Candlelit Halloween ghost walk at historic Fort Frederick this weekend

October 19, 11:06 PMMaryland Civil War History ExaminerMike Radinsky

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Fort Frederick, Big Pool, Maryland

Want to really scare your kids for Halloween? Tell them you just took them somewhere educational and they didn’t even know it! This Saturday, October 24, 2009, combine your kids love of things spooky and gross with your love of history as the Friends of Fort Frederick present their annual Ghost Walk at Fort Frederick State Park, in Big Pool, MD. The candlelit tour begins at 7 p.m. and groups will walk through haunted woods (it is said to be a historical fact that two hundred victims of a sudden smallpox epidemic of the 1770’s are buried in a mass grave, yet to be found) where the angry spirits of the Native Americans may reside, then walk to the 255 year old stone fort itself, used as a Revolutionary war prison camp housing thousands of British soldiers and American Loyalists under the worst conditions imaginable.

British prisoners of war

Many of those Brits never made it home, and perhaps wander the Fort today in spirit. Then walk along the outside of the Fort’s 18 foot high stone walls, where one might find Confederate ghosts still camping in the shadows of the woods, or a Civil War field hospital where the screams of the wounded rise as high as the piles of amputated limbs. In between these historic scenes there may be those of a more traditional gothic nature; ghosts, witches and other beasties. But remember: keep an open mind and a sharp eye out for real spirits!

real ghost (?) photo by author's wife before Ghost Walk  '04

When: October 24, 2009
Program begins at 7 pm and all visitors
who arrive and are in line by 9 pm will
have an opportunity to experience the walk.

Where: Fort Frederick State Park

(click here for map)
11100 Fort Frederick Road
Big Pool, MD 21711
Off interstate 70 exit 12 at State Route 56 near Big Pool, MD.
For information call: 301-842-2155

 scenes from prior years Ghost Walks