Leisurely strolling down Main Street, stopping for a sip of wine, hearing ghost stories.
What could be better?
Unfortunately, Robby couldn’t go with me for this week’s investigation. I went on the Spirits Tour and you must be at least twenty-one years old to attend the tour. The walking tour takes you to four of Ellicott City’s establishments that sell alcohol and participants are invited to have a drink at each stop.
The Wine Bin: Formerly the Ellicott City Fire Station
The Wine Bins’ owner, Dave, was kind enough to tell us some ghostly tales about Captain Harry Shipley, the resident ghost.
I could feel the Captain as soon as I entered the store. I felt that he was far from threatening, in fact, from the stories that I heard on the Spirit Tour, the Captain seemed quite playful. It is obvious that the Captain loves his Fire Station home and he shares it with the current owners.
I didn’t need any validation that Captain Shipley was present, but I got it anyway. Dave talked about the movies that he shows outside on the wall of the Wine Bin and he mentioned two Jimmy Stewart movies. Jimmy Stewart is my cousin so I knew that was a sign to me that that Captain was present. I captured a photo with four Orbs so obviously Shipley is not alone. I’m certain that one of the Orbs was a former firehouse dog.
Four Wine Bin Orbs
Ellicott Mills Brewing Company: Formerly the Talbot Lumber and Supply Building
I took one of the best photos of the night here. I didn’t see it until the review, but in one of the photos there was a Shadow Man and a Shadow Child standing next to him. The figures seemed too clear, so I went back to the Brewing Company a few days later to see if it could have been a reflection of someone in a window.
There was no window.
When I showed the picture to the Brewing Company story-teller from the Spirits Tour, he said, “Of course it’s him. We get that all the time.”
He was referring to the resident ghost who hung himself in the building during the Great Depression.
Obviously, the Shadow Man had been watching us from above and even did a bit of posing for the camera.
But who is the smaller person next to him?
The Shadow Man used to have a family, so is he telling us that he has been reunited with them? Is this his child?
I certainly hope so.
Shadow Man and Child
Shadow Man Original Photo – Upper Left Corner
Brewery Orb
The Diamondback Tavern
Tales of Davey Crockett and a Ghost Girl with long brunette hair made this former livery stable a tavern rich with ghostly history.
I took several photos in a hallway where the Ghost Girl has been seen. In one photo there is a clear Orb and in the next photo, taken immediately after, the Orb is gone.
The Tavern was full of patrons that night, and I’m certain that the resident ghosts were also in attendance.
Diamondback Tavern Orb
Rumor Mill Alley Mist
The Rumor Mill
Not to be outdone, The Rumor Mill has a Man in the Bowler Hat spirit who makes believers out of skeptics. Our Rumor Mill tour guide that night admitted to being a former skeptic, but not after his encounters with the Man in the Bowler Hat.
It’s no wonder. The Rumor Mill building used to be owned by an undertaker!
Just outside, before we entered the Rumor Mill, I took two pictures. I took almost the same shot twice, but the first time there was a strange mist in the photo, and in the shot immediately after – no mist! I took the pictures one after the other and there was barely a second between the shots so if it was fog, (which we didn’t see that night) it was the speediest fog that I ever saw!
Then I took another photo that bothered me for days. I knew there was something about the photo that I needed to see, but I couldn’t figure it out. As with the Brewing Company, I went back to the Rumor Mill a few days later and I asked to take the same shot. They were kind enough to oblige and I got a picture in daylight for comparison.
I was about to write it off as nothing, but in two other photos of the same room, I found a very bright Orb and in another picture, I saw two very light Orbs, right in the area that I was questioning. I took another look at the first photo…and I found it. It was close to where the Orbs were. They were obviously showing me where to look.
It was a Bowler Hat!
On a chair, there appears to be a large Orb, with a brim, sitting on the chair seat. The Man in the Bowler Hat is said to be seen sitting at the tables.
He let me take a picture of his hat, and he bugged me until I saw it!
They do that sometimes.
Bowler Hat
Bowler Hat
Rumor Mill Orb
Bowler Hat Outline
Spirits Tour Ghost Radar Conversation
Words From the Other Side:
Flight Stranger Factor Combine Father Thread Halfway Ben Forth Stuck Dutch Facing Mixture Relationship Path Level Package Wide Party Beginning End Car Quarter Object Characterization Somebody Age It Score Drove Surprise Metal Drive History Only Imagine Advice Mud Kind Help Buffalo Parent Push Probably Love Riding Cannot Mr. Except Raise Kristin Primitive Find Star Property Stepped He’d Mood
Wandering Souls
Take Flight ye Strangers of fear and gloom! Our factors of history demand that you to combine our Father with yours! Never forget that we are woven together with the same Spiritual Thread and you exist halfway between Heaven and Hell! Ben, the scoundrel, brought forth treasonous tales and he was doomed to remain stuck in his Dutch attire, facing a mortifying mixture of shame and everlasting woe! His relationship with non-believers led him down a path of blindness and took him to a terrifying level of morbidity. Tragedy was like a package, delivered to his door, and when opened, it laid wide his weakness for being misled.
The party was a ruse and the beginning of the end for him. Better that a car had run him over than to meet his end of being drawn and quartered. Always the object of scorn and envy, such characterization could only lead to somebody eventually cutting his life short at such an early age. It was a score for the Grim Reaper that drove the town to feign surprise as the undertaker hammered away at his metal and wood sarcophagus. The horse drawn hearse was a drive into history down the only path that one could imagine as doomed for eternity. No advice was heeded and when the mud-slinging began, not a kind word was said to help the former Buffalo Soldier and parent of sorrow on his ghostly journey. The push from a neighbor was probably the only love that he could expect. Riding away cannot stop Mr. Lonely from finding anything except a broken heart.
Raise a glass to Kristin! Her primitive nature is a welcome find in this wretched life. She is our shining star who guards our property that is stepped in blood.
If he’d only known the mood of the city, he would never have come.
Now he was doomed, never to leave.
The Next Investigation:
The Ellicott Family Cemetery
Ellicott City Ghostly Happenings 