A JAUNT THROUGH HAUNTED NEW ENGLAND

Take a stroll with us through some of the spookiest, most haunted locations in New England; including a hospital for the criminally insane, an occult museum, a famous Boston park with a dark history, ghostly cemeteries, and more…

My family moved to New England six years ago. We closed on our house on a typically gloomy and rainy Halloween in New England. Annabelle had just come out in theaters, and I heard that it was based on a true story. I Googled it, and found that not only is Annabelle based on a true story, but that the real Annabelle was located in the town we just moved to. I fell into a rabbit hole researching all the haunted places in New England. I’ve since visited quite a few of these places and am determined to visit as many more as I can.

Here is a list of a few haunted places in New England.

The Warren’s Occult Museum

The Warren’s Occult Museum is located in the basement of the Warrens’ house in Monroe, Conn. The museum was founded and run by Ed and Lorraine Warren. Ed and Lorraine were world renowned demonologists. They are mostly known for their work in 1975 at the Amityville house in New York. The museum houses haunted and possessed items and artifacts from their decades of work. Some of the more well-known objects here are Annabelle, the conjuring mirror, the pearls of death, and a shadow doll. The museum is currently closed to visitors due to zoning regulations. One notable story recounts how a priest from Hartford visited Annabelle at the Warrens’ house. The priest picked up the doll and threw it across the room, proclaiming that good was more powerful than the devil. On his way back to Hartford, the priest got into a serious automobile accident with a tractor trailer. The priest survived, but he claimed to have seen the doll in his rearview mirror right before the crash.

The Warrens’ Museum – Annabelle and other possessed objects. Via Creative Commons

Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast

The Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast is located in Fall River, Mass. This inn occupies the house where the famous unsolved murders of Andrew and Abby Borden took place. The main suspect was Andrew’s daughter, Lizzie. The house has been restored to the way it looked on August 4, 1892, the date of the murders. Almost all of the original furniture, including the beds and famous couch, are still there. You can stay in the room and sleep in the same beds the victims were found. Many guests at the B & B never make it through the night. They get too scared and check out.

The couch on which Andrew Borden was murdered. Via Creative Commons

Boston Common

The Boston Common is a 50-acre green space located in downtown Boston. It is the oldest park in the United States, dating back to 1634. The area was used as a dumping ground for British soldiers killed during the Revolutionary War. There are estimated to be more than a thousand bodies buried in shallow graves near the corner of Boylston and Tremont Streets, known as the “haunted corridor”. In addition to the site’s revolutionary history, the Boston Common was also once home to the Great Elm, the city’s premier hanging tree.

Fairfield Hills State Hospital

Fairfield Hills state Hospital opened June 1, 1933. Fairfield Hills housed “mentally ill” as well as “the criminally insane”. The hospital was a 100-acre, 16-building facility on a plot of over 700 acres of land. A majority of the staff and utility buildings, along with all of the patient buildings were connected by a series of concrete tunnels. These tunnels were mostly used to move patients and equipment between the buildings, especially during the winter months and on bad weather days. The tunnels were used to convey food from the central cafeteria to patients confined to their residence buildings and to doctors, nurses, and other workers. The tunnels were also used to transport corpses to the on-campus morgue. During its operation, treatments at Fairfield Hills included hydrotherapy, insulin shock therapy, electro convulsive therapy, and frontal lobotomy. The state closed down the hospital in 1995. The hospital was used as the location for the 1996 film Sleepers. It also appeared in the MTV show Fear. Most of the buildings have been taken down or renovated, but there are still a few left as is.

I have been inside a few of these buildings several times. The underground tunnels are now sealed off. The morgue is still there along with the gym and random furniture. I never saw anything paranormal, but I did hear noises coming from the floor above me. As far as I knew I was the only person in the building. So, yeah, I got creeped out and left the premises.

Gunntown Cemetery

Gunntown Cemetery, established in 1790, is located in Naugatuck, Conn. Many of Naugatuck’s citizens who supported independence from British rule during the Revolutionary War are buried in the cemetery. The cemetery is also considered by many to be haunted. Some people claim to hear random music and the laughter of children; others have alleged that they’ve seen a man carrying a lantern leading a horse across the grounds, as well as a little boy playing by the back wall who simply vanishes. Still others have claimed to have glimpsed a black dog with glowing eyes.

This is a very small cemetery enclosed by stone walls. When I visited, I felt that it was colder within the walls of the cemetery. Sounds seemed to be amplified in the graveyard. At one point, I heard what sounded like a car zooming by, but there were no cars anywhere near. At this point I decided to video with my camera. The camera froze and battery died. The battery was freshly charged when I put it in the camera that morning. I did, however, get a few photos before this happened.

The Witch House

The Witch House is located in Salem, Mass. The Witch House, or the Corwin House, was the home to Judge Jonathan Corwin, a leading figure in the Salem Witch Trials. It is the only structure in Salem still standing that has direct ties to the witch trials. Judge Corwin was responsible for originally leading the charge of witchcraft in Salem and many say that his high involvement in the witch trials caused him to be haunted by those he sentenced to execution. Visitors to the house have reported cold spots, ghost sightings, and some have even claimed to have felt someone touch them.

Union Cemetery

Union Cemetery is located in Easton, Conn. The cemetery dates back to the 1700s and is reputed to be one of the most haunted cemeteries in the United States. Connecticut demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren have written a book about the cemetery, entitled Graveyard. The main entity who haunts the area is said to be the “White Lady”. She has been sighted by several witnesses, including police and firefighters. Many people have taken photographs of her. Demonologist Ed Warren claims to have captured her essence on film. She is described as having long, dark hair, wearing what looks like a white nightgown and a white bonnet. The White Lady is usually sighted in the roadway along Route 59 or sometimes Route 111, and there are many reports of vehicles passing through her. In one case in 1993, an impact with the White Lady apparently made a dent in the vehicle of an off-duty firefighter. The cemetery is also said to be haunted by “Red Eyes”. People have reported seeing “Red Eyes” peering at them from the brush around the cemetery. “Red Eyes” is believed to be the ghost of the ghost of Earle Kellog, a man who was set afire and burned to death across the street in 1935.