Everyone loves a good ghost story. That’s what makes authors like Stephen King, Bentley Little and Robert R. McCammon so popular. A strong New England superstition and a history that goes back to the very beginnings of this country and that includes the Revolutionary War make Connecticut an ideal location for ghosts and haunts.
We continue our tour of “These Haunted States of America” in Connecticut. “The Nutmeg State” is home to 3,405,565 people, as well as the White Lady, a spectral black dog, a pair of star-crossed lovers and the ghost of little Lottie of Saybrook Woods.
1. CORNWALL: Dudleyville
Dudleyville was first settled in 1738 by the William Dudley family, but the area proved to be too harsh for farming, so they turned to charcoal production from the surrounding pine trees, and it proved to be profitable, though it lasted on a few decades. Odd accidents, suicide and insanity beset the residents of Dudleyville and soon those in the surrounding communities viewed those from Dudleyville with great suspicion. The area gained a cursed reputation and soon no one wanted to live there. Today, modern Wiccans hold annual festivals and ceremonies in Dudleyville and it is said that “sensitive individuals” can still feel the dark forces behind Dudleyville’s demise. Them area around the defunct town is considered a “dead zone,” where birds and other animals do not go. “Recently, a film producer and a group of friends encountered a black shape rising out of an old stone foundation. As they got closer they all experienced trouble breathing, as if the life force were being sucked out of them.” Dudleyville is considered one of the most haunted locations in the United States, and so far there have been over a hundred reports of paranormal activity at the site.
2. EASTON: Union Cemetery
Visitors to this cemetery have for years reported speaking with “life-like” apparitions who walk amongst the grave and then disappear. These ghosts seem as real as a physical person before vanishing. Often, the apparitions that are met here are those who are buried here and their living acquaintances say that these apparitions “talk and behave exactly s they did when alive.” Union Cemetery is also the home of the infamous “White Lady” who has been sighted here numerous times over the last sixty years.
3. MERIDIAN: West Peak State Park
A large black and spectral dog has haunted the Hanging Hills and greeting hikers since the 1800s. According to witnesses, the dog will follow people to the top of West Peak, but leaves behind no footprints. Legend states that “the first time a person sees the dog it brings him happiness. A second sighting is a warning. The third time the dog is seen means imminent death.”
4. MONROE: Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel Cemetery
The same White Lady ghost is seen near this cemetery and at nearby Union Cemetery. Sometimes, witnesses have seen “dark, shadowy figures” trying to grab the White Lady and some believe that she is in fact Mrs. Knot, whose husband was killed in the 1940s near Easton.
5. NEW HAVEN: New Haven Harbor
In June 1648, a phantom tall ship disappeared in front of hundreds of witnesses that were gathered at the New Haven harbor. After a particularly violent summer thunderstorm, the ghost ship slid quietly into the harbor and then “vanished into a smoky cloud, which in some time dissipated, leaving, as everywhere else, clear air.” It was assumed that it was the specter of a ship that had sailed from New Haven a year earlier and was believed to be lost at sea.
6. NEW LONDON: Saybrook Woods
During the winter, the ghost of a young girl can be sometimes seen in Saybrook Woods. It is believed that she is “Lottie” who was the daughter of Elihu Enken. In the early 1700s she lived at the Wild Goose, her father’s tavern, which was once a stop along the Williamantic-Saybrook coach run. According to the story a friend of her father’s, whom locals called Old Dreary, “took a fancy” to Lottie and “witched her away.” Later that winter, locals began seeing the spirit of a young girl wearing Lottie’s blue cape roaming the Saybrook Woods, leaving a trail of blood-soaked footprints behind her. Eventually two hunters came across the young girl’s dead and decomposing body in a cave; both her arms had been broken. She was still dressed in her distinctive blue cape. Signs that she had been living in the cave were found: scraps of food and a tattered shawl were in one corner. To this day, Lottie continues to haunt Saybrook Woods during the winter leaving tiny red footprints in the white snow wherever she is seen.
