The Other Connecticut (Part 2)

Dudleytown is found within the town of Cornwall in northwestern Connecticut shadowed by three mountains. There are tales associated with this town of ghosts, demons, the unexplainable as well as curses which are coupled with over 400 years of British and American history -- including ties to King Henry VIII, Horace Greeley, General Heman Swift, and General George Washington.

Today all that remains of the town are some foundations and cellar holes. Roads leading there are now forest trails used by hikers and ghost hunters heedless of the warnings of evil spirits. Strangely enough the sounds of nature heard on the way to this area like birds and bugs don’t follow one when they reach their destination and suddenly things become strangely silent.

The town was founded by Thomas Griffis but was named after the three Dudley brothers who settled there years later. Unfortunately it was these Dudley brothers who brought the curse from England to this area.

The Dudley heritage goes back to a Saxon named Dudd who’s title was the Duke of Mercia. He died in 725 A.D. Dudd’s land became the site of the Dudley Castle. Since an old English word for land was „leigh" the area became known as Dudd’s leigh. Centuries later when people found it necessary to take a surname they would base it on their profession (like Baker) while others took surnames based on the land they came from (like Dudley).

The curse has its beginnings in England in 1510. For plotting to overthrow King Henry VIII Edmund Dudley was beheaded and supposedly a curse was put on the Dudleys for their treason. It states that all Dudleys from Edmund Dudley’s line would be surrounded by horrors. Edmund Dudley’s son John Dudley who was the Duke of Northumberland also tried to overthrow the crown by having his son Guilford married to Lady Jane Grey. Edmund’s third son Robert the Earl of Leicester not wanting to loose his own head left England.

The Dudleys from Dudleytown can trace their roots to William Dudley born in Richmond, Surrey, England in 1608. His son also named William was born aboard a ship heading for America in 1639. William II’s son Joseph was born in Saybrook, Connecticut in 1674 and Joseph had 12 children three of them would be the ones to settle in Dudleytown – Gideon (born 1706), Abiel (born 1710) and Barzillai (born 1725).

In February of 1745, Thomas Griffis bought half a parcel of Cornwall land from Eleazer Whittlesey of Wethersfield, Connecticut. The land that Thomas Griffis saw then some 250 years ago looked very much like it does today. There is a very thick forest, a very rocky terrain and it is found shadowed by three mountains Bald Mountain, Woodbury Mountain and the Coltsfoot Triplets. Because of the densness of the forest it was given the ominous name of „Dark Entry Forest." The mountains gave the town little sunlight. In the winter snow would fall on Dudleytown but no snow would reach the ground 1000 feet lower in Cornwall valley.

Then in 1748 having moved from Saybrook Gideon Dudley bought some land from Griffis to start a small farm. His brothers Abiel and Barzillai came to the area in 1753 and some years later came a Martin Dudley from Massachussetts.

Dudleytown was never actually a town it remained a part of Cornwall township and the citizens of Dudleytown used the Cornwall church, town hall and cemetery. The only reason it was call Dudleytown was because of the number of Dudleys living there.

Dudleytown was a hard area to farm because of the rocky terrain and the stone walls that were built while clearing the forest and land of rocks still stand today.

Troubles begin. There is a high level of iron and other metals found in the rocks in and around Dudleytown. It seems that there may have been some lead in the drinking water which would explain some of the dementia area residents experienced. However continual poisoning with lead is always fatal and people lived in Dudleytown for more than a century. If they would have found out that the water was bad residents would have moved away sooner.

Many Native American tribes such as the Mohawk lived near Dudleytown. During the French-Indian War (1755-1763) some battles took place within 100 miles of the town. After the war some of Dudleytown residents met their fate at the hand of the angered Indians.

An unknown epidemic came upon the Adoniram Carter household in August of 1774, which killed the entire family living in Dudleytown. A second Dudleytown Carter family, The Nathaniel Carters, upset by this turn of events chose to leave Dudleytown and moved near Binghamton, New York. Unfortunately they ran right into the hands of Indians who took the life of Nathaniel, his wife and their baby by tomahawk. The Carters’ other three children were kidnapped to Canada where two daughters were ransomed. Their son, David Carter, chose to remain with his Indian captors. He married an Indian girl, and eventually returned to the United States to get a formal education. Thus David escaped the curse of Dudleytown and went on to become a Supreme Court judge.

A very strange and weird tragedy occured to one of Cornwall’s more famous residents, General Heman Swift who served under General George Washington during the Revolutionary Was. In April of 1804 his wife, Sarah Faye, was struck by lightning on their front porch and killed instantly. Not long after his wife’s death General Swift was reported to have become "slightly demented."

