Happy Halloween! In honor of Halloween, let's talk about a haunted WWTP. I don't mean haunted by picky DNR officials, overbearing commissioners, random equipment breakdowns, or bug-eyed salespeople (hey now!), but a real haunted wastewater treatment plant.
Shoal Creek Manor was a old plantation house built around 1750 built on lands that had been purchased from the Choptank Indians. Aren't all good haunted houses built on old Indian lands (or, for the spoilsports reading, aren't all houses build on Indian lands)?
Shoal Creek Manor was a old plantation house built around 1750 built on lands that had been purchased from the Choptank Indians. Aren't all good haunted houses built on old Indian lands (or, for the spoilsports reading, aren't all houses build on Indian lands)?
Writing the Vision shares transcripts of stories gleaned from the local population and shares on her website:
From Shirley Brannock of Cambridge (age 45) as told to student Virgina Meekins.
Shoal Creek Manor was known only as “The Haunted House.” Patty Cannon used it as a place to keep her slaves and she chained them to the walls in the cellar. You could go in the house at night and hear the chains rattling as the slaves were trying to escape. Manacles and chains were found in the basement and even now people hear the chains rattling.
From William H. Moore of Cambridge (age 65) as told to student Virginia Meekins
Shoal Creek Manor was always “The Haunted House.” When the boys would go in there at night, you could hear people talking upstairs, although no one lived there. It was said that a former governor, Charles Goldsborough, had lived there and it was he and his wife that you could hear talking together.
From Allen Dennis of Cambridge (age 48) as told to Cathy Wright
The house is known as the Shoal Creek Manor because it is on the Shoal Creek in East Cambridge. It was where the run-away slaves used the Underground Railroad to smuggle slaves out of the South. The house was empty for years and years when I was a kid. They called it the Haunted House because the leaders wanted to keep people from snooping. They would rattle chains and say that slaves were hidden between the walls in the basement. I remember as a kid, that the walls were real thick. Chains were on the walls of the basement.
From Mrs. William H. Dail, Sr. of Cambridge (age – late 60s) as told to K. Jeannette Robbins
The old house at Shoal Creek that they just tore down, was haunted. They said you could hear chains rattle in it and they claim there was a pump outside and the handle would go up and down when no one was near it. There were chains in the cellar of the house, where they used to bring slaves in the “dead hours of the nigh” and keep them there until they were sold. The man who sold the slaves buried his money in the yard instead of putting it in the bank, and the chains rattled because the slaves were trying to tell where the money was. Someone finally found the money and then no one ever heard the chains anymore because the slaves were satisfied.
From Shirley Brannock of Cambridge (age 45) as told to student Virgina Meekins.
Shoal Creek Manor was known only as “The Haunted House.” Patty Cannon used it as a place to keep her slaves and she chained them to the walls in the cellar. You could go in the house at night and hear the chains rattling as the slaves were trying to escape. Manacles and chains were found in the basement and even now people hear the chains rattling.
From William H. Moore of Cambridge (age 65) as told to student Virginia Meekins
Shoal Creek Manor was always “The Haunted House.” When the boys would go in there at night, you could hear people talking upstairs, although no one lived there. It was said that a former governor, Charles Goldsborough, had lived there and it was he and his wife that you could hear talking together.
From Allen Dennis of Cambridge (age 48) as told to Cathy Wright
The house is known as the Shoal Creek Manor because it is on the Shoal Creek in East Cambridge. It was where the run-away slaves used the Underground Railroad to smuggle slaves out of the South. The house was empty for years and years when I was a kid. They called it the Haunted House because the leaders wanted to keep people from snooping. They would rattle chains and say that slaves were hidden between the walls in the basement. I remember as a kid, that the walls were real thick. Chains were on the walls of the basement.
From Mrs. William H. Dail, Sr. of Cambridge (age – late 60s) as told to K. Jeannette Robbins
The old house at Shoal Creek that they just tore down, was haunted. They said you could hear chains rattle in it and they claim there was a pump outside and the handle would go up and down when no one was near it. There were chains in the cellar of the house, where they used to bring slaves in the “dead hours of the nigh” and keep them there until they were sold. The man who sold the slaves buried his money in the yard instead of putting it in the bank, and the chains rattled because the slaves were trying to tell where the money was. Someone finally found the money and then no one ever heard the chains anymore because the slaves were satisfied.
Of course, the best thing to do with a haunted house is to tear it down. That's exactly what happened in 1970. And what did they build in it's place? A wastewater treatment plant.
Operators at the plant remark that there are "odd, unexplained noises, especially at night ... and all three men had experiences of "being watched".
Think they ever hear chains rattling?
Operators at the plant remark that there are "odd, unexplained noises, especially at night ... and all three men had experiences of "being watched".
Think they ever hear chains rattling?
