0:00

M Bridgewater is a production

0:02

of I Heart Radio three D audio and Grim

0:04

and Mild from Aaron Monkey. For a

0:06

full exposure, listen with headphones.

0:09

Listener discretion advised. And

0:18

I'm trapped here. I've been

0:21

trapped. The things

0:23

are fitting out. It's it's opening

0:25

again. And

0:34

I'm trapped here. I've been

0:37

trapped. The things

0:39

are fitting out. It's it's opening again.

0:43

What are you trying to tell me? Thomas Nana,

0:48

Hey, morning baby? What

0:51

was that? Mm hmm just

0:53

a message? Why did it sound

0:55

like that? Mm hmmm? Bad connection?

0:57

I guess may

1:00

used that you've been using the same machine for like

1:02

a hundred years. You really

1:04

need to get a real phone, Nana. Okay,

1:08

I have a real phone. Well, I

1:10

mean like an iPhone or something.

1:13

Ethan, I have a cell phone. It

1:16

just doesn't work out here, whatever,

1:19

whatever. Okay, do you sleep

1:21

Okay? Yeah, kind

1:23

of. I don't know. The

1:25

cell is kind of always freaks me out, it

1:28

does. It's just

1:31

so quiet, it's peaceful.

1:35

Yes, Well, plus you love

1:37

the quiet. That's what camping is. Aren't

1:39

you spending all of next weekend sleeping in the

1:42

woods. First quiet is way

1:44

different than house quiet. Got

1:46

it? High game was fun

1:49

though, right, Yeah, yeah,

1:52

can can we go home now?

1:56

Of course, m

2:36

Um. I just wanted to say thank you for

2:39

agreeing to do this, and I'm

2:41

I'm sorry about yesterday. No,

2:43

I'm sorry. I should

2:45

never have snapped at you like that. It's just I

2:48

don't know. I guess it's been a very long, very strange

2:51

week. Yeah, you can say

2:53

that again. I've had to think about

2:55

so many things that I haven't thought about in years.

2:58

It's jarring, I know,

3:00

And I never want to treat this all so

3:03

callously, you know, finding your dad's

3:05

badge, it just it must

3:07

have been traumatic, and I'm sorry for

3:09

making it into fodder for work so stupid.

3:13

No, honestly, you didn't. It's I'm

3:16

right there with you. Really. It's opened up

3:18

some interesting avenues areas of research that

3:20

we haven't been looking at before. And you're

3:23

not wrong. A nonfiction

3:25

book is probably going to be a lot more

3:27

appealing to people if there's

3:29

some kind of central

3:32

story, you know, I

3:36

don't know. At the very least, the

3:38

police files are going to be very

3:40

useful primary sources. Still,

3:43

I'm sorry for getting carried away.

3:45

Honestly, I was just the same when I was your age. Fascinated

3:48

and excited about the uncannyness of

3:50

America and you're

3:53

not. Now, no

3:55

I am. It's just, you

3:57

know, you get old, some of the luster gets lost.

4:00

I have to say, it's been nice to have someone to talk to

4:02

about all this though. Honestly,

4:05

thank you, of course. I'm

4:08

I'm always here you. I appreciate

4:11

that. I don't

4:13

really have well, you know me,

4:16

you know, I'm a consummate bachelor. So

4:19

but you have people to talk to, like,

4:22

um, you know, there's

4:24

uh, there's your mom.

4:26

I'm sure she has a lot to say about all

4:29

of this. Yeah, not

4:31

really not. Actually, we've

4:33

just never never been that close.

4:37

I can't believe that I let you talk me into this on a

4:39

Saturday. I just think

4:41

that if we have an opportunity to find out

4:44

about those symbols, then you know,

4:46

we know what they are. They're not sense from a cult,

4:49

yeah, but but if you figure out what it means, then

4:51

we can find out where they're gathering.

