Here is a the information I published on this site several months ago about ghosts of Fort McHenry in Balitmore, Maryland. Happy Halloween.
This past week I viewed an episode of the television show “Haunted History” that retold some of the ghost stories of Baltimore, Maryland. One story was of the ghost of a soldier that has been seen walking along the outer battery at Fort McHenry located at the mouth of Baltimore Harbor. This has been the site of a military fort since 1776 and today is a National Monument and Historic Shrine managed by the National Park Service.
Fort McHenry is also where I started my career as a National Park Ranger. I was stationed there from June of 1975 until September 1977. During that time there were at least two reported sightings of the ghostly specter as described in the “Haunted History” show. One was by a fellow park ranger and the other was by several members of another employee’s family who lived in the park. In both instances the ghost was described as if marching on guard duty along an area of the Fort known as the outer battery that provides emplacements for the very large Rodman Guns that were installed during the Civil War. The figure was dressed in older period military uniform and shouldering a rifle.
Once these reports were shared amongst the staff theories began to develop as to whose ghost this could be. The first impulse was that it must be the spirit of Lt. Levi Claggett who was killed by a bomb bust during the famous Battle of Fort McHenry and inspiration for the Star Spangled Banner.
A second theory as presented on television was that the ghost was that of William Williams an escaped slave who was able to enlist in the US Army by a recruiter that did not ask too many questions. Williams was also killed during the Battle of Fort McHenry in 1814 while in a trench with his unit just outside the Fort walls.
I was not so sure about either theory since both men had died in battle a somewhat glorious death for a soldier. From what little knowledge I had, most ghosts were thought to be the result of more unjustified violence. Not being an expert on haunting, I felt my counter theory was as good as any.
Sometime after this debate I was conducting research in the park library known as the HARP. Much of the library consisted of microfilm copies of any documents that were found in the Library of Congress during a research project conducted in the 1950’s. Much of this documentation had simply been copied without being read or analyzed. Even in the 1970’s much of it had not been reviewed. Several rolls of film I found contained the Monthly Medical Reports that were obviously required of the military post Doctor. These monthly narrative reports were for the most part pretty dry and spoke of facts and figures. The reports covered a period for almost the entire history of the military garrison. The reports described how many men were sick and what injuries were treated the previous month. The biggest medical problem on all the reports appeared to be sexually transmitted diseases from the brothels of Baltimore.
One monthly report stood out from the rest in its detailed account of an incident that occurred sometime in the 1850’s (unfortunately after all this time I no longer have a copy of the report or the subsequent paper I wrote about it). A soldier had been found asleep on guard duty on the newly constructed outer battery of the Fort. He was immediately placed under arrest and thrown into one of the cells of the guard house adjacent to the main gate to await trial for dereliction of duty. Shortly thereafter while replacing the straw in his cell the prisoner was able to steel and the then hide a loaded rifle. The prisoner then used the rifle to commit suicide.
The medical officer’s report is quite detailed in the description of the body and splatter of blood and brain matter on the wall of the cell. Obviously this incident had quite an impact on this hardened Army Doctor.
Since the outer battery did not exist during the battle in 1814, this soldier was found asleep on duty in that same area, and that he met such a gruesome demise at his own hand I always felt that this was who was still performing guard duty.
But then, this is a just another theory
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Although I never witnessed this ghostly apparition myself, I did have my own experience with the afterlife while working at Hampton House National Historic Site. You can find a vivid description of that experience in my book A Park Ranger’s Life: Thirty Two Years Protecting Our National Parks.
I visited Ft. McHenry a few weeks ago and got a very strong feeling about someone killing themselves in the dungeon area.. immediately upon entering the threshold to the room before I even looked to my right to discover that it was a place prisoners were held. I couldn't go back in the hallway at all to the last cell or to the far corner of the larger room it was attached to.
ReplyDeleteI'm not one for ghost stories either.. but it was something that was so strong that I couldn't ignore it and I came home and started googling.
