1
00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,800
Speaker 1: Hello, It's Richard mcclinsmith here with Unexplained. On a short

2
00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:06,280
Speaker 1: break for the holiday season, we'll be dipping back into

3
00:00:06,320 --> 00:00:09,520
Speaker 1: the archive for one more week. In this week's episode,

4
00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:13,560
Speaker 1: we returned to Bennington, Vermont, where between nineteen forty five

5
00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:17,640
Speaker 1: and nineteen fifty four people vanished without trace in an

6
00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:21,880
Speaker 1: area dubbed the Bennington Triangle, so called because of the

7
00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:25,759
Speaker 1: many strange and weird occurrences said to have taken place there.

8
00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:30,200
Speaker 1: In nineteen forty six, eighteen year old Paula gene Weldon

9
00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:33,839
Speaker 1: became the second of those four people to disappear, in

10
00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:37,960
Speaker 1: a case one investigator described as the most baffling he'd

11
00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:42,960
Speaker 1: ever come across. This is Unexplained, Season six, episode eleven,

12
00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:59,760
Speaker 1: slide away in southwest Vermont in the United States. It

13
00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:04,320
Speaker 1: was sometime around three pm on December one, nineteen forty six,

14
00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:06,920
Speaker 1: when a truck pulled up to the bottom of the

15
00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:10,039
Speaker 1: long Trail road a few miles east from the town

16
00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:13,720
Speaker 1: of Bennington, at the edge of the Green Mountains National Forest.

17
00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:17,520
Speaker 1: A light snow had just begun to fall. As a

18
00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:21,720
Speaker 1: young woman with dark blonde hair wearing a red Parker jacket,

19
00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:26,560
Speaker 1: blue jeans, and white trainers jumped out. She thanked the

20
00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:30,360
Speaker 1: driver for the lift, then shut the door and continued

21
00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:33,120
Speaker 1: on foot down the mile and a half stretch of road,

22
00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:38,480
Speaker 1: leading her deeper and deeper into the forest. On and

23
00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:42,640
Speaker 1: on she walked, as the snow continued to fall, her

24
00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:46,360
Speaker 1: hands thrust into the pockets of that red Parker jacket.

25
00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:50,560
Speaker 1: From off in the distance, the sound of a car

26
00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:55,840
Speaker 1: approaching draws nearer and nearer the young woman walking in

27
00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:59,800
Speaker 1: the red Parker, now just an imperceptible echo from another

28
00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:03,520
Speaker 1: top time vanishes as the topless swish of the car

29
00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:08,160
Speaker 1: rushes past. At the wheel is twenty seven year old

30
00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:13,080
Speaker 1: Robert Singly, a music composition teacher from Bennington College. It

31
00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:18,360
Speaker 1: is now late September twenty oh eight. Singly parks up

32
00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:20,600
Speaker 1: at the end of the road and jumps out of

33
00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:24,639
Speaker 1: the vehicle. He grabs a rucksack from the back packed

34
00:02:24,639 --> 00:02:28,400
Speaker 1: with a small lunch for his walk. Then, after taking

35
00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:31,800
Speaker 1: a deep breath of the wet, pine scented air, he

36
00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:34,760
Speaker 1: places a wooly hat on his head and sets off

37
00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:39,120
Speaker 1: into the trees. A few hours later, after eating lunch

38
00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:42,440
Speaker 1: on the slope of Bald Mountain, roughly two miles from

39
00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:46,320
Speaker 1: his car. Singly continues on the same path for another

40
00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:49,359
Speaker 1: mile or so before deciding to head back the way

41
00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:53,520
Speaker 1: he came. But as he walks, it appears to Singly

42
00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:58,760
Speaker 1: that something strange has happened. Where before the path was clear,

43
00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:04,560
Speaker 1: a fallen now lies strewn across it. Singly turns to

44
00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:08,240
Speaker 1: examine the path behind him, then looks back to the tree,

45
00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:12,240
Speaker 1: running his eyes over its soaking, wet, moss covered bark

46
00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:17,480
Speaker 1: with a sinking realization the path he is on is

47
00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:22,000
Speaker 1: not the same path he was on before. Trying not

48
00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:25,919
Speaker 1: to panic, Robert figures he'll find his way eventually if

49
00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:29,680
Speaker 1: he just keeps heading roughly in the right direction. But

50
00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:33,040
Speaker 1: after another mile or two of walking, there is still

51
00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:36,320
Speaker 1: no sign of the long trail road or anything else

52
00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:40,640
Speaker 1: that he recognizes. It was as though the entire forest

53
00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:52,520
Speaker 1: had shifted secretly around him. With no mobile phone, map

54
00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:56,840
Speaker 1: or GPS, Robert Singly had no choice but to simply

55
00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:00,840
Speaker 1: press on and hope for the best. Before long, however,

56
00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:05,360
Speaker 1: dusk descended, bringing with it a thick fog that appeared

57
00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:10,720
Speaker 1: from out of nowhere, obscuring the path ahead. Just then,

58
00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:14,360
Speaker 1: Robert looked up to see a large maple tree a

59
00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:18,000
Speaker 1: little off the trail that seemed to be beckoning him,

60
00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:22,200
Speaker 1: taking shelter under its branches. He eventually succeeded in lighting

61
00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:25,320
Speaker 1: a fire to keep warm, then slumped back against the

62
00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:30,480
Speaker 1: trunk of the tree and waited for dawn. At first light,

63
00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:33,680
Speaker 1: Singly set off again in what he assumed to be

64
00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:37,120
Speaker 1: the direction of his car, but after another few hours,

