Central, PA - The Watermelon Baby

There is a strange legend told by camp councilors and big brothers in select parts of Central Pennsylvania. One that lacks many details and historical facts but is extremely interesting nonetheless. It usually involves a beat up old house just along Route 78 or the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Inside that house lives a deranged person raised by abusive and wicked parents. A pair of parents that kept him locked up as a child, deprived of sunlight, food and all the basic needs of a normal human being. The only food he was fed was watermelon- it’s seeds and rinds. He ate his nutrition-less meals locked inside a closet or basement depending on who you hear the legend from.

Of course now this “Watermelon Baby” resides alone in the decrepit shack visible from the highway and does not welcome visitors. Occasionally, travelers passing by will notice a dim light flickering in the window of the unstable home. There are the rumors of the college kids being chased away by the intelligible large and freaky resident. It seems everyone has a friend of a friend that encountered the mutated being.

While there is speculation this legend has foundation in a murder case involving a criminal from Pittsburgh who locked up his victims feeding the same fruity produce, the dates don’t add up. The legend of the Watermelon Baby dates back much earlier.

Feral children gone wrong seem to be a common theme of urban legends in many towns and states. But in central PA, there is an abandoned house off the highway that embodies this theme. And adds a little twist involving the food the child was raised on. Regardless, Pennsylvanians should be wary of the beast raised on nothing but large melons.

Photo courtesy of Ronnie Bergeron

Infected Bats

Not too far from us in Morris Plains, NJ is an old Psychiatric facility.  Greystone Psychiatric used to be enormous and rival the Pentagon in underground tunnels and connecting building.  Of course, there have been urban legends, ghost stories and folklore surrounding the remains of the facility.  Recently the area has been renovated and it was very sad to see many of these old structures be removed.  However, some tales of tomorrow may still arise as evidence to the mysterious disease plaguing a multitude of bats in the former facility.

Check out the article here.

Dudleytown, CT - Founded on a Curse

The abandoned village of Dudleytown (outside of present day Cornwall, Connecticut) was founded by members of the Dudley family in the early 1740s.

It’s possible that they brought the old family curse with them from England. Luck has never played a part in the Dudley family. One member was thought to be a primary carrier of the Black Death (bubonic plague). Other Dudley’s lost their heads to an executioner’s axe or rotted away in royal dungeons.

Nothing changed when they made it to the new world: freak accidents, insanity, murder, suicide followed the family to Dudleytown … and began to manifest into the lives of other residents.

During the 19th century, some reported seeing strange beasts and apparitions, corpse mutilations, suspicious and unusual deaths. It was deserted by 1900.

But not everyone left.

During the 1920’s Dr. William C. Clark of New York set moved into a summer home in the nearly-abandoned town. One evening he came back from a business trip to find his wife laughing hysterically. She rambled on and on about the apparitions, demons, ghosts that had visited her. She killed herself when they returned to New York.

Source: Dudley, Gary P.”The Legend of Dudleytown“,1999.