The Bennington Triangle: Unsolved Disappearances
In the southwestern part of Vermont lies a mysterious region known as the Bennington Triangle. This area has seen a number of strange disappearances. Author and folklorist Joseph A. Citro first used this name in 1992. The heart of this triangle is Glastonbury Mountain, and it stretches to nearby towns like Bennington, Woodford, Shaftsbury, and Somerset. These towns were once busy logging communities, but now they are mostly deserted, known as “ghost towns” with very few people living there.
Between 1945 and 1950, a total of five individuals vanished without a trace in the Bennington Triangle. Their stories are some of the most puzzling examples from this area’s odd history.
Middie Rivers Goes Missing
On November 12, 1945, 74-year-old Middie Rivers was guiding a group of four other hunters up Glastonbury Mountain. Rivers was a very experienced hunter and knew the area well. On their way back down, he somehow became separated from his group. He was never seen again. A thorough search was carried out, but the only thing ever found was a single rifle bullet casing in a nearby stream.
The Vanishing of Paula Welden
Perhaps the most famous person to disappear in the Bennington Triangle is Paula Welden. She was an 18-year-old student at Bennington College and loved to hike. On December 1, 1946, Welden set out to walk the Long Trail on Glastonbury Mountain. Around 4:00 p.m., she spoke with another hiker who asked her how far the trail went. He reported that it went all the way to Canada. He was the last person to see her. Paula never came home.
Search teams looked for her for many days. Her father, a wealthy engineer, even offered a $5,000 reward for any clues. She was never found. Paula Welden’s case remains unsolved and is a key part of the Bennington Triangle’s eerie tales.
Other Strange Cases
Two years after Welden vanished, on December 1, 1949, a war veteran named James E. Tedford disappeared. He lived at the Bennington Soldiers’ Home and was on a bus heading back there after visiting family in St. Albans. When the bus arrived in Bennington, he was gone, but his bags were still on the bus.
A year later, on October 12, 1950, 8-year-old Paul Jepson disappeared. His mother had left him in a truck for a short time while she fed pigs on a farm. When she returned, he was no longer there. Search parties found his red jacket, but no other sign of him was ever discovered.
Just sixteen days later, 53-year-old Frieda Langer also vanished. She was hiking with her cousin, Herbert Elsner, near the Somerset Reservoir. When Langer slipped and fell, Elsner left her for a moment to get her some dry clothes. When he came back, she was gone. Her body was later found on May 12, 1951, near the reservoir. Doctors couldn’t figure out why she died. Langer is the only victim from these cases whose body was ever recovered.
Conclusion
The Bennington Triangle holds a truly unsettling secret in New England. People like Rivers, Welden, Tedford, Jepson, and Langer simply vanished, one after another. Their quick and unexplained disappearances form a puzzling pattern.
Even with huge searches and many theories — from crimes and dangerous nature to something supernatural — the real story has never come out. What makes this area so haunting isn’t just how many people disappeared, but also that their families never got any answers or peace.
Today, Glastonbury Mountain and the old, empty towns nearby seem to silently guard these secrets. They leave us with far more questions than answers. The Bennington Triangle remains a chilling reminder of just how fast people can disappear completely, leaving no sign.
Reference: The True Crime File – Kim Daly
