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E140: Paula Jean Welden
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Long before the state of Vermont had a state police agency, several teens went missing from the same area. One of those teens was college sophomore Paula Welden. Paula disappeared without a trace in 1946, and we are left all these years later wondering what happened to her.
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Introduction and Sponsor
00:00:00
Speaker
We are excited to announce that this episode is being sponsored by Zencaster, our very own podcast recording platform. Make sure you listen for more information in the middle of the episode and look at our show notes to know exactly why we love Zencaster so much and how you yourself can get a discount.
Benefits of Being Outdoors
00:00:21
Speaker
For many, being outdoors provides our body with much needed rest. Research shows that sitting outside can reduce blood pressure, lower heart rates, and decrease cortisol levels. When we're outside, our body slows down, helping us feel peaceful and calm. Our mind works in a similar way. Spending time outside improves moods and reduces the feeling of anxiety. We can focus better in nature, and our improved concentration can help us address feelings of stress and anxiety.
00:00:49
Speaker
Self-esteem can also receive a boost after time spent wandering around outside.
Dangers of Hiking and Paula Weldon's Case
00:00:54
Speaker
But for us here on Coffee and Cases, we sometimes know that walking on remote trails can turn from rejuvenating your mental health to fighting for your life. It may not always be in the form of a human that we meet our sticky end in the wilderness.
00:01:08
Speaker
The elements alone can cause death. Somewhere between 120 and 140 people typically die at national parks each year, not counting suicides, according to the number maintained by the National Park Services. The number one cause of death in national parks? Drowning. We've talked about people disappearing from the woods and just vanishing, gone without a reason or a trace, and leaving police and investigators with nowhere to turn for answers.
00:01:36
Speaker
Long before the state of Vermont had a police agency, several teens went missing in the same area. One of those teens was a college sophomore, Paula Weldon. Paula disappeared without a trace in 1946 and were left all these years later wondering what happened to her. This is her story, the story of Paula Weldon.
Who was Paula Weldon?
00:02:30
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold. My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron.
00:02:39
Speaker
We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the cases will take those tips to law enforcement. So justice and closure can be brought to these families with each case. We encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, coffee and cases podcast, because as we all know, conversation helps to keep the missing person in the public consciousness, helping keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee and listen to what's brewing this week.
00:03:07
Speaker
Allison, today we're gonna be talking about a girl named Paula Weldon. I just keep thinking Paula Abdul. When I hear Paula. Every time I hear her name, I don't think of like what she was originally famous for. I always think of America's Next Top Model. Wait, she was on there? Wasn't she like a judge on that show or something? I thought she was American Idol. Was she a judge on that show? Okay, yeah.
00:03:36
Speaker
You're correct. I'm wrong. Okay. There we go. Glad we got that. Glad we had that figured out. Right. Yeah. But this Paula was an American college student who literally just disappeared from a walking trail on Vermont's long trail hiking route.
Paula's Hiking Plans
00:04:06
Speaker
And when I say disappeared, she literally just like vanished. Man, you know, okay. So you said it in the beginning. We've said it before. I don't exercise, first of all, and I enjoy the outdoors, but I don't like roughing it. So this Vermont's long trail hiking route, I'd be like, give me the like hop, skip, and a jump route.
00:04:35
Speaker
not the long trail. Yeah, can I have the Vermont's short trail hiking? Exactly, exactly. She actually was pretty outdoorsy. She was the oldest of four daughters to a very well known engineer, architect and designer named William and his wife Jane. So Paul graduated high school in 1945.
00:05:02
Speaker
She went on to attend Bennington College in North Bennington, Vermont. And this is like- Oh, that's pretty good college in the 40s. Well, I hadn't really heard a lot about this college. I didn't know. I wasn't familiar with it. So I looked it up and it seems to have sort of a non-traditional route of education, if that makes sense. What do you mean by that?
00:05:30
Speaker
Well, all their students have now. I mean, I don't know about them, but now they have like a map that they follow, which I guess would be sort of like a course catalog type thing. But it almost seems like a living document for them. They can change it. And they're really encouraged to be creative and question things they have to do.
00:05:54
Speaker
Maybe wrong if it's yearly, but I know they do at least like one internship and I'm wanting to think it is yearly, like every summer all of their students are required to do an internship somewhere around the world that has to do with their major. I think that's really good. I do too. It seems one, you need that experience for your applications when you apply for jobs. And I think it really gives you that real world experience. Like, do I really want to do this job for the rest of my life? Right. Exactly.
00:06:24
Speaker
before you waste and get $80,000 of student loans.
00:06:29
Speaker
Yeah. Hashtag real life problems. Hashtag us. Yeah. From what I read, this college, I don't think has a huge student population like, you know, major universities would, but it has a very large campus. What they call central campus is composed of just about 10 acres, but the college owns like 440 acres of land.
00:06:58
Speaker
Gosh, that's a ton. Yeah, and 300 of that is wooded. This college campus is known for its expansive beauty, its distinctive architecture, it has a rich history, and it is at the foothills of Green Mountains. And I actually read that
00:07:20
Speaker
This college had been voted one of the most beautiful in the country by the Princeton Review. It had been mentioned in Architectural Digest. So it's a really beautiful campus. And the dorm that Paula lived in, her sophomore year Dewey House, was one of the older dorms then, but it's still on campus now. So it's even older obviously now.
The Disappearance
00:07:43
Speaker
Dewey Decimal System. What was this time? I don't know. John Dewey? Anthony had a cat named Dewey.
