A Ghost I Met at Sands House, Annapolis,Md.

The Sands House, Annapolis, Md.

During a recent historic Annapolis Ghost Walk in Maryland I got to visit the historic Sands House for the first time ever! It's a 300 year old house that was opened to the public for the first time, and we didn't expect to run into a ghost, but I got his name and more! 

"A Special Historic Haunting tour of Annapolis" was put on by Watermark and Historic Annapolis. It included a rare tour of the historic Sands House.

Room lit by candles where James Allen was

WHAT IS THE SANDS HOUSE? - It was a private residence for three centuries and is considered the oldest frame house in Annapolis. It is located at 130 Prince Georges Street and was built around 1700. It was named for John Sands who bought the house in 1771 and seven generations of his family lived there. 

OLDER FINDS BENEATH THE HOUSE - During a 1988 renovation, archaeologists who were working beneath the house found evidence of an older house from the 1600s! A number of Colonial artifacts were found including pipe stems, pins, a flintlock, coin, toothbrush and thimbles.  Even further were marks of a structure by Native Americans about 1,600 years ago!  Native American pottery was also found under the house.  

THE GHOST REVEALS HIMSELF TO ROB!  Once we entered the Sands house, we turned and entered the first room on right. It was dimly lit with only a dozen or so candles. As we walked in, I looked to the back of the room and I saw a dark horizontal long box about 6 feet long. I wondered if that was a table or some weird piece of furniture.  Once everyone got into the room I looked again, and there was nothing there! The long black box had disappeared and there was nothing but a solid wall.  It was then that the guide said "This is the room the family would bring in coffins and have viewings." I thought "Oh my gosh!  I was sensing residual energy from wakes that happened in this room!" 

left-hand room where Rob felt pain.

  Immediately after I realized that, I heard the voice of a male ghost shout "I am James Allen!" I felt nervousness and anxiety in that room. I realized that James Allen, whomever he is, was making me feel those emotions. I assume that "Allen" is either his surname or his middle name and he was part of the Sands family. I didn't get any more information, because the tour guide took us into the adjoining room. 

GHOSTLY PAIN -  In that next room, I was walloped with physical pain from a ghost. I'm unsure if it was from James Allen or someone else that was haunting the Sands House. As soon as I walked over the threshold of that room to the left of the front door, I experienced severe pain in my right shoulder, so intense that it actually made me bend over toward the right (the pain was in the right shoulder). Apparently, a ghost was sharing the pain he experienced before he died.  I was unable to get information from the ghost because, once again, we were ushered out of the room (it was a quick 6 minute tour). 
*********************************
For more of my adventures in haunted places in Annapolis and around the U.S., check out 
my books "Ghosts and Spirits" and "Lessons Learned from Talking to the Dead" by Rob Gutro, available on Amazon.com

Our Annapolis Haunted Encounters Part 3:Ghosts in Shiplap House's Windows

The Shiplap House

In this last blog about our Our Annapolis Haunted Encounters you'll hear about the Ghosts in Shiplap  House's Windows.

THE HISTORY OF THE SHIPLAP HOUSE -   The Shiplap house is a pre-Victorian house, built around 1715, and is now used for offices for "Historic Annapolis." According to Waymarking.com, "This large, separate house is at the end of Pinkney Street in the historic downtown district of Annapolis, Maryland, just blocks away from the Maryland State House and the US Naval Academy. Shiplap House served as a store and tavern in the eighteenth century. The house is named for the random-width flush siding (called shiplap) on the rear facade and the north-east ell. "
  
OUR EXPERIENCES - As Tom and I (we are both members of Inspired Ghost Tracking) walked by the house we were both drawn to the windows in the 

Ghostly face in the window? 

upstairs (second floor). We didn't know that this was the site of a former tavern, but we both saw figures moving around in the upstairs windows!  However, the building was closed and no one was in it. I took a couple of pictures of the windows but didn't catch anything on film. However, we knew that there were ghosts moving from window to window. 

GHOSTS IN THE WINDOWS!  - On the top left window, I (Rob) described a woman wearing a bonnet, who would be working in the building, circa 1759 or so, when it was a tavern. Then the ghost moved back and forth past the windows on the 2nd and 3rd floors (we both sensed them running back and forth). When we got home I enlarged the windows and came across what looks like the bottom half of a face, from nose down, peering out the top, right hand dormer window (3rd floor!). I checked for reflections, and since it was a cloud-less, clear, blue sky, it was not a reflection of a cloud.