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Page 24 October 2015 The Catoctin Banner Newspaper www.TheCatoctinBanner.com Published by www.EPlusPromotes.com
Ghosts and Creatures in the Catoctins
Deb Spalding
Folklore suggests that signs and right, then jumps straight up in the Grandmother Rings from Snallygaster was believed to be one
symbols determine our fate. Have air, hits the ground and stares at you, Heaven of few of its kind in the area, for it
good luck if you find a penny or start then darts back to the left. That must A Sabillasville lady claimed that was believed that eyewitnesses saw it
the day with a double-yoke egg; have mean I’m really misdirected, right? the spirit of her late grandmother die when it visited a whiskey still and
bad luck if you break a mirror or It would appear that these would ring her phone at the same drowned in a vat of liquor.
have a black cat cross your path. traditions of lore are a bunch of time every evening. Two rings. The evidence of the creature was
These superstitions can become “hoopydo” to me. I put them in the This was a rotary phone that her destroyed when two Federal Agents
pretty detailed, like having a rabbit same category as ghosts, goblins, and grandmother used every day and set the still with explosives and blew
or squirrel cross your path to the witches, but I also know that many now held a special, sentimental up the creature and the still.
right means an easy journey, while enjoy the good fun of Halloween. value to the lady. She displayed it According to Boyton’s research,
the same crossing to the left suggests So, to prepare for this spooky prominently on her nightstand. The a March 5, 1909 edition of the
peril. Well, I’d like to know what article, I’ve been asking people about puzzling part — the phone was not Emmitsburg Chronicle reported
happens when the squirrel starts their ghostly encounters. Most don’t connected to any outlet. It didn’t that Ed Brown, an employee with
seem to have many, or at least that even have a cord. the Western Maryland Railroad,
they’ll share. Short on leads, I read encountered the Snallygaster when
blogs on the internet, consulted The Flute Player it stole some of his coal. The winged
books, and talked to our local Larry Dielman is said to visit the creature swooped down from above
historian/tourism expert/ghost tour grave of his father in the Grotto of and “seized him by the suspenders.”
docent, Roger Troxell for some tips. Lourdes Cemetery above Mount Mr. Brown was rescued when his
My research also included St. Mary’s University every year on friend Bill Snider grabbed Brown
information from HauntedPlaces.org, Christmas Eve. An avid banjo player by the foot. The two men, joined by
Patrick Boyton’s book, Snallygaster, most of his life, it was not until his Dan Shorb of Emmmitsburg, fought
The Lost Legend of Frederick father, Prof. Henry Casper Dielman, the creature for a reported hour and
County; and Paula M. Strain’s book a noted classical musician and a half ending with it being chased
Tales of Mountain Maryland, as well composer both in his native Germany into the woods.
as several other internet sites. and later in the United States, died, It is said that the creature headed
The following is a glimpse of some that Larry learned to play the flute to for Emmitsburg where deputy
real, or as real as we can remember, honor him. game warden Capt. Norman Hoke
ghostly stories in our area. I will His father had led symphony showed it his badge and, “backed
state that the facts may be clouded with orchestras in Philadelphia, New by the full authority of the law,”
retelling, or they may not be facts at all. York, and Baltimore, and in 1843, ordered it from the county. His
he joined the faculty of Mount St. words had little effect on the
The Ghost on Main Street Mary’s College in Emmitsburg, where creature, but Clarence Fraley
The Overall Man, named because he taught music and composed the “loaded a gun with croquet balls
he was seen, or imagined, wearing Christmas carol With Glory Lit the and slag and shot at it.”
overalls, haunted a house on Main Midnight Air.
Street in Thurmont for several years. It is said that, if you listen carefully Civil war nurses
The Overall Man was a jokester. on a clear, windless Christmas Eve, The National Emergency Training
He would pull the covers off in the that you can hear Larry playing the Center in Emmitsburg was once
middle of the night, turn on the lights flute at his father’s grave. St. Joseph’s College, which until
throughout the house, close all of the 1973 was a Catholic girls’ school
bedroom doors when they were left The Snallygaster established in 1809.
open, move the silverware around in This creature first made its During the Civil War, this location
the drawers, and manipulate utensils appearance in the Middletown was used as a hospital. Witnesses at
before your very eyes. Valley and Catoctin Mountains in the former college claim to have seen
He’s not been talked about for the early twentieth century. It was the ghosts of Civil War nurses, who
several years, and it is unknown if he described in the Tales of Mountain were carrying buckets of amputated
has moved on, but it can be said that Maryland as bird-like and reptilian, human limbs and heard the sounds of
he had a fun spirit (pun intended). a flying dragon with one eye. The soldiers screaming in pain.
Sept. 19 -Oct. 31 FREE Admission &
th
st
Hayrides
Open Daily 10am-6pm 30 Acre Pumpkin Patch
14 Acre Corn Maze
3,000+ sq ft of Fall
Shopping & much more.
View all activities at
jumbos.org.
