A forest so EVIL, it's ILLEGAL to enter... 

Happy Birthday to my main man John Garlock (@johnnny11 on IG)!!! Also, shout out to his wonderful daughter Ellie (@ellie.garlock on IG) and her boyfriend Nick (@_nick_dun_ on IG) as well as John's wife, Jenny (@garlock610 on IG). Have a great day celebrating!

The fact that this guy went out by himself, cut down trees and built a 2 story cabin is just incredible

Owls hooting during the day, an abandoned town, and locals flat out refusing to go near the area; the warning signs were all there plain as day.

Dude just built a two story house in the middle of a forest on the weekends on his days off from being a SURGEON. What a fucking CHAD

My brother decided he just HAD to check out Dudleytown after he had heard all the stories about it! This was back in the 1980’s. He saw the foundations and said the place just had an eerie feeling to it. He talked about the weirdest thing being the absolute quiet…no bird sounds,no animal activity…nothing! Scary!!

Everyone is tough until the strange, dark and mysterious gets going

For people freaked out, murcury is what did it. The water was contaiminated and exposere to murcury quite literally drives people mad. Its the reason the town was abandoned and many small towns sufferd similar fates from various poisons like lead.

For anyone thinking about going… please don’t. state police regularly patrol the area due to how many hikers/ idiots go missing in the area trying to get to Dudleytown and will arrest those trying to get in. The thick woods makes it hard for rescue teams to find lost people/ rescue them via helicopter. Locals really, really don’t like it when people try to go to dudleytown, and will call the staties on you. I’ve tried visiting the ruins with my brother at night… the only way I can describe it, is someone or something is always watching you from a distance from all around just out of flashlight distance but close enough. I know about the actual reason why people were dying due to mercury poisoning in the land/water/crops and food. But their is something more than just mercury out there. Please for your safety DO NOT GO!!

I would be curious to set up some wildlife cameras there and see if I could get a picture of these strange creatures.

Less than 5 minutes into the video and I already wanna do the thing Mr. Ballen tells us not to do

I’ve been to Dudley town. Before it was illegal…I can tell you a story. We parked loaded new batteries into the flashlights and just started hiking. The owls are a real thing you can hear them even during the day. The cold spots did happen, the strangest thing was when the wind just stopped so nothing was blowing but this one branch sticking up from the ground was violently shaking every one there pointed there flashlights at it and just watched it happen… then we started heading out and on our way back to where we parked. All the flashlights decided to go out and this is before cell phones were a thing.. we literally bought the batteries and flashlights that day. We had to use our lighters like crazy people flicking away back to the cars.

My bf and i watch this channel every night. Its become a routine after work. Everything about these vids just takes me back to being a kid and watching spooky stories.

I've read about the supposed origin of Dudleytown from a ghost book. According to the book, the town was named for Guilford Dudley, husband of Lady Jane Grey, the "Nine Day Queen" of England. That's why the town was 'cursed'. That and there was only way in and out. At the time of the printing of the book, "the only humans who went there were practicing witches".

My uncle and I went to Dudleytown back in 1995. We didn’t see anything, but we noticed there were no animals or animal noises in the woods as we walked around. It was eerily quiet and that creeped us out. We left after about 30 minutes.

Jon, here's a thought: You mentioned early on that the land had to be cleared of hemlock in order for the Clarkes to build their holiday home. Is it possible that hemlock grows throughout the forest at Dark Entry? If so then the whole environment would be toxic. The roots of poison hemlock can easily be mistaken for wild parsnips, and its leaves can be mistaken for parsley which is why it can lead to fatalities through accidental poisoning. Even touching the leaves, which can intermingle with the leaves of other plants, The known symptoms include trembling, burning in the digestive tract, increased salivation, dilated pupils, muscle pain, muscle weakness or muscle paralysis, rapid heart rate followed by a decreased heart rate, loss of speech, convulsions, unconsciousness or coma. Complications can lead to central nervous system depression, respiratory failure, acute rhabdomyolysis, or breakdown of damaged skeletal muscle, acute renal failure and death.Those are the known symptoms. There may be other undocumented side effects, such as delirium and pyschosis. And there is no cure. Could this kind of environmental toxicity be the cause of the "plagues" and insanity of people who lived in that forest?

