50 replies to this topic

[Markway]

I just heard from Angelina that no one is allowed into Dudleytown these days. Bummer! Okay, I feel guilty for bringing up a spot no one can go to.

Here's a safer place to go, and I have it on good report that it is not closed to visiting, and should be a dynamite spot for EVPs and photographs. The place is called Bara-Hack, a town founded in 1780, and located in the northeastern Connecticut woods.

I first read about this place in Fate magazine, and then talked to a couple of people I know on the east coast ghost hunting circuit. They're pretty old these days and have never been there, although they have heard about the place.

You can't find this place on the map, although I have tried. Hell, the place sounds like a kibbutz in the middle east! As far as I can tell, the town is located close to Abington Four Corners close to the town of Pomfret. In the Fate magazine article, you have to go down an old overgrown path that follows the Mashomoquet Brook to get there.

The brook is sometimes missing during the dry months of the year, and one of the first indications that you are nearing Bara-Hack is that you HEAR the brook anyway!

This is one of the most "alive" hauntings I have ever heard of. As people approach this place they discover that this location is alive with noise! All of the activity of daily life 150 years or so ago is clearly audible. You hear mothers calling to their children, children playing, wagons rolling. These sounds are clearly audible night or day.

There is an old graveyard too which may be the center of activity. At one side of the graveyard is an old tree, another center of supernatural activity.

I long to visit this place, but I tottle along with one cane, and sometimes two, the gift of an incompetent doctor. If someone here can go and report back, I would love it. At last report access to the area is not restricted, not as dangerous as Dudleytown. That place is scary. This place is just weird.

[angelinayorke]

Mark, I will do my best to head out there this weekend *as long as this darn cold is gone*
Pomfret isn't terribly far away from me...BUT this is the FIFTH weekend in a row that we've had yucky weather.
AHHHH!! The prospects are not looking good:
http://www.cprs.info...s/bara_hack.htm

Quote

Bara Hack - Located off Rt.97 in Pomfret, the lost village of Bara-hack, often referred to as the “village of ghostly voices”, lies eerily dormant deep within the woods of northeastern Connecticut.The village was founded and first settled in 1790 by the two Welsh settlers Obadiah Higginbotham and John Randall. They named the town “bara-hack”, a Welsh term meaning “breaking of bread”.
  Today Bara-hack is little more than an overgrown cow path. It’s remains include some old stone foundations, cellar holes and a graveyard. Those that have dared to venture into the lost village have reported hearing disembodied voices, the laughter of children and the rumble of a horse-drawn carriage traveling along a ghostly road. We do not recommend anyone go to Bara-hack. The village lies within the boundaries of private property that is sufficiently dotted with the occasional “No Trespassing” sign.

Ugh...private property!!

[angelinayorke]

Okay so I got directions straight to this place, the site says "is uninhabited but private property"
Probably not a good idea...

[Holly]

Mark,

I have to say that this is one of the most interesting locations I've heard about..I have to know more.

The first thing I thought of is a reality shift (but that's just how my mind works...)

Looks like it's going to be a long night, searching online for some info..

And I guess my first question would be..If the land is on private property, then who is the owner? There has to be someone who can be approached about a visit onto the land. I'm too far away to go, but I'd like to talk to the owners. What made them buy the land? Are they leaving it "as is" because they are believers?

Yeah, time for some caffeine and google...in that order.

[Markway]

I can't make a right step this week! First Dudleytown, which has been a pet interest of mine for years and then Bara-Hack!

Here's the deal. I know a husband and wife team attached to Harvard University. They are both Professors, or were, I think that they are both firmly on the Emeritus list now. He was one of the old-school ghosthunters, before digital cameras, computers, and EVP's. I e-mailed them to ask them about Bara-Hack, which I had read about in two books and a magazine, the oldest copyrighted in 1996, by a guy named Cipro, and the newest an article from Fate magazine maybe six months old.

They told me that yes, the place was real, but no they hadn't been there. They checked their files and it only showed up as a "mention" in their records. ( These people make me look like Bill Gates. Computer-wise I mean.)

They have some confidential contacts among ex-students about ghost hunting, and after a couple of days they sent me another e-mail saying that they had been told that "Yes, the place was EXTREMELY active, and that investigators had been getting in there". They expressed a lot of interest about going thre themselves, but I don't take it seriously, as he is in his 70's and she in her late 50's. She's almost 10 years my senior, and still gets around better than me. I maybe should have twigged when they commented that the investigators had been accompanied by a "guide", but I had thought that was because this place is kind of off of the beaten track.

SO!, it appears that the owners are letting people in, but are maybe asking people to ask for permission first. That's the downside. The upside is that this place is for real. It is the most "audio-active" location I have ever heard of. The place is relatively unexplored, paranormaly speaking, and any research done may well be saleable as articles in various magazines. There is more going on here than sound as one might expect. From the beginning a tree near the cemetary has attracted attention even before the town died. There are I understand, a number of reports of people seeing the dead in an old elm tree alongside the graveyard. Adults, babies, and OTHER THINGS have been seen in that tree. Sorry about the bum-steer though. If it's any consolation, I had planned, before my accident, to investigate and publish myself.

