Here’s The Creepiest Place In MD, New List Says

MARYLAND — The creepiest place in Maryland isn’t the Halloween display or haunted house that emits blood-curdling screams and ghostly images.

It’s the Antietam National Battlefield near Sharpsburg. That’s according to HGTV, whose list of the creepiest places in all 50 states includes rundown prisons, defunct hospitals and hotels where ghosts are said to appear in guest rooms and halls.

The battlefield makes the list because, HGTV wrote:

“With 23,000 soldiers killed, wounded or missing, the bloodiest battle of the Civil War took place at Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg in 1862. Today, visitors to the battlefield have reported hearing gunfire or smelling gunpowder when no one else was in sight, or seeing mysterious figures in Confederate uniforms. Some also claim to have spotted strange balls of blue light at Burnside Bridge, where many soldiers were hastily buried.”

The solemn site is operated by the National Park Service and commemorates the place where 23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing after 12 hours of fierce combat on September 17, 1862, the NPS said. The Battle of Antietam ended the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia's first invasion into the North and led President Abraham Lincoln to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which freed enslaved people.

Here are a few examples of other creepy places on the list:

• Police in Birmingham, Alabama, have taken more than 100 reports of paranormal activity in the Sloss Furnaces, a National Historic Landmark that was once the world’s largest manufacturer of pig iron. About 47 workers died under the brutal work conditions pushed by the graveyard shift foreman, and workers reported an “unnatural presence” and being pushed from behind or told to “get back to work.”
• The Ax Murder House in Villisca, Iowa, the site of the gruesome murder of six members of the Moore famiy as they slept, is said to be haunted by spirits that pinch and shove. It’s available for daytime tours and overnight stays for reservations.
• The Lemp Mansion in St. Louis, now a restaurant and inn, is said to be haunted by the spirits of at least four members of the doomed Lemp Brewing Co. who died in the house. Guests on weekly ghost tours have reported encountering them.

Explore the full list.