Town file
Willington, Connecticut
Willington, Connecticut (Tolland County, Connecticut) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 433, "A Ghost With A Samurai Sword" (19 October 2023). Willington is a small town of about 5,000 people in Tolland County in north-eastern Connecticut, a wooded place about half an hour from Rhode Island, an hour from New Haven and an hour from Niantic.
- Town
- Willington
- County
- Tolland County
- State
- Connecticut
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 433
- Approximate location
- 41.897, -72.252
Episode 433 / 19 October 2023 / 170 min / full
A Ghost With A Samurai Sword
"We're going to Willington, Connecticut, nice little small town, northeastern Connecticut; this is in Tolland County." about 0:04:54
The case: Murder of Ted Demers (May 22 to 24, 2020); Murder of Nicholas Eisele (May 24, 2020). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2023
- Population
- 5,000
- Median age
- about 34
- Median household income
- $78,351
- Median home value
- $300,800
- Two-bedroom rent
- $1,460 per month
- Cost of living
- 105
- Religious
- 40%
- Property crime
- ▼ about half
- Violent crime
- ▼ about one third
History, in brief
- In 1720 eight men from England bought 16,000 acres of land and called the place Wellington. about 0:05:47
- It was named after Wellington in Somerset, the birthplace of one of the settlers' grandfathers. about 0:06:04
- When the town was incorporated in 1727 the name was written on the papers as Willington, and the misspelling stuck. about 0:06:17
- By 1845 the town had a thread mill, a cotton mill, three silk factories and four comb factories. about 0:07:11
- It also had button mills and a large glassworks producing flasks of various designs. about 0:07:32
The reviews read out
5 stars
"A cute small town but close to everything you need, with easy access to highways and shops in the surrounding areas."about 0:07:54
4 stars
"A really great town with nice people and places to go; not five stars because there are not many places nearby for clothes or grocery shopping, though there are many small family-run businesses and it feels rural."about 0:08:17
3 stars
"Boring, with not much to do besides spend time with family and friends."about 0:09:20
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Stafford, Connecticut6.6 miles
- Ellington, Connecticut10 miles
- Agawam, Massachusetts24 miles
- Chicopee, Massachusetts25 miles
- Foster, Rhode Island28 miles
- Simsbury, Connecticut30 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.