Thursday, January 27, 2011

Massasoit and the Pilgrims
The era of peace
The Bridgewater Purchase, Stolen Land

The Death of Massasoit, the short reign of Alexander, the murder of Alexander

King Philip Becomes Chief, And the Trouble begins

Brief History of the War

The Curse

Hockomock Swamp
Forest Street
Elm Street
Anawan Rock
Freetown Forest
Profile Rock
Wompanoag Royal Cemetery
Route 44---Native Path
Lake Nippenickett

Bridgewater Subjects

Focus on Bridgewater and its history.

Native land
The War

History of Hauntings

Hockomock Swamp

Car Accidents

Plane Crashes

UFOS

Out of Place Animals

Cats

Dogs

Snakes

Bigfoot

Thunderbirds

Murders

Suicides

Death's at prison

Suicides at Bridgewater Hospital

Timothy Paine and the Solitude Stone

Freemasons/Satucket Lodge

Lake Nippenickett

Drownings

West Union Street and Angel Alley

Street where there are a freakishly high number of cancer rates.

Anniversaries and strange events in Bridgewater.

Monday, January 10, 2011

KING PHILIP'S SCULL AND THE CURSE OF THE WAMPANOAGS

* According the Womapanoags, King Philip's scull was stolen from Plymouth fort and is kept hidden to this day. Wompanoag's make pilgrimages to the the Sachem's scull and according to tribal legend, it speaks to those most worthy.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Not only is Sachem Rock Farm the site of the first inland Native American land sale in the United States, it is also the site of the of one of the nine homes in East Bridgewater to burned to the ground by King Philip’s warriors in King Philip's War. It’s no surprise the Latham farm was first to be attacked. With this house, it was personal. Robert Latham’s wife, Susanna was a Winslow--a name that was almost royalty in the colony. Susanna’s mother was the famous Mary Chilton, the first woman to step on American soil off of the Mayflower. Her  father was John Winslow, the brother of the esteemed Governor Edward Winslow. But more importantly…her other uncle was General Josias Winslow of The Plymouth Colony Militia, the captor and suspected murderer of Alexander, King Philip’s elder brother.

Robert Latham was a well respected man, even serving as town constable at the time of the war. The fact that not ten years earlier, Latham and his wife Susanna were charged and found guilty of murder seemed to do little to effect the Latham’s social standing in the colony.

In 1659, Robert and Susanna were charged with the murder of their servant, John Walker. In the book Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620-1691  it says of the crime: "On 31 January 1654/55 a coroner's jury was called to view the body of Latham's servant boy, John Walker." The jury found that the body of John Walker was blackish and blew, and the skine broken in divers places from the middle to the haire of his head, viz, all his backe with stripes given him by his master, Robert Latham, as Robert himselfe did testify; and also wee found a bruise of his left arme, and one of his left hipp, and one great bruise of his brest; and there was the knuckles of one hand and one of his fingers frozen, and alsoe both his heeles frozen, and one of the heeles the flesh was much broken, and alsoe one of his little toes frozen and very much perished, and one of his great toes frozen, and alsoe the side of his foot frozen; and alsoe, upon the reviewing the body, wee found three gaules like holes in the hames, which wee formerly, the body being frozen, thought they had been holes; and alsoe wee find that the said John was forced to carry a logg which was beyond his strength, which hee indeavoring to doe, the logg fell upon him, and hee, being downe, had a stripe or two, as Joseph Beedle doth testify; and wee find that it was some few daies before his death; and wee find, by the testimony of John Howland and John Adams, that heard Robert Latham say that hee gave John Walker som stripes that morning before his death; and alsoe wee find the flesh much broken of the knees of John Walker, and that he did want sufficient food and clothing and lodging, and that the said John did constantly wett his bedd and his cloathes, lying in them, and so suffered by it, his clothes being frozen about him; and that the said John was put forth in the extremity of cold, though thuse unabled by lamenes and sorenes to performe what was required; and therefore in respect of crewelty and hard usage he died.
 
