The twilight language explores hidden meanings and synchromystic connections via onomatology (study of names) and toponymy (study of place names). This blog further investigates "name games" and "number coincidences" found in news and history. Examinations are also found in my book The Copycat Effect (NY: Simon and Schuster, 2004).
Art Bell (Arthur William Bell III) was born June 17, 1945, in Camp Lejeune, Jacksonville, North Carolina, and died (cause unknown) on Friday, April 13, 2018. An autopsy will be performed next week, but the mere flashing of the announcement of a "mysterious death of the famed conspiracy radio show host" on such a significant date has social media a'buzzin'.
Art Bell was the creator in 1984 and former host of Coast to Coast AM, and the creator of Dreamland, Midnight in the Desert, Art Bell's Dark Matter,and other shows. Coast to Coast AM, at the high point of Art's involvement, before he semi-retired in 2003, and more permanently did so in 2007, was syndicated on over 500 radio stations in North America. His listenership reached from 10-15 million people per week, according to TIME, and was ranked the number one overnight radio show in America during Art's heyday.
I've known Art for decades, being a regular guest on Coast to Coast AM over 40 times, including many shows hosted by Art, before George Noory replaced the retiring Art. Art Bell and I "live on" during his classic hosted episodes repeated on Saturday nights, under the name Somewhere in Time.
Bell served as a forum for many Fortean and cryptozoological topics that will not be mentioned in the obituaries you read in the mainstream media. We discussed Bigfoot, Yetis, Chupacabras, Mothman, Thunderbirds, other cryptids, and the twilight language often. I jokingly would have to steer him away from his humorous questions about Sasquatch and whether they were being dropped by "flying saucers."
Friday the 13th
Bell decided to exit on a day considered unlucky in Western superstition. The radio host Art Bell, 72, died April 13, 2018, a Friday, at his Pahrump, Nevada home, the Nye County Sheriff’s Office announced.
Bell had suffered from health problems in the previous years. He posted on his website in July 2016 that he was hospitalized for pneumonia and revealed at the time that he suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Coast to Coast AM, UFOs, and Politics
Bell’s paranormal-themed show, Coast to Coast AM, was on North American stations in the 1990s before he left the nightly show in 2002. He broadcast the show from Pahrump’s KNYE 95.1 FM, a station he founded and owned. According to the Coast to Coast AM website, Bell was an FCC licensed radio technician at age 13. He also set a Guinness World Record for a solo broadcast marathon, at more than 116 hours, while working as a DJ in Okinawa, Japan.
Art Bell served in the the U.S. Air Force as a medic during the Vietnam War and in his free time operated a pirate radio station at Amarillo Air Force Base. He would make a point of playing anti-war music (like Eve of Destruction and Fortunate Son) that was not aired on the American Forces Network. In his broadcast years, his conspiracy world view included shows on Area 51, UFOs, aliens, intruders shooting guns on his property, his pro-Obama stance, and his pro-Trump conversations.
Knowing Bell personally, I never faulted him for his missteps regarding Heaven's Gate, as he was attempting to document a story, as others had pursued it.
Bell's reputation issued from his wide range of guests from the world of the unexplained to the realm of Hollywood and Las Vegas. His list of interviewees was vast.
Personal life
Airyn Ruiz, April 11, 2006 – his death. Children: Asia Rayne Bell and Alexander William Bell.
Ramona Lee Hayes, August 4, 1991 – January 5, 2006. Ramona Bell died unexpectedly, from an acute asthma attack.
Vickie L. Baker, married March 1, 1981, divorced, July 3, 1991. Children: Arthur William Bell IV
Sachiko Toguchi Bell Pontius, married 1965, divorced 1968. Children: Vincent Pontius, Lisa Pontius Minei.
Books
Art Bell authored, or co-authored, the following books:
The Quickening: Today's Trends, Tomorrow's World
The Art of Talk (an autobiography)
The Source: Journey Through the Unexplained (with Brad Steiger)
The Edge: Man's Mysterious Past & Incredible Future (with Whitley Streiber)
Sadly, the voice of Art Bell has been silenced, for he has taken his final retirement. But the memories of the respectful and intelligent interviewer lives on, as well as the recordings of so many programs he shared. The one thing you knew about Art, if he asked you a question about your book, he had read it. That thought about the guy was enduring, and so I could always listen to interviews he had with others knowing that too.
Aaron Joel Mitchell, 41, died on at 6:30 am, Sunday, September 3, 2017, after running through two levels of a safety perimeter and into a set fire on Saturday night at Burning Man, Nevada.
