This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Spooky New London – Ghosts and the Paranormal in Our City

Halloween is a fun time to tell a good ghost story, and why not start with a good New London ghost story.

While we decorate our yards and get our costume picked out for Halloween, it is fun to ruminate over the great ghost stories. And New London has been plagued with a few scary places. I enjoy local folklore and history and what better way to understand our community than to get to know some of the spectral and strange residents that have been among us. If you like books, a nice addition to your collection might be Legendary Connecticut by David Phillips.  It spins some interesting tales of mysterious happenings around the state. If you are a long time resident to the city then you know about our ghost issues. And like a lot of things in an old New England town, we simply accept what the paranormal offers us.

Our history and our ancient nooks and crannies make our town a rich and stunningly haunted place. Shipwrecks, lost sailors, wars, whaling wives, mystical animals, hurricanes, storms, fires, and murder all contribute to the fact that we are typically above average in the paranormal department. 

Visions of New London

I don’t want to scare your socks off, so we can start with something recent and strange to warm up to the Halloween spirit. Back in 1979 Richard Eastman, a warrant officer with the U.S. Coast Guard went missing in downtown New London in early April of 1979. He was a thirty year veteran and was in charge of a radar station in Virginia. The FBI and detectives couldn't find him although they found his wallet near his last known location at a downtown cafe. The family posted a reward for information leading to his discovery. For six months, this remained an unsolved mystery. Eastman was not only driving in a government car, but he was in possession of five thousand dollars of sophisticated electronics.(1) Then, something sparked the mind of Patricia Gagliardo, clairvoyant, mystic, and sensitive. As she reports from her website that she saw the vision in September.

Find out what's happening in New Londonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“In September of 1979, while in a meditative state of mind, I began to perceive visions of a man in uniform, water, an eagle and a vehicle. After relaying some of my impressions to a girlfriend she began to search through some old newspaper articles and found the story of Mr. Eastman's disappearance. Mr. Eastman was a Coastguard warrant officer and worked with special radar equipment.”

When she reported some of her visions to officials, they offered her a items to touch. She stood at New London pier and felt like everything was right there. But there was nothing there. Every time she walked around, she always returned to that spot. Eventually, the divers went back into the murky water around the pier where the ferry docked. And there was the car and the remains of the missing Coastguard officer. Patricia Gagliardo’s amazing mystical and clairvoyant visions helped New London solve this mystery. Don’t believe me? Check out the segment on Psychic Detectives that aired on Court TV in 2004.

Find out what's happening in New Londonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

So, while might have been strange and paranormal, it wasn’t a ghost. But that is where it gets tricky. Ghosts tend to be a bit more elusive. I am sure you drive by a house that looks haunted, I am sure you’ve heard stories about a strange apparition wandering the beach, or that ship silhouetted in the beam of the lighthouse before it disappeared in the fog. If you have a ghost story, please feel free to post it in the comments below. I love a good scary story.

“Feelin’ It” – Day in the Life of a Ghost Hunter

I have a fascinating story about the New London Ledge Lighthouse - a different kind of scary story. A few years back, we were asked to take some ghost hunters, with permission, to Ledge light so they could spend the night hunting ghosts. It was around Halloween and it was a snotty day on the water. After a dangerous landing and getting them onto the light house, we left them and their equipment. It turned out that ghost hunters are needy, pesky people who are prone to sea sickness, and complaining. Our job was to deliver five ghost hunters, and then pick them up in the morning (if they were alive). They asked if they could be picked up earlier if they weren't "feelin' it" - and we told them no, see you in the morning.

