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Devil’s Hopyard State Park is located on Hopyard Road, just past Millington Green. You can camp, fish, have a picnic and hike the trails. One trail leads to a cave. As legend has it, this is the cave where the Devil slept while not out “dancing” amongst the rocks at the bottom of Chapman Falls. There are many legends and “tall tails” that date back as early as the the first settlers. When traveling the Devil’s Hopyard, not only do you see a river run through it, to add beauty to the area, you also get this eerie feeling. Some of the towns people and still today, will not drive down Hopyard Road at night. I think due to the legends and the tall pines that cover most of the road not allowing much moon light to shine through. More or less, you get the feeling “you’re not alone”. To start the legends, let’s start at Chapman Falls. The Eight Mile River flows over the falls and makes it’s way through East Haddam before ending at the Connecticut River. Chapman Falls holds a number of strange rock formations. These formations are called “potholes” from smaller rocks being caught in the river’s current and falling to the softer rocks below. Or is it? One legend says that the first English settlers finally worked their way to the rough hills, it was the making of the Devil’s work. The potholes are said to be made by the Devil himself when he “jumped” here from England. The settlers believed that the Devil followed them here to bring hardship to them. Destroying them and their religion. The settlers found this to be logical of the Devil to bring harm to God’s children. The settlers believed the Devil’s signs of his evil plot was to bring illness, physical and mental, bad harvests, spoiled milk and cheese. Chapman Falls strange rock formations was interpreted as signs of the Devil’s prescence. There have been reports of some wives, of trappers, going crazy and strange visions dancing on the falls in the moon light.
“THE DEVIL’S KETTLE” One of the small hills features a rather large hole. Legend tells us that it’s the Devil’s Kettle and he would heat the kettle with fires from hell as local witches create magic potions. Legend also tells us that the witches would gather at the kettle and chant: “Round about the caldron go, In the poisoned entrail throw, Double, double, toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble” “Black spirits and white, red spirits and gray. Mingle, mingle, mingle. You that mingle may.”
In the 1690’s witch hysteria that hit Salem, and parts of Connecticut, this time was the darkest of New England history as the madness and violence went from village to village. Mostly women were known to be the “escape goat” because of the troubles and paid with their lives. The towns people took a humane approach of treatment if suspected of being “aquatinted” with the Devil. Town leaders punishment for first offense was a tongue-lashing. If this didn’t work, the accused would be forced to take a humiliating bath in a near by frog pond. “BLACK MAGIC VERSES WHITE MAGIC WITCHES”
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