Haunted Appalachian Trail: Maryland's Ghosts

Crampton's Gap

Maryland is the only place along the entire Appalachian Trail corridor where the AT passes through a major Civil War battlefield: The Battle of South Mountain.  Also known as the Battle of Boonsboro Gap, it was fought on September 14, 1862.  Three battles were fought for possession of three mountain passes: Crampton's, Turner's and Fox's Gaps.  McClellan needed to pass through these gaps in his pursuit of Lee's Army.  By dusk Crampton's Gap lost and his position at Fox's and Turner's Gap precarious, Lee ordered his men to withdraw.  The Union casualties totaled 2,325: 443 killed, 1,807 wounded and 75 missing.  The confederate casualties totaled 2,685: 325 killed, 1,560 wounded and 800 missing.  Today hikers claim to have heard ghostly canon fire and see phantom fires and ghost soldiers in the woods along South Mountain.

You can listen to recordings of an EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena)
from the area of Crampton's Gap:
Crampton's Gap EVP 001
Crampton's Gap EVP 002

Spook Hill

Near the area of Crampton's Gap is an area referred to as Spook Hill.  At Spook Hill, the Union Army managed to push back the Confederate Artillery in the area.  Not willing to allow their canons to fall into enemy hands, the Confederates began pushing their canons up the road.  Now, if you stop and put your car in neutral, the ghosts of those Confederates will push your car up the hill.  Some claim that if you coat your trunk with flour, ghostly hand prints will appear.  During an investigation of the area, we did witness the phenomena as our car did seem to move uphill on its own.  We had plans to use a level to determine if the area was creating an optical illusion and the road actually slopped downhill rather than uphill.  However, the traffic along that stretch of road was heavy and fast, and it was unsafe to attempt any type of measurements on the road.

Daniel Wise Farm

Daniel Wise Farm

At Fox's Gap, a man named Daniel Wise lived in a house with his two children.  Because Fox's Gap was the focal point of the South Mountain Battle, Daniel Wise and his family fled to a nearby church.  During the battle, Wise's home was used as a hospital by the Union Army.  Legend says that the Union Army paid Daniel Wise $5 per body to bury the dead.  It was said that Wise dumped 58 Confederate bodies down a well.  However, it was actually the Union Army that dumped the bodies in the well.  The bodies remained there for 12 years until they were re-interred in the Confederate Cemetery in Hagerstown.  It's said that today, you can still hear the loud thuds of the bodies hitting the bottom of the well.

The Washington Monument

The first monument to honor George Washington to be completed is located in the Washington Monument State Park.  The rocks in the area below the monument contain a maze of caves.  During the Civil War, a young solider stopped at a farm to get a drink from the well.  He met the landowner's daughter and they fell in love.  The girl begged him to leave the war so he deserted and the two ran away and hid in the caves.  While hiding there, a rockslide trapped them inside where they died.  Today people can hear their cries as they continuously try to escape their tomb.

Old South Mountain Inn

Located along Route 40, the Old South Mountain Inn has stood since 1732.  In 1755, General Braddock and Lieutenant George Washington marched the army past on their way to battle the French and Indians near Fort Duquesne.  The Inn served as wagon stand and stagecoach stop and in 1859, John Brown's followers held the Inn overnight as an outpost and staging point.  In 1862, General D.H. Hill used the Inn as his headquarters during the Battle of South Mountain.  The Old South Mountain Inn was sold in 1876 to Madeleine Dahlgren who used it as her private residence.  Madeleine enjoyed entertaining guests and often had friends stay the night.  One night, her guest opened her bedroom window and dozed in the rocking chair near the window.  She woke up to eery quiet and a strange glow.  She moved to the window and looked out and saw a glowing figure about 50 yards from the house floating above the road.  The apparition was taller than any human she had ever seen.  Terrified, she slammed the shutters closed and hid under the covers.  A few nights later, another guest was staying in the same room when she too noticed a strange light.  She went to look out the window and saw the same large glowing figure.  The woman ran to get her friend Madeleine and together they watched as the figure unfurled gigantic luminous wings.  The women slammed the shutters closed and knelt down and began praying.  Though Madeleine Dahlgren died in 1884, some say she is still in residence at the Old South Mountain Inn.  The current owner tells of seeing a "flash of something" in the attic while she was searching for holiday decoration, and they also say that Madeleine saved her beloved house.  One evening, the cleaning man was staying late waiting on a delivery.  He noticed that a door that is always kept shut had come open, and through the open door he smelled smoke.  The rear of the Inn was engulfed in flames.  The man called 911 and the Inn was saved.  It's believed that Madeleine opened the locked door to save her home.  Other phenomena have been experienced in the Inn as well.  People tell of seeing phantom soldiers inside and around the grounds outside of the Inn.  There are doors that shake as though someone is trying to open them, and voices and footsteps that come from empty rooms.  During a night of investigating, I stopped at the Old South Mountain Inn and pulled into the parking lot.  There were portable toilets along the back of the parking lot and as I sat there in my car, I heard the distinct sound of one of the port-a-potty doors slamming shut.  The spooky part was that all the port-a-potties were visible and there was not a soul to be seen.

