Freetown State Forest

So, for the last few months I’ve been listening to a podcast from Grim and Mild called Bridgewater. Its a fictional tale about a man searching for answers to a mystery that takes place within the Bridgewater triangle. Places like Freetown state forest, hockomock swamp, and Dighton rock are brought up in this colorful narrative about the supernatural phenomena. So, when a friend who hikes the forest regularly asked if I wanted to hike with him soon, I made plans to meet up with him the next Monday after work.

Continuous blog

Freetown/fall river State forest has roughly five thousand acres covering parts of Fall River, Freetown and Lakeville in Massachusetts. For me to have hiked only three miles in and back and give you a sense of the forests entirety would be extremely misleading. So for now I’ll start with my current experience and I’ll promise to update this particular post every time I go back.

Tour guide 101

Rob texted me the night before to tell me he had a great route marked out, he was planning to take me to see a pet cemetery and the location of a murder back in the 70’s. This was already sounding like one of the most exciting hikes I’ve been on in a while. With all the paranormal activities, sightings of cryptids and cult activities of decades past I couldn’t wait to see it first hand.

Pet Cemetary

The first section of the trail was more of a worn down road, gravel and rocks for a about a mile until we hit an intersection. On the other side there was a short trail that turned right and Rob said “This is it.”. At first all I noticed was a large tree with a stone describing the cemetery and the organization in charge of it. I thought that was it, but as I looked further into the trees I noticed more headstones. Names like Mittens and Boots, dates starting back in the 1960’s, lives etched in weathered stone ranging from a few to twenty years. Then I saw what looked like an old, empty grave. I joked that this one escaped, but Rob said that people had started to dig the animals up in the eighties. It got so bad with people desecrating the graves that they stopped using it in 1989. Rows of headstones ran into the forest, many of them with their own empty hole where someone’s beloved pet had rested briefly, before being exhumed for God knows what purpose.

Mary Lou Arruda

We travelled on from the pet cemetery towards the site of a murder from roughly 43 years prior. We walked for several miles until there was what looked like an intersection of two trails with a large tree standing in the center. Rob said, “this is the place, the dirt bikers came up this trail and found her body.” As we were standing near the tree I reached out and put a hand on it. This isn’t unusual for me because I feel that running my hand along the bark or on a boulder helps me connect with the ground and my surroundings. It just felt strange when he explained that she had been found tied to the tree in a standing position. I took a couple pictures of the tree as we kept on heading down the trail towards the reservoir. We rested for a couple minutes on the shore before heading back the same way we had come in.

Freetown State Forest

We made it back to the truck before the sun set and the full moon rose out from below the tree lines. Thankfully I did not see any puckwudgies or fairy lights, but I can say with certainty that I will get back there and enjoy some more of the trails, and the tales that the Bridgewater triangle has to offer.

Click to see my list for haunted New England trails.