The Cursed Forest of Massachusetts Brent Swancer, June 4, 2015

There seem to be places in this world to which strangeness seems to

gravitate. Whether it is their geography, topography, or some inexplicable,
unseen forces, these locations possess what can only be described as a
certain disconnect from reality as we know it. They are imbued with some
sort of undercurrent of mystery, strangeness, and sometimes even terror.
Certainly an area that fits the bill as one of the most singularly bizarre
locations on the planet is Freetown-Fall River State Forest,
Massachusetts; a place so saturated in the bizarre and unexplained that it
has become almost the very definition of the term “haunted forest.”

Freetown-Fall River State Forest, usually referred to as just Freetown

State Forest, is a large swath of forested land located at Freetown and
Fall River, Massachusetts, with the bulk of the forest passing through the
center of the town of Freetown. The forest currently covers approximately
5,441 acres and has around 50 miles of unpaved roads and trails which
are used by a large number of hikers and bicyclists in the summer, and
cross country skiers and dog sledders in the winter. The forest is also
popular with fishermen and hunters who come for the scenic views and
abundant game.

The area has a history rife with friction between settlers and the Native
people who lived there. The whole area originally belonged to the local
Pocasset Wampanoag Tribe, but over the years much of this land was
acquired from them, beginning with the 1659 purchase of Freetown, which
was subsequently incorporated as a town in 1683. Over the years, more
and more of the land was purchased from the tribe, much of it by greedy
chiefs without proper consent from the tribe members. During the King
Phillip War (1675-1676) the Pocasset Wampanoag Tribe fought on the side
of the English and was rewarded with 190-acres of land in Fall River MA.
which was at the time known as the Wattuppa Reservation. However, in
1907 Fall River commandeered 100 acres this land through eminent
domain in order to secure the city’s drinking water supply. It was not until
1939 when the State of Massachusetts returned some of the land that had
been taken and the tribe was left with the current Wampanoag reservation
which covers 227-acres.
Besides its scenic beauty, outdoor activities, and its interesting history,
Freetown State Forest is perhaps most well-known for its intense amount
of bizarre, unexplainable phenomena. The forest sits squarely within the
infamous “Bridgewater Triangle,” a 200 square mile area within
southeastern Massachusetts that is the epicenter of a mind boggling array
of inexplicable bizarre phenomena reported since colonial times, including
strange creatures, Bigfoot, UFOs, ghosts, specters, ominous black
helicopters, mysterious orbs of light, strange disappearances, giant
snakes, poltergeist activity, and cattle mutilations - to name but a few. The
exact boundaries of the Bridgewater Triangle are nebulous, but were
perhaps most clearly laid out by cryptozoologist Loren Coleman in his
book, “Mysterious America: The Ultimate Guide to the Nation's Weirdest
Wonders, Strangest Spots, and Creepiest Creatures”. Coleman defines the
Bridgewater Triangle as being comprised of the towns of Abington,
Rehoboth and Freetown at the points of the triangle, and Brockton,
Whitman, West Bridgewater, East Bridgewater, Bridgewater, Middleboro,
Dighton, Berkley, Raynham, Norton, Easton, Lakeville, Seekonk, and
Taunton inside the triangle. Within this cauldron of weird occurrences,
Freetown State Forest is said to be the most active; a veritable wellspring
of the weird and bizarre.
When discussing the numerous cases of strange phenomena within
Freetown State Forest, it is hard to even know where to begin. The
forest is said to be home to a race of diminutive humanoid creatures
known as Pukwedgies which have long been known by the native
Wampanoag tribe. These creatures are described as being troll-like
beasts around 2 to 3 feet in height and with smooth, hairy grey skin that
is said to glow on occasion. The Pukwedgies have a notorious
reputation for mischief and mayhem, and are said to intentionally startle
people, throw rocks or sand in their faces, push or shove them, kidnap
them, hurl them from cliffs, wrestle with them or even attack them with
knives or spears. The creatures are also said to be competent magic
users and shapeshifters. The Natives of the area have long given these
creatures a wide berth, claiming that they are not to be approached or
trifled with. Although this may seem at first glance as nothing more than
spooky folklore, there are numerous visitors to the forest who have
claimed to have seen such creatures, and the mischievous beasts have
been blamed as the cause of the unusual number of people who have
supposedly fallen from cliffs to their deaths in the area. Such sightings
reports are not even limited to Massachusetts, with such reports coming
from such far-flung locations as New Hampshire, Virginia, and even
California.
Freetown State Forest is also littered with places that seem to be
possessed of some dark power. Perhaps the most infamous of these is an
80 foot deep rock quarry known as the Assonet Ledge, or simply as “The
Ledge.” This area was once owned by the Fall River Granite Company,
and has become associated with a range of weird phenomena. The quarry
has an inordinate amount of abandoned cars left here, and is the location
for numerous suicides. Visitors to The Ledge have reported being
overcome with an urgent, unshakeable sense of dread and foreboding
when venturing near the quarry, and the area has been rumored to be an
alleged hotspot for satanists and strange cults, as well as ghost sightings.
There are numerous reports of people seeing ghosts jumping from the
ledge only to disappear before they hit the water, or merely standing
ominously at the top of the ledge.