00:07:50
Speaker
We'll say it's named after Anthony's captain. According to the Charlie Project, Paula was a skilled artist. She specialized in oil and watercolor paintings, but she was also very talented at charcoal and pencil sketching, so good for you Paula. She was not only artistically talented, she was also musically talented. She was an excellent guitar player.
00:08:15
Speaker
So she's just she's good with her hands. Yeah. And she was also pretty physically active. She was an experienced hawker and camper. So I feel that she very much
00:08:28
Speaker
fit the mold of what I pictured a Suda at Bittington College would be to say foster all these creative and innovative warriors out. Paula really did a good job picking the college that was right for her. On Sunday, December 1st, 1946, and I just want to say, so I always
00:08:50
Speaker
For me, when we're telling these stories, I always think it's easier if I can say like, this happened on Sunday, on Tuesday, this happened. If I can have a day of the week instead of just, you know, December 1st. So I'm Googling when December 1st was because in 1946, because I didn't know.
00:09:14
Speaker
And it did not say Sunday. And then like in some of my research later on, I found where it said Sunday, December 1st. And I was like, well, one of these is wrong. And so I spent like 30 minutes of my life trying to figure it out. And it was me. I'd put 1945 instead of 1946. And I was like, well, that's 30 minutes of my life. I'm never getting back.
00:09:38
Speaker
But it was Sunday. It was Sunday, December the 1st, 1946. Paula was working at her part-time job in the dining hall on campus known as the Commons. And she had decided that that day was the day that she was going to find and walk a portion of the long trail that I mentioned earlier, because it was relatively close to campus. Good for you, Paula. I'm out. Yeah, you, girlfriend. No, thank you.
00:10:06
Speaker
Throughout the day, as she's working though, her friends are popping in and out of the dining hall and she tried to talk others into going with her like, hey, I'm going on this hike. I think you would really like it. Do you want to come with me?
00:10:21
Speaker
but sadly all of her friends had already made plans for that afternoon and so she's kind of like well I don't need you anyways I'm just gonna go on my own because she had kind of done that thing before she knew how to hike and she knew she could do it by herself so she's just kind of like well you're not gonna rain on my parade I'm still going okay number one I don't understand number two I would have also already had plans
00:10:47
Speaker
If I was like, hey, Allison, I'm going to go hiking today. Do you want to go? You'd be like, uh, sorry, Maggie. And I have. Sorry, we've had this for a while now.
00:11:05
Speaker
But after she got off work, she walked through campus and heads back to her dorm to change into her hiking clothes. So something that at first when I was topping up everything, I didn't really think about or make the connection that she's going hiking in December in New England, which I think is kind of weird. Yeah, I didn't think about that either.
00:11:33
Speaker
Right. Cause it's going to be really cold. I mean, it's not technically winter yet. Cause that's not until like December 21st or whatever. Which I never understood, but you're right. But it's still cold, but this doesn't stop her. She just would dress appropriately for the weather, I guess. And I actually read that earlier in the day, like around the time she was probably getting off work, it wasn't actually too cold. It was.
00:12:03
Speaker
upper 40s. So, you know, kind of warm for December. So I'm not too bad. But I read that she left wearing adequate clothes for the weather as it was when she left, but not for the anticipated drop in temperature that was supposed to come that night. Because I'm sure she assumed she would be back before any of that happened. Do we know how long this hike is? Like how long it would take you to do the long trail?
00:12:30
Speaker
Well, I think it was one of those things that was sort of like this trail led into another one, that led into another one, that led into another one. So you could do a portion. So you could keep going. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And I think that was what her plan was. This should just do a portion of this bigger trail.
00:12:55
Speaker
We know she left her dorm around 245. She was dressed in a red coat that had a fur trim around the hood and in her hiking jeans, but she did have on tennis shoes. So she obviously didn't plan on doing any rigorous hiking. No rock climbing for her. She didn't pack a bag with her.
00:13:17
Speaker
Yeah, no rock climbing. She didn't pack any type of extra shoes. She didn't pack a bag She took no extra clothing. No significant amount of money. So she In my opinion only intended to be gone for a few hours. Mm-hmm I read that she walked to the campus driveway and I'm assuming that That's like the entrance of the college. That's what I'm from there. She hitched a ride to State Route 67 a which is
00:13:47
Speaker
was close to State Route 9, which I think is kind of where she needed to be, because I'm not directionally inclined, but that's what I got from it. I'm not either, but I will take your word for it. Yeah. Don't tell me to go east or west because I don't know what that is. Just tell me if I go towards Walmart or if I go towards Burger King. Exactly. Which way am I going?
00:14:13
Speaker
We know that she hitched a ride from this man named Louis Knapp and he drove her just about two and a half miles from the long trail because route nine was along his way home. So he just picks her up and drops her about two and a half miles from where she's supposed to be. Do we, how do we know that he dropped her off?
00:14:43
Speaker
Like, is he a trustworthy guy? So that was my first question, too, as I was reading my research, because I'm like, well, this could potentially be the last guy to see her alive if she's missing, and we know that a lot of the time- We trust no one. Hitchhikers. Yeah, hitchhiker people that, whatever they're called, the people that pick up hitchhikers aren't always the most trustworthy. What do you call people who pick them up? Hitchhiker helpers? Yeah, let's Google it.
00:15:11
Speaker
A rod is what this says. That was not at all as cool as what I wanted it to be. No, it was not, but we'll go with it.
00:15:20
Speaker
this hitchhiker helper he actually does deliver her where he tells investigators later on it because we know that she made it to at least the beginning of this trail because she meets a group of fellow hitchhikers and she stops and talks to them as they're walking down the trail and she's starting up the trail okay
00:15:45
Speaker
Okay, so we at least know and he dropped her off before the trail. So we know that she somehow made it to the trail.
