Dark Woods: Cults, Crime, and the Paranormal in the Freetown State Forest, Massachusetts

by Christopher Balzano

Throughout its long history, Freetown, Massachusetts, has been a hotbed of criminal and supernatural occurrences in the town's State Forest. This is the first account of how its darker side connects hauntings with violent crime and local cults. Native American ghosts roam here and evil lurks, making the forest a haven for nasty creatures (the Pukwudgies). A witch looks for favors from young men, satan cults thrive, and killers kill. Read first-hand accounts from police officials and criminals about the forest. Learn why hauntings continue today. Many come here to enjoy the beauty of Freetown State Forest; these are the stories of those who cannot leave.

Genres: Folklore, Paranormal

176 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2007

Reviews

[EJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I took a star off for something the author couldn't reeaaaalllly control. But let it serve as a warning to all who enter here! The editing on this. Is. Wretched. The worst. Misspellings, no justification, run on sentences. It was utterly distracting through the entire book. Which is a real shame, because really, the book itself, as in, it's content, was pretty good.

I read this book in preparation for a haunted roadtrip and the Freetown Forest was a perfect place to take my trembling friends. Tales run the gamut between ghosts to monsters to Native American legends. Balzano does a great job of being objective and relaying stories that he's dug up from real people. I have always thought that something that's intended to be frightening should have a basis in reality. Thinking it could happen, makes it scary.

If you can get past the wretched editing, you'll be rewarded with a great collection of stories from a truly beautiful, eerie, and uneasy part of Massachusetts.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I often hike Freetown state forest and figured I would read this book to gather a better understanding of ongoings throughout the forest. I appreciated eyewitness accounts contained within various chapters; as well as the pictures associated with related accounts. I also valued the author’s inclusion of documented & publicized crimes that have occurred within the forest boundaries. I was able to finish this book in less than 24 hours because I found the content so intriguing. Toward the end of the book, the author made mention of other titles that contain information relative to crimes that occurred within Freetown state forest. I found the authors inclusion of other titles useful to those who would like to read further about this topic. While the book contains information that is eye-opening and useful, there were multiple misspelled words and grammatical errors. The grammatical errors were off-putting because I did value the content. Overall an easy read, I would recommend for anyone who resides in MA, frequents the forest or who enjoys works containing information about paranormal occurrences/cults.

[Jandro · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have had this book on my shelf for years. Now with the quarantine, I have all kinds of extra time to start clearing books of my "to read" pile. This one was rough. The content is interesting, but the presentation is bad. I don't think this book had an editor other than a spell-check. The words were often spelled correctly, but were the incorrect homonym. I hope later editions (if there were any) corrected the incredible number of typos. I am a high school teacher by day and it took ALL of my faculties to not reach for my green correcting pen.

[Tavia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I give this book 1 1/2 stars. There are so many grammatical errors. I don't think the author had anyone even look at his book. He even calls Aleister Crowley Alster Crowley at one point, writing the name out more how it sounds instead of how it is actually spelled. I found one or two of the stories to be spooky. The rest was just not well written or deserving to be in this book.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was chosen by one of my students to read. I support a High School Life Skills class. The students in this room are not good readers. They were all excited about this book because of our close proximity to where all these events take place. It was lovely for the kids to be so excited about this, and actually look forward to reading it! Thank you.

[Mario Pimental · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eesh, grammatical errors abound in this one. It's reads like a third-party website for the paranormal. At least a few of the stories were intriguing, but this material has been handled better by other sources.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting topic, boring book.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

A volume of tales from the nearby Freetown forest. While one or two of the crimes was not familiar to me, this book will probably only interest someone who is completely unfamiliar with local stories or tales of ghosts.

It's full of both weasel words (which makes some sense because many of the events described are impossible to believe) and elevates the dreams of some of its contributors to the same level as actual experiences they claim to have.

I gave this review an extra star because it promotes interest in the local area, and is written by a local author. Some people will be really bothered by the lack of editing (it contained many of the types of errors which are not found by spell checkers) but I have no trouble putting up with that if a story is marginally creepy.

But, really, when you're reading that some boys dreamed about a witch, is that really book-worthy? Who hasn't had strange dreams?

At least it was such an easy read I never felt the need to put it down. On the bright side, I'd never heard of Pukwudgies before, mystical troll-like creatures who are said to inhabit the forest from before the time the Native Americans thrived here. Also on the bright side, the book reads as though you're hearing these stories over a beer at the local tavern, with not much more investigative rigor.

I appreciated that, from time to time, the author admits you need to ignore all sorts of plausible explanations to believe some of the stories. I agree wholeheartedly. I would say this book might be good for budding local skeptics to cut their teeth on, examining just how vague a claim can be, and how wild writers can get with their suggestions that (to paraphrase) emotional energy can punch a hole from this universe into another.

I've heard so much of it before, if not specifically happening in Freetown and southeastern Massachusetts. Perhaps I should not expect much from a book on the paranormal. If that is the case, then neither should you; perhaps seek out a book from which you can expect more. I was mildly entertained, but you probably will not be unless you're quite gullible or easily spooked.

[Christine Whittington · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have only read about 30 pages so far, and already two hysterical errors: one reference to the "dewy decimal system" and another to "antidotal evidence."

Update: the editing/word usage errors continued throughout this book, including confusion of scared, sacred, scarred and too many others to mention. Did Mr. Balzano not have an editor, or even proofread his own work? It is especially frightening that he is apparently a teacher, according to comments on one of his YouTube videos.

Mr. Balzano is all over the place, a paranormal/true crime omnivore, with references to a variety of paranormal concepts, including the ubiquitous "Indian burial ground," pugwudgies, geomancy, EVP, etc., and ending with a section on a satanic cult conspiracy.

It is interesting that the Freetown State Forest has attracted a variety of unusual experiences. You can find other websites and YouTube videos about it, including it as part of the Bridgewater Triangle. You can also see Mr. Balzano's YouTube videos about phenomena in the area.

[Ian Massey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grammatical errors abound, the author would often begin a thought only to move on to something different in the next sentence or paragraph without fully fleshing it out.and what appears to be a misuse of certain words simply because they sound similar to what would have been the correct term. Other than that, it's a good book, an easy read, and worth a look to anyone interested.