The stories, folklore, and history surrounding Maryland's most haunted places. A must-read for fans of the supernatural and Maryland history. 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.
GET WEIRD! “Best Travel Series of The Year 2006”—Booklist What’s weird around here? Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman asked themselves this question for years. And it’s precisely this offbeat sense of curiosity that led the duo to create Weird N.J. and the successful series that followed. The NOT shockingly result? EveryWeirdbook has become a best seller in its region! ((Series Sales Points)) This best-selling series has sold more than one million copies…and counting Thirty volumes of the Weird series have been published to great success since Weird New Jersey's 2003 debut
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.
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.
All the sites in the book have been chosen with an eye toward several criteria, including how accessible they are to the public, how evocative experience a trip to them is likely to produce, and the extent to which they actually appear to be haunted. A great many in the various regions of Maryland have some connection to the Colonial era, the War of 1812, or the Civil War, all significant aspects of the state's haunted history. Maryland is divided into six regions for purposes of this book: Baltimore, Central, D.C. Metro, Eastern Shore, Southern, and Western. Geographically speaking, Maryland is not a large state. It is, however, among the oldest in the country, and has a rich, varied, and turbulent history that has contributed to an exceptionally high number of haunted sites. Because it is relatively compact, Maryland is in many ways an ideal state for a haunted roadtrip -- especially in an era of historically high gasoline prices -- and many haunted sites within the same area can easily be reached on a single weekend-long trip. Indeed, although my own home is currently in Northern Virginia, on the southern side of the Potomac River from Maryland, its furthest point from me is still somewhat less than 300 miles -- as opposed to nearly 500 for some of the most distant points in southwestern Virginia. Note that this outline includes more listings than there will be room for in the book, and that a number of these will either be cut, reduced to sidebars within larger chapters, or listed in the appendix of additional haunted sites. As with Ghosthunting Virginia, research revealed early on a striking number of sites reputed by various sources to be haunted. With space in this volume for only a limited number of these, the authors carefully attempted to identify a representative selection that both emphasized variety and a struck a balance between "must include" sites -- such as the graveyard where Edgar Allan Poe is buried -- and more obscure ones that do not appear in any other books.
In the two hundred years following the War of 1812, the Chesapeake Campaign became romanticized in tall tales and local legends. St. Michael's on the Eastern Shore of Maryland was famously cast as the town that fooled the British, and in Baltimore, the defenders of Fort McHenry were reputably rallied by a remarkably patriotic pet rooster. In Virginia, the only casualty in a raid on Cape Henry was reportedly the lighthouse keeper's smokehouse larder, while Admiral Cockburn was said to have supped by the light of the burning Federal buildings in Washington, D.C. Newspaper stories, ordinary citizens and even military personnel embellished events, and two hundred years later, those embellishments have become regional lore. Join historians Ralph E. Eshelman and Scott S. Sheads as they search for the history behind the legends of the War of 1812 in the Chesapeake.
In this reissue of Tales from the Maryland Terrapins, fans can relive the most profound memories from more than 100 years of athletics at the University of Maryland in College Park. Authored by David Ungrady, a former two-sport athlete at the school, the book includes a series of first-person anecdotes that reflect the joys and challenges of his athletic career as well as the rich history of collegiate athletics at the school. While it was still the Maryland Agricultural College, the university staged its first intercollegiate athletic competition in 1888, playing baseball games against St. John’s College and the Naval Academy. The first organized competition for football was in 1892. The athletic program began to flourish early in the 1900s. Men’s basketball began shortly after the turn of the century, in 1904, and men’s lacrosse began in 1910. Women’s sports such as basketball, rifling, and soccer started as intramural sports in the 1920s. The women’s rifle team won several titles after it was first organized in 1922. By the 1940s, the men’s intercollegiate program boasted such national-caliber programs as baseball, boxing, football, lacrosse, track and field, and soccer. Women’s teams started competing in intercollegiate competition in 1960 and later blossomed during the last quarter of the 20th century. Now, over 100 years after the athletic program’s inception, Maryland has sent numerous players to professional sports organizations, including the NFL, NBA, and MLB. If you’re a fan of Maryland athletics, you’ll find Tales from the Maryland Terrapins to be the perfect addition to your bookshelf! Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
This personal history of prominent Baltimoreans sheds light on the social transformations already taking place in the supposedly innocent 1950s. Front Stoops in the Fifties recounts the stories of some of Baltimore’s most famous personalities as they grew up during the “decade of conformity”—just before they entered the turbulent 1960s. Focusing on the period before JFK’s assassination, Olesker looks to individuals who would go on to influence the brewing cultural revolution. Such familiar names as Jerry Leiber, Nancy Pelosi, Thurgood Marshall, and Barry Levinson figure prominently in Michael Olesker’s fascinating account, which draws on personal interviews and journalistic research. Olesker tells the story of Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi, daughter of the mayor, who grew up in a political home and eventually became the first woman Speaker of the House. Thurgood Marshall, schooled in a racially segregated classroom, went on to argue Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka before the U.S. Supreme Court and rewrite race-relations law. These and many other stories come to life in Front Stoops in the Fifties. “[A] fascinating read . . . The shocking part is just how relevant these stories remain today.” —Baltimore Post-Examiner “[A] crisp, insightful dispatch from a skilled writer who knows his city and its history.” —David Simon, executive producer of HBO’s The Wire
