Machimoodus State Park

About Machimoodus State Park

While works of mine such as “Machimoodus Dreamscape” may impart a feeling of serenity, they can only begin to convey the unique history of Machimoodus State Park that comes down to us from some of Connecticut’s earliest inhabitants.

Long before Europeans guided their ships into Long Island Sound for the first time, Native Americans that inhabited the area of modern-day Moodus knew the land as “Matchemadoset”, “Matchitmoodus” or “Machimoodus”…all English attempts at spelling the same Native American name, which translates variously as “Place of Noises” or “Place of Bad Noises”. Local natives, and perhaps even distant surrounding tribes, fervently believed that the loud sounds heard emanating from the Earth at Machimoodus were the rumblings of the bad spirit, Hobomocko. Seeking to appease this mischievous god, Native Americans routinely convened in the area of present-day Moodus (a village of East Haddam) to make offerings and conduct spiritual consultations.

Supernatural powers are no longer attributed to these noises; modern scientists have determined that they are the audible result of micro-earthquakes. Nonetheless, the unmistakeable sounds are still reportedly heard and called “The Moodus Noises” to this day.