Top Ten American "Bridgewater Triangles"

As a slightly renamed documentary, The Bridgewater Triangle will make its national television debut on Saturday, September 5, 2015, at 10:00 PM Eastern Time, on the cable network Destination America. The channel will be airing a condensed broadcast hour (42 minute) cut of the film, with their newly created subtitle, America's Bermuda Triangle. The repeats will exist for years, and the awareness of the Bridgewater Triangle will expand.

The addition of the subtitle to this edited version of the documentary occurred weeks ago, perhaps even months before Wednesday, August 26, 2015's major media eruption of the name "Bridgewater," in conjunction with the first ever, on air, live shooting of two journalists. It was not lost on me that the shooting event happened at the Bridgewater Plaza in Virginia.

Bridgewaters, wherever they are, needless to say, have had a long history of strange happenings and phenomena. In the 1830s, in Bridgewater, Pennsylvania, a small hairy upright hominoid creature was confronted by a man picking berries; the beast ran off when chased. In December 1969, and then again in March-April 1970, near Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in the midst of the future named Bridgewater Triangle, many sightings of a Bigfoot, including by a police officer, took place. In the summer 1976, near Bridgewater, New Jersey, three teens saw a Bigfoot while they were playing in the woods and then found three-toed footprints. On July 27, 2015, a UFO sighting occurred in Bridgewater, New Jersey. There are also reports of a blond ghost around Bridgewater, New Jersey.

Bridgewater - a bridge over a body of water - evokes the challenge of the terrestrial over the aquatic.

America's Bermuda Triangle

Of course, the new subtitle given to the documentary by the cable network did seem relatively silly, when the first announcement was made.

The actual coining of the term "Bermuda Triangle" seems to point to Vincent Gaddis, a Fortean friend of Ivan T. Sanderson. In the February 1964 issue of Argosy, Vincent Gaddis' article "The Deadly Bermuda Triangle" used the phrase widely for the first time. Sanderson wrote the well-known followup article, "The Twelve Devil's Graveyards Around the World," in 1972, for Saga magazine.

The real Bermuda Triangle is partially in America, since Florida makes up the eastern side of that "triangle," so why change the perfectly good name from The Bridgewater Triangle to America's Bermuda Triangle? As it turns out, it was a subtitle and the use of that moniker acknowledges this is a new edit, and not the directors' cut.

Destination America is also referring to what they feel is the better known "Bermuda Triangle" name, although they might be surprised by how many people know about the Bridgewater Triangle, nowadays. Plus, most of the other "Triangles" have been labeled with those names because I began this practice in the 1970s, with the Bridgewater Triangle.

Therefore, since they gave The Bridgewater Triangle the subtitle America's Bermuda Triangle, let's switch this back around a bit and look at...

America's Bridgewater Triangles

#1. Bridgewater Triangle, Massachusetts

The Bridgewater Triangle was coined in the late 1970s (circa 1976) by yours truly, Loren Coleman, who published the phrase for the first time in the April 1980 article of the same name in Boston Magazine, and in the 1983 book, Mysterious America (Faber and Faber, 1983; now in a completely revised 2007 Simon & Schuster edition). A local newspaper published the name "The Bridgewater Triangle" after I gave a library lecture using the phrase in the late 1970s, in the Bridgewater area.

The Bridgewater Triangle is the focus of decades of weird activity (UFO sightings; cattle mutilations; Hell Hound encounters; Black Panther accounts; Giant Snake tales; people disappearances; little creature folklore, plus the 1969-1970s Bigfoot activity, mentioned above) in a 200-square-mile area in southeastern Massachusetts. The Bridgewater Triangle is roughly defined by the towns of Abington in the north, Freetown in the southeast, and Rehoboth in the southwest, an area that encompasses the Hockomock Swamp and the “infamous” Freetown/Fall River State Forest. (See at bottom, for more information on The Bridgewater Triangle.)

#2. The Bennington Triangle, Vermont

The Bennington Triangle was coined by writer Joseph A. Citro in 1992. According to Citro, the area shares characteristics with the Bridgewater Triangle in neighboring Massachusetts, and so he used a similar name.

This Vermont location has many of the same phenomena found in the Bridgewater Triangle. Citro related the disappearances of Middie Rivers (1945), Paula Weldon (1946), James Tedford (1949), Paul Jepson (1950), and Frieda Langer (1950), to the Bennington Triangle.

One of the more bizarre legends associated with this Vermont site is the man-eating stone of Glastonbury Mountain, which made its first appearance in Citro’s book The Vermont Monster Guide (2009). The man-eating stone is exactly what it sounds like…a rock that eats people.

A Wikipedia editor rather harshly noted that "precisely what area is encompassed in this hypothetical 'mystery triangle' is not clear."

But Citro is rather clear about where The Bennington Triangle is. It is centered on Glastenbury Mountain and includes some or most of the area of the towns immediately surrounding it, especially Bennington, Woodford, Shaftsbury, and Somerset. Glastenbury and its neighboring township Somerset were both once moderately thriving logging and industrial towns, but began declining toward the late 19th century and are now essentially ghost towns, unincorporated by an act of the state legislature in 1937.