00:15:56
Speaker
Yeah, we don't know if she maybe hitched another ride those last two and a half miles or if she just walked that far. But we do know that she at least makes it to the trailhead because she talks with another group of people. She kind of stopped them and asked them, you know, how long did you hike? How many miles was it?
00:16:17
Speaker
Was it treacherous? Blah blah blah. They spoke for several minutes before parting ways with Paula as she walks in a northerly direction along part of the trail known as Harbor Road.
00:16:31
Speaker
A guy named Ernie was one of the hikers in this group and he distinctly remembers and would later retail investigators that he actually advised Paula against hiking very far along the trail, telling her she wasn't dressed well enough for the hike, siding her tennis shoes.
00:16:53
Speaker
and the knot time temperatures that were getting ready to come on because the sun was actually quickly setting because again it's November or December and it's probably closer to four by the time she gets there and the sun goes down early in the winter time so it is probably getting close to being dark at this point. That's true. Thanks Ernie for looking out.
00:17:15
Speaker
He's at least trying to help her. Yeah, but she doesn't listen. Oh, okay. She's just kind of like, thanks for the advice, but I think I got it. And she just heads into the trail, but we have no more confirmed sightings of her along that stretch of trail.
00:17:33
Speaker
The sun set about one hour after Arning spoke with Paula and I read that within hours it actually began snowing and the accumulation was reported to be around three inches. Oh no and she's just wearing tennis shoes which means those socks are getting wet. That is not a good combo. There's nothing worse than cold feet. Yep.
00:17:58
Speaker
Hence why we don't hike. Yeah, exactly. As the hours ticked by back in Dewey House, Paula's roommate was sure, you know, Paula was already back from her trip and was probably just studying in the library because she tended to do that a lot. Go out, be in nature for a little bit, kind of clear her mind, come back and study in the library for whatever upcoming tests that she may have had.
00:18:25
Speaker
But the next morning, Paula still wasn't back. And so people, her roommate now is even more worried, you know, where the heck is she? She definitely should have returned from studying. She wouldn't have stayed, you know, all night there.
The Search Efforts
00:18:43
Speaker
But I read, Allison, that not a whole lot
00:18:52
Speaker
happened. So the roommate tells school administrators and they're kind of like, okay, well, we're not really gonna freak out too bad. They go and check. I read on the morbid libraries coverage of Paula that apparently this college required students to sign out if they were planning to leave campus and return after 11 p.m. So they're like, okay, maybe she signed this and she's just
00:19:20
Speaker
Was gone late and should be back, you know in time for class But she didn't sign out on that list and she didn't sign Back in when she returned so that shows she did plan on being back pretty early, right?
00:19:37
Speaker
When she didn't show up for her scheduled classes that Monday, the university finally called her parents and they call saying, you know, hey, we just wanted to double check. Did Paula have plans on coming home? Has she talked to you guys? Did she just randomly, you know, show up?
00:19:55
Speaker
But Paula's parents are shocked when they get that phone call because she hadn't returned home. They hadn't spoke to her about her coming home. They actually hadn't talked in a couple days. So she was then reported missing after her parents confirmed they didn't know anything about her whereabouts. Oh no. So by this point, I mean, she left early afternoon on Sunday and now at least 24 hours have passed.
00:20:22
Speaker
Yeah. And we know that those 24 hours are usually the most important. Right. And I think Paula's case could have maybe been different if time hadn't been wasted because maybe there would have been footprints in the snow or something that they could have followed, but I didn't read where they were able to find anything like that.
00:20:44
Speaker
Wow. But I mean, I guess with it coming down so quickly, maybe they would have been covered up quickly too. That's true. And if it's getting like upper 40s during the day, it's not going to last long anyways. They actually searched for weeks for
Investigation Challenges
00:21:01
Speaker
Paula. The college closed for several days and both students and faculty participated in organized searches. And I think in all of the cases that we've covered involving college kids, I think that's a first for us. Yeah, but I think that's
00:21:14
Speaker
That's awesome. I do too. I think it really shows a sense of family within the college for them to do that. So because of that, they had hundreds of volunteers. Paula's family members were there. National Guard troops were called in. Firefighters were searching for Paula, but to no avail. I read they did ground searches. They even did air searches, concentrated on the long trail.
00:21:41
Speaker
But, and they even expanded that to other branches of this trail and along that route nine, but they didn't find anything. Wow.
00:21:56
Speaker
You know what I'm curious about is because obviously I'm thinking if they're doing that now I get that she could have been a certain distance off of the trail and that's why they didn't find her. But being an experienced outdoors person, I would think that she would have followed the trail, which then leads me to think, okay, was she abducted by somebody?
00:22:18
Speaker
But then the only way she could probably be abducted by somebody is if there weren't very many people who were out on the trail at night. So I'm curious how many people would like go on the trail at night versus in the day. And then I also thought.
00:22:40
Speaker
Let's just say she is hawking and it does start snowing. I wonder how quickly the snow fell because it could just be, it fell really fast and the trail kind of disappeared and she couldn't see very far in front of her and she just got lost. That is, I didn't even think about that, but you're right because if it's coming down that fast and it's almost blizzard-like,
00:23:07
Speaker
then yeah, you could easily lose track of the trail. Well, hundreds of people searched this area for her. And when they were turning up empty handed each time, they said, you know, something else has to be done. And so they decide we need to collect a reward.
