Speaker 1: M Bridgewater is a production of I Heart Radio three
Speaker 1: D audio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Monkey. For
Speaker 1: a full exposure, listen with headphones. Listener discretion advised. And
Speaker 1: I'm trapped here. I've been trapped. The things are fitting out.
Speaker 1: It's it's opening again. And I'm trapped here. I've been trapped.
Speaker 1: The things are fitting out. It's it's opening again. What
Speaker 1: are you trying to tell me? Thomas Nana, Hey, morning baby?
Speaker 1: What was that? Mm hmm just a message? Why did
Speaker 1: it sound like that? Mm hmmm? Bad connection? I guess
Speaker 1: may used that you've been using the same machine for
Speaker 1: like a hundred years. You really need to get a
Speaker 1: real phone, Nana. Okay, I have a real phone. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean like an iPhone or something. Ethan, I have
Speaker 1: a cell phone. It just doesn't work out here, whatever, whatever. Okay,
Speaker 1: do you sleep Okay? Yeah, kind of. I don't know.
Speaker 1: The cell is kind of always freaks me out, it does.
Speaker 1: It's just so quiet, it's peaceful. Yes, Well, plus you
Speaker 1: love the quiet. That's what camping is. Aren't you spending
Speaker 1: all of next weekend sleeping in the woods. First quiet
Speaker 1: is way different than house quiet. Got it? High game
Speaker 1: was fun though, right, Yeah, yeah, can can we go
Speaker 1: home now? Of course, m Um. I just wanted to
Speaker 1: say thank you for agreeing to do this, and I'm
Speaker 1: I'm sorry about yesterday. No, I'm sorry. I should never
Speaker 1: have snapped at you like that. It's just I don't know.
Speaker 1: I guess it's been a very long, very strange week. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can say that again. I've had to think about
Speaker 1: so many things that I haven't thought about in years.
Speaker 1: It's jarring, I know, And I never want to treat
Speaker 1: this all so callously, you know, finding your dad's badge,
Speaker 1: it just it must have been traumatic, and I'm sorry
Speaker 1: for making it into fodder for work so stupid. No, honestly,
Speaker 1: you didn't. It's I'm right there with you. Really. It's
Speaker 1: opened up some interesting avenues areas of research that we
Speaker 1: haven't been looking at before. And you're not wrong. A
Speaker 1: nonfiction book is probably going to be a lot more
Speaker 1: appealing to people if there's some kind of central story,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know. At the very least, the
Speaker 1: police files are going to be very useful primary sources. Still,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry for getting carried away. Honestly, I was just
Speaker 1: the same when I was your age. Fascinated and excited
Speaker 1: about the uncannyness of America and you're not. Now, no
Speaker 1: I am. It's just, you know, you get old, some
Speaker 1: of the luster gets lost. I have to say, it's
Speaker 1: been nice to have someone to talk to about all
Speaker 1: this though. Honestly, thank you, of course. I'm I'm always
Speaker 1: here you. I appreciate that. I don't really have well,
Speaker 1: you know me, you know, I'm a consummate bachelor. So
Speaker 1: but you have people to talk to, like, um, you know,
Speaker 1: there's uh, there's your mom. I'm sure she has a
Speaker 1: lot to say about all of this. Yeah, not really not. Actually,
Speaker 1: we've just never never been that close. I can't believe
Speaker 1: that I let you talk me into this on a Saturday.
Speaker 1: I just think that if we have an opportunity to
Speaker 1: find out about those symbols, then you know, we know
Speaker 1: what they are. They're not sense from a cult, yeah,
Speaker 1: but but if you figure out what it means, then
Speaker 1: we can find out where they're gathering. Yeah. It's really
Speaker 1: not the best name for a group, is it. No?
Speaker 1: Not really, Although I wouldn't expect much from a group
Speaker 1: of people that believes there are spirits on the other
Speaker 1: side of some veil. I think you just offended anyone
Speaker 1: who believes in any religion. Well, probably wouldn't be the
Speaker 1: first time. So how do you know this girl? This girl, well,
Speaker 1: she goes to the college. We were in the same
Speaker 1: statistics class a few years ago. Um, I think she's
Speaker 1: a senior now. Yeah, I'm pretty sure she's a senior now.
