Ghosts of the SouthCoast by Tim Weisberg Page B

twenty graves in the cemetery, each one a Native American and many believed to be relatives of Tispaquin, including Amie, Massasoit’s only known daughter and Tispaquin’s wife. Known as the Black Sachem for his darker skin tone, Tispaquin was one of Metacom’s trusted lieutenants. When Metacom surrendered and was killed, Tispaquin surrendered a few days later, after Benjamin Church gave his word that his life would be spared. The promise was not kept, however.

    The descendents of Massasoit are buried in the Royal Wampanoag Cemetery in Lakeville.
    Most of the graves are simple Wampanoag markers that descendents of the tribe still decorate and care for today. There are only a few graves with actual markers, including the grave of Lydia Tuspaquin (as the Tispaquin name was sometimes spelled), the last person buried in the cemetery back in 1812.
    The most commonly reported phenomena here are phantom lights that dart about the graves. But a few travelers down Route 105 have also reported seeing a Wampanoag in traditional garb walking forlornly down the road, vanishing when he gets within site of the cemetery.

    An example of an Indian grave at the Royal Wampanoag Cemetery.

    A simple but effective crossing of faiths.
    Paranormal investigators have also captured EVPs at the burial ground containing what sounds like Wampanoag words, although no translations could be found.
The Dark Woods
    Simply put, the level of paranormal activity that occurs within the borders of the Freetown State Forest is astounding. It was enough for Balzano to write an entire book on the topic, called
Dark Woods: Cults, Crime and the Paranormal in the Freetown State Forest.
The title says it all.
    In Balzano’s expanded definition of the Bridgewater Triangle, the center of the vortex is not the Hockomock Swamp, but rather the nearly fifty-five hundred acres that comprise what is formally known as the Freetown–Fall River State Forest. Every type of paranormal activity imaginable has been reported there, from ghosts to UFOs to Bigfoot sightings. Balzano has even tracked stories about zombies, a witch who lives in the woods and haunts the dreams of young boys and, of course, the elusive Pukwudgies.
    Yet as scary as the paranormal might be in the Freetown State Forest, what man has done there is far more heinous.
    Because of its proximity to two cities and three major highways, the Freetown State Forest is used as both playground and dumping ground for the criminally minded.
    In November 1978, fifteen-year-old Mary Lou Arruda was kidnapped and murdered, her body found tied to a tree in the Freetown State Forest. The main suspect was thirty-two-year-old James Kater, who was tried and convicted in 1979, but it took three subsequent retrials to make the verdict stick.
    Part of the reason why doubt remained about Kater’s guilt had to do with the high level of cult activity that takes place in the forest. While mutilated animals, altars, disfigured dolls and other such disturbing things had been found in the forest over the years, the cults remained mostly benign until the late 1970s and early 1980s.
    That’s when Carl Drew, a pimp working in the nearby city of Fall River, allegedly murdered several of his prostitutes and dumped their bodies in the forest. According to witnesses, Drew kept the women addicted to drugs and eventually lured them to his shack in the forest, where they would become human sacrifices for his cult. The case remains controversial to this day.
    There have been other murders and attacks within the forest as well, and not all of it is cult related. In recent years, drug addicts have been a problem as well, using the isolation of the forest to ride out their high in peace. A Wampanoag ceremonial camp and cultural center was the victim of arson in 2009.
    It’s a chicken-and-the-egg argument when trying to figure out whether these dark events are influencing the paranormal aspects of the forest, or vice versa. But