00:23:25
Speaker
I read in one place, it was a $500 reward. I read in a couple other places that it was a $5,000 reward. So I'm going to say it was $5,000 and the other person just maybe made a typo. But they raised $5,000 toward the reward for anybody coming forward with information about Paula's disappearance.
00:23:51
Speaker
And Allison $5,000 at that time, I Googled would be equivalent to about $80,000 today. Holy cow. That's crazy. That's a lot.
00:24:08
Speaker
They're serious about wanting answers. What's crazy to me is that at the time of Paula's disappearance, Vermont had no state police organization. I didn't know. What? I guess I'm just really naive or stupid, but I just thought that
00:24:26
Speaker
you know a state was made back in 18 whatever and they had police whatever and that was just a thing yeah i would have thought so too but apparently it wasn't we're wrong and so the state attorney and the county sheriff and a state investigator were who were leading this investigation so at this point there's no state police in vermont so there's no state police help it's just
00:24:52
Speaker
the sheriff, the state attorney, and the state investigator. That would make me worry that it's going to be disorganized.
00:25:01
Speaker
Yeah, and the search for Paula does get a lot of flack for how the search was handled. I do think they were a little overwhelmed. But Paula's father actually pressed the governor to bring in additional professional law enforcement help. He's like, you have to get some more people in here
00:25:24
Speaker
Can you talk to the Connecticut State Police? Can you talk to anybody around us? Can they send in more help? And the governor actually does and Connecticut State Police Detective Robert Rodle and State Police woman Dorothy Scovill were assigned to Paula's case and they interviewed
00:25:46
Speaker
Every person who saw Paula thought they saw Paula Every person who lived along the route that she took or could have just maybe possibly Been in the vicinity of long trail on that December afternoon. So they were bringing those professional Yeah, they're busy. They're pulling their weight when they bring in those additional. Yeah
00:26:10
Speaker
that additional help. According to a missing person's post I found online, there were a number of tantalizing and strange leads that kept investigators looking despite their searches turning up empty-handed. Most of those searching assumed Paula had gotten lost in the woods. When no clues were found as to her whereabouts though, other theories started to be considered.
00:26:39
Speaker
Allison and I find it hard to record together these days with everything going on in our lives. That's why we began looking for a recording platform that would allow us to record the same quality, crisp audio that we could have in person. Allison made it her mission to find the best platform for doing just that, and that's when she discovered Zencaster.
00:26:58
Speaker
Zencaster is what Maggie and I use each week to record our episodes, and it is extremely easy to use, even if you've never used a recording platform before. You don't even have to download a thing. Go to the website zencaster.com, create the session for which you can record audio, video, or both, and then I email Maggie the link. She clicks, and that's it. We're ready to hit the record button and start.
00:27:26
Speaker
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Exploring Theories
00:27:32
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:28:03
Speaker
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00:28:33
Speaker
your story. Despite the fact that searches for Paula had turned up zero clues as to her whereabouts, we do have
00:28:47
Speaker
sort of kind of some more potential soddings I've heard that might help us determine what happened to Paula. And before we get into those theories, I wanted to talk about some of these potential soddings. Okay. Are you saying potential because it was somebody who looked like her because we can't verify that what people said happened actually happened?
00:29:12
Speaker
I think it's a little bit of both and this may be redundant because I think I mentioned it later on, but I'm pretty positive investigators end up determining that there are two blonde
00:29:28
Speaker
girls in red coats that people are seeing in and around this time. Okay. And one is Paula and one is a doppelganger. Gotcha. So we know for sure that Paula left her dorm room around 2 45 that afternoon. Shortly after that time, we have a gas station owner by the name of Danny Fager, which I think is a really cool name. I don't know why, but I just do.
00:29:55
Speaker
Telling investigators that he saw a blonde girl in a red coat with fur around the hood Running up and down the side of a gravel pit near the college entrance. Okay, that's weird. Why there's a gravel pit there. I don't know It's weird to me. They do look into the gravel pit as maybe she was dumped there I see
00:30:21
Speaker
For me, I'm wondering if, is she really running or is she kind of just pacing, maybe waiting for somebody to pick her up? Because we know she was picked up from the entrance of the college.
00:30:31
Speaker
But he reported that she ran up and down and then disappeared from view. So I'm wondering if she's maybe just pacing and she is picked up by Mr. Knapp because he recalls picking her up from the college entrance around three. So that to me makes sense. And this is right by the college entrance. Yeah. Right around the same time. Yeah.
00:30:58
Speaker
Knapp reported to police that Paula maybe did seem a little off when she was with him. She was really quiet when he picked her up. She actually fell getting into the truck. And besides asking where she was headed and her telling him where she needed to go, the two didn't speak until he dropped her off along that route nine. And she was just kind of like, thank you. And then left. Okay. Yeah, that is.
00:31:29
Speaker
That is a little odd, especially falling and not like, if I fell, I would, I'd be embarrassed and I'd start laughing at myself and I'd be like, Oh my goodness, I'm the biggest gluts or whatever. I mean, I wouldn't like fall and then just get in and be like, I'm going to the long trail. Thank you.
00:31:48
Speaker
Yeah, it was very like stoic and robot. Yeah, I just don't like awkward silence So I don't have to make conversation, but maybe she was just one of those people that were happy just sitting there quietly maybe I Don't know. I just think it's weird though. Yeah, I talked too much though. So so same we have another person come forward and
00:32:16
Speaker
named Abe Reskin, a local taxi driver, and he told investigators that he had taken a student to the bus station on Sunday afternoon but he wasn't 100% sure that it was Paula. He said the two favored but he couldn't definitively say it was Paula. We know that there were several buses she could have taken so she could have went to
00:32:45
Speaker
Burlington. She could have went to Albany. There were a bunch of places she could have gone. When investigators talked to the clerks at the station, no one remembered anyone that fit her description buying a ticket, but they did admit it had been a pretty busy day. So she could have come through and they just not have noticed. Okay. Yeah. Cause if there's a ton of people, then they probably, one girl probably isn't going to stand out.
