“Whether you believe in ghosts, apparitions and poltergeists or not, the fact that Maryland's public lands have experienced more than their fair share of tragedy and unexplained phenomena is undisputable." - Dorcas Coleman
“A figure appears ahead of you on the edge of a clearing. It is of a man, bearded, ragged and gaunt. As he draws nearer, you can see that his cheeks are sunken and eyes hollowed, giving the impression they might rattle around in his
head like marbles in a box. His clothes – what's left of them – appear to be homespun, of wool, too heavy to be the type normally worn on a warm late summer day. He wears boots, dusty, the leather cracked, and his gait is loose, as if he has been walking for a long time. A canteen is slung across his shoulder. A belt that would normally sit at the waist hangs precariously from sharply angled hips. You find yourself staring and expect to make eye contact as he passes, but he continues to look straight ahead, seemingly oblivious to your presence. As he passes, you catch a whiff of a musty, humus-like scent intermingled with
gunpowder.”
“Whether you believe in ghosts, apparitions and poltergeists or not, the fact that Maryland's public lands have experienced more than their fair share of
tragedy and unexplained phenomena is undisputable. And Point Lookout State Park,
located at the southernmost tip of Maryland's western shore, undoubtedly has the
most grisly history of any of the state's parks,” wrote Dorcas Coleman, author of “Who’s Afraid of Ghosts?” a story that originally appeared in the Fall 2001 issue of The Natural Resource Magazine, now resurrected for Halloween 2016.
An eerie tale claims that if you drive along the road to the Soldier’s Delight Natural Environment Area, an old battle site dating from the 1600's, you can put your car in neutral at the bottom of the hill and the ghosts will push your car up the hill, believing they are pushing cannons.
Legend has it that a family spent their Christmas holiday at the Deep Creek Lake resort area. Among the Christmas gifts was a snowmobile for Dad. Excited, he
called his friends and six men ventured out on the ice-covered lake on Christmas
Day. The lake’s icy surface was deceiving however, and it wasn’t long before their snowmobiles crashed through the ice into the frigid waters. Six men went into the lake that day, and only three survived. In the meantime, the man’s wife had begun to worry, because he did come home for dinner. She was about to panic when there was a knock at the door. There stood her husband, shivering all over and drenched to the bone. She reached out to touch him and he melted away. Just then a police officer came up to the door and reported her husband’s accidental death. He had drowned in Deep Creek Lake on Christmas Day.
Hereford Area - Legend has it that in the early 1800’s a couple and their seven children lived along the Gunpowder River. When the husband took off with another woman, his wife began to resent her youngest child. The only boy in the family, her husband had doted on him, plus her son clearly resembled his father. One dark and stormy night when the children were sound asleep, she took the boy from his bed, walked him down to the river and held his head underwater until he
drowned. If you visit this area at dusk and listen closely, you just might hear
voices in the woods, a child’s scream. Some have even reported seeing a small boy running along the path.
Rocks State Park
Rocks has 855 acres of dense forests and soaring natural rock outcrops that
provide breathtaking views of the Deer Creek valley and the rolling hills of
Harford County. Once a ceremonial gathering place of the Susquehannock Indians,
the massive boulders known as the King and Queen Seats sit high above Deer
Creek. Tales of the rivalry between a Susquehannock King, Lone Wolf, and fellow
tribesman, Bird that Flies High, for the Love of Fern Shaken by the Wind end in
tragedy, when Lone Wolf shoves Bird over the cliff in a jealous rage. On certain
fall nights when the moon is waning, spirits of these native Americans return
and can be seen deep in the waters of Deer Creek, or soaring high above the
rocky outcrops.