4:56

Yeah. It's really not the best name

4:58

for a group, is it. No? Not

5:00

really, Although I wouldn't expect much from a group

5:03

of people that believes there are spirits on the

5:05

other side of some veil. I

5:07

think you just offended anyone who believes in

5:09

any religion. Well,

5:13

probably wouldn't be the first time. So

5:16

how do you know this girl? This

5:18

girl, well, she goes to

5:20

the college. We

5:23

were in the same statistics class

5:25

a few years ago. Um,

5:27

I think she's a senior now. Yeah, I'm pretty sure

5:30

she's a senior now. And she

5:32

speaks Wapanah Pretty sure,

5:34

Yeah, you're pretty sure.

5:37

Well, you know, her dad is Wapanag

5:39

and I think she learned some when

5:41

she was younger. She's

5:44

really really smart, and

5:47

she seemed totally up to help us

5:49

out. And I figured we could

5:51

explain the whole thing in person, you know, just

5:54

really look at each other and just explain it.

5:57

I see, got

5:59

it. Oh, here we are, m

6:04

What did you say? Her last name was why

6:16

God, come in, Come in out

6:19

of the rain, Jeremy

6:23

Bradshaw, as I live

6:25

and breathe.

6:29

How have you been, Joe good

6:31

good? What the hell

6:33

are you doing here? Well? Um,

6:37

Olivia said it might be okay if I came

6:39

by. Oh, oh,

6:42

I didn't realize she was dating anyone.

6:45

No, No, I'm not, I'm

6:47

not we're not. No, we

6:50

just we went to college together.

6:53

The college you teach at yes,

6:56

yeah, and I never I don't. I don't

6:58

think I ever had Olivia as student. So

7:01

what are you doing here? How do

7:03

you two? Well, it's a it's a bit random,

7:06

I know, but um a

7:09

vipen here's my t A and I'm

7:12

working on a book

7:14

about the Bridgewater Triangle. That's

7:16

right, you're a folklore professor.

7:19

Come on, let's sit down. We

7:27

wanted to ask Olivia about some wampanock

7:29

symbols we found. Oh

7:31

oh yeah, liv knows a little bit

7:33

of the language. She's upstairs working.

7:36

Let me go grab her. Please sit

7:38

down? S it? Um,

7:43

So you guys were friends in high

7:45

school? No, I know, Um,

7:48

I wouldn't say we were friends. A friend

7:50

friend might be putting a little strong. Joe

7:53

and I were what do you guys call it?

7:56

We were a friend of mis I think,

7:59

I promise you no one calls

8:01

it that. I

8:04

love that you're training me to be cool.

8:06

It been, um, well, whatever

8:08

you want to call it. I guess we

8:10

were kind of school rivals, and keikot

8:12

valedictorian over me, and then I scored

8:15

better on the S A T S. And

8:17

then we both went to Harvard. Gotcha

8:20

one of those rivalries. That never has

8:22

a winner. I don't

8:24

know. If Joseph has a lovely wife

8:27

and two kids and this

8:29

big house, I U, I

8:32

wouldn't say there wasn't a winner. She'll

8:36

be down in a few That girl

8:39

works harder than anyone in the family.

8:42

She's still a student, isn't she h?

8:45

But she also works freelance doing cybersecurity

8:48

for some local businesses. Of

8:51

course she does very impressive. But

8:54

how about you. You're

8:56

writing a book. Yeah,

9:00

I'm about halfway through the manuscript. It's all

9:02

about the legend and folklore of the Bridgewater

9:04

Triangle. Oh well,

9:07

I would have thought you had a WAPAG contact

9:09

already. If you're writing a book on the region. Oh,

9:12

I do you know you

9:14

should talk to Layard. She's

9:16

my contact. Of

9:20

course. I should have never doubted your academic

9:22

fastidiousness. So

9:25

what can Olivia do for you that Layard

9:28

can't. Do you recognize

9:30

this rock? Should

9:33

I recognize a rock? It's

9:35

in Freetown Forest. I

9:37

don't spend much time there, not since

9:40

we were kids. Anyway, do you

9:42

recognize any of the symbols on it?

