With a vast territory and an old history, the US is home to some of the most terrifying stories. Like any other country in the world, these stories often involve haunted houses, tragic passings, or even gruesome crimes. Others involve an entire town like the story of Dudleytown, considered by many paranormal lovers, one of the most haunted spots in the United States.
Dudleytown is an abandoned small village in the town of Cornwall, Connecticut. Dudleytown has been plagued by a series of misfortunes since its founding in the late 17th century. These misfortunes have led to the belief that the town is cursed. But why would an entire town be cursed? What happened there?
The Curse of Edmund Dudley
The curse is said to have originated with Edmund Dudley, an English nobleman who was beheaded for treason in 1510 in England. Dudley was the administrator and financial agent of King Henry VII; however, with the accession of Henry VIII, famous for his six wives, Dudley’s fortune changed.
Edmund Duddley was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London charged with treason accused of conspiring against the future king. According to legend, before facing his imminent fate, Dudley placed a curse on all his family, stating that they would be forever haunted by misfortune.
The Foundation of Dudleytown
Over a century later, Edmund’s grandson William emigrated to the New World and settled in Guilford, Connecticut. Eventually, three of William’s descendants, Abiel, Barzallai, and Gideon, would later buy a plot of land in Cornwall township. Around the 1740s Dudleytown was founded. Legend has it that the town was soon beset by a series of tragedies, including crop failures, livestock deaths, and mysterious illnesses.
However, it wasn’t the Dudleys the first to arrive at Dudleytown. Thomas Griffis was the one who first ventured to explore the Cornwall township, founding a retreated parcel where he thought he could live and make a profit. Soon, the aforementioned Dudleys followed suit and also bought some lots from Griffis.
Some other families followed them founding Dudleytown, although it was never a town per se. This isolated land never had schools, stores, or churches to be called a village or a town; residents went to Cornwall pretty much for everything, because unlike what Griffis thought, Dudleytown was an inhospitable land unable to crop anything.
Dudleytown still looks like it did back in the 18th century; like a thick forest with a ground filled with rocks surrounded by imposing mountains that impede light from entering the land. The landscape was so eerie that it eventually was named the “Dark Entry Forest.” Still, some brave families decided to call this impetuous land home.
The Birth of a Haunting Legend
Paranormal lovers claim that the curse of Dudleytown started to take its toll at the very first moment of its foundation. According to oral accounts, several residents died of mysterious causes, some developed terrible mental conditions, and many residents reported paranormal events like apparitions in the thick woods or even strange lights appearing in the surrounding areas.
Although many believe that all these tragedies are related to Edmund Dudley’s curse, others are certain that, like many stories in the US, this has more to do with the fact that Dudelytown once belonged to the Mohawk Indian tribe. This theory claims that once the Native Americans were displaced by the European settlers, they decided to place a curse on the land preventing the new colonizers from thriving in the land.
What’s true is that by the end of the 19th century, right after the Civil War, Dudleytow began to die as many of its residents decided to abandon this inhospitable land. More than the result of a curse, it had more to do with its geographical location, especially the harsh winters and the land’s inability to grow anything. By the early 20th century, Dudleytown was pretty much abandoned.
But although it was an abandoned land, it was by this time that the legend of the curse of Dudleytown started circulating in the country. Despite the intriguing nature of these stories, there is little historical evidence to support the existence of a curse on Dudleytown. Most of the information surrounding the curse is anecdotal, and the legends may have been exaggerated or fabricated over time.
Today, the area is on private property, and visitors are not allowed without permission, so it has become a subject of interest for those intrigued by supernatural and paranormal activities. Even today, many claim they’ve witnessed strange apparitions near the land.
