July 3, 2025 • 11 mins
I am Raven Vale, and tonight, the whispers lead us away from the riverbanks and deep into the haunting heart of Vermont’s wilderness. In this chilling episode of Whispers from the Dark, we explore the eerie legend of the Bennington Triangle — an enigmatic stretch of forest shadowed by five terrifying disappearances between 1945 and 1950. From a seasoned mountain guide to an 8-year-old boy, these victims all vanished without a trace in and around Glastenbury Mountain, leaving behind no clues, no evidence, and no answers. Were these disappearances the work of a serial killer, cryptid, or something far stranger — a vortex, a portal, or a hungry forest that takes what it wants? As we descend into a landscape of superstition, conspiracy, and ancient dread, one truth becomes terrifyingly clear: some places were never meant to be understood. This is not just a mystery. It’s a warning from the woods themselves. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
When the lights go out, they speak the vanished, the cursed,
the crueler. Their echoes live here. I'm raven Veil, and
you've just crossed the threshold. Welcome to Whispers from the Dark.
(00:29):
Whispers from the Dark, the Bennington Triangle. I am raven Veil,
and tonight the Whispers from the Dark lead us away
from the murky currents of the Mississippi deep into the ancient,
brooding wilderness of Vermont. Here, amidst the rugged peaks of
(00:49):
the Green Mountains lies a place shrouded in an almost
palpable mystery, a geographical enigma known only as the Bennington Triangle.
It is a region where the vale between world seems thin,
where the earth itself holds secrets, and where a chilling
(01:10):
series of disappearances have defied all logical explanation, leaving behind
only echoes and a profound, unsettling silence. Our journey into
this perplexing wilderness begins in the mid twentieth century, specifically
between nineteen forty five and nineteen fifty, a concentrated period
(01:32):
of baffling vanishings that cemented the Bennington Triangle's sinister reputation.
This isn't a place marked by smiling faces or urban
graffiti instead. Its signature is the chilling absence of any trace,
swallowed whole by the unforgiving, dense forest. The triangle itself
(01:55):
is an ill defined area in southwestern Vermont, roughly centered
around Glastonbury Mountain, a desolate, often forbidding peak known for
its harsh weather, treacherous terrain, and a long history of
native legends and settler superstitions. Once a bustling logging town,
Glastonbury was largely abandoned by the early twentieth century, its
(02:19):
decaying structures and overgrown roads adding to its eerie, desolate atmosphere.
The first and perhaps most iconic disappearance occurred on December first,
nineteen forty five. A seasoned hunter and mountain guide Middy Rivers,
a man intimately familiar with every treacherous path and hidden
(02:41):
crevice of Glastonbury Mountain, vanished without a trace. Middy, a
robust seventy four year old, was leading a group of
four hunters when he decided to get ahead of them
on a familiar trail. He was never seen again. The
ground was covered in a light, fresh snowfall, yet no tracks,
(03:03):
no signs of struggle. No indication of his direction could
be found beyond his initial clear footprints. It was as
if the mountain itself had simply swallowed him hull, a chilling, inexplicable,
vanishing act that defied the logic of a man so
skilled in the wilderness. The extensive search that followed yielded
(03:26):
nothing but frustrating empty silence. Just one year later, on
December first, nineteen forty six, almost to the day, an
eighteen year old college student named Paula Jean Weldon disappeared. Paula,
a vibrant, adventurous sophomore at Bennington College, had decided to
(03:48):
hike along the Long Trail, a challenging wilderness path that
skirts Glastonbury Mountain. She was seen by several witnesses, including
a local couple, who confirmed her pre presence on the trail.
She wore a distinctive red jacket, a small splash of
colour against the muted winter landscape, but as dusk descended,
(04:10):
Paula failed to return. A massive desperate search was launched,
involving hundreds of volunteers, state police, and even the FBI.