The man famous for the well known quote "Go West, young man," was Horace Greeley, editor and founder of the New York Tribune He married Mary Cheney, who was born in Dudleytown. They had met in a vegetarian boarding house. Tragedy struck when Mary Cheney took her own life in 1872, one week before Horace Greeley lost his bid for the presidency of the United States.

The next tragedy occurred near the very end of the 1800s to one of Dudleytown's last residents, John Patrick Brophy. John Brophy's wife had died of consumption, and shortly after his two children mysteriously disappeared in the woods. It is possible that the children vanished because they had been accused of stealing sleigh robes and wanted to escape the law. After the loss of his family and the Brophy home burning to the ground John Brophy simply walked away from Dudleytown never to be seen again. By 1899 Dudleytown was completely deserted. Children who grew up there married and moved away. The forest began to reclaim the land.

Looking for the peace and quiet that woods could provide Dr. William Clark, a cancer specialist from New York City, came to Cornwall in 1920. He liked the area very much and built a summer house there. Dr. Clark together with some of his friends and colleagues, formed the Dark Entry Forest Association (DEF) in 1924.. "The Dark Entry Forest Association was formed as a nature preserve," explains Dr. John F. Leich, former president and current shareholder of the DEF. "Dr. Clark wanted a place where he could bring his children and grandchildren in the summers." The original charter stated the land would remain "forever wild," a nature preserve for its members to enjoy.

In the mid-1920s while enjoying a summer holiday Dr. Clark was called to an emergency in New York City. He left his wife behind and when he returned after a few days she had gone mad. It was said that there was something from the forest that had attacked her and left her completely insane. She lived out the rest of her days in a mental hospital.

A resident of the Dark Entry Forest since 1952, Dr. John F. Leich, claims that he and his wife have been spending their summers there all this time and he has not experienced anything odd in and around Dudleytown. There are also about 50 shareholders in this association and about 20 houses and no one has ever seen anything strange or supernatural.

A Dudley genealogist Reverend Gary Dudley believes that no family connection exists between Joseph Dudley of Saybrook, Connecticut and Edmund Dudley of England.

"Edmund Dudley’s son, Robert, Earl of Leicester had two sons, and one was illegitimate," Rev. Dudley said. "The legitimate son of Robert died too young to marry, and the other moved to Italy where he and his three children remained—there is no lineage between Robert and the Dudleys who eventually settled in Cornwall."

However a noted demonologist and ghost hunter Ed Warren thinks Dudleytown was definitely cursed. He has said that the Dudleys had an ancestor in England who was a judge and sentenced many people to death for witchcraft. When the village started to thrive people went mad and reported seeing monstrosities in the forest. Since Dudleytown definitely had a bad aura about it everyone finally left the town.

Nancy Zeigler, co-author of the forthcoming book, Deadleytown, said, "The people living in the Dark Entry Forest have a vested interest in saying there is nothing up there. Well, if there’s nothing up there, then why do we get strange things on our photographs? I’ve been slapped across the face and scratched with no one standing there."

What people say. A woman who has had psychic encounters and who can tell if a place is haunted drove up to Dudleytown. She and her boyfriend’s mother (who also is psychic) drove to the beginning of Dark Entry Road. As soon as the woman got out of the car she feltthe coldest chill and her body temperature dropped. Something could be felt there. She has talked to other people as well and they have said that as you drive or walk through this route a black as black can be mass simply follows you.

In July of 1998 four friends went there to see what the „curse" was all about. As they pulled up Bald Mountain Road one friend felt stabbing pains in her stomach, ones back got really tense and the two others got a creepy feeling.

Then about 11:30 PM they parked their car at the entrance to one of the trails leading to Dudleytown. Armed with flashlights and cameras they started walking down the trail. There was dead silence no wind, no animal noises.

Having walked a few feet they heard a noise. Something that sounded like a huge metal dumpster dragging against asphalt. They were scared but kept going. When they got to the entrance one of the girls started to read the sign there and the other one took the flashlight and shined it on the ground over which they had just walked. There in huge letters were the words ‘NEVER RETURN...SATAN’.

Two incredible things about the writing – one it was fresh and two when they had driven over this area no tire marks were left and when they had walked over this area no footprints were left. At this point they realized that it was best to make a hasty retreat.

The Dark Entry Forest Association still owns most of the land that Dudleytown once stood on. There is a group of homes on Bald Mountain Road that are very secluded from main roads and the rest of civilization.

Whatever there is or was. What ever dark force exists it has had help. At some point Satanists and black witches have been performing rituals in the area that was once Dudleytown. Recently the DEF announced that they would no longer allow hikers to come onto their land. So Dudleytown is once again quiet, the evil forces that may exist there are not disturbed and whatever walks there walks alone.

For those who are interested there is the following message:
Note from the Connecticut State Police: Those who go, or attempt to go to Dudleytown will be arrested for trespassing and/or parking. The fines start at $75.00 per person and rapidly increase.