The Ledge is also the site of a particularly infamous UFO sighting

allegedly made in 1974 by then governor Ronald Reagan. The story goes
that Reagan was flying in a Cessna over The Ledge with pilot Air Force
Colonel Bill Paynter and two security personnel when a strange light was
noticed to be tailing the plane. The light was seen to accelerate,
decelerate, and become elongated, all within the space of a few minutes.
It then is reported to have suddenly shot up at a 45 degree angle at a high
rate of speed and disappear. Reagan would go on to relate the incident to
Norman C Miller, who was at the time Washington bureau chief for the
Wall Street Journal.

Another site worth a look is a large granite outcropping known as Profile

Rock, also sometimes called Joshua’s Mountain. The rock is 50 feet
high and has a striking likeness to a human face. According to the
legends of the native Wampanoag people, the rock takes the image of
Wampanoag Chief Massasoit, and is the location where the chief’s son
died. The tribe has long held the rock to be a sacred place, and it has
over the years been associated with a variety of ghostly phenomena
such as strange glowing, disembodied voices, orbs of light, and sinister
apparitions.
Indeed, haunted places come in spades in Freetown Sate Forest. One
dark and mysterious place located within the forest is the murky
Hockomock Swamp, a vast wetland which covers much of the northern
part of southeastern Massachusetts, and at 16,950-acre (69 km2) in area
is the largest freshwater swamp in the state. The swamp gets its name
from the native Wampanoag people, and means “place where the spirits
dwell,” believing it to be inhabited by both sinister spirits as well as more
benign, helpful spirits. The swamp is a remote, treacherous morass of
brush, thick, impenetrable trees and vines, marshes, muddy rivers, ponds,
quicksand, thorns, and sinkholes. Early settlers to the area quickly learned
of the swamp’s dangers and numerous alleged ghosts prowling its
darkness, and called it “The Devil’s Swamp.”

The Hockomock Swamp

The list of weirdness to be found within Hockomock Swamp encompasses

everything from ghosts, to UFOs, to strange beasts lurking within its
depths. Some of the creatures said to be spotted here are giant,
pterodactyl-like creatures, giant, red-eyed dogs that attack ponies, and the
glowing eyes of unseen creatures hovering in the darkness. There are also
numerous reports of a shaggy, ape-like creature within the swamp. One
such sighting was made in 1978 by a man named Joe DeAndrade. As he
was walking near a pond called Clay Banks, he turned around just in time
to see a large “apish-and-man thing” lumbering towards the woods.
DeAdrade was terrified and reported running towards the nearby road. The
sighting prompted a thorough search of the area for any signs of the
beast, but none were found. A few years later, fur trapper John Baker saw
something similar when he was out on his canoe laying muskrat traps.
Baker reported hearing something crashing through the woods and then
witnessed a huge, hairy creature wade into the water and pass him within
a few yards. The creature was described as being wreathed with a horrific,
odious stench.