Speaker 1: And she speaks Wapanah Pretty sure, Yeah, you're pretty sure. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, her dad is Wapanag and I think she
Speaker 1: learned some when she was younger. She's really really smart,
Speaker 1: and she seemed totally up to help us out. And
Speaker 1: I figured we could explain the whole thing in person,
Speaker 1: you know, just really look at each other and just
Speaker 1: explain it. I see, got it. Oh, here we are,
Speaker 1: m What did you say? Her last name was why God,
Speaker 1: come in, Come in out of the rain, Jeremy Bradshaw,
Speaker 1: as I live and breathe. How have you been, Joe
Speaker 1: good good? What the hell are you doing here? Well? Um,
Speaker 1: Olivia said it might be okay if I came by. Oh, oh,
Speaker 1: I didn't realize she was dating anyone. No, No, I'm not,
Speaker 1: I'm not we're not. No, we just we went to
Speaker 1: college together. The college you teach at yes, yeah, and
Speaker 1: I never I don't. I don't think I ever had
Speaker 1: Olivia as student. So what are you doing here? How
Speaker 1: do you two? Well, it's a it's a bit random,
Speaker 1: I know, but um a vipen here's my t A
Speaker 1: and I'm working on a book about the Bridgewater Triangle.
Speaker 1: That's right, you're a folklore professor. Come on, let's sit down.
Speaker 1: We wanted to ask Olivia about some wampanock symbols we found.
Speaker 1: Oh oh yeah, liv knows a little bit of the language.
Speaker 1: She's upstairs working. Let me go grab her. Please sit down?
Speaker 1: S it? Um, So you guys were friends in high school? No,
Speaker 1: I know, Um, I wouldn't say we were friends. A
Speaker 1: friend friend might be putting a little strong. Joe and
Speaker 1: I were what do you guys call it? We were
Speaker 1: a friend of mis I think, I promise you no
Speaker 1: one calls it that. I love that you're training me
Speaker 1: to be cool. It been, um, well, whatever you want
Speaker 1: to call it. I guess we were kind of school rivals,
Speaker 1: and keikot valedictorian over me, and then I scored better
Speaker 1: on the S A T S. And then we both
Speaker 1: went to Harvard. Gotcha one of those rivalries. That never
Speaker 1: has a winner. I don't know. If Joseph has a
Speaker 1: lovely wife and two kids and this big house, I U,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say there wasn't a winner. She'll be down
Speaker 1: in a few That girl works harder than anyone in
Speaker 1: the family. She's still a student, isn't she h? But
Speaker 1: she also works freelance doing cybersecurity for some local businesses.
Speaker 1: Of course she does very impressive. But how about you.
Speaker 1: You're writing a book. Yeah, I'm about halfway through the manuscript.
Speaker 1: It's all about the legend and folklore of the Bridgewater Triangle.
Speaker 1: Oh well, I would have thought you had a WAPAG
Speaker 1: contact already. If you're writing a book on the region. Oh,
Speaker 1: I do you know you should talk to Layard. She's
Speaker 1: my contact. Of course. I should have never doubted your
Speaker 1: academic fastidiousness. So what can Olivia do for you that
Speaker 1: Layard can't. Do you recognize this rock? Should I recognize
Speaker 1: a rock? It's in Freetown Forest. I don't spend much
Speaker 1: time there, not since we were kids. Anyway, do you
Speaker 1: recognize any of the symbols on it? The second photo
Speaker 1: right here is zoomed in. AH, looks like maybe a
Speaker 1: word for water, and this might be sunrise or sunset,
Speaker 1: so it is in wa a knock. I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's not any grammar structure I recognize, and it doesn't
Speaker 1: seem to be wholly accurate. But then again, I don't
Speaker 1: speak the language. No, one does, not really, not until
Speaker 1: Laird started bringing it back, which again leads to the question,
Speaker 1: why are you here instead of talking to her? Well,
Speaker 1: this isn't really something that I wanted to bother her.
Speaker 1: When why Well, um, I guess it's not strictly speaking,
Speaker 1: a scholarly pursuit. What's going on, Jeremy. I know this
Speaker 1: is going to sound a little crazy, but we think
Speaker 1: that there might be a cult in the woods and
Speaker 1: that they're using these symbols to communicate with each other.
Speaker 1: What have you heard of the gathering? No? I haven't. Wow,
Speaker 1: that's that's the name of the cult. These symbols have
Speaker 1: appeared near asson at Ledge in the last few days,
Speaker 1: and we're just we're trying to figure out what they say.
Speaker 1: And you didn't want to show on actual linguist a
Speaker 1: bastardized version of her language that a bunch of cultists
Speaker 1: are using to talk to each other. Yeah, something like that.
Speaker 1: I don't blame you the people that tell stories about
Speaker 1: the woods, that believe something mystical is there. Half the
Speaker 1: time it's a bunch of white people taking our legends
Speaker 1: and turning them into ghost stories. M hmm. Do you
Speaker 1: know why we even have any of our language left?
