Personal Accounts

Have you experienced something supernatural in the Lake Champlain region? Email me at rileythechamp420@gmail.com!

Ruth, the Frozen Old Folk

I met Ruth on the bus to Walmart. She was actually heading into a Christian bookstore to pick up a large-print bible for one of her roommates at the homeless shelter she was staying at, just up the mountain. By chance, coincidence, or dare I say fate, we struck up some light conversation. We bonded over a shared Jewish heritage (she claimed to be a 'unionist' or something, like a Christian Jew? I'm not practicing but I'm pretty sure that's not how either of those religions work). We just so happened to catch the same bus back, which Ms. Ruth took as a sign from God that our meeting was destined, and I was to be trusted.

She asked me if I knew about the Deep Frozen Folks of Vertmont legend. I told her I had, and she grinned at me; "You know, they did that to me back home."

I, for reasons I hope are obvious, was dubious. However, recent events and encounters in my personal life have led me to reevaluate my initial conclusion.

When I asked Ruth to describe the process, she began listing various steps and rituals including the slow freeze and snow burial, and the warm cranberry concoction she would wake up in a bathtub full of; the way she described it was uncannily intimate and personal, which I chalked up to - at the time - a highly creative and conspiracy-prone homeless woman's take on the story of the frozen folks.