Fitch Bits: Dudleytown - New England's Village of the Damned

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Watch the video above or read the article below!

This post was originally shared as a Facebook and Instagram "DID YOU KNOW" post.

We share them weekly and you can get in on the fun by liking us at Facebook.com/TheNewSlightlyOddFitchburg and following us at Instagram.com/SlightlyOddFitchburg! Now onto the damned story!

DID YOU KNOW

that Dudleytown, Connecticut, might just be the real Village of the Damned?

Despite its name, Dudleytown was never an actual town. It was just a part of Cornwall, Connecticut that was settled in the early 1740s by Thomas Griffis, followed by Gideon Dudley and, by 1753, Barzillai Dudley and Abiel Dudley; Martin Dudley joined them a few years later. More families came afterward, and it turned into its own settlement. It's also in a valley known as Dark Forest Entry, so... you know. Things were never going to work out for it.

Anyway, the legend goes that the founders of Dudleytown were descended from Edmund Dudley, an English nobleman who was beheaded for treason during the reign of Henry VIII. From that moment on, the Dudley family was placed under a curse that followed them across the Atlantic to America.

That can easily be dismissed as folklore, but what can't be dismissed are the instances of massive crop failure, mental illness, and even violent deaths that rocked the area. It certainly had more than its fair share of hardships, and the settlement was slowly abandoned in the mid-to-late 19th century.

Oh, and before those cursed settlers got there, the land was inhabited by the Mohawk. They viewed it as sacred ground, so maybe there's a little more to it than the simple lack of clean water that most historians blame for its demise.

It was also investigated by Ed and Lorraine Warren in the 1970s. They said that it was demonically possessed, but they said that about pretty much everything.

Before you get any ideas about visiting, don't. It's been held as a private land trust since 1924 and it's not open to the public. They claim it's due to vandalism, but maybe they're just protecting you from the demons!

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About the Author

Ed Sweeney documents folklore, odd history, hauntings, and cryptid cases at SlightlyOddAmerica.com. He wrote Slightly Odd Fitchburg: The Odd and Haunted History of Central Massachusetts, is a content creator, and founder of the Slightly Odd Society

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