Connecticut and the neighboring Hudson Vally are so rich in history, it would be hard to believe that spirits of the past are not present in some way. In the spooky spirit of Halloween, here are a few haunted stories of nearby sites. Do you have a scary story to share? Send it to KateM@Hamlethub
Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center – Wingdale, NY
The hospital complex operated from 1924 to 1994, and at it's peak, housed over 5,400 patients and employed 5,000 people. The Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center opened in the early 1920s, and was a 961-acre, self-contained city. It had its own train station for access to Manhattan, a reservoir and dam, water treatment and sewage treatment plants; a power plant, and a hospital. It also had a farm for food and meat complete with its own slaughterhouse, a furniture shop, cemeteries, a chapel, kitchens, a greenhouse, a bowling alley, swimming pool, baseball stadium, track, auditorium, gym, and more. A network of tunnels connects many of the buildings. On these grounds were places called the pits, which were described as "torture chambers" in the name of curing the mentally ill. In what was known as Building 85 many surgeries took place, which today would be considered a crime. Behind Building 85 lies a cemetery where the resident deceased were buried. Paranormal Activity: Investigators have reported leaving the buildings with bruises on their arms, experiencing elevators that seem to have a mind of their own, hearing the sound of a pack of dogs in the basement, and seeing lights on when there is no electricity present.
Fairfield State Hospital - Newtown, CT
Opening in 1931 to ease overcrowding at other State Hospitals the site would grow to encompass 16 buildings on 100 acres with another 670 acres surrounding the main site. As with other State Hospitals there were allegations of patient abuse but nothing was ever proven. Although treatments included electro-shock therapy and patient seclusion. Also as with other State Hospitals the buildings were connected by a series of tunnels used for moving patients during the winter but also used by hospital staff to move dead bodies. The town filled in the tunnels in 2009 so they are no longer accessible. The site also has a history of suicides. The hospital was closed in 1995 ad its peak had a population of 4,000. Currently most of the buildings on the site still exist although a few of them have been renovated and are currently occupied by offices. The town denies any haunting and does patrol the city with their police. Paranormal Activity: Disembodied voices, apparitions, light anomalies, screams and bangs, phantom footsteps, feeling of being watched and being touched. Fairfield Hills is rumored to be home to a lady in white. She has been seen staring out of the windows of the old hospital, sitting there surrounded by a bright glow. The abandoned hospital has been the location of horror movies and the site of an episode of MTV's "Fear".
The ruins of the tiny houses stand abandoned in the woods of Middlebury. Local legend says that a man and wife lived in the woods when the wife started to see little pixie like creatures. She demanded her husband build these creatures a village of there own and he did. There is also a throne, built for the wife, the Queen of the Little People. The throne is said to be cursed: anyone sitting in it can expect to die within seven years. The legend goes that the wife became mad and the "little people" who inhabited these houses later turned on the husband and wife, locking them in their home and burning it to the ground. Paranormal Activity: Voices are said to be heard when walking through the abandoned ruins in the woods and they say if you stay too long, you will go mad just like the poor wife who loved the little people. Editor's note: I grew up a short hike from where this "Little People Village" is located and it is there, in the woods, and certainly very creepy to walk through. Thankfully, I've survived to tell the tale.