Location: Cornwall, Connecticu Map
Found: 1740's
Abandoned: early 20th century
Dudleytown Ghost Town is an abandoned village on the outskirts of Cornwall, Connecticut. Its ruins draws ghost hunters in hopes to find evidence of paranormal activity that allegedly manifests here. Dudleytown Ghost Town was originally settled in 1740's by a family of Thomas Griffis. He was followed by Gideon Dudley. Over next several years the rest of the Dudley clan (Abiel, Barzillai, Martin Dudley) moved here by 1753. They gave the village its name. Most of residents of the village tried their hand in farming, but it is unlikely that any of the citizens of Dudleytown had any experience in this trade. The location for the settlement was not chosen very wisely. It was located on the high ground away from fresh sources of water.
Additionally some historians suggested that the local water source might have been contaminated by heavy metals like lead or mercury. This conclusion was inspired by strange symptoms that were found in several residents of people who lived here. Historical documents claim that several seemingly normal people went insane with strange twitches and behaviour. In fact Dudleytown gained notoriety of a mysterious and cursed land while it was still inhabited. Some locals even blamed Dudley family for cursing their village.
Some locals claim that Dudley family are direct descendants of Edmund Dudley. This British nobleman served as Speaker of the House of Commons and President of the King's Council. However after the death of Henry VII in 1509, new British monarch Henry VIII changed the fate of aristocrat. Edmund Dudley was accused of treason and attempt to overthrow Tudor dynasty. Dudley tried to save his life by writing an essay in support of monarchy known as The Tree of Commonwealth. It didn't work out and he was decapitated in 1510. Some believed that Dudley family was cursed ever since. The alleged curse followed Edmund's great- grandson William Dudley that moved to United States in 1630.
The so- called Dudley cursed was blamed on cholera epidemic in 1774 that swept through the area and killing many of the town's residents. Dudley's neighbours, the Carter family lost six members in a short period of time. About the same time Abiel (Abviel) Dudley went mad. He was the oldest of the four founding brothers and his symptoms began after his encounter with terrifying green creatures in the forest. We don't know what was the exact diagnosis of this strange condition, but we do know that he was diagnosed with a mental disorder.
The story got stranger just few years later. It occurred in 1792. One of respected residents of Dudleytown, William Tanner invited his friend and neighbour Gershon Hollister. For unknown reason Tanner assaulted his friend and brutally killed him. The only thing that saved the murderer from a death penalty was his strange rumbling about some demonic creatures that told him to do it. Another tragedy hit the family of one of the most prominent residents of Dudleytown., General Herman Swift. In 1804 his wife Salah Gaye Swift was killed by a lighting and the old man went insane. He was isolated from the community thereafter.
Dudleytown went into decline in the 19th century as farmers starting to move West to gain better lands in the newly acquired areas of United States. Crop failures and poor soil quality hastened abandonment of the city. Additionally many of the farmers reported weird animal disappearances that became quiet frequent. By 1880's Dudleytown was basically a ghost town. In 1892 a family of John Brophy came here in hopes to find cheap land. Brophy was an Irish immigrant and hoped to start a new life in United States. Instead his sheep began to disappear under strange circumstances. Brophy left the area after he found his wife dead from unknown cause.
In the early 20th century Dudleytown with surrounding lands were bought by Dark Entry Forest Association. They planted abandoned farms and turned former settlement into a forest. In 1930's it was acquired by New York's Skidreiverein Club for wealthy New Yorkers who came here to escape the big city. About the same time a surgeon from New York Dorctor William Clack attempted to settle in the area. In 1937 his wife went insane and a "raging lunatic". Whether it was heavy metal poisoning, medical mistake or a real curse we probably will never know.
Today it this land is private property and you would need permission to access historic site. Unlike another ghost town of Bara- Hack Dudleytown is left in a bad condition. Its ruins are barely visible above ground. Yet many people come here in hopes to see evidence of a paranormal activity that is allegedly expresses itself here.
Dudleytown was never a town in itself. The name was
given at an uncertain date to various Cornwall plots belonging to
various members of the Dudley family. The area that would later become
known as Dudleytown was founded in the early 1840s by Thomas Griffis,
who would settle the area, followed by Gideon Dudley and, in 1753, by
Barzillai Dudley and Abiel Dudley. Martin Dudley would join them a few
years later. Other families also settled there.
Like other parts
of Cornwall, Dudleytown was converted from woodland to farmland. Several
families farmed the land for generations. Located on top of a high hill,
Dudleytown was not an ideal place for farming. As more fertile and
spacious lands became suitable in the Mid-West in the mid-19th century
and the metal industry declined in importance, Cornwall's population
began to decline.
The town was located a few miles south of Cornwall. It
was located in a valley, known as the "Dark Entry Forest", so named
because of the shadows that the surrounding mountains cast on the town
and the access road. The abandonment of the site has meant that only a
few ruins of the original village have survived. In the early 20th
century, several old farms in Cornwall were sold to emigrants from New
York seeking a better life, including those in Dodleytown . These remain
from 1924 to Dark Entry Forest, Incorporated. Despite adjoining the
Mohawk State Forest, the town is currently closed to the public, and
anyone found trespassing in the area will be prosecuted to the fullest
extent permitted by law by the Connecticut State Police and Department
of Energy and Environmental Protection.
To promote investment in
those lands, a March 1924 project document states:
This company [Dark
Entry Forest, Inc.] plans to promote reforestation, [ยทยทยท], promote the
conservation of birds, flora and fauna and build an ideal place for you,
your children and your children's children.
Shortly after the
acquisition, the new owners planted thousands of trees. During the
1930s, the Skidreiverein Club of New York spent several weekends in the
winter skiing the various slopes they had built in the area. In the
summer, they canoed down the Housatonic River. Children's riding camps
were also held in the area.
A local rumor frequently shared online alleges that
Dudleytown's founders were descendants of Edmund Dudley, an English
nobleman who was beheaded for treason during the reign of Henry VII.
From that moment on, the Dudley family would suffer a curse that would
follow them across the Atlantic to America. This curse is said to have
caused the decline of the crops, as well as various mental illnesses in
the village.
However, a number of local historians have found a
lack of genealogical relationship between the Dudley family of Cornwall
and the English nobleman, and have noted other factual inconsistencies
in the rumours. The decline of the town has been attributed, however, to
its distance from a source of clean drinking water, in addition to some
land not very suitable for cultivation. The only confirmed case of a
Dudleytown resident's suicide occurred in New York state, not Cornwall.
Since the 1990s, Cornwall Police have responded to numerous cases of
vandalism, missing persons or night break-ins in Dudleytown. The 1999
film The Blair Witch Project, which deals with a ghost forest, sparked a
surge in interest in the allegedly haunted town, increasing the
frequency of such incidents. The owners of the town have closed it off
to the public, and residents and the police often monitor the area for
trespassers.