Fall is many people’s favorite time of year, especially the month of October. Sandals and flip flops are put away for the season and boots come out to play. People who love pumpkin finally get to drink that pumpkin spice latte, and hot apple cider is back on menu boards. Of course, the highlight of the month is Halloween: costumes, creepy music, and of course spooky stories. Whether you watch scary movies, tell tales around the campfire, or read books there is always a tale waiting to keep you up at night.
Stories of any sort can be passed down through generations, stemming from old superstitions and beliefs. Some details get traded for dramatic effect or updated based on technological advancements and later understanding. Others are typically made up from the creativity and imagination of the mind. This year, from very own journalists to you, we share a few spooky stories from right here in Maryland.
The town of Burkittsville, home to fewer than 150 people, is known for two things: “The Blair Witch Project” and Spook Hill. This gravity defying hill has been delighting visitors and locals for decades. What makes it so spooky? Most will say that your car is being pushed by the ghosts of soldiers who died from a Civil War battle. It’s not your car they think they are pushing; its cannons. The story goes that Confederate soldiers had been pushing cannons uphill before a battle but were caught by the Union soldiers. They ran back downhill, but the cannons that took hours to push uphill, only took seconds to come back down and kill them. Their spirits linger, their unfinished mission waiting for completion.
Another ominous tale is the story of the snallygaster. A snallygaster is a mythical, dragon-like creature from American folklore, said to live in the skies and forests of Maryland and the surrounding area. This legend can be traced to the 1700s and German immigrants; it was also influenced by European dragon folklore and Native Americans stories. During the early 1900s, the myth was used to frighten freed slaves in western Maryland. The appearance of this creature is described to be a mix between bird and reptiles, including sharp claws, beak, and tentacles. You can also say this creature is a mixture between the Loch Ness monster, the Kraken, a gryphon, and the common European dragon. This is a nocturnal predator that swoops down to attack livestock and people. The snallygaster features in the popular annual beer festival in D.C; this festival raises money for the Arcadia Center, for Sustainable Food and Agriculture.
Finally, the Lord Baltimore Hotel is considered one of the most haunted hotels in the country. The ghost story of Lord Baltimore Hotel centers on a young girl named Molly and her parents. The story goes that during the Great Depression, a couple who jumped to their deaths from the 19th floor, leaving their daughter, Molly, abandoned. In some iterations, Molly also jumps. This little girl can be seen frequently in a cream colored dress, sometimes holding a red ball while the ghost of her dancing parents can be seen in the ballroom. On top of this tragic story the hotel is also associated with general paranormal activity with objects moving on their own and mysterious occurrences in the elevators. This paranormal activity happens mostly on the 19th floor. Guests report TV’s turning on and off, seeing strange women in their rooms, being touched by unseen hands inside the elevator, and items going missing or being moved.
Many of these chilling tales are up for debate; lots are torn between the existence of ghosts and hauntings. Whether or not you believe in these paranormal stories is up to you, but they do make for some story time fun!
