The Aroostook Triangle

Cartoon by Andrew Greenstone.

Souliere's Strange Sojourn 

Michelle Souliere noticed a void. She felt that Maine's weirdness was being ignored.

In 2016, Souliere shared her personal journey towards "strangeness" with the Lewiston Sun Journal's Mark LaFlamme:

I sensed a void, and had lots of material to fill it with. I had read Loren Coleman’s Mysterious America, Joseph Citro’s Weird New England, William Robinson’s Abandoned New England. I was fired up! I wanted to know if I could I find out more about our own Maine urban legends, hauntings, weird history and personalities.

By 2005, Souliere had begun her blog Strange Maine, and soon after, a print version, the Strange Maine Gazette.

On November 6, 2009, her bookstore, The Green Hand opened at 661 Congress Street, Portland, Maine, and gave her a foundation location in Portland from which her art, research and writings grew.

In 2010, Michelle Souliere published her first book, Strange Maine: True Tales from the Pine Tree State. Soon after, I asked her to join me in writing Bigfoot in Maine, after the publisher asked me to pen that book. But I was overwhelmed with book projects, and soon was delighted to turn the entire title over to her. For almost a decade Souliere has been working on the historical and contemporary sightings of large forest giants in Maine.

Conducting research for her Bigfoot book, Souliere has traveled extensively throughout the State of Maine.

A Weird Window

In 2006, Michelle Souliere, in her blog Strange Maine, hinted at a mysterious area, called a "triangle" or "window area" by Forteans and ufologists, in the upper tier of Maine. She was learning more and more about it, sometimes as reflected in popular culture. She wrote:

There is

a television show, made in Northern Maine, that is currently [in 2006] running on over 50 public access stations across the country. Dark Currents [was] its name.

The Story takes place in the fictional town of Hawks Landing and in an area that is a magnet for strange events and even stranger characters. At one time, HAWKS LANDING was an Indian village. The area is filled with old stories and legends. The land between the river and the town is kind of a "Bermuda Triangle" for Maine. The town itself is supposedly cursed. One Indian tale told of an Indian chief saying "The Matawahoc river shall run Dark Currents as long as the white man lives on it."

Like most home-grown shows, Dark Currents exists on a meager budget, and is produced predominantly on the enthusiasm of its staff, to the delight of a small cult following in New England, according to their site.

By 2006, the show was gone, and yet Michelle Souliere pursued the notion of this "triangle" area in her research.

In June 2019, cartoonish/journalist Andrew Greenstone captured a lecture that Souliere had given at the Third Annual International Cryptozoology Conference in September 2018. He recorded his impression of the talk via a cartoon overview.

"Of the stories I've heard, a number of them all take place in this little triangle in the northeast quadrant. Ten miles at its base and 25 miles tip-to-tip in this isolated area around US Route 1," Michelle Souliere said in her lecture. On the screen in the background, a map of Maine showed the little triangle.

Greenstone continued, "Michelle related stories about a series of mysterious woodland encounters. Wood knocks, trees snapping, large rocks being thrown, and unidentifiable roars that left those who experienced them forever changed."

These all can be linked to Sasquatch/Windigo/Wendigo/Bigfoot characteristics, but Souliere is correct in merely pointing to the collective unexplainable nature of these pieces of evidence. No telling what is making all these signs, but what may be more intriguing is that Souliere has discovered a concentration of such reports in one specific area.

Comparing Greenstone's rendering of Souliere's map and where the Triangle is located, you will see the dot is southeast of the little town of Presque Isle. The location of this anomalous area is larger than it looks and near Presque Isle.

Presque Isle

Presque Isle is the commercial center and largest city in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 9,078 in 2017 as estimated by the US Census, a decrease from the count of 9,692 in the 2010 Census. The city is home to the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Northern Maine Community College, Husson University Presque Isle, Northern Maine Fairgrounds, The Aroostook Centre Mall, and the Presque Isle International Airport.

Presque Isle is the headquarters of the Aroostook Band of Micmac, a federally recognized tribe, with, at last estimate, a population of 960. Like their kin in Canada, the Micmac in Maine would rather be termed Mi'kmaq. Since the 1980s, the Miꞌkmaq consider the spelling Micmac as "colonially tainted." Lnu (the adjectival and singular noun, previously spelled "L'nu"; the plural is Lnúk, Lnuꞌk, Lnuꞌg, or Lnùg) is the term the Miꞌkmaq use for themselves, their autonym, meaning "human being" or "the people".