Update: In response to this article, Joseph Citro shared the following thoughts on August 30, 2015,

Thanks, Loren Coleman. The problem with triangles, I think, is that people expect their boundaries to be rigidly defined -- straight lines and measurable angles. The phrase is simply a metaphor. The lines can undulate, and the angles can open and close. We could as easily and as accurately say, The Burmuda Square, or The Bridgewater Rectangle, but Triangle (i.e. three) has always had stronger metaphysical impact. It is a convenience word, but it surely has taken root in our language.

#3. The Coudersport Triangle, Pennsylvania

Thunderbirds have been seen in northern Pennsylvania, in an area known as the "Coudersport Triangle," which overlaps with the spooky Black Forest of the same location. Most of the Thunderbird sightings come from the Black Forest region of Clinton, Potter, Lycoming, Tioga, Cameron, and McKean counties, sparsely populated areas of mainly state forests and gamelands. Besides the Thunderbirds, tales of Black Panthers are part of the traditions here.

The earliest chronicler of the variously named Coudersport Triangle, Black Forest, or Forbidden Land accounts is the late Pennsylvania writer Robert Lyman, who penned a series of volumes in his Amazing Indeed, Strange Events in the Black Forest booklets. Extending Lyman's work, cryptozoologist and author Mark A. Hall captured more Thunderbird sightings in his chapter on the Pennsylvania accounts in his book, Thunderbirds: America's Living Legends of Giant Birds.

In 2004, I traveled to the Coudersport Triangle, on location for an episode of a Discovery science program for young people on the Coudersport Triangle/Black Forest's Thunderbird reports. Other programs have dealt with the same topic.

The Animal X program on the Black Forest contains eyewitness accounts from the Coudersport Triangle. Then it drifts into showing the "Chief John Huffer" footage from Illinois of what appears to be turkey vultures, but places the Huffer video incorrectly from Pennsylvania.

#4. The Virginia Triangle, Virginia and North Carolina

In Weird Virginia: Your Travel Guide to Virginia's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets (Sterling, 2007), I wrote of the "Virginia Triangle." I penned this paragraph on page 37:

The Great Dismal Swamp is a marshy wetland that goes from Norfolk, located on the Elizabeth River, through southeastern Virginia's Coast Plain into northeastern North Carolina. It has been known as a miniversion of the Bermuda Triangle, on the level of other states' mystery triangles, like the Coudersport Triangle (linked to the Black Forest) in Pennsylvania or the Bridgewater Triangle (aligned with the Hockomock Swamp) in Massachusetts. Reports of ancient mysteries, as well as sighting of giant snakes and Bigfoot, have been associated with the Great Dismal Swamp.

Lake Drummond, a 3,100-acre lake, is located in the heart of the swamp, and only one of two natural lakes in Virginia. It was discovered in 1655, by former Scottish indentured servant William Drummond. Drummond went on to be governor of North Carolina, and was later hanged in Virginia. Lake Drummond is almost a perfect circle, and some thought has been given to it having been formed by a meteorite, a peat fire, or a tectonic shift. Native American tradition talks of "the Fire Bird" creating the freshwater lake.

#5. The Great Lakes Triangle and Michigan Triangle, Wisconsin, Michigan, Canada

Jay Gourley's book The Great Lakes Triangle first appeared on May 12, 1977. The focus was the disappearance of planes and ships throughout the entire region of the Great Lakes, as shown on the map below. The area was too large for it to be seen as a popular topic for research discussions by the mainstream media.

On the television program In Search Of…, the late Leonard Nimoy narrated the episode entitled "The Great Lakes Triangle," which aired on November 2, 1978.

As noted in the Skeptoid,

Author Hugh Cochrane thanks Jay Gourley in his own book, Gateway To Oblivion: The Great Lakes' Bermuda Triangle. And from there, he expands upon the idea that the Great Lakes are host to vile vortices, UFO hotspots, Earth energies, and an entire catalog of unproven phenomena. 

The Michigan Triangle, where many planes, ships, and people go missing, stretches from the town of Ludington to Benton Harbor in Michigan; another links from Benton Harbor to Manitowoc, Wisconsin; the final side connects Manitowoc back to Ludington. The Michigan Triangle is an extension but concentration of Jay Gourley's original idea, earlier, of The Great Lakes Triangle.

The Lake Michigan Triangle has been mentioned on Willian Shatner's Weird or What?, it has a place entry on the Atlas Obscura, and the Travel Channel's Mysteries at the Museum reported on it.