I used to live in CT. I always wanted to go and see it for myself. One night friends of mine went without me. All I know from the story I got from them is that no sound could be heard. Orb like lights by trees. And something scared them so bad they went running out only to get picked up by state police by there cars.

My mother is full Native American (Muscogee Creek Nation) and she’s always warned me of seeing owls in the day time. Bad bad omen. Usually means death or some very bad incident coming your way. There’s also the legend of the Stikini, little monsters that shape shift into owls. This terrified me as a kid, everytime we’d go play outside my uncle would say “watch out for those stikinis. So as soon as Mr Ballin mentioned owls in the daytime and little creatures in the forest, first thing I thought was “it’s Stikinis!” Anyway, I’m not sure why owls are so ostracized in native culture 🤔 And maybe it’s just me rebelling against it all but I love and adore owls now. I’ve got tons of figurine’s, pictures and even an owl cookie jar. My two fav animals are any and all canines (my family is part of the Wolf Clan in our tribe so most likely that’s why) and birds! Owls being in my top five fav. Mom respects the owl but she wouldn’t have an owl cookie jar in her kitchen I’m sure 😂

I remember reading about a village in Turkey that everyone believed was cursed, because everyone died young and there were many birth defects. Later on, it was discovered that there was some asbestos-like mineral naturally occuring there in the soil, which caused the residents to develop symptoms comparable to asbestos poisoning. I wonder if something similar could be the case in Dudleytown, maybe some chemical that causes hallucinations and brain damage.

Thanks for the high-pitched, maniacal laughter and the fitting image, Mr. Ballen. That's definitely going to help me sleep tonight.

Ive been binging Mr. Ballen for the last 3 days basically nonstop. Im driving and its playing. Im home, its on. Break time, we got time. This is THE BEST channel on youtube.

This is the episode I've been looking for. When he talks about Harriet and her mouth is open and maniacal laughter is coming out that definitely freaked me out!!

I am an absolute chicken and easily startled but I just have this fascination with scary stories. I love that you don't include jumpscares and your voice is just so calming. I also have photosensitive epilepsy and really appreciate that you don't use many flashing lights like a lot of horror channels do. Thank you so much.

I live about a half hour from Dudleytown and I can attest to the fact that you CANNOT go there. Yes, it is private property, but I've heard from people who live right near it that cops regularly patrol the area. Especially around Halloween. I used to date someone who lived near an entrance and we actually got stopped on the road his house was on and he had to prove that he lived there. We did try to walk out there one time and about halfway there I was overcome with strong feelings of fear that I could not push through, I couldn't take even a single step past this spot where I froze.

I feel so bad for his wife , broke my heart a little, may she have a peaceful life in heaven.

Why am I watching this home alone?! 😬 Just found this channel. You’re a fantastic story teller. 😊

I know a women who went to Dudlytown with her teenage son, she said her son was never right after that trip. She believes something followed him home. Within a year his mental state deteriorated and by the end of the year he killed himself. He has said for weeks leading up to it that he kept hearing someone or something telling him to kill himself. Finally he couldn't take it anymore and gave in to the voices. Mr. Ballen is right, Don't go there!

I love the 'not a real photo of the deer' 😂😂

Living in Litchfield Co, CT, USA, I can say there are many many ghost stories and folklore in this area. The woods here are exactly as described by Mr. Ballen. I’d love to hear a story on the Leatherman in this area, and why the Leatherman Caves in Watertown CT are haunted. Thanks for what you do!! Love this channel.

I went around 2008, not much there, but the woods are dark and quiet. My father saw a lady in white there back in the 70s.

It was cool of those workers to just tell the doctor & his wife that they didn't want to build their house instead of giving them a heads-up that everyone who lives in the forest comes out insane...

I have lived in CT my whole life and live near Dudley Town. I can attest that it is super earie and a lot of the claims, not all but a lot are in fact true. ALSO you WILL be arrested. The neighbors that live off the road leading into it are always paying attention to vehicles coming through. I don't blame them because it becomes a tourist attraction. People leave garbage and disrespect the area. You won't make it far before neighbors come out yelling, they will approach you and follow you and the cops show fast. Don't bother.