The search continued for weeks, combing every inch of the
rugged terrain, yet not a single trace of Paula. No jacket,
no footprints, no personal belongings was ever found. It was
(04:34):
as if she had simply stepped off the face of
the earth, leaving behind only a profound, agonizing void. The
eerie pattern continued. On December first, nineteen forty nine, a
veteran named James E. Tetford, traveling by bus from sent
Albans to Bennington, vanished from a moving vehicle. He had
(04:57):
been visiting relatives and was on his way back to
the Bennington Soldiers Home. Witnesses on the bus confirmed seeing
him at the last stop before Bennington. His belongings were
still on the bus, but James Tetford himself was gone.
The bus had not made any unscheduled stops and the
windows were closed. How could a man simply disappear from
(05:20):
a confined space, surrounded by other passengers, without a single
sound or struggle. This particular vanishing added a terrifying, almost
surreal layer to the Bennington Triangle's dark reputation, suggesting a
force capable of snatching individuals even from seemingly secure environments.
(05:41):
The final and equally baffling disappearance occurred on October twelfth,
nineteen fifty, Paul Jeffson, an eight year old boy, was
with his mother on a farm near the triangle. His
mother had stepped away briefly to tend to some hogs,
leaving Paul playing near a small open shed. When she
(06:01):
returned just minutes later, Paul was gone. Despite the immediate
and widespread search involving local residents and law enforcement, the
boy was never found. The area was not expansive, and
an eight year old could not have simply vanished into
thin air. The speed and completeness of his disappearance were
(06:22):
profoundly unsettling, mirroring the inexplicable nature of the previous cases.
These five disappearances, concentrated within a five year span and
all occurring around the same desolate mountain, fueled a terrifying
local legend and eventually broader conspiracy theories. The official explanations,
(06:46):
often citing exposure, falls or simply getting lost, felt woefully
inadequate to the families and to those who had witnessed
the baffling circumstances. How could experienced woodsman wrong, young adults,
and even a child vanish so completely, leaving no trace,
no clue, no whisper of their fate. The conspiracy theories
(07:11):
surrounding the Bennington Triangle are as varied and unsettling as
the disappearances themselves. Some whisper of interdimensional portals or vortexes,
suggesting that the area is a gateway to another reality,
a place where individuals can inadvertently step into an unseen dimension,
(07:32):
never to return. The sheer completeness of the vanishings, the
lack of any physical evidence lends a chilling plausibility to
such fantastical notions. For those who believe the mountain isn't
just a physical place, it's a living entity, a hungry
more that occasionally opens to consume the unwary. Others point
(07:54):
to cryptids or unknown creatures lurking in the deep, unexplored
recesses of Glastonbury Mountain. Legends of the Bennington Monster or
other elusive predatory beings have circulated for generations, tales of
ancient malevolent entities that prey upon those who dare to
trespass too deeply into their domain. The idea of a
(08:18):
non human predator capable of snatching victims without leaving a
trace offers a terrifying primal explanation for the perplexing lack
of evidence. A darker, more terrestrial theory involves a serial
killer or group of killers operating with chilling efficiency in
(08:40):
the remote wilderness. This theory posits that the disappearances are homicides,
meticulously executed by an individual or individuals who know the
terrain intimately and are adept at disposing of bodies without
leaving any forensic trace. The timing of the disappearances, often
(09:00):
around the late fall early winter, could suggest a seasonal
hunter or a group that uses the harsh weather and
dense foliage to their advantage, ensuring that any evidence is
quickly obscured or destroyed. The Bennington Triangle remains an open
wound in the fabric of unsolved mysteries. The official files
(09:22):
may be closed, the search is long abandoned, but for
the families of the vanished, and for those of us
who listen to the whispers from the dark, the questions persist,
echoing through the desolate valleys and across the silent peaks
of Glastonbury Mountain. The powerful, ancient wilderness holds its secrets tightly,
(09:44):
and perhaps some mysteries are simply not meant to be
solved by mortal hands, and so the shadows lengthen, and
the whispers grow louder, more insistent. The chilling tale of
the Bennington Triangle, with its perplexing disappearances and haunting theories,
(10:05):
remains an open wound in the fabric of our reality.
