Dudleytown, Connecticut

Dudleytown was never an actual town. The name was given at an unknown date to a portion of Cornwall that included several members of the Dudley family. The area that became known as Dudleytown was settled in the early 1740s by Thomas Griffis, followed by Gideon Dudley and, by 1753, Barzillai Dudley and Abiel Dudley; Martin Dudley joined them a few years later. Other families also settled there.[3]

As with every other part of Cornwall, Connecticut, Dudleytown was converted from forest to farm land. Families tilled the land for generations. Located on top of a high hill, Dudleytown was not ideally suited for farming. When more fertile and spacious land opened up in the Midwest in the mid-19th century, and as the local iron industry wound down, Cornwall's population declined.[4]

The village was located a few miles south of the Cornwall Bridge neighborhood of Cornwall. It was located in a valley, known as the Dark Entry Forest, due to the shadows caused by the mountains surrounding the village and access road. The town's abandonment has meant that barely any ruins of the original township survive.[5] During the early 20th century, old farms in Cornwall were sold to New Yorkers seeking a better life in the countryside, including Dudleytown, which has been privately owned since 1924 by Dark Entry Forest, Incorporated. The village site is today closed to the public and anyone found trespassing is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law by the Connecticut State Police and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

In promoting the land trust to investors, a March 1924 prospectus for the Dark Entry Forest stated: "This society is planned to promote forestation, to run a wood mill, to promote conservation of bird, animal and wildflower life, and to afford a playground for you and your children and your children’s children."[4] Soon after acquisition, the owners planted thousands of trees. During the 1930s, New York's Skidreiverein Club spent their winter weekends skiing on trails they built in the area; in the summers, they canoed down the Housatonic River.[6] Horse riding camps for children were also held on the site.[4]

Dudleytown is said to be haunted. A local rumor that has been frequently shared on the internet alleges the founders of the town were descended from Edmund Dudley, an English nobleman who was beheaded for treason during the reign of Henry VIII. From that moment on, the Dudley family was placed under a curse which followed them across the Atlantic to America.[7] This curse is blamed for instances of crop failures and mental illness, as well as several purported violent deaths in the village. Local historians have found no genealogical link between the Dudley family of Cornwall and the English nobleman and noted many other factual inconsistencies in the rumors. Records have shown the land was originally occupied by the Mohawk Nation, as sacred ground. The village's decline has instead been attributed to its distance from clean drinking water and unsuitable soil for cultivation. One confirmed case of suicide of a village resident took place in New York state rather than within Cornwall.[7][8]

Since the 1990s, police in Cornwall have responded to numerous cases of vandalism. The 1999 movie, The Blair Witch Project, about a haunted forest, prompted increased interest in the allegedly haunted village. It is legally off limits. This increased the frequency of such incidents. The owners of the Dudleytown's property have closed it to the public.[7][9][10]

• Edward Comfort Starr (1926). A History of Cornwall, Connecticut. Tuttle, Morehouse and Taylor. pp. 26–27. This book relates the story of the Dudleytown curse, and may have been the inspiration behind later accounts.
• Barlow, Bart (October 26, 1980). "A Lost Town Populated By Legends". New York Times. (subscription required)