65
00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:39,800
Speaker 1: believing he was only a quarter of a mile away,

66
00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:43,159
Speaker 1: he came across a sign for the Goddard Shelter on

67
00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:48,039
Speaker 1: Glastonbury Mountain, a place roughly seven miles from where he

68
00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:54,800
Speaker 1: thought he was, in a completely different stretch of forest. Fortunately,

69
00:04:55,279 --> 00:04:58,839
Speaker 1: Robert was eventually discovered by a Vermont State Police search

70
00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:02,760
Speaker 1: team around a seven thirty that morning, a little tired

71
00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:07,200
Speaker 1: and cold, but otherwise safe and well. Quite what had

72
00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:10,880
Speaker 1: happened to him, he couldn't be sure, as he put

73
00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:14,560
Speaker 1: it to the local Bennington Banner newspaper, either he took

74
00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:18,640
Speaker 1: a wrong turn, something he was adamant he hadn't done,

75
00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:23,800
Speaker 1: or something really weird happened out there. For some that

76
00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:29,320
Speaker 1: Singly got lost on Glastonbury Mountain was no coincidence. Much

77
00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:33,960
Speaker 1: of Vermont's Green Mountain's forest is steeped in mythology and mysticism,

78
00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:39,120
Speaker 1: in particular Glastonbury Mountain, where, according to folk legend, there

79
00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:43,080
Speaker 1: is even a vast ancient boulder that swallows people whole,

80
00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:46,599
Speaker 1: taking them from the earth without so much as a

81
00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:52,159
Speaker 1: stifled cry. Like much of New England, the area reads

82
00:05:52,279 --> 00:05:58,520
Speaker 1: like a strange psychogeographic experiment, where place names like Manchester, Sunderland,

83
00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:02,320
Speaker 1: Somerset and Dover can be found only a stone's throw

84
00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:06,200
Speaker 1: from each other, all dragged from another world by English

85
00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:12,240
Speaker 1: settlers and pinned haphazardly onto a strange and unfamiliar landscape,

86
00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:16,400
Speaker 1: a place that in reality was never for taming, as

87
00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:20,000
Speaker 1: it continues to this day to wriggle and squirm underneath,

88
00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:25,080
Speaker 1: alive with unknowable mystery. And it isn't just the land

89
00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:29,080
Speaker 1: that visitors and locals alike are told to be cautious of.

90
00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:34,359
Speaker 1: In nineteen twenty five, it's claim that famed horror writer

91
00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:39,440
Speaker 1: Howard Philip's Lovecraft once traveled to Richmond, Vermont, a little

92
00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:43,200
Speaker 1: further north, on the hunt for a strange winged creature

93
00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:48,479
Speaker 1: that had been dubbed the Awful by local observers, described

94
00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:51,719
Speaker 1: as having the tail of a serpent, gray wings, and

95
00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:57,040
Speaker 1: huge claws, having presumably traveled right over the Green Mountains,

96
00:06:57,080 --> 00:07:00,800
Speaker 1: it is alleged to have been seen again in Berkshire, Massachusetts,

97
00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:04,800
Speaker 1: just to the south, where it reportedly swooped down and

98
00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:09,000
Speaker 1: grabbed something from the ground. Some claim it was a

99
00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:13,600
Speaker 1: dog or a lamb, others that it was in fact

100
00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:28,920
Speaker 1: a small child. Of course, many vast wilderness regions have

101
00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:33,520
Speaker 1: generated similar myths and legends, no less terrifying, But where

102
00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:36,800
Speaker 1: the Green Mountain's forest seems to differ is in its

103
00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:42,760
Speaker 1: propensity for the genuinely inexplicable. In nineteen ninety two, local

104
00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:48,160
Speaker 1: resident and folklorist Joseph Citro coined the term Bennington Triangle,

105
00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:51,440
Speaker 1: which covers a region of the Green Mountains between the

106
00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:55,160
Speaker 1: towns of Bennington, Woodford, and Somerset, in an effort to

107
00:07:55,240 --> 00:08:00,760
Speaker 1: encapsulate the area's many strange stories, In particular, a spate

108
00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:05,120
Speaker 1: of unexplained vanishings that occurred there between nineteen forty five

109
00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:10,160
Speaker 1: and nineteen fifty all occurred close to the Long Trail,

110
00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:13,720
Speaker 1: a two hundred and seventy mile stretch of hiking path

111
00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:17,440
Speaker 1: that leads straight through the Green Mountains all the way

112
00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:22,400
Speaker 1: to the Canadian border. The first to disappear was seventy

113
00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:26,040
Speaker 1: four year old Middy Rivers in nineteen forty five, who

114
00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:29,920
Speaker 1: vanished while out on a hunting trip with friends. Midy,

115
00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:33,920
Speaker 1: an experienced hunter who knew the forest well, was last

116
00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:37,200
Speaker 1: seen close to the Long Trail Road, a short section

117
00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:39,440
Speaker 1: of road at the southern end of the Long Trail.

118
00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:45,520
Speaker 1: In nineteen forty nine, sixty eight year old James Tetford

119
00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:48,320
Speaker 1: got on a bus in the town of Franklin, about

120
00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:51,720
Speaker 1: one hundred sixty miles north of Bennington, en route for

121
00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:56,160
Speaker 1: the Bennington Soldier's home where he lived. Teedford was reportedly

122
00:08:56,280 --> 00:08:59,560
Speaker 1: seen on the bus after the last stop before Bennington,

123
00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:03,400
Speaker 1: but when the bus arrived at his final destination, the

124
00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:08,000
Speaker 1: man had inexplicably vanished, leaving behind his bag and an

125
00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:13,520
Speaker 1: open bus timetable on his vacant seat. Then, in nineteen

126
00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:17,600
Speaker 1: fifty eight, year old Paul Jepson was accompanying his mother

127
00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:20,640
Speaker 1: to a local dump not far from the Long Trail

128
00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:24,439
Speaker 1: that she and her husband managed, when he too disappeared.

