Thursday, October 30, 2008

Ghost Hunting In CT!

Back in the Spring/Fall of 1993 my buddy Chris and I decided on a couple of trips to 2 of the most hunted destinations in our state our CT. I was 18/19 years old and was enrolled in the local Community College as a graphic design major. For photography as final assignment I decided my photo portfolio would consist of pictures from one of the most haunted graveyards in CT, Union Cemetery. Union became my focal point because of a recent newspaper article that appeared at that time recalling events of an ambulance driver passing the road near the cemetery and striking down the glowing "white lady" with his vehicle. Only thing was, when he went back to locate her body there was none. I was intrigued and with a bit of investigation into Union itself found out events like these have been going on for decades at the cemetery. I had to see and photograph this place for myself. But, I wasn't gonna go alone. Haha. I needed back up and another person to confirm ghost sitings, if there was to be any. Chris was a friend of mine forever. We actually went through K-8 grade together. We parted ways when we went to different High Schools but were reunited in college. We actually had the majority of our classes together. It was also cool Chris was totally into death and black metal too. Anyway, Chris was more than game to go with me for the ride to Union. It was chilly spring afternoon day when we descended apoun Unions grounds. The cemetery itself is situated magnificently against the backdrop of Eastons mighty rural landscapes. Union lies smack dab in the middle of an intersection and actually splits the road on either side. Once inside it's gates, we just slowly stroll the grounds taking in and admiring tombstone architecture dating as far back as the 1600's. After scouting the location it was back to my car to grab our cameras and gear. Both Chris I and went about our own business of snapping pictures of various graves. I believe Chris may have did some etchings of the few tombstones too? All the while neither Chris or nor I sense or experienced anything out of the ordinary. Myself, I just felt a sense of nostalgia. Being in the cemetery felt like stepping back into Colonial times. I remember thinking, who were the people buried here?, What did they do for a living?, how did they die? Anyway, I recall on the ride home both being a bit bummed out cos we didn't have any kind of supernatural experience. BUT!! That was until we got into the darkroom the next day at school to develop our film. When you click on the last of the pictures from Union pay close attention to the monument sprouting above 4 graves in front of it. You'll notice a face of woman with her hair in bun. Well, that's what it looks like to me and others I have shown the picture to over the last 15 years.

For a more in depth history and look at Union Cemetery and the legend of the "White Lady" please go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Cemetery,_Easton

Also, from 1992 is a book published by St. Martins Press by the name of Graveyard: True Hauntings From An Old New England Cemetery by Ed and Lorraine warren with Robert David Chase that is well worth tracking down if desire even more insight into the whole Union Cemetery phenom.

Forward to the fall(Nov19) of 1993. Time to hit the road again in search of the paranormal. Destination: Dudley Town in Cornwall CT. The infamous CT ghost town. I wish I had as many details of this trip as I did for Union but due to the weather that day our investigation of the town of Dudley was cut short. Damn rain! The history of Dudley is pretty in-depth so I suggest you check out this link to get the background story:

http://www.ghostvillage.com/legends/dudleytown.shtml

What I will say of Dudley though, it's was CREEPY! Complete and utter silence as soon as you step foot in the place. Woods are all around and don't hear as much as a bird. All around are the stone moss covered foundations of homes for the former residents. It's too bad we couldn't make our way further into the woods and the town itself but it was just too cold, rainy, and muddy. Supposedly Satanists hold black masses up there and have a shrine somewhere nestled in the woods. I had friends who had gone previously to Dudley town and walked the grounds with a tape recorder only to play it back and hear babies crying on the tape itself. We didn't hear nor see anything ourselves. Like I said the place was completely stone cold silent. I defiantly felt uncomfortable being there. True story. Before Chris and I left for Dudley Town we had stopped at the mall to buy batteries for his camera. He wanted to bring extra. I saw Chris load new batteries into his camera right as we entered the town. As soon we made our way over the large tree blocking the entrance to Dudley we started taking pictures. Well I did anyway, Chris's camera wouldn't work. His batteries were dead!? What the fuck!? My camera was fine as you can tell by the pictures below. Funny thing is as soon as we made our way back down the long, tight, dirt road from Dudley Chris's camera suddenly turns on and starts snapping photos. Yeah, we were a little freaked out. I included pictures of took of Cornwall Cemetery and Goshen Cemetery as we were told by the librarian at the Cornwall Library(we stopped there for directions haha) people from the town of Dudley are buried there. We heard no stories of either being haunted.



Union Cemetery






On The Road To Dudley



Goshen Cemetery








Cornwall Cemetery







Dudley Town




All pictures By: Bill Connolly 1993

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wonderful photos...I really love graveyards, I'd like to take a walk across those places.