Ghost Houses in Connecticut
Pettibone Tavern, Simsbury, Connecticut
Candles and fireplaces have relit themselves. Wine bottles drop out of racks, and furnishings are rearranged. Somewhere in Pettibone Tavern, there is a ghost trying to arrange things to her own tastes. According to legend, that ghost is Abigail Pettibone.
Mrs. Pettibone was the wife of a whaling captain. Whaling was a lucrative profession, but a lonely one for the wives; whaling ships would often be away for months, or years. How surprising is it that Mrs. Pettibone engaged in a romance with a local man? Or that when Mr. Pettibone came home unexpectedly to catch them together, he used an axe to send both to their final rewards? Seemingly further evidence is the picture of a young Abigail with her mother in the hostess foyer of the tavern; close examination will show you that her likeness was cut out of the painting. Both painting and removed portion were found on a remodel of the tavern and restored.
Many, though, think the Pettibone ghost is a child, perhaps a small boy, because so many of the occurrences seem like childish pranks. For instance, sometimes employees are called by name – but when they turn to look, no one is there. Lights come on in darkened, locked rooms. Once a heavy oak Hitchcock chair was smashed into bits in the dining room. Regardless of the source of the hauntings, Pettibone Tavern might be a good place to spend your Halloween evening.
Randalls Ordinary, Mystic, Connecticut
Only a few miles from the glittering Indian casinos in eastern Connecticut, visiting Randalls Ordinary is like stepping three hundred years back in time. The old farmhouse has been restored as an ordinary (a colonial word for an inn), and the old barn has been turned into a very nice hotel. There are lovely grounds to walk through, a private cabin you can rent, and knowledgeable staff who dress in period costume. And, of course, it has a ghost.
Allegedly, John Randall II, the son of the original owner, is the ghost. In 1680, his father, John Randall the elder, purchased the property where Randall’s Ordinary now stands; John II built the home that still stands a little later. For over two hundred years, the Randall family held the farm, working as abolitionists on the Underground Railroad (ask to see where they hid the slaves) and buried their dead in the small graveyard to the west.
Guests and staff have seen Mr. Randall numerous times; he is always described as a sad-looking man in a uniform and with long hair, carrying a blunderbuss. He haunts the Inn today, particularly the room known as his, Room 12. He’s been known to turn lights off and on and to be generally noisy. Are you brave enough to spend the night with this ghost?
Ledge Light Lighthouse, New London Harbor
Situated where the Thames (pronounced with a soft TH and rhyming with “aims”) River empties into Long Island Sound, this is a haunted house you won’t be able to drive to. It’s absolutely striking: a home built elegantly in the French Second Empire style, of red brick rather than the normal lighthouse cast-iron, it looks like nothing so much as a square mansion set adrift on the tides. It was built to match the elegant homes that once lined the coast here, before they were destroyed in the 1938 Hurricane, when the keeper at the time said that waves were coming through the second floor windows.
Though the lighthouse was, in the early years, staffed by a keeper and assistant (with their families living in the house with them), duties were soon passed to the Coast Guard, who still run it. It was from those early years that the ghost of Ledge Light came. Ernie was a keeper in the 1920s or 1930s, and would wave at the Block Island Ferry when it came by every day. One day, he found that his wife, driven to distraction by the solitude at Ledge Light, had run off with the captain of the ferry. He either jumped or fell to his death from the roof of the lighthouse.
Seemingly paranormal activity has long been observed at the lighthouse, all ascribed to Ernie. Doors open and close by themselves; decks swab themselves; televisions flip off; secured boats are set adrift; and the foghorn turns itself on and off for no reason. The lighthouse was automated at last in 1987, and a Coast Guardsman entered in the log, the last entry: “Rock of slow torture. Ernie’s domain.”
You can’t easily visit the lighthouse directly today, but the New London Ledge Lighthouse Foundation is working on restoring the interior, with the ultimate goal of turning it into a museum and bed and breakfast. It is possible to sail out to the building, or you can view it from the shore of New London in the Pequot Avenue area. Project Oceanology in Groton currently runs tours of the lighthouse during summer, but, alas, not during Halloween.
Dudleytown, Cornwall, Connecticut
Surrounded by a large dense forest carefully preserved by local residents, Dudleytown could have inspired the movie The Village. This is a very private location, on private property, and has long been said to be haunted. I recommend against visiting it (because I don’t like pissing off the men with handcuffs and guns), but the forest and the area nearby are very picturesque.
Bara Hack, Pomfret, Connecticut
Bara Hack, Welsh for “breaking of bread,” was settled by John Randall (a descendant of the one who started Randall’s Ordinary) and Obadiah Higginbotham. Today, the lost village is called the “village of ghostly voices,” and is located deep in the woods. Those who seek it out in the day may be disappointed; it’s basically a cow path with plenty of old cellar holes and a graveyard. But in the evening, many hear disembodied voices: children’s laughter, people chatting, and a carriage rumbling down a road that no longer exists. Like Dudleytown, Bara Hack is on private property, and you should get permission before seeking it out.
Chart House, Simsbury, Connecticut
Chart House’s restaurant manager and employees have often seen odd things: candles lighting by themselves, peculiar lights and shadows, even drinking glasses that move and explode for no reason. According to paranormal researchers, Chart House is inhabited by many spirits, seemingly drawn there from disparate places. This could be a very nice place to have a Halloween dinner, particularly since the owners do not advertise the restaurant as haunted in any way.
And of course, Connecticut holds dozens of public and private cemeteries with graves dating three centuries back, historical sites, and bloody battlegrounds from many different wars; a drive down Route 1 in the daytime will turn up plenty of promising locations. For your own safety, never trespass on private or public property. Always get permission well in advance.
