As autumn quickly swoops in, many New Englanders recognize changes other than the foliage. These include swapping t-shirts for sweaters, choosing pumpkin spice lattes over iced coffee, and battening down the hatches for the timely snow storms in October. But, as October 31 fast approaches, something else in on many people’s minds, Halloween!

In Stamford, there are many events that are designed to get people into the Halloween sprit. Traditional activities range from selecting the perfect jack-o-lantern specimen from a pumpkin patch, to traipsing up and down the street in the freezing cold trick or treating. But why participate in these mundane activities when Connecticut is home to some haunted sites that will make your head spin? Check out Connecticut’s most haunted places in the line up below!

5. Little People’s Village, Middlebury

When you walk through the serene woods of Middlebury, Connecticut, the last thing you expect to see is a miniature town that looks like it is inhabited by Smurfs. However, while the “Little People’s Village” stands tall as one of the creepiest places in Connecticut, it’s actually pretty short. Here you will find a complex of miniature cottages and other dilapidated stone structures next to the rumbling remains of an old normal-sized house. Many stories circulate about this strange site, including that a lonely man living in the adjacent house heard voices of the “little people,” and was thus commanded to build the village for them to live in. However, the village was actually constructed in the early 20^th century as “The Fairy Village,” a stop along the nearby Lake Quassy Amusement park trolley. When the trolley line stopped running, the village was no longer frequented, and soon fell into disrepair.

4. Fairfield Hills State Hospital, Newtown

This next haunted site was not only recognized by the inhabitants of Newtown as haunted, but by the producers of Sleepers and MTV’s “Fear” as well. The 1931 campus spans 770 acres with 16 buildings that are all connected through underground tunnels. At capacity, the mental hospital housed over 4,000 patients who were being treated with now obsolete “medical practices,” including: electric shock therapy, hydrotherapy, psychosurgery and frontal lobotomies. Eventually Fairfield Hills was closed in 1955, bringing an end to the abusive practices. Now, the hospital is strictly off-limits to the public, and it stands as a reminder to the cruel treatment of mentally-ill patients.

3. Remington Arms, Bridgeport

Remington Arms now stands as an abandoned factory sprawling over 73 acres in urban east Bridgeport. The buildings were originally owned by the Union Metallic Cartridge Company in 1867 before Remington Arms bought the building and transformed the factory into one of the biggest munitions producer in the world. After transferring owners a second time, the site was abandoned altogether in 1988. Many unfortunate accidents occurred during Remington’s peak producing years, including the deaths of two employees caused by their fall into giant vats of molten metal. In 1942, there was also a fatal explosion that killed 7 workers and wounded 80 others. Some say these freak accidents are caused by dark figures, called spirit orbs. The sounds of disembodied screams have also been reported.

2. Dudleytown, Cornwall

Dudleytown had its humble beginnings as a small settler town known in 1747 as Owlsbury. The Dudleys, an immigrant family from England, helped to settle and found the town on iron and agriculture. Due to the members of the Dudley clan’s frequent untimely deaths, many believe the town’s demise was caused by the “Dudley Curse.” The town was finally abandoned by its last resident at the turn of the 20^th century. The husband and wife pair of demonologists (think Ghost hunters) Ed and Lorraine Warren famously featured Dudleytown in a Halloween special during the 1970s. They declared the abandoned town officially “demonically possessed.” Since then, Dudley town has been called “cursed,” “damned” and “the most haunted place in Connecticut” due to the paranormal experiences and strange sightings that occur around the remains of the town.

1. Union Cemetery, Easton

The final site on the list was deemed the most haunted spot in Connecticut by none other than the famous demonologist pair the Warrens. The Warrens even published an entire book on the cemetery titled, Graveyard. This 400-year-old cemetery lays at the junction of routes 59 and 136 in Easton, Connecticut. The site’s reputation has developed mainly as a result of one spirit’s fame, the White Lady. She has been known to appear in the middle of Route 59 with her long black hair and billowing white gown, where she is “hit” by cars. The unsuspecting drivers stop their cars only to get out and find the woman they “hit” has disappeared. Visitors to the cemetery have also reported seeing this spirit floating among the ancient gravestones. While many legends surround the White Lady, the most widely accepted among the paranormal community is that she is the spirit of a woman murdered in the 1940s after she had killed her own husband.