9:45

The second photo right here is zoomed

9:47

in. AH,

9:50

looks like maybe a word for water,

9:53

and this might be sunrise

9:56

or sunset, so it

9:58

is in wa a knock. I

10:01

don't know. It's not any grammar

10:03

structure I recognize, and it

10:05

doesn't seem to be wholly accurate.

10:07

But then again, I don't speak the language.

10:10

No, one does, not really, not until

10:12

Laird started bringing it back, which

10:15

again leads to the question,

10:18

why are you here instead of talking to her? Well,

10:21

this isn't really something that I wanted to bother her.

10:23

When why Well,

10:25

um, I guess it's not strictly speaking, a

10:27

scholarly pursuit. What's

10:30

going on, Jeremy.

10:34

I know this is going to sound a

10:36

little crazy, but we

10:39

think that there might be a cult in the woods and

10:41

that they're using these symbols to communicate

10:43

with each other. What

10:47

have you heard of the gathering? No?

10:51

I haven't. Wow, that's that's

10:53

the name of the cult. These symbols have appeared

10:56

near asson at Ledge in the last few days, and we're

10:58

just we're trying to figure out what they say.

11:01

And you didn't want to show on actual linguist

11:03

a bastardized version of her language

11:05

that a bunch of cultists are using to talk

11:07

to each other. Yeah, something

11:10

like that. I

11:13

don't blame you the people

11:15

that tell stories about the woods, that believe

11:17

something mystical is there. Half

11:19

the time it's a bunch of white people taking

11:22

our legends and turning them into ghost

11:24

stories. M hmm. Do

11:26

you know why we even have any of our language

11:29

left? Why didn't it die with

11:31

the last Natives speaker a hundred and fifty years

11:33

ago? There's a Christian Bible

11:36

written in Wampanog. Colonizers

11:38

wrote it so they could convert us to their

11:40

religion, civilize us.

11:43

Yikes, that sounds like

11:45

the early settlers already. I'm

11:48

assuming the gathering isn't a Native American

11:50

group. No, no,

11:53

not not that I know of. Well,

11:55

then this looks like more of the same non

11:58

native folks using our culture to

12:00

promote their own. Well I'm

12:03

I'm not advocating for it

12:05

and not trying to do any

12:07

co opting here or just trying

12:10

to figure out what it says. But why, Joe,

12:14

are you lecturing somebody on Algonquin history again?

12:18

Oh?

12:20

M Jeremy, Hi,

12:23

Shelly, I

12:26

didn't know you were coming over. I would have

12:29

Oh god, no, no, no, I didn't know I

12:31

was coming over either. I just dropped

12:33

in unexpectedly. I'm so glad to see you

12:35

though. Yeah, me too, Helles

12:38

have been ah

12:41

geez, five years

12:43

at least the last high school

12:45

reunion probably right. Yeah,

12:48

yeah, that's right. So how

12:50

are you? I'm good, I'm

12:52

good. Um, this is my t

12:54

a Vippin. Hi. It's nice

12:57

to meet you. I went to college

12:59

with your daughter or ma'am. Oh,

13:02

how nice? Yeah, I

13:04

I didn't realize that Professor Bradshaw

13:06

went to high school with her parents only

13:10

in a small town. Huh, I'm sorry,

13:12

I'm I'm sure Olivia has mentioned your she

13:14

just oh I doubt it. I

13:17

really doubt it. Oh,

13:20

hey, hippen right, yes

13:23

we have you remember Professor Bradshaw,

13:26

don't you. I'm

13:28

not sure we ever met. Actually,

13:31

I went to high school with your dad. Cool

13:34

so hippin Yeah, I'm hipp whipping

13:37

coroner from yes Statistics.

13:39

I know. Also email yesterday right

13:42

right from yesterday? You

13:45

still work at the college, right? Yeah?