[angelinayorke]

Markway, thanks for the update. Didn't mean to rain on your parade, was just giving you what I had found. Perhaps if we find out who the owners are they could be contacted and permission granted.

[Markway]

No sweat of course, it's just that it seems like every interesting paranormal venue is blocked, either by official obstruction, private prejudice, or private property!

I have been recently involved in the ongoing debate with skeptics. If they can even think of a reason that's inside of the box that is sufficient reason to dismiss the incident, or phenomena.

Bara-Hack appears to be one of those very rare places where that substance which seperates this world from the next is more easily penetrated. This is one of those places which deserve professional study.

As someone who's been in this game for a very long time, you hear rumours. One of the rumours I've heard for years, is that the Shirley Jackson book and movie, "The Haunting", was a real story. A place so haunted it was dangerous to visit. But, we have heard about this how? A movie? Why? I am SO tired of rumours!

[angelinayorke]

Markway, I understand how you feel.
Seeing that Pomfret isnt all that far away, I may be able to take a drive out this weekend and at least scope out the scene a bit.
As for the rumor thing......doing a search a while back on CT hauntings, I found one site that mentioned a school in Oakdale, CT...Here is the story:
Built in 1893, lots of tragedies. A girl wanted the lead in the school play but didn't get it so she murdered the girl who did in order to take the role. Another student was said to have committed suicide.
I have searched high and low for this place. I even went so far as to go out to this town *don't know my way around* which is about an hour away and drive for hours on end, go to the local library *which is the size of my bathroom* and spent countless late nights searching for something. And I have found NOTHING. Not one shred of evidence that this place even EXISTED. My dreams~shattered...*Not to be cocky but there really isn't much of anything that I CAN'T find on the net or otherwise so I'm pretty sure I have covered all my bases.*
I have come to the conclusion that either it never existed or did in fact exist under another name. I am fully aware that many of these haunted place indexes are mostly rumor and are never checked for validity. But a girl can hope, can't she??

[Markway]

There were a lot of creative writers, as I'm sure that you're aware, in the 19th century press. On the other hand a lot of information was intentionally covered up as well. I was astounded to find that my ghostbuster friends were totally complicit in this sort of thing. Without hesitation and with a feeling of moral cleanliness, they would change the names, city etc. without qualms or qualification. "We are scientists dear, not scandal mongers!".

Too many rumours are all too true. I am 90% sure that "The Hunt for Red October" was driven by fact, and that the captain currently resides in Montana. That's just one that I know of. I also had ome information about Area 51 that confirms a lot of rumours.

People cover up scandal, and the weird. That's the nature of the world. It isn't the rumours I resent, but the stories that often lie behind them that I will never hear.

[angelinayorke]

If we could only hear HALF the stories behind the rumors that flow around, I don't know about you but MY life would be so much more interesting!!

Perhaps if I could get my hands on some microfiche from the early 1900s *those librarians can be MEAN if they don't like you or your reason for requesting access* perhaps I could find something...Too bad those articles haven't been put into a database, would make searching so much easier and less time consuming...

What is this about Hunt for Red October?? DO tell!!

[Dodi]

Hey Ange Did you try checking thr Towm Hall and asking about the School? They would have records on all schools that would and would have exisied in the town. Just a thought?

Hey MarkWay, bara-Hack sounds real Interesting too, and if anyone can find info on the internet, it IS Ange!

[Markway]

Yeah Dodi, it does. I hadn't heard about it until recently when current reports began coming out. Iam old, (49), and have been reading everything in the field I could get my hands on since I was nine. Bara-Hack shows up in late 19th century reports as being one of those places where the membrane between us and them is thin. Actually the only other places I can think of on the east coast that come close are the Sleepy Hollow area in the Hudson River Valley, and the so-called Bridgewater Triangle area in Massachusetts.

If you read the old accounts you'd know what I mean when I say that they leave you with some pretty strange feelings. Early ghosthunters were really romantic tourists. I wouldn't exactly put that label on my two friends, because they took notes and used some basic scientific tools. Would you like to know what they were/are?

A bowl of mercury. This was to show them physical vibrations. A level and plumb bob. These tools were supposed to detect the squareness of a building. It was thought that the distortion of a physical environment could create a "Funhouse Effect" which would distort a person's perceptions. A revolver, in case the ghost was an intruder or an animal. A camera. The used a Hasselblad box camera with highly adjustable shutterspeeds. Thermometers, to see if perceived coldness was physical in nature. A cassette recorder, which they seem to have used mostly for memo-type notes. There were more too, Hygrometers, and Barometers, and a couple of others including salt, planchette, and a Bible.

Well. I got off of the track there a little bit, but I wanted to show you what it was like in the old days, and these old days were the early '60's on! In the 19th century they basically just rode around and experienced the mysterious world, and then wrote books and articles to pay for their fun. If you read these reports it is hard to draw a line between truly weird and hyperbolae.

