The Melonheads of Trumbull, Connecticut
Trumbull, Connecticut is like any other New England suburb. It has a local post office, library, gas station, grocery store, and melonheads. Melonheads? Yes, melonheads. They live right on Velvet Street, also known as Dracula Drive to the local residents. Located off of Judd Road, Dracula Drive goes through thick woods, a very narrow street more commonly seen in horror movies like “Friday the 13th Part 2”, which was filmed just north of Trumbull in New Preston. But the Melonheads do not even live in homes as we know it. Rather, they live in the natural rocky caves that form naturally in the western part of Connecticut. What are these creatures called melonheads?
Many believe they are the failed genetic experiment of a mad scientist many decades ago. There have been sightings of small, thin individuals with oversized heads not unlike those of reputed aliens, wandering the woods on Velvet Street. There is only one house located on the desolate road, perhaps the building where those experiments once took place. It has also been said this house used to be an asylum for the mentally ill which saw a fire, and some missing patients who were apparently clever enough to leave and run to safety.
Another theory has it that a family whose members all had hydrocephaly lived at the single house on Velvet Street and passed on a unique gene to their ancestors that gave them such a startling appearance. While no melonheads have ever been photographed – they are fast moving and evasive, going to extreme lengths to avoid contact with the outside world, stories of these people still circulate in Trumbull and nearby communities. It has even been said that the melonheads of Trumbull will sneak over the city line to meet with the faceless people of Monroe, to provide company to another group of social misfits. Sharing a meal, singing and dancing deep in the woods where they could be safe seemed to be a great way to appreciate life to some degree, no matter how simple it was.
Should a stranger innocently drive or walk down Velvet Drive and come face to face with a melonhead, however, that person’s fate was sealed: a melonhead had the propensity to strangle and consume the flesh of the roadside traveler. Naturally, this scared away many people who would otherwise drive down Velvet Street which connected to another city road. If they did drive down past the home of the melonheads, they would keep their doors locked, and windows rolled tight. Driving at night was a no no since residents would be too fearful of these creatures who roamed freely during the wee hours of the morning.
The only people brave enough to venture onto Velvet Road then later brag about it to their friends were local teens. Of course, sometimes they would claim to have seen a melonhead, or even quickly snap a photo of a fleeing creature. Sometimes the curiosity seekers would just scream and run after encountering a melonhead, fearful of being eaten alive. For now, though, Velvet Road is quiet, but if you do decide to drive down to find any melonheads, make sure your car doors are locked tight with the windows up so you won’t be dragged through an open window by one of these creature’s powerful claws.
Image Credit: Kate Geruntho Frank, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
