Village
of the Damned
DUDLEYTOWN,
Litchfield Co., CT
By
Dudleytown
is located in the hills southwest of
This
old farming community above the
It
never became a true town or village with church, school and businesses, but
more of a community of hardscrabble farmers and several mills (plaster, grist
and lumber). The oak and beech trees had
to be cleared, rocks moved and fields carved out of the poor soil. Crops that were attempted included corn,
flax, rye, wheat and other food crops.
Lumbering and charcoal manufacturing also contributed to the economy of
the community. The early log cabins were
eventually replaced by wood-framed buildings, and the community grew
slowly. At its peak about two dozen or
so families were on site, and the total population probably never passed
100. For such a tiny community, it sure
has a big story.
That story has a dark, more sinister
side. There are several persistent
legends that the land and/or the community is haunted or cursed.
One legend claims the Dudleys
had a rich uncle in
Another version of the story claims that
back in
Other folks persist in claiming the "Dudleytown Curse" is tied to the supernatural. Those supernatural connections didn't want a
town to be on the site, and did everything to discourage the residents.
The
legend is fueled by so-called "facts" as folks in Dudleytown
began getting sick, going insane, or dying weird and unusual deaths. Ghosts and other creepy-crawlies are rumored
to have been seen in the nearby forest, and the fear caused many to pack it up
and "get out of town." It was
also claimed that every seven years the curse would strike, and somebody would
die of unusual causes. Some of the
deaths blamed on the curse included --
1774
-- Disease swept through the community, killing about half the people in
"town".
1792
-- Gershom Hollister fell from a barn being built.
1799
-- Abiel Dudley died at age 90, a senile old man with
no kids to take care of him. They said
he was insane. But he was 90!
1804
-- Sarah Faye Swift was killed by lightning.
Actually their home where she died was not even in Dudleytown,
but out on the
1813 -- Nathaniel Carter, a Dudleytown denizen moved to an area near
William Tanner, who happened to live in Gershom Hollister's old house was claimed to have been a
bit "off-kilter". But then
again, he died at age 104. Senile?
Mary Cheney the wife of Horace Greeley was
born in Dudleytown in 1814, and is another "claimed
victim" of the curse. She died of
lung disease in 1872.
In
actuality, those deaths were not unusual for an American Frontier
community. But, whether or not the curse
and the legends are true or not is not the point of this sketch. Reality laughs in the face of the legend, but
even so, it persists. It is said that
actor Dan (Ghost Busters) Akroyd proclaimed in an
interview that Dudleytown is
In
reality, however, it seems the original founders of the community chose a poor
location. Dudleytown
sat on a glacier-scrubbed shelf about 1000 feet higher than nearby
Curse or no curse, the
last citizen left by 1900. Remains include cellar holes, rock walls, and
rubble. In reality, any town that can hang
tough for 150 years can't be haunted.
Let the ghost seekers find another spot, 'cause Dudleytown
is a member of Ghost Town
Nothing more than that!
NOTE:
In 2005, I received an E-mail
from a gentleman who has published a book on Dudleytown,
and he says the site is currently CLOSED and trespassers will be prosecuted.
This was our GHOST TOWN OF THE MONTH for May 1999.
It is not shown on GNIS, but is in the valley
bounded by Woodbury Mountain, Dudleytown Hill, Bald
Mountain, and Coltsfoot Mountain, about two miles southeast of Cornwall Bridge.
APPROXIMATE:
·
Lat:
41.807917
·
Long:
-73.353310
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FIRST
POSTED: May 01,
1999
LAST
UPDATED: September 22, 2009
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