Normally I skip ads RU-vidrs do but I’m glad I didn’t this time that hand to flipper combat part had me rolling around on the floor dying from laughter never lose that side of you Mr ballen its truly amazing

No way would I be left in the woods alone!!!!😮

Mr Ballin, you just keep getting better. I’m an older lady, living alone, and this story had me on the edge of my seat. I proceeded to check the locks and draw the drapes. You are a great story teller. You’re at the top of your game when it’s a really scary story! Keep it up. I absolutely love your videos!

When "townfolk" won't enter an area, that's a "Here's Your Sign" moment. My granny, who was an old mountain woman with pretty clear beliefs in old ways, always believed that hemlock trees grew on sour or bitter ground, so for me, that would have been a big red flag. Most of my relatives are mountain folk with heavy supersticious beliefs. I loved this one John. Would love to see many more with a paranormal feel! 👍

I was so glad to see Mr. Ballen cover Dudleytown. I remember first hearing about this place in the 90's, and looking up info on it during the "adolescence" of the internet. Something about the rudimentary websites back then that made it seem even spookier. Anyway, thanks, Mr. B!

I have been there and camped there. There isn't much there besides the odd feeling of an empty area, no lights, and for an odd reason, the nights do seem a bit darker and longer. Never felt any coldness or push but things did move a lot in the woods throughout the night which isn't out of the normal yet, animals tend not to come close to humans or the fire we had going. Oftentimes, my camping partner would say he saw something going from tree to tree, it was a long night but nothing came. I slept peacefully, my friend did not, and at first when I awoke he wasn't in the tent, I did find him after searching for a while and he had found an opening in the woods and made four separate fires at different corners in this clearing, not sure how long it took him to do this, but he must have done it all night. Eventually, we left.

I love how thoroughly you explain everything to us monkeys, like ”Not a real photo of the owls in the forest” ❤️

Roses and lilacs growing wild together is a pretty good indicator of an 18th-19th century settlement having been there. They're usually the remnants of someone's flower garden and they last far, far longer than even the rings of old houses.

I’ve been here and so has my sister. My sister said she saw floating lights moving around along with noises and shadow people. I went and didn’t see much, heard some noises and stuff moving through the woods.. but it’s a forest so just chalked that up to animals and such. Nothing is really there, just some foundations and a bridge. Some basements were visible, probably all overgrown by now though, just not a good idea to go here. Not to mention cops are constantly patrolling now since it’s private property.

Why do I always feel proud whenever I hear the paranormal couple in irl cases not just the movies. Idk, so proud of them.

This is probably the oddest thing I have ever heard. I won’t be peeking in that forest. Happy New Year, Jon and listeners.

Dude, this story has taught me that first impressions are sometimes right. When a forest looks dark, it's dark.

I remember the first time the strange dark and mysterious was delivered to me in story format. You have come a long way Mr ballen. I've been watching you for years man and now look at you. Making you're own adds and merchandise 😂 not to mention your sister publishing a book. You guys are killing it

Probably my favorite story you have ever told, literally gives me chills every time I hear it. Scarier then the bells canyon ghost IMO. Evil dead vibes❤

Not only did they build their home but also attached telephones in a forest that no one was willing to enter. Thats dedication

This one shook me. How scary has a situation gotta be for you to run away from your wife in the woods in the middle of the night. Demonic possession level.

That’s gotta be the coolest commercial I’ve seen in years!! Great story and deliverance brother✌️

Thankyou mrballen always look forward to this at night.I live deep in the Adirondack forest and I love your work.

Me and a buddy went there about five years ago. Right to the entrance. The road there alone was pretty narrow and all uphill. We took this old truck I had but the thing was pretty reliable. We were contemplating whether or not we should go in, and to be fair I was pretty scared. My buddy being all macho said I’m going in. So from a distance I just watched him making his way through the forest. Out of nowhere we heard this loud branch snapping sound coming from further in the forest, my friend started running back. I was already freaked out so I preemptively put the truck in reverse, and the road was narrow so I had to back into this turn off to spin the truck around. As soon as my buddy hopped in the passenger seat the truck shut off on its own. The thing would not start. We sat there for five minutes trying to get it started. The whole thing was scary. Could it have been a coincidence, sure. But the weird feeling I had being there and the way things played out, not sure I’d ever go back there.

