and to afford a playground for you and your children and your children’s children." Soon after acquisition, the owners planted thousands of trees. During the 1930s, New York's Skidreiverein Club spent their winter weekends skiing on trails they built in the area; in the summers, they canoed down the Housatonic River. Horse riding camps for children were also held on the site. Rumors and vandalism A local rumor that has been frequently shared on the internet alleges the founders of Dudleytown were descended from Edmund Dudley, an English nobleman who was beheaded for treason during the reign of Henry VIII. From that moment on, the Dudley family was placed under a curse which followed them across the Atlantic to America. This curse is blamed for instances of crop failures and mental illness, as well as several purported violent deaths in the village. Local historians have found no genealogical link between the Dudley family of Cornwall and the English nobleman and noted many other factual inconsistencies in the rumors. The village's decline has instead been attributed to its distance from clean drinking water and unsuitable soil for cultivation. One confirmed case of suicide of a village resident took place in New York state rather than within Cornwall. Since the 1990s, police in Cornwall have responded to numerous cases of vandalism. The 1999 movie, The Blair Witch Project, about a haunted forest prompted increased interest in the allegedly haunted village. This increased the frequency of such incidents. The owners of the Dudleytown's property have closed it to the public. Rierden, Andi (29 October 1989). THE VIEW FROM: DUDLEYTOWN; A Hamlet That Can't Get Rid of Its Ghosts, The New York Times References Further reading This book relates the story of the Dudleytown curse, and may have been the inspiration behind later accounts. Ghost towns in Connecticut Cornwall, Connecticut Former populated places in Litchfield County, Connecticut