129
00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:28,360
Speaker 1: Paul had been left in the family truck while his

130
00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:31,959
Speaker 1: mother left to complete some chores, but when she returned

131
00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:37,040
Speaker 1: he was gone. Some believe he simply walked into the

132
00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:41,360
Speaker 1: forest out of curiosity, then somehow lost his way back.

133
00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:45,920
Speaker 1: Others that something came out of the forest and took him,

134
00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:50,959
Speaker 1: and some say his parents may in fact have been responsible.

135
00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:58,280
Speaker 1: And then there is Paula Jean Weldon. Weldon, a student

136
00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:02,400
Speaker 1: at Bennington College, where missing in nineteen forty six after

137
00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:05,320
Speaker 1: reportedly setting off for a walk on the Long Trail.

138
00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:09,520
Speaker 1: As one of the detectives tasked with locating her put

139
00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:13,360
Speaker 1: it it was the most baffling case he'd ever been

140
00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:19,920
Speaker 1: connected with. You're listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard McLean Smith.

141
00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:31,120
Speaker 1: When seventeen year old Paula Gene Weldon arrived for her

142
00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:35,040
Speaker 1: first term at Bennington College in nineteen forty five, she

143
00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:38,360
Speaker 1: wasn't quite sure what to make of her new roommate, Elizabeth.

144
00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:42,960
Speaker 1: Both had very different backgrounds, with Paula growing up in

145
00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:47,360
Speaker 1: the city, the daughter of an industrial designer in Stamford, Connecticut,

146
00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:52,480
Speaker 1: and Elizabeth hailing from nearby rural Putney, having grown up

147
00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:56,439
Speaker 1: on a horse ranch. The pair soon hit it off, however,

148
00:10:56,840 --> 00:10:59,880
Speaker 1: quickly bonding over their mutual love of the great out

149
00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:04,199
Speaker 1: and reveled in their new found freedom out on campus,

150
00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:07,960
Speaker 1: away from their families. They even took a job together

151
00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:12,040
Speaker 1: in the college canteen, working two hour long shifts each

152
00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:16,920
Speaker 1: day to help cover their boarding fees. Paula arrived at

153
00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:20,880
Speaker 1: what was then a female only establishment located a few

154
00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:24,239
Speaker 1: miles north of the city of Bennington, with her ambitions

155
00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:29,000
Speaker 1: firmly set on becoming an artist. During her freshman year, however,

156
00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:34,200
Speaker 1: exposed to subjects and ideas she'd never encountered before, somewhere

157
00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:39,120
Speaker 1: along the line, those ambitions seemed to change. She developed

158
00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:42,960
Speaker 1: a passion for botany, which dovetailed perfectly with her growing

159
00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:47,319
Speaker 1: love for long afternoons spent trekking through the surrounding countryside,

160
00:11:48,320 --> 00:11:52,439
Speaker 1: and ever present by her side was Elizabeth, always ready

161
00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:54,839
Speaker 1: to set off with her friend on one of their

162
00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:58,800
Speaker 1: many adventures into the Green Mountains, like the time they

163
00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:02,960
Speaker 1: hiked up toward Moultae Equinox near Manchester, when the pair

164
00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:07,400
Speaker 1: were joined by two young men from nearby Williams College.

165
00:12:07,559 --> 00:12:12,200
Speaker 1: That afternoon, they hiked until dusk, then, after grabbing dinner together,

166
00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:15,400
Speaker 1: the four went out to a square dance, but got

167
00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:18,760
Speaker 1: stuck in a rainstorm on their way back. In the end,

168
00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:22,440
Speaker 1: thanks to a sympathetic farmer, they were forced to take

169
00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:26,800
Speaker 1: shelter in a hay barn for the night. Such adventures

170
00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:30,200
Speaker 1: became a habit for Paula and Elizabeth, who cultivated a

171
00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:33,800
Speaker 1: lively social life that, for Paula at least, seemed a

172
00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:37,520
Speaker 1: far cry from her more stilted upbringing and only served

173
00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:43,640
Speaker 1: to strengthen her burgeoning independent spirit. Encapsulating this was Paula

174
00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:47,920
Speaker 1: and Elizabeth's love for hitch hiking. Paula had been nervous

175
00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:50,760
Speaker 1: to try it at first, but soon realized what a

176
00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:54,080
Speaker 1: joy it could be, never quite knowing what fun or

177
00:12:54,200 --> 00:13:06,000
Speaker 1: interesting character might pick you up next. In the holidays,

178
00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:10,239
Speaker 1: Paula and Elizabeth would visit each other's families, where Elizabeth

179
00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:12,880
Speaker 1: first got the sense that all was not well with

180
00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:17,319
Speaker 1: her roommate. As the oldest of four daughters, there's been

181
00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:21,440
Speaker 1: speculation that Paula didn't feel quite as loved as her sisters.

182
00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:25,959
Speaker 1: Though she'd been close to both parents before college, something

183
00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:29,480
Speaker 1: in the course of her first year had changed. She

184
00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:33,680
Speaker 1: described her home to Elizabeth as the ice box. It

185
00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:37,920
Speaker 1: was a term Elizabeth never quite understood, since Paula's parents

186
00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:41,760
Speaker 1: seemed so attentive, always asking her how she was getting on,

187
00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:45,800
Speaker 1: while Paula seemed never to want to discuss anything with them.

