In the area of Groton Bank, there is one old story that is still retold 230 years after it occurred. In the fall of 1781, at the height of the Revolutionary War, British troops led by turncoat Benedict Arnold approached the coast of Groton and New London and Forts Griswold and Trumbull. Brave men from Groton and surrounding areas rushed to Fort Griswold to defend their home, but were overtaken by the invaders, who then massacred many of those who surrendered.

"I think it was such a traumatic event in the area, both in the massacre that happened at Fort Griswold and the burning of New London, it's really had a long-standing effect on the psychology of the area," said Leslie Evans, a Groton Bank resident. She is also director of the Avery-Copp House, a historic home turned into a museum that celebrates Groton's history from the Victorian Era through industrialization, the Great Depression and the World Wars.

More than two centuries later, this area of Groton, with its steep neighborhoods and formerly thriving downtown district on the Thames River waterfront, is active with the memories and tales of ghosts of the traumas of the past, according to residents.

So when the Avery-Copp House decided to host its first Ghosts of Groton Bank guided tour of haunted sites, Evans was not surprised by the "phenomenal" response and interest.

"We found the more we talked to people about the idea of doing a tour, (the more) people would tell us a story," said Evans. "People are very interested in haunted happenings, but we didn't want to trivialize those stories or make them silly or gory."

The tour was scheduled for one weekend, but because of the great amount of interest, a second weekend of tours was added and there are plans to make it an annual tradition.

The tour, which was held at dusk, began at the Avery-Copp House, where neighbors have claimed to see fleeting images of people walking past windows when the museum is closed and empty, and employees have long experienced eerie feelings of being watched or have heard footsteps in the upper levels when no one else was in the house, although Evans says no one has ever felt unsafe or that the spirits are in any way hostile.

Other locations included the Bill Memorial Library, where voices and footsteps have been heard and objects have moved on their own; the Mother Bailey House, where noises reminiscent of the house's history as a tavern have been heard; Fort Griswold, which has the gruesome history that is the source of many haunting legends in the area.

"We realized quite a few of them do revolve around Fort Griswold, maybe that's to be expected because it was such an important and tragic event here," said Evans.

She believes haunted activity is to be expected in a place where there was traumatic and untimely death.

"I think that there's some connection (with) that ... the people who died there who died before their time, (and) not only the defenders, but there's something about the British soldiers who came across the seas, probably against their will, and died in a foreign land," she said.

One story of a haunting related to the battle stems from an incident that occurred after the massacre, when British soldiers were taking surviving American soldiers from the battlefield to the waterfront to be held on their ships as prisoners of war. Soldiers were being loaded onto a large cart at the top of a steep hill near what is today Latham and Fort streets when the heavy cart broke away from the British soldiers who were attempting to control it, careening down the hill before crashing into an apple orchard on Thames Street at what is today Fort Street Landing. The cries and screams of the soldiers could be heard throughout the area and even across the river in New London. Today, residents of the area claim to still hear echoes of faint screaming followed by a large crash, as if from the run away carriage, but find the streets empty.

It is these sort of stories, Evans said, that can be entertaining, but also provide residents and visitors with factual history of the area.

"The more we talked about it, the more we realized you could incorporate all kinds of architectural history and maritime history. ... There are people in our neighborhood who don't know anything about Fort Griswold, which is why we like to do these things," said Evans. "The more people value (these places), of course the more willing they are to take steps to preserve them. It does still matter a great deal."

J.HOPPER@THEDAY.COM

TWITTER: @JESSHOPPA