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  1. Home
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The Connecticut Files

A forgotten global pandemic from the 19th century may show us how COVID will end
Father_McGivney_300.jpg

A forgotten global pandemic from the 19th century may show us how COVID will end

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Feb 19, 2021
  • Comments

It will begin with a feeling of depression and weariness. You will try to shake it off, pretend that it is nothing, but soon the symptoms will really start. 

The legend of the Black Dog of the Hanging Hills has its roots in literary lore
THE CONNECTICUT STORY

The legend of the Black Dog of the Hanging Hills has its roots in literary lore

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Jan 19, 2021
  • Comments

Stories of a spectral hound haunting the Hanging Hills of central Connecticut have endured for more than 100 years. 

Is New Haven's legendary Louis’ Lunch really the birthplace of the burger?
THE CONNECTICUT STORY

Is New Haven's legendary Louis’ Lunch really the birthplace of the burger?

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Dec 22, 2020
  • Comments

In 1895 Louis Lassen opened the steak sandwich food cart that would later become Louis’ Lunch restaurant. At the time, trolley tracks cut through the city streets and their wires webbed the air. Weaving between them were steam-powered cars and horse-drawn carriages. At the turn of the centur…

In December 1807, a meteorite fell from the sky above CT and into scientific history
THE CONNECTICUT STORY

In December 1807, a meteorite fell from the sky above CT and into scientific history

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Nov 17, 2020
  • Comments

Judge Nathan Wheeler was in the midst of his early-morning stroll when he saw the light.

More than a century ago, a man went mad in an isolated New Haven lighthouse
THE CONNECTICUT STORY

More than a century ago, a man went mad in an isolated New Haven lighthouse

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Oct 19, 2020
  • Comments

Nils Nilson was a hero. Even afterward no one disputed that.

Was the Winchester Widow’s house designed to escape the ghosts of gun deaths?
THE CONNECTICUT STORY

Was the Winchester Widow’s house designed to escape the ghosts of gun deaths?

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Sep 21, 2020
  • Comments

Legend says that the firearms heiress built her labyrinth home to confuse angry spirits.

How a Connecticut scientist became the ‘Father of Modern Vaccines’
Science & Wellness

How a Connecticut scientist became the ‘Father of Modern Vaccines’

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Aug 12, 2020
  • Comments

It is fortunate for vaccine science that John Franklin Enders settled on the field. He would develop the measles vaccine, and ultimately be remembered as the “Father of Modern Vaccines.”

Lyme disease emerged in Connecticut in the 1970s ... then the conspiracy theories started
THE CONNECTICUT STORY

Lyme disease emerged in Connecticut in the 1970s ... then the conspiracy theories started

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Jun 23, 2020
  • Comments

At first no one believed the mom from Lyme. 

The history of tuberculosis in Connecticut—and how the vaccine may help fight COVID-19
THE CONNECTICUT STORY

The history of tuberculosis in Connecticut—and how the vaccine may help fight COVID-19

  • Erik Ofgang
  • May 22, 2020
  • Comments

It has attacked humans throughout recorded history and been called “the white plague” and “Captain of all these men of death.” 

How a blood-thirsty hybrid beast terrified townsfolk in the '60s
THE CONNECTICUT STORY

How a blood-thirsty hybrid beast terrified townsfolk in the '60s

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Mar 18, 2020
  • Comments

A strange, half-cat, half-dog creature with a bit of bear thrown into the ungodly mix was said to be prowling the woods of Essex.

The truth behind a mysterious "fairy" village in the woods along I-84
THE CONNECTICUT STORY

The truth behind a mysterious "fairy" village in the woods along I-84

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Feb 18, 2020
  • Comments

In the woods ahead I see the outline of what looks like the ruins of a castle. Myth and rumor had brought me here. Guided by directions found on the internet, I’d ventured on foot down an abandoned roadway in a tree-filled area adjacent to Interstate 84. The castle-like structure I see is la…

How an 18th-century, Connecticut-born globe-trotter ran afoul of the Russians over furs
HISTORY

How an 18th-century, Connecticut-born globe-trotter ran afoul of the Russians over furs

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Jan 20, 2020
  • Comments

When John Ledyard died in 1789, Thomas Jefferson called him “a man of genius, of some science, and of fearless courage and enterprise.”

