Morbid - Episode 520: Dudleytown: Connecticut’s Cursed Ghost Town

Episode Date: December 14, 2023

Deep in the woods near Cornwall, Connecticut, in a valley known as the Dark Entry Forest, lie the remains of the small village of Dudleytown. Settled in the mid-eighteenth century by British colonists, Dudleytown was a thriving mining community that for provided charcoal and other minerals for the growing steel industry in and around New England. But by the late nineteenth century, the mining industry had shifted west and slowly, but surely the population of Dudleytown shrank until there, by the early twentieth century, there were only a handful of people living in the village. By 1924, the village of Dudleytown was completely abandoned and fell into the ownership of a private trust, who sought to restore the forest ecosystem to its pre-colonial health.In retrospect, historians and others familiar with the region have cited a variety of social, economic, and ecological reasons for the collapse and abandonment of Dudleytown, yet there are those who believe the abandonment of the village has a darker and more supernatural explanation. There were rumors of widespread madness among the villagers, unexplained deaths and other tragedies, and a curse that dates back to the founding of village in the 1740s.Today, the area is said to be haunted and, despitebeing private property, it has become a popular destination for ghost hunters and legend trippers who are determined to find out whether Dudleytown is truly a cursed village or just a victim of shifting social and economic trends.Thank you to the incredible Dave White of Bring me the Axe Podcast for Research!ReferencesBarlow, Bart. 1980. "A lost town populated by legends." New York Times, October 26: C2.Campos, Chris. 1976. "The death of a town is the life of a curse." The Journal, May 29: 1.Cornwall Conservation Commission. 2012. The Land and People of Cornwall, Connecticut: A Conservation Perspective of Our Town's Natural Treasures. Historical evalutation, Cornwall, CT: Cornwall Conservation Commission.Cornwall Historical Society. 2014. The Truth about Dudleytown. September 29. Accessed October 29,2023. http://cornwallhistoricalsociety.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-truth-about-dudleytown.html.Drozdowski, Ted. 1978. "Old ghouls still haunt state's cliffs, villages." The Morning Record and Journal,October 28: 35.Hartford Courant. 2006. "True curse haunting family's forest land was progress." Hartford Courant,October 25: B2.Hutter, David. 2008. Man pays price to spot Dudleytown ghosts. August 3. Accessed October 3, 2023.https://www.registercitizen.com/news/article/Man-pays-price-to-spot-Dudleytown-ghosts-12147138.php.New England Historical Society. n.d. The Dudleytown Curse, Connecticut's Village of the Damned.Accessed October 3, 2023. https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/the-dudleytown-curse-connecticuts-village-of-the-damned/.Pallatto, John. 1980. "Only the ghost hunters walk in legend-cursed Dudleytown." Hartford Courant,November 1: 9.Pettit, John. 1996. "The spirits were willing, but the flesh was weak." Record Journal, October 31: 1.Revai, Cheri. 2006. Haunted Connecticut: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Constitution State.Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books.Rierden, Andi. 1989. "A hamlet that can't get rid of its ghosts." New York Times, October 29: C2.Ryan, Bill. 1986. "Dudleytown legend haunts Cornwall." Hartford Courant, April 13: 12.Siedzik, Jason. 2011. In Cornwall, Dudleytown movie makers arrested. December 8. Accessed October 3,2023. https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/In-Cornwall-Dudley-Town-Movie-Makers-Arrested-16886230.php.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You're listening to a Moorbit Network podcast. Hey, Weirdo's I'm Ash. And I'm Alaina. And this is Moorvid. It's morbid in the morning in case you couldn't tell for var voices. It's morbid in the morning. It's like very early morning. We haven't done one like this in a hula y'all. A hula y'all.

And it's rainy out. Yeah, it's real spooky. It is. It's colds, though. It's like a very cold rain, which is disgusting. The holidays are upon us. Yeah, thanksgiving is like in a minute. It's like in a minute.

It's in a minute. We did this early in the morning because Chugirl is leaving on my honeymoon because I got married. Woo! Last-sic these days. A whole-ass-sic. Absolutely wild. It was such a good cool. That's so cool. That's so cool. That's so cool.

That's so cool. That's so cool. That's so cool. That's so cool. That's so cool. That's so cool. That's so cool. That's so cool.

That's so cool. That's so cool. That's so cool. That's so cool. That's so cool. That's so cool. That's so cool. That's so cool.

That's so cool. That's so cool. That's so cool. That's so cool. That's so cool. That's so cool. That's so cool. That's so cool. Actually, there's one of you giving your speech and I'm looking on lovingly. And then there's one of you giving your speech and I'm holding up a one and I don't exactly what it's like because it's sort of a Captain Crunch Slurpee that she literally pushed up one and the fish talk was I told you we weren't speaking. We were talking about the fish talk on time.

Fish talk incident will remain on name to thank you and good night. But no, it was so much fun. And I had a blast. It was awesome. It was gorgeous. You were gorgeous. Oh you were gorgeous. Drew was gorgeous. Drew was gorgeous. It was all gorgeous. He crowd surfed three times. It was amazing. It was epic. All right so I said, why don't we do a little cursory curse town-curse town? Yeah, this town is wild. Like, it's just a weird-ass town.

It's not even a town, is it? It's literally not a town. It's just like an area on top of a couple of fucking mountains. It's like one of those unincorporated towns that are really fucking weird. Yeah, it just got like called a town because of like the grouping of people that lived there. Yeah.

But they all went kuku nuts bananas allegedly. And then I did find a listener tale of somebody that's visited. Hell yeah. We're talking about Dudley Town in Connecticut. Please be aware that I'm not encouraging you to go anywhere near there because that is legal. Oh. But this person, I think, went before it was illegal or went on the low and we're not gonna judge them Yeah, we're not judging them. Yeah, not in any way, but on the low in the forward times I am the forward time encouraging not to go just one I like how you just what you just called the future. Yeah, the forward time

I am imploring you to not know because you'll get in trouble. And I don't want that for you. I don't want that for you. It's expensive to get in trouble. Oh, no. Yeah, I'll let you know how much. But, vamp first that, because I need another sip of coffee. All right, I'm vamping because Ash needs a sip of coffee

before she goes on. Did it. I found, I noticed this topic somewhere. Yeah, because you just as you were aware. Originally, and then we did a little reverse. A reverse, reverse. But I'm trying to remember where I found it, because I feel like I was in one of those weird books. It might have been in one of those weird books, because it was one of those, I was like,

huh, this is interesting. And like we're not saying the book is weird, it's literally like weird, like weird New Jersey and New England. Weird Connecticut. Yeah. I think maybe that's what it was. It probably was. is weird, it's literally like weird New England. New England, weird Connecticut. Yeah, I think maybe that's what it was. It probably was. Or like no, no, no, no, no, no, you said a TikTok.

Oh, yeah. You said you see the TikTok tool. Yeah, I was, I claimed it. All right, that's cool. And let's get into it. So deep in the woods near Cornwall, Connecticut, and a valley known as Dark Entry Forest. Tom, are you soul?

Yeah, are the remains of the small village of Dudley Town. Dudley Town was a thriving mining community. It was settled upon in the mid 18th century by British colonists, much like pretty much everywhere all surrounding. Yeah, yeah. The town provided charcoal and other minerals for the growing steel industry in and around New England.

