Haunted Places in Maryland: 28 of the Most Haunted to Visit
A Civil War prison camp at the tip of the Western Shore, the bloodiest day in American history, Poe’s grave over Baltimore’s catacombs and colonial inns where the ghosts have names. These are Maryland’s most haunted places, with what is history, what is legend and how you can visit.
Maryland packs four centuries of history into a small state, and its ghost stories follow that history closely: Civil War soldiers at Antietam and Point Lookout, War of 1812 defenders at Fort McHenry, colonial tavern keepers in Annapolis and Edgar Allan Poe almost everywhere in Baltimore. We have checked every place below against current sources, so you know which are open, which run tours, which take overnight guests and which you can only see from the road. Several of the state’s oldest inns are on the list, and Haunted Rooms runs its own overnight ghost hunts at Linville Manor in Upper Marlboro.
Address 11175 Point Lookout Road, Scotland, MD 20687
Where to look The lighthouse stairs and upper rooms, the old smallpox hospital ground, the camp road and the shoreline
Reported ghosts Ann Davis at the top of the lighthouse stairs, a running Confederate prisoner, an old woman searching for a lost graveyard
Visiting State park open from morning to sunset; closed at night except for night fishing
Tours Seasonal ghost walks and paranormal nights have been run here by the Point Lookout Lighthouse Preservation Society
Hours and season Park 7 AM (8 AM Oct to Apr) to sunset; lighthouse Thu to Mon 9 AM to 5 PM, Memorial Day to Labor Day
Tickets State park day-use fee
Ghost hunting No public investigations; the park closes at sunset
At the tip of St. Mary’s County, where the Potomac meets the Chesapeake, the Union ran Camp Hoffman, its largest prison camp, from 1863 to 1865. Some 52,000 Confederates passed through tents built for 10,000, and estimates of the dead run from about 3,000 to 8,000. The 1830 lighthouse stood beside it and was lived in until 1981; since May 2025 it has been a small museum run by the Maryland Park Service.
Former residents and rangers gave the state park its ghost stories, collected by the Maryland DNR itself. Laura Berg heard boots in empty halls and credited six strange lights with waking her as a heater caught fire. Ranger Donnie Hammett told of a man who kept running toward the old smallpox hospital woods, and Hans Holzer’s team said it recorded 24 voices in the lighthouse.
What investigators report
The lighthouse’s own EVP archive lists digital recorder sessions in the basement, bedrooms, kitchen, hallways and tower stairs, with “Get out” the phrase most often reported. Teams on paranormal nights also report footsteps and banging from the upstairs hallway.
Haunted Rooms tip: Visit between Memorial Day and Labor Day, Thursday to Monday, when the lighthouse is open, then walk out to Fort Lincoln and the Confederate monuments.
Address 20 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
Where to look The 19th floor, the elevators, the ballroom, the lobby mezzanine and the LB Tavern
Reported ghosts Molly, a little girl with a red ball; a dancing couple in the ballroom; a quarreling trio on the mezzanine
Visiting A working hotel: book a room to stay the night
Tours In-house ghost tours by Poe’s Magic Theatre most Friday and Saturday nights
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts; stay the night instead
The Lord Baltimore Hotel opened on December 30, 1928, a 22-story French Renaissance tower by architect William Lee Stoddart, topped with a copper mansard roof that has long since turned green. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, belongs to Historic Hotels of America, and has been independently run by the Rubell family since a full restoration in 2014.
Its best-known ghost is Molly, a little girl in a pale dress who bounces a red ball through the corridors, most often on the 19th floor. Staff also describe a couple dancing beneath the ballroom chandeliers, voices quarreling on the mezzanine and an elevator that heads to the 19th floor on its own. The hotel leans in: Poe’s Magic Theatre runs ghost tours inside the building most Friday and Saturday nights.
What investigators report
Investigators report a spirit box voice in the ballroom and toys such as marbles, balls and light-up toy dogs used to reach child spirits, with a small handprint photographed in a penthouse suite. Static-sensing domes placed in a 19th-floor parapet niche reportedly lit up.
Haunted Rooms tip: Join the in-house ghost tour (Friday and Saturday nights) and ask for a room on a high floor; the 19th floor itself is terrace and event space.
Address 5831 Dunker Church Road, Sharpsburg, MD 21782
Where to look Bloody Lane and the observation tower, Burnside Bridge, the Pry House and St. Paul Episcopal Church in Sharpsburg
Reported ghosts Phantom gunfire and gunpowder smoke, a Gaelic battle cry or song in the fields, blue lights and drums at Burnside Bridge
Visiting National battlefield open daily during daylight hours
Hours and season Grounds daylight hours; visitor center 9 AM to 5 PM daily (closed Thanksgiving, Dec 25, Jan 1)
Tickets National park entrance fee
Ghost hunting No investigations; the grounds close at dark
On September 17, 1862, about 22,700 men were killed, wounded or missing along Antietam Creek, the bloodiest single day in American history. The Cornfield changed hands again and again, about 5,600 men fell along the Sunken Road that became Bloody Lane, and Georgians held Burnside Bridge for hours. Lee’s retreat let Lincoln issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation five days later.
