Haunted Connecticut: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Constitution State

Stackpole Haunted Series

by Cheri Revai

Thrilling stories of supernatural occurrences in Connecticut, including the curse on Dudleytown, the spirit of Hanna Cranna who causes car crashes in Monroe, the phantom black dog of Meriden, buried-alive Midnight Mary, the lost village of Bara-Hack, and many more.

Genres: Nonfiction, Mystery, Paranormal

128 pages, Paperback

First published July 13, 2006

Reviews

[Kathee · Rating 2 out of 5]

A starting place for reading about strange New England goings-on. But the artwork really upped the cheese factor on this book.

[Toy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is terrible but the stories are interesting. Especially if you are from the area.

[Lisa M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

My boyfriend bought this book for me for a Halloween spooky book swap! I was excited to get it. It collects stories about strange occurrences in CT, including: atmospheric anomalies, strange animal occurrences, paranormal creatures, witches, ghosts, vampires, and more. It includes both historical and modern stories. The book is slim and the stories rarely go over two pages. If one takes these facts into consideration, the book does exactly what it meant to do: it catalogs many spooky stories about CT without going into detail. I really enjoyed a lot of the stories; I learned more about ones I grew up with (sometimes I greatly misunderstood them,) and learned of new ones. (Including one that took place on the street my boyfriend used to live on!) The writing is not particularly spooky; Cheri's tone leans toward sassy. My only complaints about the book include the fact that she took certain stories, almost word for word, from other sources. She always cited them properly but it felt like a bit of a cop-out. Some of the stories weren't really in depth - that weren't famous and only involved one incident. Those felt like filler and could have been cut. Lastly, she gave heavy warnings about visiting sites for legal reasons-- which could be helpful, if they weren't so prevalent; those sites that are in commercial use were heavily advertised. But overall, this was good and is a good place for a person to begin researching haunted CT.

[Carmella Hancock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Death in the wind:

This honestly was a great book I totally recommend it if you're into death and the supernatural it just gives you that feeling like you're really there in the story. For example The black Dog is one of the stories in the book and it says that you there is a connection with the black dog and witch and instantly when that dog was killed a lady down the street instantly dropped dead. So people suspected she was a witch. The book is insane but these are all real stories but they're all in Connecticut. It also talks about cemeteries and the old state house in Hartford which is haunted by the way by an old painter it says you can hear his heavy footsteps above you when you are in the building but you have to be alone and in dead silence. There's other stories but I'm not giving any others away, you have to find out for yourself maybe you'll run into a spirit on the way

[Beverly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know why I continue to think that one of these days I'll read a book that says it's going to tell me "haunted" stories and I'm just going to be scared silly or at least get a little goose-flesh. This book was fine. It broke Connecticut down into different sections and then told about the ghosts, witches, aliens or odd happenings (like the death of thousands of frogs) that occurred there. But is there any evidence that ghosts (or whatever) are at the bottom of any mysterious happenings? You guessed it, no. I will say that there were some interesting stories, some historical information and some fascinating scientific explanations for what was considered paranormal happenings during the 1700 and 1800's.

[Leah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Halfway through the book and I am astonished at the lack of research. The Little People’s Village is an abandoned prop from Quassy Amusement Park, not a demonic village. Hannah Cranna, the “witch” of Monroe, has her name spelled incorrectly, her tombstone is not replaced annually, and she is not buried in Stepney Cemetery in Monroe, she is interred in Gregory Four Corners in Trumbull. Union Cemetery is not ten miles from Stepney Cemetery, it is just under six. And the “White Lady”, as all locals know, “haunts” Route 136 (Stepney Road), not Route 59 (Sport Hill Road). I’m wondering if it’s worth finishing the book if so many points are wrong.

[Carolyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was more like a how to manual to paint ones nails. I love ghost hunting books and have done some myself. Books of paranormal investigations always peak my interest. However this one fell too short for me. Next...

[David Burnham · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of stories, some I was aware of and several I was not. I found it to be extremely useful as I was looking for some inspiration for a short story I am working on and I found exactly what I wanted and more besides.

[Sam Kroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute book about spooky places and spooky happenings in the neighboring state of Massachusetts. Definitely the type of book to read again and again. Can also be used as a vacation guide ;)