Beyond The Bridgewater Triangle With Kristen Evans

On August of 1676, King Philip's luck had run out. Though he escaped capture by the skin of his teeth twice before in Hockomock Swamp, in Miery Swamp in Mount Hope, he had nowhere to hide. Philip was shot in the chest by John Alderman, "a praying Indian whose brother King Philip had ordered executed after a being deemed a traitor." Alderman was accompanied by Captain Benjamin Church himself, the most famous Indian hunter of the day. (It is interesting to note that in the scene depicted in the picture below of the death of King Philip, it is Church and not Alderman who is holding the gun.)  "The Death of King Philip," Harper's Magazine, 1883   Church ordered Philip's body to pulled up to higher ground to begin the act of his mutilation. His body was beheaded and dismembered. Quartered, Church picked four nearby trees and ordered four pieces of Philip's body to be tied to them for the birds to pluck. His hand was given to Alderman as a troph...

On June 24, 2010--the exact date that marks the outbreak of King Philip's War--a carpenter got the surprise of his life when he approached the front door of a client's house to find a six foot Black Racer snake...three feet in the air and positioned to strike. Black Racer snakes aren't exactly out of place in Massachusetts, but seeing one would certainly be a rare occurrence. Black Racers live in forests, wetlands and fields. They are shy reptiles that typically slither slowly away from contact with humans, unless provoked or cornered. According to The Brockton Enterprise, "Mark Fitton turned to go back into the house on Lady Slipper Road and take out the last load of material after finishing a kitchen remodeling job. He put one foot up on the stairs leading from the garage to the entryway, let out a yell and jumped back. On the steps was a 6-foot snake, a black racer, standing 3 feet in the air, shaking its tail and darting upward toward Fitton’s head. Fitton i...