The forgotten flood of 1869, when a faulty dam doomed many in Danbury
HISTORY

The forgotten flood of 1869, when a faulty dam doomed many in Danbury

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Dec 27, 2019
  • Comments

In the fall of 1868, a break was discovered in a dam on the Kohanza Reservoir, but was ignored. That was a terrible mistake. 

100 years ago, poison alcohol turned Hartford Christmas celebrations deadly
HISTORY

100 years ago, poison alcohol turned Hartford Christmas celebrations deadly

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Nov 20, 2019
  • Comments

In late 1919 a bad batch of booze killed 100—and a Brooklyn gangster got away with it

80 years ago a Connecticut inventor patented an icon of prepdom: the boat shoe.
HISTORY

80 years ago a Connecticut inventor patented an icon of prepdom: the boat shoe.

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Oct 22, 2019
  • Comments

It was a brush with death paired with a dog’s surefootedness that inspired the now-classic piece of footwear: the boat shoe.

The disturbing true story behind Franklin's 'cursed' apple tree
HISTORY

The disturbing true story behind Franklin's 'cursed' apple tree

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Sep 19, 2019
  • Comments

 Legend says that following a murder the tree produced fruit with "bloody" specks. The truth is even more disturbing than the myth.

Did a Young Igor Sikorsky Have a Vision of Aviation’s Future?
HISTORY

Did a Young Igor Sikorsky Have a Vision of Aviation’s Future?

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Aug 27, 2019
  • Comments

In Igor Sikorsky’s childhood dream, he was walking along a narrow, luxuriously decorated passageway. He realized he was on a flying ship.

A Memorial Project Is Rediscovering Stories of Slavery in Connecticut
HISTORY

A Memorial Project Is Rediscovering Stories of Slavery in Connecticut

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Jul 24, 2019
  • Comments

When it comes to slavery it's easy to condemn the South, but Connecticut has a harder time facing its own past.

Is There Really a Town Called Jerusalem and a Graveyard Under Candlewood Lake?
HISTORY

Is There Really a Town Called Jerusalem and a Graveyard Under Candlewood Lake?

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Jun 24, 2019
  • Comments

Spending time on Candlewood Lake as a kid, I heard the rumors. Supposedly, beneath the lake’s pristine surface were the remains of an old town called Jerusalem. In addition to buildings and homes, the story goes, the town’s graveyard had been swallowed by the waters.

 

How a Connecticut Company’s Parachutes Helped Launch D-Day
HISTORY

How a Connecticut Company’s Parachutes Helped Launch D-Day

  • Erik Ofgang
  • May 22, 2019
  • Comments

The Pioneer Parachute Co. developed the first nylon parachute and supplied thousands of them to Allied soldiers throughout World War Two.

Two Fallen Nuclear Submarines and Their Top-Secret Link to the Titanic
HISTORY

Two Fallen Nuclear Submarines and Their Top-Secret Link to the Titanic

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Apr 17, 2019
  • Comments

The involvement of Robert Ballard, the legendary oceanographer who discovered the Titanic, in the discovery of two fallen nuclear submarines was top secret for nearly three decades.

How a Hoaxer From Connecticut Fooled the Mass Media Time After Time
HISTORY

How a Hoaxer From Connecticut Fooled the Mass Media Time After Time

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Mar 21, 2019
  • Comments

Southbury resident Alan Abel had an unparalleled gift for getting people to believe what he said, no matter how outlandish.

 

The Ugly Truth Behind a Connecticut Eugenics Survey That Reads Like Nazi Propaganda
HISTORY

The Ugly Truth Behind a Connecticut Eugenics Survey That Reads Like Nazi Propaganda

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Feb 20, 2019
  • Comments

In 1936, Connecticut’s governor, Wilbur Cross, commissioned a Survey of the Human Resources of Connecticut that seemed better suited to Nazi Germany than the Constitution State.

The Legend of New Milford’s Lover’s Leap
HISTORY

The Legend of New Milford’s Lover’s Leap

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Jan 16, 2019
  • Comments

Did a Native Princess and Her Lover Really Jump to Their Deaths?

A Botched Bank Robbery, the Lady in Black, and a Mysterious Headstone: The Strange Tale of 'XYZ'
HISTORY

A Botched Bank Robbery, the Lady in Black, and a Mysterious Headstone: The Strange Tale of 'XYZ'

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Dec 18, 2018
  • Comments

The stories surrounding the headstone, marked only "XYZ," and the man buried beneath it have woven their way into local folklore in Deep River.