188
00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:50,160
Speaker 1: It seemed to Elizabeth that perhaps Paula felt a little

189
00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:53,600
Speaker 1: guilty about her new interests but didn't quite have the

190
00:13:53,679 --> 00:13:57,520
Speaker 1: means to articulate it, or simply didn't want to discuss it,

191
00:13:57,720 --> 00:14:01,880
Speaker 1: fearing the inevitable argument it would cause. Or perhaps it

192
00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:05,199
Speaker 1: was the realization she'd come to in that first year

193
00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:07,959
Speaker 1: of college that she might never live up to her

194
00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:14,559
Speaker 1: father's expectations that caused such a frosty relationship. But Thanksgiving

195
00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:18,880
Speaker 1: in nineteen forty six, while Elizabeth went home and then

196
00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:22,280
Speaker 1: eighteen year old Paula decided to stay in their room

197
00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:27,200
Speaker 1: at college. When Elizabeth returned the next day, something seemed

198
00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:31,600
Speaker 1: to have shifted again in Paula. Later that night, while

199
00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:35,600
Speaker 1: Elizabeth studied, Paula seemed happy and upbeat as she hung

200
00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:39,360
Speaker 1: out with other students from their halls Dewey House, staying

201
00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:42,160
Speaker 1: up late into the night and taking part in an

202
00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:48,360
Speaker 1: impromptu wrestling tournament. By the following day, Sunday, December one, however,

203
00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:52,800
Speaker 1: Elizabeth thought she seemed a little distracted as she strummed

204
00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:56,400
Speaker 1: listlessly on her guitar, gazing out at the window at

205
00:14:56,440 --> 00:15:01,400
Speaker 1: the gray skies above Elizabeth suggest test that Paula take

206
00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:04,320
Speaker 1: a walk to clear her head, since that had always

207
00:15:04,360 --> 00:15:09,400
Speaker 1: helped them both in the past. Later that afternoon, it

208
00:15:09,440 --> 00:15:12,640
Speaker 1: appeared that Paula took her friend's advice when she was

209
00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:16,400
Speaker 1: seen walking down the long Collige drive toward the main road,

210
00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:21,600
Speaker 1: dressed in a red Parker jacket, blue jeans, and white trainers.

211
00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:25,360
Speaker 1: But when Elizabeth returned to their room later in the

212
00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:29,280
Speaker 1: evening after some studying, Paula was nowhere to be seen.

213
00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:34,480
Speaker 1: Assuming her roommate was out studying herself, she thought little

214
00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:37,400
Speaker 1: of it when she got into bed and switched out

215
00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:41,320
Speaker 1: the light to sleep. A few miles from the college,

216
00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:44,520
Speaker 1: it had just gone midnight with a heavy snow now

217
00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:48,960
Speaker 1: falling when a couple traveling along Route nine stopped to

218
00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:51,600
Speaker 1: put snow chains on close to the turn off for

219
00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:55,880
Speaker 1: the long trail road. Stepping out into the silent night

220
00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:59,840
Speaker 1: with their flashlight, the couple was surprised to find fresh

221
00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:03,080
Speaker 1: footprints in the snow that appeared to be about a

222
00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:08,200
Speaker 1: size five, similar to Paula's. Fearing that someone could be

223
00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:12,160
Speaker 1: in trouble since there seemed to be no buildings anywhere nearby,

224
00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:15,920
Speaker 1: the couple followed the Prince for about four hundred yards

225
00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:20,320
Speaker 1: along the road until they stopped abruptly alongside a set

226
00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:31,600
Speaker 1: of car tracks that disappeared into the dark. When Elizabeth

227
00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:36,840
Speaker 1: awoke the next morning, Paula's bed was empty. Elizabeth ran

228
00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:39,920
Speaker 1: to the canteen to work her breakfast shift and was

229
00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:43,440
Speaker 1: troubled to find that Paula wasn't there, and neither had

230
00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:47,000
Speaker 1: she requested to take the morning off. At the end

231
00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:50,600
Speaker 1: of the shift, Elizabeth headed straight to the college director

232
00:16:50,640 --> 00:16:53,840
Speaker 1: of admissions and informed them that she had no idea

233
00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:59,800
Speaker 1: where Paula was. Later that afternoon, Paula's parents, Jean and William,

234
00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:03,000
Speaker 1: received a call from the college president at their home

235
00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:06,680
Speaker 1: in Stamford, asking if Paula had gone back to visit them,

236
00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:12,080
Speaker 1: but they too hadn't heard from her. The next day, Tuesday,

237
00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:16,119
Speaker 1: December third, the story broke in the Bennington Banner that

238
00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:21,159
Speaker 1: eighteen year old Bennington College student Paula gene Weldon was missing.

239
00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:26,080
Speaker 1: Ernie Whitman, who worked night watch at the offices of

240
00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:29,000
Speaker 1: the Bennington Banner, was sweeping the floor in the press

241
00:17:29,119 --> 00:17:32,639
Speaker 1: room on Wednesday afternoon when he saw the front page

242
00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:36,080
Speaker 1: of Tuesday's paper with a picture of the missing Paula.

