Bennington College

Instead of a high schooler, we're talking about a college student.

So she's a student at Bennington College in Vermont in 1946.

So the year she got accepted, which was the year before, she was just one of 150 women accepted that year.

And Paula desperately wanted to study art.

What is it? there to say about our friend and colleague and a frequent convention and podcast guest that John probably hasn't already said about himself.

Now, John was born in Pennsylvania and has an extensive theater background after getting his degree at Bennington College in Vermont.

His film debut came in 1988 with the movie Seven Hours to Judgment, and TV and film roles followed constantly, keeping John busy throughout the 90s and 2000s and beyond.

Now, he will be the first to tell you that he plays an inordinate number of perverts and murderers and various assorted criminals, but there are other roles that dot his long career.

Despite an extensive military-led search, the only trace of Rivers ever found was a single, ink-stained handkerchief discovered near a trail the following spring.

The mystery deepened exactly one year later on December 1, 1946, with the disappearance of 18-year-old Paula Jean Weldon, a sophomore at Bennington College.

Weldon set out for a brisk afternoon hike along Vermont's famous Long Trail wearing a highly visible bright red parka.

Several witnesses reported seeing her walking along the trail, but she never returned to her dorm.

Maybe you've heard of the book, The Haunting of Hill House.

It was written in 1959 by Shirley Jackson, and supposedly the inspiration behind that book is Jennings Hall on the campus of Bennington College in Vermont.

It's an old stone mansion that now serves as a music building, and students have reported strange things that have happened there.

One of the stories involves music coming from rooms where no one could be found.

Whether Jennings Hall actually inspired the haunting of Hill House remains uncertain, but it's easy to see why people have made that connection.

Jennings Hall is on an active college campus, so there isn't a place where you should expect to book a ghost tour or wander inside whenever you like.

If you want to see it for yourself, check with Bennington College about access and respect any campus restrictions.

Or you could read the book, The Haunting of Hill House.

He is one of the lucky ones.

This exact spot is where Paula Weldon, a Bennington College sophomore, was last seen alive 62 years ago.

There's something about random inclement weather in these cases.

Kind of like Mother Nature is playing a game.

The very next year, on Sunday, December 1, 1946, an 18-year-old college student named Paula Weldon went missing while hiking in the same area around Long Trail Road.

Easily remembered because she was wearing a bright red jacket, several people recalled seeing her that day, including a shop clerk in Bennington who had provided her with directions and also a couple of elderly hikers who had been approximately 300 feet behind her on the trail for part of their hike.

The alarm was sounded when the college sophomore didn't show up the next morning for her classes at Bennington College.

An extensive search was launched by local authorities and included more than 1,000 volunteer searchers.