The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1949-07-28
HORSE AND
BUGGY DAYS
by
Ida 10 Martin

Are you scared of "Spooks"? Have
YOU ever seen a Ghost? There
are some people in our County who
do not believe in Ghosts" "ha'nts"
and shades. But we have one of
the spookiest spots on earth, right
here in our Washington County, just
below Boonsboro, where old route
40 crosses South Mountain. Here in
a small area, on the top of the noun
tain and down the narrow gorge
that leads to the floor of Cumber-
land Valley, has been seen every
kind of Spook, Goblin, Spirit, and
Unearthly creature that there is.
1t was here on South Mountain that
an uneducated old woman made one
of the wiseSt of all observations,
something that was hidden from all
science-"when one is out walking
on "a cold winter night and he sud
denly meets warm draft of air, it
is the Devil
Now when you start talking about
superstitions and beliefs in strange
powers, everyone can tell some
queer things that happened. There
are many who secretly believe in
the old-time trying for various
sicknesses, but few people today
would want to admit it. But down
on South Mountain, according to the
writings of one who lived there,
there was an abundance of such be-
liefs. The writer was Madeleine
Vinton Dahlgren, who wrote book
called South Mountain Magic" She
lived in the old mansion on top of
South Mountain, by old Route 40,
more than so years ago, and OBJ
served and recorded some of the
strangest and wierdest happenings
of that area,
Some of her opening remarks help
to prepare the reader for the "Ghost
stories" in an interesting way. She
says: Everyone, no matter how
prejudiced or realistic, must admit
that the occult has in all ages at
tracted the attention of investigating
minds, so that it can not be consid-
cred as any evidence of weak judg-
ment or want of logical perception,
to admit surprising facts, the causes
of which cannot be perceived. Rath-
er, indeed, is it the exception when
we can clearly trace cause and eff
feet in the arcana of Nature"
The huge old house owned by the
Dahlgrens was, for half a century,
an Inn on the old National Pike In
addition this, during the Civil War
there was bloody fighting just be-
low the location of the house, and
many of the Ghosts" and appari-
tons seen in the area had their be-
ginning either in the battlefeld's
deaths, or in the revellingS of the
old inn. The vivid imagination pic
lures the presence of Jackson, or
Clay, and according to the traditions,
when the furious blasts shrek and
the gibbous moon grows pale, spec
tered shapes meet for battle array
and moan their requiems, or shroud-
ed ghosts of many shapes troup
vaporous to the very doorway"
One of the first stories to be told
about this old house occurred quite
early, when armed men were march
ing against the Seminole Indians. A
group of soldiers had stopped for
the night at the inn, and were soon
a part of the customary noisy revel-
lry-all except one man. This sol
der sat in apparent misery, gazing
at the tavern-keeper's daughter, as
she sped about preparing the meal.
This was "Saidee," with flashing
black eyes, and glowing cheeks. And
the soldier, who was accustomed to
real hardShips, as the frontier In
dian fighters really knew hardships,
found that he had been wounded by
an arrow more deadly than that of
Seminole Brave. He was in love.
The soldier was handsome young
man, and Saidee was conscious of
his gaze. So soon conversation
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