The Ghost of
the Snow Hill Inn
The Story of William "J. J."
Aydelotte
by Mindie Burgoyne
Posted Sunday, April 1, 2007
Written 2004
The building known as the Snow
Hill Inn on East Market Street in
Snow Hill, MD was built around 1835
for a prominent landowner and
businessman, Levin Townsend. In past
years the Snow Hill Inn has served
as as a private home, the town post
office, the home of the Town Doctor,
and apartment building, an Inn, a
Mexican restaurant and now a private
residence.
 Dr.
John S. Aydelotte occupied the house
in the 1870's and ran a medical
practice in Snow Hill. He served as
the town doctor into the twentieth
century. One of Snow Hill's senior
residents can remember as a child
seeing Dr. Aydelotte walking through
the town streets with his cane in
hand, angrily shooing away
boisterous children.
Dr. Aydelotte died in 1929 and is
buried in Whatcoat Cemetery just a
few blocks away form the his home.
Buried with him is a father's grief
over a son lost tragically to
suicide.
 His
son was William James Aydelotte who
at the age 21, while attending the
University of Maryland's School of
Pharmacology in Baltimore, ended his
own life by apparently "cutting his
own throat several times." It seems
young William was not doing well in
school and didn't want to face being
a failure his his father's eyes.
While in his room at a Baltimore
boarding house, William penned a
note dated December 14, 1904 where
he wrote "Dear Papa, ... it is
useless to keep me at school ..."
The next morning, keeper of the
boarding discovered William after
hearing what sounded like someone
falling and deep groans. The
following is an excerpt from a
Baltimore Sun article printed the
following day.
"Hurrying upstairs, she
opened the door and beheld the
young man rolling on the floor,
groaning and the blood flowing
from several gashes across his
throat"
"From the appearance of
the room, Mr. Aydelotte had
evidently cut his throat while
standing in front of the bureau.
He is then believed to have
walked to his bed and cut his
throat twice again.''
Descendants of the Aydelottes
have often questioned the
circumstances of young William's
death.
The story in the paper was compiled
in a single day with information
from police, the coroner, the
pharmacy school dean, the keeper of
the rooming house on West Franklin
Street and both the current and
previous women in whose homes Mr.
Aydelotte took his meals.
The reporter reveals details of
William - a third year pharmacy
student - developing tonsillitis and
being too ill to study, and Dr.
Aydelotte writing the Dean inquiring
after William's progress. The
article also reveals information
about a "young lady" in Westminster
with whom William had been
corresponding and the exchange was
abruptly discontinued. Then there
are hints that the friendship
between William and his Westminster
lady friend had recently been
renewed. Speculation (even if
unjustified) could cause a body to
wonder what (or who) really drove
William over the edge.
George Walton Mapp, whose mother was
Mildred Mapp (William's sister) was
quoted in a 1993 follow-up article
by the Baltimore Sun as saying of
the tragedy,
"We didn't talk about him.
It was the great tragedy of our
family. We never believed he
killed himself."
 Whether
William did himself in for fear of
disappointing his father or "was
done in" by someone who wanted him
gone, many today believe his
un-restful spirit haunts the Snow
Hill Inn.
To the modern day visitors of the
Inn, he's become known as "J.J."
Innkeepers, contractors, guests,
children, employees and towns people
all have stories of the young man
who roams the halls of the Inn,
locking doors, opening windows,
turning lights off and on, setting
fire alarms, appearing in mirrors,
shaking beds with sleeping guests in
them, extinguishing candles,
lighting the fireplaces and more.
Undoubtedly, the Snow Hill Inn has
had more ghostly encounters (some
documented) than any other single
site in Worcester County. It
has even been featured on the
National Geographic television
network Is it Real? series.
A paranormal specialist, who was a
friend of the Innkeeper visited the
Inn in 2003. She spent time in the
Barrister Room which is believed to
have been William's (J.J.'s) room as
a boy. It was there - in the
Barrister room that she encountered
the ghost - and spoke to him.
She confirmed that there was a
ghost, it was a young man - and it
was William. William told her that
he did, in fact commit suicide, He
shared secrets of emotional trauma
with the specialist that she felt
were best not to reveal. She did,
however state that "William had some
serious issues that he has not yet
resolved."
© Copyright 2004, by Trinity
Publications, Inc. All Rights
Reserved. Used only with permission.
Resources for this article:
Baltimore Sun - December 16, 1904
Baltimore Sun - August 14, 1993
Along the Seaboard Side by Paul
Baker Touart
Conversations with the Aydelotte and
Mapp families
Conversations with numerous Snow
Hill residents
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