A Federal Highway Administration history of the battlefield road collects the ghost stories: gunfire and gunpowder smells at Bloody Lane with no one near, Baltimore schoolboys who said they heard a song like Deck the Halls where the Irish Brigade charged with a Gaelic cry, and blue lights and fading drums at Burnside Bridge. The Pry House and St. Paul Church, both used as hospitals, have their own tales.
What investigators report
A Ghost Research Society team reported a Melmeter spike and a gunshot-like crack at Mumma Cemetery and a recorded “Get out” near the Mumma Farm. At Bloody Lane they ran a talking EVP session with trigger objects such as bullets and a musket.
Linville Manor stands on Thorpland, a Bowie family plantation from about 1670. After the old house burned in 1849, Sarah Bowie built the present Georgian Revival house on its foundations around 1852; Congressman Calvin D. Johnson added a ballroom in the 1950s, and Winn Brewer bought it out of foreclosure in 2018. Today it is a private event venue that hosts weddings, murder mysteries and overnight paranormal investigations, and its own website calls it one of the most haunted locations in Maryland.
The manor’s owners and guests describe a cast of regulars: the Lurker, a figure seen in the ballroom doorway, at the top of the stairs and at the foot of a bed; Lily, a child said to like dogs, in the library; a woman pacing the Overlook Bedroom; and activity that peaks around 1:11 AM. Haunted Rooms runs overnight ghost hunts here.
What our team has found
Estes sessions are the standout here, with long conversations in the speakeasy and ballroom, and death bells have given positive responses. The billiard room has been very active, including a picture falling off the wall as a guest walked past, a shadow cat is often seen on the bottom floor, and upstairs has given EVPs and plenty of spirit box talk.
From Haunted Rooms event reports
Haunted Rooms tip: Book an Overnight VIP ticket with Haunted Rooms to investigate after dark and sleep in one of the manor’s suites.
Where to look The fourth floor and Room 405, the basement taproom, the main staircase
Reported ghosts The Bride, Captain Charles Campbell, a woman in black, singing soldiers
Visiting A working hotel: book a room to stay the night
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts; stay the night instead
The wedge-shaped Maryland Inn fills the point between Main Street and Duke of Gloucester Street on Church Circle. Merchant Thomas Hyde leased the lot in 1772 and built the front of the house, and by 1784 Sarah Ball was running it as a tavern, the year Annapolis served as the nation’s capital. Today it is one of the three Historic Inns of Annapolis, with 44 rooms above the Drummer’s Lot Pub.
Its best-known ghost is the Bride. Local legend says her fiance, a Navy captain, was killed by a carriage outside the inn as he came back to marry her, and she threw herself from a fourth-floor window. Guests on that floor, and in Room 405 in particular, describe pacing footsteps and a cold presence at the foot of the bed, while the captain is said to appear in uniform in the basement taproom.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for Room 405 or anything on the fourth floor when you book, and join one of the evening Annapolis ghost tours that start on the inn’s front steps.
Address West Fayette and North Greene Streets, Baltimore, MD 21201
Where to look The catacombs under the church, Gen. John Swan's tomb and Poe's memorial by the gate
Reported ghosts A man in a Revolutionary uniform in the catacombs, children playing peekaboo, Edgar Allan Poe
Visiting Burying ground open daily; catacombs on guided tours only
Tours Catacomb tours, plus evening Baltimore ghost walks
Hours and season Burying ground daily 9 AM to 5 PM; public tours first Saturday of the month, 11 AM and 1 PM
Tickets Grounds free; guided tour $5
Ghost hunting No investigations
Edgar Allan Poe was buried here in October 1849 in an unmarked grave, and his memorial by the gate was dedicated in 1875 after Baltimore schoolchildren raised pennies for it. The graveyard dates to 1787 and also holds James McHenry, a signer of the Constitution. In 1852 a Presbyterian church was built over part of the old graves, creating the catacombs; the University of Maryland School of Law now cares for the site.
The Baltimore Sun has reported that a schoolboy on a catacomb tour pointed at the tomb of Gen. John Swan, a Revolutionary cavalry officer, and asked who the man in uniform was, and guides now ask Swan’s permission before going in. Long-time guide Lu Ann Marshall says psychics have described the same uniformed man, and visitors tell of children playing peekaboo.
Haunted Rooms tip: Walk the burying ground any day, but come on the first Saturday of the month for a guided catacomb tour.
Visiting a haunted place by day is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through a historic building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and vigils, and gives you time to explore on your own. These are the nearest ones we run.