Massachusetts Area Paranormal Society reported many interesting EVP recordings during their investigation in the summer of 2009, including “a baby crying, a voice saying “hi” and what sounded like a Native American whoop.”
History:
1661. Massasoit dies. The peaceful era Chief of the Wompanoags who‘s aid was instrumental in the pilgrims’ first winter of survival . After his brother Alexander is allegedly poisoned by General Josiah Winslow in 1662, it is now perfectly clear to Massasoit’s son Metacom (commonly known by his English name “Philip”) the intentions of the people who had arrived upon the shores of a land that had already been inhabited for 10,000 years: They wanted it all and did not play by any rules understood by the Wompanoags. The loss of innocence of the Wompanoags is best demonstrated in the land sale of Satucket, modern day Bridgewater. If there is any merit to the theory that the Wampanoag’s cursed the land stolen from them by the colonists, then the curse starts here.
The native name for Sachem Rock was Wonnocoote. Up until the turn of the 20th century, locals still referred to Sachem Rock Farm as “Cootah Hill.”





On April 9, 1676, the Natives crept up Satucket Path to the Latham farm. Robert Latham’s house would be the first of nine houses to be destroyed by fire that day, the natives sparing only one dwelling…that of Nicholas Byram. Byram settled in East Bridgewater in 1662, and during that time it seems he broke the strict law of the colony not to sell cider or any other spirits to the red man. Breaking the law earned him one of the only surviving houses in the Bridgewater area after King Philip’s War.
In 1649 Massasoit met with reprentatives of Duxbury at Sachem Rock. It was on March 23, 1649, when Chief Massasoit unknowingly traded miles of fertile land enriched by the waters of The Matfield, Hockomock, and Town Rivers as well as West Meadow Brook for mere provisions for his tribe. Seven coats, nine hatchets, eight hoes, twenty knives, four moose skins and 10 yards of cotton is what the Wompanoags were paid for the territory of Bridgewater. The implications of a “land sale” was unfathomable to the Native American psyche at this time. The concept that land could be regarded as ‘ownable’ was unfamiliar one to the Wompanoags. It is no wonder that Sachem Rock, the very site of this monumental land sale has been witness to tragic events that date back to King Philip’s War in 1676. Today, a stone marks the very spot Latham's house stood before it was destroyed by arson.  

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HISTORICAL HEADLINES








Sunday, January 2, 2011

Lake Nippenicket

Lake Nippenicket. The Bridgewater Triangle's lake of doom. These shallow waters have an average depth of three feet deep, but its mysteries run deep. Just because it looks safe, doesn't mean you should go in the water. This lake has a reputation of stealing the lives of those way too young to die, whether it be by drowning, boating accidents, or falling through the thin ice, into the one of the Bridgwater Triangle's strangest places.

Accidents and drownings are not the only news here on this lake where seldomly one sees a bird fly over its dismal waters, UFOs have also been seen here at Lake Nipenickett. And then there is the lake's mysterious island. People have reported seeing strange monkey like creatures creeping out there. Others have seen phantom tribal dances around spectral fires. Only to paddle out to the island to find no one there and no ssign of a fire.

Though the name "Nippenicket" sounds as if it was the original Native American name for the lake, it was not. Nippenicket was an English name. Lake Nippenicket was called Nuncktetest or Neapnuncket is what the ancients called it.




Man Walks off Shelf off Island in the Nip, DrownsJuly 14, 1922

Historical Events Appearing in Newspapers

East Bridgewater Man Charged With Murder
Enterprise
June 20, 2009
Murder took place in New Bedford at a gas station. Murders name is Corey Princiotta (LIKE PAUL LEAHY HE LIVED ON WHITMAN STREET IN EAST BRIDGEWATER AT THE TIME OF THE MURDER)

2006 TWO BRIDGEWATER STATE COLLEGE STUDENTS ARE SCHEDULED TO BE ARRAIGNED MONDAY ON MURDER CHARGES
"According to police, James Bing, 19, and Benjamin Dreyer 19. stabbed tp deatj Kpdu <artumoal. 27, of Raynham, during a fight outside of Our Place Saloon early Thursday."