The search for truth, like the wilderness itself, is a relentless,
winding journey, often fraught with unseen dangers and profound, unsettling mysteries.
And sometimes the most terrifying truths are the ones that
(10:25):
refuse to be officially acknowledged. Incumbent, detected Putt
When the lights go out, they speak the vanished, the cursed,
the crueler. Their echoes live here. I'm raven Veil, and
you've just crossed the threshold. Welcome to Whispers from the Dark.
(00:29):
Whispers from the Dark, the Bennington Triangle. I am raven Veil,
and tonight the Whispers from the Dark lead us away
from the murky currents of the Mississippi deep into the ancient,
brooding wilderness of Vermont. Here, amidst the rugged peaks of
(00:49):
the Green Mountains lies a place shrouded in an almost
palpable mystery, a geographical enigma known only as the Bennington Triangle.
It is a region where the vale between world seems thin,
where the earth itself holds secrets, and where a chilling
(01:10):
series of disappearances have defied all logical explanation, leaving behind
only echoes and a profound, unsettling silence. Our journey into
this perplexing wilderness begins in the mid twentieth century, specifically
between nineteen forty five and nineteen fifty, a concentrated period
(01:32):
of baffling vanishings that cemented the Bennington Triangle's sinister reputation.
This isn't a place marked by smiling faces or urban
graffiti instead. Its signature is the chilling absence of any trace,
swallowed whole by the unforgiving, dense forest. The triangle itself
(01:55):
is an ill defined area in southwestern Vermont, roughly centered
around Glastonbury Mountain, a desolate, often forbidding peak known for
its harsh weather, treacherous terrain, and a long history of
native legends and settler superstitions. Once a bustling logging town,
Glastonbury was largely abandoned by the early twentieth century, its
(02:19):
decaying structures and overgrown roads adding to its eerie, desolate atmosphere.
The first and perhaps most iconic disappearance occurred on December first,
nineteen forty five. A seasoned hunter and mountain guide Middy Rivers,
a man intimately familiar with every treacherous path and hidden
(02:41):
crevice of Glastonbury Mountain, vanished without a trace. Middy, a
robust seventy four year old, was leading a group of
four hunters when he decided to get ahead of them
on a familiar trail. He was never seen again. The
ground was covered in a light, fresh snowfall, yet no tracks,
(03:03):
no signs of struggle. No indication of his direction could
be found beyond his initial clear footprints. It was as
if the mountain itself had simply swallowed him hull, a chilling, inexplicable,
vanishing act that defied the logic of a man so
skilled in the wilderness. The extensive search that followed yielded
(03:26):
nothing but frustrating empty silence. Just one year later, on
December first, nineteen forty six, almost to the day, an
eighteen year old college student named Paula Jean Weldon disappeared. Paula,
a vibrant, adventurous sophomore at Bennington College, had decided to
(03:48):
hike along the Long Trail, a challenging wilderness path that
skirts Glastonbury Mountain. She was seen by several witnesses, including
a local couple, who confirmed her pre presence on the trail.
She wore a distinctive red jacket, a small splash of
colour against the muted winter landscape, but as dusk descended,
(04:10):
Paula failed to return. A massive desperate search was launched,
involving hundreds of volunteers, state police, and even the FBI.
The search continued for weeks, combing every inch of the
rugged terrain, yet not a single trace of Paula. No jacket,
no footprints, no personal belongings was ever found. It was
(04:34):
as if she had simply stepped off the face of
the earth, leaving behind only a profound, agonizing void. The
eerie pattern continued. On December first, nineteen forty nine, a
veteran named James E. Tetford, traveling by bus from sent
Albans to Bennington, vanished from a moving vehicle. He had
(04:57):
been visiting relatives and was on his way back to
the Bennington Soldiers Home. Witnesses on the bus confirmed seeing
him at the last stop before Bennington. His belongings were
still on the bus, but James Tetford himself was gone.
