The Haunting of Union Cemetery: Connecticut’s White Lady and America’s Most Infamous Graveyard

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome back, all you delightful weirdos, to another episode of

0:03 Speaker 1: the Strange History Podcast, where the ghosts are real, the

0:07 Speaker 1: history is strange, and we never recommend buying haunted dolls

0:11 Speaker 1: on eBay. I'm your host, Amy, and today we're going

0:14 Speaker 1: to a place where the dead don't just rest in peace.

0:18 Speaker 1: They walk, weep, and occasionally terrorize local drivers. Also, Dan

0:23 Speaker 1: finally showed up to record his bits. I told him

0:26 Speaker 1: the show was going on with or without his cookie bribes.

0:29 Speaker 1: We're heading to a little town in Connecticut that has

0:31 Speaker 1: a big reputation for being well a paranormal pothole. This

0:38 Speaker 1: is the story of Union Cemetery, home of one of

0:40 Speaker 1: the most famous ghost ladies in America, a spectral stunner

0:44 Speaker 1: known as the White Lady, and a graveyard with enough

0:47 Speaker 1: ghost stories to start its own franchise. Side note, I

0:51 Speaker 1: live in Connecticut. Have I been to Union Cemetery? Absolutely not.

0:57 Speaker 1: I spent a good portion of my childhood afraid of

0:59 Speaker 1: what was under my bed after watching that cult classic

1:03 Speaker 1: The Blob. This girl does not enjoy being terrified of

1:06 Speaker 1: the dark.

1:07 Speaker 2: Thank you.

1:08 Speaker 1: So buckle up, buttercups and keep your eyes on the road,

1:13 Speaker 1: because the next time you drive through Easton at night,

1:16 Speaker 1: you might not be as alone as you think.

1:19 Speaker 2: History beneath the headstones.

1:22 Speaker 1: Let's start with a bit of background, because even haunted

1:25 Speaker 1: cemeteries have resumes. Union Cemetery was founded in the seventeen hundreds,

1:31 Speaker 1: during those cheerful colonial days when half your children didn't

1:34 Speaker 1: make it past the age of five, and ghost was

1:37 Speaker 1: just another thing you blamed on the neighbor's witchy cousin

1:40 Speaker 1: the town of Easton was small, superstitious, and soaked in

1:44 Speaker 1: Puritan values, which is a perfect cocktail for spooky hauntings.

1:48 Speaker 1: Three hundred years later, the cemetery itself is your textbook

1:52 Speaker 1: New England. Spooky narrow dirt paths, moss covered headstones, trees

1:58 Speaker 1: that look like they've witnessed at least three murders, and

2:02 Speaker 1: an unsettling silence that makes squirrels sound like stampeding wildebeests.

2:07 Speaker 1: Some graves are so old they've practically become part of

2:10 Speaker 1: the earth. Just a bit of rock, a faint date,

2:13 Speaker 1: and a vibe that says, don't linger too long.

2:16 Speaker 2: Meet the White Lady, but try not to hit her

2:19 Speaker 2: with your car.

2:21 Speaker 1: Let's talk about the star of this spooky stage the

2:24 Speaker 1: White Lady of Union Cemetery. Now every region seems to

2:28 Speaker 1: have its own White Lady ghost, usually a tragic woman

2:31 Speaker 1: in a flowing gown who appears out of nowhere and

2:34 Speaker 1: scares the daylights out of everyone. But Connecticut's version, she's

2:39 Speaker 1: next level. She's been seen dozens of times since at

2:41 Speaker 1: least the nineteen forties, often drifting across Stepney Road, which

2:45 Speaker 1: runs right beside the cemetery. Witnesses say she wears a

2:49 Speaker 1: long white dress or nightgown, has dark hair, and looks

2:52 Speaker 1: either devastated, demonic, or just deeply annoyed honestly same. One

2:59 Speaker 1: Eastern fireman in the nineteen nineties reported seeing her float

3:02 Speaker 1: directly in front of his truck. He slammed on the brakes,

3:05 Speaker 1: convinced he'd hit someone. He got out, no body, no damage,

3:11 Speaker 1: just a weird chill and the urge to never drive

3:13 Speaker 1: that road again. And he wasn't alone. A local police

3:17 Speaker 1: officer who later spoke to paranormal investigators anonymously because paperwork

3:22 Speaker 1: as Hell, said she appeared suddenly in his headlights. He

3:27 Speaker 1: thought she was a stranded pedestrian. He blinked and she

3:31 Speaker 1: was inside the car in the back seat. When he

3:34 Speaker 1: turned around, she vanished. That officer promptly transferred out of Easton.

3:40 Speaker 1: Can't say I blame him.

3:42 Speaker 2: Who is the White Lady? Besides being a major traffic hazard.

3:46 Speaker 1: Some think she's a woman named Harriet Seely buried in

3:49 Speaker 1: the cemetery in eighteen fifty two, but there's no hard proof.