The Miꞌkmaq or Miꞌgmaq (also Micmac, Lnu, Miꞌkmaw or Miꞌgmaw) are a First Nations people indigenous to Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the northeastern region of Maine. They call their national territory Miꞌkmaꞌki (or Miꞌgmaꞌgi). The nation has a population of about 170,000 (including 18,044 members in the recently formed Qalipu First Nation in Newfoundland), of whom nearly 11,000 speak Miꞌkmaq, an Eastern Algonquian language. Once written in Miꞌkmaq hieroglyphic writing, it is now written using most letters of the Latin alphabet.

The Aroostook Triangle

After Greenstone's cartoon panels were published on July 5, 2019, they were spread around Facebook by various folks who were at the conference. Soon a discussion took place on Michelle Souliere's FB page. I was startled that the location was nameless, and commented that only the "faint of heart" do not venture forth to name events, creatures, and locations.

So, for the stake of gathering all the comments on the topic, I named this weird new spot that Michelle Souliere had discovered The Aroostook Triangle, for after all, that's what it is.  Of course, if it becomes known by some other moniker from Souliere or other commentaries on this weird wonder, so be it.

This triangle, like Aroostock County itself, is sparely populated. Formed in 1839, Aroostook County has the largest area of any county in New England, and Maine residents often call it “the” county. The Britannica says its name is derived from a Mi’kmaq word meaning “clear,” or “beautiful water.” Some others, like Your Dictionary, say the meaning is "unknown," which would fit well with the stories behind this "Triangle."

Triangles Elsewhere

The actual coining of the term "Bermuda Triangle" seems to point to Vincent Gaddis, a Fortean friend of Ivan T. Sanderson and correspondent of mine too. 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.

Based on their inspiration, the name "Bridgewater Triangle" was coined in the late 1970s (circa 1976) by yours truly, Loren Coleman, when the phrase was published 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 the revised 2007 Simon & Schuster edition). A local newspaper published the name "The Bridgewater Triangle" after I gave a Bridgewater area library lecture using the phrase in the late 1970s, in the Bridgewater area.

In 2015, due to the national broadcast of the 2013 documentary film, The Bridgewater Triangle (directed by Aaron Cadieux and Manny Famolare), I wrote an essay about the "Top Ten American Bridgewater Triangles."

These include:

1. Bridgewater Triangle, Massachusetts.

2. Bennington Triangle, Vermont. 

3. Coudersport Triangle, Pennsylvania.

4. Virginia Triangle, Virginia-North Carolina.

5. Great Lakes Triangle or Michigan Triangle, Wisconsin, Michigan, Canada

6. Big Lick Triangle, Indiana-Kentucky

7. Nevada Triangle, Nevada-California

8. Alaska Triangle, Alaska.

9. Little Egypt Triangle, Illinois.

10. Ossipee Triangle, New Hampshire. 

Some are small, like the Aroostook Triangle. Others are huge.

A few such as the Bridgewater Triangle in Massachusetts and the Big Lick Triangle in Indiana-Kentucky nicely have, respectively, "Bridgewater" town names on each corner, and "Lick" town names on theirs.

There is a lot to absorb from these triangles.  And I'm sure Michelle Souliere has a great deal to share about the Maine's special spot too.

Michelle Souliere's forthcoming Bigfoot in Maine book will have much to say on the Aroostook Triangle.

Windigo Case Update

An infamous beheading incident of 2008 has a new development in 2017.

A man identified as Vince Li, a diagnosed schizophrenic, was found not criminally responsible for beheading and cannibalizing Tim McLean, his fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus in 2008. Will Baker, formerly known as Vince Li, has been granted his freedom. Manitoba’s Criminal Code Review Board has given an absolute discharge, meaning he is no longer subject to any conditions.

Will Baker leaves the Law Courts building in Winnipeg, after his annual criminal code review board hearing, on February 6, 2017.

On August 11th, 2008, I wrote the following about this case:

Windigo can be the hairy hominoid, the cannibal giant, and the psychosis. The three are merging and swirling around in the recent story of the decapitation and eating of flesh on the Canadian Greyhound bus.

The Windigo (also known as the Wendigo, Windago, Windiga, Witiko, Wihtikow, and numerous other variants) is an unknown hairy hominoid tied to the legends and folklore of First Nations people linked by the Algonquin languages.

