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OT: Haunted CT History

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UConnTrumbull

UConnTrumbull

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Im looking to create a unit of Haunted CT History to teach local history. My argument is that haunted history/ghost stories explain a lot about culture through the ways people develop and disseminate stories through word of worth.

What is your experience with this? Not saying you had to see a ghost. What kind of haunted stories are popular in your town or region of the state? Could be something well known (ie Charles Island in Milford) or something few people have heard of. Thanks!
 
I've got a bunch of people in my family that believe that kind of nonsense. I usually stop listening after a few moments.
 
The "White Lady" is said to haunt Union Cemetary off of Sport Hill Road in Easton. Back in the mid 90s when I was an undergrad, I saw the Warren's Halloween show at Jorgensen and they talked at length about her.
 
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Two of the best known are the White Lady in Union Cemetery and Ledge Light in New London. In addition, Dudleytown is pretty legendary. I'm pretty sure New Haven has a whole "Haunted Tour" as well.
 
Seventh Day Baptist Cemetery in Burlington (aka "Green Lady Cemetery"). Folks claim to see a misty green lady walking around (she went out searching for her husband in a snow storm and never came home).
 
I've heard a lot about Dudleytown as well. I don't think you can actually get to it anymore, but could be wrong. Why not go to the source. Check out www.warrens.net for the website of Ed & Lorraine Warren and their Occult Museum. Ed passed a number of years ago, but his wife and son (or son-in-law, not sure) are still active.
 
boog204 said:
Two of the best known are the White Lady in Union Cemetery and Ledge Light in New London. In addition, Dudleytown is pretty legendary. I'm pretty sure New Haven has a whole "Haunted Tour" as well.
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My Aunt is buried at Union Cemetery. I've been there numerous times just before dark and never got any weird feelings or seen anything. The upstairs of the library in Newtown is supposedly haunted by the daughter of the family that lived there. There is also a blue colonial house on the upper part of Main Street in Newtown that's supposed to be haunted. The best one I know is an old farm house in Derby on Buckingham Road. It was featured on the show 'A Haunting'. It's abandoned now. The area was supposed to be heavily populated by Native Americans until the 1600's and supposedly there is a burial ground nearby. There is also a farm on the road adjacent to it that gives you a really weird feeling. There are large boulders randomly scattered in a pasture. Just a creepy place. I encourage you to drive by the house close to dusk and judge for yourself.
 
Leebo said:
I've got a bunch of people in my family that believe that kind of nonsense. I usually stop listening after a few moments.
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Exactly. What a waste of valuable teaching time.
 
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I grew up in Stratford and Phelps Mansion was always considered haunted, with various tales handed down over the years and lots of local lore to which we probably even contributed with our stories of derring-do while walking by or riding by on our bikes.

It was during the Warrens' heyday and I remember them coming to investigate on more than one occasion. The house is long gone, but here are some websites recounting that history:

http://www.damnedct.com/phelps-mansion-stratford

http://www.prairieghosts.com/stratford.html
 
Ghost stories are very popular amongst security guards who work the grave yard shift. Use to Work at GE in Stamford Ct, and grown men wouldnt do the night tour because of the lady in the red dress (apparently she killed herself in the building and now she is stuck there). I never encountered her, but others claim they have seen her and that she is real!

The one that i was a bit scared of was an old mansion from the late 1800's in (norwalk/ rowayton). The place was turned into a hedge fund trading company and they built a modern wing on to it. However at night between 12-8am the guard on duty has to patrol the grounds at least twice. That means walking around the haunted old mansion which makes all kinds of sounds when nobody is there. Oh yea and the near by residents dont want to be disturbed by the lights of the building so at night, lights out. The place is very intimidating in the dark with with old fancy wood work, stained glass with metal art work over it (weird symbols that look evil), carvings of faces and all kinds of fancy scary in the dark art work. I worked there for a little over a year. When i gave my notice i ended up working about about 6 more weeks until they could finally find someone willing to replace me. Gaurds would show up, work a shift with me and never come back LOL. Never saw a ghost. Although i did see a huge collection of dust mites gathering in a single location that scared me a bit. I was later told that was some sort of spirit or something, not sure i buy that. Also had like an 90+ year old lady walk up to the front door and start asking if the millers were home. Said the kids were playing out back, kinda spooked me out (she was with a young man in a jeep who was kind of motioning to let me know to just go along with it).

