Mystic, Connecticut

Mystic is a village and census-designated place in New London County, Connecticut, in the United States. The population was 4,205 at the 2010 census. A historic locality, Mystic has no independent government because it is not a legally recognized municipality in the state of Connecticut. Rather, Mystic is located within the towns of Groton (west of the Mystic River, and also known as West Mystic) and Stonington (east of the Mystic River).

Historically a leading seaport of the area, the story of Mystic's nautical connection is told at Mystic Seaport, the nation's largest maritime museum, which has preserved a number of sailing ships (most notably the whaleship Charles W. Morgan) and seaport buildings. The village is located on the Mystic River, which flows into Long Island Sound, providing access to the sea. The Mystic River Bascule Bridge crosses the river in the center of the village.Before the 17th century, the Pequot people had established an empire across southeastern Connecticut. For many years, historians believed that they migrated in the 16th century from eastern New York. Archaeological evidence showing the presence of a people who lived in an area called Gungywump, somewhat northwest of the Mystic River, now suggests that the Pequot were indigenous to southeastern Connecticut.

The Pequot built their first village overlooking the western bank of the Mystic River, called Siccanemos, in the year 1665. By that time, the Pequot were in control of a considerable amount of territory, extending toward the Pawcatuck River to the east and the Connecticut River to the west, providing them with full access to the waters. They also had supremacy over some of the most strategically located terrain. To the northwest, the Five Nations of the Iroquois dominated the land linked by the Great Lakes and the Hudson River, allowing for trading to occur between the Iroquois Nations and the Dutch. The Pequot were settled just distant enough to be secure from any danger that the Iroquois posed.


As the Europeans came closer in contact with the natives, along the coast of Cape Cod to Nova Scotia, they brought along with them diseases, such as smallpox, plague, measles and other illnesses that depopulated entire villages, killing between 55 to 95 percent of coastal people.The Narragansett tribe, who lived a considerable distance from the coast, were able to develop some resistance to European diseases, or the diseases evolved lower virulence as they were transmitted inland.

The Pequot were located between the English and the Dutch. To the east of the Pequot, the English had begun to gain bits and pieces along Massachusetts Bay during the 1620s. Relations between the Native Americans and the English remained ambiguous and rather hostile at times as Separatists from the Church of England settled on the Plymouth Plantation. Their relations, however, allowed the establishment of trade with the Plymouth colonists as far west as Narragansett Bay, if not with the Narragansett nation itself. The English eventually began to trade with the Dutch as well. Today Mystic is A major New England tourist destination, the village is home to the Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration, known for its research department, concern with marine life rehabilitation, and its popular beluga whales. The business district on either side of the bascule bridge where U.S. Route 1 crosses the Mystic River contains many restaurants. Local sailing cruises are available on the traditional sailing ship Argia. Short day tours and longer evening cruises are available on the 1908 steamer Sabino departing Mystic Seaport.

The Most Haunted Place

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York, USA

Ghosts and goblins … haunted bridges … a Headless Horseman, these tales and more create the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving’s fact-based tale that put this Hudson Valley village on the map.

Dating back to the 1640s, Sleepy Hollow is one of the most famous haunted towns in the world. The Old Dutch Burying Ground is one of the oldest cemeteries in America and houses the graves of Irving’s models for Ichabod Crane, Brom Bones and Katrina Van Tassel.

There have been reported sightings of the Headless Horseman both at this cemetery and Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, where Irving is buried. Patriot’s Park between Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown is said to be haunted by Major Andre, Irving’s model for the headless Hessian solider. Tours of the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery cost $15.00 and should be scheduled in advance.

Number One Creepiest Castle

Dunluce Castle in Northern Ireland

Built precariously on the edge of a cliff on the north Antrim Coast, this Norman castle has been remodeled numerous times over the ages, but former residents can’t seem to let go.

In 1586, a royal feud ensued for the castle and ended with the unfortunate hanging of the previous castle constable. This ghostly figure, dressed in a purple cloak and a ponytail wanders the Dunluce Castle tower from which he was killed.

In 1639, the kitchen collapsed into the sea, taking several servants to their grave. Today, visitors report feeling a cold chill in certain parts of the castle and staff arrives at the gift shop to find books relocated and radios blaring.

Although no one has sensed a malicious spirit among these ghosts, the idea of playful residents returning to entertain the living is downright creepy.

The Top Choice of Best Places to go for Halloween

Today being Halloween 2012 it is time to unveil the Number 1 Creepy Castle , Worlds most Haunted Place and the Best Place to Go for Halloween!! I hope you enjoyed reading these over the last few days
As much as I enjoyed Researching them and I wish You all a Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!!

1. Mummy Museum, Guanajuato, Mexico

Their haunting faces and hollowed eye sockets will make you quake in your boots. Teeth exposed from open mouths, fingers stiffly crooked for eternity, grey skin clinging to protruding hip bones and ribs, shoes still laced on unmoving, shriveled feet… The Mummy Museum in Guanajuato will haunt you long after your return from this picturesque Mexican colonial town nestled in the hills of the highlands in Mexico. However, these mummified remains are still a mystery to this day.

