Vengeful ghosts, sea monsters, and America's most haunted lighthouse figure prominently in this collection of eerie in tales from the Old Line State. From the rugged Appalachian Mountains, to the metropolitan center of Baltimore, to the Atlantic Coast come a variety of stories and legends, including Dorchester County’s Suicide Bridge, Fort McHenry’s gruesome hanging ghosts, and a sea captain’s widow whose sad wailing can still be heard coming from her final resting place in the family graveyard.

The story behind this book begins in 1876, when, the author, a widow from Washington Society, purchased the old South Mountain Inn in Maryland and transformed it into a private summer residence. Madeleine Dahlgren fell in love with South Mountain House and the fascinating local legends and lore of the surrounding townsfolk.

Features . . . * Bigfoot * Sea Serpent Chessie * The Snarly Yow * The Bunnyman * Other stange beasts, including goatmen, swamp monsters, and others

This is a definitive account of the land and the people of Old Monocacy in early Frederick County, Maryland. The outgrowth of a project begun by Grace L. Tracey and completed by John P. Dern, it presents a detailed account of landholdings in that part of western Maryland that eventually became Frederick County. At the same time it provides a history of the inhabitants of the area, from the early traders and explorers to the farsighted investors and speculators, from the original Quaker settlers to the Germans of central Frederick County. In essence, the book has a dual focus. First it attempts to locate and describe the land of the early settlers. This is done by means of a superb series of plat maps, drawn to scale from original surveys and based both on certificates of survey and patents. These show, in precise configurations, the exact locations of the various grants and lots, the names of owners and occupiers, the dates of surveys and patents, and the names of contiguous land owners. Second, it identifies the early settlers and inhabitants of the area, carefully following them through deeds, wills, and inventories, judgment records, and rent rolls. Finally, in meticulously compiled appendices it provides a chronological list of surveys between 1721 and 1743; an alphabetical list of surveys, giving dates, page reference--text and maps--and patent references; a list of taxables for 1733-34; and a list of the early German settlers of Frederick County, showing their religion, their location, dates of arrival, and their earliest records in the county. Winner of the 1988 Donald Lines Jacobus Award

This is the standard reference for researching early families in the present counties of Wicomico, Worcester, and Somerset in Maryland. The author describes early settlers, discusses early religious groups, lists hundreds of names, and provides early gene

Upshur County, West Virginia was created in 1851 from Randolph, Barbour, and Lewis counties. Upshur's early history and the lives of its more prominent pioneers and nineteenth-century Native Sons are ably captured in this tripartite volume. Part I, a condensed history of the state prepared by Hu Maxwell, ranges over everything from the first explorations of the Blue Ridge, the French and Indian War, and the Revolution to West Virginia geography and geology, formation of the state, and the Civil War in West Virginia. In Part II, Mr. Cutright lays out the history of the county, with emphasis on the Indian Wars, religious life, geography, formation of the county and its political and governmental institutions, Upshur County and Upshur countians in the Civil War, as well as a whole host of miscellaneous topics, such as turnpike and railroad construction, newspapers, financial institutions, the birds of Upshur County, and much more. In the final third of the volume we find an alphabetically arranged series of over 600 biographical/genealogical sketches of Upshur countians (some of them illustrated), which range from several paragraphs to several pages in length. In the majority of cases the subjects, who were mostly born around mid-century, are identified by their year of birth, the name of one or more parents, and the names of their spouse(s) and children. In addition, we learn something of each subject's career, military service (if any), and his/her movements to and from Upshur County. In short, given the book's 607 densely packed pages of historical and genealogical detail, this is the starting point for Upshur County research.

The demon car of Seven Hills Road, the ominous Hell House above the Patapsco River, the mythical Snallygaster of western Maryland--these are the extraordinary tales and bizarre creatures that color Maryland's folklore. The Blue Dog of Port Tobacco faithfully guards his master's gold even in death, and in Cambridge, the headless ghost of Big Liz watches over the treasure of Greenbriar Swamp. The woods of Prince George's County are home to stories of the menacing Goatman, while on stormy nights at the nearby University of Maryland, the strains of a ghostly piano float from Marie Mount Hall. From the storied heroics of the First Maryland Regiment in the Revolutionary War to the mystery of the Poe Toaster, folklorists Trevor J. Blank and David J. Puglia unravel the legends of Maryland.

CONTENTS: Introduction, Jean H. Baker and Charles W. Mitchell “Border State, Border War: Fighting for Freedom and Slavery in Antebellum Maryland,” Richard Bell “Charity Folks and the Ghosts of Slavery in Pre–Civil War Maryland,” Jessica Millward “Confronting Dred Scott: Seeing Citizenship from Baltimore,” Martha S. Jones “‘Maryland Is This Day . . . True to the American Union’: The Election of 1860 and a Winter of Discontent,” Charles W. Mitchell “Baltimore’s Secessionist Moment: Conservatism and Political Networks in the Pratt Street Riot and Its Aftermath,” Frank Towers “Abraham Lincoln, Civil Liberties, and Maryland,” Frank J. Williams “The Fighting Sons of ‘My Maryland’: The Recruitment of Union Regiments in Baltimore, 1861–1865,” Timothy J. Orr “‘What I Witnessed Would Only Make You Sick’: Union Soldiers Confront the Dead at Antietam,” Brian Matthew Jordan “Confederate Invasions of Maryland,” Thomas G. Clemens “Achieving Emancipation in Maryland,” Jonathan W. White “Maryland’s Women at War,” Robert W. Schoeberlein “The Failed Promise of Reconstruction,” Sharita Jacobs Thompson “‘F––k the Confederacy’: The Strange Career of Civil War Memory in Maryland after 1865,” Robert J. Cook

Hauntings lurk and spirits linger in the Old Line State Reader, beware! Turn these pages and enter the world of the paranormal, where ghosts and ghouls alike creep just out of sight. Author Ed Okonowicz shines a light in the dark corners of Maryland and scares those spirits out of hiding in this thrilling collection. From footsteps and apparitions appearing at Fort McHenry, to reports of strange noises and phenomena at the battleground of Antietam, these stories of strange occurrences will keep you glued to the edge of your seat. Around the campfire or tucked away on a dark and stormy night, this big book of ghost stories is a hauntingly good read.