Forget Paranormal 3; If You're Looking for Chills, Check Out the Oldest Cemetery in Bethany

The Old Bethany Burying Grounds is a short trip away down the long, winding, isolated dirt path known as Myers Road. It’s easy to imagine a horse drawn cart carrying a plain, pine box while mourning family members and friends trail behind. Close your eyes and conjure up a vision of bent, weary men heaving a coffin onto their shoulders and carrying it uphill to a grave, hand-dug and surrounded by fresh dirt. Is it a large heavy coffin, one belonging to a prosperous businessman? Or a tiny wooden box harboring one of the many infants who died in the 17 and 1800s?

Every cemetery is filled with tombstones, each one possessing a story, many of them well-known, some long forgotten, and all of them, at one time, the most important story of all to the person buried beneath it. These old burial grounds are home to hundreds of tales, but many of the stones are worn beyond recognition and their namesakes have become a mere blip in local history.

In 1755, when the burial ground was first designated, Bethany was a part of Woodbridge. According to Town Historian Will Brinton, there was not yet a church in town and the graveyard, while out of the way, was chosen for its sandy soil and ease of digging.

“There are no more graves available here,” said Brinton on a recent visit as he gestured across the graveyard. “No one would know where to dig.”

Apparently, there are far more bodies than gravestones as many of them either wore away or never even existed. Brinton said there are bodies in the burial grounds of soldiers who fought in the American Revolution, the Civil War and the French and Indian War. Rev. Stephen Hawley, the town's first minister, was buried here 1804. And – there are the buried remains of an entire family wiped out in 1794. Read the captions beneath the photos to find out what happened to the Terrell family.

And enjoy your this spooky Halloween series made just for you by the Bethwood Patch, complete with murder, insanity, drownings and other horrible tragedies . . . because ghosts are everywhere . . . maybe even right in your own backyard . . .

A huge thanks to Will Brinton for taking the time to give us the cemetery tour. Stop by tomorrow and find out about the some of the oldest recorded murders in town, and see where the victims are buried . . .