00:33:11
Speaker
And at least I guess this taxi driver isn't like, yes, 100% it was Paula. He just says, I guess it could have been. Yeah. And I almost think what he did is better than not saying anything at all. At least he said, Hey, I could have possibly seen her. This may be something you want to check out. Cause then, you know, in 70 years.
00:33:36
Speaker
were 90 years or whatever. We're not saying, oh, we just found out that Paula was dropped off at the bus station by this taxi cab driver, but he never came forward and that could have made such a huge difference. At least we're able to follow through. We have another possible sighting of Paula, this time a waitress at the modern restaurant on Pleasant Street.
00:34:00
Speaker
said that she served a girl matching Paula's description about 9 30 that night. She said the girl was with a young man of about 25. So I feel a pretty good age for Paula, right? Because she's early college. So it's not like 25 super old for her. Right. But the waitress says this guy was drunk and being abusive.
00:34:27
Speaker
Hmm. She didn't go into detail in what I read about how this dude was being abusive. I'm guessing probably just verbally abusive. Right.
00:34:40
Speaker
because you're in public, but I don't know. But she did say when he went to the counter, the girl signaled for her to come over, for the waitress to come over. And the waitress quickly goes over and she says that the girl asks, how far is Bennington Vermont? And then asked, well, where am I right now? What?
00:35:04
Speaker
I know. So it almost makes me feel that even though this girl isn't Paula, I hope she received some type of help. Right. Exactly. Because she clearly is confused. She told the waitress that she had to get to Bennington and that she had arrived in that area with $1,000 in her pocket that had nothing left on her.
00:35:29
Speaker
The waitress said the girl had not been drinking but seemed visibly confused and dazed. This is making me feel though like this waitress's siding and the taxi driver siding were the same person, this Paula Doppelganger and that the taxi driver maybe had his times confused or the waitress did because if there's a girl both of them have seen who looks like Paula
00:35:58
Speaker
And both are either, well, the waitress said she's asking how far to Bennington, like that is her goal. Oh, you said Burlington for the taxi driver. In my head, I was thinking Bennington and I thought, oh my gosh, maybe that's why she had to get to the, to the bus station. Cause she needed to take it, you know, someplace else. Oh, back. Yeah. Hmm. But I do think you're true. I do think you're correct. I think.
00:36:29
Speaker
I don't know that both of these could have been her. So I'm wondering if maybe one of them was her and the other wasn't, or maybe they just both weren't. Right. I don't know. But by this point, Ernie has come forward to police. He's been talking as well. And he told
00:36:46
Speaker
reporter Pete Stevenson that he had talked to Paula around four o'clock on Sunday afternoon and he said that when he talked to Paula that he told her she wasn't dressed to hike the trail and then pending weather and that she should turn around but she was like nope I'm good and they parted ways and that's how we know that's the last confirmed sighting of her. I already know what you're gonna say one of the theories is
00:37:16
Speaker
based on this suicide. Oh yeah, 100% for sure. According to Strange Outdoors, the authorities concluded, like we've been talking about, there must have been two girls in the area around Long Trail on Sunday, Paula and Paula Doppelganger, who people have been confusing as Paula on and off throughout the conversations with police. Right.
00:37:47
Speaker
On Wednesday night, the college president issued a statement that authorities suspected foul play and that they believed Paula's body had been concealed. Three men who spent the last, I know, and he even said that three men who had camped that weekend had already been questioned, but obviously nothing came of those questionings. And I read that the gravel pit that she was pacing in front of or running in front of,
00:38:17
Speaker
was also searched because people believed maybe her body was hidden there but nothing was found there either. We know that searches for her were extensive. Over 125 people came in to help with this search. Five aircraft were deployed. There were National Guard
00:38:43
Speaker
Each search carried this I thought was very neat. Each searcher carried confetti to drop as they went to ensure the area was searched and nothing was searched twice. That's brilliant. I know. That's what I thought too. Such a good idea. Yeah. And if it's paper confetti it's just going to biodegrade. That's right. Where it's biodegradable. Mm hmm.
00:39:08
Speaker
They searched all of these trails. They looked all over Bald Mountain after one of the faculty members at the college found footprints on Wednesday afternoon that looked to have been made by her sneakers, but that also turned up empty handed. As I mentioned, her father really wasn't satisfied with the search. He felt that he had done the best he could.
00:39:38
Speaker
like, but that police hadn't done the best that they could do. And I feel okay, that might be true. But I feel like as a family member, I would always feel that way because I would always know how thoroughly I would search something versus probably what they would. And sometimes I think that
00:40:04
Speaker
Searching the same area twice isn't always a bad thing. That's true. Because I know from, and this is probably a very poor example, but let's say because I'm the world's most forgetful person that I am checking out at Kroger and I cannot find my debit card in my wallet. I can search through my wallet and my purse
00:40:32
Speaker
and still not find it because I'm in a frenzy. But as soon as Anthony looks in my wallet, he's like, Oh, it's right here. You know? Right. Or I mean, we've all tried this. You're trying to plug your phone cord into the square that goes into the plug and you turn it the USB part one way and it doesn't fit. You turn it the other way and it doesn't fit. You turn it back the first way and it fits.