Address 301 East Pratt Street, Pier 1, Baltimore, MD 21202
Where to look The gun deck, the berth deck and the orlop deck below the waterline
Reported ghosts An officer in an old naval uniform giving tours, a sailor punished for sleeping on watch, a boy's screams
Visiting Museum ship open most days
Tours Seasonal Maritime Macabre tours
Hours and season Usually 11 AM to 4:30 PM (check the Historic Ships website)
Tickets Admission charged; one ticket covers several ships
Ghost hunting No public investigations
Launched at Norfolk in 1854, Constellation was the last all-sail warship built for the U.S. Navy. As flagship of the African Squadron she captured the slave ship Cora in 1860 and freed 705 people, then hunted Confederate raiders in the Mediterranean, and served again as a reserve flagship in World War II. She has been in Baltimore since 1955 and is the centerpiece of Historic Ships in Baltimore.
Her ghost stories are some of the city’s most repeated: Commodore Thomas Truxtun leading tours of the lower decks, a sailor named Neal Harvey said to have been executed for running from his post, and screams of a boy stabbed in 1822. All three belong to the earlier frigate Constellation of 1797, which was broken up in 1853, so the stories came aboard with the name, not the ship.
Haunted Rooms tip: Board in the afternoon and head straight below to the orlop deck, then ask at the ticket booth about Maritime Macabre tours.
Where to look The stone cellar with its spring-fed pools, the stairs and the back porch
Reported ghosts A man in black on the back porch, children running on the stairs, the smell of tobacco
Visiting Seasonal house museum in Hagerstown City Park
Tours City-run Hager House Ghost Tours on October weekends ($15, ages 10+)
Hours and season Late March to early October: Fri and Sat 10 AM to 4 PM, Sun noon to 4 PM
Tickets $6 adults, cards only
Ghost hunting Paranormal investigations and equipment are not permitted
Jonathan Hager, a German immigrant from Westphalia, bought the tract he called Hager’s Fancy in 1739 and built this stone house over two springs around 1740, so the family could draw water without leaving its thick walls. He founded Hagerstown in 1762 and was killed in 1775 while overseeing work on the town’s German Reformed church. The restored house has been a city museum in City Park since 1962.
The city calls it one of Maryland’s most haunted sites and runs its own October ghost tours. The stories describe a man in black on the back porch, children heard running on the stairs and pipe tobacco smelled in empty rooms. Paranormal investigations and equipment are not allowed inside, even on the ghost tours.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book the city’s October ghost tour early: places are limited and groups are small.
Where to look Room 413, the upper floors, the basement tavern and the old fire escape landings
Reported ghosts Phantom sailors, a lady in white, a ghostly party heard in an empty hotel, a presence in Room 413
Visiting A working hotel: book a room to stay the night
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts; stay the night instead
For 40 years this cluster of 18th-century brick buildings on the Fells Point waterfront was the Admiral Fell Inn. Before that it was the Anchorage, a Christian boarding house for sailors, then a Seamen’s YMCA that lodged around 50,000 sailors a year, then a vinegar bottling works. After a full renovation it reopened in April 2025 as The William Fell, part of Hilton’s Tapestry Collection, with 80 rooms.
The ghost stories came with it. Guests and staff have long described sailors in old seafaring clothes in the corridors, a lady in white at the windows, elevator buttons pressed by no one, and the sound of a lively party on an upper floor when the hotel was empty during Hurricane Isabel in 2003. Room 413, where a guest was killed in 1999, is the room ghost hunters ask for.
What investigators report
Guided ghost hunts here have used spirit communication software and light-up toys, with Room 413 named as a hot spot alongside the fourth-floor elevator bank and fifth-floor ballroom. One writer reported an elevator button lighting up before anyone touched it.
Address 2400 East Fort Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21230
Where to look The bastions and outer battery, the guardhouse cells and the barracks stairs
Reported ghosts A sentry on the outer battery, a soldier who died in a cell, a woman on the stairs, Lt. Levi Clagett
Visiting National monument; Star Fort entry with a timed pass or America the Beautiful pass
Hours and season Daily except Thanksgiving, Dec 25 and Jan 1; last entry 4:45 PM
Tickets Star Fort entry fee (book on recreation.gov)
Ghost hunting No investigations; the park closes in the late afternoon
The five-pointed brick fort at the mouth of Baltimore’s harbor was built between 1798 and 1800. During 25 hours of British bombardment on September 13 and 14, 1814, it held, losing four men killed and 24 wounded, and the flag still flying at dawn inspired Francis Scott Key’s Star-Spangled Banner. In the Civil War it became a prison, and in World War I a vast army hospital grew around it.
Retired park ranger Bruce Bytnar, who worked here in the 1970s, wrote that a fellow ranger and an employee’s family saw a figure with a rifle standing guard on the outer battery. Staff argued over whether it was Lt. Levi Clagett, killed in 1814, or a soldier who was caught asleep on duty and later took his own life in a guardhouse cell. Other visitors describe footsteps, cold spots and a woman on the barracks stairs.
Haunted Rooms tip: Buy Star Fort passes online, arrive for the morning flag change, and finish with a walk along the seawall trail as the light goes.
