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Film: From the Beyond: High Strangeness in the Bennington Triangle
Year: 2026
Director: Seth Breedlove
Writer: Seth Breedlove
Starring: Nick Willard, Paul Dulski and Bob Singley
Review:
This is a documentary that I learned about thanks to Justin Cook. He reached out with the press release and since there was a screener available, I agreed to watch for review. If you’ve read any of these reviews, then you know that I’m a fan of Seth Breedlove and the Small Town Monsters team. They put out these docs about lesser known cryptids or strange areas so this one was another that I came in knowing nothing.
Synopsis: Since the mid-1900s, rural Vermont's Glastonbury Mountain has hosted bizarre phenomena ranging from UFOs and ghosts to unsolved disappearances. This documentary investigates these enduring mysteries, seeking to explain the mountain's inexplicable history and the fate of the missing.
We start this with a cold open involving Dr. Robert Singley. He is telling a story about how he decided to go on a hike, lost track of time and then it got dark. This was disorienting as he couldn’t have gone as far as it turned out that he did. This is a story that will bookend as we hear more as the final segment.
Set in southern Vermont, the "Bennington Triangle" is a term coined by local author Joseph Citro. Citro based his fictional stories on regional folklore. This ill-defined area includes parts of the Green and Glastonbury Mountains, encompassing the former towns of Glastonbury and Somerset. Notably, these are the only two towns in the state to have been unincorporated due to depopulation.
This does relay the history about why this happened. The lumber industry brought people and helped these places build up. When that died out, there was an attempt to make this into a tourist area due to the nearby mountain. They tried to install a tram, but when flooding ruined the work, they elected to give up.
Regional anomalies include local legends of "man-eating" rocks that consume those who step on them. Theories suggest these stones might be sentient or act as portals to other dimensions, potentially explaining the disorientation and lost time reported by Dr. Shipley. Additionally, the area contains numerous mysterious rock cairns of unknown origin, with even local Native Indian tribes unable to identify their creators.
Then other things that are brought up from the people interviewed would be a tale of a haunted house. There have been odd lights floating, which could be ghosts or aliens. This area also has a sasquatch like creature that is referred to as the Bennington Monster. Sightings of this fall in line with bigfoot elsewhere, like catching a glimpse while driving just off the road. Others heard what sounded like a baby crying, terrifying hikers.
I’ll then give my disclaimer here. Since I cannot prove or disprove anything in this documentary, that leaves me in the middle. I don’t fully believe there isn’t a logical explanation for all these things, but since I cannot provide it, then I won’t discredit anything that is said.
Where I’ll then shift is to say that this is once again a professional documentary. It looks and sounds good. There is an array of people that are interviewed who either have compiled stories, like Paul Bartholomew. Many of them do have an encounter of their own as well. The cinematography and framing are good. I do like the editing to show different areas or maps to help visualize what they’re talking about. That is all well done and what keeps me coming back to this film team’s documentaries.
Overall, this is a professionally produced documentary that explores the enduring mysteries of rural Vermont’s Glastonbury Mountain. Director Breedlove presents an array of accounts, ranging from UFO sightings and a sasquatch-like Bennington Monster to theories of “man-eating” rocks and lost time. The film’s strong cinematography, framing, and excellent editing make it a highly engaging investigation. This attention to professional details is what keeps me as a dedicated fan of the Small Town Monsters team.
My Rating: 6.5 out of 10