#6. The Big Lick Triangle, Indiana and Kentucky

In 2013, a clever blogger named Ben did his homework, and came up with this:

Children, have you ever heard of “The Bridgewater Triangle?”
Go and google it … I’ll wait.
OK, as we all now know, “The Bridgewater Triangle” refers to this vague geographic area in southeast Massachusetts. Weighing in at about 200 square miles, the Bridgewater Triangle is claimed to be a hotbed of paranormal activity — like every X-File you can image: UFOs, ghosts of all kind, Bigfoot, Thunderbirds, cattle mutilation, satanic activity, black helicopters, phantom pumas …
Back in the 1980s, a paranormal researcher was looking at a map and noticed that a lot of his ghost, Bigfeet and flying saucer reports happened in southern Mass, a few hundred miles around a town called Bridgewater. So he got his magic marker / sharpie, drew the rough borders on the map, and BAM! Instant paranormal fame.

Well, since that Fortean researcher was me (Loren Coleman) and I didn't use a magic marker in the 1970s (not the 1980s), I am honored by this cute passage, anyway.

Ben* goes on to notice the strange coincidences of his own area's phenomena - in a rough shape configured with three towns named Lick on each corner. Then he coined the name The Big Lick Triangle. 

His body of linking evidence shows he had fun, especially since his area is "roughly 2269.9 square miles of weird" compared to 200 square miles of the Bridgewater Triangle. He surprisingly found much more that was strange in this Triangle that he reckoned for, and he appears to have been overjoyed with his discoveries.

My personal favorite in The Big Lick Triangle - and one that I have mentioned in my books - is the green, 10-foot-tall monster with glowing red eyes, seen in March 1965, by teenagers in the woods south of French Lick, Indiana. It grew to be called “Fluorescent Freddie." Unfortunately, it never became as famous as that other local tall native - Larry Bird.

*Update: "Ben" read this selection and got in contact. He identifies himself as Ben Schneider, and pointed out the fact "The Big Lick Triangle" has a curious name game to note. There is a "Bridgewater" name inside the configured area. It's the Bridgewater Cemetery in Scottsburg, Indiana, a town near the northern border of the Big Lick Triangle. Quoting from Ben's blog, the Bridgewater Cemetery is "haunted by an entity called 'Old Red Eyes.' It is often seen glowing at the back of the cemetery. A black form or object will often circle around cars, and handprints will appear on the windows. A white phantom horse sometimes chases gawkers away at night, and there is also the glowing tombstone of a man who awakens at night and guards the front gate."

Ben's comedic relief is apparent in his creation of this Triangle, but there's no reason to leave it off the list of Triangles, even if we know he's somewhat doing this exercise with his tongue firming in his cheek. He may have been hiding his Fortean wit behind his sarcasm, but the end result was pure satisfaction and enjoyment. And good research.

#7. The Nevada Triangle, Nevada and California

The disappearance of maverick aviator and daredevil entrepreneur Steve Fossett in 2007 brought into focus an area called The Nevada Triangle. Observers have documented more than 2,000 planes having crashed there in the past 60 years, including reports of UFOs and alien abduction, in the area that encompasses Reno, Fresno, China Lake, Las Vegas, and Groom Lake, a/k/a Area 51. Any location with Area 51 appears destined to be an enigmatic area, right?

The Mystery of the Nevada Triangle was a 2010 Channel 4 (UK) production about the location and the disappearance of Steve Fossett. Several news outlets, such as Fox News, reported on The Nevada Triangle in 2010.

#8. The Alaska Triangle, Alaska

The Alaska Triangle is also called Alaska's Devil's Graveyard, because so many ships and airplanes have disappeared there.

Planes go down, hikers go missing and Alaskan residents and tourists seem to vanish into the largely untouched backdrop.

The so-called Alaska Triangle slices through four of the state's regions, from the southeastern wilderness and fjords to the interior tundra and up to the arctic mountain ranges. Its points include the large swath of land from Juneau and Yakutat in the southeast, the Barrow mountain range in the north, and Anchorage in the center of the state.

#9. The Little Egypt Triangle, Illinois

The Southern Triangle of Illinois forms an area also given the name "Little Egypt" or "Egypt." The Triangle forms nicely from the southern third of the state of Illinois. With the area code 618, the southern part of Illinois is geographically, culturally, and economically distinct from the rest of the state. The region is bordered by the most voluminous rivers in the United States: the Wabash and Ohio rivers to the east and south, and the Mississippi River and its connecting Missouri River to the west.

Southern Illinois' most populated city is currently Belleville (see The Bell Name) at 44,478. Other principal cities include Alton, Centralia, Collinsville, Edwardsville, O'Fallon, Harrisburg, Mt. Vernon, Marion, and Carbondale, where the main campus of Southern Illinois University is located. It also has a campus at Edwardsville. Residents travel to amenities in St. Louis and Cape Girardeau, Missouri; Memphis, Tennessee; Evansville, Indiana; and Paducah, Kentucky. The region is also home to a major military installation, Scott Air Force Base.

I completed my undergraduate studies in anthropology/zoology at SIU-C. While there, and often not going to classes, I would investigate many Fortean and cryptozoological wonders in this area, from Black Panthers (Shawnee National Forest) to small red apes (swamps around Mt. Vernon and other towns), large birds (especially in the Alton area) to stone walls (across the Triangle). Several passages in my books, especially in Mysterious America, are about the cases in The Little Egypt Triangle. 