But by the late 19th century, the mining industry had shifted west. I think we all know about that. We learned about that like six- The gold rush. The gold rush. And because of that slowly but surely the population of Dudleytown shrank until by the early 20th century,

there were only a handful of people living in this little, you can call it a village, it's like barely a village. It's a little hamlet. Yeah, kind of, actually. By 1924, the village of Dudley Town was completely abandoned at that point, and it fell into the ownership of a private trust, who wanted to restore the forest ecosystem to its pre-colonial health. Oh. So they set out on a little ecosystem makeover. Extreme makeover. Forest edition. I like that. So looking back historians and other people familiar with this area, chalked up the abandonment of this little town hamlet to a variety of social, economic, ecological reasons. But with that being

said, there are people who think that those reasons, although social economic, ecological regions, reasons are bullshit. And that the real reason the village was abandoned is much darker and far more supernatural in nature. Oh, and I'm with them. And I'm with them. There are rumors of widespread madness among the villagers, unexplained deaths and other tragedies. And of course, a curse that dates back to the founding of the village in the 1740s or actually possibly even before that.

Huh. Regarding this one family. A woman to it. Now today, the area is still said to be haunted and despite being private property, private property, it has become a popular destination for ghost hunters and legend troopers who are determined to find out whether Dudley Town is a truly cursed village or Just a victim of those shifting social and economic trends boo boy content All right, so let's get into it located in the northwest corner of Connecticut the town of Cornwall was incorporated in 1740 like so long ago. And it was after multiple shares of lands were purchased at auction from Yale College, Cornwall. Yeah, and it was about a year or two earlier. Now early colonists were

initially drawn to this region for farming and the proximity to the Hussetonic River. But they learned pretty quickly that the mountainous landscape made transportation difficult and that it also limited the crops that could be sold outside of the area for that very reason. Now, the river did aid in transportation of agricultural goods, but most people in the area shifted their focus to other forms of business, like education and mining. They're just a little more fruitful. Yeah. Now among those who immigrated to Cornwall were several members of the Dudley family.

Ah. Dudley family, Dudley town. Ah. And in the early 1740s, they settled in this heavily wooded part of Cornwall. That's right on top of a high hill, at a time, came to be known as Dudley Town. Now, I was kind of thinking earlier, the name would imply that they ended up with their own whole last town, or like formally recognized reason. Yeah.

Or, yeah, but it was just an informal name that they gave to the settlement. I also love that they gave the name Dudley Town. Like, their last name was Dudley and they were like, Dudley Town. This is our town, bitch. It feels like, and I'm not equating them to him, but it feels like something mayor humdinger from Paw Patrol would do. That's a mom moment. I just humdinger town brought to you by Paw Patrol. I could see that happening, you know what? That man, right? That man. That man. That man. He checks. No, sort of like how a like an urban neighborhood, like a city neighborhood might gain it in

formal nickname due to the particular characteristic, that's exactly what it was. Like at like bean town for Boston, you know? Yeah. Which I didn't know why Boston was called bean town. Really? I thought it was bee town for the longest time of my life. Wow. Only about maybe five or six years ago.

Did I learn? Wow. And it was your 20s. In my 20s. My 20s. Or maybe like maybe like late teens. But yeah, I always thought it was beatown. Wow. But it's bean town because we have a lot of baked beans here.

That's hilarious that you did not know that. I also didn't know that like baked beans were like a Boston thing. Yeah, I thought. Boston baked beans. Yeah, who knew I did You you but not me don't I? Who knew? But not my dude or you know no anyways

included Thomas Griffiths Gideon Gideon Dudley What you said shut up over there Shuddering Dudley. What do you say? Shut up over there. Shut up. Computing. Yeah.

Barzale Dudley, Heavall Dudley, and Martin Dudley, who were eventually followed by other families that would also settle upon the town. Just wild ass names, though. Wild ass Barzale is the favorite of them. Barzale is where it's at. Oh my God, and I meant to text you, you know that French guy on the pronunciation that we yes

I love that guy. I looked it up and he goes Barzile it is easy Barzile He was like you can do it. I was like You Barzile it is easy Barzile I don't know if it is I love it. He always encourages. He does. I like him. In May of 1980, near Anaheim, California, Dorothy Jane Scott noticed her friend had an inflamed red wound on his arm and seemed unwell. She insisted on driving him to the local hospital to

get treatment. While he waited for his prescription, Dorothy went to grab her car to pick him up at the exit, but would never be seen alive again. Leaving us to wander, decades later, what really happened to Dorothy Jane's Scott? From Wondery Generation-wise, a podcast that covers notable true crime cases like this one and many more. Every week hosts Aaron and Justin sit down to discuss a new case, covering every angle and theory, walking through the forensic evidence and interviewing those close to the case to try to discover what happened. With over 450 episodes, there's a case for every true crime listener.

Follow the Generation Y podcast on the Wondering app, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Generation Y ad-free now by joining Wonder-Yep Plus. Hi, I'm Lindsay Graham, the host of Wonder-Yep podcast American scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in US history, presidential lies, corruption and sports, corporate fraud. Our newest season looks at Aaron Hernandez, a rising pro football star who shocked the sports world when he was arrested for a brutal murder in 2013. Fans, media, and Hernandez's

own family couldn't understand how a beloved and respected player for the New England Patriots with a $40 million contract could commit such a heinous crime. But there had been warning signs all along the way, and they pointed to a much larger health crisis among current and former NFL players. Follow American Scandal on the Wonder App, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge American Scandal, Aaron Hernandez, early and ad-free right now on Wonder Plus. Now, at first, the settlers in Dudley Town tried to follow the path of other settlers in Cornwall by clearing large pots of forested land to establish farms of their own.

However, after decades of telling the soil and trying but failing to establish really any crops, the residents learned that for a number of reasons the area was not well suited to farming, and it was definitely not as suited as the lower areas in the valley. And again, the natural limitations on transportation made selling the few crops that were successful, very difficult. So unable to farm the land, the residents of Dudley Town turned to the only other potentially lucrative resource at their disposal, iron ore.

Oh, what? We all know it. We all love it. We all harvest it. We all live it. Yeah. You know, or, or. I don't even really know what iron ore is, do you? I don't know. I know that Bobby Orr was a hockey player. The more you know, in Boston. In Boston. Not too bad. To see town. Being town. Not me town. And be town. Not me town. I'm not doing that. So see, town. I'm being town. Not being town. No, and be town. I'm not that. I mean, it both works. Get you a grub, we could do both.

Exactly. So Connecticut was being settled by European colonists in the early 18th century. So it occurred to them that the Western part of the state could potentially be rich with valuable minerals. I don't know what it is about the West, but it's all about minerals. I know everything in the West, even the Western part of the Eastern States are more fruitful.

I don't know what happened in there. What's up with the West? I like the East personally. Me as well personally. But the problem, however, was that extracting iron or from the Earth was a very costly time consuming process that after you got through the entire thing could also prove unprofitable. Making a profit was real hard back in this day. It was. But fortunately, by the mid to end of the 18th century, the onset of the American Revolutionary War drove the need for locally produced steel for arms, which dramatically increased the potential for local mining. Oh, there you go. So like sad that war made that happen.

Those gonna say, yay. For the residents of Cornwall, living in Dudley Town, that demand for ore created a welcome opportunity to replace those failed attempts at farming. And soon the area became known for its active mining industry. And they were providing large amounts of charcoal to the growing mining industry.