Speaker 1: Why didn't it die with the last Natives speaker a
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty years ago? There's a Christian Bible written
Speaker 1: in Wampanog. Colonizers wrote it so they could convert us
Speaker 1: to their religion, civilize us. Yikes, that sounds like the
Speaker 1: early settlers already. I'm assuming the gathering isn't a Native
Speaker 1: American group. No, no, not not that I know of. Well,
Speaker 1: then this looks like more of the same non native
Speaker 1: folks using our culture to promote their own. Well I'm
Speaker 1: I'm not advocating for it and not trying to do
Speaker 1: any co opting here or just trying to figure out
Speaker 1: what it says. But why, Joe, are you lecturing somebody
Speaker 1: on Algonquin history again? Oh? M Jeremy, Hi, Shelly, I
Speaker 1: didn't know you were coming over. I would have Oh god, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: I didn't know I was coming over either. I just
Speaker 1: dropped in unexpectedly. I'm so glad to see you though. Yeah,
Speaker 1: me too, Helles have been ah geez, five years at
Speaker 1: least the last high school reunion probably right. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's right. So how are you? I'm good, I'm good. Um,
Speaker 1: this is my t a Vippin. Hi. It's nice to
Speaker 1: meet you. I went to college with your daughter or ma'am. Oh,
Speaker 1: how nice? Yeah, I I didn't realize that Professor Bradshaw
Speaker 1: went to high school with her parents only in a
Speaker 1: small town. Huh, I'm sorry, I'm I'm sure Olivia has
Speaker 1: mentioned your she just oh I doubt it. I really
Speaker 1: doubt it. Oh, hey, hippen right, yes we have you
Speaker 1: remember Professor Bradshaw, don't you. I'm not sure we ever met. Actually,
Speaker 1: I went to high school with your dad. Cool so
Speaker 1: hippin Yeah, I'm hipp whipping coroner from yes Statistics. I know.
Speaker 1: Also email yesterday right right from yesterday? You still work
Speaker 1: at the college, right? Yeah? Wow? Yeah, I am actually
Speaker 1: Professor bradshaw'st t Heny. You guys have some kind of
Speaker 1: project do you want my help on? Yeah? If you
Speaker 1: have time to spare, would appreciate it. Sure I can. Hello. Hey,
Speaker 1: we're all in here. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know
Speaker 1: that you were having guests. We can No, it's all right,
Speaker 1: it's it's just my mother. Hi, sweetie, how is hiking?
Speaker 1: It was good? This is our youngest. Nice to meet you.
Speaker 1: Ere you ready for the big camping trip next weekend? Definitely?
Speaker 1: Nana didn't tell you any scary stories, did she No,
Speaker 1: Nana did not. Oh, this is my mother and mom
Speaker 1: this is that's okay, Shelly. We already know each other. Bradshaw.
Speaker 1: He an you do how well? AND's been helping me
Speaker 1: with some local research for my book, crime statistics, paranormal
Speaker 1: reports and that sort of stuff. Right, and Hi, it's
Speaker 1: so nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you.
Speaker 1: You must be Vivin that's right. So that means you're
Speaker 1: Olivia's grandmother. I can't believe you have grandkids. Well, no
Speaker 1: need to sound so surprised, Bradshaw. No, it's just I
Speaker 1: thought you said you weren't good with kids. She's not well. Listen,
Speaker 1: should we do this thing? Or what? What thing? We
Speaker 1: were hoping Olivia could help us translate some symbols? Would
Speaker 1: these happen to be the symbols you found on a
Speaker 1: rock near San at Ledge. He don't tell me that
Speaker 1: that's what you're doing here. I'm dropping off my grandson. Actually, kid,
Speaker 1: I was hoping you could help me with a little something.
Speaker 1: Is it weird? Isn't it always? No? Mhmm oh, I'm
Speaker 1: just teasing, Shelly. I've put all that paranormal business behind me.
Speaker 1: So you like computers, sorry, just you've got a lot
Speaker 1: of computers. And yeah, I'm a computer science major, remember right, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm more of a book guy myself. That's not why
Speaker 1: you're carrying around actual photos. Yeah, I like to be
Speaker 1: able to mark them up, and you know you can
Speaker 1: do that on your phone, right. So what do you
Speaker 1: need Olivia's help with? Why the hell do you care? Well,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to actually find out real information and not
Speaker 1: dig up supernatural skeletons. Neither, am I. But explain to
Speaker 1: me why exactly Petrick lifts carved this week? Would be
Speaker 1: good information for your history book because it shows the
Speaker 1: hold that these old legends have on this area's consciousness.
