State file · CT
Haunted places in Connecticut
What are the most haunted places in Connecticut? The best-known are Annabelle the Doll and The Snedeker House (The Haunting in Connecticut).
Connecticut has given the world some of its best-known modern ghost stories, largely thanks to one couple. Ed and Lorraine Warren, self-described demonologists based in Monroe, investigated cases across the country from the 1950s onward and kept the objects they collected – among them the Raggedy Ann doll called Annabelle – in a museum in their home. Their Connecticut cases, from Annabelle to the “haunting in Connecticut” at a former funeral home in Southington, became books and, eventually, the billion-dollar Conjuring film universe.
- 2 hauntings
- 8 recorded sightings
- 1 news story
Haunted places in Connecticut
Annabelle the Doll
A Raggedy Ann doll that Ed and Lorraine Warren claimed was demonically possessed – the real object behind Hollywood’s porcelain horror, Annabelle. Regional legendThe Snedeker House (The Haunting in Connecticut)
A former funeral home in Southington whose 1980s “demonic haunting” inspired a book and a 2009 film – and whose ghostwriter says he was told to make it up. Hoax / debunkedThe ghost lore of Connecticut
That legacy makes Connecticut an instructive place for skeptics as well as believers. Writers who worked with the Warrens have since said they were told to embellish, and researchers have found little independent evidence for the couple’s most dramatic claims. Older Connecticut legends – the abandoned hilltop farms of Dudleytown in Cornwall, the “White Lady” of Union Cemetery in Easton, the colonial copper mine turned prison at Old New-Gate – rest on genuine colonial history that is often more interesting than the curse stories attached to it.
Several of the state’s famous sites are closed to visitors: Dudleytown is private land shut to the public because of vandalism, the Warrens’ museum closed under zoning rules, and the Southington house is a private home. Old New-Gate Prison & Copper Mine is a state-run archaeological preserve open in season, and Hartford’s historic house museums run their own autumn programmes.
Ghost-hunting hotspots
- Dudleytown, Cornwall
An abandoned eighteenth-century farm settlement in the Dark Entry Forest, famous for a “curse” legend – now private land closed to the public.
- Union Cemetery, Easton
An old graveyard linked to a “White Lady” apparition that Ed Warren claimed to have filmed; visit only in daylight hours.
- Old New-Gate Prison & Copper Mine, East Granby
A colonial copper mine used as a Revolutionary-era prison, now a state archaeological preserve with guided mine tours.
- Monroe and Fairfield County
Home of Ed and Lorraine Warren and the setting for several of their cases; their former museum is a private home.
Timeline
- Early 1970sThe Warrens take the doll Annabelle the Doll
According to Ed and Lorraine Warren, a student nurse and her roommate asked for help with a doll they believed was moving by itself. The Warrens took it to their home museum in Monroe.
- 1980The Demonologist Annabelle the Doll
Gerald Brittle’s book on the Warrens told the Annabelle story to a mass readership, and its chapters were later cited in film-rights disputes over the franchise.
- 1986The Snedekers move in The Snedeker House (The Haunting in Connecticut)
The family rented a former funeral home while their son underwent cancer treatment. They later said strange events began soon afterwards.
- 1992In a Dark Place is published The Snedeker House (The Haunting in Connecticut)
Ray Garton’s book, commissioned by the Warrens, presented the case as a true story of demonic haunting.
- March 2009The Haunting in Connecticut opens The Snedeker House (The Haunting in Connecticut)
Lionsgate’s film, marketed as based on true events, revived the case. Skeptics including Benjamin Radford and Joe Nickell publicly challenged it, and Garton repeated that he had been told to invent material.
- October 2014Annabelle reaches cinemas Annabelle the Doll
New Line’s spin-off Annabelle followed the doll’s debut in The Conjuring (2013), replacing the rag doll with a menacing porcelain design.
- 31 October 2019Monroe keeps visitors away Annabelle the Doll
The Monroe Sun reported that the museum had closed under zoning enforcement, with no-trespassing signs, fines and police infractions for visitors to the private home.
- May 2025The doll that “went missing” Annabelle the Doll
Viral videos claimed Annabelle had disappeared during a touring exhibition. Tony Spera told reporters it had never been missing and was supervised at all times.
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