My mouth dropped when you said Dudley Town! Thanks for doing a story on my state. It’s a popular scary story around here. I didn’t realize how much of the story I didn’t even know. Great job!

Sitting in a swimming pool...in Connecticut...at the end of NOVEMBER ...the most unbelievable part of the story.

My daughter comments "I've been in Dudley town before, around 14 years ago. Didn't have any scary experiences, just saw some old stone ruins and garbage. I didn't realize that it was called Dark Entry forest but that makes sense now because I used to clean for someone on Dark Entry Rd which is a private road right next to where Dudleytown is. From what I've heard there were high levels of lead and mercury in the water and soil and that's what drove people crazy and made them hallucinate. Still kind of a creepy place

I'm from Connecticut. As a Girl Scout many years ago, my troop went on a day trip there. You aren't allowed to drink the water, but I can tell you... it is one of the creepiest places I've ever been. It is at least a full 10 degrees cooler just past the fence from the parking lot. No birds, no bugs. I swear I saw two kids about 5 years old running down the path in front of us, but when we rounded the corner they weren't there. Lots of house foundations... we must have gotten turned around at some point and ended up exiting from the other side, miles from where our car was parked. Instead of walking back through the forest to the car, we decided to walk all the way around... no one out on the road that day, no one in the little town we ended up walking through... when we finally made it to the main road, the first person to drive by us was someone we knew. One of our Scout Leaders went with him to get our car. I'd take walking those extra 3 hours over going back through any day!

In the 1700s this area was home to many hat makers and the fur trade hence the surname Tanner. Dudley town is known to be “poisoned” by mercury from the trades and is why many locals went “mad”

I am obsessed with your bloopers where you start laughing. PLEASE keep those in!! ❤

Oh,it's beautiful my gosh. Look how gorgeous it is here ! Many have gone lost and forever because of the illusion of beauty !

Man I’ve been waiting for content like this from Mr. Ballen for awhile , haunted , cursed or unexplained ,man it sends me down a rabbit hole .

Coming from Rhode Island, my friends and I heard some of the stories and being the idiots that we are. We wanted to check things out, the second we arrived we instantly felt like we were being watched, like something literally hanging on our shoulders…we weren’t their for more than an hour before deciding to leave. Fast forward 13 years and the stories you talk about take me back.

Mr. Ballen, I have been listening to your videos off/ on over the last 2 years. Love your storytelling style, brother! And thank you for all of the great advice, like never ever EVERRRR go underwater cave diving. Thank you for all the great stories.

gives me chills to hear that the woman from the couple experienced the same mental break that those generations before her did too..

When I was a kid I did incredibly stupid things for no reason other than to be obstinate. If I was told to keep out I went out of my way to go in. That ended when I was 20. There was a place I'd frequent near Medford Oregon that had all kinds of no trespassing signs and chains blocking off an entire section of mountain. When I got up I was in a very narrow valley covered in tiny wooden or cinder block buildings. Nothing was very interesting so I didn't stay long but it turns out I'm very lucky to be alive. This was a spot used by the army corps of engineering to test all manner of explosives. Those buildings I wandered in were likely wired to be blown apart or could have collapsed due to prior testing. Don't be stupid. Mind the signs.

I grew up in Litchfield and as a teenager we went to Dudley town many times to party, even right on the outside deck if this modern house on the hill where the NY wife went crazy. There are houses up there today and it is all private property so they will call the police on you. The road that used to go through and over the mountain is now overgrown. We used to party in the caves up there too. We even camped out overnight there long ago and freaked ourselves out but nothing happened. Birds are abundant, plenty of wildlife…it was just a bad place to try and put a town. No good water nearby, food spoiling, local minerals seeping into the water, Rocky mountainside with no good farming land, it’s no wonder it failed. People went crazy there because of lead, mold and other poisonings.

