Haunted Objects: Stories of Ghosts on Your Shelf Read Online Free Page B

noting the shells that related to those moments, like a person taking out the items of a time capsule and telling our modern history through them. It was the job of the younger generation to listen and learn and eventually pass the stories on to the next generation. Until they learned to read and write, this was how the Wampanoag’s history was recorded. By the time they began to record the stories in writing, they had already been influenced by the religious and social ideas of the European settlers who had converted them.
    In 1675, war broke out between the people of Plymouth Colony and the Wampanoag, with most of the tribes in the area choosing sides. King Philip’s War all but destroyed the Native American presence in New England. There are many causes of the war, and some might say the conflict was inevitable as soon as people crossed the Atlantic Ocean, but there are two definite things you can say about that dark year in America’s history. The first is that the bloody nature of the war reflects the worst in human nature. The second is that the wampum belts, which had passed through many hands in the preceding years, were lost, and the true history of the Wampanoag was lost along with them.
    Massasoit, the sachem in charge when the Pilgrims landed, passed the wampum belt to his son, Alexander, upon his death. In turn, Alexander passed it on to his brother, Philip, who wore the belt through the beginning days of the war named after him. As the fate of the war seemed certain, Phillip gave the belt to his general, Anawan, for safekeeping. Philip’s visions held true for he was betrayed by one of his confidants and killed. Anawan, knowing ultimate defeat was near, surrendered in August 1676 and was stripped of the belt. Whatever became of it after that is unknown.
    In his book, True New England Mysteries: Ghosts, Crimes, and Oddities , Robinson offers some possible locations for the belt based on his research. He records that General Benjamin Church did receive the belt and shipped it to England. He also found references to the belt in letters to and from England, but not proof it ever arrived. Perhaps it was lost at sea or never cataloged when it was unpacked. Or perhaps the authorities had no desire to log all the treasures of war that passed across their desks. What is clear is that few people across the pond would have understood the significance of the belt, and even fewer would have appreciated it. Despite efforts in recent years to confirm its location in England, the belt remains lost.
    It would remain just a footnote, a historical mystery, if the oddities in the Bridgewater Triangle—the site of so many emotional high points of the war and the heart of Wampanoag culture today—didn’t have so many connected hauntings.
    On Route 44, considered by some to be a type of paranormal artery running through the Triangle, a lasting tribute to the Plymouth betrayal draws in locals and paranormal investigators alike. The site of Anawan’s surrender and the place where he was stripped of his belt is one of the most notorious places people go to look for ghosts. In fact, people not looking for ghosts often find them there as well. People have heard voices chanting and yelling in what has been translated to be Algonquin Indian. Small fires that give off no heat or sound appear and disappear. Even phantom Wampanoag warriors roam, often ready to fight when they come across visitors.
    Profile Rock, part of the Freetown State Forest, also has its share of spectral sightings. Some written sources say Anawan received the belt from Philip at that spot, and then stayed there to try to contact his father in the spirit world. Philip’s ghost has been seen on the rock. Witnesses who have seen a man sitting there with his legs crossed say he vanishes when they approach. A few have seen a translucent man standing with his arms outstretched.

    Anawan Rock, site of the final betrayal.
    The list goes on: A disturbed burial site causes