Now while the end of the revolution saw a dramatic decrease in the need for war-related iron production, the industrialization of labor that occurred throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries ensured that New England's mining industry wasn't going anywhere. And during this period, iron forges and industrial blast furnaces were scattered across the region, excuse me, including two in Cornwall alone. And as one of the few areas in Western Connecticut with a quarry, Cornwall and the Dudleytown area specifically became a really important source of charcoal

to keep the regional furnaces operating. So they were really, really needed in this period of time, which meant they were really, really profitable. Like, we got a quarry. We got a fucking quarry, Ken. Very Boston also. Yeah, really profitable. Like, we got a quarry. We got a fucking quarry, Cadd. Very Boston also. Yeah, it is. Yeah.

So, quarry. So, everything's going great, right? Yeah. It's going great. Well, for a little while. But by the end of the 19th century, the prosperity, the residents of Dudley Town were enjoying, and just like, slipping on, began to decline before finally coming to a complete end

in the second decade of the 20th century. Because toward the middle of the 19th century, the discovery of rich or deposits in places like California and Nevada. Nevada, yeah. Those had driven the mining industry out west. Again, we all know it. And that took most of Cornwall's residents with it.

Ah, so they were kind of fucked again. So soon after life in the relatively isolated area of Dudley Town really became more of a hardship. Like if you stayed, you were roughing it. And if you didn't want to stay, you would relocate to be closer to the train system and the center of town. And those people just effectively abandoned their homes

to eventually be reclaimed by the forest. Oh, damn. Which like, there's something about the forest just eating, damn. Which like, there's something about the forest just eating up your house. Yeah, there's something about the forest reclaiming things that really just sets me a light. It fucks me up. Cause I just picture the forest like eating your house.

Yeah, the forest is just like, don't mind if I do. Yeah, like that's what I think, just like, that's mine. My trees are going back there. I was like, damn. Yeah, the forest is, she's a sassy that's mine. My trees are going back there. It's like damn. Yeah, the forest is, she's a sassy bitch. She will, she'll just reclaim. And good for her, she should. Yeah.

Now by the early 20th century, there's like so many centuries, huh? So many. Only a handful of people still trying to manage a living in Dudley town until the late 1920s, when only one resident remained, One in this once thriving community. Unfortunately, the last holdout learned the same lesson of the early settlers and found the area impossible to farm.

Eventually, he lost all of his income and had to abandon the farm and relocate closer to town. Poor person. I know. They have a name for him. I'm not going to say it because it might be incorrect. But some books point to this one man, but then others are like, no,

people just like put him in there. And that's okay. So I don't want to spread misinformation. You don't want to do that. Now by the end of the 1920s, Dudley Town, like I said, had become completely abandoned. And at that point, it was purchased by a land trust known as Dark Entry Forest Association.

That's fucked up. Metal. I love that. That's a private organization started by New York philanthropists. And their mission was to preserve the region's forest ecosystem. Dark Entry Forest. Oh yeah. And their particular emphasis was on education.

So they were like, we're metalist fuck, but we just like to teach you things. Well, that's a way to get people's attention. That's the thing. Like, I'm listening. Of course you are. Your middle name is Dark Entry. Hell yeah, let's just go show. Now, under the management of this land trust,

the area once known as Dudley Town became a popular destination for New Yorkers who needed an escape from city life. They found Cornwall a convenient place to vacation or a place where they could commute into the city for work. And since taking over the region in the late 1920s, the Dark Country Forest Association, they have planted thousands of trees

and restored most of the once deforested region basically to its pre-colonial ecosystem. Hell yeah, Dark Country Forest Association. Yeah, they created a sanctuary for a lot of bird species that had left previously in other wild. Oh, I love that shit or have they because people say that there's like no wildlife. And it was like silent in those straight. They tried. long process, resulting in a shift of economic opportunities and the increasingly infeasibility of the area, right? Exactly.

Totally. Yeah. And simple terms, people chalk it up to the decline in the demand for charcoal, the inability to farm the land, and all of that led to making relatively isolated, deadly town just an undesirable place to live. But ghost towns do have a way of, you know, getting our imagination to go wild. And Dudley Town is no different. And maybe it's not just our imagination. I don't think it is. It's not. Because rumors of supernatural forces and curses started

even before this place was fully abandoned. Hell yeah. Right? abandoned hell yeah right? Definitely if she waited a minute between now. She really waited a minute. Just texting John to find. Visual. I found a couple places where I didn't delete the doubt. So I'm just working with it. Oh, I didn't delete the doubt.

I didn't delete the doubt. I didn't delete all the doubt. All right. So according to the Cornwall Historical Society, the earliest mention of the curse of deadly, Dudley town, excuse me, appeared in Edward C. Starr's 1926 book History of Cornwall. People say, quote, stars account has formed the basis of every story published since that about Dudley Town. But they are quick to point out that his account doesn't make any mention of the supernatural. It just weaves together a myriad of accounts about life in the 18th and 19th

centuries, presenting what he refers to as the doom of Dudley Town. Now his version of events start off very factually, with the establishment of Dudley Town by the Dudley's, who actually were members of the British Royal family. Damn. Yeah. According to Star, the family actually fled England after the head of the family, Edmund Dudley, was hunted down and executed for his role in a plot to assassinate King George II. Oh, shit. So in some cases, people say that he was going to go into assassinate King George II. Other sources have it as King Henry VIII.

So I think the timeline's just got a little obscured there. Yeah, and I think maybe some sources, King Henry VIII is such a polarizing and like very like, whoa, figure. And it's like, throw him in there and it's like, oh, shit. Exactly. Because he's also just even if you don't know like anything about King Henry VIII, you know the name. Yeah. But the family feared that they would soon meet the same fate of being executed because they were associated with him. No. So the remaining members of the Dudley clan came to the colonies, trading in, quote, title and fortune

for a life of farming and brighter horizons and Connecticut. So they were literally like, we don't want to be associated with your plot to assassinate the king. We don't want to get it. So we're gonna give everything up. And just don't live in Connecticut. Just go live in Connecticut and hopefully farm.

And then when we got there, they were like, fuck, can't farm. Can't farm. And then when I got there, they were like, fuck, can't farm. Can't farm. And we're royal. So like, what do we even do? Shit. Yeah, it's rough of it.

Wow. They were like, let's go camping essentially. Yeah. And then they were like, oh, no, we don't have skills. It was kind of like naked and afraid, except they had some clothes. Yeah. Closed and afraid.

Closed and royal and afraid. I would watch that. No. The legend was expanded a decade later. In the 19, excuse me, shut up. Never. The legend was expanded a decade later in the 1938 publication. They found a way.

They found a way written by Iva Hunt, Sherry and William Gargis. Gargis, excuse me. According to Sherry and Gargis, after Dudley's attempted assassination of the king, a coven of British Satanist placed a curse on Edmund Dudley's bloodline, dooming them to a tragic existence

no matter where they fled. I'm in, here's my issue. I'm in the story. We really think that the Satanists of the time, if there were any, we're gonna place a curse on the guy that tried to kill the king. You would feel like the Satanist would be against the king. Yeah, because he was all about like a church at that point.

Yeah, you'd think like some, some, some manarchy kind of stuff. Right. I don't, yeah. I mean, I'm like, all right, let's go. Someone placed a curse. I'm really so cursed. I'm just like, I don't know if it was Satanist. I don't know all right, let's go. Someone placed a curse. I'm like so cursed. I'm just like, I don't know if it was Satanist. I don't know who's Satanist.

I know, I feel like they'd be like, eh, you know? I feel like Satan, like real Satanists don't, they don't care enough to do that shit. Yeah, no. And they're not bothered enough. I don't think they'd be rooting for the crown. Yeah, that's the thing. I think that's like the misconception about Satanist

is that they are bothered. Yeah, they're not. They're not even believing. Very unbothered. Yeah, it's not even like a real deity or any kind of like entity. There's like no deity. It's a symbol for one of the deity, right? Yeah, like you worship yourself.