BUY 1 GET 1
Ticket FREE
TCB
Jumbo’s Pumpkin Patch
6521 Holter Rd | Middletown, MD 21769
(301) 371-6874 | www.jumbos.org
Ghosts and Creatures in the Catoctins
Deb Spalding
Folklore suggests that signs and right, then jumps straight up in the Grandmother Rings from Snallygaster was believed to be one
symbols determine our fate. Have air, hits the ground and stares at you, Heaven of few of its kind in the area, for it
good luck if you find a penny or start then darts back to the left. That must A Sabillasville lady claimed that was believed that eyewitnesses saw it
the day with a double-yoke egg; have mean I’m really misdirected, right? the spirit of her late grandmother die when it visited a whiskey still and
bad luck if you break a mirror or It would appear that these would ring her phone at the same drowned in a vat of liquor.
have a black cat cross your path. traditions of lore are a bunch of time every evening. Two rings. The evidence of the creature was
These superstitions can become “hoopydo” to me. I put them in the This was a rotary phone that her destroyed when two Federal Agents
pretty detailed, like having a rabbit same category as ghosts, goblins, and grandmother used every day and set the still with explosives and blew
or squirrel cross your path to the witches, but I also know that many now held a special, sentimental up the creature and the still.
right means an easy journey, while enjoy the good fun of Halloween. value to the lady. She displayed it According to Boyton’s research,
the same crossing to the left suggests So, to prepare for this spooky prominently on her nightstand. The a March 5, 1909 edition of the
peril. Well, I’d like to know what article, I’ve been asking people about puzzling part — the phone was not Emmitsburg Chronicle reported
happens when the squirrel starts their ghostly encounters. Most don’t connected to any outlet. It didn’t that Ed Brown, an employee with
seem to have many, or at least that even have a cord. the Western Maryland Railroad,
they’ll share. Short on leads, I read encountered the Snallygaster when
blogs on the internet, consulted The Flute Player it stole some of his coal. The winged
books, and talked to our local Larry Dielman is said to visit the creature swooped down from above
historian/tourism expert/ghost tour grave of his father in the Grotto of and “seized him by the suspenders.”
docent, Roger Troxell for some tips. Lourdes Cemetery above Mount Mr. Brown was rescued when his
My research also included St. Mary’s University every year on friend Bill Snider grabbed Brown
information from HauntedPlaces.org, Christmas Eve. An avid banjo player by the foot. The two men, joined by
Patrick Boyton’s book, Snallygaster, most of his life, it was not until his Dan Shorb of Emmmitsburg, fought
The Lost Legend of Frederick father, Prof. Henry Casper Dielman, the creature for a reported hour and
County; and Paula M. Strain’s book a noted classical musician and a half ending with it being chased
Tales of Mountain Maryland, as well composer both in his native Germany into the woods.
as several other internet sites. and later in the United States, died, It is said that the creature headed
The following is a glimpse of some that Larry learned to play the flute to for Emmitsburg where deputy
real, or as real as we can remember, honor him. game warden Capt. Norman Hoke
ghostly stories in our area. I will His father had led symphony showed it his badge and, “backed
state that the facts may be clouded with orchestras in Philadelphia, New by the full authority of the law,”
retelling, or they may not be facts at all. York, and Baltimore, and in 1843, ordered it from the county. His
he joined the faculty of Mount St. words had little effect on the
The Ghost on Main Street Mary’s College in Emmitsburg, where creature, but Clarence Fraley
The Overall Man, named because he taught music and composed the “loaded a gun with croquet balls
he was seen, or imagined, wearing Christmas carol With Glory Lit the and slag and shot at it.”
overalls, haunted a house on Main Midnight Air.
Street in Thurmont for several years. It is said that, if you listen carefully Civil war nurses
The Overall Man was a jokester. on a clear, windless Christmas Eve, The National Emergency Training
He would pull the covers off in the that you can hear Larry playing the Center in Emmitsburg was once
middle of the night, turn on the lights flute at his father’s grave. St. Joseph’s College, which until
throughout the house, close all of the 1973 was a Catholic girls’ school
bedroom doors when they were left The Snallygaster established in 1809.
open, move the silverware around in This creature first made its During the Civil War, this location
the drawers, and manipulate utensils appearance in the Middletown was used as a hospital. Witnesses at
before your very eyes. Valley and Catoctin Mountains in the former college claim to have seen
He’s not been talked about for the early twentieth century. It was the ghosts of Civil War nurses, who
several years, and it is unknown if he described in the Tales of Mountain were carrying buckets of amputated
has moved on, but it can be said that Maryland as bird-like and reptilian, human limbs and heard the sounds of
he had a fun spirit (pun intended). a flying dragon with one eye. The soldiers screaming in pain.
Sept. 19 -Oct. 31 FREE Admission &
th
st
Hayrides
Open Daily 10am-6pm 30 Acre Pumpkin Patch
14 Acre Corn Maze
3,000+ sq ft of Fall
Shopping & much more.
View all activities at
jumbos.org.
BUY 1 GET 1
Ticket FREE
TCB
Jumbo’s Pumpkin Patch
6521 Holter Rd | Middletown, MD 21769
(301) 371-6874 | www.jumbos.org