Address 3725 Dr. Samuel Mudd Road, Waldorf, MD 20601
Where to look The upstairs Booth Room and its rope bed, the parlor, the children's room
Reported ghosts An impression in Booth's bed, Dr. Mudd, a woman in a second-floor window, a voice saying "I am not guilty"
Visiting Guided tours on open days
Tours Victorian Halloween evening tours on spiritualism and folk traditions each October
Hours and season From June 2026: Wednesdays and Saturdays, 11 AM to 3 PM (check the website)
Tickets Admission charged; tours start on the hour
Ghost hunting No public investigations
In the early hours of April 15, 1865, John Wilkes Booth rode up to this Charles County farmhouse with a broken leg, hours after shooting Abraham Lincoln. Dr. Samuel Mudd set it and let him rest in the house, and was later convicted as a conspirator and imprisoned for it. The house, in his family since the 1690s, is now a museum run by volunteers.
Its oldest ghost story is told by the museum itself: the rope bed in the upstairs Booth Room is found in the morning with the shape of a body pressed into it, though the sheets were tucked tight the night before. Visitors also report footsteps and a woman at a window, and the Ghost Hunters TV team said its recorder caught a voice saying “I am not guilty”.
Haunted Rooms tip: Go on a Wednesday or Saturday afternoon, or for the museum’s Victorian Halloween evenings in late October.
Where to look The roofless upper floors and the window openings
Reported ghosts "Annie" in Victorian dress, a 1940s gentleman at a window, a shadow with no one to cast it
Visiting County historic park with ruins; open for events, tours and set hours
Tours Seasonal Ghostly Guides tours run by Howard County Recreation and Parks
Ghost hunting No public investigations
The granite Greek Revival school on the hill above Ellicott City opened on January 1, 1837, and became nationally known under principal Almira Lincoln Phelps for teaching girls chemistry, languages and math. It closed in 1891 and later served as a hotel, a home and a World War I hospital before its wood was stripped and it fell into ruin. Howard County bought it in 1966, and it is now stabilized ruins in a park.
Its famous ghost is Annie, a Southern girl said to have died of pneumonia or influenza before her family could take her home; local historian Rissa Miller says there is no record she ever enrolled. Chesapeake Shakespeare Company actors who perform in the ruins have described a small blonde girl in white and a stern man at a window.
What investigators report
Local historian Rissa Miller suggests simply addressing the spirits directly, as you would a living person. She says the girl known as Annie and a figure called The Shadow may acknowledge visitors, while the Gentleman seen crossing the vanished second floor never responds.
Where to look The walls and cellar of the house, seen from East Street
Reported ghosts A young woman's remains said to have been found in a wall, screams and pounding heard at night
Visiting Closed for restoration; view from the street
Tours A stop on Annapolis ghost walks
Ghost hunting Closed to the public
James Brice, a lawyer, planter and later acting governor of Maryland, laid the cornerstone of this brick mansion on April 14, 1767, and finished it seven years later. As many as 28 enslaved people were held at the house or forced to work on it, and archaeologists found hoodoo caches they left in 1998. The State of Maryland bought it in 2014, and Historic Annapolis is restoring it; it is closed to the public.
Local ghost tours call it the most haunted building in Annapolis. The stories say workers found a young woman’s remains sealed in a wall, sometimes with scratch marks inside, and that people passing at night hear screams, wailing and pounding on the walls. They are told as legend, and we have found no record of a body in the walls.
Haunted Rooms tip: See it from East Street on an evening ghost walk; the house is closed during its restoration.
Where to look The wooden dome and its windows, the Old Senate Chamber and the State Circle grounds
Reported ghosts Thomas Dance, the plasterer who fell from the dome in 1793; a Revolutionary-era soldier on the grounds
Visiting Working capitol open to the public; photo ID and security screening
Tours A stop on Annapolis evening ghost walks
Hours and season Daily 8:30 AM to 5 PM (closed Christmas and New Year’s Day)
Tickets Free
Ghost hunting No investigations
The oldest state capitol still used by its legislature, the State House was begun in 1772 and briefly served as the nation’s capitol: George Washington resigned his commission in the Old Senate Chamber on December 23, 1783, and Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris here on January 14, 1784. Its timber dome, held together with wooden pegs, is the largest of its kind in the country.
The dome has a real death behind its ghost story. Maryland State Archives records show that Thomas Dance, a plasterer, fell from the upper scaffold in 1793, and his widow petitioned for help to take herself and her daughter home. Some say a light moves near the dark dome windows, and visitors and locals also speak of a soldier in Revolutionary-era dress on the grounds.
Haunted Rooms tip: The building is open daily with photo ID; stand in the Old Senate Chamber, then walk State Circle after dark to look up at the dome.