The bus had not made any unscheduled stops and the
windows were closed. How could a man simply disappear from
(05:20):
a confined space, surrounded by other passengers, without a single
sound or struggle. This particular vanishing added a terrifying, almost
surreal layer to the Bennington Triangle's dark reputation, suggesting a
force capable of snatching individuals even from seemingly secure environments.
(05:41):
The final and equally baffling disappearance occurred on October twelfth,
nineteen fifty, Paul Jeffson, an eight year old boy, was
with his mother on a farm near the triangle. His
mother had stepped away briefly to tend to some hogs,
leaving Paul playing near a small open shed. When she
(06:01):
returned just minutes later, Paul was gone. Despite the immediate
and widespread search involving local residents and law enforcement, the
boy was never found. The area was not expansive, and
an eight year old could not have simply vanished into
thin air. The speed and completeness of his disappearance were
(06:22):
profoundly unsettling, mirroring the inexplicable nature of the previous cases.
These five disappearances, concentrated within a five year span and
all occurring around the same desolate mountain, fueled a terrifying
local legend and eventually broader conspiracy theories. The official explanations,
(06:46):
often citing exposure, falls or simply getting lost, felt woefully
inadequate to the families and to those who had witnessed
the baffling circumstances. How could experienced woodsman wrong, young adults,
and even a child vanish so completely, leaving no trace,
no clue, no whisper of their fate. The conspiracy theories
(07:11):
surrounding the Bennington Triangle are as varied and unsettling as
the disappearances themselves. Some whisper of interdimensional portals or vortexes,
suggesting that the area is a gateway to another reality,
a place where individuals can inadvertently step into an unseen dimension,
(07:32):
never to return. The sheer completeness of the vanishings, the
lack of any physical evidence lends a chilling plausibility to
such fantastical notions. For those who believe the mountain isn't
just a physical place, it's a living entity, a hungry
more that occasionally opens to consume the unwary. Others point
(07:54):
to cryptids or unknown creatures lurking in the deep, unexplored
recesses of Glastonbury Mountain. Legends of the Bennington Monster or
other elusive predatory beings have circulated for generations, tales of
ancient malevolent entities that prey upon those who dare to
trespass too deeply into their domain. The idea of a
(08:18):
non human predator capable of snatching victims without leaving a
trace offers a terrifying primal explanation for the perplexing lack
of evidence. A darker, more terrestrial theory involves a serial
killer or group of killers operating with chilling efficiency in
(08:40):
the remote wilderness. This theory posits that the disappearances are homicides,
meticulously executed by an individual or individuals who know the
terrain intimately and are adept at disposing of bodies without
leaving any forensic trace. The timing of the disappearances, often
(09:00):
around the late fall early winter, could suggest a seasonal
hunter or a group that uses the harsh weather and
dense foliage to their advantage, ensuring that any evidence is
quickly obscured or destroyed. The Bennington Triangle remains an open
wound in the fabric of unsolved mysteries. The official files
(09:22):
may be closed, the search is long abandoned, but for
the families of the vanished, and for those of us
who listen to the whispers from the dark, the questions persist,
echoing through the desolate valleys and across the silent peaks
of Glastonbury Mountain. The powerful, ancient wilderness holds its secrets tightly,
(09:44):
and perhaps some mysteries are simply not meant to be
solved by mortal hands, and so the shadows lengthen, and
the whispers grow louder, more insistent. The chilling tale of
the Bennington Triangle, with its perplexing disappearances and haunting theories,
(10:05):
remains an open wound in the fabric of our reality.
The search for truth, like the wilderness itself, is a relentless,
winding journey, often fraught with unseen dangers and profound, unsettling mysteries.
And sometimes the most terrifying truths are the ones that
(10:25):
refuse to be officially acknowledged. Incumbent, detected Putt
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