Connecticut might be known for Yale University, Mark Twain, and mega-rich old people, but the New England state also has a rich history the dark and creepy. If you're looking for something strange to see in the Nutmeg State, you can't go wrong with this shortlist of the weirdest places in New England.
The only museum of its kind, the world-renowned Warren Occult Museum has the largest collection of haunted artifacts in the country, pieces collected during the decades of paranormal research conducted by Ed and Lorraine Warren. Their macabre collections contains everything from possessed toys to relics used in strange rituals.
From their official description:
"See the "shadow doll" that can come to you in your dreams and stop your heart! See the Satanic Idol found in the deep woods of Connecticut, the Conjuring mirror used for summoning spirit, the vampire’s coffin used by a modern day vampire, bear witness to a Raggedy-Ann doll which is responsible for a death of a young man, and multiple attacks on those who once mockingly came in contact, see masks used as a topa for diabolical projection, child tomb stones that were used as satanic altars, and a famous organ that plays by itself."
One of their most famous artifacts, the real-life counterpart of the Annabelle Doll featured in The Conjuring, will be on exhibit. The haunted doll is said to move on its on, and the Warrens say it's responsible for at least one death and numerous injuries.
Just off the lonely Stepney Road in Easton, Connecticut sits an unassuming little graveyard that some say is one of the most haunted sites in the entire country. The Union Cemetery dates back to the 1700s and has played host to so many mysterious events that it has been the subject of ongoing paranormal investigations for decades.
Just off the lonely Stepney Road in Easton, Connecticut sits an unassuming little graveyard that some say is one of the most haunted sites in the entire country. The Union Cemetery dates back to the 1700s and has played host to so many mysterious events that it has been the subject of ongoing paranormal investigations for decades.
If you're looking to have a brush with the spirit world, rumor has it that The White Lady is usually sighted in the roadway along Route 59 or sometimes 111, where drivers have reported vehicles passing straight through her.
For a kind of creepy that doesn't involve the disembodied spirits of the dead, head to Middlebury, where the decaying remains of Little People Village sit tucked away in the forest. Legend has it that the collection doll-sized houses and other strange structures is all that's left of a man driven crazy by pixies.
As the story goes, man and his wife (who in some versions of the story is actually a witch) had their peaceful lives shaken up when they began to see small fairy folk around their home. The fairies insisted that the couple were living on their land and demanded compensation. In return, the man began to build a tiny village for the pixies, but as the years passed and the tiny town grew larger and larger, so did the demands of the small creatures. Eventually, the man was driven insane, and the abandoned forest village is all that remains.
The Old Newgate Prison in East Granby, Connecticut didn't always house the criminal element. When it first opened in 1705, it was the country's very first copper mine, and was eventually converted into America's very first prison. The Old Newgate Prison became a dank, dark place where men went, and often times never returned.
Many visitors to Newgate have reported hearing the sounds of disembodied voices echoing through the darkened mine tunnels. Many also claim to experience shadowy men roaming the corridors or watching tour groups from the shadows.
In the small city of Jewett, Connecticut, there's a bizarre secret. Tucked away in the local cemetery are a collection of vampire graves dating back to the 1850s. Don't worry, while the strange headstones are most certainly worth a visit, you don't need to worry about stocking up on garlic, holy water, and crosses before you make the trip. The odd plots are the combination of widespread panic and a lack of modern medical knowledge.
Over a number of years in the middle of the 1800s, the Ray family was struck down by a strange illness that no one could figure out. Henry Ray and his three sons lowly wasted away to nothing, as if each night they were having the life force sucked out of their bodies. In each and every case, the men died a shadow of their former selves. The rest of the family believed that the men were the victims of a vampire, and fearing that their dead relatives would soon rise again to terrorize them, they exhumed their bodies and burned them right there in the cemetery. The body bonfire was such a spectacle that it attracted a crowd and made it into the newspaper.
Of course, had all this happened a few decades later, they'd have realized that the Rays weren't the victims of the undead, but tuberculosis.
Today, the "vampire" graves are still viewable in the Jewett City Cemetery, as is the very spot where their bodies were exhumed and burned, a macabre photo op for those interested in America's own vampire folklore.
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