I always though security guards would make an awesome reality tv show lol!
 
8893 said:
I grew up in Stratford and Phelps Mansion was always considered haunted, with various tales handed down over the years and lots of local lore to which we probably even contributed with our stories of derring-do while walking by or riding by on our bikes.

It was during the Warrens' heyday and I remember them coming to investigate on more than one occasion. The house is long gone, but here are some websites recounting that history:

http://www.damnedct.com/phelps-mansion-stratford

http://www.prairieghosts.com/stratford.html
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Yeah I remember attending one of their talks at Johnson Jr. High, and going through the old mansion on more than one occasion. It is amazing what the pre-adolescent mind is capable of creating with only a whisper. If I recall the History of Stratford had a chapter on the Phelps Mansion, Stratford Knockings or some such, that recounted the origins of the story. Wasn't it associated with a woman who was hanged as a witch. There's some "wonderful" results of overactive imaginations.
 
Well if you believe in fairytales like Bigfoot, God, and the Loch Ness Monster I guess you'd have to include Midnight Mary in the Evergreen Cemetary in New Haven. Some silly hocus pocus about bad things happening to people who visit her grave or something.
 
boba said:
Yeah I remember attending one of their talks at Johnson Jr. High, and going through the old mansion on more than one occasion. It is amazing what the pre-adolescent mind is capable of creating with only a whisper. If I recall the History of Stratford had a chapter on the Phelps Mansion, Stratford Knockings or some such, that recounted the origins of the story. Wasn't it associated with a woman who was hanged as a witch. There's some "wonderful" results of overactive imaginations.
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That all sounds right to me, including the "Stratford Knockings" part.

As an aside, my older brother and sister attended Johnson Jr. High; I was at Great Neck Grammar School at the time. Do you know that it's "Stratford Academy: Johnson House" now? I can still vividly remember studying their yearbooks from Johnson Jr. High, fascinated by the diversity of ethnicity, fashion and hairstyles. And I also remember them being home from school occasionally because school was closed due to "race riots." Were you there for that? I tried explaining it to my kids a few years ago and they couldn't believe it. I'd love to take a look through those yearbooks now--it would be like a time capsule.
 
Howard Fast (the author/novelist) once owned a house on Stoney Brook Road in Westport that was said to be haunted because a murder had occurred there (before he owned it). When the house was on the market a few years ago, the then-current owners had difficulty selling it because of rumors that it was haunted by the murder victim.
 
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cto44 said:
Howard Fast (the author/novelist) once owned a house on Stoney Brook Road in Westport that was said to be haunted because a murder had occurred there (before he owned it). When the house was on the market a few years ago, the then-current owners had difficulty selling it because of rumors that it was haunted by the murder victim.
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Talk about hauntings... Hi CTO!
Oh and in California, there is an obligation in all Real Estate deed transfers that the seller disclose any deaths that occurred on the property and especially in the house. Apparently this was codified as results of requests by various ethnic groups who believe in this sort of thing. My neighbor (when I lived there) told us the story of our place being the scene of a child drowning and how difficult it was to find a buyer.
 
8893 said:
That all sounds right to me, including the "Stratford Knockings" part.

As an aside, my older brother and sister attended Johnson Jr. High; I was at Great Neck Grammar School at the time. Do you know that it's "Stratford Academy: Johnson House" now? I can still vividly remember studying their yearbooks from Johnson Jr. High, fascinated by the diversity of ethnicity, fashion and hairstyles. And I also remember them being home from school occasionally because school was closed due to "race riots." Were you there for that? I tried explaining it to my kids a few years ago and they couldn't believe it. I'd love to take a look through those yearbooks now--it would be like a time capsule.
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I was a year removed from the "riots" - it occurred the year prior to my attendance. Yeah it was a wildly varied school when I attended, and completely different from Trumbull High which I attended afterward. It wasn't as bad as the people made it out to be, really just the result of typical male adolescence and our propensity for foolish violence. Much of the difficulty we faced was that very few of us were from "stable" homes. The demographic was decidedly lower middle class, and there was a great deal angst between the "haves" and "have-nots" (or have-little). And boy was it different from THS where the "haves" were the norm.
 
