Haunted Fairfield

You would think that a town like Fairfield, founded more than 370 years ago, would have its share of ghost stories to tell on Halloween.

But according to , historian extraordinaire, the town may just be good at keeping its skeletons in the closet.

“I guess there is a degree to which you wonder -- why doesn’t Fairfield have these ghost stories?” Matis said. But at the same time, he said, “How many towns really do have ghost stories?”

Despite the town’s lacking of a plethora of the weird and the haunted, Matis, the program director and volunteer coordinator of the Fairfield Museum and Historical Center who leads the popular “Legends and Haunting Lantern Tour,” did dig up some secrets to share, both in and around Fairfield.

• Goodwife Knapp: Goodwife “Goody” Knapp was an alleged witch who was tried and hanged in Fairfield in 1653 -- nearly 40 years before the Salem witch trials began.
• Frederick Jordan and the Penfield Reef Lighthouse: The tale (or, one of the tales) of Fred Jordan, the lighthouse keeper who tried to row home to his family for Christmas in 1916, is an unhappy one: he never made it. Legend has it his ghost haunted the lighthouse to this day – and even though the structure has since been automated, Jordan’s specter may still remain.   
• Fairfield University: Two sites on the university’s campus are said to be haunted: the PepsiCo Theater (supposedly by the ghost of costume designer Minerva Farrell) and Dolan Hall, where a student reportedly died in a dorm room (and may still haunt it).
• The Burning of Fairfield: This isn’t a ghost story per se, but Matis questioned what happened to all the remains of the people, Fairfielders and British alike, who were killed during this British raid during the Revolutionary War, in 1779.
• Union Cemetery in Easton: One of the oldest and most famous graveyards in the nation, Union Cemetery is supposedly home to a ghost called the White Lady.
• Melonheads: The story of the Melonheads in Connecticut derives from several legends, each leading to the same conclusion: there are supposedly colonies of these small people with larger-than-normal heads who keep themselves removed from society. They are said to live along Velvet Lane -- “Dracula Drive” -- in Trumbull, lonely back roads in Monroe, Saw Mill City Road in Shelton, and Zion Hill Road in Milford.
• Lindley Street, Bridgeport: A home on this Bridgeport Street behind St. Vincent’s Medical Center supposedly housed poltergeist activity, a case examined by the famous paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.

Happy Hauntings!