A man says he was painting in a Connecticut cemetery when footsteps approached, then what sounded like an old radio started playing in the forest

Pavan is an art historian who has recently been exploring haunted cemeteries to paint the scenery. However, he went viral for a post that captured auditory phenomena that scared him. In an Instagram (painting.the.past) and TikTok (painting.the.past5) post with over a million views, he shared footage of sounds he couldn’t explain and asked his viewers if they had an explanation for the events.

The video began with him narrating over footage of his visit. Pavan told his viewers, “I’m painting the most haunted cemeteries in New England, and a bunch of people on Reddit told me to check out the Lands End Cemetery in Connecticut. And I s**** you not, I have never had weirder experiences.” He said that the first thing he heard was footsteps, and he initially dismissed it, thinking it was a bird. However, he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was coming towards him.

Pavan said that the next strange thing he heard was music and voices. “I kept hearing… it was like an old radio, but back there is just forest, right?” As he heard these things, he recorded the sounds for his audience, pointing out where they were coming from. Pavan said he thought that perhaps someone was messing with him. However, when he set up in a new spot, the footsteps repeated. “And then, I heard those… Yeah, those beeps… and I noped. I said nope.”

His viewers actually had a lot of theories

A lot of people familiar with the area noted that beyond the forest there was a construction site and schools. So, as one Instagrammer noted, “The footsteps are nail guns, probably on a roof. And the ‘Take Your Mark’ beep is 100% a swim meet sound, maybe a local pool is testing a new system?”

A lot of commenters agreed that the footsteps seemed to sound like a nail gun being used by a roofer. However, people had fewer theories about the radio playing, even though many identified the track as “Popeye’s song.” One user admitted that instead of running away in fear, they would have “walked towards the music.”

Many other users took to the comments to share their creepy or weird experiences at cemeteries. One person shared that they once heard muffled music while visiting a loved one, writing, “I found out that there are special caskets with built-in sound systems or speakers with bluetooth and playists etc.” Another shared a similar experience at their father’s gravesite where a toy or decoration played an off-beat “happy birthday” on repeat.

Another user speculated on the source of the sound by sticking to a spooky explanation, asking, “It sounds like parade music. Is it a cemetery full of veterans?” According to The Newtown Bee, Lands End Cemetery, which was established in 1748, is the final resting place for many veterans, including those from the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and World War II. However, there aren’t many legends or stories of the cemetery being haunted.

Per the Hartford Courant, Connecticut has many other cemeteries that are considered haunted. For instance, the Evergreen Cemetery in New Haven is associated with the legend of Midnight Mary, a woman allegedly buried alive, and the Union Cemetery in Easton is supposedly haunted by a White Lady. Then there is the Great Hill Cemetery, home to a ghost known as The Hookman.

Pavan hasn’t said if he has decided to go back, but the experience shook him enough that he described it as “HORRIFYING” in the post overlay.