That's hot. All right. And Satan's like the symbol of like, you know, kind of independent, some free thought. And that's cool. And that's a bathy, kind of independent of free thought. And that's cool. And Baffee, right? Like Bafferman? Baffee.

Yeah. He's a cool symbol. He is a cool symbol. I like him a lot. Yeah. Look at him picture with him. Look at him up, Miss A. Tannock Temple. I love Baffee.

He's cool. But so according to American hauntings, Inc. One of Edmund's sons, the guy that got assassinated, he also tried to take control over the British throne because like who wasn't trying to take control of the British throne? I mean, me, I wasn't, but... Well, you weren't alive. If you had been alive, we think you would. We think you would have fucked up in that front part.

You think you know what? But instead of threatening to be had anybody, this guy just meddled in them. That scared the absolute shit out of me. Oh my God, that brought us back to early days of recording when my charger would just be ripped out of the wall and fall down all the time. And that was my charger, everybody.

Wow. That was my charger falling out of the wall for no reason. Is that plug even usually loose? No. It's the curse. Yeah. It just flew out of the wall. That's spooky.

That's spooky. I don't like it. Well, instead of threatening to behead anybody, this guy, one of his sons actually, just decided he would metal into a marriage. Yeah. So he arranged for the marriage of one of his sons to Lady Jane Gray, who I feel like we've talked about before. Yeah. She's a very historical figure. Yeah. And at this point in time, she was supposed to be next in line for the crown. So he was effectively setting this sun up to become king. Hell yeah. But unfortunately for them, after Edward,

I believe it was the sixth, if it's V-I, if the eyes after the V-U-Add, so yeah, the sixth. So unfortunately for them, after Edward the sixth passed away, Lady Jane did become queen, but her rain was short-lived, and she was actually beheaded along with John Dudley and his son, Gilford. And I, Oop.

And I, Oop. Later, John Dudley's other son, Gilford's brother, was said to have brought home a plague from France. He had been like fighting in France. And when he came back with that plague, he killed his officers, his troops, like, like spreading the plague to them, and essentially went on to kill thousands throughout the country because of this illness. Holy shit. Big yikes. Big yikes.

Big target on your back right now. Wow, Dudley's. Dudley's not killing it, but I mean, also killing it. Yeah. So other accounts that emerged in the years that followed, actually suggested that the curse begin centuries earlier when Edmund Dudley was beheaded for attempting to assassinate King Henry VIII, saying, and the family eventually was said to bring that curse with them to Cornwall when they fled New England. Or when they fled England. In time, the curse of Dudley Town would supposedly earn the region the nickname Village

of the Damned. Oh my goodness. But other people think that nickname Village of the Damned started with a relatively simple murder. Either way, what a fucking nickname of the Damned. If that's not a band, they might already be what are the musical people doing? Village of the Damned. Well, that's like a movie.

Yeah, is that a movie? Yeah, musicals? The Village of the Damned. That's like a movie. Yeah, is that a movie actually? Yeah, Village of the Damned, yeah, because it's like in like children of the Damned. I don't think I've ever seen this. Let me see, hold on, Village of the... By the way, while I have you here and we're talking about movies,

I wanna watch that new Thanksgiving movie. Me too. I wanna see that. I really wanna see that. That's been like 16 years in the making First he first But we're just gonna talk about you like Roth for a second. I like Roth did like I did a short of that movie like in like grindhouse So it was like 16 years ago. It's a people waiting for it forever. It looks in perfect a full length thing of it

And he finally was able to do it. And it looks, I've heard amazing things about it. I've heard my girl Sydney on TikTok, horror chronicles. Horror chronicles. By the way, quick little shout out to her. She has a podcast now. Oh, shit.

Called, I think it's called Hello Sydney. The Hello Sydney podcast. And she like, she like goes through horror movies. She's like so knowledgeable. I've told you guys about her before. Oh, that's cool. So go listen to our podcast so it can blow up because she's great.

But she said, and I trust her, that it was one of, it was a fucking phenomenal movie. And then she thinks John Carver, the killer in that movie, is gonna be one of those like iconic killers. And then there will be more waiting for one of those. We haven't had one. Give me another one. I feel like the last iconic killer

is probably like ghost-feast, right? Yeah, it's like, because you got to wait for the real good one to put them on the Mount Rushmore of killers. That's true. John and I had an argument about that the other day. And other people had belongs on there. And I said, John can't decide who goes on the Rushmore

of iconic killers, but he can decide who goes on the Rushmore of 90s R&B. Exactly. And you just have to stay in your own lane. It's true. We stay in our own lanes here. Exactly. But anyways, back to the Dudley's. Yeah.

It all started with a relatively simple murder. After decades of struggling and ultimately again failing to farm that land, considerable tensions had arisen between the families in Dudley town. they're all trying to make something happen that's not happening. Yeah, they're all aggravated. Yeah. You know, they're all like Regina George and Gretchen Wieners over the fetch. Yeah. Of it all. Yeah, it's not going to happen. It's not. And neither is the farming. Now those tensions were said to finally come to a head in 1792 when Gershown Hollister was found murdered in a home owned by a man named William Tanner. Now, the weird thing is Hollister's murderer is never named. No one knows

who really murdered him. Oh shit. And it's unclear why he was even murdered in the first place, but it is said that immediately after the murder occurred, William Tanner started to lose his fucking marbles and would go around just speaking all kinds of wild things to his neighbors about wild animals and demons living in the woods and saying they were responsible until he finally went completely insane and like straight up lost his mind. Wow.

But before that, he claimed that some kind of unrecognizable animal killed Hollister in the forest or like attacked him. And then he brought him back into his home to try to help him. And that's where he died. Oh, damn. Other people say that he died building a barn, but that's boring. Yeah, that's boring. I think animal demon. Animal demon. Demon boring. Yeah, that's boring. I think animal demon.

Animal demon. Demon animal. Yeah. Oh shit. Right, I just went like mad afterwards. Damn. And it's like animal demon, William Tanner. Yeah.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Wow. But according to legend, Abel Dudley was the next to fall victim to the curse. Not long after Hollister's murder, Abel's neighbors noticed that he had become constantly distracted and also began decompensating until he, too, finally lost his mind altogether.

Wow. So he had to be taken away, actually, because he was talking about demon animals and just like all kinds of nonsense to the people, like people took it as nonsense. So there's like a consistent thread through this madness as well. A demon animal. Yeah. Now, once he had been taken away Abel,

Nathaniel Carter and his family moved into Abel's house. Oh, shit. But they too became so disturbed by inexplicable tragedies that they just up and left and moved to Birmingham, New York, where they built a cabin. Holy shit. Now, I have like chills even just saying this. So, they

got out of there because something just so disturbed them in that house that they moved out of the state, even over to New York. Now, one day while Nathaniel was in the village, the home was rated and his wife and children were killed. And when he returned later that day, he was also killed. And according to the New England Historical Society, the unfortunate turn of events was likely linked to the Dudley Town case and even followed them all the way to New York.

Holy shit, is that nuts? Like somehow the curse rubbed off on them from living in a new house. Damn, don't move the tableel's house. Don't do it. Don't do it. Now, the madness continued a short time later, when General, uh, human Swift, I believe his name is, a hero of the Revolutionary War returned home after the war. He lived happily with his third wife, Sarah Fie, for a short time, until she was struck and killed by a bolt of lightning. What the fuck?