boba said:
I was a year removed from the "riots" - it occurred the year prior to my attendance. Yeah it was a wildly varied school when I attended, and completely different from Trumbull High which I attended afterward. It wasn't as bad as the people made it out to be, really just the result of typical male adolescence and our propensity for foolish violence. Much of the difficulty we faced was that very few of us were from "stable" homes. The demographic was decidedly lower middle class, and there was a great deal angst between the "haves" and "have-nots" (or have-little). And boy was it different from THS where the "haves" were the norm.
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I have only one word from my memory of Trumbull High School that I am sure will trigger a memory for you: Applebaum.

I didn't attend THS or live in Trumbull, but I had a few friends there at the time, and even more friends who lived in Trumbull. I've yet to meet someone who was around Trumbull in the 80s who doesn't have an Applebaum story...or ten.
 
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August_West said:
Simsbury high graduate here.

That place will always be the Chart House too me.

And the old well is always Geminis too :)
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Same here. They've changed the name of those places so many times, I can barely keep up.
 
Knock on the first house on the right before entering Stonington Village. It is brick and wooden. And very old.
Twenty five years ago, a friend lived there and swore that a woman walked through her bedroom every night. And then right through a wall. Don't know who lives there now.
 
Speaking of Trumbull, There is a road on the Easton/Monroe boarder in Trumbull that boarders the Easton reservoir called Velvet Street, or as locals call it, Dracula Drive. I have heard several accounts as to "why" it is haunted, (and none are overly plausible) but there are numerous reports of "melon heads" and the like.

Dudlytown is most assuredly off limits.....though it is so tempting to check it out. You can get very close via 2.5 roads that lead to the Dark Entry Forest (the .5 being the mohawk trail which passes along the edge of the forest) , but it is patrolled not only by police, but zealous locals who want no one trespassing. There have been countless acts of vandalism on the property and you will be arrested and prosecuted (fines) if caught. It is a very cool area however. The roads leading up to it climb over 1000 feet in about a mile, the forest is set between 3 "mt's" so it is very thick and dark at the top.

last mention is about a hidden road that goes through west rock park in Hamden called Baldwin Drive. it is maintained for bikes and pedestrians, but it isn't open to cars anymore. (only authorized vech's). at the west shepherd end, there is a path that connects to brooks road in Bethany. THe path is an abandoned road that is the alleged location of a classic "70's hook-hand, two teens in a car, murder". It is supposedly haunted as well.
 
Coach McGurk said:
but there are numerous reports of "melon heads"
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Wow, it's been decades since I've even thought about that term. But you're right--it brings me right back to those local legends about them being in the woods. Unbelievable.
 
I was at a Colonial Williamsburg ghost tour when I saw a costumed worker leave a building and sit down on a bench to the left of a house. In the half light, illuminated by a lantern it was good picture, so I walked over, steadied my camera against a post and took the shot. Shortly afterward someone walked over to her and they walked away together.

When I walked back the tour guide sacastically asked me if I had gotten a picture of a ghost that supposedly haunted the building. I told her I wasn't sure and showed her my picture. Holy-moley what a bruhaha ensued. The picture, which I admit did look a little spectral given that the worker was closer to the lantern and thus was lit more brightly than the house in the background, created quite a stir. It was amazing to me that no one realized that a costumed figure in front of building wasn't exactly earth shattering news in Williamsburg. A few were genuinely freaked out by it. The tour guide stammered 'OMG, this has never happened before' and either was a good actress or was a bit shaken by the support for her story. My wife, of course, just looked at me with her 'why do you do these things' expression, but we laugh about it now.
 
I personally think this stuff is interesting. I went to see Lorraine Warren at SCSU a few years ago and my mind was blown. Whether you believe in that stuff or not, it really makes you think. I always heard about Dudleytown and did some research. Id never try to go there because I dont want to get arrested. But what is the exact story with that place and why do people think its haunted?
 
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