Haunted New England places - Gay City, Hebron, Connecticut

Here's the first of several blogs about Haunted New England places. It is one in a series
from the Quincy Mass. Patriot Ledger newspaper.This one is  Gay City, Hebron, Connecticut

Gay City, Hebron, Connecticut

Unlike many of the ghost towns around New England, Gay City is fully accessible within Gay City State Park in Hebron and there are even a few ruins you can explore — if rumors of ghosts, supernatural occurrences and water running uphill don’t bother you, that is.

Founded in the late 1700s by a group of Methodists, this rather isolated group of congregationalists were known for pairing their religion with a generous amount of alcohol, apparently in the belief that drinking heavily would bring them closer to God. Predictably, the town became known as a spot for alcoholic revelers. Several grisly, unsolved murders, along with a large fire at the textile mill, which served as the largest employer, led to Gay City’s gradual abandonment. Today, the site sits on a 1,500-acre park, where paranormal believers claim to have seen spirits wandering the woods and have heard disembodied voices.
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Here are more details from the Website DamnedCT.com

The Damned Story: Near the center of Connecticut in the unassuming town of Hebron sits Gay City State Park, offering streams, a scenic pond and over 1,500 acres of  woodland teeming with hiking trails, recreational opportunities and . . . ghosts, according to some.

Gay City was a once-thriving 18th-century village that was primarily inhabited by the Gay family; the park is particularly named after John Gay, one of the settlement's founding fathers. Remnants from the former town, including the remains of abandoned mills, stone foundations and other structures, can still be found here. It's these ruins that have helped to foster the creepy vibe that some people attribute to the park.

The town was originally settled in 1796, when Elijah Andrus led a group of persecuted Methodists out of Hartford to a quieter space along the Blackledge River where they hoped they would be left alone by the regional Congregationalists to live and worship as they pleased. Under the guidance of Rev. Henry Sumner, the faithful—including many members of the Gay family—attended services twice a week, which included imbibing generous amounts of "spirits" in the hope of finding higher spirits. Apparently, such dedicated alcohol consumption caused a host of social issues, but the settlement continued to thrive.

In 1811, a textile mill was built, and soon other mills, shops, homes and even a distillery followed. The town was soon known as Factory Hollow, and had its ups and downs over the next few decades—the main mill burned down twice, the second time in 1885, and the town never really recovered.

According to one story from the Bolton Historical Society, it was claimed that the water in the settlement "ran uphill" from the pond to the mill, which spooked a few residents.

Factory Hollow also suffered other problems, including two alleged murders, both of which pre-date the Civil War. According to David Philips' Legendary Connecticut, the first one involved a jewelry peddler, who may have been robbed and murdered by the village charcoal-burner, although the actual perpetrator was never brought to justice; the unfortunate merchant's skeleton was discovered in a charcoal pit near the edge of town, damning evidence for some. The second untimely death involved a blacksmith's apprentice—the story goes that the young lad showed up late to ye olde shoppe one day and ye olde blacksmithee took extreme exception, stabbing the tardy assistant to death, and then beheading him. (What would've happened if the apprentice had played sick for an entire day?!) As with the other murder, no records exist of the crime, no was anyone apparently ever arrested for it.

Grisly stories aside, like what happens to many towns when the main employer burns to the ground and is no longer viable, the residents of Factory Hollow started leaving. By the end of the 19th century, the town was essentially abandoned, and then was slowly swallowed up by the surrounding countryside. Finally, the land was sold by Emma Foster (one of the last descendants of those who lived there) to the state in 1943, with the stipulation that the area be renamed Gay City. A year later, Gay City officially became a state park.

Despite the decades of neglect, a few of the original structures still stand and can be explored, including house foundations, stone cellars and the walls of an old paper mill. Gay City is now more like Ghost City, which is just fine for those who love to explore such locations.

For years, visitors supposedly saw the spirits of the murdered victims wandering around the forests that have now grown up through the village. Up until recently, the story was also told that someone long ago had drowned in the pond at the park, although there hadn't been any documentation of the event. Tragically, in May 2010, a New Britain teenage did drown in the pond while swimming, so that event can now be considered true.
Source; https://www.damnedct.com/gay-city-hebron