Where to look The upstairs bedrooms, the kitchen and the 1747 Pub in the cellar
Reported ghosts Mary Reynolds, the tavern keeper's widow, and others
Visiting A working hotel: book a room to stay the night
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts; stay the night instead
Reynolds Tavern has stood on Church Circle since about 1747, when hatter William Reynolds opened the Beaver and Lac’d Hat here. It later served as a bank, a cashier’s home and the city library, was saved from demolition for a gas station, and since its restoration has been a restaurant, tea room and cellar pub with just three rooms upstairs: the Washington and Jefferson Suites and the Mary Reynolds Room.
The ghost is said to be Mary Reynolds, who ran the tavern after William’s death. Owners and staff have described human-shaped dents in a made-up bed upstairs, objects moving and a woman’s voice singing Christmas carols. A 2004 overnight investigation by a local ghost society claimed five spirits, and a dish broke in the kitchen while it was under way.
What investigators report
During a 2004 overnight investigation by the Maryland Ghost and Spirit Society, monitors placed through the building reportedly picked up activity, with an upstairs bedroom and the kitchen named as hot spots.
Where to look The glass floor over the hypocaust in the lobby, the attic and the upstairs guest rooms
Reported ghosts Faces in the glass floor, a man in 18th-century dress, a spirit called Dominic
Visiting A working hotel: book a room to stay the night
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts; stay the night instead
Facing the Maryland State House across State Circle, the Governor Calvert House grew from a brick home built around 1728 for Governor Charles Calvert, a cousin of the fifth Lord Baltimore. Fire, lightning and two centuries of use as barracks, a printer’s home, a mayor’s residence and apartments followed before it reopened as an inn in the 1980s. It is now one of the three Historic Inns of Annapolis.
Under a glass panel in the lobby you can see a colonial hypocaust, a Roman-style heating system found by archaeologists in the 1980s. Guests say they have seen faces looking back from that glass. Other stories tell of a man in 18th-century clothes in the lobby, noises from the sealed attic, and a mischievous spirit known as Dominic who is said to linger in the bedrooms.
Haunted Rooms tip: Stand over the glass floor in the lobby late in the evening, and ask for one of the Historic King rooms in the original house rather than the newer wing.
Where to look The Chief's Mess, the galley and the passageway by the damage control office
Reported ghosts Figures gliding through hatches, orders over a dead PA system, a man speaking Japanese near the galley
Visiting Museum ship open most days
Tours Seasonal Maritime Macabre tours
Tickets Historic Ships in Baltimore ticket
Ghost hunting No public investigations
Commissioned in 1936, this Coast Guard cutter was moored in Honolulu on December 7, 1941, and her crew were firing on Japanese planes within minutes. She is the last warship afloat that fought at Pearl Harbor, later served as a command ship at Okinawa, and was decommissioned in 1986 to become a museum in Baltimore. Historic Ships in Baltimore now lists her as Cutter 37, her hull number, after its board voted in 2020 to drop the Taney name.
The ship’s education coordinator has said she never saw anything herself, but overnight workers reported someone inside the locked Chief’s Mess, and staff and visitors have described figures gliding through hatches, orders over a dead PA system and a man speaking Japanese near the galley. A parent on a youth overnight saw someone in a passageway who was not there.
What investigators report
Most reported activity centres on the forward section, especially the Chief’s Mess and the damage control office, with voices also reported near the galley. The Ghost Hunters TV team spent a night aboard and said they confirmed some of the activity.
Where to look Room 16, Rooms 10, 18 and 23, and the second-floor hallway
Reported ghosts A young woman who asked for towels in Room 16, a giggling little girl, an extra man in a family photo
Visiting A working hotel: book a room to stay the night
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts; stay the night instead
Horace Harmonson built the Atlantic Hotel in 1895, six months after a fire destroyed Berlin’s earlier hotel and much of its main street. The three-story brick hotel with its long front porch is still the heart of the small town eight miles from Ocean City, with 18 Victorian rooms and suites, a Gardner’s Cottage and a bistro bar. Movie fans know it from Runaway Bride, filmed in Berlin in 1997.
Staff stories center on Room 16, where a manager once fetched towels for a young woman who was never registered and had vanished when she returned. Guests describe a little girl giggling and a ball bouncing against doors in the second-floor hallway, and other rooms have their own tales: a voice saying hello in Room 10, a door that latched itself in Room 23 and an extra man in a family photo in Room 18.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book Room 16 directly with the hotel, then take the Chesapeake Ghost Walks tour of Berlin, which starts its stories at the Atlantic.
Where to look Kitty Knight's former bedroom, the hallway outside it and the basement
Reported ghosts Kitty Knight herself, children's voices in the basement
Visiting A working hotel: book a room to stay the night
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts; stay the night instead
High above the Sassafras River in Georgetown, the Kitty Knight House is two 18th-century houses joined into a riverside inn with the Deep Blue restaurant. On May 6, 1813, British troops under Rear Admiral George Cockburn burned much of Georgetown. Local legend, first written down in Kitty Knight’s 1855 obituary, says she stamped out the flames and talked Cockburn into sparing her home and an elderly neighbor’s. She bought the house in 1836 and lived there until she died.
