As one of the oldest established states, Connecticut certainly comes with no shortage in history or ghost stories. Given the state’s lengthy history, some tales span as far back as the 16th century, longer than many other current states’ own lifetimes. Despite its smaller size, Connecticut hosts a variety of supernatural phenomena that belies its size and reputation as a wealthy, distinguished place. Connecticut urban legends include everything from ghosts, UFOs, fairy folk, and curses, to mutated freaks and demon dolls. A state famous for many deaths as well, Connecticut possesses no shortage of grim content to curdle your blood and raise the hairs on your skin.
The Constitution State hosts an entire collection of cursed and haunted objects at the famous Occult Museum, established by demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren. Some ghost stories from Connecticut have inspired books and horror films like The Haunting in Connecticut, based on the real-life haunting of the Snedeker family. This list explores some common legends and ghost stories passed around in creepy Connecticut. So before you make your way to this East Coast state, know that this was your warning.
The Dudleytown Curse
Dudleytown, also known as the “Village of the Damned,” is considered cursed because of its connection with the Dudley family, who moved to the town in the 1740s and had such an influence that the place took their name as its own. According to local legend, the Dudley cursed can be traced back to England, when Edmund Dudley was beheaded by King Henry VIIa and his son plotted to overthrow Edward VI and was also beheaded. Another Dudley caught the plague while in the military and spread the disease to thousands of soldiers and civilians. A scourge was put on the descendants of the Dudleys in America, ensuring death and tragedy would follow them – leading to murder, suicide, and unnatural deaths in Dudleytown, CT. Dudleytown seemed to be a magnet for freak occurrences. The town featured an unusual amount of disappearances, cases of insanity, and bizarre deaths. Around 1759, a mysterious plague swept through the town and took the lives of many.
Allegedly, General Herman Swift, who had served under George Washington in the Revolutionary War, had lived in Dudleytown. In 1804, his wife Sarah Faye, was struck by lightning and killed instantly on their front porch. Because of her death, the General himself lost his mind and soon passed away.
John Patrick Brophy was one of the last residents of the town in the late 1800s or early 1900s. Many had already moved away, died, or simply vanished. The Brophy family seemed to become the curse’s new focus. Starting with the death of his wife from disease, the “curse” also caused both of his children to vanish into the forest shortly after their mother’s funeral. The Brophy’s house ended up burning to the ground and Brophy himself also vanished mysteriously. In another version of the story, Brophy went mad and abandoned the town.
In another tale, Dr. William Clarke (or Clark) came to the Cornwall region and fell in love with the empty forest. He purchased many acres in Dudleytown and the curse began to stir. One summer Dr. Clarke, ran off to New York for business and left his wife alone in their home. He returned 36-hours later to find her completely insane and she later committed suicide. In a more accurate account, however, Clarke’s wife killed herself in New York. Today, supernatural enthusiasts visit Dudleytown in hopes of capturing proof of ghosts, demons, and the creatures in its woods.
Annabelle The Demonic Doll Lives In Connecticut
The creepy doll in the film The Conjuring is inspired by a real, allegedly haunted, Raggedy Ann doll that Ed and Lorraine Warren stored away in their Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut. The doll belonged to a young nurse, who received it as a present. After the doll came home, the nurse and her roommate began to notice strange things occurring, like the doll changing positions and mysterious scratches appearing on their guests. Tiny bits of parchment paper started appearing with messages like “help us” scribbled on them in childlike handwriting.
They soon brought in a psychic who conducted a seance told them the doll was haunted by the spirit of a little girl named Annabelle Higgins, who had once lived in the apartment building. The roommates, taking pity on the child, decided to let her stay — big mistake.
Things became violent in the home and the Warrens came in to help get things under control. The Warrens then informed the young women that their psychic had been mistaken: no little girl existed in Annabelle, just a demon lying in order to win sympathy in order to eventually possess one of the women. The Warrens took the doll away, storing it behind glass with crucifixes in their famous museum of haunted objects.
The Real Haunting In Connecticut
The Snedeker family moved into a Southington, Connecticut home in 1986, near the hospital where their son was being treated for cancer. After settling in, they discovered their new home was once a mortuary after finding embalming equipment in the basement. The family soon began hearing strange noises and eventually, they saw ghostly figures. The son underwent a dramatic change in his personality, becoming depressed and violent, and other members of the household reported being brutalized by invisible spirits. Carmen Snedeker described seeing one spirit with black eyes and long black hair, and another with white hair and a tuxedo. Ed and Lorraine Warren came in to help with this case as well, and much of the story was covered in the movie The Haunting In Connecticut.
However, according to a more recent owner of the home, it’s all Hollywood nonsense.
The Ghost Of The Witch ‘Hannah Cranna’ Likes To Cause Accidents
Known as ‘The Wicked Witch of Monroe,’ Hannah Cranna became quite the local legend. Her real name was Hannah Hovey, wife of Captain Joseph Hovey, whose death sparked rumors that Hannah killed him using witchcraft. Apparently, while taking a walk one day, Hovey suddenly fell or flung himself off a cliff.
Already a bit of an outsider, Hannah grew more isolated from the townspeople. According to local lore, the witch terrorized her neighbors, threatening to curse those who refused to give her food and promising good luck to those who appeased her. One woman supposedly denied her a pie, and Hannah’s subsequent “curse” prevented the woman from ever baking again.
