Hunting the Woo Woo

In June, a group of us decided to head out on a cryptid expedition.  That is, we were looking for a creature known as the WooWoo (AKA the Bighoot). 
I know, some of you are probably scratching your head wondering what in the world this has to do with hiking or backpacking.  If you remember, I've been working on a book of paranormal stories along the Appalachian Trail for a couple of years 3 years long ass time.  The WooWoo is a creature that has been described as a giant owl that lives in the Delaware Water Gap area of the AT.  It's said you can hear it's cries at night, and naturalists have been unable to identify the type of bird making the sound.  So we booked a campsite at Worthington State Park in New Jersey as base camp and headed out into the woods. 

The Delaware Water Gap is actually an active paranormal spot for the most part.  There is the WooWoo, the Messing-W which is a Bigfoot type creature know to the Native tribes of the area (and also thought to possess supernatural powers), Old Red Eyes another Bigfoot type creature and the ghost of an old witch.  I was pretty excited about going on this trip to see what I could find for the book and get some photos.  Unfortunately, I was still wearing a boot because of my broken foot.  No one wanted to head out on the AT without me, so we didn't get to do much in the way of WooWoo hunting.
I did hike a short distance into the woods near our camp.  How did I do this on a broken foot you ask? Well the orthopedic said to "make sure you wear your boot".  So I did.  I wore my hiking boot. It is a boot and it is mine. I didn't make it far before I opted to head back. 


While we didn't spot any WooWoos or Bigfoot creatures or ghosts, we did spot about 30 Red Efts (newts) and a few small toads.  And there were a couple of waterfalls on the short hike.  And I will say, listening to my three year old grandson tell another little boy at camp about WooWoos and the ghost witch on the mountain that they have to stone to kill (I swear that's not what I told him) was pretty amusing. 
We did actually have one strange occurrence with an odd light on the very top of the mountain.  Was it a house, a hiker with a large light, the ghost witch?  Who knows.







Worthington State Park is on the list of places to definitely return to.  I want to be able to hike the AT in the area and spend more time checking out the other larger waterfalls in the area. 

Red light in the woods

Kittatinny Ridge home of the Ghost Witch

Backpacking Trip: Day 3

The next morning, my mom and husband headed out on the trail from Dahlgren.  Though designated as a backpacking campsite for backpackers, it is apparently the local camping site for young adults who want to party for free.  Luckily, my mom and husband were able to get a site and also were able to get hot showers there.  I woke up in a nice comfy bed, though I was still in some significant pain.  My cousin came to see how I was.  I was stretching and said "Oh, my bad ass is really bothering me!"  She laughed and said, "that's your trail name: Bad Ass, not because you are one but because you have one!"
 





Meanwhile on the trail, my mom and husband met a thru hiker headed north.  My husband really wanted to talk to some thru hikers, so this was a highlight for him.  The hiker was called "Scorched Heels" so named for some bad blisters he experienced early on in his journey.  He was hiking in a kilt, and my mom gave him her stash of Gummy Bears.







Back at base camp, my cousin and I decided that we were going to offer trail magic to the other two.  We estimated their travel time, and planned on meeting them at Gathland State Park.  So we headed out to get some Subway subs and drinks.  We opted to hike up the trail and find a spot to sit and wait for them.  Of course, the trail was uphill heading north.  And, of course, my cousin kept telling me we were "Almost There".  Finally I told her that should be her trail name, because she was always telling us we were "almost there" at every hill (and typically we weren't even close).  We threw around the idea that my mom should be "Lifesaver" because she kept feeding them to me.  This triggered a memory about when my brother was little.  He could be a real handful, and my mom got into the habit of having lifesavers on hand.

She used them to keep him quiet.  

My cousin and I continued to hike until we found a nice log to sit on.  We met several people out for day hikes and watched tons of butterflies floating around the trail.  One thing I noticed on this trip was that the Appalachian Trail seemed to be some kind of butterfly highway.  I saw tons of them flying up and down the trail.  We waited forever for my mom and husband to make it down the trail.  We asked one southbound group if they had seen them and they told us that they had passed them a while back.
Finally, we saw them headed our way.  We hiked down to Gathland State Park with them and got out their subs and drinks.  They inhaled the food.  We also had some water bottles so they could refill water without needing to filter it.  Gathland has a bathroom, so they made use of the facilities before checking the place out. 




