celeste.
But you said you didn't find anything, So now we

(27:15):
know we weren't missing anything. It was still reckless going
there by yourself. You really going to talk to me
about recklessly going off on your own? Okay? Do you
think you could have this argument some other time. Remember
we're supposed to be looking for signs and big foot
A sentence that's totally normal to me. Now, big footprints,
claw marks, you know? Yeah, right, know the drill. I

(27:40):
just don't understand what was so urgent? O my god, Dad,
can you give it a rest? We called you right
away after Vippen Olivia told us about the big foot siding,
but you couldn't be bothered to wake either of us up. Look,
I wake up earlier. Okay. I had celest on my mind,
and it just seemed like the thing to do. I
understand wanting to get a better look at the area
they found her body, But you should have brought me,

(28:02):
brought you back to the place where you disappeared the
first time. I really don't think so, can't you understand.
That's exactly why I wouldn't want you going there alone. Thomas,
Come on, Jeremy is fine, s commrections. No, I don't
think you get to be mad about this. I was
trying to keep you safe. That I'm your father. It's

(28:22):
my job to protect you. I am a grown man.
But you're not built for this kind of thing. What's
that supposed to me? You're the book guy. I'm the
guy that goes out there and faces the monsters. Yeah,
and look how that turned out. I survived, didn't I?
And you think I wouldn't. I think you've spent your

(28:45):
life behind the desk, So what that makes me soft? Boys? No?
And I think we need to have this out quiet.
What holy hell be second, Jesus, what are we telling?
What are we telling? What is he doing? What's out ship?

(29:12):
And we're in its territory? We have to Jeremy, we
need to run. Dad, Oh Dad, Jeremy, Jeremy, Hell was it?

(29:40):
Oh my god? Where did it go? And are you okay? Yeah?
I think you're fine. I'm fine. Come on, Sun, stand up, Jesus,
holl the hell? How the hell did it vanish like that?
You can thank me for that Peton Blake, we need

(30:00):
to talk. This episode of Bridgewater was written by Lauren
Shippen and directed by Brendan Patrick Hughes Assistant director Sarah Klein.
Sound designed by Vincent de Johnny rema Il Kayali, Josh Thayne,
and Trevor Young, with music by Chad Lawson, Starring Misha

(30:21):
Collins as Jeremy Bradshaw, Melissa Ponzio as Anne Becker, Alan
Tutick as Thomas Bradshaw, Karen Sony as Vipen Corona, Sabra
May as Olivia Hoskins, Cheryl Umania as Officer Bautista, Will
Wheaton as Captain Haddock, Tricia Helfer as the Legend Tripper,

(30:43):
Stephen Guarino as Dr Edwards Nandamisu Dembe as Peyton Blake,
Hilary Burton Morgan as Shelley Hoskins, Nicki McCauley as Celeste,
Then Victoria Grace as Katie Frank's, with additional voice acting
by Greta Gould, Alb Young, Adam oh Burn, Monty Markham,

(31:03):
Charlie Bergman and Tern Westbrook. Executive producers Aaron Mankey, Misha Collins,
Lauren Shippin, Matt Frederick and Alexander Williams, supervising producers Josh
Thane and Trevor Young. Bridgewater was created by me Aaron
Mankey and is a production of Grim and Mild and
i Heeart three D Audio. Learn more about the show

(31:23):
over at Grimm and Mild dot com, slash Bridgewater and
find more podcasts from I Heart Radio on the I
Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows, and as always, thanks for listening.