On Saturday April 2 we took our friends Jen and Carty on a kind of
paranormal investigation of the historic Carroll Mansion in Baltimore.
AT THE MANSION -
We learned a lot about the mansion from a young man,who is the docent
there, but because he was so knowledgeable and talked the entire time it
was difficult to tune into any entities there.
ABOUT THE
MANSION:
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| Room that housed the tavern |
The house was built around 1811, at the corner
of what is now known as Lombard and Front Streets, which at the time was a very
wealthy part of Baltimore. In 1818 it was purchased for the sum of $20,000 by
Richard Caton, the husband of Mary, youngest daughter of Charles Carroll of
Carrollton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. For the last twelve years of his life,
Charles Carroll spent his winters in the house, often receiving distinguished
visitors there. It was in this house that he died on the
third floor in his bedroom, which was the last part of the tour.
MANY CHANGES: The mansion
went through a lot of changes after his death. The Catons lived there
until 1846. Then It remained empty until 1855 when the Sisters of Mercy
purchased it and housed poor immigrants.Immigrants turned the first floor into a saloon and the second floor into apartments
for German and Russian Jews, until 1868 when the Sisters sold the mansion for
the paltry sum of $1,000.
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| Dining room where male ghost stood |
Over the
next forty years, Carroll Mansion served as a saloon, furniture store, and in
1904 news articles report that the mansion was being used as a sweatshop to
produce clothing. In 1914 the
mansion was deeded to the City of Baltimore and in 1918 it became Baltimore's
first vocational school.
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| Jen and Carty on the Carroll Balcony |
GHOSTS
First Floor- In the part of the mansion was made into a tavern Tom sensed a presence. I also got a headache so we confirmed someone was in there, but it was likely a residual
ghost- which means it was a "thumbprint" of energy left behind from
someone who experienced a happy time (which would make sense in a
saloon) or a traumatic event there.
SECOND FLOOR- At the doorway of the dining room, Rob sensed another residual haunt - a male figure dressed
in 1800s garb that kept sweeping his hand into the room inviting people
to dine. (I didn't know it was the dining room until we went in it and
were told it was a dining room.)
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| Hallway where woman's ghost stood |
There was also another residual ghost, a woman, who walked the second floor hallway just
at the top of the stairs. She was not an intelligent haunt- one that
could answer questions - just a replay over and over of a woman that
lived there.
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| Carroll Mansion |
THIRD FLOOR -
In the Carroll Bedroom Tom sensed another residual presence where
Charles Carroll passed away. In one of the other rooms, in what turned
out to be a tenement apartment in the 1850s and 1860s for immigrants, I
(Rob) suddenly experienced burning in my throat, and found the first
intelligent haunt/interactive ghost. It was that of a little boy who was
an immigrant that died of a severe fever in that room. He was still
there. - Because the docent ushered us out of the room quickly and kept
talking about the history, it was impossible to get more information
from the boy. I will have to try and cross him over at some point.
Come to my next talk -on May 6, Fri. 7-9 p.m. EDT 