Speaker 1: The same could be said for Thomas's badge, a forty
Speaker 1: year old disappearance was able to catch the attention of
Speaker 1: the Internet. A very tiny portion of the Internet. Still,
Speaker 1: that's why I'm here the reddit post. I want to
Speaker 1: know who made it, what else they might know? Do
Speaker 1: you think they'd actually be useful, more useful than me?
Speaker 1: This isn't Wampanock, is not really. It's like whoever wrote
Speaker 1: it has seen some Wapanock before, but it's just doing
Speaker 1: it by memory. I'm not sure it really translates to anything.
Speaker 1: Your dad said that it um maybe said something about
Speaker 1: water or sunrise, could be those symbols there could be
Speaker 1: for curtain and beginning, but it's not the actual Wampanock language.
Speaker 1: It looks like it's taken from a couple of different cultures,
Speaker 1: but I don't know. I'm not an expert, and whoever
Speaker 1: carved these clearly isn't either onto what I know. You know,
Speaker 1: your dad was always good at computers too. He took
Speaker 1: it up before it was cool, Yeah, and he loves
Speaker 1: lording it over me being the o G hacker. I
Speaker 1: don't want to go into cybersecurity like him, though. I
Speaker 1: thought that's what you were doing now, yeah, just to
Speaker 1: pick up some extra cash. It's not long term. May
Speaker 1: I ask Olivia, what do you want to do? I
Speaker 1: don't know. Something more interesting. That's why I like helping
Speaker 1: Ann out with her weird little projects. So you're into
Speaker 1: this Bridgewater Triangle stuff like an No, not really, at
Speaker 1: least not the weird old myths in this town. People
Speaker 1: used to create narratives about people like me. But Internet
Speaker 1: myth that stuff I can get into. What's internet myth? Yeah?
Speaker 1: You know slender Man, Polybius, oh, the elevator game, Momo.
Speaker 1: I have no idea what you're saying. You have to
Speaker 1: keep up with the times, Bradshaw. Are you telling me
Speaker 1: that you know what? Momo is a half bird, half
Speaker 1: woman who tells you to kill yourself. Are you serious?
Speaker 1: Is she serious? The Internet is a very dark place. Okay.
Speaker 1: The author of the Reddit post about your dad's badge
Speaker 1: is one Katie Frank's. Of course, anyone know who that is?
Speaker 1: No no idea? Is she local? Yep? Wait, you know her,
Speaker 1: professor Bradshaw does, and you do too, Miss Becker. What
Speaker 1: it's that hiker you scared with the missing friend? That
Speaker 1: that's Katie Frank's. Uh yeah, it all makes sense now.
Speaker 1: Mike said that there was a frequent poster who had
Speaker 1: a partner on the force. What are you talking about?
Speaker 1: Officer Batista. What. Yeah, she came to me the other
Speaker 1: night to tell me about her girlfriend, Katie, and as
Speaker 1: symbols on the rock, she says, it's some kind of
Speaker 1: communication for the cult, and it's a way they tell
Speaker 1: each other where they're going to meet up. The cop
Speaker 1: isn't a cult. Oh, we don't know it's a cult.
Speaker 1: Well it is a cult, but I don't think the
Speaker 1: cop is in it. It's her girlfriend. It's all very complicated.
Speaker 1: Katie Frank's the hiker. Then why are you talking to
Speaker 1: me if you know someone who knows the code? No, no,
Speaker 1: Katie doesn't know the code. She's not Inner Circle. Oh
Speaker 1: that's creepy. Why didn't you call me? And this really
Speaker 1: isn't any of your business. I've been poring over the
Speaker 1: same files for the past forty years and this just
Speaker 1: gets dropped into your lap and you don't even bother
Speaker 1: to tell me. I don't see why this is important
Speaker 1: to you. If the gathering is back, that's extremely important.
Speaker 1: You said they were harmless. That doesn't mean they're clueless.
Speaker 1: They could have information. Um, guys, this doesn't look very
Speaker 1: harmless to me. What is it is that Katie's private
Speaker 1: email is that ethical? Is human sacrifice ethical? What this
Speaker 1: isn't Katie's email? It's a protected account. What does that mean?
Speaker 1: It just means it's anonymous and really hard to trace.
Speaker 1: I p F anyone can buy one. They're not inherently suspicious.
Speaker 1: I think having an untraceable anonymous email is pretty suspicious.