July, 2008
Freetown Forest and Hockomock Swamp are named two of the countries greatest haunts in USA TODAY

BRIDGEWATER MAN HELD IN MOTHER'S DEATH
BOSTON GLOBE
JANUARY 1, 2003
"A 37-year old Bridgewater Man is a suspect in the death two weeks ago of his mother, whose bloody corpse was found Monday covered with an afgan in the bedroom of their apartment."
Goodwin Street
(CREEPY ONE)

July, 2002
Brutal Murder of Alexandra Zapp at Route 24 Burger King by Paul Leahy (from East Bridgwater, Whitman Street)

Fall River man, 19 Held in Slaying of Two Bodies of Cousins Found in State Forest
October 1, 2001
Two men, cousins found shot to death on Bell Rock Road near an isolated part of the forest.

Two Victims in Fall River Slaying
July 15, 2001
(Passserby discovered teh men's bodies on Bell Rock Road.)
Hunter pulled from icy swamp
December 20, 2003
Boston Herald
(hunter gets lostin the hock and has to get resuced by the coast guard and many ohter officials)

Body in Freetown Forest, Death of a Man, 82, Seen As A Homicide
November 17, 1996
(Apparently kidnapped outside a donut shop on the exit ramp off Route 140. His belongings, all still in the car. Body was found by state police dogs in the woods in the forest."

Ken Taber Murder
December 6, 1992
35 Spring Street, East Bridgewater
Above Wales Funeral Home (Wales-Profit Funeral Home)

BRIDGEWATER MAN IS CHARGED IN MURDER OF 1-MONTH OLD SON
Boston Globe
October 17, 1992



"Plea Entered in Assaunt Suspects Says He's Innocent in Freetown Forest Attack"
November 28, 1991
19-year old Russel Larrivee of Taunton is beanten unconscious in the forest.


Drowning Scene Lake Nipenickett
January 19, 1991
Boston Globe
Man falls though ice and drowns


Dorchester Man Dies in Water Accident
July 1, 1989
Boston Globe
Saw bubbles where he went down and saw his head or foot "bobbling" then he went down and never came back up. Took two hours to find the body.

"Four Fall River Men Charged In Death
October 7, 1987
Homeless man is kidnapped and murdered in Freetown Forest

Man Charged With Murder of Girl, 17
May 26, 1985
(An East Freetwon man was arrested yesterday andc charged with the murder and aggravated rape of 17-year old Leann Ryba of Middleboro, whose body was found May 16th in the woods near her home)

Two New Bedford Men Identified As Death Victims
Boston Globe
July 16, 1984
(An amateur archeologist from Freetown found their nude, bloodied bodies on opposite sides of a logging trail in the wood"

"Satanic Cult Probed in Two Deaths"
April 19, 1980
Murder of Doreen Levesque and Barbara Raposa

"Three Indicted in Slaying: Cult Link Seen"
Boston Globe
May 10, 1980
Karen Marsden Murder


Mary Lou Arruda
September 8, 1978 (kidnapped)
November 11, 1978 (body found)
Man Walks off Shelf off Island in the Nip, DrownsJuly 14, 1922

Bridgewater Woman is Attacked For Refusing PieBoston Daily Globe
May 23, 1922

CHRISTMAS BUNDLES CAUSE OF FATALITY: Bridgewater Man Runs for Train, Misses (Holding an Armful of Presents on Christmas Eve)Boston Daily Globe
Bridgewater, MA
December 24, 1921

No Trace of Driver on the Edge of Hockomock Swamp; Missing Driver Disappears Near Hockomock Swamp
Boston Evening Globe
April 27, 1920


Searchers Baffled In Hunt For Girl: Drag Town River and Its Creeks For Pretty Evelyn Packard of Brockton---Doctores Fear She is Swamps, Crazed By Her Experiences

August 5, 1916
Boston Daily Globe

Burglars Are Sentenced in Burke County Court. Three Negroes Who Planned to Murder Family of Bridgewater

Charlotte Observer
August 18, 1918.
Source: America's Historical Newspapers, 1690-1922

Fear Foul Play in Canoe Case; West Bridgewater Mystery Deepens Search Fails
Boston Daily Globe
August 4, 1916

Gets Life Sentence for Bridgewater Murder

Boston Journal
June 24, 1916.

