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Drowned Bride of Whirlwind Hill
Road
In the 1930s, a bride-to-be wandered this road, still dressed
in her wedding gown, before she tragically hurled herself into the murky depths of the nearby reservoir. The lady in
white had reportedly been left at the altar and became so morbidly depressed that she drowned herself. In recent years,
motorists have seen her on the side of the road, totally soaked and asking for a ride. When they took their eyes off
of her, she would disappear. By some accounts, "a few police officers have seen the woman".
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| The reservoir of death |
The History
There's not much to say about Whirlwind Hill Road's history, other
than the fact that it runs directly over Whirlwind Hill, primarily owned by two once-very influential families in Walllingford:
the Halls and the Youngs. While the Young family is a more recent kin to the area (as of about 100 years ago) the Hall
family is, by far, the more senior stock, tracing their roots back to Lyman Hall, one of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence. While the Halls owned most of the land upon and about Whirlwind Hill, the Youngs were no less influential.
A quick trip down the hill to Wallingford's Center Street Cemetery on Main Street will reveal just how influential these families
were, as there is a Hall or Young headstone in practicaly every twenty-foot square of the graveyard.
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| Center Street Cemetery in Wallingford |
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| The final resting place of many Halls and Youngs |
Over time, the Halls diminished in importance, eventually
selling off large plots of land upon the magnificent hill, only to be bought up by the Youngs and other families.
The Investigation
Whirlwind Hill Road is incorrectly identified on many other websites
as Whirlwind Road and is not very easy to locate. Many Wallingford residents don't even know it exists. GHOST members were lucky enough to ask an elderly gentleman (who worked at Walmart) if he had ever heard
of the road. The man repeated the name "Whirlwind Road" a few times, turned to walk away in apparent confusion, then
very dramatically waved his hands with a flourish, exclaiming, "I know exactly where that road is!" and
proceeded to give us expertly planned directions.
The road is nondescript and begins off another small road by immediately
crossing a mid-level reservoir. Then, it steadily climbs to the top of Whirlwind Hill, passing homes, horse ranches,
and even a vinyard. When we reached the vinyard, we climbed out and spoke with a sixty-four-year resident of Wallingford
who claimed to have never heard the story of the suicidal bride. He kindly deferred us down the hill to the residence
of Mr. Crump, who, he said, was ninety years old and would undoubtedly know about the story since he was sort of a local historian.
Thanking him, we piled back into the SUV and drove down to the bottom
of Whirlwind Hill where we located the home of Mr. Crump, sitting upon a beautiful plot of land that overlooked the calming
nature of the reservoir.
Mr. Crump, it turned out, was not at home, but Mrs. Crump was.
And, as luck would have it, she was Mrs. Janet Hall-Crump, a direct descendent of Lyman Hall and a woman who had personally
lived on this hill for the past eighty-eight years.
Mrs. Hall-Crump was very gracious. She invited us in and proceeded
to give us a detailed history of her family upon Whirlwind Hill. We broached the subject of the suicide and Mrs. Hall-Crump
announced that no such event had ever taken place. She pointed out that, even if it had, it would have been quite difficult
to drown oneself in a body of water that was little more than a stream. When we appeared confused, peering out the window
at the somewhat deep reservoir, she explained that in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s, the reservoir was nothing more than a creek
that she used to play in as a child! And if you're wondering as to this eighty-eight-year-old's mental capacity, let
me assure you that she was very sharp and alert.
After thanking Janet, we made our way back to the center of town when,
as chance would have it, road work was being done and a Wallingford police officer was directing traffic. On a whim,
we pulled off the road to do an impromptu interview with the officer.
The officer was kind and extremely helpful. He said that he had
been on the force for twenty-two years and that his father was also a police officer in Wallingford, who had been on the force
for thirty-five years. He claimed that not only was the story of the woman who killed herself a hoax, but that they
suspected they even knew who may have come up with the story in the first place. He said that only one death was ever
associated with that particular area and that was a man's body was found in the reservoir in the 1980s. About eight
to ten years ago, they got many calls from homeowners on the Hill about trespassers. It came to their attention that
"some people looking for ghosts" were caught tramping through private property, including Mrs. Hall-Crump's property.
When more people were caught and questioned on these stories, they revealed where the tale had come from and police were
immediately suspicious. The gentleman who apparently made up the story was a local man known for his many run-ins with
the police.
So, there we have it. Two independent reliable sources have succinctly
debunked the story of the drowned bride.
Conclusion
While it's not unusual for stories of this sort to crop up in remote
locations, especially in areas where a nice swamp, lake, or reservoir can be found, it is unusual to be able to track down
an actual origin or source for the story. In this case, a local man in Wallingford, probably with a personal vendetta
against some of the wealthier folks who resided on the Hill, started the story in order to attract kids to the area so that
they would trespass and cause trouble. Suffice it to say, however, that this spot is a competely ghost-free zone.
GOOSEBUMP FACTOR: 0
Barry A. A. Dillinger
November 8th, 2005
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