Many local businesses are named after frogs.
Even the towns official seal has a frog in it.
Everyday there were new rumors of massacre and bloodshed.
The paranoia was extreme.
One of the frogs on Thread City Crossing, also known as Frog Bridge in Willimantic, Connecticut.
Many thought that the Indians were upon them.
Some thought they were the trumpets of Judgment Day.
Others heard drums beating in the air.
Some terrified villagers even thought they could hear the sound of names being called out.
The men armed themselves with guns and knives and began running helter-skelter.
Some began firing into the darkness.
It was only at dawn, the true cause of the noise was revealed.
Upon this small body of water, the villagers found the carcasses of hundreds of bullfrogs.
Windham was under a severe drought for some time and every available source of water had dried up.
This tiny pond was the last remaining.
The ruckus they created was mistaken to be that of a marauding army of Indians and the villagers panicked.
The pond, which was formerly known as Follett’s Pond, was renamed Frog Pond.
Banknote produced by the Windham Bank featured two frogs, one which is dead.
In 1857, William Lawton Weaver compiled a 48-page booklet about the event where he offered his own interpretation.
So if the frogs did not have a fight, what caused them to make such a terrible outcry?
Frog Bridge in Willimantic, Connecticut.
