Do You Know the Legend of the Haunted ‘Little People’s Village’ in Middlebury?

I first heard about Middlebury's "Little People's Village" back in the glorious 1980's.

A few of my buddies that were way into listening to Mercyful Fate, Bauhaus, Slayer, and reading occult books, decided to take a walk down the road to go check out what they called "Little People's"

I had no idea what the hell it was.

They informed me that there was a tiny haunted village a couple of miles from my house in the woods behind Post University. It was in ruins, but there were still a bunch of small houses and structures that had survived the harsh Winters. They also told me that there was a throne that the Little People King sat upon. But, if you sat on that throne today, you would be dead within seven years.

All of this sounded reasonable to my 15-year-old mind, so, I didn't take the walk down Country Club Road with them that day. My friends that did take the trip reported back to me that, yes, there was a bunch of old structures in the woods that looked like they were built for a city of tiny people, and yes, there was a throne that they all took turns sitting in.

As you probably have figured out, none of my friends died by 1992. I'm Large Dave, not Stephen King. In fact, I'm happy to report that they're all still alive today.

I found out over the years that Little People's Village was in fact a roadside attraction that the Quassy Trolleys used to stop at back in the early 1900's. I like to imagine that a young Walt Disney got inspired enough by this to do it right with "It's a Small World"! I have no proof of that, just my imagination running wild.

Little People's still pops up in conversations. The Waterbury Republican-American will run a story every few years about how the site is not safe to check out or go near anymore, the buildings keep disintegrating or get vandalized, etc.

I see the name show up on "Haunted Connecticut" lists and articles, and I can't help to think that Holy Land, with it's miniature replicas of catacombs, stations of the cross, and chapels, probably has inspired some ghost stories over the years also.

So, the next time you go to Maggie McFly's in Middlebury, look across the street into the woods, see if you can see the King sitting on his throne. Most likely, it will be the next generation of naysayers tempting fate by sitting in the big chair.