Carl 'Great' Barrington Memorial

In rural northwest Connecticut within the quiet village of East Canaan, is a small rock on the side of Lower Road. Most people probably won’t even notice it’s there but if you know what to look for and take a moment to see, there’s a small plaque on the rock which describes a truly out of the world story. 

Allegedly in 1739, a local man named Carl “Great” Barrington was killed when a meteor roughly the size of a Kia Sorento SUV hit him leaving behind a limestone crater still visible today. There’s very little information available to confirm the authenticity of the account, however there’s a very large crater shaped limestone quarry right down the road and Connecticut does have a history of meteor falls most notably the Weston Meteorite which crashed in 1807 and helped pioneer meteor science in the United States. These factors might lend some credence to the story of Carl Barrington however it’s also entirely possible it’s a tall tale or perhaps a hoax.