Connecticut: Mysterious New England

The richly varied landscape of Connecticut, in southern New England, made the region an inviting home to the European colonists who settled the area from the early to mid-seventeenth century. The indigenous people also found Connecticut readily habitable, and evidence of long-term settlements is unearthed all the time. The meaning of some lithic remains is unknown, and even the local tribes didn't always claim to have knowledge of some of these mysterious sites.

In the area of the Patchaug State Forest, in eastern Connecticut, lie dozens of conical stone piles mostly under 6-feet in diameter, some in alignments, resting mostly on a gently sloping rock ledge near a small surface spring. Because of forest regrowth, it is difficult to say if these small cairns represent astronomical sightlines, but the slope faces due west, and overlooks a long north-south valley, another ridge, and then a long narrow pond. Stone piles, cairn-like in nature but with no apparent buriels in association, are found throughout New England, and are mostly felt to represent colonial land-clearing methods. The Patchaug cairns, however, are set up on a rock ledge which never would have been considered for farming, and so probably were made by indigenous people for purposes unknown.

Some rockpiles were known to represent the edges of tribal territories, or to mark trails, but these piles are too close together, being in a cluster on the sloping hill. Even though the Patchaug and Mohican trails pass through here, these stonepiles do not seem to represent trail markings. The proximity of a bubbling spring, and another body of water, is very reminiscent of Celtic sacred spots, which usually incorporated a spring and unusual lithic formations, man-made or otherwise. The site is remote, and requires a few miles of hiking to reach because undergrowth prevents a straight access. Even with a westering sun, the area is dim and has a mysterious, otherworldly feel to it.

In the southeastern corner of the state is an unusual lithic site with an equally unusual name: Gungywamp. Stone chambers, standing stone alignments, earthen mounds, stone piles, and concentric stone circles make up this mysterious site.

One of two approximately 11-ft diameter concentric stone circles at Gungywamp. Excavation has revealed a stone flooring between the circles.

Written off by skeptics as nothing more than unusual Colonial farm remnants for many years, the site was studied more extensively in the 1980's and found to have charcoal (found in association with the stone circles) dating from 280 to 630 A.D. Yet a peculiar scarcity of artifacts indicates that this place was more ceremonial than pedestrian in nature. One of the four stone chambers at Gungywamp has a stone-lined entrance aligned to the equinox sunset, and causes the interior to be lit up. The stone circles are on a ridge overlooking the chamber site. On the eastern edge of Gungywamp is a row of low, regularly-spaced standing stones in a northern alignment, once thought to be the edge of an animal keep, but the small size and wide spacing of these stones would make for a poor keep!

Standing stone row at Gungywamp.

One of the strangest areas of Gungywamp has little to do with the lithic remains, but rather with the intense psychological and physiological effects that have been noticed over the years. At a rock ledge, now called the Cliff of Tears because of the effects guides saw on people passing by, is an area with evidence of ancient quarrying, nearby stone piles, and boat-shaped cairns. When hiking past this site, people reported feeling depressed, sometimes started crying, and some even suffered nosebleeds and bleeding gums. Geomagnetic readings taken at this site indicate a widely fluctuating magnetic field, and perhaps this can cause a physical reaction in some people. And perhaps these effects caused the originators of Gungywamp to leave the site for infrequent, perhaps ceremonial purposes only, which would explain the relatively few artifacts found there.

Not far from Gungywamp is a stone-lined underground stone tunnel built into a rock-strewn hillside on property which has no clear ownership, and in any case has never been cultivated. The tunnel therefore has never been excavated, and so its age and purpose are unknown. It is about 30 feet long, and opens into a bell-shaped stone-lined room. The tunnel is about 6 feet high, but only 3 feet wide, so only allows for single file travel.

From inside the hillside tunnel, looking towards the entrance. (From Field Guide to Mysterious Places of Eastern North America.)

The stone-lined tunnel goes into this rocky hillside, where boulders have obviously been untouched since left by the last ice age.

On the western side of the hill is a large stone cairn built to take advantage of the slope. There appears to be a now uncovered boulder-lined entranceway, although these may be just part of the landscape utilized to hold up the lower side of the cairn. Standing as close to the ground surface as the rocky landscape allows, the cairn is at least six feet high, and seems to run about twenty to thirty feet long. The site appears long-abandoned and apparently has never been excavated either, so perhaps more lithic structures exist in association with the stone-lined tunnel.