One day during the year of 2014 my wife who origionally moved here from California and I visted Ft McHenry durning the middle of the week. It was a interesting but uneventual and pleasent tour of the fort with us walking alone the ramparts of the fort and us visting the various tunnels and old living quaters of Ft McHenry.We were in the procees of leaving this wonderful historic fort when we decided to visit the forts vistor center and book store. While browsing the visitor center my wife informed me she had to use the restroom. She went into the restroom of the visitor center where with in 10 mins later she emerged from the rest room and asked me a strange question. To add more light to this story the only other vistors to the visitors center besides myself and my wife were a tour bus from a midwest state with approximately 30 middle school aged kids along with their chaperones. Back to the story ,my wifes question direscted at me were if any kids or others were wearing old style high lace up shoes as worn in the late 19th or early 20th centry? I laughed but she repeated the question and a look of concern ,even a perplexing type fear came across her face when she asked. I realised my wife who is not the type joke around or lie was very serious. I saw the kids lined up ready to bourd the charter bus by their chaperones where in I discreatly went out and observed the style of each ones shoes. My findings were all the shoes were 21st century typical middle school kids shoe styles, no trun of the century footwear to be seen. I got back to my wife and informed her of my findings where a look of fear and slight panic came across her face and she told me in no short terms that we had to go and go NOW! When we left FtMcHenry a few blocks I noticed my wife was visibly upset and she asked me to pull into a McDolands so she may get a soda to calm her nerves.After taking a few drinksof it she recanted her experinence at the fort. She stated while she was in a stall she felt a chill and heard in the stall next to hers that someone started violently rolling tolit paper from the tolit paper dispencer. She felt the vibration of the force of this and wondered what was going on. The vibration and noise of the action suddendly stop when my wife asked the person were they ok she recived no answer. Her curiosity got the better of her which caused her to bend down to she what she could of her stall neighbor. That when she saw only the feet of the person and as she discribed it wearing old fashioned brown high lace up what looked to be womans shoes.She than stated she heard the stall door open, felt that same chill for a secound and what made her even more frightened was the lack of the sound of a person washing their hands ( understandable) of the sound of the door leading into the womens rest room at the visitors center being opened of closing.She hurriedly got up from her stall looked around confirming she was alone in there washed her hands and upon leaving the restroom noticed the distinct squeaking sound of the restroom door opeaning and the loud sound of the door closing. When we reached home that evening I called up to the visitor center at Ft McHenry retold my wifes story to a person that worked there was abruptly told they heard no such story and was rudely and hurriedly hung up on. I than looked thru a book called " Ghosthunting for Dummies" at a Barns & Noble and there reading a part about hauntings at FtMcHenry MD read about a " malevolent spirit" haunting the visitors restrooms.
ReplyDeleteOne day during the year of 2014 my wife who origionally moved here from California and I visted Ft McHenry durning the middle of the week. It was a interesting but uneventual and pleasent tour of the fort with us walking alone the ramparts of the fort and us visting the various tunnels and old living quaters of Ft McHenry.We were in the procees of leaving this wonderful historic fort when we decided to visit the forts vistor center and book store. While browsing the visitor center my wife informed me she had to use the restroom. She went into the restroom of the visitor center where with in 10 mins later she emerged from the rest room and asked me a strange question. To add more light to this story the only other vistors to the visitors center besides myself and my wife were a tour bus from a midwest state with approximately 30 middle school aged kids along with their chaperones. Back to the story ,my wifes question direscted at me were if any kids or others were wearing old style high lace up shoes as worn in the late 19th or early 20th centry? I laughed but she repeated the question and a look of concern ,even a perplexing type fear came across her face when she asked. I realised my wife who is not the type joke around or lie was very serious. I saw the kids lined up ready to bourd the charter bus by their chaperones where in I discreatly went out and observed the style of each ones shoes. My findings were all the shoes were 21st century typical middle school kids shoe styles, no trun of the century footwear to be seen. I got back to my wife and informed her of my findings where a look of fear and slight panic came across her face and she told me in no short terms that we had to go and go NOW! When we left FtMcHenry a few blocks I noticed my wife was visibly upset and she asked me to pull into a McDolands so she may get a soda to calm her nerves.After taking a few drinksof it she recanted her experinence at the fort. She stated while she was in a stall she felt a chill and heard in the stall next to hers that someone started violently rolling tolit paper from the tolit paper dispencer. She felt the vibration of the force of this and wondered what was going on. The vibration and noise of the action suddendly stop when my wife asked the person were they ok she recived no answer. Her curiosity got the better of her which caused her to bend down to she what she could of her stall neighbor. That when she saw only the feet of the person and as she discribed it wearing old fashioned brown high lace up what looked to be womans shoes.She than stated she heard the stall door open, felt that same chill for a secound and what made her even more frightened was the lack of the sound of a person washing their hands ( understandable) of the sound of the door leading into the womens rest room at the visitors center being opened of closing.She hurriedly got up from her stall looked around confirming she was alone in there washed her hands and upon leaving the restroom noticed the distinct squeaking sound of the restroom door opeaning and the loud sound of the door closing. When we reached home that evening I called up to the visitor center at Ft McHenry retold my wifes story to a person that worked there was abruptly told they heard no such story and was rudely and hurriedly hung up on. I than looked thru a book called " Ghosthunting for Dummies" at a Barns & Noble and there reading a part about hauntings at FtMcHenry MD read about a " malevolent spirit" haunting the visitors restrooms.
ReplyDeleteI entered the holding cell and bolted out. I told my cousin Satan was in there and I wanted to leave NOW. NOW AND DON'T WAIT. The feeling was indescribably scarey and evil. The next am when I awoke a young boy was looking straight in my fave with black hair and brown eyes. He laughed and rolled away through the covers. I was terrified. I could not eat and drove back to PA where I was sick for a week. I will never respect people more tan I do those who served there, but whatever they held out of the country can curiously stay there, walk away from me and leave me.I laughed at Devils, that they were impossible.
ReplyDeleteI entered the holding cell and bolted out. I told my cousin Satan was in there and I wanted to leave NOW. NOW AND DON'T WAIT. The feeling was indescribably scarey and evil. The next am when I awoke a young boy was looking straight in my fave with black hair and brown eyes. He laughed and rolled away through the covers. I was terrified. I could not eat and drove back to PA where I was sick for a week. I will never respect people more tan I do those who served there, but whatever they held out of the country can curiously stay there, walk away from me and leave me.I laughed at Devils, that they were impossible.
ReplyDelete