Editor’s Note: A recent interview with artist Christa Whitten for issue 2 began with a conversation about Connecticut’s creep factor. Whitten asked if I’d braved any of the state’s many haunted places. I hadn’t. She said she’d share a list of a few of her favorites.

These are the hair-raising results.

1. “Green Lady Cemetery,” Burlington: *

A tiny unimpressive-looking cemetery tucked in the woods, this rural space is reportedly haunted by Elisabeth Palmiter, a woman drowned in a nearby while looking for her husband in 1800. 

There have been countless reports in recent decades about a woman surrounded by green mist walking through the graveyard and along the dirt road beside it. This isn’t a shadow or outline, either: The woman appears as a clearly defined person.

Other, rarer sightings include floating orbs and another figure, supposedly of a male, with either red eyes or a slightly reddish hue. (I suspect the ‘red eyes’ reports could be the night-shine of animals in the woods, but who am I to say?)

While the highest reports of activity happen late at night, when it’s easier to see the white haze, daytime sightings are also common.

Warning: Consider bringing a spare tire or visiting after your car has been serviced. It’s quite common for people to experience car troubles (like flat tires) on the road near the cemetery. This could be attributed to other factors, like rocky roads, but it could also be the spirits trying to make you stay.  

*Also known as Covey Corners Cemetery and the Seventh Day Adventist Cemetery. 

2. Dudley Town, Cornwall:

There are countless stories about this isolated, chilling place’s dark history.

Some say Dudley Town’s early inhabitants brought with them a generational family curse when they settled in the 1740s. Others say those residents made pacts with dark forces after their town was hit by disease and poor crops. Another theory: the town was struck by a strain of mass-hysteria that doomed it to failure in the 1800s. 

Whichever origin story you prefer, all that remains of Dudley Town are moldering stone foundations and old root cellars along an unkempt trail that was once the town’s Main Street – debris of lives lost but not gone.

Many visitors testify that the woods become completely, or near to, silent when crossing the abandoned town’s boundaries. Birdsong dies, wind goes still, and, according to some, figures lurk behind trees – sometimes human, sometimes not – and one feels Dudley Town’s long-dead residents watching as you walk through their land. 

I don’t suggest you visit there, as it’s on private property, but I know some curious, brave folks find a way. 

3. New London Ledge Lighthouse, New London:

A three-story, square brick house sits in the waters of The Sound off New London. It is a damp, lonely place with a sad story: the former light-keeper allegedly killed himself after finding out his wife was cheating. Other stories abound of his severe mental illness, as well as mercury poisoning that drove him mad. Either way, for years people have claimed the former light-keeper is still there, stuck in his tragic fate. 

Unlike other spots on this list, the lighthouse offers legitimate tours. From my experience, it’s a great day trip and the lighthouse’s creepiness is strong, even in the bright sunlight. One interior space that felt particularly charged: a room with a box of children’s items – according to our guide, visitors have heard and seen children roaming the desolate island. 

4. Fairfield Hills State Hospital, Newtown:

This former asylum and ‘hospital’ founded in 1931 has a pretty nasty past of patient mistreatment and death – all of which fuels what’s said to be a plethora of ghostly activity here, including on the grounds’ public walking trails. The most vivid, frightening reports, however, come from the abandoned buildings and the labyrinth of tunnels below. 

Again, I do not suggest you trespass in potentially dangerous spaces. I can say I’ve heard of people accessing via basement entries. 

5. The Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum, Old Wethersfield:

Old Wethersfield has a dubious honor: the town executed “witches” about 30 years before Salem’s infamous Witch Trials. 

Today, centuries later, Old Wethersfield is said to be haunted by their spirits, including the cemetery, the Webb-Deane-Stevens House, several restaurants, like Lucky Lou’s and The Charles. If you take the museum’s tour and get too scared, stroll over to the town’s ice cream shop – a perfect antidote to the creep factor. 

Other well-known spots I’ve heard are strongly spirited:

• The Sterling Opera House, Derby
• Unionville Cemetery, Unionville
• Mansfield Training School and Hospital, Mansfield
• Abigail’s Grille and Wine Bar, Weatogue
• The Griswold Inn, Essex
• Captain Daniel Packer Inne, Mystic

Do you have any favorite spooky CT spots? Let us know.