Lived here in CT my whole life and Dudley town is real. You can’t even take a rock from there or you’ll be haunted for it…. Realistically any time you try getting there a cop will show up and kick you out and threaten a ticket or an arrest. A place you want to go but don’t want to go

thank you for letting me know about this place, i will be going there first thing tomorrow morning!

Imagine if Ballen hosted an event where he told scary stories around a campfire, or a spooky mansion. I would pay a serious amount of money to attend!!

I lived close to there almost all of my life, and I've gone hiking in dudleytown several times. The origin of it goes back into the late 1500's, with the local Indian tribes fighting with settlers. Then the Dudley family lived there and went crazy from mercury or lead poisoning. There was at least 3 times different families have tried to live there, all with strange deaths, etc. There are so many different telling of the stories that it's really impossible to know exactly what happened. But I can say the foundations are real. The road through there is real, with an entrance and exit both gated. Weird stuff goes on in there. Animals go quiet in the area of the foundations, that's absolutely true. The cold air is also true, but I have noticed that in other wooded areas close to there, that also have a small creek. That creek is barely a small stream. There's no way fish could be in it now, so maybe it was bigger back then. But the river bed or washout, whatever you want to call it, isn't big, so I can't picture it being wide enough for fish ever. Plus, that hillside is steep, it's basically the backside of Mohawk Mtn, the local ski hill. Any water coming down that mountain is fast moving. There is a very large river at the bottom of the valley, the Housatonic River. It's more likely any tales of fishing were actually done in the Housy, not the dudleytown stream. The "Dark Entry" association keeps on real good watch on the 2 spots that give access in there, and they will call the state police, and they will press charges. There is no place to park on either spot, and each entrance is on a small dead end road, with no reason for anyone to be on. So the cops are notified before you even see the gate. I'm high school, we went in there multiple times. One dude took a rock out of one of the foundations, to keep like a souvenir. He crashed his car on the way home. Someone else picked up a rock and threw it to try to see if there were any wildlife near, because we heard nothing. His hand was ice cold for 2 days. Another guy rode a 4wheeler in there, crashed bad, and spent a couple weeks in the hospital. Those stories are 100% true, and there may be a perfect explanation for each one, but it still helps keep the ghost town story going. It's kind of a shame that it's posted propertie. It's really nice in there, especially in the fall. It would be a great hiking trail, especially with the Appalachian trail so close. It's really cool to see the okd stone foundations of the houses. They are small, but smaller can be better during the cold winters. I was always hoping I'd see a dudleytown story done by McBallen.

I’ve been there. I grew up in Danbury. Dudleytown was always a local legend.

Ive actually been to Dudley Town. Its not far from my home. It was late at night and between myself and what my friends have seen, the stories we could tell. Its terrifying and def super haunted.

For Cornwall residents, Dudleytown is nothing more than a beautiful forest in the southwestern part of town, one of the many breathtaking forests found here. *Dudleytown's residents include families who have lived there for generations without a single supernatural encounter. One resident, in fact, likes to tell the story of when she and her horse were mistaken for ghosts by a large group of trespassing ghost-hunters-the newspaper account the next day declared that she was a spectral figure and that her horse's hoofs never touched the ground.*

The part when he’s explaining how the wife was laughing like that gave me extreme chills

The extreme stories that lead into ads….are my favorite part of your videos

I'm a big fan of the show! Thank you for your great stories!

My dad’s coworker went there years ago and took a piece of stone from a crumbling building’s foundation. He brought it home and bad luck immediately fell upon him. His leg broke shortly after leaving Dudleytown , amongst other things. He got rid of the stone and he felt a weight lifted.

I’m not sure why, but this one scared the bejesus out of me. It’s almost midnight here (Philadelphia suburbs) Sunday night and I’m down stairs cooking some meals for the week. I must have looked over my shoulders 3 times and then when the dog came into the kitchen I jumped and yelled like a little girl hahaha. She’s looking at me like I’m crazy. Kudos Mr. Ballen for being able to scare a 40 year old man in his own home just by telling a story 😂. Love you content brother, keep up the great work. And congrats on the recent deal you landed. Seems very much deserved!