243
00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:41,200
Speaker 1: Grabbing a copy, he ran straight to reporter Pete Stephenson

244
00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:44,920
Speaker 1: to tell him he'd seen the exact same woman only

245
00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:49,359
Speaker 1: a few days before. Back around four p m. On

246
00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:53,640
Speaker 1: the afternoon of Sunday, December first, Whitman and three friends

247
00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:56,560
Speaker 1: were walking back from a camp on Bickford Hollow Road,

248
00:17:56,880 --> 00:17:59,719
Speaker 1: which branches off from the Long Trail Road, when they

249
00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:04,199
Speaker 1: were approached by a young woman matching Paula's description. The

250
00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:06,720
Speaker 1: woman wanted to know if the road went all the

251
00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:11,280
Speaker 1: way over the mountains. Confirming it did, The group then

252
00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:15,040
Speaker 1: watched bemused as she continued heading deeper into the forest,

253
00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:21,280
Speaker 1: despite the daylight already beginning to fade. Later that Wednesday afternoon,

254
00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:26,080
Speaker 1: armed with the new information, Paula's father, William arrived in

255
00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:30,320
Speaker 1: Bennington and immediately set about trying to retrace his daughter's

256
00:18:30,359 --> 00:18:35,359
Speaker 1: footsteps alongside Pete Stephenson and The Banner's editor Frank Howe,

257
00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:40,440
Speaker 1: but the men found no sign of her. The following day,

258
00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:45,119
Speaker 1: local builder Lewis Knapp contacted police to inform them that

259
00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:48,320
Speaker 1: he'd been heading home on Route sixty seven a, the

260
00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:51,679
Speaker 1: main road out of Bennington College, around three pm on

261
00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:54,280
Speaker 1: the Sunday when he saw a young woman in a

262
00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:58,200
Speaker 1: red jacket trying to hitch a lift. The woman, who

263
00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:01,320
Speaker 1: said her name was Paula, to be dropped off as

264
00:19:01,359 --> 00:19:05,320
Speaker 1: close to the Long Trail as possible. Knapp claimed to

265
00:19:05,359 --> 00:19:07,840
Speaker 1: have driven her all the way to Woodford Road, where

266
00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:10,560
Speaker 1: he lived, where she got out of his truck and

267
00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:14,320
Speaker 1: proceeded toward the Green Mountains on foot. As per Ernie

268
00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:19,680
Speaker 1: Whitman's description, NAP's wife confirmed that her husband returned home

269
00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:24,680
Speaker 1: that day about three point fifteen p m. Meanwhile, as

270
00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:29,440
Speaker 1: temperatures steadily dropped day by day, reaching below zero at night,

271
00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:32,760
Speaker 1: a number of search parties were arranged to help find

272
00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:38,199
Speaker 1: the missing student. On Thursday, December fifth, roughly five hundred people,

273
00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:42,679
Speaker 1: led by County Sheriff Clyde Peck, including three hundred students

274
00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:46,919
Speaker 1: and faculty members from Bennington College, scoured the woods alongside

275
00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:50,040
Speaker 1: the Long Trail, as well as large swathes of Bald

276
00:19:50,080 --> 00:20:01,240
Speaker 1: and Glastonbury Mountain, but nothing was found. After news of

277
00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:05,440
Speaker 1: Paula's disappearance broke in the national press, police were alerted

278
00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:09,600
Speaker 1: to numerous apparent sightings from all over Connecticut, New York,

279
00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:14,720
Speaker 1: and Massachusetts, but all came to nothing. Frustrated by the

280
00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:17,879
Speaker 1: police's inability to find even a hint of a clue

281
00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:22,080
Speaker 1: as to his daughter's whereabouts, William Weldon increasingly took it

282
00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:25,680
Speaker 1: on himself to follow up potential leads, but as one

283
00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:30,760
Speaker 1: after another led nowhere, In desperation, he turned to local

284
00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:35,480
Speaker 1: self described psychic Clara Jepson at her home in Pownell,

285
00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:40,080
Speaker 1: not far from Bennington. Jepson took hold of William's hand

286
00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:44,399
Speaker 1: and closed her eyes. She saw a young woman, she said,

287
00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:48,479
Speaker 1: dressed in a red Parker jacket, walking through a covered

288
00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:53,439
Speaker 1: bridge across a fast moving river. But William wasn't to worry.

289
00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:57,240
Speaker 1: The young woman was alive and would be found before long.

290
00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:02,520
Speaker 1: Sheltering in an old shack close to the river, Wheldon

291
00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:06,280
Speaker 1: returned immediately to the Long Trail Road and the Wooloomsac

292
00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:10,760
Speaker 1: River that snaked alongside it, finding the two covered bridges

293
00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:14,600
Speaker 1: that spanned it, he searched desperately again for any sign

294
00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:20,040
Speaker 1: of Paula, but found nothing. About the same time, Vermont

295
00:21:20,119 --> 00:21:25,760
Speaker 1: state detective Almo Franzoni joined the search, heading straight out

296
00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:29,119
Speaker 1: to the Long Trail Road where Paula was last seen alive.

297
00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:33,639
Speaker 1: Franzoni noticed a gully close to the Route nine Highway,

298
00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:37,080
Speaker 1: about one hundred and twenty five feet from where Lewis

299
00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:41,199
Speaker 1: Knapp claimed to have dropped Paula off. Searching the area

300
00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:45,040
Speaker 1: a few moments later, Franzoni caught sight of some soggy

301
00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:49,880
Speaker 1: material that appeared to have been discarded under a nearby bush.