The name game is strong in Little Egypt, with Thebes, Karnak, New Memphis, Dongola, and Cairo having lexilinks to ancient Egypt. SIU-C's students attending Little Egypt's leading university read The Daily Egyptian and call their athletic teams "The Salukis" (Egyptian hunting dogs). In nearby states, you find West Memphis and Memphis. Some have related these names to the strong Egyptian influences in the Supreme Council, 33°, Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, which had a sway over this area, technically south of the Mason/Dixon Line.

Little Egypt's Fayville (see the Fayette Factor), Illinois, is an unincorporated community in Alexander County, Illinois, located along the Mississippi River south of Thebes.

#10. The Ossipee Triangle, New Hampshire

First appearing in print as "The Ossipee Triangle" in Info Journal, Vol 12-13, 1987, the label was inspired by The Bridgewater Triangle. The name was coined by investigator Ken Moak. The Ossipee Triangle includes most of Carrol County in eastern New Hampshire, and at the center is Ossipee Lake. The Ossipee Triangle is the home of Mystery Pond (now called Snake Pond), UFOs, Indian mounds, ghost stories, disappearances of boats and planes, and other oddities.

The map was created by the Mandate Interstate 93 (see below) folks, and they note The Ossipee Triangle "would include Mounts Shaw, Sentinel, Cannon, and Lafayette. Mystery Hill and Lake Winnipesaukee." The latter lake syncs with the fictional site of the movie, What About Bob? and the Bridgewater Plaza shootings.

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The following (slightly revised) press release on The Bridgewater Triangle: America's Bermuda Triangle is from Bristol County Media.

Triangle Documentary to See National Audience

In October of 2013, The Bridgewater Triangle documentary premiered to a sell-out crowd of over 750 people at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. One year later, the exclusive US broadcast rights to the film were licensed to Discovery Communications’ Destination America network. The channel will air a 42-minute (broadcast hour) version of the documentary under the title, The Bridgewater Triangle: America’s Bermuda Triangle, a name which they hope will help to draw-in a broader national audience. The film will broadcast on Saturday, September 5th at 10:00 PM Eastern Time. Viewers are encouraged to check with their local cable and satellite providers for availability and channel number. To celebrate the occasion, a free viewing party will be held that same night at Christopher’s Lounge at 1285 Broadway in Raynham, Massachusetts. The event is open to the public and will begin at 8:00 PM with a screening of the original 90-minute directors’ cut of The Bridgewater Triangle. At 10:00 PM, Christopher’s many televisions will be tuned in to Destination America as The Bridgewater Triangle (airing as The Bridgewater Triangle: America’s Bermuda Triangle) makes its debut on national television. A number of the film’s cast and crew members will be present at the event.

First named and defined, in 1978, by world-renown cryptozoologist and author Loren Coleman, the 200-square-mile Bridgewater Triangle sits within the Southeastern portion of Massachusetts, and includes a number of locations known for unexplained occurrences; the most prominent of which include the legendary Hockomock Swamp and the infamous Freetown-Fall River State Forest. The triangle’s traditional boarders are revealed by connecting the dots between the town of Abington to the North, the town of Freetown to the Southeast, and the town of Rehoboth to the Southwest. The area hosts an unusually high volume of reports involving strange happenings, baffling mysteries and sinister deeds. From ghostly hauntings and cryptid animal sightings, to UFO encounters and evidence of satanic ritual sacrifice, the Bridgewater Triangle serves as one of the world’s most diverse hotspots for paranormal activity. The first-ever feature-length documentary on the subject, The Bridgewater Triangle explores the history of this fascinating region. The film features a number of local residents providing first-hand accounts of unexplained occurrences. In addition, an all-star assembly of paranormal researchers, folklorists and authors provide expert analysis regarding the many mysteries of the triangle. Among the film’s on-screen personalities are Loren Coleman, and Ghost Adventures writer and author Jeff Belanger.

During its twenty-two month long run, the independently produced documentary, which was filmed entirely in Massachusetts, has been featured on the nationally-syndicated Coast to Coast AM radio show, on WCVB’s Chronicle, on Fox 25’s Zip Trips, and in a segment on WJAR in Providence. The film has also been covered in a number of publications including the nationally-distributed Rue Morgue magazine and the Boston Globe. On the festival circuit, the documentary received the Audience Award at the 2014 Terror Con Film Festival, in Providence, won Best Documentary at the Winter 2015 Macabre Faire Film Festival on Long Island, New York, and won Best Local at the 2015 Granite State Film Festival, in Manchester, New Hampshire. Reviews of the movie have been positive, including eight favorable write-ups from independent critics, and an 8.0 out of 10 stars rating on the Internet Movie Database. In late 2014, The Bridgewater Triangle became available on UltraFlix, NanoTech Entertainment’s 4k movie streaming service.

