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I first heard about “Dudleytown,” the notorious ghost town near Cornwall, Connecticut, when I was sixteen. The dark legends surrounding the area were titillating. Wild tales of demonic activity, poltergeists, pitiful ghosts, and unexplained phenomenon are the order of the day in Dudleytown. The findings from paranormal research incited my interest to little less than a voracious frenzy. I am not alone; Dudleytown is one of the most well known places of purported supernatural activity in New England, if not on the Eastern seaboard. Even actor Dan Ackroyd labeled Dudleytown “the scariest place on earth.”
The sinister tale of Dudleytown begins in England in the 16th century. Though the Dudley family goes back as far as Saxon times, the first major recorded “disaster” in the family’s history involves the beheading of a family member accused of treachery against King Henry VIII. It was then the Dudley family was reputedly tragically cursed, the origins of which are speculatively considered to be part of the punishment for treason. Many members of the family met their end via beheadings, until William Dudley of Surrey, England left for America—for a fresh start, perhaps, or for salvation from the curse that so plagued his family. Alas, such salvation was not to be found in America. At least, not whilst people like Thomas Dudley, Governor of Massachusetts sometime during the late 17th century/early 18th century, were further darkening the family name. Whilst governor, Thomas Dudley instated a particularly vicious breed of religious persecution which helped to lay the foundation for the witch trial frenzy in the state. Three Dudley brothers—Gideon, Abiel and Barzillai, great-grandchildren of William from England, settled upon the land ominously named “Dark Entry Forest,” by the year 1753. To say that the location of Dudleytown is an odd one for a settlement is an understatement. Flanked by three mountains, in the strangling thick of a dark forest, the rocky land wasn’t at all conducive to farming, or a generally decent quality of life. Nevertheless the little settlement experienced a sort of renaissance, with more members of the Dudley family relocating there, despite the dismal surroundings. Part of Cornwall, and not actually a town unto itself, Dudleytown received its name because of the surname of most of its occupants. One would think the odds against survival in such a harsh area, with farming virtually impossible, would be enough to explain the gradual demise of Dudleytown. But, the violent nature of the happenings in the settlement lead to the belief that other more evil, perhaps even paranormal forces were at work.
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