Where's Marty? Discussing who the ghost of Middleton Tavern might be
Hi Everyone!
Today's location for our " Creepiest/Most Haunted Place" week was a return to an old haunt of mine. (And YES that was a cheap gag, but totally a true statement!)
Back in the 80s, in my young and carefree days, I spent a lot of time in Annapolis, and mostly at my friend Jerry Hardesty's places, Carrols Creek Café over in Eastport and the Middleton Tavern on the square downtown.
It is one of the oldest buildings in Annapolis, and easily the first building in town to serve as a bar/restaurant. Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Monroe and other legendary names stopped by when the Continental congress was meeting in Annapolis and beyond. It later became an Inn. You can hit up its website for more of its legendary history.
Back in the day, my day, it was widely discussed that a ghost frequented the top floor bar and fireplace area.
It was widely discussed by bartenders and waitresses who did not like being up there period, much less alone.
And to see their faces upon scurrying down the stairs to report what they had experienced was to believe some weird stuff was going on.
Some reported smelling cigar smoke when no one was around. One felt a hand on hers while making a drink that then was pushed over.
Glasses would fall off of shelves, wine bottles would get knocked over, and when the first electronic cash register was acquired it would go haywire with no explanation - not even from the repair man.
One of our guests this morning, Mike Conroy the night manager, is a ghost skeptic.
But he said, on air, he cannot deny what he saw one night. It was a figure moving about.
Jerry Hardesty held a séance in the mid 90s with a noted medium. (Had it not been for the, then, early wake up the "Morning Edition" I would have been there.)
The medium spoke of a man name Roland Johnston, a middle-aged man who dressed well and smoked cigars.
It was he who haunted. And when asked, he intoned to the medium. He liked it, and that was that.
BUT our second guest this morning, Melissa Huston, who is well known for her Annapolis tours, and pub crawls, totally believes the ghost is another man killed on the street in front of the building in 1876 named George Schmidt.
He was the owner and was done in by a bullet from a drunk patron after a heated argument about a contested local election by patron William Barber. That very well could be. It would be a logical explanation, but I need to go with the medium.
You can debate this with Melissa on one of her ghost tours that you can find at the website.
Either way, the Middleton Tavern in Annapolis has a history that many will swear to, enough, that something going on is undeniable.
As for me during that time, I cannot attest to anything supernatural. But, again, I saw too many terrified faces to scoff.
Tomorrow, K2 and I continue our trek across the area, and head to Harford County for another haunted spot.
We'll see you from the "Duck Decoy Capital of the World" Havre de Grace at 9!
Marty B!
