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Hubbard Park
Nestled within the hills of Meriden, just a stone's throw
from the legend of the Black Dog, is the beautiful sylvan paradise known as Hubbard Park. Still, a dark history blackens
its sweet facade. According to the story, a young girl was kidnapped and brought into the woods at Hubbard Park.
She was presumably murdered as she reportedly now haunts the park.
"She will save those being kidnapped
[or] killed and kill the ones who are kidnapping or killing. She is said to look like a 7-year-old girl and she will
laugh when she kills someone bad." (The Shadowlands)
The History
Walter Hubbard was a wealthy industrialist and philanthropist
who donated 1,800 acres of park and woodland to the city of Meriden in 1901. Its stated purpose was to remain as a place
of recreation for the public in perpetuity. The park was designed and built by John Olmstead, son of Frederick
Law Olmstead, designer of Walnut Hill Park in New Britain. Frederick Olmstead was better known, however, for his design
of a much more famous site: Central Park in Manhattan.
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| The Lake in Hubbard Park: Is this where the little girl was taken? |
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| The Waterfall |
The Legend
Creepy Connecticut
has delved into town and county records and has uncovered an unsettling reality. As so often occurs with vague references
and hazy information, the kidnapping/murder story of the young girl is simply untrue!
Going back in county and newspaper records to 1890, GHOST has discovered that no such story exists. Since the park was built in
1900, it is assumed that the story of a kidnapping in Hubbard Park must have taken place after this year. However, a
story of this magnitude (which most certainly would have been reported in newspapers throughout the area) simply does not
exist.
It is understood and taken into consideration that The Shadowlands
http://www.theshadowlands.net/places/connecticut.htm website is a New Jersey-based organization and relies mainly on submissions from out-of-state by somewhat questionable
sources, but Creepy Connecticut will give them the benefit of the doubt
and e-mail their webmaster to inquire about their sources. We assume that their answer will be that they cannot vouch
for the story since it was submitted from another state or they will simply choose to ignore the e-mail (we'll let you know).
One other thought occurred to us as we contemplated the
report of the kidnapped girl's ghost. And that is: if the ghost "kills someone bad", how does a person know if
it was the ghost that committed the murder? Let's say, for the sake of argument, that a body of a known criminal is
found in the park. Do the police simply assume that the ghost-girl has taken her revenge? Or, more likely, do
the police actually forensically inspect the crime scene and determine what really happened? If this story is to be
believed, then one must assume that the ghost has killed before. Or else, how would one know that the ghost-girl laughs
when she kills someone bad? And since there are no recorded murders, suicides, dead bodies or kidnappings at the park,
should we then automatically view the myth as just that . . . a myth?
Regardless, GHOST members are
left to wonder why both Haunted Connecticut and Connecticut's Haunted Places websites
related the story verbatim without first checking the originating source(s). Are these two websites maintained
by The Shadowlands in order to present greater visibility for their mother site? If these two sites are separate entities,
then why relate all The Shadowlands information without questioning the validity of the claims? Perhaps our visitors
can e-mail Shadowlands and request that they pull this story completely. Just a thought. As is becoming painfully
obvious, it appears that The Shadowlands is, more often than not, unknowingly posting false information about multiple supposedly
haunted sites. The fact-checkers at The Shadowlands must be on vacation. For the time being (and until new information
arises) people who visit Hubbard Park can rest well knowing that they won't be seeing or hearing the ghost of a little girl
anytime soon.
GOOSEBUMP FACTOR: 0
Barry A. A. Dillinger
November 1st, 2005
UPDATE: Creepy Connecticut has contacted The Shadowlands website regarding Hubbard Park and has received
a reply:
CC:
Was wondering if you could forward some info on where you first came by the story of this haunting. If you have an e-mail
or person I could contact, it would be appreciated. Thanks.
The
Shadowlands: I am sorry we do not have any further information on that particular haunted area as most of our information
comes from our visitors to the Shadowlands. You could however try posting about it on our message board where we have
over 3000 members. Hopefully one of them can help you further. Good luck in your search. Take Care.
Tina Carlson. Tarianna@TheShadowlands.net , Co-Director of The Shadowlands; Ghosts and Hauntings
As we suspected
. . .
November
15th, 2005
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