The 7 Most Haunted Places In Maryland

Like it or not, America has its ghosts from the past. Whether you believe in the paranormal or not, spooky doings have been reported at historical sites in every state in America. Europeans first settled in Maryland in 1634, so it certainly harbors some haunted locations. Thrill-seekers can even visit many of them. Read on, you intrepid traveler between the mortal plane and the supernatural, to learn about the 7 most haunted places in Maryland!

Antietam Battlefield

Part of the National Parks System, Antietam Battlefield is perhaps the bloodiest spot in all of Maryland. The battle that took place on this field on September 17, 1862, saw the greatest number of casualties of any single day of the Civil War. If ghosts are real, there must be a great many of them here. Visitors and locals alike have reported apparitions of Union and Confederate soldiers and the phantom sounds of cannons, rifles, and drums. Tours of the battlefield abound, including self-driving or walking options.

Address: 302 E Main St, Sharpsburg, MD 21782 | Phone: 301-432-5124 | Web: nps.gov

Hours: 7 Days a Week, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Admission: $10/person, $20/vehicle

Lord Baltimore Hotel

You can still book a room here at the Lord Baltimore, fittingly located in Central Baltimore. (Funny enough, the hotel, like the city, gets its name from the last English governor of Maryland when it was still a British colony! Some names are just catchy, we guess, revolutions notwithstanding.)

A tragedy allegedly occurred at this hotel almost 100 years ago. Local legend has it that a couple staying here lost everything in the stock market crash of 1929. Despondent, they leaped to their deaths from the 19th floor of the building, orphaning their young daughter.

The elevator visits the 19th floor when no one has called it there ever since. At least, that’s what the staff of the Lord Baltimore Hotel claim. People have seen spectral figures — a man, woman, and young girl — lurking there. Sometimes the girl is alone, playing with a red ball. At other times, she screams like a banshee…

True thrill-seekers know what floor to visit, should they dare to book a stay here.

Address: 20 W Baltimore St, Baltimore, MD 21201 | Phone: 410-539-8400 | Web: Lord Baltimore Hotel

Baltimore County Almshouse

You can visit this historic building, which is also the headquarters of Baltimore County’s historical society, in nearby Cockeysville, Maryland. “Almshouse” is a slightly dated term meaning “a privately financed home for the poor.” When this one was founded in 1874, before such things as welfare, it was intended as a place for the poor and the elderly, as well as the mentally ill and orphans. Disturbingly, the almshouse would expand in later years to include a jail — a haunting mixture of uses.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, children seem to haunt the almshouse to this day. Visitors have reported hearing the disembodied laughter of children and seeing their faces in the windows from the outside.

Address: 9811 Van Buren Lane, Cockeysville, MD 21030 | Phone: 410-666-1878 | Web: hsobc.org

Hours: Fridays and Saturdays, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Admission: $5/person

Coffin Rock, Burkittsville

Turn-of-the-millennium horror movie buffs might recognize these spooky, serene, sylvan surroundings: Coffin Rock was the primary location for the sensational low-budget film The Blair Witch Project. For the uninitiated, this movie, which had us early-internet folks guessing whether it was a movie and not a documentary, features three film school students who set out to explore a terrifying local legend known as — you guessed it — the Blair Witch.

Yes, it turned out to be a fictional movie, even if it managed to severely freak us out back in the day. But get this: the legend in the movie? That part’s true.

…At least, it’s true that it’s a legend. In 1886, the story goes, an eight-year-old child named Robin Weaver went missing in these dense and disorienting woods. The terrified community sent out a search party to locate the poor kid — and the entire search party vanished, too.

Here’s where things really take a turn for the grotesque: Robin returned home, and a second search party set out to find the first. And boy, did they find them: hog-tied. And disemboweled. Yet when the search party departed Coffin Rock for back-up and returned, the bodies had disappeared. Long before a movie made her famous, these horrified townsfolk attributed the awful deeds to the Blair Witch.

Address: Burkittsville Historic District, 106-110 E Main St, Burkittsville, MD 21718

Web: Blair Witch Trail Information

Fletchertown Road, Bowie

In the 1950s and ’60s, a series of grisly murders were reported: something more powerful than a normal man seemed to be hunting people in the vicinity of Fletchertown Road — with an ax.

Even stranger? Some claimed to have witnessed the murderer, describing him as a cross between a man and a goat, dressed in rags.

Theories on the origin of Goatman, or at least his urban legend, abounded. Some claim he is an average man who carries the skulls of two goats with him. Others claim he is a mutant man-goat hybrid, who escaped from an agricultural research center nearby. They say if one dared to get close enough to Goatman, they would see his rags were fashioned out of old medical gowns, confirming the “science experiment gone wrong” hypothesis.

Whatever you believe, take a slow drive down secluded Fletchertown Road — and see if any theories sneak up on you!

Address: Fletchertown Rd, Bowie, MD 20720

Dr. Samuel A. Mudd House, Waldorf

Another stop for Civil War buffs, as well as those interested in the paranormal. A museum and historical site, preserved as it was before the war. This home is where Dr. Mudd treated the injuries of John Wilkes Booth, who had earlier assassinated President Lincoln and broken his leg during his escape. Mudd was only obeying his Hippocratic oath in attending to Booth. Yet a wounded nation labeled him a co-conspirator for his actions and imprisoned him. Though Dr. Mudd was eventually exonerated and freed, his spirit is said to still haunt the house. Others say they have seen the bed where Mudd treated Booth move as if an invisible body were being lain atop it…

Address: 3725 Dr Samuel Mudd Rd, Waldorf, MD 20601 | Phone: 301-645-6870 | Web: drmudd.org

Hours: Open from Spring to Fall, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Admission: $10/adult, $3/child

St. Paul’s Cemetery, Chestertown

It may come as no surprise that the centuries-old Chestertown cemetery is a paranormal hotspot — but some of the entities dwelling within could still give you a shock! St. Paul’s has been hosting bodies since the 1700s. There’s a bridge within the graveyard where late-night visitors have claimed to see a lantern, floating and swinging as if held by an invisible hand. Tench Tilghman, a soldier who guarded this bridge during the American Revolution, lies here. Many believe the lantern is his. They claim he continues his solitary watch three centuries later.

If soldiers truly can become ghosts, you might meet veterans of the War of 1812 and the Civil War here, as well. Yet Old Hollywood buffs will find a fitting haunt, too. St. Paul’s also interred silver screen star Tallulah Bankhead. Bankhead’s style was defined by a distinctly raspy voice. It’s said you can hear her if you dare to stand close enough to her gravestone.

Address: 7579 Sandy Bottom Rd, Chestertown, Maryland