Struck and killed by a bolt of lightning after which he, quote, went stark, raving mad. Everyone's going mad. Which I'm like, if my man's got killed by a lightning strike out of nowhere, I might too. Also go mad. But it's like, who gets struck by lightning? That's the thing. This is strange. And of course, I might too, also go mag. But it's like, who gets struck by lightning? That's the thing.

This is strange. And of course, in Dudley's house. It's just like standing on her porch and got struck by lightning. Oh my God. Mm-hmm. Now then there was the newspaper editor and one time presidential candidate.

Whoa, Horace Greeley. I believe he was going up against, um, Ulysses Grant. Oh shit. Yeah. Now in 1872, just one week before the presidential election, Greely's wife, Mary Cheney, took a trip to her childhood home in Dudleytown. Oh, no. And hanged herself inexplicably.

What the fuck? Like, according to everybody, nothing had been going on to this. There was the stress of like the presidential election coming out. But just went to Dudley Town to hang herself. Went to Dudley Town to her childhood home. I was like, it's freezing the fuck out. That's spooky.

Yeah, it is. That's really spooky. I also realized that when you said you Lissie's S. Grant, that I was like, oh shit, he's my favorite president or something like that. I don't know why I responded that way. I have no feelings about you. Liss or something like that. Like I don't know why. If he responded that way, I have no feelings about you, Lizzie's S. Grant. I don't know a lot about him.

I think he had a rock star mustache. All right, then I'll shit. Did he? You Lizzie's. I think he did. I just realized my response seemed like I was a real like fangirl for you, Lizzie's. It's a secret thing that we've never told you.

The secret. Did he have no? The secret thing. Ah, no, his mustache wasn't even that great. No. No. He had a mustache beard combo. Oh, OK.

Oh, I think I can picture him in my head. Yeah. You know? Yeah. A Elyse side quest. Oh, I think he might have been good. I don't know. We don't have to get into that.

That's OK. I just I felt like I should clarify that you should. That I'm not like here, just like thirst and freaking this thing. Not all up in you this week. I mean, he's a good looking man, really. If you were, I'd be like, okay. But damn, this is all, this is a lot. And then, so he loses his wife after she goes and hangs herself in her childhood home

in Dudley Town, and then he loses the presidential candidacy. Like, he loses the election. Yeah. Because the curse. Oh, damn. Terrifying. Now, this person has said to be the final victim of the Dudleytown madness. And she is the wife of Dr. William Clark, one of the original founding members of the dark entry forest association. Oh, shit. According to legend, Dr. Clark

took a short business trip to New York in 1924, and when he returned home to Dudley Town, his wife had completely lost it, and he literally had to institutionalize her at this point. Everyone's going mad. She spent the rest of her life in his psychiatric institution. Wow.

But she too referenced strange animals in the woods Shut up. Before dissenting into complete quote unquote madness. Guys, what the fuck is going on with that? There's animals in those clothes. Demon, fucking animals. Something's going on. Now, the madness that seemed to consume

so many residents of Dudley Town was just one of the many inexplicable tragedies to befall the community. Death seemed to have taken a liking to Dudley Town from the very beginning. Yeah. In 1774, not long after a Donoram Carter settled in the area with his family, every single one of them was killed by a mysterious illness. Shut up.

The entire family who hired her. The entire family? Now, according to Sherry Reveye, I believe, it was the mysterious deaths of the Carter family that so disturbed Nathaniel Carter to the point that he also relocated his entire family to Burm, excuse me, Binghampton. And that was the guy that up and left to New York, but then was killed in New York. Holy shit. Now, in the late 19th century, the curse also found its way to the family of John Patrick Brophy when his wife died of consumption. A short time later, the two Brophy children

disappeared into the woods and were never seen again. What? Their mother died of consumption, which like you can chalk up to a car. So you can take a copy of some of these. I'm just dying of consumption. But then the children disappeared into the woods and no one ever saw them again.

You said it's two children? Two children. Just disappeared into the fucking dark forest. And no one. Where the demon animals are. And we're not done with this poor family. Oh. Because if those tragic losses weren't enough,

the home in which the brofies lived, then burned to the ground under mysterious circumstances. I mean, come on. Some people think that John Broofies at the fire himself, which, like at that point, I would probably light my whole fire too. Yeah, I would. But whatever the case, after the deaths of his wife

and the disappearances of his two children, he left Dudleytown and was never heard from again. I cannot get over the fact that these two children just disappeared. Walked into the forest. My children also will not go away. That's like the story. I'm... They just walked into...

Like the thought of people just walking into the forest and disappearing forever has just been seen again. Holy shit. Were the demon animals like back ining them? That's the thing. Like what was going on? They just walked into the forest? I don't know, but I hate it.

And I know it's probably not a record, but I wonder how old they were and shit. Like I didn't see anything about their ages, but they're probably children. So it's like they were younger and it's like they walked into the forest. And to the woods, like you would think around 10 or younger.

And it's like even that, it's like, damn, you just walked into the damn forest and never to be seen again. Never. And then he was never heard from again after he just dipped after lighting this potentially allegedly lighting his home a place. Wow.

So by the mid 1970s, after people, all the people had fled and nature began to reclaim the land. All that remained of Dudley town, and I believe still today, all that remains, is a few cellar holes, which is so fucking creepy. And then one or two of the original dark, or dirt roads, which are also probably dark. And the remnants of centuries-old farms just scattered throughout the forest. And that was by the 70s. Right now, you probably can't even find the farms. Damn. Now, after 50 years of ownership, the Dark Entry Forest Association had finally started

to see the fruits of their labor, and the forest that was once Dudleytown gained a reputation as a popular destination for hikers and campers from around New England and beyond. But they weren't alone. By the mid-1970s, a growing national enthusiasm for folklore and the paranormal led literally anyone with an interest in the supernatural out into their communities to find evidence in the backyard of Dudley Town. In late May 1976, reporter from the Meridian Journal,

excuse me joined a Paris psychology group from the University of Connecticut into the dark entry forest, where they spent a night in the remains of Dudleytown. This just creeps me the fuck out. It's like barely anything, but it just creeps me out. Report a criss-campus route. It is a most unusually quiet forest,

not actually quiet, but practically silent. Except for the occasional gust of wind through the tree tops, tree tops, there are no sounds of life in the woods after dark, not even one solitary cricket cracks that are on earthly silence after dark. Something about that fucking terrifying. Yeah, that fucks me,

because it reminds me of the Okigahara. Yep, yep. The forest in Japan at the base of Mount Fuji. It's so dense that it's so silent. Or so silent. Yeah, it's like, it's got that, like, just, that's why it's called like that, like, ocean of trees, kind of thing. Yeah.

Because it's just like dead silence. Oh, it's, there's something, I can't even sleep in silence. I can't. And especially like a forest, a forest should be when you walk in because you think of like a forest around here. Yeah. Like walking. And it's just like bustling with like, you know, birds chirping. Yeah. Squirrels running around.

The balls of insects and like, you know, leaves rattle, you know, rustling. Yeah. And wind rustling through. Like there's always sounds like like the, and they're comforting sounds of a forest. Yeah. And to go into a forest and have it be dead silent. Dead silent. And as he said specifically after dark,

you don't even hear like a fucking cricket. See, and that's in that night, you hear nothing but sounds from the forest. Exactly. We bring the dogs out at the end of the night. Oh yeah. And the forest is fucking, they're partying. It's a rage already.

I hear fucking owls hooting at each other. Yeah. There's like all the crickets, there's high odys, there's all kinds of shit. Like you want to hear something. You want to hear that shit. When you don't hear anything, I can't eat. That throws me for a loop.

