Haunted Cemeteries: Burlington, Easton, Monroe and Naugatuck

 

If there is a place where ghosts truly belong and are almost expected, well, the graveyard it is. There are three famously haunted cemeteries in Lichtfield and Fairfield counties. Burlington's Seventh Day Baptist Cemetery is home to the Green Lady, a young woman. She appears surrounded by green mist, floating down the dirt road, hovering around her own grave. Elizabeth, the Green Lady – goes the story - drowned in the nearby swamp with her husband unable or unwilling to help her.

 

Another lady, a strange and feisty widow, Hanna Cranna spooks drivers on the road along Monroe's Stepney Cemetery. Hanna had no easy life. Following her husband's sudden and suspicious death she had to fend for herself after she had been branded a witch by the people of Monroe. So Hanna had to learn a few tricks to survive, some more innocent than others. Either way, she managed to cement her reputation as a sorceress of some sort and was almost respected, but at least left alone. Her dying wish of having her casket carried down to the cemetery was not granted, so Hanna keeps coming back. The people of Monroe swear that her ghostly appearance at the cemetery manages to scare at least one driver each year so much that they smash their car straight into her grave. Happens every single year – says the legend.

 

Easton has a cemetery ghost, too. Its Union Cemetery's lady wears a white nightdress and bonnet and she appears out of nowhere in the middle of the road to get 'hit' by an unsuspecting driver. The White Lady has been run over by dozens of cars, yet no trace of hers has ever been found thereafter – or so the stories go. The White Lady has no name, but those who know of her suspect that she must have suffered a violent and ruthless death.

 

Naugatuck's Guntown Cemetery's ghosts cannot be seen, but, boy, can they be heard! The cemetery is said to echo of laughter of children and loud beat music rolling in from the surrounding forest. Instead of ghosts, it is supposedly swarming with big stray dogs, black as the night, evoking tales of the Death's black dog.

 

Fairfield Hills, Newtown

 

Lunatic asylums and hospices come right after cemeteries on the list of the most ghostly places. No wonder that Newtown's Fairfeld Hills, a vast complex that used to house thousands of mentally ill patients is also rumored to be haunted. Its eerie, mostly abandoned buildings connected with underground tunnels certainly provide the perfect scenery for a ghost story. Indeed, the abandoned hospital has been the location of horror movies and one of MTV's Fear episodes. Fairfield Hills is rumored to be home to yet another white lady. She has been seen staring out of the windows of the old hospital, sitting there surrounded by a bright glow.

 

Dudleytown, Cornwall

 

Dudleytown is literally a ghost town: this deserted hamlet in Cornwall has slowly been taken over by nature. A long list of local legends and myths recount the many tragedies and misfortunes that its former inhabitants endured: the victims of the Dudleytown curse. The curse supposedly originated from the England of the 1500s where an ancient Dudley committed treason against his king. As punishment he was decapitated and his entire lineage was cursed to live amidst horror and death. When some Dudley descendants came to found Dudleytown in the 1740s, they brought the curse with them. Families in the new town were struck by horrible sudden diseases, others fled to be slaughtered by Indians. Men and women went insane, children were seemingly swallowed up by the surrounding forest, people were struck by lightning and houses burnt to ashes as the curse struck again and again. Dudleytown is deserted today, entry is forbidden. Those who visited it despite the ban swear that it is haunted by strange, massive shapes, ominous shadows and floating, eerie voices.

 

Little People's Village, Middlebury

 

Do you believe in the existence of little demons? Well, someone in Middlebury sure did. So much so that they – supposedly a husband and a wife – built a whole little village for the little demons. The ruins of the tiny houses stand abandoned in the woods of Middlebury (on a private property). Nobody knows if little demons ever lived in them. There is also a throne, built for the wife, the Queen of the Little People. The throne, just like Dudleytown, is cursed: anyone sitting in it can expect to die within seven years. According to the local legend the actual builders of the Little People's Village – the husband and wife – suffered violent deaths: one of them killed the other and then himself or herself.

 

The Leatherman