00:40:58
Speaker
Like sometimes looking at things or trying things twice, I get what you're saying. Yeah, ends up actually leading to answers. So with all that, we really, you're just left with one question. Well, two, I guess. Where is Paula and what the heck happened to her? Mm hmm.
00:41:19
Speaker
There's a lot of theories about Paula and what could have happened to her and potentially where she could be.
Was it Suicide or a New Life?
00:41:28
Speaker
We're going to talk about five. Okay. And then kind of see where we think we are. Okay. So as you guessed, theory number one is that Paula committed suicide.
00:41:47
Speaker
According to some accounts, Paula was, and I don't think that this is life shattering. I think this is
00:41:56
Speaker
most college students experienced this, but apparently it was life altering enough to lead some people to this conclusion that she committed suicide. But Paula was considering changing her major from art to botany, but was really struggling with this decision. She was an art major. She had recently become dissatisfied with the faculty and the progress that she was making. And so she had discovered this newfound love of botany and was considering switching majors.
00:42:28
Speaker
Okay, I I don't know if I buy that reason because if she also loved botany and I mean Why would she be that upset of switching it from one thing that she loves to another thing that she loves? That the reason I'm not buying but if
00:42:47
Speaker
Um, the guy who picked her up in his car mentioned that she was acting a little bit off and she wasn't really talking if she left without really talking to her roommate. If she knows again, if she's experienced hiking and she's going out knowing that it's going to be dark soon. So she would know that she's not dressed for the weather. She gets a warning that she's not dressed for the weather that she just completely ignores. I mean, those things do seem like.
00:43:17
Speaker
There are some depressive symptoms. I just don't know if I buy the reason. Well, the morbid library said that her friends had noted that she was acting and feeling somewhat depressed in the days and weeks prior to her disappearance, not necessarily related to the major change. Okay. Yeah.
00:43:43
Speaker
But they don't believe that it was anything that she was severely depressed about. Again, I know that as people, we don't always tell the truth to our friends and family. We put on a brave face for them. So maybe they just didn't know the severity of her depression. That could be it.
00:44:08
Speaker
We also know that she did confirm plans that she had with her roommate for later on in the week. And that's typically something that people who are going to commit suicide don't do is make kind of these long-term plans. Right. But as you said, I do think her expertise supposedly in this field
00:44:36
Speaker
makes me almost second guess kind of blowing off suicide so quickly because she would have known like you said that she wasn't prepared for the weather. Surely she would have. I don't know how you checked the weather in 1946.
00:44:52
Speaker
To know if it was supposed to snow lighter in the afternoon, right? But I mean you do know it's December you do know it's already like Decently cold and if she did these walks often then she would probably know the temperature drop Like the average amount anyway, right?
00:45:12
Speaker
So then maybe I guess that could also stem into theory too, like this kind of weird behavior as far as, you know, knowing these things, but kind of ignoring them because theory too is that she ran away to start a new life. Oh, okay.
00:45:28
Speaker
So there are many people who encountered Paula the day slash days leading to her disappearance that actually said she seemed to be in higher spirits than normal.
Involvement of Fred Gedet
00:45:39
Speaker
So she had been kind of depressed and now all of a sudden she's in a really good mood and she's in this happy state. And a lot of people say that because this great mood that she was in, she must have been running away
00:45:58
Speaker
to start a new life that, you know, she had developed a plan and she was excited to carry this plan through. I don't know that weekend, just like the changing of her major. I don't know that we can say just because she is elated that she's running away. Right. Yeah. Plus, if that's true, then you would think the taxi driver story is true, that he's dropping some girl off that looks like Paula to go someplace else.
00:46:25
Speaker
but I'm wondering where the taxi driver picked her up in relation to the trailhead. Cause again, I'm not a walker, but if my ultimate plan is to go to the bus station, I'm probably not going to walk, you know, two and a half miles in the opposite direction. And I guess my question too is how, if this is Paula in the taxi, how does she even hail a taxi cab? Right.
00:46:55
Speaker
It's not like Uber and she's pulling it up on her phone.
00:46:59
Speaker
I feel like that's more of a city thing. Yeah. If she's out in the middle of nowhere by a trail. Yeah. I don't know, but some say that there were signs that Paula had a boyfriend slash secret lover and she was planning to run away in a lope with him. So this theory has been one that we've kind of talked about before. I think on a couple of other cases, but remember the Dorothy case that we had, Dorothy Forstein episode.
00:47:29
Speaker
Yeah, like episode 122, where she was, they had the really creepy recallings of what happened with her kids. And we were kind of like, oh, maybe she really did just run away with this dude. Right. Yeah. Cause the girl was like, the mom was thrown over the shoulder, but we were like, oh, she could have staged all of that to go away. So maybe this was all staged. Yeah. There are some saying that.
00:47:55
Speaker
maybe her family didn't approve of this guy, but she was deeply in love. And so they planned to kind of meet up and run away together. But if she was planning to run away,
00:48:08
Speaker
I think she would need some things. Wouldn't she need at least a little bit of money to get from point A to point B? Especially if we're assuming she's the girl in the taxi. She would have to have a little bit of money, but her roommate said she took nothing with her. Unless she was hiding how much money she had. I don't know.
00:48:31
Speaker
That's true. Or, you know, she's saying, I want to hop in this taxi and then my boyfriend's picking up the tab when I meet him, wherever I'm meeting him. Yeah, that's true too. I guess she maybe technically didn't need money. Theory three.