The Windigo is a bipedal hairy creature, equal to the Eastern Bigfoot, Stone Giant, or Marked Hominid in some classification systems, which is often said to have aggressive behaviors and a malevolent cannibalistic spirit into which humans could transform, or which could possess humans. Those who indulged in cannibalism were at particular risk, and the legend appears to have reinforced this practice as taboo.

Windigo Psychosis is a culture-bound disorder which involves an intense craving for human flesh and the fear that one will turn into a cannibal. Some ethnographers said this once occurred frequently among Algonquian cultures, though there is some sense that the psychological disorder may have been overstated and/or it has declined with Native American urbanization.

“Old Yellow Top,” a regional name for a Windigo, the original Forest Giant of cryptozoology, not psychology, drawn by Harry Trumbore in The Field Guide to Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates.

In John Green’s Sasquatch: The Apes Among Us, the British Columbia researcher mentions the Cree in Manitoba call their Sasquatch the Weetekow, and the Saulteaux term them the Wendego. These are variations on the spelling of Windigo seen throughout Canada, but not on the hairy hominoid being described, as I discuss extenstively in Chapter 3, “Native Traditions,” in Bigfoot! The True Story of Apes in America, pages 26-34.

Writing in The Edmonton Sun, columnist Andrew Hanon points out that there is a strange overlap between a column he wrote on July 20, 2008, about the study of the psychological Windigo by Nathan Carlson, and the recent Greyhound bus decapitation and cannibalism incident of July 30.

Hanon writes on Monday, August 11, 2008, that there seems to be a “Horrifying coincidence in beheading.”

Hanon writes, in part:

Nathan Carlson has barely slept since July 30.
“Ever since it happened, I haven’t been able to get it out of my head,” Carlson says haltingly. “I just don’t know what to think of it, quite frankly.”
The Edmonton ethno-historian is one of the world’s leading experts on Windigo phenomenon, and the recent horrific beheading and alleged cannibalism on a Greyhound bus bound for Winnipeg from Edmonton rocked him to his very core.
As the grisly details of Tim McLean’s last moments on Earth came to light in the following days, Carlson sank deeper and deeper into a fog of horror and revulsion.
Vince Weiguang Li is accused of abruptly attacking McLean, who by all accounts he didn’t even know — while McLean slept on the bus.
Up until a few days before the killing, Li held a part- time job delivering newspapers in Edmonton. He was well thought-of by his boss and considered a nice guy, if a bit quiet and shy.
On July 20 — just 10 days before the killing — Li delivered copies of the Sun that contained an extensive interview with Carlson about his research into the Windigo, a terrifying creature in native mythology that has a ravenous appetite for human flesh. It could take possession of people and turn them into cannibalistic monsters.

Below, Vince Weiguang Li, the 40-year-old suspect being transported by Canadian law enforcement personnel, and the headshot of his victim, Tim McLean.

More MySpace photos of Tim McLean, who called himself “Jokawild.”

Carlson documented several cases in northern Alberta communities where people believing they were “turning Windigo” would go into convulsions, make terrifying animal sounds and beg their captors to kill them before they started eating people.
In last month’s bus case, Li allegedly butchered McLean’s body, brandishing the victim’s severed head at the men who trapped him on the bus until police could arrive.
He was later accused of eating McLean’s flesh.
When he appeared in a Portage La Prairie courthouse on charges of second-degree murder, the only words Li reportedly uttered were pleas for someone to kill him.
A lot of his reported behaviour eerily mirrors the Windigo cases recounted in the newspaper feature that Li helped deliver to Edmonton homes just days before McLean was killed, one of the most gruesome slayings in modern Canadian history.
Several media reports called McLean’s killing unprecedented – an unspeakable, random attack the likes of which has never been seen in Canada.
But Carlson knows better.
“There are just too many parallels,” he says.
“I can’t say there’s definite connection, but there are just too many coincidences.
“It’s beyond eerie.”

As the following article is rapidly disappearing into the archives, so here is the full story mentioned above, for research purposes.