302
00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:52,680
Speaker 1: Moving in for a closer look, he took a pen

303
00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:56,000
Speaker 1: from his pocket and hooked the material out, then spread

304
00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:58,840
Speaker 1: it out on the ground to reveal a small pair

305
00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:04,080
Speaker 1: of pink underpants covered in blood. The item of clothing

306
00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:09,119
Speaker 1: was later shown to Bennington College Director of Admissions Mary Garrett,

307
00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:13,840
Speaker 1: who declared confidently that they couldn't possibly have belonged to Paula,

308
00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:24,920
Speaker 1: and so the lead was quickly discarded with little progress

309
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:28,840
Speaker 1: being made. Thirty five year old detective Robert Brundle and

310
00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:32,720
Speaker 1: police officer Dorothy Scoville were drafted in to assist in

311
00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:36,480
Speaker 1: the case. The pair led a renewed effort to interview

312
00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:40,080
Speaker 1: everyone and anyone who'd known Paula or had for any

313
00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:44,320
Speaker 1: reason come into contact with her recently. It wasn't long

314
00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:48,320
Speaker 1: before their efforts coalesced around the Maxwell family, who were

315
00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:51,600
Speaker 1: determined to be the last people to see Paula alive.

316
00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:55,879
Speaker 1: The Maxwells owned a house about two thirds of the

317
00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:59,200
Speaker 1: way up the Long Trail road, roughly half a mile

318
00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:03,880
Speaker 1: from where it turned into the forest path. Interviewing them

319
00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:08,520
Speaker 1: one afternoon in their home, Rundal and Scoville listened carefully

320
00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:12,119
Speaker 1: to Viola Maxwell and her fifteen year old daughter Mary

321
00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:16,679
Speaker 1: as they described coming out of their cowbarn sometime around

322
00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:20,920
Speaker 1: four pm on Sunday, December one, when they saw a young,

323
00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:25,560
Speaker 1: blondhaired woman wearing a red Parker jacket, blue trousers and

324
00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:30,000
Speaker 1: trainers heading up the road toward them. As mother and

325
00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:34,960
Speaker 1: daughter talked, Alfred Godett, Viola's on and off boyfriend, who

326
00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:38,640
Speaker 1: sometimes stayed with them, sat listening quietly in the corner.

327
00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:42,960
Speaker 1: When the pair finished their account, the officers turned to

328
00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:46,159
Speaker 1: Alfred to ask if he'd also seen the woman in

329
00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:50,240
Speaker 1: the red Parker, to which he replied no, since he'd

330
00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:53,160
Speaker 1: been away in New York State for most of that day.

331
00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,280
Speaker 1: When Rundal and Scoville returned a few days later to

332
00:23:57,359 --> 00:24:02,200
Speaker 1: interview the family again, Alfred changed his story, telling them

333
00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:04,840
Speaker 1: he hadn't been in New York State at all, but

334
00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:07,720
Speaker 1: had in fact gone to Bennington early in the morning

335
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:12,800
Speaker 1: before returning to the house just after midnight. Concerned by

336
00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:16,640
Speaker 1: the sudden change of story, Rundle and Scoville had each

337
00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:20,159
Speaker 1: of the Maxwell children four in total, pulled out of

338
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:24,879
Speaker 1: school and interviewed separately, though ten year old Preston was

339
00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:27,560
Speaker 1: confirmed to have been out all day with his grandparents

340
00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:32,359
Speaker 1: at the time. Mary reiterated that on December first, only she,

341
00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:36,320
Speaker 1: her mum, and her brother Stanley were at home because

342
00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:40,040
Speaker 1: Alfred and her brother Clarence had gone to town early

343
00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:43,919
Speaker 1: in the morning. Though she couldn't be sure exactly what

344
00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:47,679
Speaker 1: time they came home, she was adamant they were both

345
00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:52,280
Speaker 1: back in time for supper in the early evening. Sixteen

346
00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:56,480
Speaker 1: year old Clarence backed up Mary's statement, telling police also

347
00:24:56,920 --> 00:24:59,080
Speaker 1: that he and Alfred had left the house in the

348
00:24:59,119 --> 00:25:03,840
Speaker 1: morning and driven into Bennington, adding curiously, however, that at

349
00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:07,520
Speaker 1: some point while he stayed in town, Alfred left him

350
00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:12,400
Speaker 1: there and drove off somewhere else. Twelve year old Stanley

351
00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:15,320
Speaker 1: Maxwell agreed that he was at home on the day

352
00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:19,600
Speaker 1: in question, but only until about two thirty pm, when

353
00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:22,679
Speaker 1: he left with his uncle to carry out some odd jobs.

354
00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:27,600
Speaker 1: Stanley was certain that Alfred was also at the house

355
00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:42,840
Speaker 1: around this time, After further conflicting statements, Rundel and Scoville

356
00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:46,159
Speaker 1: returned to the Maxwell house for a fourth time, joined

357
00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:50,000
Speaker 1: by Sheriff Peck, who had also received conflicting statements from

358
00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:55,120
Speaker 1: the family. This time, Viola claimed that although Alfred had

359
00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:58,119
Speaker 1: left the house early in the morning with Clarence, he

360
00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:03,159
Speaker 1: then returned for lunch again early in the afternoon. Some

361
00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:06,280
Speaker 1: time later, she and her daughter Mary had left to

362
00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:08,840
Speaker 1: see a movie, but as they made their way down

363
00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:12,119
Speaker 1: the Long Trail road, they bumped into Alfred coming the

364
00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:15,760
Speaker 1: other way in his truck. The pair then traveled back

365
00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:19,159
Speaker 1: to the house with Alfred, who stayed inside while they

366
00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:22,760
Speaker 1: went to the cow barn to complete some chores. It

367
00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:25,960
Speaker 1: was a short time later that she and Mary saw

368
00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:28,639
Speaker 1: the young woman in the red jacket walking up the

369
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:33,119
Speaker 1: road toward them. Alfred, she was certain was in the

370
00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:36,040
Speaker 1: house at the time and had not seen the woman.

