Bridgewater Sunday Enterprise 10/31/99
The Bridgewater Triangle Project
Close encounters of the spooky kind are the domain of "registered
parapsychologist" Joseph DeAndrade.
by Matt Ehlers
The sign above his door identifies Joseph M. DeAndrade as a
"registered parapsychologist."
He carries a photo ID card in his wallet to prove it.
DeAndrade, 45, of Bridgewater investigates local spooky
goings-on in his spare time. From sightings of giant snakes and prehistoric birds, to UFOs and ghosts, he's checked it out and logged it in his files.
He concentrates on an area known by paranormal experts as
"The Bridgewater Triangle," a region with Abington at its top point and Rehoboth and Freetown as the bottom corners. For years it has been home to strange and otherworldly claims.
DeAndrade, a wheelchair-van driver by trade, first became interested in 1978 when he saw one of the most infamous creatures in American lore- Bigfoot.
It was a winter day. While walking in the woods with a friend near Broad Street in Bridgewater, DeAndrade got the feeling he should start paying closer attention.
"Suddenly a voice inside of me said, 'Turn around.' I said, 'why?' It said, 'Turn around and you'll
see.'"
So he did.
"It was walking very slowly, kind of like Frankenstein in a
way," said DeAndrade.
The creature, tall and furry with big shoulders and long brown hair, walked off before DeAndrade could get very close.
He later drew a picture of the creature, illustrating its broad shoulders and hair-covered face [NOTE: the drawing actually shows the back of the creature's head, the only part DeAndrade saw- CP]. Without being asked, DeAndrade waves away any notion his mind might have been clouded that day by alcohol or drugs. He disdains mind-altering substances.
"Anyone who says, 'he's on something,' they're full of
crap," he said.
DeAndrade isn't the only one who has claimed to see Bigfoot. He's logged about a half-dozen such claims over the years. In addition, people have claimed to have seen a black snake as big as a stovepipe and a pony-sized dog.
It's these and other claims that drove DeAndrade in 1992 to form the Paranormal Investigation Organization, or P.I.O. For $20 a year, members received updates from DeAndrade on sightings in the area.
The group also traded stories on what they had seen.
But DeAndrade, who gathered members through word-of-mouth referrals and fliers placed throughout the area, disbanded the group earlier this year. Membership had dwindled to a select few.
Without legitimate outside interest, "it's not worth going through all that money and that
hassle."
Plus, the work was cutting into his social life.
"I'm having a difficult time finding a girlfriend because of
this," he said.
But before the group ended, members would head out on expeditions in the triangle. They often would concentrate on the Hockomock Swamp area.
Translated as the "place where spirits dwell," the swamp was named by the Wampanoag Indians. A mass of streams, bogs and quicksand that covers many square miles in the Easton-Bridgewater-Taunton area, the swamp is full of strange occurrences, DeAndrade said.
P.I.O. literature describes the swamp as "the most dangerous
place" in the triangle.
Armed with parapsychologist credentials from a home-study detective agency, DeAndrade would lead members through the woods looking for clues. Other times he would cruise the swamp in a canoe.
On one such excursion he said he saw a turtle with a
two-foot wide shell. Another time he photographed a strange bird. But when he ot the pictures back from the processor, the bird did not appear in the photos.
DeAndrade said he understands not everyone believes his stories, but hopes people will keep an open mind.
"How can we convince someone of something who hasn't seen
anything," he said. "I don't expect to influence someone. It's something they have to experience for
themselves."
George LaCasse already has. LaCasse, 20, saw a UFO this summer in Bridgewater.
As he munched on a sandwich recently at Astro Pizza in West Bridgewater's Hockomock Plaza, LaCasse said the object appeared as a distant red light.
"It was moving all around," said LaCasse, who lives in Bridgewater.
"It was moving in shapes planes don't move."
His story spurred laughter from his co-workers, who were gathered during a lunch break.
Sean O'Grady, 23, of East Bridgewater said he wasn't sure if he believed all the stories of extra-terrestrials and strange animals.
When told the P.I.O went on expeditions in the swamp, O'Grady jumped at the opportunity.
"When are they going out there," he asked between laughter spasms.
"I'll dress up like Bigfoot."
Although he disbanded the investigative group, DeAndrade is still working to collect paranormal stories from the area. Anyone with a close encounter is welcome to write to him at: 397 High St., Bridgewater, 02324.