Speaker 1: I have one why But the point is I went
Speaker 1: into Katie's email, scant her contact for addresses from certain
Speaker 1: email providers once that sell protected accounts, and found a
Speaker 1: center who I think might be in the inner circle.
Speaker 1: This is their inbox. Wait wait, so so you did
Speaker 1: all of that just now? Yep? Wow? So does that
Speaker 1: mean that you know who's in the inner circle? Now? No?
Speaker 1: But I think I know how you can find out how.
Speaker 1: This email is talking about a meeting of the gathering,
Speaker 1: one that is preparing for the ultimate sacrifice. And you
Speaker 1: think that means human sacrifice. Kind of sounds like it,
Speaker 1: don't you think? But you know how? People aren't Reddit though, right,
Speaker 1: They talk a lot of crap. This isn't Reddit. This
Speaker 1: is several anonymous people communicating about meeting. There are specifics,
Speaker 1: what specifics The meeting is happening in Hackamox Swamp tonight.
Speaker 1: It really is a small world, isn't it. That is
Speaker 1: the night time you've said that in the past hour.
Speaker 1: It's just strange. That's all strange that I have a family. Well, okay,
Speaker 1: I don't spend as much time with them as i'd
Speaker 1: like my daughter and I won't. It's complicated. You and
Speaker 1: Olivia seem close though. M Yeah, we've come to an agreement.
Speaker 1: She's a real good kid, as smart as a whip,
Speaker 1: but motivated. I think it's because she's bored. I tried
Speaker 1: to give her projects and hacking into our reddit posters,
Speaker 1: private email as a productive project. Does this far? Didn't
Speaker 1: it this far? And what we're grasping at straws, we're
Speaker 1: chasing down what's probably a group of benign weirdos. If
Speaker 1: you think they're so benign, then while the nervous chatter nor,
Speaker 1: I'm not doing that. I don't do that right. Okay.
Speaker 1: Your dad was the same way. When he wasn't sure
Speaker 1: what to expect, he just talk and talk and talk
Speaker 1: and talk, like controlling what he said meant that he'd
Speaker 1: be able to control everything else too. I don't try
Speaker 1: to control everything. No, you just dedicate your entire profession
Speaker 1: to explaining the unexplainable because you hate being right. Just
Speaker 1: because I like being right doesn't mean I have control issues.
Speaker 1: I can't help that I'm right. Surely a professor of
Speaker 1: folklore understands that the truth is a matter of perspective.
Speaker 1: What what does that? Even? My dear? It sounds like chanting?
Speaker 1: Come on, you think that's a gathering? I don't know something?
Speaker 1: Oh man? And are you're right? Ship? Are you hurt? What? What? What?
Speaker 1: What was that? No? Idea? The wind out of me?
Speaker 1: Was that a deal? As it's one of their six
Speaker 1: ft tall deer? It was a person? What's that? They stopped? Quiet?
Speaker 1: There's somebody here know what? Come on, come on, we
Speaker 1: need to do now, we need to follow them? What? Yeah, honey,
Speaker 1: this way? How can you? I can't see a tempting
Speaker 1: and ship. Bridgewater was created by Aaron Manky and written
Speaker 1: and directed by Lauren Shipping, with executive producers Aaron Manky,
Speaker 1: Misha Collins, Matt Frederick and Alex Williams, supervising producer Trevor Young,
Speaker 1: editing and sound designed by Trevor Young and Matt Stillo,
Speaker 1: and music by Chad Lawson. Starring Misha Collins as Jeremy Bradshaw,
Speaker 1: Melissa Ponzio as Anne Becker, Karen Sony as Vipen Corona,
Speaker 1: Lori Allen as Nancy Collins, Cheryl Umania as Officer Bautista,
Speaker 1: Victoria Grace as Katie Frank's Will Wheaton as Captain Haddock,
Speaker 1: Hillary Burton Morgan as Shelley Hoskins, Jonathan Joss as Joseph Hoskins,
Speaker 1: Sabra May as Olivia Hoskins, Samuel Marty as Ethan Hoskins,
Speaker 1: Kristin Bauer as Celeste, and Nathan Fillion as Thomas Bradshaw,
Speaker 1: with additional voice acting by brigand Snow, Andrew Nowak, Julia Maurizawa,
Speaker 1: Jarvis Johnson and Brielle Bresnan, Kristen dim Curio, James Oliva,
Speaker 1: and Leron Amil. Learn more about the show over at
Speaker 1: Grimm and Mild dot com slash Bridgewater. To find more
Speaker 1: podcasts from I heart Radio on the I Heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,
Speaker 1: and as always, thanks for listening