On the day after Thanksgiving 1998, I was at my friend Cassidy's house. She had gone to her grandparents house on Thanksgiving, so they were having a second Thanksgiving dinner at home. After we ate, Cassidy called her friends Jessica and Danni. They were sisters, Jessica was our age, 13 and Danni was 12.

Jess and Danni met us at the cutway between the streets and we decided we were going to Dairy Queen for ice cream. (I don't know why we wanted ice cream at the end of November when it was about 25 degrees out.)

It's a little hard to explain where the houses, church and Dairy Queen are, but I'll do my best.

There is a main street called Lynch that has the shopping center to the left and to the right is Our Lady of Hope Church near the road and at the top of a hill and long field is the Our Lady of Hope Catholic School. The front of the church faces the development where Cassidy, Jess and Danni live.

The easiest way to get to the Dairy Queen is to walk to the street that the church's front faces, walk through the parking lot and through the field to the main street and then across the shopping center's parking lot. The backside of the church faces the field, but there is an entrance there.

We were walking through the field in somewhat of a line with Cassidy in the front, Jess and Danni in the middle and me in the back. I don't remember what we were talking about, or if we were even talking at all, but I remember thinking that it was really dark out. As we were right in front of the entrance of the church I looked at it. I don't know if I was expecting to see something or not. But there was a man there. He was older, probably around 70. He was wearing corduroy's, a flannel shirt and a floppy fishermans hat. I didn't think anything of him being there for a second, but then I realized the church was closed and I could see right through him. He was in full figure, but misty. The church has glass doors that lead into a small lobby and then more glass doors that lead into the church. I couldn't tell where he was. I was puzzled and not sure if I was really seeing him or not.

"Do you see that?", I asked to no one in particular.
I don't remember if it was Jess and Danni that spoke but they said, "You mean that man?". She said it clear as day, like there was a perfectly good reason for a transparent man to be standing there. I looked back at the man again, half expecting to see nothing, but he was still there. He didn't really have much of an expression on his face, just lonely and tired.
I don't know if Cassidy looked at him or not, but she started to walk away from the church and said, " Come on guys."

We went to Dairy Queen and ate our ice cream. We didn't mention the man, and I have no idea why. When we were outside of Dairy Queen, Danni suggested we go to CVS and buy a white candle and hold a seance to find out about this guy. Not knowing what else to do, we all agreed.

We went back to Cassidy's house and sat on her back porch. We lit the white candle and realized none of us knew how to conduct a seance. So we all sat Indian Style holding hands and concentrated. Since I was the first to see him, I had to ask all the questions. I said, "What is your name?". After a minute I opened my eyes and looked around. Cassidy and Danni said Robert at the same time Jess and I said Bob. I asked his age and we all came up with the number 76.

We never mentioned that night again until this past summer. Cassidy was spending the night and we were sitting in my living room trying to scare my boyfriend and we ended up telling him the story. He thought it was weird, but didn't say much. About a month later he asked me about it. I told him the story again and he told me he asked someone who used to go to the school about a man named Bob and she gave him a puzzled look and said Bob was a janitor. But he died a long time ago, he was around 75. When he told me that, I started crying without knowing why.

I've been past the church many times and I've never seen Bob again. I don't know if it was a real man who appeared to be transparent, or if we really saw the deceased janitor. Either way, it was an interesting experience.

Believe it if you want to. Sorry it was so long.

FEELING OF SADNESS

Whether or not you believe this is a ghost story is completely up to you. I didn’t see anyone or anything out of the ordinary, but what I felt was definitely not usual.

If you live in Maryland or paid attention in history class, hopefully you have heard of the small but historical town of Fort Howard. Without trying to give a history lesson, during the War of 1812, Marylanders were afraid the British army would try to attack Baltimore by water, thus creating Fort Howard. Cannons faced the water and dungeons and batteries were built to hold ammunition and anything else we would need to protect ourselves. Unfortunately, the British did come ashore, but that just leads more into a history lesson with things such as Todd’s Inheritance and The Battle of North Point. (If you're interested, www.dundalkeagle.com has a section called What’s Up With That, which gives a more detailed account of the purpose of Fort Howard.)

Anyway, the Edgemere/Sparrows Point Rec Counsel decided that since Fort Howard was now a public park and had a rather eerie demeanor, they would transform it into the Haunted Dungeons to scare paying visitors for the entire month of October.

If you've never been to the park, the best way to describe it is a long oval shaped road leads around the entire park, but there are smaller roads and even dirt paths you can take to go to other places. The main dungeons are located in the middle of the park with their back facing the water. (I'm pretty sure they were built in the hill so the British couldn't see what was waiting for them.) There is a smaller set of dungeons on the right side of the park that butts up against what is now the VA Hospital. Over to the left, there is a small battery area with steps that could have been used as a lookout area. Even in the daytime, it can be a very eerie place. The old cannons are still there, with markers next to them telling what happened. If you stand there looking out at the water long enough listening to the wind rustle through the leaves on the trees you can almost hear the cannons and rifles being fired. It’s not hard to imagine going back in time and seeing the ships come ashore, the generals yelling orders and the troops preparing to fire. It’s definitely a good place for a haunted house.

Anyway, my story takes place at the main set of dungeons. Since they were built in a hill and trees surround them, the temperature even in front of the dungeons drops about 10 degrees. It was August about two or three years ago and I was there with my boyfriend Steve who had been a volunteer there for about 4 years at the time. We were walking around the park and he asked me if I wanted to go in the dungeons. Something about them just made me feel uneasy but since nothing to scare the visitors had been put in there yet and it was a beautiful day outside, I decided to go in. I never spent enough time in there to really be able to describe what the inside of the dungeons looks like. All I remember is there is a main hallway that leads to room after room.

As soon as we walked in I felt a little claustrophobic and that it was hard to breathe. Since the dungeons are completely built of concrete with dim lighting and no windows, I blamed that on why I felt that way. We weren't even to the middle of the hallway when I felt even uneasier. I ignored it again and continued walking until we were in one of the rooms. Steve was telling me what the room was used for, I think it was a Hannibal scene, but I was barely paying attention to him. We went into the next room and suddenly an overwhelming feeling of sadness washed over me. I really can't even properly describe it. It was a mixture of sadness for the loss lives, the feeling of being homesick and wishing for your family, and then the sadness and pain of knowing your going to die alone. It was almost too much to bear. Even though I couldn't see anyone, it felt like there was a soldier standing in the corner of the room looking at me and crying. I started walking out of the dungeons and by the time I was on the main road, which couldn't have been more than a minute, tears were running down my face and I could barely catch my breath. Steve came running out after me and started apologizing for taking me in there, thinking I was just scared. Finally I was able to explain to him what I felt. He looked at me oddly, but I knew he didn't feel completely comfortable being in those dungeons either.

Everyone I've ever talked to has said that the dungeons never held prisoners or anyone for that matter, but it doesn't explain where that feeling came from. The experience never scared me; it just made me more aware of the reality of the events that occurred on those grounds. It took a little while, but I went in that room again, as well in the rest of the dungeons, but the feeling never came back. I don't know if it could have been because it was my first time in there, or maybe the soldier just felt like communicating with me. I can walk the entire park at night without a flashlight and feel completely safe. Who knows, maybe my soldier friend is watching over me.