Yeah. And he said he was like, we didn't really experience anything supernatural, like, or that people, I think, would take a supernatural. But he said, was like, we didn't really experience anything supernatural or that people I think would take as supernatural. But he said, quote, we all sense to very uncomfortable, very uneasy and very frightening presence around us. I couldn't put their finger on it,

but something was there and it was off. See, and I feel like you know. You're probably knows when something's off. Even instant, it's like when you feel a heaviness and an unsettled kind of kidding. That's the thing. Like, it's, I feel like you know when something is a mess. You totally know. It's something's a mess there. It is. Now, Campo's story actually got picked up by the wire service. And over the course of the week that followed, it appeared in newspapers across New England. And within a few years, the area once known as Dudley

became known as one of the nation's premiere haunted locations. Damn. As one reporter put it, one of the state's most melancholy map points. Oh, everybody's got a way of just making this the creepiest thing ever. The village of the dam.

The village of the dammed melancholy map point. Now within just a few years, the legends had completely taken off. And according to some, the curse, like we said, began after the residents had moved to the village and had been placed by, quote, a dabble in black magic, causing those residents of Cornwall proper

to fear the village and all those who lived in it. And similarly, the story about William Clark was moved forward by more than a decade to 1937. And upon his return from his New York business trip, his wife hadn't just lost her mind, but had quote, seen something so terrible that her mind snapped. Ooh, which like, that's kind of a lot of things. Hey, I mean, I wouldn't put it, it's not shocking when you look at everything else. Exactly.

No, by the early 1980s ghost hunters and legend chippers and scavengers, they had all set upon Cornwall all looking to have firsthand experience with this haunted forest or to find some kind of relic that they could take away and possibly sell because this place was getting all kinds of street cred. Yeah. Yet for all the interest in the legend of Dudley Town, few people outside of Connecticut seemed to grasp what it was that they were looking for. Dodie Wolf told a reporter from the New York Times,

most people ask where Dudley Town is after having walked right through it. Oh, damn. So he was like, I don't know. Like, is it that crazy? If you're walking right through it and you don't know. Yeah. But I think that's boring.

I think it's just, yeah. That's whatever. That's even weirder. And when it's in your backyard, like, of course, you're gonna be like, yeah, there's nothing wrong with that. And it's like, that's even weirder. And when it's a year back yard, of course, you're going to be like, yeah, there's nothing wrong with that. And it's like, that's even weirder that you can walk through a whole last quote unquote town. And not know it.

Like that's even spooky. Yeah. Now the granddaughter of William Clark, Wolf, like so she's like a descendant of this deadly town. I don't know. Wolf and her husband had received special permission from the Dark Entry Forest Association to do selective logging in order to

help spur new growth. So she and her husband had a front row seat to watch this curious out of stators like influx wander around in search of the curse town. Now some Cornwall residents were happy to embrace the legends of the cursed forest and they welcomed visitors and of course their tourist dollars. At the Cornwall Library books like Ghost Towns of New England were prominently displayed in order to aid the curious. Librarian Hilldrith Daniel. Of course you're a librarian. Fuck Hilldrith Daniel.

I'm obsessed with you. Be a librarian forever. Forever. Not the rest of your life for the rest of eternity. I want you to just always be. Hildrith. Always be Hildrith. Like, wow.

But Hildrith said, they're all wide eyed wanting to believe in ghosts, which like me too. Yeah, Hildrith me as well. I have wanted to believe in ghosts very much. I love it so much. But the stories of the curse, according to one elder residents, were made out of a whole cloth,

mostly by those who'd recently moved to the area. And according to one elder residents were made out of a whole cloth, mostly by those who'd recently moved to the area. And according to this resident, they sit around and dream things up, like this is just so that they can entertain their summer guests. But I'm like, I don't know about that because I think everybody's starting to get a little bit irritated that like too many people are coming. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. No, it's not haunted.

Yeah, it's not haunted. Because it's like, there's history to back it up that like a lot of shit went down there. Yeah. At the very least. And it's like, so I- Something happened. I mean, there's some bad energy there. There is.

And by the mid 1980s, stories of the supernatural experiences that people had in Dudley Town at this point began circulating widely. There were unexplained anomalies that showed up in photos taken in the forest, incoherent voices that seemed to start from a far and work their way closer, and strange shapes and subtle movements that people would catch out of the corner of their eye. And of course, there was that eerie unnatural silence that was emphasized by the lack of bugs in wildlife.

Yeah, that's huge. It wasn't there any wildlife or bugs. Yeah. Now, as time went on, the reports of supernatural occurrences grew to include a wolf-like shadow, quote-unquote, that followed hikers, but would always disappear if somebody tried to get a good look at it. Ooh.

So it was like, it was following you, and then the second you sensed it was, and turned your head, it would be gone. It would be gone. But like, you knew something was following you. Ooh, spooky. Yeah, very, very creepy. It would be gone. Well, you knew something was following you. Spooky. Yeah, very, very creepy. Now, after more than a decade of entertaining

the ghost hunters and visiting, excuse me, and visitors seeking a brush with the supernatural by the mid to late 1980s, the tone of Cornwall locals did become noticeably different. Yeah. They were getting a little bit irritated with the influx of people. I'm trying to shut it down.

I don't necessarily blame them. Like, if you live in a quiet town, that's your desire. Of course. To have an influx of people. I'm trying to shut it down. I don't necessarily blame them. If you live in a quiet town, that's your desire. Of course. To have an influx of people, you're like, fuck my life. Totally get it. But I think that's also why they're trying to shut down the, the kind of thought that it could be. Yeah, that's what I think.

And I get it. I get it too. I might do the same thing. Yeah. But Cornwall Historical Society President, Michael Gannett, told reporters, there are some nuts who believe that sort of stuff.

It's us, we're the nuts. Also, rude. Rude. Very rude way of saying that. So rude. I'm kind of mad at you actually. Really. So.

And he said, when the warm weather starts, they'll all be around looking for ghosts. Sometimes there's so many of them that I can't even get out of my driveway. Maybe they think there's an old saloon with a swinging door instead of a bunch of holes in the ground. Or maybe there's a fucking demon in the woods in your area and you're trying to hide it, Mayor. Yeah. And it's like, you know what? Here's the thing. I get it. You just said sometimes you

can't get out of your driveway. That's fucked up. I get that. I'd be pissed. All right. But like, chill. And then you went even further years later, he said in an interview with the New York Times, go to Dudley Town. They tell you it's this real ghostly place, but the truth is, Dudley Town is a big fraud. Whoa. Like what a Dudley Town do to you. Ooh, yeah, that sounded like to you. That sounded like it was personal.

It sounds like you had an experience that you want to chalk up. That's right. You don't want people blocking you into your driveway, so you're like, fuck this, it's a fraud. Exactly. So they increasingly frustrated and annoyed perspective of the Cornwalls locals aren't all that difficult to understand, like you said. Well, again, decades earlier,

as like a campfire story told by hikers and campers had in the years that followed ballooned into this crazy macabre legend that was starting to attract all these visitors that locals were like, can you know, yeah. And by the late 1980s, locals constantly complained about the yearly influx of visitors who they said have damaged reputations and often lure polluters, literers, and other undesirables. And that sucks. And that sucks.

Because that can happen. We've seen that happen in other places. Like in Salem, every Halloween, the residents of Salem have to deal with a lot of shit. Of course. And a lot of disrespect to the things the thing, which is really fucked up. If you want to go somewhere and experience it by all means, respect it.