The film’s producers hope that a successful run on Destination America will lead to additional opportunities, including a chance to be shown on Discovery Communications’ flagship network, the Discovery Channel, and the possibility of generating an international interest in The Bridgewater Triangle with overseas broadcast and distribution deals. The producers will also retain the film’s exclusive Blu-ray, DVD and Internet On-Demand distribution rights, and the original 90-minute feature will remain available through their website.

This early 2000s map of the Bridgewater Triangle was created for a Boston Globe article about the area, and gave a decidedly more humanlike than cryptozoological slant to the traditions.

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Do you know of more "Bridgewater Triangles" in America? If so, let me know (here).

Enjoy....

and purchase Mysterious America to read more about the Bridgewater Triangle.

Parndorf's Truck

Investigators stand near a truck that stands on the shoulder of the highway A4 near Parndorf south of Vienna, Austria on Aug. 27, 2015. Photo by Ronald Zak.

An abandoned truck “full of bodies” (apparently the count is 71) was found on the side of a highway in eastern Austria, near Parndorf, on Thursday. Police said the dead were thought to be refugees.

This happened in the Austrian state of Burgenland.

Hans Peter Doskozil, the head of the Burgenland Police, early on said: “We cannot say exactly how many there are. We could imagine that maybe 20 people have died, but it could also be 40 or 50 … We think that these are refugees.”

Now we hear the number 71.

The Krone newspaper reported that initial indications were that they suffocated.

The truck had been purchased from a company that did not remove their branding from the vehicle. They told the media they would not be doing that again.

So, this truck was found a short distance from Parndorf.

Parndorf literally contains the common German root "dorf" for "town/city" and a simple word, "parn," which hides a complex meaning and other links.

In Old German, "parn" refers to the "grass of Parnassus."

Mount Parnassus (/pɑrˈnæsəs/; Greek: Παρνασσός, Parnassos), is a mountain of limestone in central Greece that towers above Delphi, north of the Gulf of Corinth, and offers scenic views of the surrounding olive groves and countryside. According to Greek mythology, this mountain was sacred to Dionysus and the Dionysian mysteries; it was also sacred to Apollo and the Corycian nymphs, and it was the home of the Muses. The mountain was also favored by the Dorians. There is a theory that Parna- derived from the same root as the word in Luwian meaning House.

The name "Parnassus" in literature typically refers to its distinction as the home of poetry, literature and, by extension, learning. The Montparnasse area in Paris, France, for example, bears its name from the many literature students who recited poetry in the streets, who as a result nicknamed it "(le) Mont Parnasse".

This then links to a significant synchromystic movie.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a 2009 fantasy film directed by Terry Gilliam and written by Gilliam and Charles McKeown. The film follows a travelling theatre troupe whose leader, having made a bet with the Devil, takes audience members through a magical mirror to explore their imaginations and present them with a choice between self-fulfilling enlightenment or gratifying ignorance.

Heath Ledger, Christopher Plummer, Andrew Garfield, Lily Cole, Verne Troyer, and Tom Waits star in the film, though Ledger's death one-third of the way through filming caused production to be temporarily suspended. Ledger's role was recast with Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell portraying transformations of Ledger's character as he travels through a dream world.

Several starting points in the plot line of the film's story link to material I've written about in my Twilight Language blog of late, including Mr. Nick/Devil/Nicholas, bridges over water/Bridgewater, and, of course, Heath Ledger's presence in The Dark Knight Rises.

To wit, Doctor Parnassus' (Plummer) theatre troupe, which includes sleight of hand expert Anton (Garfield), confidant Percy (Troyer), and Parnassus' daughter Valentina (Cole), performs outside a London pub. A drunk (Richard Riddell) barges onstage and crashes through a stage mirror, where his face changes (Bruce Crawford), and he enters a journey of imagination that culminates in a choice between a torturous-looking twelve-step program and going to a pub. He enters the pub, but it explodes; in the real world, Parnassus says he has lost another one to Mr. Nick (Waits).

Mr. Nick reminds Parnassus that in three days Valentina turns 16, and her soul will be his. Drinking and playing tarot, Parnassus tells Valentina that, centuries earlier, he ran a monastery where monks perpetually recited stories to sustain the world. Mr. Nick challenged their beliefs by sealing their mouths. The world survived, but Parnassus claimed it was because of stories told elsewhere. Mr. Nick had bet Parnassus who could win more souls. Parnassus won twelve souls before Mr. Nick, and gained immortality.

As the troupe crosses a bridge, Anton spies someone hanging beneath it. They rescue the man (Ledger), who spits out a golden pipe when revived. Claiming to have amnesia, the man joins the troupe as a barker. Parnassus becomes despondent over the impending loss of his daughter. Mr. Nick visits Parnassus, revealing the hanging man is a disgraced philanthropist named "Tony". He offers Parnassus a wager: Valentina can stay with whoever wins five souls first.

It continues on. It is a genius story. Director Terry Gilliam and screenwriter Charles McKeown wrote the script for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009), their first collaboration since The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988).

The labeling on the truck was unfortunate as these people were merely a form of human cargo for someone trying to make money. The metaphor is the message from Parndorf.

