Satan’s Kingdom Is a Real Village in Western Massachusetts

The folks who founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630 were religious fanatics. The Puritans, as they became known, escaped religious persecution in England. Disagreeing with their extreme religious views might have resulted in banishment.

Banishment was getting off easy for the early colonial settlers. If the Puritans suspected you were in cahoots with Satan, perhaps a witch, you might be burned alive.

So how is it then that there came to be a place called Satan's Kingdom, which still exists in Massachusetts? That's a good question.

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Mine is not the only inquiring mind in search of the answer. In recent years, the Boston Globe and WCVB-TV Channel 5's Chronicle program have done some digging, but no one has found a definitive answer.

Satan's Kingdom is an unincorporated village in Northfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts, near the Massachusetts border with Vermont.

Interestingly, there is also an unincorporated community named Satan's Kingdom in the town of Leicester in Addison County, Vermont, near the southern shore of Lake Dunmore.

Theories suggest the name Satan's Kingdom might have derived from particularly intense sermonizing that occurred in a Northfield church. Others say the village got its name from the dangerous wildlife in the area.

Satan's Kingdom was the scene of several battles in King Philip's War in the 1670s. Perhaps there lies a clue to the village's name origin.

Satan's Kingdom is not a census-designated or incorporated place having an official federally recognized name.

Satan's Kingdom is home to the Satan's Kingdom Wildlife Management Area, a 1,800-acre area set aside by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife for fishing, hiking, hunting and more.

It sounds like just the place to spend a day like Halloween.