It’s no coincidence “The Bridgewater Triangle” documentary is premiering in October when even the most level-headed sceptic has been known to seek out a good old-fashioned spine-chilling thrill.

 

“People who aren’t even necessarily paranormal enthusiasts are interested in spooky things this time of year,” said Aaron Cadieux, co-producer and co-director with Manny Famolare. Two years in the making, the documentary will premiere Sunday, Oct. 20 at 2 p.m. in the UMass-Dartmouth main auditorium. 

In 1983, Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman published his book “Mysterious America,” in which he describes a 200-square-mile region “with a long history of paranormal activity.”

Coleman called the region the “Bridgewater Triangle” and 30 years later Cadieux and Famolare have made the first comprehensive, feature-length film exploring the fascinating and forbidding subject.

In the film’s trailer, Coleman calls the Triangle — which includes all three Bridgewaters, Raynham, Mansfield, Norton, Easton, Brockton, Taunton, Abington, Freetown and Rehoboth — a “magnet for weird phenomena.” Over the years, people have reported seeing UFOs, Bigfoot, ghostly panthers, giant birds, fiendish dogs, a disappearing hitchhiker and unexplained disembodied lights and noises, and that’s just a sampling of the eerie goings-on.

Cadieux and Famolare approached the project from a “journalistic” perspective, presenting the evidence and letting the viewers decide for themselves the explanation. For his part, Cadieux is a paranormal sceptic and professional filmmaker, who loves a good ghost story and whose favorite holiday has always been Halloween.

Famolare, on the other hand, is more inclined to believe in a world beyond what science can explain.

A lifelong East Bridgewater resident, the Brewster paramedic grew up at the center of the Triangle hearing eerie tales about the region and developed a keen interest in such mysteries.

When he was a little boy of just 6 or 7, he remembers a family friend talking about birds vanishing over Lake Nippenicket. At the time, he had a VHS camera half the size of a dining room table and was already determined to make a movie on the subject.

Thirty years later, Famolare is proud to be part of a professional filmmaking crew he considers top-notch.

“I hope when people see it they will be very surprised at the production quality. It’s not just people running around the woods with video cameras,” Famolare said.