7. NORTH WOODSTOCK: Lyons Tavern
This sixteen-room farmhouse and tavern dates to before the Revolutionary War, though when the Viner family came into possession of it in 1951, it was in poor condition. The family began to restore the Lyons Tavern to its former glory, however, unbeknownst to them, in the process they stirred up the spirits that were in the house. The Viners and their guests soon began hearing running footsteps in the upstairs hallway which were always “followed by two loud thumps on the floor.” The disturbances quickly grew in intensity and were accompanied by extreme cold temperatures in the upstairs hallway. No explanations were ever found. Then in 1959, Mrs. Viner was removing wallpaper in one of the upstairs rooms and found the wallboards splashed with old bloodstains. The family researched the history of Lyons Tavern and soon found out that the Tavern had been the site of a lovers argument in which the two men involved ended up killing each other. It was soon deduced that the noises that the family had been hearing was the ghostly continuation of that bloody night. Eventually, the disruptions grew to a point that the Viners’ could no longer stand living in the house and moved out in 1961. To this day no one has been able to live for long in Lyons Tavern and the house stands abandoned.
8. SOUTHINGTON: Snedecker House
When the Snedeckers moved into their new home in 1986, they had no idea it was haunted until their fourteen-year-old son began seeing “monklike apparitions” in the home. Soon, the entire family began hearing scratching sounds and disembodied whispering coming from the walls. The family soon began to encounter ghosts throughout the home, including that of an “old man in a blue suit with his eyes rolled back in his head, a young man with long black hair, and a little boy wearing Superman pajamas.” Then, the Snedecker’s eighteen-year-old daughter began to be “molested” by an “evil presence.” For several nights she would wake screaming and claiming that something had sexually assaulted her. The Snedeckers had had enough and an hours-long exorcism was performed and the house was proclaimed “clean of spirits” by a Vatican-trained demonologist. It was later discovered that the house, which was nearly a century old, had once been a funeral home and the embalming room had been located in the basement, and there was even a suspicion that necrophilia had occurred during the time the house was a funeral home.
9. STRATFORD: Phelps Mansion
Doctor Eliakim Phelps was a Presbyterian minister who had a penchant for dabbling in spiritualism. He held numerous séances liked to experiment with different ways of contacting the dead. However, his “hobby” eventually led to nearly six months of terror for his family. On March 10, 1850, the family returned from services to find the front door open and draped in black cloth. In the parlor was laid out a shrouded corpse on the table which vanished after a few minutes. The Phelps soon discovered that the vision was one Goody Bassett, who had been hanged as a witch in 1661. Later that afternoon, the family discovered their clothes laid out on their beds in a funereal manner. A week later, eleven “lifelike, life-size effigies meticulously made of stuffed clothing” were discovered. Nineteen more were discovered over the next weeks. Strange noises and moving objects plagued the Phelps’ home and Dr. Phelps invited a colleague to the home who witnessed the strange phenomena. The clergyman stayed with the Phelps for three weeks and saw, among other things, chairs and tables levitate and objects materialize out of midair. It appeared that the events centered around two of the Phelps children: twelve-year-old Harry and four-year-old Anna.
As news of the events spread, reporters, scientists, and psychics came from all across the country to see the paranormal events in the Phelps’ home. Dozens of witnesses “heard the odd knockings sounds and saw heavy objects float through the air. Some objects ‘danced’ across the floor and ‘jumped’ through windows.” Strangely, when Harry and Anna were sent to boarding school, the paranormal activity at the house stopped. More recently, in 1971 police in Stratford were investigating reports of vandalism in the old Phelps Mansion and chased a little girl into an upstairs bedroom where she … vanished.
10. TOLLAND: Daniel Benton Homestead
Daniel Benton began work on his brick- and wood-frame home in 1720. When he died in 1776, his family continued to live on the homestead for many years. Today, the site is reportedly haunted by the ghosts of two Revolutionary War soldiers. The first is a Hessian soldier, who may be one of the twenty-four Hessian mercenaries jailed in the basement. The second is reputed to be Elisha Barton who has returned to find his beloved Jemina Barrows. The two died of smallpox and are buried in the family plot. Unfortunately their graves are separated by the carriage road keeping them separated forever. Today, visitors report hearing disembodied voices and crying and unexplained rappings in the Barton Homestead.
Up Next on our Haunted Road Trip across America: “Haunted Delaware, Eighth in a Series of ‘These Haunted States of America’: 10 Haunted Places to Visit during Your Next Trip to Delaware.
