Amazing Tales from Off and On Connecticut‘s Beaten Path

Back in 1939, a ferocious creature (nicknamed Glawackus) terrorized the mid-Connecticut town of Glastonbury for several months. Pets were mauled. Livestock went missing. Quite a few residents saw the mysterious creature, but the descriptions didn’t match that of a mountain lion, bobcat, lynx, or any other animal known to inhabit the extensive woodlands in the rural community. Fabled hunting parties, reported on by multiple newspapers (including The New York Times), came up empty handed. What was it? Hear from the undisputed expert on the story, Mike Berdan, former Board member of the Glastonbury Historical Society.

There simply aren’t enough superlatives to explain the remarkable life of Helen Keller. She lost her sight and hearing when she was just 19 months old, but went on to become an internationally celebrated author, lecturer, and advocate for those with her disabilities. Her last 30 years were spent living in Easton, CT and we hear stories about her time with Redding resident Mark Twain, and many others, from the co-Town Historian of Redding, Brent Colley.

A mutiny aboard a Spanish ship, La Amistad, occurred in 1839 resulting in four deaths. The ship would make its way to Long Island Sound where it was captured by a U.S. naval vessel. Onboard were 50 kidnapped Africans, who had been sold into slavery and who would have to undergo nearly two years of court cases to try to earn their freedom. This case drew international attention due to legal action in New Haven, Hartford, and the Supreme Court in Washington. Telling the story are two officials with the New Haven Museum: Jason Bischoff Wurstle, Director of Photo Archives, and Joanna Steinberg, Director of Learning and Engagements.

This is the story of the unusual “Battle of Windham, CT” – a battle in the middle of a dark night when the residents couldn’t see what they were facing – they could only hear them. It happened during the French & Indian War and townspeople had been on edge. The exceptionally loud and ongoing noise that woke up the whole town was like nothing they had ever heard before. Was it war drums – or even Judgement Day? The Interim Director and Senior Curator for the Mill Museum in Windham, Jamie Eves, will resolve the mystery.

His name is X-Y-Z. At least, that’s what’s on his gravestone in the town of Deep River. The man robbed a bank in 1899 and was shot dead during the attempt. The problem is that no one knows who he was. Perhaps the lady, dressed all in black, who put a flower on his grave each year on the anniversary of his death, knows his identity. But, nobody ever approached her and asked her if she knew who he was. This intriguing story is told by the Curator of the Deep River Historical Society, Rhonda Ferristall.

The 1944 Cary Grant classic Arsenic and Old Lace is portrayed as a comedy involving two elderly women who poison inhabitants of their New York home. In fact, the story is based on the real-life drama that unfolded in the early 1900s in one of CT’s first nursing homes, located in Windsor. We’ll hear the extraordinary story of one of the state’s first serial killings from two representatives of the Windsor Historical Society” Michelle Tom (Library Archivist and Assistant Director) and Steph MacGillivary (Museum Educator).

The only founding father who signed all four of the original documents forming the new United States was Connecticut’s Roger Sherman. Not only was he one of five members of the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence, but he brokered the so-called Connecticut Compromise, breaking a logjam that paved the way for the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. The incredible story is told by New Milford author Bill Devlin.

One man – CT’s Robert Fulton – is responsible for three incredible inventions: the FAA-approved flying car known as the Airphibian, the Skyhook (for rescuing downed military pilots in remote locations), and the flight simulator (used to teach pilots how to fly without actually flying). Fulton had other incredible accomplishments during his life, and we’ll hear all the details from Ben Cruson, the Town Historian of Newtown, the town where Fulton created his inventions.

The town of Wethersfield is the oldest in the state, in terms of an actual English settlement, even though English traders arrived in Windsor months before that (but they only established a trading post at first). Wethersfield was also the first CT town ever attacked by Native Americans. It was in retaliation for an earlier attack on them by Massachusetts Bay Colony soldiers. Wethersfield was also where George Washington met French Commander Rochambeau to discuss how to defeat the British in the Revolutionary War. Over its nearly 400-year existence, Wethersfield has achieved many other distinctions, which will be discussed by Martha Smart, the long-time Research Librarian for the Wethersfield Historical Society.

Of the two commercial airports in Connecticut, the smaller of the two gets relatively little mention. Tweed-New Haven Airport, which straddles the New Haven-East Haven border, has been in business for nearly a century, when it was just a dirt landing strip. The history of the airport, and its namesake Jack Tweed, are told by the Director of Photo Archives for the New Haven Museum, Jason Bischoff-Wurstle.