Guests and staff say Kitty never really left. Doors close by themselves, voices are heard in empty rooms, and most of the activity is reported in her old bedroom and the hallway leading to it. Paranormal investigators who held overnight events here told Chesapeake Bay Magazine about sudden cold in her room and recordings of children laughing in the basement.
What investigators report
Investigators focus on Kitty Knight’s former bedroom and the hallway leading to it, and one team reported rolling a ball back and forth with what they took to be a child spirit. Recordings in the townhouse basement are said to pick up children laughing or crying.
Where to look The great hall and its chandelier, the upstairs bedrooms and the hallways
Reported ghosts A woman in a gray gown, a blonde woman combing her hair, a man dressed as a butler, a chandelier that falls before a death
Visiting National historic site; mansion by ticketed tour only
Hours and season Grounds daily; visitor center, mansion and farm Thu to Sun, 9 AM to 4 PM
Ghost hunting No investigations
When Capt. Charles Ridgely finished Hampton in 1790 it was the largest private house in the United States, built on an estate the family held for seven generations. Its wealth came from ironworks and farms worked by enslaved people, more than 300 at its height in the 1820s, and the site now tells their story alongside the Ridgelys’. The National Park Service has managed it since 1979.
Family and staff stories include a chandelier said to crash before a Ridgely died, a woman in a gray gown in the halls, a blonde woman combing her hair in a bedroom and a man dressed as a butler. Retired ranger Bruce Bytnar has written of his own experience here. The Park Service says the house is not haunted, while some staff say it is.
Haunted Rooms tip: The mansion is open by ticketed tour only, Thursday to Sunday; walk the slave quarters and farm buildings too.
Address 203 North Amity Street, Baltimore, MD 21223
Where to look The back room, the narrow stairs and Poe's tiny garret bedroom
Reported ghosts A heavy-set, gray-haired woman, taps on the shoulder, a window flung across a room
Visiting House museum open weekly by reservation
Tickets Tour tickets booked online
Ghost hunting No public investigations
Poe lived in this small brick row house from about 1833 to 1835 with his aunt Maria Clemm, her daughter Virginia, later his wife, and his ailing grandmother Elizabeth Cairnes Poe. It was saved from a 1941 housing clearance by the Poe Society, opened as a museum in 1949 and is now run by the nonprofit Poe Baltimore, which warns that the house needs urgent repairs.
Its stories come from people who worked here. Curator Jeff Jerome told the Washington Times that an actress preparing a Poe play heard a crash and found a window in the middle of the back-room floor, and a former guide felt knuckles tap his shoulder blades with no one behind him. Older ghost write-ups also describe a heavy-set, gray-haired woman in the house.
What investigators report
A TV investigation team worked the second-floor exhibit room with the lights off, using thermal cameras, a proximity device and digital recorders, and reportedly caught a faint voice on a recorder.
Reported ghosts Roland, a friendly figure in 18th-century military dress; cigar smoke on the balcony
Visiting Working restaurant and bar
Tours A stop on Annapolis ghost tours
Hours and season Daily from 11:30 AM (10 AM Sunday)
Ghost hunting No investigations
On the City Dock, Middleton Tavern traces its business to 1750, when Horatio Middleton opened an inn for seafaring men; his son ran it after him, and it claims George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin among its patrons. It is one of the oldest continuously operating taverns in the country and is still a busy restaurant and bar.
The tavern’s ghost is Roland, a friendly figure in 18th-century military dress seen near the staircase and treated as the building’s protector. Staff also tell of cigar smoke on the upper balcony with no smoker in sight. One theory ties the ghost to George Schmidt, killed in front of the building in 1876. Older lists put Middleton Tavern in Baltimore, but it is in Annapolis.
Haunted Rooms tip: Get a window seat looking over the City Dock, then join an Annapolis ghost walk; several start nearby.
Address Jericho Road over the Little Gunpowder Falls, Kingsville, MD
Where to look Inside the bridge at the middle of the span
Reported ghosts Figures hanging from the rafters, a woman in Amish dress, a girl with a basket of flowers, a woman with a burned face
Visiting Public road bridge open to traffic
Ghost hunting Do not stop or park on the bridge
Built in 1865 to a design by Thomas F. Forsyth, this 88-foot Burr arch covered bridge carries Jericho Road over the Little Gunpowder Falls on the line between Baltimore and Harford counties, near the historic Jerusalem Mill village. It was listed on the National Register in 1978, restored again in 2015, and is still open to traffic.
It is Baltimore County’s classic ghost bridge. Stories tell of figures hanging from the rafters, which some local legends tie to escaped enslaved people, and of a woman in Amish dress, a girl with a basket of flowers and a woman with a burned face. Drivers report stalled cars and handprints in powder on their bumpers. None of it has any record behind it.
Haunted Rooms tip: Visit by day from the Jerusalem Mill side and walk the bridge; at night it is a narrow working road with nowhere safe to stop.
