Mysteries and Lore of Western Maryland: Snallygasters, Dogmen and other Mountain Tales

by Susan Fair

Overview

In the shadows of the quiet mountain towns of Western Maryland, strange creatures are said to lurk in the woods while phantoms wander the foothills. The Hagerstown clock tower is reportedly haunted by the ghost of a young artist killed during the Civil War, while the low summit of South Mountain was once host to a mysterious spell-caster, the Wizard Zittle. Farther west, tales of legendary hunter Meshach Browning echo among the Allegany Mountains while visitors to Deep Creek Lake may feel the chilling presence of monks who never left their former monastery. From the 1909 hoax of the monstrous Snallygaster that terrorized the Middletown Valley to the doglike Dwayyo that was spotted near Frederick in 1965, local historian Susan Fair rounds up the bizarre beasts, odd characters and unsolved mysteries that color the legends and lore of Western Maryland.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781625841278
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	07/16/2013
Series:	American Legends
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Susan Fair is the chief docent and museum assistant at the Boonsboro Museum of History. She works in materials management at Carroll County Public Library. She is a writer, with published work in a wide range of local and regional publications.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 9

Preface 11

Part 1 Western Maryland Monsters 15

The Snallygaster: The Monstrous Misadventures of a Mountain Menace 16

The Snarly Yow Stalks the Mountain 23

Dwayyos and Dogmen: Werewolves of Western Maryland 26

Beware the Jabberwock: Frederick's Own Chupacabra 30

Reptilian Troubles: Hoopsnakes, Rattlers and Other Rascals 34

A Mysterious Menagerie 37

Part 2 Eerie Entities of Western Maryland 41

South Mountain Spooks 43

A Grave Undertaking: The National Museum of Civil War Medicine 49

A Study in Spirits: Mount Saint Mary's University 52

Hagerstown Haunts 57

Assorted Entities 61

Part 3 Western Maryland Weird Hall of Fame 67

George Alfred Townsend: A Man, a Mountain and a Mausoleum 67

Fistfights with Wolves: Meshach Browning, Western Maryland's Celebrated Hunter 73

The Wizard of South Mountain 78

Henry Kyd Douglas: The Rebel Dandy Who Lost It in Maryland 85

Harris the Crazy Naked Guy: Honorable Mention 90

Part 4 Miscellaneous Mayhem, Mysterious Places and Mythical Mountains 93

A Tale of Two Severed Arms 93

Washington Monument Weirdness 96

Macabre Murders and Entertaining Executions 102

Fort Frederick: Fun and Fear on the Frontier 107

The Sad Disappearance of Colonel French's Pie 112

Every Mountain Tells a Story 113

Bibliography 119

About the Author 125