Connecticut’s Haunted Trolley Rail | Folklore Friday

Some local haunts bring back feelings of nostalgia for me, the old trolley rail in East Windsor, CT being one. I have fond memories of taking a trolley ride with my grandfather who lived nearby when I was young. We used to ride the trolley rail on Summer afternoons, with cold cream sodas in hand. It was always a nice time, but riding such an old piece of machinery into the desolate wooded areas of northern Connecticut felt unsettling to me as a kid. At that time, the rail hadn’t been in service for decades and the station had been made a museum in efforts to preserve it’s history.

Brief History

Source: The Windsor Historical Society

The Hartford and Wethersfield Horse Railroad’s first line that carried passengers by horse car, was first publicly used in March, 1863. The line ran from the Old State House in downtown Hartford to horse-car stables on Wethersfield Avenue. After a little over 20’s years of providing their horse car service, the company would opt to make their lines more modern and efficient. With the help from the Hartford Light & Power Co, the first electrically-powered trip debuted and ran from the Wethersfield Avenue stables to Wethersfield Green on September 21, 1888. The company changed their name to the Hartford Street Railway and began to seek approval to lay more lines through surrounding Connecticut towns, including Windsor.

Over the next decade, more trolley lines were laid and put into use. Fares for a ride depended on the distance from the State House in Hartford, but were generally between 5 and 15 cents. There were 5 major stations in use, and over fifty smaller stations spaced out only a few blocks from each other. Because both residential and commercial addresses were not assigned in Windsor until 1915, the city listed them by their proximity to the closest trolley stop. In 1906 the Connecticut Company took over a majority of trolley lines in CT. In 1924, the track mileage reached 834 miles with 1,640 passenger cars in use. The same year, the first conversion of a street car line to motor coach line occurred.

The depression era took a toll on the transportation industry. On Halloween Day, 1935, the Connecticut Company ultimately filed for bankruptcy. Five years later, on April 14, trolley service was discontinued between Windsor and the City of Hartford’s center.

Tragedies, Accidents, & Hauntings

“The Death Trap” | Source: The Windsor Historical Society

Account books from the Hartford Street Rail Company (now housed at a research facility at the University of Connecticut), show that trolley operators had their fair share of troubles. The books indicate 6 people died, and 10 were injured just in the year of 1894, when the brand new trolley lines in Hartford were being built. The following year when the Windsor line was finished, 4 people were killed and 46 were injured. One of the men who were reported injured was James Sugland, who jumped from the car while it was moving resulting in some serious head wounds. Archives of the Hartford Courant newspaper indicate there were also fights and altercations which broke out between trolley passengers.

Local legend has it that in 1905 when the Hartford and Springfield Street Railway was planning its branchline from Warehouse Point to Rockville, a small cemetery near Newberry Road stood in the way of the trolley line they had planned to build. The cemetery was relocated to an area along Route 140 near the tracks. It’s said that the gravemarkers were the only things moved, leaving the bodies of the deceased behind in their original resting place. Construction went on and tracks were laid over their graves. The wooded area is said to be haunted by the disrupted souls of those whose bodies lie under the tracks.

Rails to The Darkside

Source: http://www.ct-trolley.org

Every October when the nights are exceptionally dark and crisp, the museum offers rides to the wooded area along Newberry Road where the restless souls are said to linger. Before the departure, riders are taunted by creatures that loiter outside of the visitors center where you must wait for your trolley to arrive. You truly aren’t safe anywhere! Once on the trolley, a retelling of the legend by one of the motormen is told as you make your way into the darkness, preparing to meet whatever waits for you in the forest.

If you make it through, the trolley will then drop you off at the hangars where they keep the old cars that aren’t in use. You have to make your way through the dark building and old machinery, dodging more creatures that have been waiting for you to arrive.

For the younger ones and those who don’t enjoy haunts, the museum offers daytime rides in October to the local pumpkin patch. Each rider gets one pumpkin for free, and you can take them back to the visitors center to carve & decorate for the Halloween season.

Check out a teaser for the attraction:

Would you ride the rail to the darkside?