Address 9811 Van Buren Lane, Cockeysville, MD 21030
Where to look The third floor, the upper windows seen from outside and the old potter's field grounds
Reported ghosts Children playing, women's voices on the third floor, faces at the windows
Visiting History museum and research library with public hours
Hours and season Fridays and Saturdays, 10 AM to 2 PM
Tickets $10 adults
Ghost hunting No public investigations
Baltimore County built its third and last almshouse from local limestone to designs by James Harrison, and 74 residents moved in on January 8, 1874. More than 10,000 poor, elderly, sick and orphaned people passed through by 1914, segregated by race and sex, and many who died were buried in unmarked graves in a potter’s field on the grounds. It closed in 1958 and has been the Historical Society of Baltimore County’s home since 1959.
The ghost stories are the gentle, persistent kind: children heard playing in empty rooms, women talking on the third floor, and faces seen at the windows from outside. Older write-ups name Anthony Rose, a resident said to have died in a fall down an elevator shaft, but we have not found a record of that death.
Haunted Rooms tip: Visit on a Friday or Saturday morning and ask the volunteers about the residents’ records in the research library.
Where to look The chandeliers over the bar, the cash registers and the seat marked Poe's Last Stop
Reported ghosts "Edgar", said to be Edgar Allan Poe: swinging chandeliers, registers that open themselves
Visiting Working bar, 21+ in the evenings
Tours A stop on Fells Point ghost tours and haunted pub crawls
Ghost hunting No investigations
This Fells Point saloon on Thames Street says a bar has operated in its colonial building since 1775 and that it stayed open through Prohibition, the only one in Maryland to do so. It has gone by its current name since the 1970s. Legend makes it Edgar Allan Poe’s last stop before he was found delirious in October 1849, though historians point out there is no proof he drank here.
Staff call their ghost Edgar. Bartenders have told local TV and Baltimore Magazine about chandeliers swinging on their own, cash register drawers flying open and a safe door slamming, and some leave a glass of whiskey out for him at closing. Whether it is Poe or not, it is a lively, loud bar, not a quiet museum.
Haunted Rooms tip: Go on a weeknight, ask the bartenders for their Edgar stories, then join a Fells Point ghost walk that passes the door.
Where to look Tallulah Bankhead's grave slab, the church doors and the bridge at the churchyard edge
Reported ghosts Tallulah Bankhead singing from her grave, a lantern crossing the bridge, church doors that open by themselves
Visiting Active parish churchyard; visit respectfully in daylight
Ghost hunting No investigations; please do not lie on graves
St. Paul’s was one of Maryland’s original 30 Anglican parishes, and its brick church was handed to the vestry on April 6, 1713, making it one of the oldest churches on the Eastern Shore. The churchyard holds two Confederate and three Union soldiers, a national champion swamp chestnut oak about 120 feet tall, and the actress Tallulah Bankhead, buried here in 1968 near her sister Eugenia’s home.
Bankhead is the ghost people come for. The legend says that if you lie on her slab at night with an ear to the stone you will hear her raspy voice singing, and visitors leave roses and little bottles of bourbon. Older lists add a lantern on the bridge carried by Tench Tilghman, Washington’s aide, but Tilghman is buried in Oxford, not here.
Haunted Rooms tip: Come in daylight, find Bankhead’s slab near the northeast corner of the new cemetery, and remember this is a working parish churchyard.
Address 1724 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
Where to look The stairs to the upper bar and the bar itself
Reported ghosts "Frenchie", a small older man in a waiter's black trousers and white shirt
Visiting Working bar, 21+
Tours A stop on Mount Vernon haunted pub crawls
Ghost hunting No investigations
Across from the Charles Theatre in Station North, Club Charles has been a Baltimore dive-bar institution since Esther Martin bought it in 1951; her daughter Joy runs it now. John Waters drank here, it was redesigned in 1981, and it survived a sudden 2017 closure and a 21-month pandemic shutdown before reopening in December 2021.
Its ghost is Frenchie, said to be Edouard Neyt, a French waiter who lived upstairs when the place was the Wigwam and died in his room in 1979. A bartender told Baltimore City Paper she saw a small, older man in black trousers and a white shirt at the top of the stairs who vanished, and Joy Martin’s reply was simply, “Oh, that’s just Frenchie.”
Haunted Rooms tip: Pair a film at the Charles Theatre with a late drink here, and look up the stairs to the upper bar.
Where to look The wooded stretch of Fletchertown Road and Lottsford Road's Crybaby Bridge nearby
Reported ghosts The Goatman, a hairy half-man, half-goat creature said to attack cars and couples
Visiting A public residential road; nothing to visit
Ghost hunting Private land on both sides: do not trespass
Maryland’s best-known monster story started on paper. In May 1971 a University of Maryland student wrote a folklore project about a creature on Tucker Road in Clinton, and that October reporter Karen Hosler of the Prince George’s County News moved it to Fletchertown Road in Bowie. Two weeks later her paper ran the headline that made it famous: a family’s puppy, Ginger, had been found headless near the road.
