LV426
09-21-2003, 03:41 PM
Old Curse Haunts New England Forest
In northwest Connecticut near the village of Cornwall Bridge lie the remains of what was once a small settlement that was established in the 1700s. Dudleytown has been recorded by historians as being the site of madness, suicide, fatalities, natural disasters, and strange dissappearances. The settlement that lies on a hill above Cornwall Bridge, is marked now only by the stone foundation and cellar holes that now stand as the only testament to it's existence since it was abandoned nearly a century ago.
Although
some blame the hard and rocky soil and the cold winter strife as the downfall of Dudleytown, others insist that the town itself was cursed from the beginning and instead of being a warm and welcoming community, it was turned into a haunted and forbidding place.
http://news.nationalgeograp hic.com/news/2001/05/images/021030_owlsbury.jpg
The Curse
Those who settled Dudleytown were thought to be simple farmers and tradesmen, but one who settled there apparently brought the curse all the way from England. Edmund Dudley, an english nobleman and an ancestor to the Dudleys that came to settle in Dudleytown, was charged with treason against King Henry VII. His head was taken for his crimes and a curse was layed upon him and his family. No one knows who laid the curse but it followed the Dudleys to the Americas and it took root in New England soil and began to thrive, sending roots of misfortune throughout the lives of those who lived there.
The Dudleys, who brought the curse were not themselves immune for one of the brothers went mad. That was the first sign and soon after many other misfortunes befell the town's inhabitants. A man was killed at a barn raising, supposedly falling to his death, or was it murder? Another incident is of a woman who was sitting on her porch, she was struck by lightning and killed.
An unfortunate sheep farmer was so blighted by the curse that his entire family was destroyed in front of him as his wife died of tuberculosis and his children completely disappeared. At last, the only thing he owned, his house was burnt to the ground and unable to cope he wandered into the woods and was never seen again.
A sheep-herder watched helplessly as the curse destroyed
Horace Greeley the editor for the New York Tribune, was also struck by the curse when his wife, Mary Cheney, Hanged herself in Dudleytown in 1872.
Another View
The last and final resident of Dudleytown was Dr. William Clarke, a physician who decided that his vacation home would be perfect on the land of Dudleytown. His story of the curse's effects is that while he was away on an emergency his wife who remained alone went mad. She later commited suicide. Dr. Clarke left Dudleytown but before he left he helped make Dudleytown a natural preserve and without any inhabitants the land quickly returned to thick forest.
Locals are said to avoid Dudleytown, now nicknamed Owlsbury for the calls of the owls now heard in it's thick trees. The Dark Entry Forest Inc. has placed Dudleytown on the off limits list due to continued efforts of teenagers and paranormal investigators to prove that there is or is not a curse.
Mohawk Trail, a hiking trail that runs through the preserve and passes through Dudley Town is marked as closed on the section that crosses Dudleytown from October 25th to NOvember 4th. The Forest and Park Association prefers to keep people out of this section during the Halloween holiday.
So is this land truly cursed or was it merely a run of bad luck for some of the people that lived in Dudleytown. I suppose the only ones that know the truth have passed on and lie forgotten among the ruins of Dudleytown.
Source: Assembled from National Geographic October 30th, 2002
In northwest Connecticut near the village of Cornwall Bridge lie the remains of what was once a small settlement that was established in the 1700s. Dudleytown has been recorded by historians as being the site of madness, suicide, fatalities, natural disasters, and strange dissappearances. The settlement that lies on a hill above Cornwall Bridge, is marked now only by the stone foundation and cellar holes that now stand as the only testament to it's existence since it was abandoned nearly a century ago.
Although
some blame the hard and rocky soil and the cold winter strife as the downfall of Dudleytown, others insist that the town itself was cursed from the beginning and instead of being a warm and welcoming community, it was turned into a haunted and forbidding place.
http://news.nationalgeograp hic.com/news/2001/05/images/021030_owlsbury.jpg
The Curse
Those who settled Dudleytown were thought to be simple farmers and tradesmen, but one who settled there apparently brought the curse all the way from England. Edmund Dudley, an english nobleman and an ancestor to the Dudleys that came to settle in Dudleytown, was charged with treason against King Henry VII. His head was taken for his crimes and a curse was layed upon him and his family. No one knows who laid the curse but it followed the Dudleys to the Americas and it took root in New England soil and began to thrive, sending roots of misfortune throughout the lives of those who lived there.
The Dudleys, who brought the curse were not themselves immune for one of the brothers went mad. That was the first sign and soon after many other misfortunes befell the town's inhabitants. A man was killed at a barn raising, supposedly falling to his death, or was it murder? Another incident is of a woman who was sitting on her porch, she was struck by lightning and killed.
An unfortunate sheep farmer was so blighted by the curse that his entire family was destroyed in front of him as his wife died of tuberculosis and his children completely disappeared. At last, the only thing he owned, his house was burnt to the ground and unable to cope he wandered into the woods and was never seen again.
A sheep-herder watched helplessly as the curse destroyed
Horace Greeley the editor for the New York Tribune, was also struck by the curse when his wife, Mary Cheney, Hanged herself in Dudleytown in 1872.
Another View
The last and final resident of Dudleytown was Dr. William Clarke, a physician who decided that his vacation home would be perfect on the land of Dudleytown. His story of the curse's effects is that while he was away on an emergency his wife who remained alone went mad. She later commited suicide. Dr. Clarke left Dudleytown but before he left he helped make Dudleytown a natural preserve and without any inhabitants the land quickly returned to thick forest.
Locals are said to avoid Dudleytown, now nicknamed Owlsbury for the calls of the owls now heard in it's thick trees. The Dark Entry Forest Inc. has placed Dudleytown on the off limits list due to continued efforts of teenagers and paranormal investigators to prove that there is or is not a curse.
Mohawk Trail, a hiking trail that runs through the preserve and passes through Dudley Town is marked as closed on the section that crosses Dudleytown from October 25th to NOvember 4th. The Forest and Park Association prefers to keep people out of this section during the Halloween holiday.
So is this land truly cursed or was it merely a run of bad luck for some of the people that lived in Dudleytown. I suppose the only ones that know the truth have passed on and lie forgotten among the ruins of Dudleytown.
Source: Assembled from National Geographic October 30th, 2002