Bridgewater Plaza's WDBJ Shootings: Copycats & Cartoons

It will be on Wednesday, September 9, 2015, on the day of the second anniversary of the Bridgewater Plaza shooting, when the first highest potential copycat window will occur.

In the wake of the Bridgewater Plaza shootings, which left WDBJ cameraman Adam Ward and reporter Alison Parker dead, and Vicki Gardner, the local chamber of commerce director, wounded, there has been in-depth looks at the event and the gunman, Vester Lee Flanagan II (a/k/a Bryce Williams).

Let's look at some of the copycats that built up to this incident, through the political cartoons that have appeared in years and days after similar events.

The mass shootings, in recent years, have resulted in thoughtful, insightful illustrations of the community ethos and, even, mythos surrounding the violence.

Looking back to the Aurora shootings, for example, the image of Batman is often prominent.

Aurora also caused images of theaters to appear in these cartoons, and the other theater shootings have merged with that one.

The 2015 Lafayette shooting has been added as the sequel.

VA Tech, Sandy Hook, Charleston, Bridgewater Plaza/WDBJ - the list becomes overwhelming.

Even a real newspaper cover appears to be cartoonish in this climate.

And the holding of the gun appears programmed from the past - and we find out much of the Bridgewater Plaza shooting was born in the legacy of VA Tech, Columbine, and Charleston.

The copycat effect is strong in this event, sadly. Rick McKee's 2015 post-Bridgewater Plaza cartoon captures the concept well.

And yet, it almost seems as out-of-whack as another story that McKee dealt with in cartoon form in 2008 - down to a similar plaid outfit - a Bigfoot hoax event. Recall, Vester Flanagan wore plaid for his 2015 "media killing."

Which leaves me wondering, what odd stories did Alison Parker work on at WDBJ that have been scrubbed from her archives?

(The following is not Alison Parker, but a typical local - in this case, Channel 7 in Florida - reporter doing the kind of stories they sometimes have to do.)

Roye Shooting Has Historical Illuminati Links

Today's, August 25, 2015 attack on a family in France has weird links to the past treatment of the Illuminati.

A gunman has killed three members of the same family – including a baby – and a police officer, during a shooting at a travellers’ camp in northeastern France.

The suspect, who is a member of the traveller community in the town of Roye, killed a six-month-old baby, a woman and a man believed to be a grandfather during the attack at 4:30 p.m. local time, near an Intermarche supermarket, according to police and a Paris prosecutor. Another child was injured.

Police who responded to the scene were greeted with gunfire. The shooter (allegedly drunk) seriously injured one 44-year-old officer – who later died - and slightly wounded another.

A police source said that the incident is understood to be a “criminal matter,” and not linked to terrorism.

Intriguingly, the camp's location (shown above) is directly tied to the history of the Illuminati.

Roye is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France. In 1634, religious refugees from Seville, Spain, known as the illuministes tried to establish themselves in France - in Roye. They claimed to be inspired by celestial messages. Pierre Guérin, curate of Saint-Georges de Roye, was converted and himself created many disciples, called "les Guérinistes." The Catholic Church sought out and executed all of them, by 1635.

Illuministes: Yes, we are talking about the Illuminati. See also, here.

Today's allegedly unrelated August 25th French shooting in Roye follows closely - in time and space - that of the Thalys, France, train attack of August 21st. Here is the Wikipedia summary of that event:

At approximately 17:45 (5:45 p.m.) on 21 August, on Thalys train 9364 traveling from Amsterdam to Paris, a 26-year-old Moroccan man, reportedly identified as Ayoub El-Kahzzani, was exiting the toilets on train car No. 12, reportedly as soon as the train passed the border into France. He was shirtless and visibly armed with a Kalashnikov rifle, for which he had nine magazines of ammunition.
A 28-year-old French banker, only known as "Damien A.", was heading to the toilet as the armed gunman was exiting. Damien A. attempted to restrain or disarm the gunman but in the ensuing struggle lost his balance and fell to the floor. A French and American academic working at the Sorbonne, 51-year-old Mark Moogalian, then attempted to wrest the rifle from the gunman, who then drew an automatic Luger pistol and shot Moogalian through the back of the neck. According to Agnès Ogier, the director of Thalys, another bullet grazed the train's conductor. The assailant also tried to shoot his rifle, but it jammed.
The gunman was then tackled and subdued by a group of three American friends, two of them off-duty members of the U.S. Armed Forces. They were identified as 23-year-old United States Air Force Airman First Class Spencer Stone of the 65th Air Base Wing; 23-year-old Sacramento State senior Anthony Sadler; and Alek Skarlatos, a 22-year-old Oregon Army National Guard Specialist on holiday after deployment in Afghanistan.Sadler told CNN that when the gunman opened fire, Skarlatos yelled "Get him!" after which "Spencer immediately gets up to charge the guy, followed by Alek, then myself." In an interview with Sky News, Skarlatos added that they had been lucky that the attacker's rifle had jammed.
Stone was reportedly the first one to attack the gunman and was slashed multiple times while trying to subdue him, sustaining injuries at the head and neck. Stone put him in the chokehold, holding on though the assailant was cutting him with a box cutter, nearly severing his thumb. Skarlatos seized the assailant's rifle and beat him in the head with the muzzle of it until he was unconscious. A British passenger, 62-year-old businessman Chris Norman, and an unidentified Frenchman came to their aid to hold the gunman down. They used Norman's T-shirt to tie his arms behind his back. They then helped Moogalian, who was losing a lot of blood through his gunshot wound. Stone initially tried to wrap his shirt around the wound, despite having an injured hand and cut eye. However, he realized it was not going to work and instead stuck two of his fingers down Moogalian's wound, found the carotid artery, and pushed down, which stopped the bleeding.
A video made with a cellphone shows the alleged perpetrator immobile, lying hogtied on the floor of the train, and blood visible on the windows and seats.
As the attack took place, the train, which was carrying 554 passengers, was passing Oignies in the Pas-de-Calais department. It was rerouted to the station of nearby Arras. Moogalian was airlifted to the University Hospital in Lille, while Stone later underwent surgery on his injured hand.
Further details on that event, see here.