How a Small Connecticut Town Fought the Nazis and Won
HISTORY

How a Small Connecticut Town Fought the Nazis and Won

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Nov 23, 2018
  • Comments

It seems like something from an alternate reality imagined in the book and TV show The Man in the High Castle. But in the 1930s, the Nazis were literally marching across America.

One of the Most Successful P.O.W. Rescues in U.S. History Was Led by a Legendary Connecticut Ranger
HISTORY

One of the Most Successful P.O.W. Rescues in U.S. History Was Led by a Legendary Connecticut Ranger

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Oct 22, 2018
  • Comments

Thirty miles behind enemy lines, 133 U.S. soldiers from the Army’s 6th Ranger Battalion crawled as silently as they could toward Japan’s infamous Cabanatuan prison camp in the Philippines.

Ghostwriting: In 1917, a Medium Claimed Mark Twain Wrote His Last Book From the Grave
HISTORY

Ghostwriting: In 1917, a Medium Claimed Mark Twain Wrote His Last Book From the Grave

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Sep 17, 2018
  • Comments

In September 1917, The New York Times reviewed a new book by Mark Twain, the legendary author and longtime Connecticut resident. The only problem was Twain had died seven years earlier in the small Fairfield County town of Redding.

An Endangered Last Remnant of a Unique Community of Color
HISTORY

An Endangered Last Remnant of a Unique Community of Color

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Aug 21, 2018
  • Comments

Now under threat of demolition, Bridgeport's Freeman Houses were once at the heart of a thriving 19th-century community.

How the Hartford Dentist Who Pioneered Anesthesia in Medicine Was Driven Mad
HISTORY

How the Hartford Dentist Who Pioneered Anesthesia in Medicine Was Driven Mad

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Jul 18, 2018
  • Comments

Modern anesthetic practice and Dr. Horace Wells’ personal descent into darkness began in Hartford on the same night: Dec. 10, 1844.

Sybil Ludington's Ride Was More Than Twice the Distance of Paul Revere's — If It Happened
HISTORY

Sybil Ludington's Ride Was More Than Twice the Distance of Paul Revere's — If It Happened

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Jun 19, 2018
  • Comments

On April 25, 1777, British ships delivered upward of 1,500 troops to Compo Beach (today part of Westport). Their target was a military supply depot in Danbury, but as they marched inland that night and the next day, news of their arrival spread.

The Vinland Map Was a Historic Find That Turned Out to Be a Fraud
HISTORY

The Vinland Map Was a Historic Find That Turned Out to Be a Fraud

  • Erik Ofgang
  • May 18, 2018
  • Comments

In 1965, the day before Columbus Day, Yale announced the existence of a spectacular rediscovered historic document: the Vinland Map. Dated to 1440 A.D., the purportedly Norse map depicted “Vinland,” the land discovered by Leif Ericson around 1000 and known today as Newfoundland. The document…

Looking Back on Charles Goodyear and the Rubber Industry in the Naugatuck Valley
HISTORY

Looking Back on Charles Goodyear and the Rubber Industry in the Naugatuck Valley

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Apr 12, 2018
  • Comments

“There is probably no other inert substance,” Charles Goodyear once said of rubber, “which so excites the mind.”

When Yale Medical Students Robbed a Grave for Science, New Haven Erupted in Fury
THE CONNECTICUT STORY

When Yale Medical Students Robbed a Grave for Science, New Haven Erupted in Fury

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Mar 19, 2018
  • Comments

Bathsheba Smith’s body was stolen, taken unceremoniously from her not-so-final resting place in the West Haven burial ground in the predawn hours of Jan. 11, 1824.

The Fighting Irish: Revisiting the Civil War's 9th Regiment
THE CONNECTICUT STORY

The Fighting Irish: Revisiting the Civil War's 9th Regiment

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Feb 19, 2018
  • Comments

John Curtis was willing to die for his country.

After 215 Years, the Man Fortune Was Finally Laid to Rest
THE CONNECTICUT STORY

After 215 Years, the Man Fortune Was Finally Laid to Rest

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Jan 15, 2018
  • Comments

At the Riverside Cemetery in Waterbury there is a grave with curious markings.

During Turmoil in Hartford, Maria Sánchez Promoted Calm and Understanding
THE CONNECTICUT STORY

During Turmoil in Hartford, Maria Sánchez Promoted Calm and Understanding

  • Erik Ofgang
  • Jan 2, 2018
  • Comments

Hartford was burning.

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