I never took Bara-Hack seriously until the last 8 years or so when I started hearing rumours about a town that was sonicly alive. A person could literally stand in the middle of the old town and hear a brook which was dry, and all of the other sounds of a living community. Then you opened your eyes, and you're in the middle of the woods. It took me a long time to track down the name and location. Then, about two years ago, about 4 reports jumped out almost at the same time. One even showed up in Fate magazine a few months ago. (Fate has an online library too I believe.)

There is more to Bara-Hack than the sound though. The cemetary is very involve with whatever is going on. The phenomenon began before everyone was gone from town and may indeed have been what truly finished the place. One of the earliest accounts I can find has a newly dead baby viewed up in this weird tree! I would love for some of you ambulatory youngsters to descend upon the place with tape recorders and digital cameras! My exploring days are over. Limping around on two canes is not my idea of hiking!

[Dodi]

OK Mark, two things here first off,
#1 I'm really happy to meet you!
#2 Don't say 49 is old, that's HUGE problem with me, I'm 46 and that means I'm right behind you. LMAO I'll never be old no matter what this body keeps tryint to tell me!

OK, now, Ange any luck with Directions, I really want to try and get there before my knee surgery on June 22. This would give me so much to do while I'm stuck here in the house, going through anything I can come up with there. It sounds so interesting to me. I was suppose to go to Cath's in Ct the week end following my surgery but that's off now, but this may be someplace for you guys to go when you have that week end! If so I want detailed reports, OK.

Marky I've read so many of your post and find you very interseting to read. You've had quite an interesting life, you have a gift and need to continue to share this. Please do.

Dodie

[Dodi]

OK Mark, two things here first off,
#1 I'm really happy to meet you!
#2 Don't say 49 is old, that's HUGE problem with me, I'm 46 and that means I'm right behind you. LMAO I'll never be old no matter what this body keeps tryint to tell me!

OK, now, Ange any luck with Directions, I really want to try and get there before my knee surgery on June 22. This would give me so much to do while I'm stuck here in the house, going through anything I can come up with there. It sounds so interesting to me. I was suppose to go to Cath's in Ct the week end following my surgery but that's off now, but this may be someplace for you guys to go when you have that week end! If so I want detailed reports, OK.

Marky I've read so many of your post and find you very interseting to read. You've had quite an interesting life, you have a gift and need to continue to share this. Please do.

Dodie

[angelinayorke]

Dodi, here are those directions for ya! *they are at the bottom of article*

Will do my best to venture out there tomorrow before all the holiday gatherings!
Dodi I am sorry to hear about your knee surgery! What are you having done?

http://www.tangledfo.../barahackx.html
Village of Voices, Bara-Hack

Quote

Bara-Hack is near Pomfret. It is a village deep in the woods of northeastern Connecticut. It's name was Bara-Hack, Welsh for "breaking of
bread." It was founded in 1780, by two Welsh families. The founders of the town was Obadiah Higginboth (1750-1803), and the other was
Jonathan Randall. The first ghostly sightings were from the Randall's slaves. They said that they could see ghosts at dusk reclining in the
branches in a certain elm tree in the burial ground. The town has been unoccupied since 1890, and is now just visible by it's cellar holes, and


small cemetery.

Bara-Hack almost immediately became known for being haunted. In 1927, Odell Shepard wrote in his book, The Harvest of a Quiet Eye, as
follow:

Here had been their houses, represented today by a few gaping cellar holes out of which tall trees were growing; but here is the Village of
Voices. For the place is peopled still... Although there is no human habitation for a long distance round about and no one goes there except
the few who go to listen, yet there is always a hum and stir of human life... They hear the laughter of children at play... the voices of mothers
who have long been dust calling their children into the homes that are now mere holes in the earth. They hear vague snatches of song... and
the rumble of heavy wagons along an obliterated road. It is as though sounds were able in this place to get round that incomprehensible
corner, to pierce that mysterious soundproof wall that we call Time.

One of the most extensive investigations was in 1971 and 72 by a group of college students led by Paul F. Eno. Eno wrote their account of their
adventure in October and November 1985 issues of Fate magazine. They were escorted to the site by Harry Chase, a longtime resident of
Pomfret, who knew Bara-Hack well. The students experienced strange phenomena the few times they visited the place. Although the village site
was over a mile away from homes, they heard barking of dogs, lowing of cows, and the occasional human voice from the nearby dense woods.
They also heard the laughter of children, which they attempted to tape, but it would not record. In the evening they saw bluish streaks or blobs.
Eno wrote in his article:

For more than seven minutes we watched a bearded face suspended in the air over the cemetery's western wall, while in an elm tree over the
northern wall we clearly saw a baby-like figure reclining.

On another one of their expeditions, a member of the group said his hate had been pulled off and lodged in a tree. Another man that went
because he knew how to operate the cameras, he was restrained by an unseen force, he could move in any direction except towards the
cemetery. The group also heard the rumbling of a wagon, and the shouts of a team driver, starting in the cemetery and then moved through a
section of dense woods.

Directions: Go to Abington Four Corners (in Pomfret), at the intersection of Route 97 and 44. Go north on route 97, then take a left onto a side
road and park just beyond Mashomoquet Brook. There is an overgrown cow path, follow it for about a quarter mile to the lost village. It is
uninhabited but is private property.