Gunntown Cemetery

Gunntown Cemetery stands as one of Connecticut's most haunted burial grounds, officially declared so by legendary demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren. Founded in 1790 in the Millville section of Naugatuck, this weathered graveyard holds the remains of Revolutionary War veterans, War of 1812 soldiers, and Civil War heroes—but it is the restless spirits that have made this modest plot famous among paranormal investigators.

The land carries dark history predating even the cemetery. The Gunn family, descendants of Scottish-born Jasper Gunn who arrived from London in 1635, established Gunntown as an 800-acre settlement around 1733. Nathaniel Gunn built a prosperous operation including a sawmill, general store, blacksmith shop, and distillery—worked by sixteen enslaved people. The family held strong Tory sympathies during the Revolution, and one bitter winter night in 1780, their barn became a prison when Loyalist kidnappers held sixteen-year-old patriot Chauncey Judd captive here before attempting to transport him to Long Island. Judd narrowly escaped execution when an enslaved man named Tobiah turned a gun on the captors, demanding the boy's freedom.

Ed and Lorraine Warren, founders of the New England Society for Psychic Research—the oldest ghost hunting organization in New England—were the first to publicize Gunntown Cemetery as officially haunted. Lorraine Warren issued a chilling warning: the dark energy here comes not from the dead buried beneath the Colonial-era headstones, but from those who visit for dark purposes.

The most frequently reported phenomenon is the eerie laughter of children. Visitors describe the sound emanating from the field beyond the back stone wall, gradually moving closer until it seems to originate from within the cemetery itself. One witness described her dog "immediately running around as if he was playing with children" while she and her daughter heard what sounded like calliope music—four bars repeating from the center of the cemetery. Others report ragtime-style music drifting between the headstones, "sounding as if a coffin had been buried with a record player." The source has never been located.

The Phantom Child materializes near the back wall—a little boy who plays among the graves before vanishing when approached. During one investigation, a team placed a doll on a gravestone and captured an EVP of a child's voice saying "look it mommy." Some believe this spirit may be one of the many children who died in this isolated settlement, their deaths never properly documented. Paranormal investigators have identified multiple child spirits here, including what they describe as infants.

Perhaps most terrifying is the spectral man carrying a lantern who leads a phantom horse across the grounds. Visitors have captured his red-outlined figure on video, glowing against the darkness. A black-hooded figure has been seen riding a horse through the cemetery, and the sounds of hooves and chains echo through the night. One team reported: "We became disoriented, heard voices calling us to the back of the cemetery, saw full body manifestations, and eventually heard a scream coming from somewhere in the woods."

The Black Ghost Dog of Gunntown is among the most unnerving entities. Black dogs recur in English folklore as omens of death and misfortune, and this spectral hound behaves accordingly. Witnesses report it trotting between headstones before vanishing, or hearing its approach without seeing it. One visitor at 1:00 AM watched "a black dog-like thing slowly walk towards the left wall" before emitting a deep, guttural growl. Another investigator described hearing "a very unearthly and unfriendly growl right beside me... It was evil and not any animal noise from our realm." Multiple visitors have reported being scratched by unseen forces, with some waking to find claw marks on their arms after visits.

Shadow figures dart through the cemetery at night. Witnesses describe "two huge black figures on the back wall," while others see "very tall white figures" near the graves. One visitor alone at 10:00 PM heard conversations, a man shouting, and watched shadows "dart full force" near her car—which then refused to start for several attempts. In 1982, two visitors walking toward the rear left corner saw green glowing eyes staring from a bush.

Paranormal investigations consistently yield evidence. A July 2009 EVP session captured something responding to questions about the cemetery's name with the sounds of a gun cocking and firing on one recorder, while a second captured a voice saying "KA-Bang." Other recordings captured a woman's English accent saying "That's not an Escape" and a voice responding "yes" when asked if it was annoyed by investigators' questions. Photographs regularly capture orbs, mists, and luminescent phenomena—tombstones appearing inexplicably illuminated in the darkness.

The woods surrounding Gunntown are reportedly as haunted as the cemetery itself. Loud rustling sounds emerge from the tree line when no one is there, and visitors experience overwhelming feelings of dread. The church that once stood near the cemetery—completed in 1806 through efforts of Jobamah Gunn—was eventually dismantled and moved over two miles away in 1831 to become St. Michael's Episcopal Church, as if even the faithful could not long endure this ground.

Today, 376 marked graves remain within the stone walls, though the total number of burials is unknown. Local police patrol regularly and arrest after-dark trespassers—but that has not stopped generations of visitors from testing the Warrens' declaration. Those who do often leave with more than memories: unexplained scratches, drained phone batteries, cars that struggle to start, and the lingering sense that something followed them home from the mist-shrouded stones of Gunntown.