Now, this all sounds like a perfect set up, ghost hunters out on a lighthouse that they can get off, searching for the eerie specter. I imagine some kind of sound stirs them in the middle of the night and they see this strange mutant sailor. He warns them all they will die if they don’t' leave before dawn. They can’t hail anyone on the radio. The ghost must take revenge on the world for his lost daughter Lenore, lost at sea in 1911. There is running around, screaming, it ends in the top of the lighthouse with the ghost chasing them to the light. The ghost hunters throw their camera (with the only irrefutable evidence of the ghost) into the glass mirror of the beacon and the ghost explodes and shatters in a million bits of light as the sun comes up. They sit on the edge of the world, out of breath, cut and dirty thinking: this is why we hunt ghosts.

Actually it didn't quite happen that way. They actually spent about three hours there and when they weren't "feelin' it", they called the Coast Guard and asked for a ride. When they told them they could only come out if it was an emergency, they claimed that they had a diabetic who forgot their insulin. That is serious ghost hunting.

Creepy Is the Night – O’Neill Homestead

So, here are a few other places where you might find a ghost around New London. According to Shadowlands Haunted Places Index, Eugene O'Neill's childhood home is a ghost freak out. It's a bit of a freak out without the ghosts, but here is the write up.

"The great American play write based his classic Long Days Journey into Night, after this childhood home in which he shared with his family. His mother, who reportedly suffered severe depression, would sneak into a small room next to Eugene O’Neill’s room, and he would hear her crying and then giggling to herself throughout the night. She supposedly would inhale methane (probably morphine) there. There have been many reports, especially by the people who work there, (it is a museum now) of footsteps in the small room, the feeling of being followed, cold spots, and most eerie, the sounds of sobbing and giggling. You can take the tour and see the room for yourself, very creepy."

Next stop for ghost hunters vacationing in New London is the The Lighthouse Inn, Simply put,"various haunted rooms, and two ghostly Victorian women who roam the hallways at night." I could see a kind of Shining thing going on there, but it is too small. However, now that it is vacant it has taken on a Scooby Doo feeling on blustery fall nights.

Creepy Lane Speaks for Itself

Gallows Lane in Waterford is another nice spot to find a ghost - when you get a public execution, you get a public ghost. According to the website,

"It's been said that this is where a lot of witches were burned though there is no real record. However, if you walk down the road (even in the middle of the day) you get the ominous feeling that not only are you being watched but also followed. One person who has done a séance there reported that there was the shrill voice of an old woman that told him to go away and never come back, though there was no one in sight, the voice seemed to be all around him. Most people from that area won’t walk down that road alone and especially not at night."

This description of witch burning is not really accurate. But we did have a significant hanging. An event that was so well attended that the street was aptly named Gallows Lane. Local historical novelist Mary Cahill explains, "Sara Bramble had a bastard child in March of 1752. She hid it under her bed and when her masters went out (she was a servant) tried to burn it up in the fireplace. She was tried and found guilty and hung. Joshua Hempstead reports in his diaries "Wednesday 21: Misty&rained moderately In the afternoon I rid up to the Cross Highway above Jno Bolles to see Sarah Bramble executed for the Murdering her bastard child in march last was a year Since. She was hanged at 3 o'clock. a crowd of spectators of all sexes and nations are among us from the neighboring town as well as this. Judged to be ten thousand." I am amazed at the crowd, and in the rain. The Hempstead Diaries cover a lot of that in detail if you're looking for a definitive source.

Your Spooky New London Stories

I save this one for last because this was a surprise.

"St. Mary School - Some students have said that the basement, which used to be restrooms before about 2001, is haunted. Students who have gone down there alone have felt like they were being watched or were not alone. Also, urban legends state that the last three bathroom stalls in the basement were haunted. A janitor supposedly died in the bathroom. The basement bathrooms have been closed and the basement is no longer accessible to students."

And that seems about as scary as that corner in my basement where I found a centipede last year.

So, that is some of New London's haunted places. However, I know that people in the city, people who spend their lives here have better stories. The stuff above is common tourist info. But what stories do you have? Post your stories or send them to me and I will post them. I would love to hear about your spooky New London moments (please keep them to the paranormal).

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?