A haunting here and there

One thing I’ve learned from traveling across some 25+ states is that no matter where you go, something strange has probably happened there.

Every town has its stories (or a few) about a restless ghost, a slain witch, a demon lurking. Here are just a handful of the places I’ve been with the SpOoKy stories to go with them.

From quiet backroads to crowded streets, if you think someone is watching, you’re probably right.

MWAHAHAHA HAPPY HALLOWEEEENNN

Moll Dyer – Leonardtown, Maryland

They say on freezing February nights, you can still feel her watching.

Back in the late 1600s, a woman named Moll Dyer lived alone on the edge of Leonardtown. When disease and famine struck the settlement, fear turned to superstition, and superstition turned to her. The townsfolk called her a witch. One night, a mob set her cabin ablaze, driving her into the woods with nothing but a shawl for warmth.

Days later, they found her body frozen to a large stone, one hand pressed to it, the other reaching toward the sky, as if she’d cursed them all with her last breath.

That stone, now known as Moll Dyer’s Rock, still exists. It’s said that touching it brings sickness, misfortune, or worse. Locals leave trinkets and flowers to keep her spirit calm. Even now, strange mists roll over Moll Dyer Road, lights flicker in the trees, and travelers swear they see a pale woman wandering the fields.

Leonardtown has never quite shaken her story. If you ever go visit my friends in Leonardtown, you can drive down the lovely road named Medley’s Neck(which…who names a road that?) to seek out Moll Dyer. I never saw Moll Dyer, but there’s always next time.

Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop – New Orleans, Louisiana

In some areas, the ceilings are low enough that I can touch them without standing on tiptoe. The aged rafters and dishevled brick reak of the smell of ghosts and whispered spirits. No, just kidding. I really can touch the ceiling in some parts of Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, and I’d advise finding somewhere else to pee if you’re on Bourbon Street (hello, small bathroom), but it doesn’t smell like “whispered spirits,” a term I just made up.

However, Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop is the oldest continuously operating bar in America, and has been noted to have quite the hauntings attributed to it. Now, if you’re into pirates (ahem, pirateshipisnotmycult….), you may know about the Pirate Jean Lafitte, who smuggled and schemed his way through New Orleans in the early 1800s. And, yes, eventually started a bar. 

Rumor has it, Lafitte’s still haunting the bar today, seen countless times standing near the fireplace on the first floor in sailors’ garb. Notably, this photo is very very blurry, so I have to assume it was in fact the ghost, not the fact that I’m bad at taking pictures. 

And, if Lafitte himself isn’t enough, you can also hear the spirit upstairs of a woman from the 1890s. If you’re quiet enough, she’ll whisper your name into your ear. Finally, Red Eyes. Two glowing eyes, crimson as blood, without a body, watches from the shadows. It doesn’t take a genius to know that ghosts rarely have red eyes, except when using a flash camera at night amirite. 

Spooooky. 

Hunter Museum of American Art – Chattanooga, Tennessee

In 1915, sixty-year-old Augusta Hoffman lived with her sister Nancy Bennett, right beside the grand Hunter estate in Chattanooga. She was quiet, spent her days sewing, and rarely left the house. Childless, she often had her young niece and nephew visit. 

Then, one day, Augusta disappeared. 

Her family received letters for two years from an address in Knoxville, with statements that she’d been married off to a Mr. Brown.

But, as old houses go, they need repairing. Augusta’s intact dentures, and the entire skeleton that went with it, were found by workers repairing the floor boards and her niece and nephew were swiftly arrested for her murder.

The house was torn down, and in its place stands the Hunter Museum of American Art, where Augusta’s ghost still lingers. 

She enjoys drifting past windows, leaving the strong scent of something burning. I imagine it likely smells like a brain tumor. But who’s to say?  

https://ghostcitytours.com/chattanooga/haunted-chattanooga/hunter-museum

I have purposely left ones out that feel too real to me. Lol. (heceta lighthouse, corvallis girl)

HAPPY SPOOKTOBER!