Amazing Tales from Off the Beaten Path

Escaping Execution by Hiding in Judge’s Cave

When the British monarchy was toppled for 10 years in the 1600s, two of the 60 jurors who condemned King Charles I to death fled England for Connecticut. These high-ranking military officers were chased by agents for King Charles II, the son who wanted to bring revenge on behalf of his father. It’s a nearly 400-year-old episode, with many twists and turns, starting in England and leading to Judge’s Cave on West Rock in Hamden. Their harrowing story is told by the author of The Great Escape of Edward Whalley and William Goffe, Madison school history teacher Chris Pagliuco.

What Remains of CT’s Earliest Turnpikes

During COVID, a Connecticut resident tracked down – and then drove – all 100 of Connecticut’s original turnpikes, which serviced all but five of the state’s municipalities. Some are interstate highways today; others are neglected, torn-up, and nearly forgotten paths through woodlands. John Schwemmer, an aerospace engineer from Windsor Locks, had to match up ancient and current maps to even find the present-day locations for many of the turnpikes. Hear his fascinating story on this episode.

Hidden Revolutionary War Treasure

We know that vast sums of money passed through Connecticut during the Revolutionary War to pay soldiers for their service. Rumors remain to this day that two shipments were stolen, buried, and never recovered. These stories – from East Thompson and East Granby – involve millions of dollars in gold coins, banknotes, and possibly other relics. Many have searched for this missing Revolutionary War treasure, but none have found it. Hear Joe Iamartino, President of the Thompson Historical Society, recount what we know for sure.

The Mystique of the Old Connecticut Path

There’s a nearly forgotten, 100-mile-long trail that brought the founders of Connecticut from the Massachusetts Bay Colony nearly 400 years ago. The gorgeous and rustic Old Connecticut Path runs through northeast Connecticut’s so-called “forgotten corner” in Windham County (including the towns of Thompson, Woodstock, Eastford, Ashford, Willington, Tolland, Vernon, Manchester, and Hartford). Much of the trail is still in its natural state and the Massachusetts man who has rediscovered and publicized the trail’s existence, Jason Newton, thinks it should be preserved for future generations before it’s too late.

The Ice Man Cometh in Connecticut

Refrigeration, as a technology, is only about 100 years old. Before then, people kept food chilled in an insulated ice box. You needed to routinely place large chunks of ice in the ice box to make sure food didn’t spoil. For 150 years, the harvesting of ice from ponds and lakes in Connecticut was a big business. We’re going to learn how this was done from the Research Director of the White Memorial Conservation Center in Litchfield, CT, James Fischer, where one of CT’s larger ice operations was based.

Putting the Spotlight on CT’s Lighthouses

Connecticut has 21 active and inactive lighthouses – from Greenwich to Stonington. Some are on land, and some are built on rock outcroppings in Long Island Sound. Each lighthouse “blinks” in a unique rhythm, or character, so sea captains know which lighthouse it is. The oldest lighthouse museum in the country is in Stonington, and we’ll hear from the Executive Director of the Stonington Historical Society (which owns the museum), Elizabeth Wood, about lighthouses in the state and what the life of a lighthouse keeper was like.

On a CT Whale Hunt, They Found the President’s Desk

The story of how the famous Resolute Desk in the President’s Oval Office came to be is full of twists and turns – with CT playing a critical role in making it a reality. You simply won’t believe how an expedition to hunt for whales brought such a piece of furniture to the White House. Hear the story from the Executive Director of the New London County Historical Society, Steve Manuel.

Timing is Everything: CT as Clock-Making King

Connecticut produced a lot of “firsts” for the new United States. Among them was clock-making. Plymouth, Bristol and Waterbury were the leading clock manufacturing centers in the country for more than a century. While the technology for making clocks was brought here from England, an ingenious advancement by Eli Terry brought a breakthrough approach to mass production that was copied by other businesses as the industrial revolution grew. Terry’s pupils included the venerable clock maker Seth Thomas. Terry’s activities also spawned the Waterbury firm that created the famous TIMEX watch. Even Mickey Mouse had a role to play in advancing the industry. Hear the story from the Executive Director of the American Clock and Watch Museum in Bristol, Patti Phillipon.

UFOs Over Connecticut

Ever since The New York Times reported in 2017 the existence of the Pentagon’s secret UFO tracking program, and both government and academia now say there’s something to UFOs, the matter has come out of the closet. In Connecticut, many sightings have occurred over the years, including a famous series of incidents over the western portion of the state in the 1980s. From the Roswell, New Mexico incident to the U.S. Navy pilots who were stunned by what they tracked on radar over the Pacific Ocean, we’ll discuss the issue with Mike Panicello, State Director of the Connecticut Chapter of the Mutual Unidentified Flying Object Network (MUFON).

200 Years of Fatal Train Accidents in Connecticut

Rail travel in Connecticut is nearly 200 years old and during that time the state has suffered numerous fatal train accidents. Several incidents set records for accidents in the history books. Seven crashes - in Bridgeport, Darien, East Thompson, North Branford, Norwalk, Ridgefield, and Trumbull - dating back to 1853, killed 85 people and injured hundreds of others, many quite seriously. Host Mike Allen recounts the backstories behind these incidents.