Hannah also predicted her own death in 1859 and told locals she wanted her casket carried on foot, not by wagon, all the way to the cemetery. While the townspeople ignored her request, Hannah’s casket repeatedly rolled off the wagon, forcing the men to carry it the rest of the way. After burying her, the townspeople discovered that Hannah’s house inexplicably burned down. She took all her secrets with her and still haunts the area. As the legend goes, every year at least one person swerves to miss a mysterious woman in the road and crashes into her tombstone.
Little People Village Of Middlebury
A crumbling village of tiny houses resides in the woods in Middlebury, though some sites say it is in Waterbury, the neighboring town. Naturally, speculation about its curious origins turned into urban legends of the creepy variety. What appears to be a throne also exists, which, according to local lore, will curse anyone who sits in it to die in seven years. One explanation tells of a man who was married to a witch who began fraternizing with fairy folk in the woods. The woman demanded her husband construct stone homes for her spirits of the woods, so he did.
Another story leaves out the witch wife and claims a man living alone went mad. Hearing the voices of little people commanding him to build the village supposedly drove him insane, and he eventually took his own life. Many believe the spirits of the tiny, mischievous beings still lurk in the ruins of their little village. If you’re there long enough you’ll hear their whispers and be driven insane yourself.
The not-so-scary truth may be that the fairy houses were built for a small amusement park that was later abandoned.
A Tribe Of Melon Heads Roams Wild
While the legend spans way more land than just Milford, Connecticut, the melon head tale certainly feels the most prominent there. This is especially true on Zion Hill Road, also known as Melon Head Road. According to locals, a tribe of humanoids with giant heads lives on the outskirts of town. Like something out of The Hills Have Eyes, melon heads are uncivilized and dangerous, living in the wild like animals. The origins of the melon heads legend is unclear, but some possible explanations include a group of people with the same deformity, escaped mental patients, or something more supernatural.
Downs Road In Bethany Is All Kinds Of Haunted
Closed off on both ends and abandoned by cars, the infamous Downs Road in Bethany is allegedly plagued with every kind of creepy you ever imagined outside your window or under your bed. A popular spot for high schoolers and teenage shenanigans, the land supposedly gives off a negative vibe that fills visitors with feelings of dread and despair. Reports of shadowy figures darting down the stretch of road come alongside sightings of Melon Heads and UFO’s in the area. The road even hosts its own creature, the Downs Road Monster, described as a four-foot-tall, yeti-like beast that lurks within the forest.
Eerie Piano Music Plays Underneath Gardner Lake
Back in 1899, a homeowner near Gardner Lake in Salem, CT bought a plot of land across the lake and planned to wait until it froze over to scoot his house over to its new lot by putting it on sleds. Everything was going smoothly until the team left the house on the ice overnight – too cold and tired to keep working – and returned to find it partially leaning in the water, the ice having cracked under its weight. All they could do was get some of the furnishings and valuables out. The piano in the parlor was too heavy, so it got left behind and the entire house sank once the ice melted.
To this day, people claim to hear music that seems to be floating up out of the lake. The only source anyone can come up with for the haunting melodies is the piano, still sitting in the perfectly preserved house at the bottom of Gardner Lake. There are no ghost stories attached to the house, so some chalk it up to a kind of witchcraft – a natural fit for the town with the same name as Salem, Massachusetts.
The Fairfield Hills State Hospital, Newtown
Many towns feature their own horror stories about the local mental hospital, and the town of Newton tells eerie tales of the Fairfield Hills Hospital, which has become a popular site for ghost hunters. Parts of the hospital grounds are now being remodeled or off-limit to the public.
According to legends, cruel methods practiced here included lobotomies and electric shock therapy – which didn’t come to light until after the hospital’s closure in the 1990s. After it was shut down, former patients and staff began telling of the abuse from unqualified medical staff and mysterious deaths that occurred in its walls. Reports of paranormal activity have sprung up, usually detailing a ghostly woman who wanders the halls.
Gunntown Cemetery In Naugatuck Is Full Of Ghosts
Credited with being one of the oldest and most haunted cemeteries in Connecticut, Gunntown Cemetery boasts no especially famous specters; rather, its fame stems from a high amount of supernatural activity. According to witnesses, beings will often appear as full-bodied apparitions, and many witnesses do not realize they were seeing ghosts until they vanished. The two most frequently seen are a young boy playing around the headstones and a man who walks up and down the path at night with a lantern in hand.
Additionally, strange mists and spirit orbs run rampant amongst its tombstones, and people also reported the sound of children laughing and of seeing a black dog. Famed demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren supposedly declared the cemetery to be haunted, so you know something must be up.
The Winsted Wildman
Connecticut’s ‘Winsted Wildman’ was first seen in 1895. According to the inaugural descriptions in the Winsted Evening Citizen, he literally appears more man than animal in appearance, ruling out the legendary Bigfoot as being the culprit. Tall, strong, hairy, agile, and very naked, the Wildman caused a stir in the town shortly after the first reported sighting
After scaring everyone half to death he returned to the forest and remained unseen for 80 years. He re-emerged in late July of 1972 and sightings continued until September of 1974, ending as abruptly as they began for the second time. Some speculate the Wildman may actually have been a real man, Arthur Beckwith, an escaped mental patient who ended up roaming the countryside.
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