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Haunted Eastern Shore: Ghostly Tales
Crisfield Haunted Tales - from the
Nabb Folklore Collection
These tales from Crisfield,
Maryland were collected by Salisbury
University Folklore student, Cathy
Strine in the spring of 1984. They
are currently stored in the Nabb
Research Center at the University.
THE HAUNTED COAT
Note from Ms. Strine: This tale
was told by Linda's father and one
other man I talked to.
There was a man who was a faithful
church-goer and who also believed in
ghosts, witches, and the sort.
Because he was such an active church
member, none ever questioned him
about anything, but just believed
everything that this man said.
This man had gone on a gunning trip
several miles from his house. While
he was walking along, he found a
coat that had been washed up on the
sand. He was so glad that he found
this coat because that night it was
very cold. Soon he became sleepy,
and lying down on the sand, covered
up with the coat to protect himself
from the storm. He soon fell asleep.
All of the sudden, the strangest
thing happened. The coat flipped
over and left the man exposed to the
storm. He woke up and pulled the
coat back over him. He did this only
to find the same thing happen to him
several more times. Finally, the man
removed the coat from himself
because he was convinced that
because the coat would not remain on
him, it had to be the ghost of a
droned sailor who was re3moving the
coat.
The man took the coat, threw it on
the sand, yelled, "Take you old
jacket!" Then he pulled the jacket
back over himself, went to sleep and
was not bothered the rest of the
night.
DROWNING SAILOR'S SPIRIT COMES
HOME TO CRISFIELD
Note from Ms. Strine: This was
told by Linda's father also.
One night, a lady's husband went out
to sea. While he was gone, his wife
had a quilting party with some
friends. During this quilting party,
the door opened by itself. The
negro, who was t3ending the
fireplace, closed the door once
more. In a few seconds, the door
opened again with the same big bang
as before. The negro closed the door
again, but the same thing happened
still another time. The woman looked
at the negro and said, "I thought
you closed that door twice. Ain't
you make sure the latch is closed?"
The negro answered, "I did Ma'am,
but it keeps coming open."
Next, the woman attempted to close
the door herself, but it would not
stay shut until she put a piece of
furniture in front of the door. The
next day she got some very bad news.
Her husband had drowned the previous
night. She called a carpenter to fix
the door, but the carpenter told her
that there was nothing wrong with
the door. The woman had a strange
feeling every time she thought about
the way that door kept opening by
itself.
Fifty years later, the woman visited
a relative in Annapolis, During that
visit, she visited a fortune teller.
The fortune teller looked at the
woman, went into a trance, and said,
"You are from Crisfield. Your
husband drowned many years ago and
his spirit tried to warn you of his
approaching disaster by coming home;
he did this three times which were
the three times he came to the
surface of the water, but when you
barred the door, he went down the
final time and drowned."
the woman was amazed at how the
fortune teller knew who she was and
circumstances surrounding her
husband's death. The mystery
followed the woman to her grave and
to this day has never been
explained.
THOMAS DAUGHERTY'S GRAVE
Note from Ms. Strine: Three
teenagers that I spoke to told me
this tale.
It is said that Thomas Daugherty's
spirit haunts young people who come
to the cemetery late at night. Young
people go to the cemetery to "make
out" and a long time ago when a
couple visited the cemetery for that
purpose, the male left the car to
get rid of a beer can that he had.
Instead of throwing the can in a
trash dumpster, he put i on top of
Thomas Daugherty's tombstone. Before
he could turn back to head for the
car, the beer can began to spin and
spin on top of the tombstone and
finally, after a minute or so,
dropped to the ground.
To this day, people say that this
still happens when they put a beer
can on the tombstone.
Old shanty (now gone) on Jenkins
Creek in Crisfield
..... more of these stories are featured in "Haunted
Eastern Shore"
- written by
Mindie Burgoyne - published by
History Press.
OTHER HAUNTED STORIES ...
Hope House |
Hanging Tree |
Patty Cannon |
Capt. Leonard Tawes |
Tales From Down Below, Lower Dorchester
| Two Haunted
Tales from Somerset |
Crisfield Tales
Haunted Eastern Shore
Ghostly Tales from East of the
Chesapeake
by Mindie Burgoyne
ISBN: 1596297204
PRICE: $17.99
160 Pages
Published by History Press
Haunted America series
ON SALE NOW!!!
Order Your Copy Today
BECOME A FAN of Haunted Eastern Shore
Book Description:
They walk beside the
murky waters of the Chesapeake Bay,
linger among the fetid swamps and
roam the manor halls. These are the
tormented souls who refuse to leave
the sites of their demise. From
pitiless smugglers to reluctant
brides, the ghostly figures of the
Eastern Shore are at once terrifying
and tragic. Mindie Burgoyne takes
readers on a spine-tingling journey
as she recounts the grisly events at
the Cosden Murder Farm and the
infamous legend of Patty Cannon.
Tread the foggy lanes of Kent Manor
Inn and linger among Revolutionary
War dead to discover the
otherworldly occupants of Maryland's
most haunted shore.
Haunted sites
mentioned in the book include:
-
Cecil County -
Holly Hall, Old Bohemia,
Mitchell House
-
Kent County -
Cosden Murder Farm, White House
Farm, St. Paul's Cemetery &
Bridge, Kitty Knight House
-
Queen Anne's
County - Bloomingdale, Kent
Manor Inn
-
Caroline County
- The Tale of Wish Shepherd, The
Murder Sallie Dean, Athol - a
Child's Ghost in Henderson,
Willson's Chance
-
Talbot County -
The Lost City of Dover,
Whitemarsh Cemetery, The
Wilderness, Tunis Mills Hanging
Tree
-
Dorchester
County - Shoal Creek Manor,
Patty Cannon's Trail of Tears,
Suicide Bridge, Green Briar
Swamp & Big Lizz, Tales From
Down Below
-
Wicomico County
- The Ghost Light Road
-
Worcester County
- Cellar House, the Snow Hill
Inn
-
Somerset County
- Ananias Crockett's House,
Holland's Island, Vance Miles
House.
Tales include
narratives given to Salisbury
University Folklore students thirty
years ago, describing hauntings,
ghosts and legends of the Eastern
Shore.
Order Your Copy Today
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