Growing up in Westmore Vermont, I always felt blessed. However as time has gone on, I’ve wondered if our curses outweigh the blessings. The area is plagued with legends and stories ranging from the Wendigo, Bigfoot, shadow people, ghosts, UFO’s, you name it. This shared local history is exacerbated by my direct family’s collective involvement with different aspects of this mostly unseen force. For me, this force manifested by showing me (extremely potent and horrifying) visions in my dreams, and shadow creatures/unusual animals in my waking experience.
My father primarily witnessed technology, and cryptid animals that did not make sense. My mother, visions of dying people in her kitchen, and voices from beyond instructing her to do bad things, to not trust her family, etc. This would wind up driving her mostly insane, as she remains today. 🙁 My older sister heard many disembodied voices over her time at home, and my younger sister claims to have been involved in attempting to summon an incubus, among other shared events involving something akin to a sludge entity. I am not surprised or angered by the incubus thing, simply knowing the massive paranormal blanket that seems to have been laid over our childhood home.
The home is fairly new, built in the late 90’s. The property, however, is very full of history. The site was once home to a garbage dump for farms in the area through the 19th century. As a result, the land was sold for a good price to my father, who wound up clear-cutting the lot and preparing it for construction. In the process of clearing out the brush, it became evident that this wasn’t just a dump, but also a place where many dead animals were brought to… Rot, apparently; We discovered more than just a few skulls, femurs, and various other skeletal bits less than 6 feet under. I was very young, but I remember the amount of mostly cow bones being found was surprising, even knowing the history of the location.
I just found this website, and it’s exciting for me, because I want to see if anyone else from my area has mentioned anything like this on here. And, if not, perhaps my posting this will be a welcome change of pace for an otherwise unacknowledged paranormal hotspot. Lake Willoughby is regarded by many as just plain mystical. It’s formation is even the subject of spirited research, and research has continued to this day. My parents were Coastguardsmen, and as a young couple, went diving in this lake. This is no small feat. Lake Willoughby is one of the deepest lakes in New England, even though it’s so small. The reason for that is the bottom is incredibly craggy, and uneven. There is no true lakebed towards the center…. Just a field of large, rocky, stalagmite structures. Sonar imaging proves this. The true “depth” is not really known as a result, just approximations.
Westmore is a deeply mystical and mysterious place, with what many people regard as a pervasive, dark energy that runs through the land. Some people consider the lake to be a portal, although by observing known leylines and meridians that typically indicate some kind of energetic “weirdness” to an area, it doesn’t seem to have any nearby. I have several stories to elaborate on. These are mostly my own and my father’s stories that he’s no longer here to tell. 4 of my fathers, several of my own, and then local lore to follow it. It is quickly becoming the murky, heady, and foamy nonsense of legend as time and experience separates me from this mystical place further and further….
A few things to those intrepid enough to seek this place out: 1. This is private property. The Willoughby State forest is open to the public, but this is protected land and limited on what can be done on the land. My property is quite obviously private property. Trespassing can and many times will result in penalization, fines, potential jail time, and worst case scenario, you will be shot until dead by my mother, or her mother. If that isn’t enough to keep you out; 2. The terrain is fairly extreme. Our property sits less than a mile from the Willoughby “shoreline”. I say that in quotations because the “sides” of the lake, ie the points between the two main beaches, North beach and South Beach, are mostly sheer drop offs, just shy of cliffs ranging from 10 to 100’s of feet of near vertical drops.
The land directly above these drops is very craggy, full of small ravines, thick brush, vernal pools, and all sorts of mud. It is beyond being difficult to navigate; it takes luck, strength, skill and preferably a lighter frame to truly ford through a lot of this terrain without risking injury. And finally, if that isn’t enough; 3. Game animals are less common, while coyotes, fox, and possibly catamount (mtn lion) prowl these areas regularly. I have personally seen and stood down a very large, short-haired cat not even 500 yards from my own house, right past the treeline. Back in 2009. Let alone the many sightings of red fox and the sound of coyote packs wailing in the night, not far in the distance. All of these animals pose very real threats to a person’s well being, especially anyone attempting to move under the cover of night….