Photo courtesy of Brooke Sponzo
It’s October— the weather’s getting colder, the sidewalks are coated in a layer of crunchy autumn leaves, and the chapel bells are sounding a bit spookier and a bit sadder with each passing day. But this year we don’t really need Halloween to come along and frighten us, for the unpredictable climate of our everyday lives seems nightmarish enough. The spooky season is upon us nonetheless, and it’d be rude not to embrace it. Last issue I covered Conn’s nearest neighbor—the Deshon-Allyn House and its unsettling collection of Victorian dolls— so this week I figured I’d introduce some additional members of our supernatural camel community. Yes, you’ll be getting a run down of all Conn’s notable ghosts and ghouls. Whether this inspires you to believe our campus is haunted or not? I’ll leave that up to you.
My idea for this article was sparked by a 2018 film project created by Chris Thompson ‘21 and Khyents Lee ‘21 titled “Paranormal Security,” in which the duo interview the Thames Society of Paranormal Investigation’s Director Shamus Denniston to gain insight into New London ghost hunting. As part of my research I also read the 2009 College Voice article by Nora Swenson ‘12 titled: “Campus Safety Officers Reveal the Most Haunted Places on Campus.” Both of these wonderful pieces happen to be quite chilling, so maybe don’t go looking into them at night if you’re easily frightened.
I was particularly interested in seeing how and what paranormal rumors persist on campus from year to year and why Conn has so many of these peculiar tales to tell.
To start with the ghost I’ve heard the most about: allow me to introduce Claire, the spirit of an old woman said to haunt Palmer Auditorium. Swenson’s article discusses Claire at great length, however she refers to this same theater ghost as ‘Ruth’— I’ll refer to her as Claire here but know that the names are synonymous. In 2011, Swenson updated to her piece, in light of a paranormal lecture hosted by professor T.J. Wellman where she further explained the history behind Claire. Essentially Claire was a long time patron of the space who would often be spotted in her upper balcony seat long after she passed. Her estate donated many of her belongings to Conn’s theater department and much of the older gold jewelry in the department’s costume stock is believed to have originated from her.
Even with more research, I was ultimately unable to turn up a last name for Claire/Ruth. On the site GhostsOfAmerica.com, one person has reported seeing ‘Ruth’ in 2008, and refers to the ghost by that name. Though I could not find any details regarding a Palmer guest that went by either name, there’s certainly a consensus that an elderly woman is a frequent figure of the auditorium. I have to wonder what she thinks of the on-going renovation.
Another occurrence that seems to be prevalent in all three texts I examined is something Swenson labels as “The Arboretum Scream.” This sinister sound, which Campus Safety and police have responded to over the years, seems to have no origin and changes location faster than a person might be able to. Swenson’s sources attribute it to witchcraft or to convicts who were hung on Gallows Lane. Thompson and Lee’s video however, as well as a 2011 article by Patch titled “Spooky New London,” clarify that only one person was ever sentenced to death by hanging on the road: a woman who tried to hide an out-of-wedlock affair by attempting to kill her infant child. The Patch article, which dedicates a whole subheading to Gallows (“Creepy Lane Speaks For Itself”) adds that most residents won’t walk the street alone or at night, and that even during the day pedestrians feel as though they’re being watched or followed there.
From Swenson’s two articles, I got the sense that Conn was quite frankly super haunted: that it’s a place where lots of people have had lots of different paranormal experiences. I wanted to look into why that was. Although I’ll admit I don’t know too much about paranormal studies, I do know that ley lines are really important features in terms of pinpointing where supernatural activity might occur.
Essentially, a ley line is this invisible energy source that connects spiritual places within a state or country. An increased amount of ghost encounters are said to occur along such sites. Trying to find if and where any ley lines in Connecticut were took a good chunk of research–– they’re certainly not mapped well. But I did find an article by The Day that had an interesting finding. In 2015, Tim Cook penned the piece “Gungywamp Keeps Its Mysteries” in which he describes an archeological site in Groton that colonialists historically believed was a space used by pagans to tap into the energy of a ley line running through the area.
I couldn’t find any information regarding which direction this ley line was thought to run in, though it’s possibly north-south because they do tend to connect haunted places and going in that direction, it would hit the New London Ledge Lighthouse, which is known to be haunted by its former lightkeeper Ernie and has been visited by the reality show Ghost Hunters. However, if the ley line were to run east-west, it would directly cross campus and explain a lot of our paranormal happenings. There’s also some debate on how wide ley lines are, with folks believing them to be anywhere between a few feet to a few miles across. So even if it doesn’t run straight through Conn, we might still be sitting within its borders.
One last thing I’d like to bring up, though it’s not been confirmed to necessarily be haunted: is the fact that a cemetery lies on Connecticut College property. I happened to come across it this past week while hiking behind the AC and was very curious to know the history behind it. It actually took me quite a while of Googling to locate any mention of this spot online. Eventually though, I was able to find a record of it in a 2016 report by the college Arboretum titled: “The Mamacoke Conservation Area.” It’s not even a sub-header in this 48-page paper, but I was willing to dig. My results? This spot was a family burial ground from 1751; in 1815 a part of the cemetery was washed away in a storm and in 1840 an additional part of the space was removed to make way for the construction of the neighboring railroad track. Today only three headstones remain, but they’re vivid and intact enough that happening upon them in the woods, I knew right away what I had stumbled into. This whole site was actually examined in 2009 by a group of visiting archeology professors, who used radar technology to find that it contained a total of 41 grave locations.
So, the more you know… the better? The way I like to look at it is that it’s really incredible that our tiny campus is packed with so much intriguing history. The two Swenson articles and the “Paranormal Security” video are absolutely awesome resources if you’re interested in learning more about Conn-dwelling ghosts. Listing all the spooky tales from camel’s past and present would simply take more than a single article to cover, so I highly recommend checking those out. •