Mitchell ran into “the Burning Man festival’s signature burning of a towering effigy,” reported SFGate. He was pulled back out of the fire, and was airlifted to a hospital, where he later died.
His mother told the Reno Gazette-Journal that Mitchell, who was usually called by his middle name “Joel,” “grew up in McAlester, Oklahoma but was living in Switzerland.”
McAlester, Oklahoma, is home to many of the employees of the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant. Wikipedia rather casually notes, "This facility makes essentially all of the bombs used by the United States military."
He was married, had no children, and was employed in construction. This was the first time he attended Burning Man.
The moment of his self-immolation was captured in graphic photographs by several attendees at the event.
According to SFGate, “The nine-day festival in northern Nevada was briefly hampered when a lightning-sparked wildfire temporarily shut down Burning Man’s main travel route last week.”
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was rushed off stage by Secret Service agents during a campaign rally in Reno, Nevada, on Saturday evening, November 5, 2016, after a disturbance broke out in the crowd. (Reno is Spanish for reindeer, moose. Nevada is the Spanish feminine form of covered in snow.)
This occurred on Guy Fawkes Day, an annual commemoration observed on 5 November, primarily in Great Britain. Its history begins with the events of 5 November 1605, when Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot, was arrested while guarding explosives the plotters had placed beneath the House of Lords. Celebrating the fact that King James I had survived the attempt on his life, people lit bonfires around London, and months later the introduction of the Observance of 5th November Act enforced an annual public day of thanksgiving for the plot's failure.
Two Secret Service agents quickly surrounded Trump, then hustled him off stage.
The nature of the disturbance was unclear. But several security officials escorted a man out of the venue soon afterward.
A Homeland Security official confirms the ABC report that no gun was found. The crowd merely panicked as a man tried to raise a sign; someone shouted "gun."
As often happens at appearances of any candidate, the opposing candidate's supporters have signs. In this case, one individual, Austyn Crites, had a "Republicans Against Trump" sign. He attempted to raise it in the air, someone yelled out "gun," and this person was tackled to the ground. Reportedly he was also punched. He credits law enforcement and related personnel for saving his life.
There was no assassination attempt, and, as noted, no gun.
The man was released later.
These violent delights have violent ends.
William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet: Act 2, Scene 6.
The news went through the celebrity paranormal community like an earthquake. Two friendly, well-known television personalities were involved in a real-life murder-suicide drama that seemed unbelievable.
These mugshots of the Constantinos were taken during the last year of their lives.
Their public persona was usually much different.
First found dead was an unknown male, killed (on Monday, September 21, or before 6 am Tuesday, September 22, 2015). The apparent suspect was Mark Constantino, 56, well-known from two paranormal investigation television programs. Gone and missing was his likewise well-known wife, Debby, 52.
The Nevada murder-suicide took place a week after a similar event, when on September 14, a love triangle murder-suicide at Delta State University in Mississippi, filled the media for a day. Earlier, on another Monday, September 7, 2015, Patrick Derr, 47, shot his enstranged girlfriend Stacy Pennington, 46, then killed himself, in front of the Jigger Shop Ice Cream Parlor, Mount Gretna, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania.
The Constantinos' incident came as a surprise to their Facebook friends and television fans. But perhaps there was a hint of this which was known to their closer friends, because domestic abuse was part of the background to this unfolding story.
John Constantine: A demon just attacked me right out in the open on Figueroa.
Constantine, 2005
At about 6:30 am on Tuesday, September 22, 2015, in the 2300 block of Escalera Court in North Reno, Nevada, a woman discovered her deceased male roommate. She informed the Reno Police Department and then let them know that her other roommate, Debby Constantino, was missing. She told them she was concerned for Constantino's safety.
The police, using both Debby Constantino's and Mark Constantino's cellphones, located them at the Courtside Garden Apartments, near 15th Street and Oddie Boulevard in Sparks, Nevada.
Police arrived there, and were shot at through the door. They soon discovered Debby Constantino was inside, and being held hostage by her estranged husband Mark, 53, in their daughter's house. He shouted a warning through the door. Police suspected he had killed the male in Reno, and was the person who shot at them upon arrival.
After hours of negotiating between Mark and police from Reno and Sparks, around 1:30 p.m., Sparks' SWAT team exploded a flash device near the door, entered, and found Mark and Debby dead inside the apartment. Mark had apparently shot his wife, whom he held hostage. Then Mark killed himself.
Angela Dodson: You tried to kill yourself.
John Constantine: I didn't *try* anything.
Constantine, 2005
The name of the man killed in the Reno home was released a day after his death. He was James Anderson, 55, and he was shot in the back of his head.
Channel 2 News obtained court records that show Mark and Debby Constantino had a violent history of interactions.