Coatesville's White House Jumper Killed In Penn Attack

Curtis Smith, a White House fence jumper from March 2015, is the man who was killed at the Chester County Justice Center in West Chester, Pennsylvania, on August 25, 2015. NBC Philadelphia notes that the shooting took place just before noon on August 25. A lockdown followed, with the area where the shooting occurred evacuated.

Two people were injured as a result of the shooting. One of the victims is a Chester County sheriff’s deputy, the other is Curtis Smith who later died after being shot by a different deputy. The gunfire broke out in the lobby of the complex’s “justice center,” says Daily Local News editor Andy Hachadorian. The sheriff’s deputy is thought to be in stable condition. CBS Philadelphia reports that Smith was armed with a knife and that he tried to gain access to the courthouse before being shot three times. 

Smith was dressed in all-black and jumped a deputy, while shouting “I’m going to get you,” noted Fox Philadelphia.

Smith was arrested in Washington D.C, accused of trying to get into the White House complex, apparently on March 1, 2015, according to the Daily Local News. This was during a bizarre 24-hour period when two others were accused of committing same crime. The Washington Post writes that Smith told authorities that he needed to pass a message along to President Obama. 

On Monday, March 2, 2015, the London UK Daily Mail wrote:

On Sunday night, an unnamed suspect stepped over a bike rack situated outside the White House fence. The bike racks were installed last year following a high-profile fence-jumping incident that involved an Army veteran armed with a knife. Early Monday morning, another person attempted to walk through a gate while a construction crew were leaving.

According to NBC, both men were taken into custody, and the Secret Service has given the all-clear at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The agency has been tight-lipped about the two breaches, which are now under investigation. The suspects have not been named.

The bike rack-jumping incident took place at around 11.30pm Sunday near the southwest corner of the presidential residence, reported MyFox DC. The male suspect was arrested and charged with unlawful entry. The breach led to a 30-minute lockdown at the White House.

Just before 7am Monday, another man allegedly tried to walk into a pedestrian entrance as construction workers were leaving the area. A Secret Service agent stopped the intruder in his tracks and arrested him after a brief confrontation. The White House was placed on another lockdown that lasted only a few minutes following the second incident.

In September 2013, Smith’s brother, Derek, was sentenced to 15-to-30 years for killing his father, Steve Washington, in West Chester. The West Chester Daily News noted at the time Derek Smith pleaded guilty to killing his father on President’s Day 2012 after an argument. Derek Smith told police that he and his father had gotten along but after drinking a can of beer he became “pumped up” about his relationship with his father. He then shot his father twice with a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun. He later expressed remorse for the crime.

Smith lived in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, but allegedly was a native of Thorndale. He attended high school in Coatesville. 

Coatesville has had strange things happen there before. I've noted it in Mysterious America as a bizarre location in Fortean literature. 

In 2009, there were over 18 mysterious fires in Coatesville.

Before the "Mad Gasser of Mattoon" hit Illinois in 1944, the following occurred in Coatesville.

From the Huntingdon Daily News (February 1, 1944):

Coatesville, Pa., Feb. 1 - Police were joined by chemists today in an effort to determine what type of gas killed three members of a Coatesville family and made two neighbors seriously ill.
The bodies of John Refford, 55, his wife, Myrtle, 51, and her brother, Charles Johns, 54, were found by police last night in the Refford home, in various rooms of the house. In adjoining houses police found Mrs. Elmer Dripps and Mrs. William Cohen, who were ill.
Officials said the Refford house was filled with a sweetish-smelling gas, which they thought was explosive. The two ill persons and others in the neighborhood told of smelling the gas

The article, “Mysterious Beast Is Sought in Chester Co.” was published in the Lebanon [Pennsylvania] Daily News, on February 15, 1939.

