Ghosthunting Maryland. Michael J. Varhola
drowned while trying to get back into the diving vessel and, since then, there have been people who believe his desperate spirit haunts the top deck of USS Torsk, forever trying to get back into it.
PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II
Another ship in the Inner Harbor that has a reputation for being haunted is Pride of Baltimore II, an authentic reproduction of a nineteenth-century clipper topsail schooner that sails around the world as a goodwill ambassador for the city of Baltimore. Its predecessor, the Pride of Baltimore, was sunk in 1986 in a legendary white squall in the waters north of Puerto Rico, claiming the lives of four crew members, including Captain Armin Elsaesser.
Today, a monument at the Inner Harbor memorializes these four, who also include Engineer Vincent Lazarro, Carpenter Barry Duckworth, and Seaman Nina Schack. Some people also claim that the spirits of these four former crew members of the Pride of Baltimore now haunt the decks and cabins of Pride of Baltimore II, possibly with the benign intent of helping those who have followed in their footsteps.
There are numerous other historic vessels operating in the water in and around the Inner Harbor, including lightships, tugboats, and the unique local vessels known as skipjacks, and many of them also have fascinating stories associated with them—and reputations for being haunted by the ghosts of former crewmen.
Spotlight on Ghosts: Fort McHenry
Just across the Inner Harbor is Fort McHenry, the object of the battle immortalized in Francis Scott Key’s The Star-Spangled Banner, America’s national anthem. A symbol of freedom when it prevented British invasion during the War of 1812, the fort came to represent oppression to many pro-Southern Marylanders when the Federal government occupied it and used it to help maintain its grip over the local area during the Civil War.
With such history and passions associated with Fort McHenry, it should not be too surprising that it has also long had a reputation for being one of the most haunted sites in a very haunted city. Over the years, all sorts of paranormal activity have been reported at Fort McHenry, including sightings of spectral figures on its earthen ramparts, disembodied voices, footsteps in empty areas, spots of unnatural cold, and furniture that levitates and otherwise moves around. Some investigators have even postulated that the fort’s shape—that of a five-pointed star—has some occult significance and might play a role in the preponderance of supernatural events that have occurred at the site.
A number of specific ghost stories have also been associated with the site and recounted in numerous articles, television shows, and Internet postings.
One of these involves the ghost of U.S. Army Lieutenant Levi Clagett, who, along with some of his men, was killed when a bomb burst not in the air but in their gun emplacement. Numerous people have seen walking along the top of the star point sometimes known as “Clagett’s Bastion” both a spectral figure and a man dressed in a uniform appropriate to the period at times when no costumed people were present in the fort.
Another named ghost associated with the site is that of Private John Drew, a soldier who was reportedly confined in one of the fort’s cells after he was caught sleeping while on guard duty and who, in shame, killed himself. His specter has been seen both in his cell and on the ramparts where he walked his last post, forever trying to correct the mistake that ended his military career and his life.
Some of the most dramatic paranormal events at the fort involve attacks on people by what has been variously described as a woman, a white figure, and an invisible entity that has reportedly done such things as push some people down stairs and knock others unconscious. Some believe this spirit is that of the wife of a noncommissioned officer assigned to the fort whose children died during an epidemic in the 1820s.
One ghosthunting group that recently visited the site and experienced things there is Maryland Tri-State Paranormal. Founder Ana Bruder told me that while they were there, her friend Laura suddenly said, “I feel like I am being watched.” Ana, who is sensitive to the presence of spirits, turned and saw the ghost of a uniformed soldier staring at her friend, just one of several spirits she detected while at the site.
Numerous other ghost stories and episodes of paranormal activity have also been associated with the site.
Many of the accounts of ghostly activity at Fort McHenry were originally reported by park rangers assigned to the site, and that remained the case up until a couple of decades ago. Today, however, in what they say is an effort to keep the site from being regarded as a “haunted fort” and to instead emphasize the nonsupernatural history of the National Monument and Historic Shrine, the managers of Fort McHenry decline to directly comment on phenomena that are still regularly reported by visitors.
Potential ghosthunters should also expect to have anything they ask to do at the site be curtailed by red tape. A favored tactic at Fort McHenry is to require application of a “special use permit” for anything its managers don’t really want people to do—the major exception to this being, it would seem, historic reenactment, for which the site has become a virtual playground. The important thing to remember is that the site is public property and that very little of what is involved in most investigations should actually require any sort of permission anyway.
CHAPTER 2
Fells Point
SOUTHEAST BALTIMORE
The Horse You Came in On, a historic saloon frequented by Edgar Allan Poe, is one of many reputed to be haunted in the Fells Point neighborhood of Baltimore.
We have lots of different sorts of hauntings. Some people we think we know. Some we’ve no idea. And some we’ve raised glasses with ourselves. People we know have come back and haunted the pubs we saw them in when they were alive.
—Leanna Foglia, Baltimore Ghost Tours
BARS, BORDELLOS, AND BOARDING HOUSES. Those were the three “Bs” that were the hallmark of Maryland’s rowdiest seaport in the eighteenth century. That is where the action was and, not surprisingly, that is where ghosts are today, in the buildings that once housed those establishments. Many of those bars are now cozy pubs but they still harbor spirits, some dating back to Fells Point’s earliest days and others quite recent. Whether old or new, however, the spirits all have one thing in common: their attachment to this unique area was such that they were reluctant to move on and cross over.
Today, Fells Point is a neighborhood of Baltimore, but once it was a notorious town in its own right. Thanks to its charming waterfront location, its well-preserved Colonial-era row houses, and its narrow cobblestone streets, the once unruly seaport has been “discovered” and is well along in the process of gentrification.
Fells Point was founded in 1730 by its namesake, William Fell, who was drawn to the location by its deep water and proximity to agriculture and thick forests. It soon became a shipbuilding and commercial center. About 1763, William’s son Edward Fell laid out streets and began selling plots for homes. The town grew quickly and in 1797 incorporated with Baltimore Town and Jones Town to form the City of Baltimore. The area grew wealthy on the tobacco, flour, and coffee trades through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The history of Fells Point is intertwined with some of the most significant events in America’s history and some of the first vessels commissioned for the U.S. Navy were built in Fells Point shipyards. They included the USS Constellation, built in 1797 and now moored nearby at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. (See the separate chapter in this book on this haunted and historic vessel.) Ultimately, however, the town became best known for producing topsail schooners—known incorrectly as Baltimore clippers—which were justly renowned for their great speed and maneuverability. During the War of 1812, they were frequently used as privateer vessels to prey upon British shipping. They had a deadly effect on the British, but ultimately brought retribution and a unique humiliation to the young United States.
Armed with Letters of Marque and Reprisal issued by Congress, these privateers—many sailing out of Fells Point—captured or sank some seventeen hundred British merchant vessels during the three-year