By Joseph Citro, author of Weird New England
 Windham, Connecticut has a most unusual town seal: a bullfrog. Odd in itself, but their new bridge over the Willimantic River features four giant statues of frogs—each 12-feet tall and weighing a solid ton. Each sitting atop an oversized spool of thread.
What?
At first glance this seems like weirdness on top of weirdness. The thread, of course, denotes the city's history of thread making. But what’s with the giant bullfrogs? Well, it all began just over 250 years ago. During the summer of 1758 Windham was suffering a terrible drought. At the same time they were anticipating an attack by French and Indian forces from Canada.
Probably no one was sleeping too soundly that dry, dark, dismal night in July when, just after midnight and following a long stillness, the citizens were roused from their beds by a frightful caterwauling that seemed to fill the stifling air. Most took cover fearing infuriated Indians. But the volume of the unfamiliar and disturbing dissonance increased to the point that people became convinced the day of judgment might be upon them. Many took to their knees, expecting at any moment to hear the blaring trumpets of Armageddon. Certain individuals swore they heard the names of townsfolk being called: “Dyer! Dyer!” “Elderkin! Elderkin!”
Because Colonels Dyer and Elderkin were prominent local lawyers, the general terror increased. People of all ages fled into the streets, peering skyward, expecting to meet their maker. Others, less religiously inclined, loaded their muskets preparing for an onslaught of Indians. These armed citizens mounted a hill at the eastern side of the village, from which the sound seemed to be coming. What would they meet on the far side? Indians? Angels? Demons from the very bowels of hell?
By morning the solution was all too clear…and without an exchange of bullets and thunderbolts. A certain mill pond––forever after to be known as Frog Pond––had nearly fallen victim to the prevailing drought. A seemingly endless population of bullfrogs had apparently been fighting over what little water remained.
As John Warner Barber wrote in his 1836 book, Connecticut Historic Collections, “Long and obstinately was the contest, and many thousands of the combatants were found dead on both sides of the ditch the next morning.”
While the townsfolk had been fearing world’s end or preparing to combat imaginary Indians, the local frogs had been battling over water. Hmmm. Perhaps we can judge a civilization by its frogs after all.
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