Coatesville, Pa. – (AP) – A mysterious animal – described by witnesses as having a small head, a neck a foot long, the jumping ability of a deer and a scream like that of two cats – was reported prowling through Chester county woods today.
There were some who received the reports with skepticism, but Sylvester Scott, 31-year-old farmer, vowed he saw the what-is-it and three times had heard its eerie wail echoing over the countryside. Others said they had been “gunning” for it.
Scott declared the creature appeared one day in a field where he was spreading fertilizer.
“It stood two or two and a half feet off the ground,” he said. “It was colored like a deer in front, with white on the flanks. It had paws, remember, and not hoofs.
“It jumped just like a deer, about two feet up in the air. It had a very small head on the end of its neck, which was a foot long anyway. It was a fast runner, all right. It ran away from my dogs – beagles – and they didn’t seem to want to follow. Neither did I.”

His last visible Facebook post was a MEME with the word “Shalom” written across it. He writes on his page that he’s single and that “I’m on team holy ghost,” as well as “L.D 4 life can’t read or right but ready to fight through christ.” Smith lists the Bible as his favorite book. 

Death in the Ice Cream Aisle

On Sunday night, August 23, 2015, Braum's Ice Cream Parlor in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was the site of the brutal stabbing of Oklahoma Labor Commissioner Mark Costello by his mentally ill his son Christian Erin Costello. (See the full report here.)

On Wednesday afternoon, around 3 p.m., August 19, 2015, the ice cream aisle in a Shaw's Supermarket in Saco, Maine, was the location of the shocking throat slitting of Wendy Boudreau, 59. Boudreau, a mother and grandmother, was killed by the former Tanisha Hopkins, who today is the transgendered Connor S. MacCalister, 31.

The shaven-headed, Nazi-icon tattooed MacCalister, armed with several knives, had planned the attack for over a month, according to the authorities.

MacCalister was living at the Kallock Terrace housing complex in Saco, Maine.

After being tackled by other shoppers and held for police, MacCalister said he was going to keep attacking people randomly in the supermarket. He told police that he killed Boudreau because she "looked at him funny."

The reported stabbing took place after MacCalister followed Boudreau from the parking lot of the Shaw's supermarket into the ice cream aisle, grabbed Boudreau from behind and slit her throat, according to NBC's Portland affiliate WCSH 6.

McCalister went to the store to kill "several random people" because he was "angry with life" and "wanted to get back at someone," Maine State Police Detective Kristopher Kennedy wrote in the complaint formally charging MacCalister with the murder of Wendy Boudreau, a 59-year-old mother and grandmother, according to the Portland Press Herald.

The Portland Press Herald also gave this background:

Born Tanisha Hopkins and originally from Newburyport, Massachusetts, he has lived in the Biddeford-Saco area for much of his life, legally changing his name to Connor MacCalister in January 2005, according to court documents.
MacCalister lived in at least one group home in Biddeford and also had an address at a subsidized housing complex in Saco that serves adults with mental disabilities. Court documents from 2011 indicate that MacCalister didn’t work and lived on General Assistance. He also had applied for Supplemental Security Income.
Though MacCalister’s current address on Therrien Avenue in Saco was just one street from Boudreau’s house, police don’t believe MacCalister and Boudreau knew each other. Neighbors said MacCalister lived in an apartment at Kallock Terrace, an Avesta housing development.
According to Avesta’s website, Kallock Terrace’s subsidized apartments are designed for persons 62 and older who are disabled.

MacCalister was raised in foster care (by a family named Hopkins), and apparently had mental health problems for years. On his Facebook page, he says he went to Biddeford High School and is interested in men. 

Law enforcement personnel said they are having housing problems with MacCalister and he is presently in a single cell administrative segregation in the female unit in York County Jail. The State of Maine has ordered a psychological evaluation of the suspect.

MacCalister appears to be the suspect's chosen name, one seemingly largely created from whole cloth. But a prominent character, Kevin McCalister, in the four Home Alone movies (1990-2002), is now part of our culture. "McCalister" is phonetically equivalent to "MacCallister." (H/T Matthew Bell.)

It appears to be related to the Irish/Scottish Gaelic name, Mac Alasdair, a clan associated with the Scottish clan of the Mac Donalds, derived from the personal name Alexander. MacCalister, thus means, in essence, "son of the defender of man."

+++

Shaw's Ice Cream in St. Thomas, Ontario, was established in 1948 by Carl Shaw and his family. It does not appear to be associated with the Shaw's Supermarkets of New England.

In 1860, George C. Shaw opened a small teashop in Portland, Maine. Meanwhile, Maynard A. Davis established a group of small downtown grocery stores in Brockton and New Bedford, Massachusetts, called Brockton Public Market (BPM). In 1919, Davis purchased the George C. Shaw Company and made it a subsidiary of BPM.

Shaw's and Star Market are two American grocery store chains based in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts (there since 1972), employing about 30,000 associates in 155 stores. 135 stores are operated under the Shaw's banner in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, while Star Market operates 20 stores in Massachusetts.

The scene of the attack: Shaw's in Saco, Maine.