In addition to the mysterious animals said to prowl the swamp, the area is
also a hotbed of UFO sightings, and ghosts, specters, and phantoms are
regularly seen in the vicinity as well. One theory for why Hockomock
Swamp is so thickly laden with weird phenomena is that it happened to be
the site of much of the fighting during the brutal conflict between early
settlers and the native people of the region that took place in the vicinity of
the swamp, with various bloody massacres and atrocities carried out by
both sides here. Some say that this violent history has infused the swamp
with an evil force, and has made it the haunt of vengeful spirits screaming
for revenge.

Adding to the list of anomalous places within Freetown State Forest is an

immense, 40 ton boulder known as Dighton Rock, which is approximately 5
feet (1.5 m) high, 9.5 feet (2.9 m) wide, and 11 feet (3.4 m) long. The
boulder originally lied in the riverbed of the Taunton River at Berkley,
Massachusetts but has since been moved. Covering the rock are
numerous and various mysterious petroglyphs, drawings of figures,
geometric shapes, and alleged cryptic writing, none of which can be
comprehensively identified and have unknown origins. There have been
many theories as to the origins of the strange carvings upon the rock,
ranging from the native peoples of the region, to ancient Norse explorers,
to even the Phoenicians and the Chinese. The rock was described in 1690
by Rev. Cotton Mather in his book The Wonderful Works of God
Commemorated thus:
Among the other Curiosities of New-England, one is that of a
mighty Rock, on a perpendicular side whereof by a River, which
at High Tide covers part of it, there are very deeply Engraved,
no man alive knows How or When about half a score Lines,
 near Ten Foot Long, and a foot and half broad, filled with
strange Characters: which would suggest as odd Thoughts
about them that were here before us, as there are odd Shapes
in that Elaborate Monument.…

In addition to strange creatures and haunted, mysterious locales,

Freetown State Forest also hosts its fair share of brutal murders, unsolved
crimes, and alleged cult activity. The area has long been a reported haven
for cultists and satanists. The late 1970s and 1980s in particular saw a
spike in sinister cult activities in the forest, with police finding various
pieces of evidence that supported the existence of such activities,
including an actual underground bunker that was apparently used to carry
out various cult rituals and possibly even human sacrifices. One famous
story comes from the 1980s, when a bog worker complained of
trespassers converging on his shack dressed in black robes. When the
man contacted police, investigators found a large pentagram in the ground
as well as a design made up of carefully placed stones. The pentagram
was taken away and the stones dispersed, but when authorities visited the
scene the following day, both the pentagram and the stone configurations
were reported to be back to precisely where they had been before they
had been removed. Various cattle mutilations reported from the forest,
including the butchering of a cow in the woods and a group of calves found
horrifically mutilated in a clearing, both from 1998, were connected to the
work of satanic cults performing dark rituals in the area.

One of the most famous crimes committed in Freetown State Forest is the
murder of Mary Lou Arruda in 1978. On September 8 1978, Mary Lou
Arruda was seen riding her bicycle near her home in Raynham Mass. at
around 4PM. At 4:30PM, the girl’s bicycle was found abandoned by the
side of the road with a skid mark from a car and a cigarette right beside it.
Several witnesses would come forward to report that they had see a green
car with a black racing stripe speeding away from the scene at around the
time the girl is though to have gone missing, and the police were able to
gain enough insight into the driver’s appearance to cobble together a
sketch of the suspect, which was then placed on wanted posters and
plastered across the area.
An intensive police search was also launched into the area of Arruda’s last
known whereabouts, and her decomposing body was finally found on
November 11 1978, tied to a tree within Freetown State Forest. It was
determined that the girl had still been alive when her beaten and battered
body had been tied to the tree in a standing position, and when she had
lost consciousness, the weight of her body had caused stress on her neck
and ensuing asphyxia. It was determined that she had died the same day
she had gone missing.

