"Bennington Triangle" is a phrase coined by New England author Joseph A. Citro during a public radio broadcast in 1992 to denote an area of southwestern Vermont within which a number of persons went missing between 1920 and 1950 . This was further popularized in two books, in which he devoted chapters to discussion of these disappearances and various items of folklore surrounding the area. According to Citro the area shares characteristics with the Bridgewater Triangle in neighboring Massachusetts.

Precisely what area is encompassed in this hypothetical "mystery triangle" is not clear, but it is purportedly centered around Glastenbury Mountain and would include some or most of the area of the towns immediately surrounding it, especially Bennington, Woodford, Shaftsbury, and Somerset. Glastenbury and its neighboring township Somerset were both once moderately thriving logging and industrial towns, but began declining toward the late 19th century and are now essentially ghost towns, unincorporated by an act of the state legislature in 1937.

According to Citro's books, stories of strange happenings had been told about Glastenbury and the surrounding area for many years prior to the disappearances in the 1940s, and other sources do seem to corroborate that such folklore does appear to date back as far as the late 19th century and perhaps even earlier. This includes the local folk belief that Native Americans regarded Glastenbury as "cursed" and avoided it, as well as tales of hairy "wild men" and other strange beasts in the woods.

References

1. Strange Nation, Vanishing Point, 1999, via archive.org, access date 2009-09-03

• Adams, Mary Gavel "The Bennington Monster." Green Mountain Whittlin's, 1950
• Stock, R.D.; Zeller, J. "The Strange Disappearances at Mt. Glastenbury." FATE, July 1957
• Brandon, Jim. Weird America. Penguin Publishing |Year=1978
• Halkias, Terry. New book explores ghost town Glastenbury, Vermont, Advocate Weekly (May 14, 2008), available at [142337], accessed 2009-09-03 ("The town is well-known outside Vermont; it is part of a growing legend of unexplained occurrences and disappearances in what has become known as "the Bennington Triangle.")
• Jacobs, Sally. "Ghost Towns." Burlington Free Press|Year=Oct 25, 1981
• Citro, Joseph A. Green Mountain Ghosts, Ghouls, and Unsolved Mysteries. University of New England/ Vermont Life, 1994
• Citro, Joseph A. Passing Strange: True Tales of New England Hauntings and Horrors, 1996
• Citro, Joseph A. and Sceurman, Mark. Weird New England, 2005, p.74-75
• Waller, John D., Lost in Glastenbury, Bennington Banner (VT) (Oct 4, 2008), [142338], Accessed 2009-09-03
• The Bennington Triangle, The Cracker Barrel (Wilmington, VT) (Fall 2004), available at vitualvermonter.com, accessed 2009-09-03
• Glastenbury? You won't find it on the map, Rutland Herald (Nov 2, 2007), accessed 2009-09-03
• Glastenbury tales: Town offers no clues to mysteries hanging over it, Rutland Herald (Nov. 8, 1999)