371
00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:41,920
Speaker 1: After yet another altered story, the police felt they had

372
00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:44,600
Speaker 1: no choice but to arrest Alfred and bring him in

373
00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:49,680
Speaker 1: for questioning, and once again he too changed its story.

374
00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:55,200
Speaker 1: Alfred did confirm that he'd met Viola and Mary coming

375
00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:57,800
Speaker 1: up the Long Trail in his truck and dropped them

376
00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:01,439
Speaker 1: back off at home. However, her He also added that

377
00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:04,960
Speaker 1: after parking up his truck, he neglected to head straight

378
00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:07,480
Speaker 1: back to the house with them when he saw two

379
00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:11,560
Speaker 1: men sat in a car parked up outside it. Suspecting

380
00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:14,560
Speaker 1: that one of the men was Viola's new boyfriend, he

381
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:18,119
Speaker 1: decided to watch from afar as she and Mary spoke

382
00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:23,880
Speaker 1: to them. Then, despite consistently stating otherwise, he told police

383
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:26,440
Speaker 1: that he had seen the young woman in the red

384
00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:30,439
Speaker 1: parker after all walking past while he sat and watched

385
00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:34,560
Speaker 1: the men in the car. When the men finally drove off,

386
00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:38,920
Speaker 1: Alfred explained that he then chased after Viola and scolded

387
00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:43,120
Speaker 1: her for cheating on him. An argument ensued between them

388
00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:46,879
Speaker 1: for a good few hours until Viola's parents, who also

389
00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:50,840
Speaker 1: lived at the property, returned home, at which point, he said,

390
00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:54,399
Speaker 1: Viola went upstairs to bed, and he left the house

391
00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:57,000
Speaker 1: in a rage and spent the night at a shack

392
00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:02,520
Speaker 1: across the road where he often stayed. After being confronted

393
00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:07,200
Speaker 1: with Alfred's completely new statement, Fiola once again changed her

394
00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:11,119
Speaker 1: story to telling police that she'd been lying all along

395
00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:13,359
Speaker 1: because she was in the middle of applying for a

396
00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:16,240
Speaker 1: divorce and didn't want it known that she and Alfred

397
00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:19,520
Speaker 1: were still seeing each other in case it jeopardized anything.

398
00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:24,760
Speaker 1: The two men whom Alfred claimed had been parked outside

399
00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:28,679
Speaker 1: the house were eventually tracked down and seemingly verified his

400
00:28:28,800 --> 00:28:33,040
Speaker 1: latest version of events, saying also that they too had

401
00:28:33,119 --> 00:28:36,000
Speaker 1: seen the young woman in the red coat walking. By

402
00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:41,000
Speaker 1: that day, with little else to go on, Alfred was

403
00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:52,000
Speaker 1: released from custody about the same time that Alfred Godet

404
00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:55,920
Speaker 1: was being interrogated by police. One hundred and fifty miles

405
00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:58,920
Speaker 1: to the north, in the town of South hero Vermont,

406
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:03,959
Speaker 1: a missus w Champagne tosses and turns in her sleep.

407
00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:08,240
Speaker 1: Through a dark haze of soft and fuzzy light, a

408
00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:13,600
Speaker 1: haunting image takes shape in her unconscious mind. Paula Jeane

409
00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:18,280
Speaker 1: Weldon walking along the long trail road, her red jacket

410
00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:22,040
Speaker 1: wrapped tightly around her, as a black car pulls up

411
00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:26,760
Speaker 1: with a dark, faceless figure sitting at the wheel. Paula

412
00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:29,920
Speaker 1: asks the driver for a ride, to which he agrees,

413
00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:33,800
Speaker 1: but only after he has a cup of tea first.

414
00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:37,560
Speaker 1: The young woman thanks him, then pulls open the back

415
00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:41,520
Speaker 1: door and lets herself in. But now the image is

416
00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:45,600
Speaker 1: twisting and morphing again and Suddenly the driver is on her,

417
00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:49,320
Speaker 1: grabbing hard at her neck, as the young woman's arms

418
00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:52,120
Speaker 1: flail about in a desperate effort to fend him off.

419
00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:56,000
Speaker 1: And now Paula's body is lifeless in the back seat,

420
00:29:56,480 --> 00:30:01,280
Speaker 1: as another image swirls into view, a bungle or a shack,

421
00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:04,720
Speaker 1: the third of three running down from the top end

422
00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:08,000
Speaker 1: of the long trail road. Then a pair of hands

423
00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:12,280
Speaker 1: ripping up a linoleum floor and a body being slid

424
00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:16,480
Speaker 1: into the gap underneath. Then the linoleum is smoothed down

425
00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:20,360
Speaker 1: once more and a large black stove slid back into

426
00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:25,200
Speaker 1: place on top of it. Missus Champagne informed the police

427
00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:28,480
Speaker 1: of her terrifying dream the next day, and though most

428
00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:31,760
Speaker 1: were reluctant to give it any credibility, it was soon

429
00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:35,239
Speaker 1: discovered that the bungalow, lying third in line from the

430
00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:38,600
Speaker 1: top of the long trail road just so happened to

431
00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:45,520
Speaker 1: belong to Alfred Cadet. Detective Almo Franzoni was promptly dispatched

432
00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:49,400
Speaker 1: to search the area, but he failed to find anything incriminating.