Freetown State Forest

Authorities finally tracked down a man by the name of James Kater, a

donut maker who owned a car matching the description; a bright green
1976 Opel with a black racing strip. He also smoked cigarettes, the exact
same brand that had been found at the crime scene, and had been in
trouble with the law before. In the ensuing trial, Kater denied having
anything to do with the murder of Mary Lou Arruda, although he would
eventually be found guilty for a separate 1968 incident in which he was
convicted of assault with intent to rape, assault & battery with a dangerous
weapon and kidnapping of a young woman from Andover Mass. He was
sentenced to life in prison but to this day denies having anything to do with
the Arruda case.

Another mysterious crime revolves around a place known as the Ice

Shack; a small building constructed for the purposes of logging during the
1940s. It has long been determined that cult activities and drug dealing
had been carried out in the structure, but one series of murders connected
to the Ice Shack stands out in particular; that of a string of vicious killings
by a pimp and alleged Satanic cult leader by the name of Carl Drew. Drew
was known for using his Satanism to keep his prostitutes in line,
threatening them with human sacrifice or worse if they stepped out of line.
On October 13, 1979, the brutally mutilated corpse of prostitute Donna
Levesque was found, and two alleged witnesses, prostitutes Karen
Marsden, 20, and Robin Murphy, 18, explained later that it had been a
ritual killing carried out by Drew near the Ice Shack.

Mardsen had allegedly been repulsed by the violence and sought to break
free from the cult. It would not work out well for her. On February 8, 1980,
she would be tortured and killed in an alleged Satanic sacrifice. Her
corpse had allegedly been brutalized in a most disturbing manner.
Mardsen had allegedly had her hair and fingernails ripped out while she
was still alive, and she had then been savagely beaten over the head with
stones until Drew had then snapped her neck. Her head was then cut off
and kicked around by other cult members. Her fingers had been removed
to steal her rings and a large X had been carved across her chest. This is
the story that Murphy, who was implicated as an accomplice, would
eventually tell police, but the only signs of Mardsen’s body were some
skull fragments and pieces of clothings that were discovered in the forest
on April 13, 1980. Murphy would eventually testify in court to her part in
the murders, as well as Drew’s brutality, and would receive a life sentence.
Drew, who had also been implicated in the killing of Levesque and
suspected of at least one other murder of a prostitute, was found guilty of
the murder of Mardsen on on March 13, 1981, and he would receive
further prison time when he was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon
on yet another prostitute. There have been other murders in Freetown
State Forest as well, including a transient who was apparently mistaken
for an undercover police officer and two men who were found mysteriously
shot to death and abandoned in the forest in 2001. Satanists and cultists
are said to favor this location for their dark deeds not only because of its
remote, out of the way location but also due to its undercurrent of dark
energy that they believe they can tap into to power their rituals and
sacrifices.

What causes this forest to attract such violence and suffering? What is it
about this place that causes so many weird phenomena to congregate
here? There are those who would point to the area’s dark history of pain
and loss. It is said that the native spirits of the forest were angered by the
stealing of this land and the massacres and atrocities that took place here,
thereby cursing the forest until the land returns to its rightful owners, the
Wampanoag people. Others say it was the native elders themselves who
cursed the land while under the shadow of oppression and inequality. The
numerous Indian burial grounds that are said to be scattered throughout
the forest certainly give gravity to this eerie story. Or maybe there are just
some places that lie at a crossroads between our world and another, or
which lie on some mysterious vortex that imbues them with a certain
energy. Perhaps there are just places that bump up against a thin spot
between realities, or are somehow magnets for the bizarre. Or maybe
these are things we are not meant to ever know the answers to. Whatever
the answer is, it is abundantly clear that something is not quite right with
Freetown State Forest and the larger Bridgewater Triangle of which it is a
part.