"Witch’s Rock" AKA Chrome Hill Rock: On All Hollow’s Eve, at least one unsuspecting traveler will get spooked while driving along Chrome Hill Road in Rocks State Park, for that is the night the “coven of witches” returns to the area they used for their unholy ceremonies in the 1700’s. One spooky tale has it that a couple drove by Witch’s Rock one Halloween evening and saw their names painted on the rock. Frightened, they drove quickly home. Returning the next day they found moss growing over the rock where their names had mysteriously appeared the night before. Apparently many other people have had the same experience. Close by is the “Mine Old Fields,” known for its Pyrite, or Fool’s Gold and sometimes called the “Devil’s Stomping Ground.”
Within the borders of Rosaryville State Park, is a restaurant which was once
part of the Mount Airy Plantation and is one of the most historic homes in all
of Maryland. Once the home of the fifth Lord Baltimore, visitors over the years
have included such notables as Presidents Washington, Hoover, Taft, Coolidge and
Wilson. A number of ghosts are rumored to visit still. In fact, during the
building’s restoration the contractors refused to work on the house after dark. The London Society for Psychical Research visited the home in the 1930’s and claimed to have detected the ghost of Elizabeth Bresco Calvert haunting the mansion in searching of her missing jewels. Many claim there are rooms in this
house where candles will not stay lit and doors appear to open and close on their own. Among the spookier tales is that of Miss Eleanor Calvert, who reportedly always kept her front parlor locked. Upon her death, that is the very room where her body was laid out on the night before her burial service. But the next morning, the doors to the parlor were locked and visitors were forced to break in. Inside the room on a table next to Miss Calvert’s coffin they found the keys to the parlor doors.
On top of South Mountain is the first monument built to honor George Washington. A system of caves can be found among the rocky crag below the monument. Late at night, distressing cries for help might be heard both at the monument site and
from the valley below. These cries are said to be coming from a young Civil War
soldier and a local young lady. Having fallen desperately in love, the soldier
deserted his post and the couple hid in the maze of caves to escape the dangers
of war. As luck would have it, they were buried alive by a rock slide that cut
off their way out of the caves. Could the calls for help be coming from the
young lovers entombed in the cave? Many think so.
South Mountain is often overlooked by the Civil War novice, overshadowed by the atrocities of the Battle of Antietam, which took place three days later and
resulted in a loss of 23,000 men. As battles go, it was not one of the larger
ones, with approximately 13,000 Confederates and 36,000 Federals involved. Nor
was it one of the costliest, with about 2,900 casualties for the South versus
2,340 for the North -- roughly the same number as the Battle of First Manassas.
The battle's significance is in the fact that the Army of Northern Virginia's
first campaign north was stopped not at Antietam, but here in the rugged
mountain gaps of South Mountain.
Confederate soldiers marched along Gathland Road toward
Burkittsville on the way to the Battle for Crampton’s Gap. As it came about, they camped one evening so close to the Union army that only one large hill
separated the enemy forces. Under the cover of darkness, the confederate troops
pushed their heavy cannons up the hill. Their commander wanted them in battle
position before dawn. Alert Union scouts discovered the secret movements and the
Union army descended on their enemy at once. Fleeing for their lives, the
Confederate soldiers ran from the battle and their abandoned cannon rolled down
the hill much faster than they had been pushed up. People believe this area
remains haunted by those who died there and if you put your car into neutral at
the bottom of the hill, it will mysteriously climb the hill on its own. The
Confederate soldiers are still trying to push their cannon up the hill. Want
proof? Put baby powder on the back bumper of your car and see if you find the
soldiers’ handprints.
Pocomoke State Forest is filled with spirits and strange sightings. Tales
of the “The Old Tree” and “Hanging Hole” include ghostly werewolf creatures,
spirits roaming on moonlit nights, and pacts made with the devil. But perhaps
the spookiest story surrounds the old Nazarene Church, where now all that
remains of the parish is an abandoned cemetery. The story goes that after the
original church was closed and boarded up, a large Bible was left on the pulpit.
Every time someone tried to steal it - and many tried - they didn’t get very
far. For even if they managed to lift the heavy Bible and start towards the
door, the Bible got heavier and heavier and heavier, until the thief dropped it
on the floor and ran.
