Anawan Rock

 Over the weekend I made the drive to Anawan Rock in Rehoboth, MA. I had previously only been there at night or with other people along. This time I went first thing in the morning alone, so I would have uninterrupted time there. 

Site History

On August 28th 1676, Benjamin Church and a group of soldiers captured sachem Anawan. Anawan was what we would call the war chief of the Pocasset people. After the death of Metacomet (King Philip) about 2 weeks before, Anawan succeeded him as sachem. They chose this site strategically due to its protection from the elements as well as providing some camouflage from any soldiers passing through. 

When Church found them he promised Anawan, who was then a very old man, that if he surrendered peacefully and came to Plymouth with him, his life would be spared. Anawan agreed and even presented his tribal regalia to Church including his Wampum belt. When they arrived at Plymouth, Church explained their agreement but had to leave town for several days. While he was gone, the Plymouth officials decided to not uphold the promise and executed Anawan, beheading him and displaying his head on a pike for years afterwards. This was the last event of King Philip's War.

Reported Activity 

One of the phenomenon commonly reported here is phantom fires. This has been reported in other areas of the Bridgewater Triangle, but seems to be more prevalent here. The floating balls of light (Tei-Pai-Wankas) seen all over the triangle are also spotted here. There have also been reports of full bodied apparitions and numerous EVPs.

My experience

The site itself is physically impressive. A rock in the middle of a swamp doesn't sound exciting but this is not a normal rock. The rock itself is a pudding stone. It composed of smooth stones essentially cemented together. The swamp was formed by glaciers and its believed the pudding stones were deposited here by the glacier and originally may have come from Greenland. If you have ever seen pictures, they do not do it justice and it comes across much smaller than it actually is. You can climb up to the top and get a great view of the swamp.

I found several small shrines there. At the base of a very old, moss covered tree, several quohog shells had been left. On the north side of the rock, was a small pile of stones on a ledge. On the western side of the rock where Anawan would have been camping was a small alcove in the stone which has a quohog shell that a candle had been burned on. 

I brought what little equipment I had with me. An EMF detector, pendulum and dowsing rods. There was absolutely no EMF at all on the entire site. My grandpa's dowsing rods wanted me to walk out into the swamp. Maybe there was something paranormal or maybe these rods are used to finding water since thats what my grandpa used them for. Honestly I'm by no means an expert or even experienced with them. I just used them to find my missing headphones once. User error cannot be ruled out. Then I got out my pendulum which I have more experience with. This might be strange in itself but it did not move at all. That has never happened to me. 

The most profound experience I had was just sitting quietly and reflecting on what happened there hundreds of years ago. This is one of the last physical locations left from King Philip's War and that war set the stage for how indigenous people would be treated in the country.