On a bright and clear All Saints Day, more than a dozen hikers joined former town conservation staffer Bettina Abe and historian Dan Boudillion, author of “History of the Nashobah Praying Indians: Doings, Sufferings, Survival, and Triumph,” for a hike through the Hockomock Swamp Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Norton, about 50 miles south of Acton. This hike was organized by Friends of Pine Hawk, one of the many events in the lineup observing October as Archaeology Month.
Boudillion explained that the area, known as the Bridgewater Triangle, was one of spiritual importance and purported paranormal activity. The area has a history of reports of phantom drums, phantom lights, and fires without heat glowing in the fog. Native peoples viewed the area as a place of thin veil between the physical and spiritual world.
Folks have been reporting sightings of Bigfoot, UFOs, large black dogs with red eyes, and Pukwudgie for years. The Pukwudgie is described as a small, mischievous, and potentially dangerous, creature from Wampanoag folklore that was said to lure people into swampy areas. Boudillion described the word as Algonquin for “murder goblin” or “little wild man who vanishes.” The creature was said to have porcupine quills all over its body, use poisonous arrows, and hypnotize those it led into the swamp with eye contact.
During the walk, the group paused several times to examine stone piles and rows, and, while not confirmed to be of Native construction, these formations provided a visual of how such ceremonial landscapes that are scattered all over New England appear. Some of the formations resembled animals like snakes and turtles. Others featured stones arranged in a circle.
According to the state’s website, “The Hockomock Swamp and associated wetlands and water bodies comprise the largest vegetated freshwater wetland system in Massachusetts,” almost 17,000 acres of habitat for threatened species, and an area of critical environmental concern. The group stayed on the periphery of the “swamp proper” to avoid tramping through vulnerable wetland habitat and, as the guides noted, to avoid getting lost.
Leaving the wildlife management area, the group caravanned in their cars to the site of King Philip’s Cave for a brief visit. Metacomet of Pokonoket was the sachem, or chief, of the Wampanoag people, and was called King Philip by English colonists. During King Philip’s War (1675-1677), he and his warriors are believed to have taken refuge at this site in Norton. The natural stone formation was created by the advance and withdrawal of ice sheets during the last ice age about 13,500 years ago. The boulders left behind by the retreating glaciers are conglomerate, also known as “pudding stone.”
Alissa Nicol often writes about community events for the Acton Exchange.
