'Ghost town' in East Haddam sells for $1.9 million

Courtesy: Auction.com

Abandoned for 20 years, the Village of Johnsonville in East Haddam now has a new, unidentified owner, who placed a winning bid Thursday of $1.9 million at Auction.com.

Competition between six registered bidders lead to a winning offer of $1.9 million during a commercial property auction that ended at about 1:20 p.m. on Thursday.

Bidding opened at $800,000, and jumped from $1.2 million to the top bid during the last half hour of the auction.

Confidentiality agreements may keep hidden the identity of the owner, along with any intentions for the parcel, until after the closing is complete.

Haunted houses: buy your own ghost town for $800,000

The spooky abandoned village of Johnsonville is about to be sold, ghosts and all. We investigate the ruins

New lease of life: the pretty town in Connecticut is awaiting a new owner to restore it

It's no accident that the village of Johnsonville, Connecticut, is going up for sale over Hallowe'en. The place is a ghost town.

Of course, it wasn't always so. Back in the 1830s, this was a thriving little hamlet. It was home to the Neptune Twine Company, who harnessed the water power of the Moodus River to produce rope for the US fishing industry.

Gradually, though, demand for Neptune products slowly ebbed away. By the Sixties, the entire population had moved out, and the once-busy town had become a dried-up, abandoned shell.