Gathland State Park

George "Gath" Townsend was a journalist and a novelist who built an estate on what is now known as Gathland State Park.  Mr. Townsend, who used the pen name "Gath", built the first War Correspondant's Memorial on the property.  Gath had a tomb erected on the estate grounds though it went unused as he died in New York and was buried in Philadelphia. Today his ghost still haunts the property.  Mr. Townsend's footsteps can be heard in the area of his former home.

The Purple Church

Built in the 1880's, this abandoned church in the area of Crampton's Gap was once the site of Satanic rituals in the 1980's.  Many claim that the church is haunted.  During an investigation, we were able to get an EVP at the church. 

Purple Church EVP

Hoarders: Haunting Edition

This photo from the common domain and not from any actual investigation footage

 I recently conducted an investigation at a home that was experiencing several different phenomena: Feelings of being watched, hearing footsteps, doors closing on their own, dogs barking and growling at things no one can see, photo of a dark shadow and scratches appearing on body parts.  The house was built in the 1930's and owned by the same family until about 4 years ago.  The house changed hands when the original owner's son passed away suddenly and the house was auctioned.  Further research showed that the man who passed away was a hoarder and a recluse who died of an apparent heart attack and was actually dead for a few days prior to being discovered.

During our investigation, there was an overwhelming heavy oppressive feeling throughout the main level of the home.  In the upstairs area that had recently been renovated, the atmosphere was much lighter and more comfortable.  While we do not readily accept orbs as strong evidence of a haunting, we did see several orb-like anomalies on the IR cameras that only occurred in the rooms with high levels of activity.  We were able to get several EVP's that lead us to believe that the former owner was the spirit haunting the home.  This included one EVP that said its name was that of the former homeowner. Additionally, we felt that this man did not realize that he had died (based on a couple of EVP responses) and he was upset with the fact that his things had been disposed of and his house undergoing some renovations.

Because a house that is hoarded can trap energy, the home was holding onto a large amount of negativity which was creating the oppressive feelings.  The current homeowner was looking to clear the house of the negative energy.  The best way to do this in this type of situation is by regular house cleansings with sage.   In a situation where a former owner was a hoarder, doing a "spring cleaning" prior to the sage ceremony is beneficial.  Cleaning out any clutter in the home, opening the windows and burning sage in each room while firmly telling the spirit that the home was no longer theirs was the recommended way to deal with this situation.  Repeating the cleansing on a regular basis was strongly recommended. 

After our investigation, the homeowner did say things seemed to have quieted down.  Perhaps learning that he had passed away and that the new homeowners had nothing but respect for his house helped settle down the spirit. 

Movie Review- The Conjuring

Theatrical Release Poster

The plot of the movie The Conjuring deals with events that took place in Rhode Island in the early 1970's in the home of Carolyn and Roger Perron. Mr. and Mrs. Perron along with their 5 daughters were terrorized to the point that Ed and Lorraine Warren (of Amityville Horror fame) were called in. 

The beginning portion of the movie outlines those hauntings and the subsequent investigation by the Warrens.  This was the most believable and enjoyable part of the movie.  It was full of suspense, the typical shots where everything is quiet and you just know something will be popping out or showing up in a mirror without notice. I'd have to say the most chilling moment in the movie was a scene where Christine, one of the daughters, has her foot pulled by an unseen entity.  She wakes her sister Nancy who she shares the room with and tells Nancy she sees a man standing by the door.  Nancy goes to the door to investigate and sees nothing though Christine keeps saying there's a man there.  The door eventually slams shut. It's scenes like this that really freak a person out.  You've either experienced something similar or have heard stories.  Because the scene is so simple and you don't actually see the man, your imagination fills in the gaps.  Believe me, my imagination scares me more than anything Hollywood does to spell things out.  And therein lies my big complaint about this movie:  Hollywood. 