Brown is Held in Bridgewater Murder Case Witnesses Testify He Had Gun on Day Mcfadden Met Death

Boston Journal
November 12, 1915.


Seek Woman Witness of Bridgewater Murder

Boston Journal
November 8, 1915.

Say Man Held in Murder Case Tried to Elope Bridgewater Girl Wanted Brown to Show Cash Police Allege

Boston Journal
November 6, 1915.

Two Canoeists Drown at Lake Nippenicket---Dragging For Bodies
Boston Daily Globe
July 4, 1907

Warren Alger Family Tomb is Vandalized at Lake Nippenicket

August 22, 1904
 
Homicidal Maniac Dead in Madhouse. Daniel Leary, Committed for Murder, Dies in Bridgewater

Boston Journal
November 8, 1903.


Unidentified Body Found at Lake Nippenickett, Clothes kept the remains intact
November 4, 1901
 
Calls it Murder Result of the Inquest on the Death of Elijah Godfrey of W. Bridgewater Victim of Four Play, Explosive Thrown into his house of West Bridgewate

Boston Journal
January 13, 1899.

Crimes and Casualties. the Bridgewater Murder

Boston Journal
May 21, 1880.

The Bridgewater Murder Boston, Sept. 29

Worcester Daily Spy
September 30, 1879.

The Bridgewater Murder Further Details of the Tragedy the Supposed Murderer Seen in Lowell and This CityBoston

Daily Advertiser
September 29, 1879.

The Murder At Bridgewater

New York Herald-Tribune
September 29, 1879.
Source: America's Historical Newspapers, 1690-1922 Brutal Murder in

Bridgewater an Old Gentleman Murdered in His Bed His Sun Suspected of the Crime

Boston Daily Advertiser
September 27, 1879.

A Cruel Murder. Startling Discovery at Bridgewater

Boston Journal
September 27, 1879.

A Cruel Murder. Startling Discovery at Bridgewater.

a Man Murdered in His Bed. the Son of the Victim
Boston Journal
September 27, 1879.
Source: America's Historical Newspapers, 1690-1922

East Carver & Co. Cotton Gin, East Bridgewater Destroyed by Fire, $200,000 in damagesTelegraphic Summary Boston
June 19, 1872

The Bridgewater Murder--The Husband Confesses the DeadAlbany Evening Journal
February 21, 1871.

Mysterious Murder at BridgewaterAlbany Evening Journal
February 18, 1871.
 
Shocking Railroad Accident: Two Persons killed and Two Others Fatally InjuredBarnstable Patriot Massachusetts
August, 1859
Female Body Found in Matfield River
August 21, 1819

Horse Tramples Bridgewater Children; one child (8) dies

(children of rev. (p) (paine?)
Date unknown

Bridgewater Horrific FireFour children scream as they burn to death
Date unknown

Murder Case at North BridgewaterFarmer's Cabinet
January 23, 1851.

Murder Case at North BridgewaterBoston Evening Transcript
January 14, 1851.

Melancholy Accident(Earth Cave in Accident in Bridgewater)
Newspaper Unknown
December 17, 1802
At least one man died

1789(?) Murder and proof of Indian slaves being kept in Bridgewater

"This week the Superior Court fits here, at wich will come on the tryal of the Indian Fellow belonging to Mr. Howard of Bridgewater, who was committed to our Goal nin Septemberlast on suspicion on barbarously murdering Mr. Rogers of Pembroke by stabbing him with a knife on the 12th of the month."