You are a great teller of stories. Thank you

Is Dudleytown anything like Dudleyville? Getting 3Ded through a table is a big danger there.

The silence after he said “the town is demonically possessed” with that photo is haunting.

...her mouth was open to an extent that's not humanly possible and her chest was pumping this demonic, loud, insane laughter.... this gave me goosebumps!

Randomly came across this video and it earned my like when the 'hello fresh' advertisment was seamlessly integrated within the story. I went from really anxious to rolling on the floor laughing all within five seconds.

You are a fantastic storyteller and I mean that as a serious compliment. I’m loving these videos!

Another great year coming up with Mr. Ballen blessing us with his tenacious story telling and for confirming where we should all NOT GO unless we want to experience guaranteed impending doom 😈😳 Happy NYE all!

I like how he's so serious up until the part where he talks about his sponsor and just does the most hilarious 20 second ad that you'll ever hear 😂

You have the best delivery I have heard outside of comedy! haha As a hunter/backpacker, the most dangerous thing you could run into in the woods is another person. How is it that ignorant city dwellers that fear the unknown(nature) always seem to be the ones that run into the paranormal? Whereas people who spent their entire lives in the woods never experience or spread baseless rumors. Great work as always!

Am i the only one here who truly enjoys this guys sponsorship messages lol

This is like the closest thing to a real life HP Lovecraft novel. Residents of a small town in the 1700's abandon it after several mysterious deaths or are driven insane by eldritch horrors.

I remember hearing about this place after the Blair Witch Project came out. The sad thing is, all the stories about ghosts and monsters are why the area is closed off -- so many people went there and decided to make a mark or snag a souvenir that the owners of the property closed it to the public and prosecute any trespassers as looters. :(

You literally do the best ad read and subscribe ask of any RU-vidr. Love your videos. You always make my day!

Holy crap, Mr Ballen has blown up. I remember him having only 300k subs. He deserves it

Just want to congratulate you, Mr. Ballen, on surpassing 7 million subscribers. You deserve it, man.

I was there, 52 years ago. Skeleton of dead horse in one of the foundations. A group stayed overnight and one guy wandered all night with his gun and if I remember correctly started firing. One committed suicide not too long after getting back, but obviously I don’t know if there is a connection. When we entered, the forest was SILENT, no birds, no noise.

I’m currently camping in a forest in Australia, alone, with a fever coming on. My head is absolutely pounding and swirling every time I move. Please don’t let me become a Mr Ballen story! This story definitely gave me the heebie jeebies. Thanks Mr. B! Happy New Year to you all!

I have actually been to Dudleytown. We got permission from the landowners, who walked us in and out. We got to see a bunch of cellar holes, the main street and we went into the cemetery, which was peaceful. The whole place is superhaunted. We heard people who weren't there and screams in the woods. Oh, and one guy who was in the group who knew the owners ended up pulling a knife out and was acting really, really weird and threatening us with it so the owners called the cops who came and arrested him. All in all, an interesting place to go to, minus the knife thing.

Absolutely intense. Well done sir- I’m going to continue to investigate. At home- not EVEN gonna think about going there. I will also donate. This show - storytelling Is the BEST for ppl like me who have trouble with focus- cant read for longer than 30 seconds without getting up to go do something else

This particular forest story was freakier than most. That ending 😬

This is the kind of original mrballin stories that hooked me back in the day of three, four, even five videos a week. Keep up the great work. 👍

It's weird he left his wife there. They lived in NY anyway. Surely you would just take her instead of leaving her in the middle of a forest by herself? Was there really a medical emergency, or was he doing something else?

i live two miles from dark entry road in cornwall and i can confirm his stories get spooky when they’re so close to home

Back in the 90's a friend I worked with told me about some guys he knew going to a place called Dudley town. This was well before there were ghost hunting TV shows. From what I remember they brought photo and video equipment and were planning to camp there overnight. The place was so active they abandoned their overnight plan. They captured pics of phantom figures, and they said the woods were full of light orbs.

Sounds like the perfect place for that rich Skinwalker Ranch guy and his science team to build their summer residence