13:48

Wow? Yeah, I am actually Professor

13:50

bradshaw'st t Heny. You guys

13:52

have some kind of project do you want my help on? Yeah?

13:55

If you have time to spare, would appreciate

13:57

it. Sure I can. Hello.

14:02

Hey, we're all in here. Oh,

14:04

I'm sorry. I didn't know that you were having guests.

14:06

We can No, it's all right, it's it's

14:08

just my mother. Hi,

14:11

sweetie, how is hiking? It

14:14

was good? This is our youngest. Nice

14:17

to meet you.

14:18

Ere you ready

14:20

for the big camping trip next weekend? Definitely?

14:24

Nana didn't tell you any scary stories,

14:26

did she No, Nana

14:28

did not. Oh,

14:31

this is my mother and mom

14:34

this is that's okay, Shelly.

14:36

We already know each other. Bradshaw.

14:40

He an you do how

14:44

well? AND's been helping

14:46

me with some local research for my book,

14:48

crime statistics, paranormal reports

14:50

and that sort of stuff. Right,

14:54

and Hi, it's so nice

14:57

to meet you. I've heard a lot about

14:59

you. You must be Vivin that's

15:01

right. So that means

15:04

you're Olivia's grandmother.

15:07

I can't believe you have grandkids.

15:10

Well, no need to sound so surprised,

15:12

Bradshaw. No, it's just I

15:14

thought you said you weren't good with kids. She's

15:17

not well. Listen, should we do this thing?

15:19

Or what? What thing? We

15:22

were hoping Olivia could help us translate

15:24

some symbols? Would these happen

15:26

to be the symbols you found on a

15:28

rock near San at Ledge. He

15:32

don't tell me that that's what you're doing

15:34

here. I'm dropping off my grandson. Actually,

15:37

kid, I was hoping you could help me with a little

15:39

something. Is it weird? Isn't

15:41

it always? No? Mhmm

15:44

oh, I'm just teasing, Shelly.

15:47

I've put all that paranormal business behind

15:49

me. So

16:14

you like computers, sorry,

16:18

just you've got a lot of

16:21

computers. And yeah,

16:23

I'm a computer science major, remember right,

16:26

right, Yeah, I'm

16:28

more of a book guy myself. That's

16:31

not why you're carrying around actual photos. Yeah,

16:34

I like to be able to mark them up, and you

16:36

know you can do that on your phone, right. So

16:40

what do you need Olivia's help with?

16:43

Why the hell do you care? Well, I'm

16:45

trying to actually find out real information

16:48

and not dig up supernatural skeletons. Neither,

16:51

am I. But explain to me why

16:53

exactly Petrick lifts carved this week?

16:55

Would be good information for your history book

16:58

because it shows the hold that

17:00

these old legends have on this area's

17:03

consciousness. The same could be

17:05

said for Thomas's badge, a forty year old disappearance

17:08

was able to catch the attention of the Internet.

17:10

A very tiny portion of the

17:13

Internet. Still, that's

17:15

why I'm here the reddit post.

17:17

I want to know who made it, what else

17:19

they might know? Do you think they'd actually

17:21

be useful, more useful than

17:23

me? This isn't Wampanock, is

17:27

not really. It's like whoever wrote

17:30

it has seen some Wapanock before, but it's

17:32

just doing it by memory. I'm not sure

17:34

it really translates to anything. Your

17:36

dad said that it um maybe said

17:39

something about water or sunrise,

17:42

could be those symbols there

17:44

could be for curtain and beginning,

17:46

but it's not the actual Wampanock

17:49

language. It looks like it's taken from

17:51

a couple of different cultures, but I don't know.

17:53

I'm not an expert, and whoever carved

17:55

these clearly isn't either onto

17:58

what I know. You know, your dad was always

18:00

good at computers too. He

18:03

took it up before it was cool, Yeah,

18:05

and he loves lording it over me being the o G

18:07

hacker. I don't want to go into cybersecurity

18:10

like him, though. I thought that's what you were

18:12

doing now, yeah, just to pick up some extra

18:14

cash. It's not long term. May I ask

18:17

Olivia, what do you want to

18:19

do? I don't know. Something more interesting.