00:48:50
Speaker
is one that most people believe to be the most compelling persons of interest that was discussed in Paula's disappearance. And that is a gentleman named Fred Gedet is how I'm gonna assume his last name is pronounced. I would say so too. So he was actually a lumberjack, which I found fascinating.
00:49:20
Speaker
But he was a lumberjack. He lived in a cabin near this long trail where Paula had vanished. Oh, okay. He actually, yes.
00:49:36
Speaker
There are a couple different reasons why people associate him with Paula. One is that when he was first kind of brought to the attention of the investigators, it was because Fred and his girlfriend were in the middle of an argument the day that Paula went on her hike. And she just so happened to pass by where they were arguing, because remember her camp or his cabin is right along the trail that she was on. Okay.
00:50:06
Speaker
Fred admits to the investigators that he stormed off in this angry, jealous rage shortly after Paula walked by where they were at. His statements change though, which to me makes him lose credibility and I feel like he's lying.
00:50:27
Speaker
He said in one account that he went to like this shack slash, I guess like work building that he had and spent the evening there by himself, just, you know, blowing off steam, tinkering with stuff. But then another instance, he says he drove his truck.
00:50:48
Speaker
up the portion of the trail where Paula was heading. So he says in one I went to the shack and I just kind of blew off some steam by myself. In another account of that day he said he had to get in the truck and just drive for a little bit to clear his mind and he would have been driving in the direction that Paula was hiking. Did he ever say in any of the stories that he had seen Paula or was he always saying he was by himself?
00:51:17
Speaker
Not that I read that he came straight out and said, you know, I passed this blunt hit a girl on the road, but he did lie about a lot of things. So in 1955,
00:51:37
Speaker
He went to authorities on his own with a really shocking statement. He confessed to authorities that he had information about the teen's disappearance and that he knew where her remains were buried. Uh, excuse me, sir. You have gone from saying that you were alone tinkering in your shack.
00:51:59
Speaker
Yeah, going from I was alone driving to clear my mind or tinkering in my shack to I know what happened to her and I know where she's buried. Okay. He later is like, I lied. I just really needed some attention. That scoundrel. Yeah. But
00:52:21
Speaker
There were a lot of people that, not a lot, there were at least two people who came forward to investigators and said that Fred had told them that he knew within a hundred feet where Paula was buried. Wow. So he's not just telling authorities. He's telling everybody.
00:52:43
Speaker
Yeah, so apparently he needs a lot of attention. But he tells police officers that that was just idle talk. He was just, you know, talking to be talking. People don't just talk like that. I know. That's so weird to me. That's such a weird thing to say. And then even weirder to be like, nah, I was just slapping my jaw. I didn't mean anything about it. Theory four is Paula's father.
00:53:11
Speaker
Oh, I was not expecting this one. I wasn't either until I read a couple different sources. And then I think when you hear it, you're going to be like, that's kind of weird. But this theory was reported by the Bennington banner. And this suggests that Paula's father was involved in her disappearance.
00:53:39
Speaker
Apparently, in the week prior to Paula's disappearance, she did not come home for Thanksgiving. She decided to stay on campus instead. And according to grunge.com, this made her father really, really angry.
00:54:00
Speaker
Okay. The roommate also said that because of this disagreement, they weren't on the best of terms. And so there've been a couple other kind of disagreements in there mixed in with the Thanksgiving disagreement, but that something was happening with this father-daughter relationship that kind of made the roommate say, this is a little bit much. This is a little odd. Okay.
00:54:31
Speaker
Paula's father first drew suspicion from investigators when he just apparently vanished for 36 hours amid the search for his daughter. Just poof. Gone for 36 hours. That is odd. The Bennington Manor reported that Paula's father disappeared immediately after hearing his daughter was possibly seen by that waitress.
00:54:59
Speaker
He didn't tell anybody that he was leaving. And he didn't tell anybody where he was going. He was just gone and then showed back up. Did he later say you were or have any like, I guess, description of what he'd been doing during that time? Not that I read, no. Oh, okay.
00:55:24
Speaker
Yeah, nope. And we know he was super critical of the investigation. He criticized law enforcement. He believed that they did not investigate to their full ability. He also criticized the state of Vermont for not having its own police force. So he was just really not happy with investigation.
00:55:45
Speaker
What stuck out to me though, and I think you having a daughter, you'll agree, but on December 16th, Paula's father just packed up all of her belongings from her dorm room and returned to his home in Connecticut. And I don't think that's a very long time. 15 days. Yeah. And then he's like, well,
00:56:07
Speaker
I guess she's not coming back. Let me just pack up her stuff. Yeah, no, I'd be staying in there. Yeah, I thought that was weird too. So he just packs up all of her stuff, like publicly bashes Vermont for its lack of a professional police force.
Paranormal Explanations
00:56:25
Speaker
He says that, you know, the search was horrible. They didn't keep accurate records.
00:56:35
Speaker
all kinds of stuff that was not overlooked by this army of reporters across New England who then descended on this story that maybe Paula's dad kind of had a little bit more to do with her disappearance and was first led on. But when he leaves on December 16th
00:56:57
Speaker
So does everybody else. So her case actually drew a lot of attention. Reporters came from everywhere to help cover her case. But then when he leaves, everybody else is kind of like, all right, peace out. I'm leaving too. Wow. And they all just kind of leave. All right. Theory five, because it wouldn't be us if we didn't. Oh, boy, that means it's going to be crazy.
00:57:19
Speaker
Yes, is the paranormal. There are many who think that something is wrong with this area. Something paranormal wrong. Yes, this theory first came about when a New England author and occult researcher coined the term the Bennington Triangle.
