The Mysteries of Lake Champlain

People often underestimate the depth of the shadows cast over Vermont. Haunted springs and ancient curses; first hand accounts of mysterious rituals and unexplained phenomena; abductions, strange creatures, old legends and those just now emerging...

Welcome to an archive of monsters, creatures, the esoteric and the extranormal of the Lake Champlain region.

Collection

I hope to capture the rich folklore, history, and legends of the Lake Champlain region of Vermont. Explore unrelated and miscellanious firsthand accounts from all across Vermont, New York, and Montrealhere. Search the collection using ctl+f. If you have an encounter you'd like to see posted, email me at rileythechamp420@gmail.com! Beware the big bad wolf.

Black Agnes

'Black Agnes' is the nickname given to a a forlorn copper statue in Green Mountain Cemetery in Montpelier. It's said that those who sit on Agnes's lap will suffer misfortune, ranging from mild bad luck to ... well, curses aren't fun if they aren't lethal, I guess.

Champ

You know him, you love him, Lake Champlain's very own Champ!

Sightings of the big guy himself pop in all the time. He may find his origins in Abenaki and Iroqouis stories of a horned beast in the lake's depths, but he's done anything but fade from the limelight - from 1873, to a string of sightings 1981-1983, to the brightly colored floats appearing in parades, it's not far fetched to imagine we might see him again soon.

Frozen Old Folks

This one is near and dear to me, The frozen old folks was a story submitted to a local paper that was widely circulated as nonfiction. The story detailed a farmer observing a local tradition of Vermont homesteaders: burying their elderly and infirm in snow and thawing them out in the winter, an early imagining of cyrogenesis. But what if this was more than just a story?

I have personally met an elderly woman who claims to have undergone this supposed practice. I would ask her if I could go and observe, but I'm not sure if I want to get Midsommar'ed.

Hartford Railroad

The Hartford Railroad disaster in 1887 took the lives of 37 people; 50 others were injured, out of 115 passengers. You can find plenty of articles online detailing the extremity of the crash.

It's not uncommon to be pointed towards the sleepy, mountain town of Hartford when you ask around for haunted sites.

Hayden Family Curse

Mercie Dale hated her son-in-law, William Hayden, to the point of suspecting him of poisoning her when her health began to fail. With her dying breath, she whispered, "The Hayden name shall die in the third generation and the last to bear the name shall die in poverty..."

Since then, the curse has proven nothing if not consistent. The last descendant of the Hayden family I could find died in a freak accident in the 80's and that's about all I can say on that.

Personal Entries

Feb. 15, 2024

I figured I should start keeping a journal, and I figured - what better place? I'm mostly going to write about my dreams here.

Last night, I dreamed I was on a beach of black sand. I thought I recognized the coastline - a bend in the lake a few miles from my friends' house -