Maud’s Grave is one of the eeriest and stories in Connecticut’s Hell Hollow. Maud Reynolds, who died in October 1890 after an illness, possibly diphtheria, although other accounts suggest that she may have choked on a piece of apple.
Maud was not buried in the Reynolds family cemetery, as was done with other family members. Instead, she was buried closer to her home, presumably so that her grieving parents could look at the five-foot-tall cement cross that had initially been placed there. Eventually the cross was knocked down, her grave became unmarked and is now hidden in the deep woods of Pachaug State Forest.
Over time the lore of Maud’s Grave has taken on a darker twist. Some say she was a witch, or a witch’s daughter, and was persecuted by locals. Other myths are that she was a lost child in the woods or died of smallpox. In another variation, her tale is linked with the wailing spirit of a Native American woman, believed to have been killed by British soldiers, whose wails still reverberate through the woods.
To further compound the confusion there’s another grave close by, with a broken headstone bearing the single name “Maud” and a date 1647-1654. But that doesn’t coincide with Maud Reynolds’ timeline, and because the marker is cement (not a typical grave marker material), some believe it may be a fake or even belong to someone else.
Ghost hunters, curiosity seekers and thrill-seeking teenagers have ventured into the area, some of them saying that they had encountered supernatural activity. Legend has it that many have defaced the grave and later met a tragic fate adding to the legend’s eerie reputation.