00:00A second-year university student had just finished her service at the cafeteria when she decided to go hiking.
00:07After getting ready, she greeted her roommate and hitchhiked to the beginning of the trail.
00:12Barely 18 years old, she met hikers who were returning from excursions and asked them for directions.
00:18Although the night began to fall, she continued on her way and was never seen again.
00:23She answered in the name of Paula Welden and she disappeared in 1946 while walking along a path near Bennington, a city located in the southwest of Vermont.
00:32The next day, her roommate reported her disappearance and the authorities quickly organized a search team.
00:38For four weeks, hundreds of people searched the surrounding woods.
00:43Her university even temporarily closed to allow students and staff to participate in the search.
00:49Alas, they all went home drunk. Paula seemed to have been volatilized.
00:53She had not taken bags, spare clothes or money. Everything indicated that she did not expect to be absent for more than a few hours.
01:00Her father, a renowned industrial engineer, accused the sheriff of the county of having failed the investigation,
01:06because despite all the efforts made, the young woman remained untraceable.
01:10Her case remains unsolved to this day, but Paula was not the only one to have disappeared in the forests of Vermont.
01:16A year earlier, on November 12, 1945, a dynamic and experienced septuagenarian named Middy Rivers served as a guide to a group of four hunters.
01:26He was on the crossroads with his wife and announced that he would go in reconnaissance on one of them and would be back at the camp for lunch.
01:34It was the last time someone saw him. The group he was guiding searched the man all afternoon before warning the authorities.
01:40A more extensive search was organized, but with no result. Although Middy knew the track, he had indeed disappeared.
01:48Firefighters, volunteers and soldiers could not find him, even after a month of searching.
01:55They only found a cartridge that had dropped into a nearby stream.
01:59Local authorities have still not resolved this case. At the time, no one knew that the cases of Middy and Paula would only be the beginning of a series of disappearances.
02:08In half a decade, five people disappeared in this part of Vermont.
02:13Years passed, but no explanation emerged for these mysterious disappearances.
02:18It is thus that the region is nicknamed the Bennington Triangle, in reference to the famous Bermuda Triangle, where ships and planes have disappeared for centuries.
02:31In 1949, a particularly mysterious disappearance occurred in the Bennington Triangle.
02:37James Tedford, a 68-year-old veteran, boarded a local bus to go home to Bennington after visiting his family in St. Albans.
02:47His family accompanied him to the road station, and 14 witnesses claimed that he was still on the bus during his last stop before Bennington.
02:55However, he never reached his destination. His belongings were still on the trunk, and a bus schedule was unfolded on his empty seat.
03:04The man had apparently disappeared as if by magic, while the bus was in motion.
03:09Strangely, he disappeared exactly the same day, or a student had disappeared three years earlier, on December 1st.
03:16The youngest person to have strangely disappeared was an 8-year-old boy, Paul Jepson.
03:21He was with his mother while she was working on the family farm.
03:25She left to feed the pigs, leaving him alone for about an hour.
03:29On his return, the woman did not find her son.
03:32The inhabitants quickly debated, and the sheriff sent the Canine Brigade to hurry.
03:37They followed the smell, but suddenly lost track of it at a nearby intersection.
03:41The boy was never found.
03:43Another strange fact, the child was wearing a bright red jacket, which should have made him all the more visible to the rescue.
03:49But even more striking, Paula, the student who had disappeared four years earlier, was also wearing a red jacket.
03:56The last disappearance took place only 16 days after Paul's.
04:00Frida Langer, a 53-year-old woman, was camping with her family in the National Forest of the Green Mountains.
04:05She went hiking with her cousin, but fell into a stream.
04:09She then decided to return to the camp to change.
04:12Her cousin thought she would join him later, and continued alone along the path.
04:16But she never returned, and never reached their base camp.
04:20For two weeks, three hundred rescuers explored the woods.
04:24Helicopters were mobilized, but no trace of the woman ever reappeared.
04:29The last story of the disappearance of the Bennington Triangle was infamous, but not happy.
04:34In the spring of the following year, researchers found the unfortunate camper six kilometers from the initial camping site.
04:40This place had already been searched, which made the discovery even more mysterious.
04:46It was impossible to determine what had happened or why she had ended up there.
04:51The only common point between these five disappearances is the period of time and the geographical area.
04:56Three square kilometers of dense forest in the southwest of Vermont.
05:00This region, far from the green mountains, was not the most welcoming place.
05:04Bennington, and the neighboring village of Glastonbury, were at the origin of mining and forestry towns, where the living conditions were harsh.
05:12Towards the end of the 19th century, the inhabitants tried to restore the image of the region as a tourist destination.
05:19But a terrible flood took their dream of a better life.
05:23Residents began to desert the city.
05:26And in 2010, only eight inhabitants were still living in Glastonbury.
05:30The village became a ghost town.
05:32At the end of the 1940s, the region was again under the fire of projectors, but for the worst reasons.
05:38How could these disappearances have remained shrouded in mystery for so long?
05:42Someone had to have a rational explanation.
05:46A theory suggests that it could be the work of a serial killer, taking people without defense.
05:53However, he should be able to come up with a scheme.
05:56But there is none.
05:58Or maybe the elements were responsible.
06:01The student disappeared by a pleasant day at the very beginning of winter.
06:05She was slightly dressed because it was still 10 degrees outside.
06:09But in the evening, the air temperature dropped sharply, to reach minus 13 degrees the next morning.
06:17In this part of the Vermont, the weather is quite unpredictable.
06:21It can be windy, especially in winter.
06:24Maybe the bad weather and the dense forest have disoriented the missing people.
06:29Recently, in 2008, a surprisingly similar case of disappearance occurred here.
06:34A student named Robert Singley got lost in a thick fog at the top of Mount Glastonbury.
06:40When he did not return home, his fiancée called the police, who immediately started looking for him.
06:46But it was too dark and there was too much fog to see anything.
06:50Fortunately, we found him the next morning.
06:53He got lost because of the thick fog and could not find his way until the weather conditions improved.
07:02This story had a happy ending.
07:04But could the incident explain what happened to the missing people more than 70 years ago?
07:10The mountains around Bennington are full of abandoned mines, reminiscent of the past of the city.
07:15A hiker lost in the fog could easily fall into one of them and would have no way out.
07:21The region is so remote that no one would ever find them.
07:25Another danger is that of wild animals.
07:28The black bears are native to New England and the region's hiking clubs advise visitors to store their food in special boxes so as not to attract them.
07:38The National Forest of the Green Mountains is located at the heart of the Bennington Triangle.
07:42Today, this very popular leisure area is for 70 million people, less than a day's drive.
07:49We go there to camp, hike and ride a bike.
07:53But are they all aware of these 5 mysterious disappearances?
07:56I don't think I would dare to venture into this wild place and retreat from Vermont now.
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