Dudleytown (located in Cornwall,
Connecticut), while deemed haunted, as well as cursed, remains to this day a
place of fascination for those that dare to be scared!
There are differing legends
as to how Dudleytown became a virtual “ghost
town”, as well as continuing controversy over
which stories are true, the fact remains, Dudleytown captures our imagination.
In the1700’s settlers began to
build a small community in a place that would seem to defy colonial logic.
What made them want to live on top of a rocky mountain with poor soil and
nothing but dense forest? One can
only speculate, however impossible it must have been to clear the land,
something drove them on. Imagine
there high hopes and hard work crumbling around them as they realized their
crops wouldn’t grow, their live stock kept disappearing and the plague
and consumption was spreading among them.
Did this slowly drive some to madness?
There was talk of Demons,
strange hoofed creatures and missing children. Was General Swift’s wife struck
by lighting because the curse befell her too? Why would one God fearing woman
decide to hang herself and many years later another wife kill herself too?
How did a town last for over 100 years and then simply cease to exist?
The ancient legends and their origins
remain a mystery but I can assure you that the Legend of Dudleytown lives on!
Whether you call it a curse or just
plain bad luck, Dudleytown and its dark remnants are affecting those that dare
to seek it out. In our own time
there have been stories of visitors experiencing strange phenomena, hearing un-earthly
sounds, capturing spirit photography and worst of all bringing home their own
dose of the curse.
On July 11, 1999,
The Seeker team traveled to Dudleytown to investigate the site and
document our own findings. With
cameras and a VHS recorder we found our way to Dark Entry Road (now called Bald
Mountain Road) at 11:30 a.m. The
weather was beautiful, clear and unseasonably cool. Rumors had it that we would
experience either an eerie quiet or incessant owl screeching. We found Dudleytown to have all the appropriate sounds one
would find on a hike through the Connecticut hills.
There was no shortage of stone
walls and we were quick to find our first root cellar.
Overgrown with new growth trees and hidden by years of leaf compost, a little searching and we managed to find the foundations of several houses as well as two school houses, bridges a dam and a possible mill foundation. The amount and size of the stones used to shore up the cliffs on the old fire road were impressive; a good example of that Ol’ Yankee ingenuity. One legend we now know to be right on the money is the Darkness! High noon on a clear sunny day and in some areas we needed flash on our cameras!
There were no hoofed creatures that
we could see but there is an air of sadness
there you won’t find on an average hike through the woods.
Perhaps its looking at the emptiness and the sign of hard work gone to
waste. Looking at the stone walls and imagining the farms they
once contained you could almost see the sheep grazing. Or standing in the foundation of a school house hearing the
children scratching out their lessons on the local slate.
Its not such a hard stretch to imagine that the dedicated country folk
that were so determined to see their dreams produce, would stay on, after
parting their worldly existence. After all, this town existed against all odds
and must have taken a rare amount of courage
and endurance to create a life in Dudleytown.
The Seeker team spent four hours
trudging around Dudleytown but it wasn’t until we left that the bad luck hit! At the intersection of Cemetery Hill Road, a local truck
driver crashed
into our car! As our driver slammed on his
brakes, we noticed the driver coming at us as if we were invisible!
There was nothing we could do but brace ourselves and hope for the best.
After waiting over an hour for a State trooper to come and investigate the crash, the truck driver admitted that he never even saw us! He was issued a ticket and as no one was hurt and the car was still driveable, we headed for home. On our way a dog running up the road seemed not to see us either and almost got hit! Coincidence or Curse? We’ll let you decide!
~ THE PICS ARE IN !! ~