18:22

That's why I like helping Ann out with her weird little

18:24

projects. So you're into this Bridgewater

18:26

Triangle stuff like an No, not

18:28

really, at least not the weird old myths

18:30

in this town. People used to create narratives about

18:33

people like me. But Internet myth

18:35

that stuff I can get into. What's

18:38

internet myth? Yeah? You know slender

18:40

Man, Polybius, oh,

18:43

the elevator game, Momo. I

18:45

have no idea what you're saying. You

18:47

have to keep up with the times, Bradshaw.

18:50

Are you telling me that you know what? Momo

18:53

is a half bird, half woman

18:55

who tells you to kill yourself. Are

18:57

you serious? Is she serious? The

19:00

Internet is a very dark place. Okay.

19:03

The author of the Reddit post about your dad's badge

19:06

is one Katie Frank's.

19:09

Of course, anyone know who that is?

19:12

No no idea? Is she local? Yep?

19:15

Wait, you know her, professor

19:18

Bradshaw does, and

19:20

you do too, Miss Becker. What

19:24

it's that hiker you scared with the missing friend?

19:26

That that's Katie Frank's. Uh

19:29

yeah, it all makes sense now. Mike said that there was

19:31

a frequent poster who

19:33

had a partner on the force. What

19:36

are you talking about? Officer

19:38

Batista. What.

19:41

Yeah, she came to me the other night to tell me about her girlfriend,

19:43

Katie, and as symbols on the rock, she says,

19:45

it's some kind of communication for the cult, and it's

19:47

a way they tell each other where they're

19:49

going to meet up. The cop isn't

19:52

a cult. Oh, we don't

19:54

know it's a cult. Well

19:56

it is a cult, but I don't think the cop is

19:58

in it. It's her girlfriend. It's all very

20:00

complicated. Katie Frank's

20:02

the hiker. Then

20:05

why are you talking to me if you know someone

20:07

who knows the code? No, no, Katie

20:09

doesn't know the code. She's not Inner

20:12

Circle. Oh that's creepy.

20:16

Why didn't you call me? And this really

20:18

isn't any of your business. I've been poring

20:21

over the same files for the past forty years

20:23

and this just gets dropped into your lap and you don't

20:25

even bother to tell me. I don't see

20:27

why this is important to you. If the gathering

20:29

is back, that's extremely important.

20:32

You said they were harmless. That doesn't mean

20:34

they're clueless. They could have

20:36

information. Um, guys,

20:39

this doesn't look very harmless to me. What

20:42

is it is

20:44

that Katie's private email

20:47

is that ethical? Is

20:49

human sacrifice ethical? What

20:53

this isn't Katie's email? It's a protected

20:55

account. What does that mean? It

20:57

just means it's anonymous and really hard to trace. I

21:00

p F anyone can buy one. They're not inherently

21:03

suspicious. I

21:05

think having an untraceable anonymous

21:07

email is pretty suspicious. I

21:09

have one why But

21:13

the point is I went into Katie's

21:15

email, scant her contact for addresses

21:17

from certain email providers once that

21:19

sell protected accounts, and found

21:21

a center who I think might be in the inner

21:23

circle. This is their inbox.

21:26

Wait wait, so so you did all of that

21:29

just now? Yep? Wow?

21:34

So does that mean that you know who's in the inner

21:36

circle? Now? No? But

21:38

I think I know how you can find out how.

21:41

This email is talking about a meeting

21:43

of the gathering, one that is preparing

21:45

for the ultimate sacrifice. And

21:48

you think that means human sacrifice.

