The (Mis)adventures of Jyl: The Bridgewater Triangle

Jyl takes us into the Massachusetts woods to see what’s really going on in the Bridgewater Triangle.

Welcome back, misadventurers. Massachusetts is known for many things: Revolutionary War history, aggressive drivers, and a deeply rooted belief that something strange is happening just beyond the tree line. Nowhere captures that feeling quite like the Bridgewater Triangle, a roughly 200-square-mile region of southeastern Massachusetts that has quietly accumulated one of the strangest collections of paranormal reports in the United States.

The idea of the Bridgewater Triangle was first popularized in the 1970s by researcher Loren Coleman, who noticed that an unusual number of unexplained sightings seemed to cluster in the towns of Bridgewater, Abington, Freetown, and several surrounding communities. The reports weren’t limited to one type of phenomenon either. In fact, the weirdness seemed to come from every possible direction.

Locals have reported UFO sightings, glowing spheres drifting through the woods, and strange lights hovering over swamps. Cryptid enthusiasts insist the region hosts creatures ranging from giant birds to something resembling Bigfoot. Some witnesses describe shadowy figures crossing roads late at night, while others claim encounters with something much older: phantom hitchhikers, spectral animals, or ghostly soldiers tied to colonial-era battles.

Much of the activity seems centered around Freetown-Fall River State Forest, a heavily wooded area that already carries a long and complicated history. Archaeological evidence shows that Indigenous communities lived in the region long before European settlers arrived, and oral traditions describe parts of the forest as spiritually significant places. Later centuries layered additional stories on top: rumors of cult activity, strange fires in the woods, and unexplained disappearances.

As you might expect, skeptics have offered plenty of explanations. Swamp gas, misidentified wildlife, optical illusions, and a healthy dose of local storytelling all play a role. The region’s dense forests and wetlands are perfect environments for distorted sounds, shifting lights, and the occasional imagination running away with itself.

Still, what makes the Bridgewater Triangle interesting isn’t any single sighting. It’s the sheer variety of them. In most haunted places, the stories settle into a pattern: one ghost, one building, one tragedy repeated over time. Here, the phenomenon refuses to stay neatly categorized. UFOs share space with folklore creatures. Historical hauntings sit alongside modern eyewitness reports. It’s less like a ghost story and more like a long-running neighborhood rumor.

Even today, people exploring the forests late at night occasionally report something unusual. A light moving where there are no roads. A shape crossing a trail just ahead. A feeling that the woods have grown suddenly, inexplicably quiet. Whether that’s paranormal or simply the unsettling effect of deep New England forests is up for debate.

But if you’re the type of person who enjoys wandering into mysterious places with a flashlight and prides yourself on your questionable judgment, the Bridgewater Triangle offers a lot of territory to explore. Make sure to bring a map, a good flashlight, and maybe a friend (I volunteer to tribute!)

Jyl Glenn is a writer, editor, formatter, anthologist, poet, and a medical-legal writer and consultant. Her lifelong love affair with horror began at a very early age when she was left unattended on the weekend Poltergeist debuted on HBO. And then she figured out she could read any horror book she liked as long as she hung out at the public library, even if the librarian deemed it not to be age appropriate. Jyl was born and raised in New York and now lives in Tulsa with her dog and cat. She loves creepy art, dark poetry, and pink dinosaurs. When she isn’t dabbling in the macabre—she’s most likely asleep.

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing. Thank you for understanding.