But respect to the place that you are so desiring to go to. Yeah, like, no. You know what you're doing? There's always a few bad apples that fuck it up for everybody else. Yeah. And according to Joan and John Leach, lifelong residents of Cornwall,

they said the real curse of Dudley Town are the legends of selves, which have attracted everyone from witchcraft societies to motorcyclists who disrupt the flow of life in Cornwall and rarely pick up after themselves. Yeah, that's the thing. It's like, I don't care who you are, witchcraft, motorcyclists, like whatever. Exactly. Everything in between. Pick up after yourself. Just pick up after yourself and like keep it quiet after a certain amount of time. Yeah. But despite the complaints and frustration of locals, interest in Dudley Town in the curse

only intensified in the 90s. And the legends got a big boost in 96 when a guy named Greg Soltes, I believe is how you say the last name. A college student from Wallingford, Connecticut took some pictures in Dudley Town that he believed contained evidence of supernatural activity. Oh, shite. He ended up taking those photos to this like local and husband wife duo from Connecticut.

I don't know any husband and wife duos that are into the paranormal. You don't know. And a Lorraine Warren ring a bell? Never heard of them. No. Well, they immediately, they're everywhere. They're everywhere. I love it. Good for them. Oh my god. It goes off. You guys are hot couple, but they immediately recognize the potential of the photos. Yeah. And just like the fucking wildness up. Lorraine Warren told a reporter, those pictures with the best I've seen of Dudley Town. For some reason, the spirit seemed to be attracted to that guy. Oh,

according to the Warren's, Greg's photos captured electromagnetic energy that they referred to as ghost globules. Ghost globules? Ghost globules. That's awesome. And they said, I fucking love it. They said this was proof that the area once known as Dudleytown was indeed a hotbed of supernatural activity. So fuck y'all who say it's not. Yeah. Now with Greg's permission, the warrants started using his photos and their presentations about the haunted forest. And according to him, his objective was to gather an abundance of evidence of the paranormal and hope that he might be able to convert all the skeptics.

Yeah. Because he's like, I know what I saw, dude. And I know what got printed out on my picture. Yeah. He told a reporter, there's going to be people who don't believe it, but I don't really care. It was there. I won't even say it's a ghost. There are other things that coexist that you can't see with your eye It's understandable for people to be skeptical. I was

This is literally somebody who went into that forest skeptical that they were gonna experience anything and came out being like Completely confirmed. Yeah, and the fact that he's just like, I don't give a shit if you believe me. I was there I was there. I was there, I know. Like I know. Now for their part, Ed and Lorraine more and agreed, but they encouraged him to proceed with an abundance of caution.

He said, I go there, I observe, I take some pictures and leave. I think there are really bad places to go. If I felt something like that, I would leave and never come back. The Warrens say, don't conjure up things in cemetery. They say you have to have faith in God or in yourself. Which I like that they give you the option there. There you go. You can have your faith in God or have it in yourself.

Whatever faith you feel is right. So whatever his intentions or the intentions were of anybody around him. By the 1990s, the residents of Cornwall had reached their limit when it came to the ghost hunters and the thrill seekers and just the the disresuriosity of it all in the disrespected fact. So that's like they had enough with. I feel like if it was respectful, people were kind of like doing it in the right way. They would have been as big a big issue. But by then, the wooded area around Dudley Town had not only attracted countless paranormal enthusiasts, but also a large number of teens and those claiming to be occultists who held sayances and gatherings in the area. And we're just causing, they were running a mock, basically.

Yeah, a racus, you know. And in addition to being a general nuisance, the attraction was also opposing fire hazards, it hazards, excuse me, and other dangers on this private property, which the dark entry forest association was like, we're trying to reclaim the forest. And like, say the forest can not burn it down. So that led them to close the area to public access in 1999. That I get.

I get it. I get like, especially at the fire thing. It's like, yeah, your whole point is you're trying to save these ecosystems in the forest and people are getting Lucy Goosey with it. So only you can prevent for the next. Exactly. And our country forest association was like we Kim.

So they were going to give us responsibility. Only us. So the closure of the area prevented some seeking out the old ghost town, but not everybody was just wasted by the signs noting that the area was private property. It's like the caves that get sealed off and people break through them and go in anyway.

It's exactly what I thought of. That's the thing. Like, there are literally signs all over this area that say you will be prosecuted, but people are like, I don't give a fuck. I don't give a fuck. And the success of films like the Blair Witch Project only encouraged a new generation of paranormal enthusiasts

and would be horror filmmakers to go out into their own communities like Dudley Town and try to make found footage horror movies. It sounds like it would be a cool place to make a found footage horror movie. Why would you not go into the most fucking haunted forest in America to make your own footage movie? And the reason why you wouldn't now is because I'm not encouraging you to because yeah, it's bad. It's bad It's private property private talk to it. Don't So despite their best efforts to keep people out of Dudley Town, the local authorities, they had a new generation of ghost hunters who, thanks to the legend circulating widely now on the internet, were determined to get into that forest.

Fucking internet, I know. Connecticut State Trooper Scott, Akin, Tilda Porters in 2008. I would say we cite trespassers several times a month. Most of the trespassers we cite believe Dudley Town is haunted. A lot of them are looking for ghosts and stuff like that. Now, if caught first time offenders typically receive a ticket for about $100,

which that's a lot. But then repeat offenders can receive even stronger penalties. In 2008 and 18 year old was caught trespassing in Dudley Town late one evening and due in part to having drug paraphernalia on him at the time, he was arrested and eventually charged $1,000. Oh, damn. So that's why I'm saying, like, don't do this.

Don't doubt it. Don't doubt it. Yeah. Because then, a few years later in December 2011, police arrested eight people from Maine and Massachusetts who trespassed into Dudley Town in order to film their own found footage horror movie titled Dudley Town Curse, the 49th key. And when asked why they were even interested in making a movie about Dudley Town,

they were like, uh, because it's fucking cursed. Uh, clearly. They were like, Dudley Town, this is a quote, they said, Dudley Town is a fascinating area. It's got this history that dates back to 16th century. Yeah. And one member went on to say, there's a lot of traction on the internet already, the local lore about it. We're interested in creating a cool story around the urban legend. I get that.

And that's why people are interested. But again, but don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. But I did find a listener tale from one of our very own who did it, who happened to do it. I don't, I think it was, it was way before it was a leak. You know what, it was.

Even if it wasn't, it was. It was. Okay, it was. That's the story we are sticking to. You're fine. You're fine. So we've got listener tails, ghosts, ghost cryptid, what the fuck happened in Connecticut? What the fuck happened?

What the fuck happened in Connecticut? What the fuck happened? Presented in huge ass font and double spaced putt of fuck. Ooh. It says, hey ladies, I'm Mandy, use my name. I'm use going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to.

I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to.

I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to.

I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able to. I'm not going to be able funny. My boyfriend asked me for a spicy dance. So naturally, I shook my ass from, I shook my ass too, from the pinnacle to the pinnacle. I'm literally obsessed with you. I love you. And Mandy said that's why she pretty much pwed her bridges. When you said that, that was your baseball entrance. Oh my God, I love you.

She said you rock. Oh yeah. She goes anyhoo my God, I love you. She said, you rock. Oh yeah. She goes, anyhoo. Mandy, I love Mandy. Today I'm gonna tell y'all about a creepy little spot in Connecticut and it's scariest heck. I live in central Connecticut, what up Northeast pals?