In March of this year [2015] Debby Constantino was arrested at a home in north Reno. According to the records she and mark were fighting over money when she scratched him. It escalated and she allegedly sliced his arm with a kitchen knife. She was charged with domestic violence and battery with a deadly weapon. She was never able to have her day in court.
Then just six weeks ago, Mark along with their daughter Raquel, allegedly went to a home, pulled Debby out of a car by the neck and then dragged her inside. Documents accuse Raquel and Mark of beating Debby to the point of breaking her nose and causing bleeding. Records say Mark then strangled her., causing her to nearly pass out.
Raquel was charged with kidnapping, domestic battery, battery and vehicle burglary.
Mark Constantino's mug shot.
Mark was charged with kidnapping, domestic battery by strangulation and domestic battery.
We also heard from many of you on our social media sites asking why Mark Constantino was let out of jail after being accused of kidnapping Debby. In the court documents we obtained, it shows that kidnapping is usually a 'no bail' charge, but in this case both Mark and Raquel were granted bail by a local judge. Mark's bail was set at $40,000, which was allowed to be paid by bond... and Raquel's was set $30,000, also bondable.
Both Raquel and Mark were ordered to stay away from Debby Constantino. Source.
John Constantine: So, what's new?
Beeman: Bullet shavings from the assassination attempt on the Pope... Holy-water ampoules from the River Jordan... and - oh, you'll love this... Screech beetle from Amityville.
Constantine, 2005
During an interview in 2011, Debby talked to KRNV-TV about her line of work. Now the words seem haunting, shedding light onto her own mortality.
"You respect people until they disrespect you. They're dead, and Lord knows we're all going to be dead. We may meet in the same room; why not be nice to them?" she said.
Mark and Debby Constantino were both paranormal investigators, specializing in EVP, Electronic Voice Phenomena, or ghost voices on tape. The Constantinos rose to celeb status by appearing on the Travel Channel series Ghost Adventures, where they were appeared at least four times as EVP experts to assist the team’s paranormal investigations. They also were featured on a spinoff, and made guest appearances at paranormal conferences nationally, making many friends on the con circuit.
On Ghost Adventures, Constantinos were on "Return to Goldfield Hotel" (2011), "Washoe Club and Chollar Mine" (2009), "Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum" (2009), and "Old Idaho Penitentiary" (2008).
Premiering on June 17, 2011, Paranormal Challenge was an American competitive paranormal reality television series on the Travel Channel. A spinoff of Ghost Adventures, the series was created and hosted by lead investigator Zak Bagans, who challenged ghost hunters from around the United States to go head-to-head in a weekly competition to gather paranormal evidence by spending a night in reportedly haunted locations in the United States. The first season of the show ended on September 16, 2011. Lead judge David Schrader announced on Darkness Radio that the show would not be renewed for a second season.
Debby and Mark Constantino, both identified as EVP investigators, were judges on Episode 1.4.
The lexilink between the Constantinos and the graphic novel & film character Constantine (meaning constant, steady, stable) is not lost on occult and synchrocinematic investigators.
Constantine is a 2005 supernatural action-thriller film directed by Francis Lawrence as his feature film directorial debut, starring Keanu Reeves as John Constantine, with Rachel Weisz, Shia LaBeouf, Tilda Swinton, and Djimon Hounsou. With a screenplay by Kevin Brodbin and Frank Cappello, the film is loosely based on Vertigo Comics' Hellblazer comic book, which is also a part of and run by DC Comics, with plot elements taken from the "Dangerous Habits" story arc (issues #41-46) and the "Original Sins" trade paperback. The character of John Constantine was introduced by comic book writer/creator Alan Moore while writing the Swamp Thing, first appearing there in June 1985.
In 1988, the character of John Constantine was given his own comic book title, Hellblazer, published by DC Comics under its Vertigo Comics imprint. The “Dangerous Habits” story arc of Hellblazer was written by Garth Ennis in 1991, on which the film is partly based. The film, which was met by film critics with mixed reactions, portrays John Constantine as a cynic with the ability to perceive and communicate with half-angels and half-demons in their true form. He seeks salvation from eternal damnation in Hell for a suicide attempt in his youth. Constantine exorcises demons back to Hell in a bid to earn favor with Heaven but has become weary over time. With death looming, he helps a troubled police detective learn the truth about her sister's death while simultaneously unraveling a much larger and darker plot. Source.
Also ~ On October 4, 2013, African-American Marine Vietnam veteran John Constantino, 64, died by self-immolation on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.; see more.
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
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.
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.
+++
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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and purchase Mysterious Americato read more about the Bridgewater Triangle.