The mummies were originally exhumed when families were unable to pay a burial tax due each year for deceased relatives. When a family was unable to pay the tax, the body of their relative was exhumed and put on display in the mummy museum. The puzzling part? Rather than decomposing the way bodies usually do after being buried, these corpses were naturally mummified, leaving clothes, skin and sometimes hair preserved and intact. The reason? Some hypothesize it has something to do with the mixture of minerals in the soil, some think there is something a little more paranormal going on.

Either way, after an afternoon in this creepy museum full of mummies of all shapes and sizes (there are even baby mummies that look creepily like little dolls), you are guaranteed to have the heebie jeebies.

Five things to know about Sandy

People walk through water on the beach near high tide Monday as Sandy approaches Atlantic City. 

At least five people had been killed in storm-related incidents in New York state, including three killed by trees falling on homes in Queens and in the town of New Salem, near Albany, city and state officials said. Falling trees were also blamed for three deaths reported in New Jersey and one in Connecticut, authorities there told CNN.

In West Virginia, a woman was killed in a car accident after the storm dumped 5 inches of snow on the town of Davis, said Amy Shuler Goodwin, a spokeswoman for Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's office.

And before hitting land, it overwhelmed the sailing ship HMS Bounty, a replica of the historic British vessel, off North Carolina. Fourteen of the ship's crew of 16 were rescued, but the body of one deckhand was found Monday evening and the ship's captain was still missing Monday night, the Coast Guard said.

Sandy had already claimed at least 67 lives in the Caribbean, including 51 in Haiti.

Sandy's storm surges were boosted by a full moon, which already brings the highest tides of the month. And forecasters said the storm was likely to collide with a cold front and spawn a superstorm that could generate flash floods and snowstorms.

"It could be bad," said U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Steven Rattior, "or it could be devastation."

Mass transit shut down across the densely populated Northeast, landmarks stood empty and schools and government offices were closed. The National Grid, which provides power to millions of customers, said 60 million people could be affected before it's over.

On Fire Island, off Long Island, the water rose above promenades and docks on Monday afternoon, homeowner Karen Boss said. Boss stayed on the island with her husband despite a mandatory evacuation order. She said they own several properties and a business there and had weathered previous storms.

"I'm concerned that it might come into the first floor," she said. "If that's the case, I'll just move into another house that's higher up."

Based on pressure readings, it's likely to be the strongest storm to make landfall north of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, CNN senior meteorologist Dave Hennen said. The benchmark storm, the 1938 "Long Island Express" Hurricane, contained a low pressure reading of 946 millibars; Sandy had a minimum pressure of 943 millibars. Generally speaking, the lower the pressure, the stronger the storm.

In Sea Bright, New Jersey, Yvette Cafaro scrawled a plea on the plywood that covered her burger restaurant: "Be kind to us Sandy." The seaside area largely dodged last year's Hurricane Irene, but Cafaro was not optimistic that Sea Bright would be spared Sandy.

Mass transit grinds to a halt

Taxis drive down a New York street where the power was out late Monday, October 29. 

In New York, lower Manhattan's Battery Park recorded nearly 14-foot tide, smashing a record set by 1960's Hurricane Donna by more than 3 feet. The city had already halted service on its bus and train lines, closing schools and ordering about 400,000 people out of their homes in low-lying areas of Manhattan and elsewhere.

Flooding forced the closure of all three of the major airports in the area, LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy and Newark Liberty. Water seeped into subway stations in Lower Manhattan and into the tunnel connecting Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, while high winds damaged a crane perched atop a Midtown skyscraper under construction, forcing authorities to evacuate the surrounding area.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters there was an "extraordinary" amount of water in Lower Manhattan, as well as downed trees throughout the city and widespread power outages.

"We knew that this was going to be a very dangerous storm, and the storm has met our expectations," he said. "The worst of the weather has come, and city certainly is feeling the impacts."

The storm was blamed for more than 2.8 million outages across the Northeast. About 350,000 of them were in the New York city area, where utility provider Con Edison reported it had also cut power to customers in parts of Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan to protect underground equipment as the storm waters rose.

But as water crept into its substations, Con Ed said it had lost service to about 250,000 customers in Manhattan -- including most of the island south of 39th Street.

Hurricane Sandy

A truck drives by a flooded gas station in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn on Monday.  Though no longer a hurricane, "post-tropical" superstorm Sandy packed a hurricane-sized punch as it slammed into the Jersey Shore on Monday, killing at least 11 people from West Virginia to North Carolina and Connecticut.

Sandy whipped torrents of water over the streets of Atlantic City, stretching for blocks inland and ripping up part of the vacation spot's fabled boardwalk. The storm surge set records in Lower Manhattan, where flooded substations caused a widespread power outage. It swamped beachfronts on both sides of Long Island Sound and delivered hurricane-force winds from Virginia to Cape Cod as it came ashore.

Sandy's wrath also prompted the evacuation of about 200 patients at NYU Langone Medical Center.

"We are having intermittent telephone access issues, and for this reason the receiving hospital will notify the families of their arrival," spokeswoman Lisa Greiner said.

In addition, the basement of New York's Bellevue Hospital Center flooded, and the hospital was running off of emergency backup power. Ian Michaels of the Office of Emergency Management said the main priority is to help secure additional power and obtain additional fuel and pumps for the hospital.

The storm hit near Atlantic City about 6 p.m. ET, the National Hurricane Center reported. It packed 80-mph winds at landfall, down from the 90 mph clocked earlier Monday.