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Hunting
for Hauntings:
Mid-Atlantic Tourism Group Demonstrates the "Spirit"
of Hospitality
BALTIMORE, Sept.
10 /PRNewswire/ -- Not long ago, innkeepers and museum curators
might have contacted a "ghost buster" to banish unwanted
apparitions as a means of keeping visitors from being frightened.
Today, though, those in the hospitality industry are more likely
to bring someone in who can actually attract ghosts to their
sites.
Odd as it may seem,
ghosts are big business. Throughout the year, but especially
as Halloween approaches, travelers enthusiastically seek out
eerie noises, creepy cold spots and unexplainable sights in
the hopes of making their weekend getaways more memorable than
the average vacation. In short, guests love ghosts.
The Mid-Atlantic
region provides ample opportunities to hunt for haunts and,
recognizing that, the Mid-Atlantic Tourism Public Relations
Alliance (MATPRA) has assembled a list of haunted sites from
each state in the alliance (Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania,
Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, DC). The selections
below are a starting point for eager ghost hunters looking for
opportunities to spot specters and find phantoms. More details
about sites and activities are available from the contact provided
with each listing. In addition, a MATPRA web site, www.MidAtlanticGhosts.com
offers an ever- lengthening list of eerie attractions and events
throughout the Mid-Atlantic.
DELAWARE
Addy Sea
99 Atlantic Avenue
Bethany Beach, DE 19930
800-418-6764
Plumber John Addy of Pittsburgh built his home, now a bed and
breakfast, in 1904. Room One contains a copper tub that was
originally installed by Addy himself. Guests and owners have
reported that sometimes the tub shakes for no apparent reason.
Organ music is often heard wafting through the rooms, but there
isn't an organ in the home. The owner has often heard footsteps
and unexplained noises, and on one occasion she was locked in
a downstairs closet when the door swung shut on her. The owners,
who don't know the identity of these otherworldly guests, have
determined that they are mischievous yet non-
threatening.
MARYLAND
National
Museum of Civil War Medicine
48 E. Patrick Street/P.O. Box 470
Frederick, MD 21705
301-695-1864
The building that houses the museum functioned as an undertaker's
establishment for nearly a century -- including the years of
the Civil War.Visitors and staff have reported seeing shadowy
figures in person or on surveillance cameras, feeling cold spots
in various parts of the building and sensing presences. Not
all of the vibes were good ones, so when the museum was renovated
recently, the staff brought in a paranormal specialist to cleanse
the building. Since that time, all the negative energy seems
to have left; these days, most reports are of orbs that appear
in photographs.
PENNSYLVANIA
Eastern State Penitentiary
2124 Fairmount Avenue
Philadelphia, PA
215-236-3300
This site in Philadelphia -- a gothic, castle-like structure
built in 1829-- was once home to such characters as Al Capone
and Willie Sutton. The building, which is now a museum, was
designed to be frightening. Ghosts are reported to include ill-fated
prisoners and a phantom guard who appears in the guard tower.
The prison also hosts a Halloween celebration that takes visitors
through five cellblocks and the central rotunda, all enhanced
by tremendous special effects.
VIRGINIA
Camberleys
Martha Washington Inn
150 W. Main Street
Abingdon, VA 24210
276-628-3161
There are many ghost stories associated with this historic hotel,
which served as a hospital during the Civil War. A young woman
named Beth, who cared for the wounded soldiers, fell in love
with one of her charges, John Stoves. He died, and Beth passed
away just a few weeks later. Employees have reported seeing
her ghost as she returns to Room 403, the room where Stoves
died. Others tell of glimpsing a phantom horse looking for his
master, a Union soldier shot in front of the building.
WEST VIRGINIA
Haunted
Graveyard Tour Martinsburg
P.O. Box 1411
Hedgesville, WV 25427
304-754-6983
Participants are encouraged to keep their eyes open during this
chilling walk through two of the most actively haunted graveyards
in the Eastern Panhandle. Visitors have actually darted out
of the graveyards during the tour after spotting the "Lady
in Black" or ghostly children among the tombstones. Participants
can bring cameras to capture their own sightings and tour organizers
lend participants an EMF reader and a ghost detector. The Eastern
Panhandle is rich with paranormal activity, attributed to uneasy
spirits from the Civil War.
WASHINGTON, DC
National Building
Museum
401 F St., NW
Washington, DC 20001
202-272-2448
The magnificent edifice where Civil War veterans once came to
collect their pensions is known to be visited by a soldier on
horseback - possibly Montgomery Meigs, the building's designer.
Swirling faces are also sometimes seen at the top of the glorious
marble columns in the building's great hall.
SOURCE Mid-Atlantic
Tourism Group
Web site:
http://www.MidAtlanticGhosts.com
http://www.addysea.com
http://www.CivilWarMed.org
http://www.marthawashingtoninn.com
http://www.wvsocietyofghosthunters.com/
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