00:57:47
Speaker
wow so like the bermuda triangle but in vermont and he described the area of southwestern vermont as this bennington triangle because from 1945 to 1950 five people disappeared within this area including pala so she's one of those five
00:58:15
Speaker
He links these disappearances to a special energy that inhabits the wilderness there and attracts visitors from outer space. Okay, this just got a little weird. Yeah, who he believes snatched up Paula and the subsequent missing people. So in essence, Paula was abducted by aliens.
00:58:41
Speaker
I mean or there could be a serial killer who just focuses on this area of the woods. You know that makes a lot more sense and honestly was not something that I thought about until you said it and I'm like oh that also makes perfect sense probably a little bit more so than the aliens. So Allison I don't know that I have
00:59:06
Speaker
a theory that I can say 100% that I think it's this theory. Do you have a theory that you're going to stand behind? I think I'm going to, if I had to go with one, I'm thinking one of two things. If it were accidental,
00:59:31
Speaker
like not caused by another person. So if she is alone leading to her own disappearance and death, I think that she may have gone out into this woods. Um, she does seem to be depressed in terms of a lot of the descriptions that you gave, which is why I said, I know what one of the theories is going to be.
00:59:55
Speaker
Because of all those descriptions, especially the warning that she's not dressed appropriately for the weather. But I also think that it could be the case that she went up there and then it began to snow. Like you said,
01:00:07
Speaker
And she can't find the trail back. And so she ended up, you know, getting lost and then dying unintentionally, like she would have come back, but she can't. But if it's a person who caused it, then I'm kind of leaning toward the lumberjack just because of the other false confessions, um, the changing story. He would know the area because he has a cabin there.
01:00:35
Speaker
and the bragging about it, I just don't think that that's a normal reaction from someone.
01:00:44
Speaker
As the years tick by, it's highly unlikely that we will ever know what happened to Paula, but this case has left me with so many questions like, what is this Bennington triangle? And do the other cases involving this area have similarities? Could there be more to these disappearances than meet the eye?
Conclusion and Social Engagement
01:01:04
Speaker
As you pointed out, Allison, I wonder if
01:01:08
Speaker
there's just some type of connection that hasn't been made here. Perhaps we will explore another one of these cases in a few weeks right here on coffee and cases.
01:01:19
Speaker
Again, please like and join our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast to continue the conversation and see images related to this episode. As always, follow us on Twitter, at casescoffee, on Instagram, at coffee cases podcast, or you can always email us suggestions to coffeeandcasespodcastatgmail.com. Please tell your friends about our podcast so more people can be reached to possibly help bring some closure to these families. Don't forget to rate our show and leave us a comment as well. We hope to hear from you soon.
01:01:49
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.
01:02:13
Speaker
Okay, sleuth hounds, it is that time. It is seven, seven, and we are getting ready to spin the wheel right now and get seven lucky sleuth hounds to receive all exclusive, these limited edition key chains. So here we go. And cards. Oh yeah, key chains and cards.
01:02:38
Speaker
You should see Maggie. I'm FaceTiming her so she can see the wheel that I created. And she's doing like hand motions and like arm motion. She's excited. Yeah, I'm ready. I'm ready. OK. Are you ready for me to spin for the first winner? Let's do it.
01:02:56
Speaker
Fun fact, this is the app that I use on my computer when my children don't volunteer to read. I spin this. Me too. Jennifer S. Lucky winner number one. Jennifer S. We will be reaching out to you. All right. I'm going to spin for winner number two. Yay. It's my friend Jackie from back home. So I get to send her a card in a key chain.
01:03:26
Speaker
That's super exciting. Okay, number three, which is my favorite number, so let's go.
01:03:37
Speaker
Oh, yay! We love her. It's Trisha. Yay, Trisha. Super exciting. This is fun. This makes me wish I were up for a prize, even though I already have a key chain. OK, number four. Oh, the anticipation. I know, so good. Kelly L. Yay, Kelly L.
01:04:07
Speaker
Really, we're not saying last names, but your last name is good, though. I know. It's impressive. It's pretty cool. OK, how many is that? Is that four? Yeah. Number five? OK. Oh, Marcy. Yay. Number five. Marcy number five. OK. Number six is Katie. Yay, Katie.
01:04:36
Speaker
All right, we got one more. Is it going to be you? Hopefully you've joined Patreon already. OK, lucky number seven is Julie. Yay, Julie. Now listen, if you did not win on this Patreon giveaway, make sure you still join up on our Patreon because we might just have some holographic stickers ordered. Oh. Hint, hint.
01:05:05
Speaker
that might be coming in the mail the next time we have a giveaway so still make sure you sign up because you'll get all kinds of good content and you just might get a little swag yay so while we are sharing the love we got another five star written review
01:05:24
Speaker
It was a really cute one too. It was good. So this one came from one of Allison's former students, but this person said, I'm a crumb junkie through and through and I love listening to you all. Whenever I get the chance, I put on an episode, Mrs. Williams, you were one of my favorite teachers and Mrs. Dameron, I know you would have been a favorite of mine too. Please never stop doing this podcast, LOL.
01:05:48
Speaker
Well, we will not ever stop doing this podcast. No, we will not. And that just makes me so happy. And I wish I knew who this student was, but they just signed up with the class that they took with me. Yeah. And they get messages on social media and let us know who they were. Maybe we'll send them a sticker. I know. Yeah. I just, that just makes me happy. Makes my heart glad.
01:06:19
Speaker
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01:06:43
Speaker
and enter promo code coffeeandcasespod0 for 30% off your first three months. It's the only platform Maggie and I trust for recording remotely, and we know you'll love it as much as we do.