21:51

Kind of sounds like it, don't you think? But you

21:53

know how? People aren't Reddit though, right, They

21:56

talk a lot of crap. This

21:58

isn't Reddit. This is several

22:00

anonymous people communicating about

22:02

meeting. There are specifics, what

22:05

specifics The meeting is

22:07

happening in Hackamox Swamp tonight.

22:15

It really is a small world, isn't it. That

22:19

is the night time you've said that in the past hour.

22:22

It's just strange. That's all strange

22:25

that I have a family. Well, okay,

22:28

I don't spend as much time with them as i'd

22:30

like my daughter and I won't. It's

22:33

complicated. You and Olivia

22:35

seem close though. M Yeah,

22:38

we've come to an agreement. She's

22:41

a real good kid, as smart as a whip, but motivated.

22:43

I think it's because

22:45

she's bored. I tried to give her projects and

22:48

hacking into our reddit posters, private email as

22:50

a productive project. Does

22:52

this far? Didn't it this far? And what

22:55

we're grasping at straws, we're chasing down what's

22:57

probably a group of benign weirdos.

23:00

If you think they're so benign, then

23:03

while the nervous chatter nor,

23:05

I'm not doing that. I don't do that right.

23:07

Okay. Your dad was the same

23:10

way. When he wasn't sure what to expect,

23:12

he just talk and talk and talk and talk, like controlling

23:14

what he said meant that he'd be able to control

23:17

everything else too. I don't

23:19

try to control everything. No,

23:21

you just dedicate your entire profession

23:24

to explaining the unexplainable because

23:26

you hate being right. Just because

23:28

I like being right doesn't mean I have control

23:30

issues. I can't help that I'm right. Surely

23:33

a professor of folklore understands that

23:35

the truth is a matter of perspective. What

23:37

what does that? Even? My

23:42

dear? It

23:45

sounds like chanting? Come

23:47

on, you think

23:49

that's a gathering? I don't know something?

23:55

Oh man?

23:58

And are you're right? Ship?

24:01

Are you hurt? What? What? What? What was that? No?

24:05

Idea? The wind out of me? Was

24:08

that a deal? As it's one of their

24:10

six ft tall deer? It was a person?

24:14

What's that? They

24:18

stopped? Quiet? There's

24:22

somebody here know

24:28

what? Come

24:30

on, come on, we need to do now, we need to follow them?

24:33

What? Yeah, honey,

24:35

this way? How can you? I can't

24:37

see a tempting and ship.

24:50

Bridgewater was created by Aaron Manky

24:52

and written and directed by Lauren Shipping,

24:55

with executive producers Aaron Manky,

24:57

Misha Collins, Matt Frederick and

25:00

Alex Williams, supervising producer

25:02

Trevor Young, editing and sound

25:04

designed by Trevor Young and Matt Stillo,

25:07

and music by Chad Lawson. Starring

25:10

Misha Collins as Jeremy Bradshaw,

25:12

Melissa Ponzio as Anne Becker,

25:14

Karen Sony as Vipen Corona, Lori

25:17

Allen as Nancy Collins, Cheryl

25:19

Umania as Officer Bautista, Victoria

25:22

Grace as Katie Frank's Will Wheaton

25:25

as Captain Haddock, Hillary Burton Morgan

25:27

as Shelley Hoskins, Jonathan

25:29

Joss as Joseph Hoskins, Sabra

25:32

May as Olivia Hoskins,

25:34

Samuel Marty as Ethan Hoskins,

25:36

Kristin Bauer as Celeste, and

25:38

Nathan Fillion as Thomas Bradshaw,

25:41

with additional voice acting by brigand

25:43

Snow, Andrew Nowak, Julia

25:46

Maurizawa, Jarvis Johnson

25:48

and Brielle Bresnan, Kristen dim

25:50

Curio, James Oliva, and

25:53

Leron Amil. Learn

25:55

more about the show over at Grimm and Mild

25:58

dot com slash Bridgewater. To

26:00

find more podcasts from I heart Radio

26:02

on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

26:04

or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,

26:07

and as always, thanks for listening