Sun, July 20, 2008
Evil spirit made man eat family
A look back at Swift Runner
By Andrew Hanon
On a cold December day in 1879, a man was hanged in Fort Saskatchewan, putting an end to one of the most horrifying killing sprees in Alberta history.
Swift Runner was executed for murdering and then eating eight members of his own family over the previous winter. He believed he was possessed by Windigo, a terrifying mythological creature with a ravenous appetite for human flesh.
It wasn’t an isolated case. During the late 1800s and into the 20th Century, fear of Windigo haunted northern Alberta communities, resulting in several grisly deaths.
Sun Media’s Andrew Hanon speaks with Nathan Carlson, one of the world’s leading authorities on Windigo, about Carlson’s personal connection to the blood-curdling creature.
Some call him a serial killer.
Others call him a desperate madman.
But right up until the trap door swung open and the rope snapped taut around his neck, one of Alberta’s most prolific murderers insisted it was an evil spirit that compelled him to butcher and eat his entire family.
Over the course of a single winter, he devoured his wife, six children, mother and brother.
MOST HORRIFYING
The man, a Cree trapper named Swift Runner, was hanged in 1879 in Fort Saskatchewan, the first legal execution in Alberta. The macabre case is considered by many to be the most horrifying crime in the province’s history.
But what most people don’t realize is that it was part of a much larger phenomenon that Edmonton ethno-historian Nathan Carlson calls Windigo condition, which haunted communities right across northern Alberta in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries and cost dozens of lives.
The Windigo (an Anglicized form of the word Witiko) is a mythological creature among native cultures from the Rockies to northern Quebec. It has an insatiable appetite for human flesh and wreaks destruction wherever it goes.
Carlson describes it as “the consummate predator of humanity.” It’s sometimes described as “an owl-eyed monster with large claws, matted hair, a naked emaciated body and a heart made of solid ice.”
“It’s extremely destructive,” he says. “The more it eats, the hungrier it gets, so it just keeps killing.”
Windigos can possess people, transforming them into wild-eyed, violent, flesh-eating maniacs with superhuman strength. Many native people in northern Alberta lived in terror of being possessed.
“It’s important to understand that cannibalism was repellent to the people,” Carlson explains. “The Windigo personified evil.”
The Swift Runner case caused an international sensation, making headlines in newspapers across Canada and the U.S.
According to accounts, he wandered alone into the Catholic Mission in St. Albert in the spring of 1879, claiming to be the only member of his family who didn’t starve to death over a particularly cold, bitter winter.
The priests became suspicious when they realized that Swift Runner, who weighed around 200 pounds, didn’t seem malnourished at all and was plagued with screaming fits and nightmares as he slept. He told them he was being tormented by an evil spirit, called Windigo, but said little else about it.
They reported their misgivings to police, who took Swift Runner to his family campground in the woods northeast of Edmonton, where they made a horrific discovery – the site was littered with bones, bits of flesh and hair. Some accounts claim that the larger bones had even been snapped and the marrow sucked out.
He eventually confessed that he shot some of his family, bludgeoned others with an axe and even strangled one girl with a cord. In some accounts, Swift Runner said he fed one boy human flesh before he too was killed.
‘THE LEAST OF MEN’
Before he was hanged, Swift Runner expressed extreme remorse. He told Father Hippolyte Leduc, “I am the least of men and do not merit even being called a man.”
Interestingly, Swift Runner is the only documented case Carlson can find of someone killing others because he thought he was possessed by a Windigo.
All other deaths he can document were cases of “Windigo executions,” where others have killed the person believed to be possessed. They were acts of self-preservation, attempts to protect their community.
In most of the cases, the victims themselves begged to be killed before they harmed their families.
In many cases, witnesses reported physical changes -bodies swelling and growing, lips and mouths enlarging. Some of the victims spoke of icy cold in their chests and an inability to warm up.
Carlson, who’s Metis, first heard about the Windigo from his grandmother, who told him about an incident at Trout Lake, where members of the community killed a man possessed by a demon that had been cursed and turned into a Windigo.
The story haunted him throughout his childhood, and after his grandmother died in 2002, he discovered an eerily similar story in an archived newspaper.
“I was somewhat confounded by the discovery of the newspaper account that seemed to confirm a story that had been in my family for almost 100 years,” he says.
Further research revealed that the man who was killed was also a distant relative of Carlson’s.
Carlson is now writing a book on the Windigo condition in northern Alberta and is negotiating with filmmakers about a documentary.

The Marked Hominid, another view of the Windigo of cryptozoology, not psychology, as drawn by artist Harry Trumbore in The Field Guide to Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates.

Thanks to TC for the update link.