The legend grew from there: a scientist turned half-goat by an experiment at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, a hermit who walked the road at night, a figure with an axe attacking parked couples. The research center denied it, folklorist Barry Pearson credits bored teenagers, and nobody has ever produced evidence. It is a story to know, not a place to go looking.
Haunted Rooms tip: Fletchertown Road is a residential public road: drive it by day if you must, but do not stop, trespass or park on the shoulder.
These places appear in older lists of haunted spots. We keep them here so you know the facts before you go, but you cannot (or should not) visit them.
Glenn Dale Hospital, Glenn Dale
The abandoned tuberculosis hospital, closed in 1981, is full of asbestos and lead paint, its roofs are collapsing and park police patrol the grounds. Trespassing is illegal. The torture stories have no evidence behind them, and its incinerator burned hospital waste, not bodies.
Victoriana Inn, St. Michaels
The 1865 inn known for its penny-leaving ghost closed for good on August 1, 2026, and is now a private home. Read its story in our Victoriana Inn guide.
The Wayside Inn, Ellicott City
The stone bed and breakfast with a housekeeping ghost called Jenny was set on fire by a lightning strike on July 18, 2026, and is closed for repairs. See our Wayside Inn guide for updates.
Black Aggie, Druid Ridge Cemetery, Pikesville
The bronze mourning statue on Gen. Felix Agnus’s grave drew so many dares and legends that the family gave it to the Smithsonian in 1967. Only the bare pedestal remains at the cemetery; the statue now stands in a courtyard behind the Dolley Madison House in Washington, D.C.
Rosewood Center, Owings Mills
The state institution that opened in 1888 closed in 2009, and Stevenson University took over the property in 2020 for its campus. It is not open for ghost hunting or exploring.
Seven places on this list take overnight guests, from the Lord Baltimore Hotel to the Kitty Knight House on the Sassafras River. For rooms, booking tips and more haunted stays, see our guides to haunted hotels in Maryland and haunted hotels in Baltimore. For nights out with our team, see all Maryland ghost hunts.
Changed from our older guide: Glenn Dale Hospital moved to the off-limits list because it is closed, hazardous and patrolled; the Point Lookout Lighthouse is now a museum you can enter; and we dropped details we could not trace or that records contradict, such as Tench Tilghman’s lantern at St. Paul’s (he is buried in Oxford, not there), the Goatman’s twenty years of axe murders, and the Taney surviving 119 strikes (she went to battle stations 119 times). New in this update: haunted hotels count as haunted places, so Maryland’s haunted inns now have cards; we added our event venue at Linville Manor, Fort McHenry, the USS Constellation, Westminster Burying Ground, the Poe House, Hampton, the Patapsco Female Institute, the Jericho Covered Bridge and more; and Annapolis now has its own guide.
Visited one of these places? Tell us what happened
We collect first-hand accounts from visitors and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your visit. We read every story before it’s published.
Point Lookout in St. Mary’s County has the strongest claim: a Civil War prison camp where thousands died, a lighthouse its former residents and rangers say is haunted, and ghost stories collected by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources itself. Antietam National Battlefield and Fort McHenry are close behind.
Where can I go ghost hunting in Maryland?
Haunted Rooms runs overnight ghost hunts at Linville Manor in Upper Marlboro, where you investigate the 1850s mansion after dark and can sleep in one of its suites. Most other famous sites, including Antietam, Point Lookout and Fort McHenry, close at dusk and do not allow investigations.
Can you visit Point Lookout Lighthouse?
Yes. After years of restoration the lighthouse opened as a small museum in May 2025. It is open Thursday to Monday, 9 AM to 5 PM, from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day, inside Point Lookout State Park, which closes at sunset.
Is Antietam Battlefield haunted?
It is one of the most haunted places in the state by reputation. Visitors report gunfire and gunpowder smells at Bloody Lane, a Gaelic battle song in the fields and lights and drums at Burnside Bridge. The battlefield is open in daylight hours only.
Can you stay overnight in a haunted place in Maryland?
Yes. The Lord Baltimore Hotel and The William Fell in Baltimore, the Maryland Inn, Reynolds Tavern and Governor Calvert House in Annapolis, the Atlantic Hotel in Berlin and the Kitty Knight House in Georgetown all take guests. See our guide to haunted hotels in Maryland.
Is the Goatman real?
No one has ever produced evidence. The legend was first written down by a University of Maryland folklore student in 1971 and spread when a Prince George’s County newspaper reported a headless dog near Fletchertown Road that October. Fletchertown Road is a residential road: do not trespass.
Sources and how we research
Every place in this guide is checked against its official website, historic register listings and news coverage, and we confirm whether it is open, closed, private or gone before we list it. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and local historians tell them; we say so where records contradict a story. Each place shows how many independent sources we checked it against; our own Haunted Rooms pages are not counted.
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every place in our guides using official sites, historic registers, local archives and news coverage, and we report ghost stories as the stories they are. We review each guide regularly so you are not sent to a place that has closed, changed hands or banned visitors. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