433
00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:55,320
Speaker 1: A little more than two weeks after Paula's disappearance, a

434
00:30:55,400 --> 00:30:59,560
Speaker 1: broken William Weldon collected his daughter's belongings from her dorm

435
00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:03,920
Speaker 1: room and put them in the back of his Buick coupe. Then,

436
00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:07,480
Speaker 1: without so much as a glance back, he drove away

437
00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:11,840
Speaker 1: from the campus, vowing only to return if anything significant

438
00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:23,200
Speaker 1: came up. But nothing did. On May twenty fourth, nineteen

439
00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:27,560
Speaker 1: forty seven, with the winter snow having finally thawed, another

440
00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:31,040
Speaker 1: search party of more than a hundred volunteers combed the

441
00:31:31,080 --> 00:31:34,320
Speaker 1: long trail for two days, looking for any clues as

442
00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:39,520
Speaker 1: to Paula's whereabouts, but once again, the forest relinquished nothing.

443
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:44,640
Speaker 1: In the following years, a number of strange reports linked

444
00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:48,240
Speaker 1: to the case filtered through to the police, including the

445
00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:52,120
Speaker 1: story of an armed robber arrested in Cambridge, Massachusetts in

446
00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:55,400
Speaker 1: nineteen forty eight, who was found with an article about

447
00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:58,840
Speaker 1: Paula in his pocket and a sketch resembling her in

448
00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:03,200
Speaker 1: his boarding room. He also admitted to once having visited

449
00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:06,400
Speaker 1: the Glastonbury area, who claimed to know nothing of the

450
00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:12,080
Speaker 1: woman's disappearance. In nineteen fifty two, the dying ex girlfriend

451
00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:15,240
Speaker 1: of a thirty five year old lumberjack claimed that he'd

452
00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:18,160
Speaker 1: once told her that he had good reason to believe

453
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:21,360
Speaker 1: that Paula was buried under a porch in a cellar

454
00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:26,880
Speaker 1: somewhere close to the Long Trail. That same year, Alfred

455
00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:31,160
Speaker 1: Godett told friends that he also knew where Paula was buried.

456
00:32:32,360 --> 00:32:35,880
Speaker 1: Godet was promptly called in again for questioning, but told

457
00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:39,480
Speaker 1: police he'd simply been joking, fully aware of the suspicion

458
00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:42,880
Speaker 1: that had fallen on him at the time. When asked

459
00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:45,520
Speaker 1: to give another account of his movements on the day

460
00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:51,200
Speaker 1: of Paula's disappearance, however, his statement changed again. This time,

461
00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:54,600
Speaker 1: instead of claiming he'd stormed out of the Maxwell property

462
00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:58,200
Speaker 1: and headed straight to his place across the road, he'd

463
00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:01,280
Speaker 1: actually got into his truck and driven it up the

464
00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:05,000
Speaker 1: Long Trail road in the direction that Paula had last

465
00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:10,480
Speaker 1: been seen walking. At the time of Alfred's last questioning,

466
00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:14,440
Speaker 1: the then state's attorney, John Hart was away on National

467
00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:18,760
Speaker 1: Guard training, leaving Reuben Leven as a temporary state attorney

468
00:33:18,840 --> 00:33:23,520
Speaker 1: in his absence. Believing they finally had grounds to properly

469
00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:27,560
Speaker 1: search two bungalows that belonged to Alfred Cadet, one on

470
00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:31,640
Speaker 1: the Long Trail and one in Bickford Hollow, Reuben Leven

471
00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:34,960
Speaker 1: made it one of his last duties before Hart returned

472
00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:38,160
Speaker 1: to sign off on a search warrant to examine the

473
00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:41,880
Speaker 1: cellars of the bungalows, But when Hart came back the

474
00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:46,200
Speaker 1: next day, he immediately canceled the warrant, arguing that there

475
00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:51,080
Speaker 1: simply wasn't enough evidence to justify it. As such, to

476
00:33:51,160 --> 00:33:56,320
Speaker 1: this day, the fate of Paula Jane Weldon remains a mystery.

477
00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:02,280
Speaker 1: But somewhere it is always to see nineteen forty six

478
00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:05,120
Speaker 1: on that mile and a half stretch of the long

479
00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:09,160
Speaker 1: trail road that branches off from Route nine, and there

480
00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:12,560
Speaker 1: is always a light snow beginning to fall as a

481
00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:16,400
Speaker 1: young woman dressed in a red Parker jacket makes her

482
00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:22,440
Speaker 1: way quietly, steadily towards the forest. And as she goes,

483
00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:26,840
Speaker 1: never once looking back, she takes the whole world with

484
00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:31,960
Speaker 1: her as she continues deeper and deeper into the trees.

485
00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:43,520
Speaker 1: Thank you as ever for listening. Unexplained As an Avy

486
00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:47,839
Speaker 1: Club production, the podcast created by Richard mclin Smith. All

487
00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:51,200
Speaker 1: other elements of the podcast, including the music, are also

488
00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:55,400
Speaker 1: produced by me Richard McLain Smith, unexplained. The book and

489
00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:59,720
Speaker 1: audiobook is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase

490
00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:04,640
Speaker 1: from Amazon, Barnes, and Noble Waterstones and other bookstores. Please

491
00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:07,920
Speaker 1: subscribe to and rate the show wherever you get your podcasts,

492
00:35:08,239 --> 00:35:10,560
Speaker 1: and feel free to get in touch with any thoughts

493
00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:13,440
Speaker 1: or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show.

494
00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:16,440
Speaker 1: Perhaps you have an explanation or a story of your

495
00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:19,040
Speaker 1: own you'd like to share. You can find out more

496
00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:22,960
Speaker 1: at Unexplained podcast dot com and reaches online through X

497
00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:27,360
Speaker 1: and Blue Sky at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook

498
00:35:27,440 --> 00:36:02,000
Speaker 1: dot com, Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast, Atta