An eerie patch of woodlands in Massachusetts is known for ‘paranormal activity’, including rumored sightings of UFOs and Bigfoot.
Known as ‘Monsterland’, the five-mile stretch of woodlands that line the small city of Leominster, near Boston, US, has had locals spooked for centuries.
Mysterious tales started surfacing in the 1800s, but things all took off in the 1950s when a man said in a local bar that he had encountered a ‘monster’ – before vanishing when he left to track it down. The spooky place now has Bigfoot hunters from miles around coming to have a crack at spotting the hairy beast.
Speaking to CBS Boston, Ronny LeBlanc – who grew up a few miles from Leominster – said he made it his life’s mission to get to the bottom of these unexplained occurrences. He felt strongly enough to write a book about it named ‘Monsterland’, published in 2016.
The 66-year-old claimed to have had a ‘supernatural experience’ with a monster in the woods when he was 11. “I think because these things have happened to me personally, it’s created this obsession where I need to find out more,” he said. “The reason it gets its name is there were sightings of Bigfoot creatures going back to the late 1800s.”
“I started noticing that there were many activities and stories in and around Leominster State Forest, which connects to Monsterland through the powerlines.”
According to LeBlanc, the legend began in the 1950s after a mad bloke entered a Leominster bar one summer night, looking a bit worse for wear. The man reportedly said he’d just seen a ‘terrifying monster’ in the patch of woodlands now referred to as ‘Monsterland’.
The man asked the barkeep to ring the police and headed off saying he was going to kill the beast and bring back its body as proof. When the cops arrived, they were sent in the direction of the man, but only found his empty car on the edge of the massive 4,300 acre forest.
Search parties never found the poor man, with the case remaining a mystery to this day. Since then, claims of apelike creatures, humanoid footprints and car engines suddenly stopping have been very common.