Apparently, demons sell movie tickets and bring in TV ratings because that seems to be what all the paranormal based shows and movies are about now.  It's old.  I've seen the levitating people, I've seen the people flying around a room, taking on demonic appearances, Holy Water being sprayed and crucifixes.  I've heard the Rite of Exorcism so many times on TV I think I can recite it myself without it in front of me.  It's like the boy who cried wolf.  Hearing how every haunting is demonic desensitizes you to it.  "Oh, that guy got possessed? Yeah, been there done that AND saw the reruns."  So while the first half of the movie entertained and kept me in suspense, the last bits made me laugh.  In fact, the 3 of us who went together who all investigate the paranormal, laughed.  And that's a shame, because the events that happened in the movie at the end could have possibly actually happened to that family and Hollywood cheapened it.

So to sum it up, the first half was great- lots of scares, suspense and a peek into old investigation techniques.  The last half- way too exaggerated leaning towards unbelievable.  So Hollywood, if you're listening and you're thinking of doing another Warren investigation turned movie, stick with the truth and don't over dramatize.  Trust me when I say the actual events are scary all on their own- scarier than anything you make up because they happened.

Overall, if you enjoy scarey movies, I'd recommend seeing this one in theaters.  As a paranormal investigator, I'd give it 7 out of 10 stars.  My daughter (who ended up sleeping in my room after seeing it) and her friend (who cried) would probably say as a regular Joe, it's more like 8 out of 10, maybe 9.  So go see it and let me know what you think.

Resoultions... and creepy girls

So I know, I am slacking in the blogging department. But, as the title suggests, I am resolving to fix that in the new decade... Luckily, I had something interesting happen this weekend that involved my 3 year old sensitive son and my aunt's haunted house.

My aunt's house in the Shenandoah Mountains has always had weird things going on. I love to visit her house. There are a few possible reasons why her house might be haunted. Her husband's, my uncle's, first wife died in the house many years ago. There was also a boy killed in the backyard near the shed. Apparently it was considered an accidental death that happened while he and another boy were wrestling. There are some who question how accidental it was. I'm sure there are ties to the Civil War and Native Americans also, though I can't say specifically what those ties are. Needless to say, there have been sightings of Civil War soldiers, a little girl, shadow figures, an old woman and chanting has been heard (this is where the Native American thought came in).

As I mentioned in my earlier blog about Ethan's "ability", he has seen a girl there, and he has been concerned over something he saw in the hallway near the doorway of one of the bedrooms... that is where this story begins (cue dramatic organ music and creepy laughing).
This past weekend we were all gathered at my aunt's for our family Christmas. Several family members were seated in the living room area eating and as I was getting ready to eat myself when I heard them asking Ethan what was the matter. He said he saw a girl. Immediately I asked him what he saw and he said he saw a girl go in the bedroom that my grandmother sleeps in. My dad asked what color hair she had and Ethan said black (even after other colors were brought up, he insisted it was black). Kelly (my cousin and investigative cohort) looked at each other. Our Uncle's first wife had black hair. Of course I had my camera and digital recorder with me- just in case- so we decided to check it out. Ethan was a little freaked out and wanted us to see what was going on. In the bedroom he proceeded to tell us that the girl was playing with my grandmother's puzzle and then went out the window. I questioned him some more and even tried to throw him off a bit but he was insistent, even getting angry with me- the girl was playing with the puzzle and went out the window. During one EVP session, we heard a tapping noise coming from the dresser. We were unable to get it to repeat itself, but we were all in agreement it came from the dresser in the corner. We did manage to get some EVP in the room that I hope to get on the website soon (my other resolution).

An interesting thing happened while we were listening to our EVP recordings. Several people heard the door knob on the door move and when we looked down the hall, the door was cracked open. My sister said she was sure she had shut it and I remember hearing the door close tight against the door jamb.

Ethan has been sleeping in my room ever since.