3:53 Speaker 1: Others claim she was a murder victim, possibly a woman

3:56 Speaker 1: who died during childbirth and was buried without her baby, or,

4:00 Speaker 1: in a more gothic version, buried with it. There's even

4:04 Speaker 1: a theory that she's not one ghost, but many think

4:08 Speaker 1: of it like a paranormal girl group, all sad, all

4:11 Speaker 1: in white, all doomed to walk the road forever because

4:14 Speaker 1: no one thought to leave them a better afterlife playlist.

4:18 Speaker 1: Enter the Warrens aka the Ghostbusters of Connecticut. Now we

4:22 Speaker 1: can't talk about Union Cemetery without bringing in the royal

4:26 Speaker 1: family of the paranormal Ed and Lorraine Warren. If you've

4:30 Speaker 1: seen the Conjuring movies, you know them. If you haven't,

4:34 Speaker 1: just imagine your spooky grandparents investigating demonic activity and occasionally

4:39 Speaker 1: yelling at ghosts. The Warrens lived just miles from Union cemetery,

4:43 Speaker 1: and ed was obsessed with it. He wrote extensively about

4:47 Speaker 1: the White Lady in his book Graveyard, where he claimed

4:50 Speaker 1: to have captured her on video in the dead of night.

4:53 Speaker 1: He never released the tape to the public classic ghost tease,

4:57 Speaker 1: but said she floated above the ground glowing white. Lorraine Warren,

5:01 Speaker 1: a psychic medium, said Union Cemetery was one of the

5:05 Speaker 1: most dangerous places she'd ever visited, and considering she once

5:09 Speaker 1: faced a haunted doll, a possessed nun, and a demon

5:13 Speaker 1: named Bathsheba, that's saying something. Lorrain wouldn't go to Union

5:17 Speaker 1: Cemetery alone, not in daylight, not ever. That should tell

5:22 Speaker 1: you something.

5:23 Speaker 2: More than one ghost, because one just isn't enough.

5:29 Speaker 1: Of course, the White Lady doesn't have the cemetery all

5:31 Speaker 1: to herself. Multiple witnesses have reported seeing a shadowy monk

5:35 Speaker 1: walking among the graves, wearing a hood, no visible face,

5:39 Speaker 1: and the social energy of someone who deeply hates small talk.

5:43 Speaker 1: No one knows who he is or why he's there,

5:46 Speaker 1: but people claim he appears around three am and then

5:49 Speaker 1: vanishes into thin air classic monk stuff. Visitors have also

5:54 Speaker 1: experienced cold spots on hot summer days disembodied voices, whispering

5:59 Speaker 1: from the trees, unexplained growling, and not the kind that

6:04 Speaker 1: comes from skipping lunch, glowing orbs, and not the Instagram

6:08 Speaker 1: filter kind. One paranormal investigator, an actual clergy member, mind you,

6:14 Speaker 1: claim to have been slapped by an invisible force while

6:17 Speaker 1: praying over a grave. He said it felt like a wet,

6:20 Speaker 1: icy hand, which you also rude.

6:25 Speaker 2: Planning a visit. Let's talk rules and regrets now.

6:30 Speaker 1: If you're thinking about visiting Union Cemetery, good news. You

6:34 Speaker 1: can visit during the day. Nighttime access is strictly off limits,

6:39 Speaker 1: and the Eastern police do not have a sense of

6:41 Speaker 1: humor about trespassers. They've arrested people trying to ghost hunt

6:45 Speaker 1: in the dark, you know, like the movies, except in

6:48 Speaker 1: real life it ends with a court date. Still brave.

6:52 Speaker 1: Daytime visitors report feeling like they're being watched. The air

6:56 Speaker 1: is heavy, the trees whisper, and no one stays too long,

7:00 Speaker 1: especially after dusk. So if you do go, bring a camera,

7:04 Speaker 1: be respectful, and maybe wear running shoes just in case.

7:08 Speaker 1: The White Lady decides she's feeling social.

7:11 Speaker 2: Spooks, spirits and strange histories.

7:15 Speaker 1: So what is Union Cemetery. Is it one of America's

7:19 Speaker 1: most haunted cemeteries, a local legend boosted by paranormal celebrities,

7:24 Speaker 1: or a big mossy reminder that history isn't always resting

7:28 Speaker 1: peacefully six feet under. Whatever it is, it's weird, it's eerie,

7:34 Speaker 1: and it has way too many ghosts for one zip code.

7:37 Speaker 1: Thanks for joining me on this ghostly stroll through Easton's

7:40 Speaker 1: eeriest plot of land. If you liked this episode, don't

7:44 Speaker 1: forget to subscribe, leave a glowing but not spectral review,

7:49 Speaker 1: and share the Strange History Podcast with your favorite haunted

7:53 Speaker 1: history nerds. Until next time, dear listeners, keep your headlights bright,

7:58 Speaker 1: your car door's locked, and your eyes on the road.

8:01 Speaker 1: You never know who or what might be standing in

8:03 Speaker 1: the middle of it.