The Curse of Dudleytown, Connecticut (Paranormal Insider: Unexplained Phenomena, Paranormal Activities & Encounters)

There's a very strange place in Connecticut. If you attempt to go there, the State Police will fine you $75 or more. Dudleytown, as it's called, no longer exists as a "town." Instead, you'll find only the foundations of old buildings grown over with foliage and dominated by trees. According to legend, the area inherited a curse from three brothers who brought it with them from England.

A curse was allegedly born in 1510 when Edmund Dudley was beheaded for an attempted overthrow of King Henry VIII. During the beheading, a curse was spoken against the Dudley family and stated that every Dudley in Edmund's lineage would find themselves "surrounded by horrors." Two more generations of Dudleys lost their heads. In 1748 Gideon Dudley, a descendent of Edmund Dudley, settled in the area of Connecticut that would later bear his name. Several years later his two brothers Barzillai and Abiel joined him. In fact, Dudleys came from all over to live in this dark forested land — and the town's name eventually followed. There were about a hundred residents at most. Dudleytown was not an official town, however, but part of the township of Cornwall. The name mostly played on the fact that the area had attracted a lot of Dudleys.

In the 1750s, several Dudley residents were stricken with dementia. Another Dudley was attacked and killed by Native Americans. In 1774, an unknown illness took the lives of an entire household. The family's relatives moved to New York following these deaths. A group of Native Americans scalped three of them while two of the family members were ransomed off in Canada. Another resident of Dudleytown was struck dead by lightning while standing on her porch. Her husband was reported to have suffered from extreme dementia following that event. According to late demonologist Ed Warren, people saw monster-like creatures in the forest. In other stories, these monsters have also been described like ghosts. For an area that only ever had 100 people living there, a lot of weird things happened. More tragedies occurred that were believed to result from the curse and in 1899, there was no one left in the area. Dudleytown was entirely deserted.

In 1920, Dr. William Clark of New York built a summer home in the area formerly known as Dudleytown. After settling in, an emergency in New York took him away for several days and when he returned, he found that his wife had gone insane — supposedly something came out of the trees and attacked her. She spent the rest of her life in a mental institution.

Curse aside, Dudleytown and the surrounding land was not an easy place to live. The terrain was hard to manage and farming was extremely difficult. In truth, the tragedies that occurred probably could have happened anywhere. Today it's believed that the first residents of Dudleytown merely chose a bad place to settle — a high lead content in the water and bad terrain for farming.

During a period of one year following the release of The Blair Witch Project, the state police were called nearly 80 times to the remains of Dudleytown — hence the fine that was enacted.

Comments (1)

john:

I have heard that owls in the area are active and loud during the day as well as night. is there any truth to this? and if so then perhaps what causes this is the same cause of dementia.

Posted by john | May 28, 2008 12:56 PM

Posted on May 28, 2008 12:56

The Curse of Dudleytown, Connecticut

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	The Curse of Dudleytown, Connecticut Thursday April 17, 2008 8:25 AM There's a very strange place in Connecticut. If you attempt to go there, the State Police will fine you $75 or more. Dudleytown, as it's called, no longer exists as a "town." Instead, you'll find only the foundations of old buildings grown over with foliage and dominated by trees. According to legend, the area inherited a curse from three brothers who brought it with them from England. A curse was allegedly born in 1510 when Edmund Dudley was beheaded for an attempted overthrow of King Henry VIII. During the beheading, a curse was spoken against the Dudley family and stated that every Dudley in Edmund's lineage would find themselves "surrounded by horrors." Two more generations of Dudleys lost their heads. In 1748 Gideon Dudley, a descendent of Edmund Dudley, settled in the area of Connecticut that would later bear his name. Several years later his two brothers Barzillai and Abiel joined him. In fact, Dudleys came from all over to live in this dark forested land — and the town's name eventually followed. There were about a hundred residents at most. Dudleytown was not an official town, however, but part of the township of Cornwall. The name mostly played on the fact that the area had attracted a lot of Dudleys. In the 1750s, several Dudley residents were stricken with dementia. Another Dudley was attacked and killed by Native Americans. In 1774, an unknown illness took the lives of an entire household. The family's relatives moved to New York following these deaths. A group of Native Americans scalped three of them while two of the family members were ransomed off in Canada. Another resident of Dudleytown was struck dead by lightning while standing on her porch. Her husband was reported to have suffered from extreme dementia following that event. According to late demonologist Ed Warren, people saw monster-like creatures in the forest. In other stories, these monsters have also been described like ghosts. For an area that only ever had 100 people living there, a lot of weird things happened. More tragedies occurred that were believed to result from the curse and in 1899, there was no one left in the area. Dudleytown was entirely deserted. In 1920, Dr. William Clark of New York built a summer home in the area formerly known as Dudleytown. After settling in, an emergency in New York took him away for several days and when he returned, he found that his wife had gone insane — supposedly something came out of the trees and attacked her. She spent the rest of her life in a mental institution. Curse aside, Dudleytown and the surrounding land was not an easy place to live. The terrain was hard to manage and farming was extremely difficult. In truth, the tragedies that occurred probably could have happened anywhere. Today it's believed that the first residents of Dudleytown merely chose a bad place to settle — a high lead content in the water and bad terrain for farming. During a period of one year following the release of The Blair Witch Project, the state police were called nearly 80 times to the remains of Dudleytown — hence the fine that was enacted. Posted by Emily Jeanne Eppig in Otherworldly Encounters - Link - Comments (1) - [+] add to yahoo add to del.icio.us related at technorati Share on Facebook