Hell yeah. And I visited this spot in the western part of the state on a number occasions. And every time I go, I find something real weird happens. Side note, this area is restricted. So death don't visit there after you hear about it, wink, wink, but really cool. But really the cops are there a lot. So really don't.

And that's why I'm telling you like cops like are like waiting for you. And Mandy is telling us like there's cops there waiting for you. It's like we have to. So Mandy says it's summertime 2001. I'm driving my camera and jamming out to God's smack on the radio with my high school friend. And we decided to visit Dudley Town. Dudley Town is this oldest fuck village from like pilgrim times or whatever. No, no, there's your summary. Yeah,

exactly. And legend has it that this is literally your summary for the thing. It's an old as fuck village from like pilgrim times or whatever. And legend has it that all these peeps got possessed by demons or something weird. And then all all exorcists and killed each other until the village got abandoned. Like what?

It's super haunted. Suburrient, those are the show notes. And the campus, Mandy goes link attached, talk about it on an episode. It'll be fun. I will. Here we are. Now she says, so we drove up to this village

because it's out in the middle of the woods. Side note, the road is called Dark Entry Forest Road. Isn't that the most metal street name ever? Yes, yes, it's Mandy. And as we're driving, it gets really cool outside, not exactly freezing, but enough to make you wish you had a light hoodie in the summer. Next, the radio crackles and goes in and out, which I, a skeptic, explain us, oh, we're in the middle of butt, fuck nowhere. So that explains it. Next comes the fog, like big fog, slowly rolling over and over the road and puffy clouds that obscure anything more than five feet in front of us. We all have the chills and start to nervously laugh to mask the feeling of impending dread.

But here comes the really hideous part. We see something, an animal walking on the side of the road. As we get closer, we realize that we have no idea what kind of animal this is. My friends and I are squinting through the fog to try to see what this is as we slow down alongside it. The creature was as tall as a deer and very, very thin like a greyhound. It was sauntering like it was on a catwalk at Fashion Week. Oh hell yeah.

And its hit bones jetted out with every step. Just swaying as it made its way along real slow. It had no years. It had large feet. No fur or hair, just grayish white skin. Ooh. And the skin was so thin that it was almost clear. And in some spots, it was scarred and scabby.

Ew. As we got closer, it was scarred and scabby. Ew! As we got closer, we cannot for the life of us figure out what this is, but we are uneasy at best. By now, the vibes had changed, and we had all shut up because we were terrified of this freakish being. We were pretty much holding our breath

as we approached and rolled up right next to it. We all had our eyes glued to this mystery creature. Just then then the creature turns its head very, very slowly. Oh, no. Until it is looking right into the passenger, open passenger window of my car. We all pause. And then it lunges at the window with a snarl just narrowly missing the open window and hitting the frame of the car as we all shriek even the dudes I Floor it and race out of there almost in tears from what just happened as the thing runs behind the car in the middle of the road I know I hate it. Oh my god. I'm so stressed man

He says what was that thing? Why did it attack us? Was it a cryptid? I do not know my dudes? It was a cryptid my friends and I tell this story to anyone with ears and no one can tell us what we saw, but we seen it. We've seen it and it scared me to death. Naturally, I went back a few more times. Naturally. And we should happen every time.

So I can share some more stories at a later time. And later is right now. I was gonna say one's later. Later is right now. And later is right now. That made me laugh so hard because you know, I'll send them later. And now. And then he's later. Later is right now. And later is right now. That made me laugh so hard because he knows how to be able to be like, and I'll send those later.

And we're like, no! And he's like, right now, right now. The next time I went a few years later, I was with a different group of friends. We were giggling in the car on the drive up there when the weird fog and the chill crept up again and the radio died just like the first time. It's dead quiet in the woods, like people say.

And nothing is around. We pull over to the side of the road and we were trying to get up the nerve to get out of the car and walk around the village. Or is it ruins? I feel like ruins are ancient, not pilgrimage. Anyway, we're cycling ourselves up. We count down three, two, one, and run. We scream and run around and feel real proud of ourselves for being masters of fear. Good job. We make our way back to the car after a while and head for home. My friend picks up her phone that she'd left in the back seat of the car while we pranked in the forest.

A camera phone. So cool. Well, we pranked in the forest. She's got a new photo on her phone. It's a face. None of ours. Not one of ours. What the fuck?

This face has glasses and none of us were wearing glasses. She asked who fucked with her phone, but we were all in the woods dancing in the moonlight when the pick was taken. So how does this pick exist? Who was in the photo? Who is it? The picture had this bluish tint,

and the face was very pale almost ghostly. We freaked out and drove back to civilization, loaded up on 60 bucks worth of Taco Bell, and pulled an all-nighter much too scared to sleep. We showed the picture to my sister, We freaked out and drove back to civilization, loaded up on 60 bucks worth of Taco Bell, and pulled an all-nighter much too scared to sleep. We showed the picture to my sister, who's a big-time computer nerd, for her to analyze. She offloaded it to her computer using sorcery because who the fuck knew how to do that in the early 2000s.

And once she did, the picture somehow deleted itself from both the phone and the computer. Poof gone like it never existed. What? Sounds like lies, but the people I was with on these deadly town adventures will all swear to the accuracy. The shit happened. I don't know how to explain it,

but nothing this weird has ever happened to me, except for when I go to deadly town. What the fuck? Wild times kids, I've got no answers for you. Anyway, I hope you liked my tales. Love you, keep it weird. Mandy. Mandy, I love you.

I love everything about you. So like, and holy shit. I love everything about Mandy too. And the fact that Mandy experienced this wild-ass creature that people seem to have gone mad after seeing. Yes. Like, people were talking about demon animals in the woods. And that looks like that's a demon animal. Yes. Like, people were talking about demon animals in the woods. And that looks like, that's a demon animal.

Mandy literally said, a cryptid, a diamond, like what is this? Like, she described a demon animal. Like, that's not. You can't figure out what it is. And that it lunged at them. It was it attacked them. And it talks them. And it talks them.

All these people are going mad after this, probably because they were almost attacked by this demon animal. Well, I think of the one guy that died inexplicably. Yes. And like, definitely didn't die setting up demon apple. Well, and think of the one guy that died inexplicably. Yes. And like, definitely didn't die setting up a barn. And the kids disappeared in the forest. Yeah. Like, what the fuck?

Fucking scary shit. Holy shit. I, for one, believe that Dudley Townes Haunted. I know there are skeptics out there about, I believe it. For sure. Especially for those people to have those things happen to them, and you're talking about this crazy ass animal in the woods, in like the 1700s, and then to have those things happen to them and be talking about this crazy ass animal in the woods in like the 1700s,

and then to have our girl Mandy go out there in the 20s. In the 20s? In the 20s. Or in the 2000s, like 10s. You see the same thing. Yeah. There's a reason that people don't want people

going out into those woods. Exactly. Because they don't want people to get eaten by cryptids. Yeah. And I don't want you to get eaten by cryptids or get a thousand dollar fine. It's true. So you know what?

I trust my girl, Mandy. I do too. I always have always wills. Me as well. So I trust her and it's haunted. It's haunted. That was a demon animal. Holy shit.

How fucking, like, that's so unsettling. And the whole time I was telling that story, I just couldn't get rid of my chills. Yeah, it's a very unsettling story. Absolutely. Wow. Well done. Thank you. Well done. Thank you. Well, we uh hope you keep it, we, know, we hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it. We're, but I swear that you go to Dudley Town because you really they're getting more content or find a thousand dollars

or gonna rest it. The police are waiting for you. There's too many bad things to happen. Love you, bye. Hey, Prime members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen Add Free with Wondery Plus and Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.