 


Gathland State Park is home to the only War Correspondent's Memorial which was built by George Townsend in 1896.  Townsend was a Civil War correspondent. He wrote under the name "Gath" and made all his money writing.  Gathland State Park is one of the haunted spots along the Appalachian Trail.  My cousin and I have actually gone on paranormal investigations in the area.  Not only is Gathland said to be haunted by George Townsend, but the area was also the scene of the battle at Crampton's Gap during the Civil War.







Eventually it was time for them to head back on the trail to their next nightly stop: Ed Garvey Shelter.  My cousin and I pointed them in the right direction and said our goodbyes promising to meet them in Harper's Ferry the next afternoon.  While they headed south, my cousin and I headed into Sharpsburg, MD to get some excellent ice cream from Nutter's.  We ended up sitting on a bench in the cemetery to eat our ice cream.  This might seem like complete and utter lunacy something odd to do, but it's completely normal for her and I.

Later, my husband let us know that they had reached the shelter.  He sent me a photo of his sleeping accommodations for the night.

I returned the gesture by sending him my sleeping accommodations for the night.

My mom and husband had a nice campfire going that night and enjoyed time with some of the people they had met on the trail.  One couple named Roxanne and Joe was doing a flip flop together.  They had sold their home and headed out on the trail together.  We later learned that the wife had an injury and ended up stopping just past the MD/PA line, but as of this writing, the husband was still on the trail somewhere near New Hampshire.  They also spent some time with 2 girls we had all met at Gathland. The girls had a container of wine with them and they and my mom shared some.   My mom told them the story about my husband's potential trail name of "Maria" and as they went to bed later that night they yelled out, "Goodnight Maria!"

The Final Day coming up!

Haunted Appalachian Trail: Maryland

I want to preface this by saying that I believe that Maryland is the most paranormally active section of the entire AT.  I've read that the Smokies and the Shenandoah National Park are considered the most haunted, but with only 40 miles, Maryland packs quite a punch for its relatively short distance.  Perhaps the fact that Maryland is the only place along the entire trail corridor where the AT passes through a major Civil War battlefield has something to do with that.

 Crampton's Gap

The Battle of South Mountain is the basis for many of the area's ghost stories.   In the area of Crampton's
Gap, people have seen campfires in the woods at night. They've also heard canon fire and the screams of the wounded men and have seen ghostly soldiers walking the battlefields.  Not far away, there is an area known as Spook Hill where your car seems to roll uphill while in neutral.  Legend says that ghosts of Confederate soldiers are the ones pushing the car thinking it is one of their canons they refuse to leave for the Union Army to take over.  It's said if you sprinkle flour on the trunk of your car, you'll see their hand prints.

 The Purple Church

Just past Crampton's Gap on the road sits an old dilapidated church.  The church is supposedly haunted and it is said that in the 1980's it was the site of Satanic Rituals.  

Fox's Gap

In the area of Fox's Gap the focal point for the Battle of South Mountain, there was a farm owned by Daniel
Wise who lived there with his children.  During the battle the family fled to the safety of a nearby church and their home was used as a Union hospital.  After the battle, the Union dumped 58 Confederate bodies in a well on the property.  The bodies remained there for 12 years before being re-interred at the Confederate Cemetery in Hagerstown.  Now people hear the thud of the bodies being thrown in the well and see soldiers walking the battlefield.

Washington Monument

The rocks below the monument house a maze of caves.  Legend says that a young Civil war soldier stopped
at a nearby farm to get a drink from the well.  He met the farmer's daughter and they fell in love.  She begged the soldier to leave the army and the war and run away with her.  The soldier deserted and they both hid in the caves.  A rockslide ended up trapping the young couple in the caves and they died.  The distressing cries of the couple can be heard as they try to escape.

George "Gath" Townsend

George Townsend was a journalist and a novelist who built an estate in what is now Gathland State Park.  He also built the first War Correspondents memorial.  Though he died in New York and was buried in Philadelphia, Mr. Townsend's ghost still walks the grounds of his estate.

 

 Old South Mountain Inn

Just off the Appalachian trail is the Old South Mountain Inn.  In the 1800's, owner Madeleine Dahlgren was

hosting overnight guests.  One hot evening, one of her house guests opened the bedroom window and sat dozing in a rocking chair.  She awoke suddenly when she sensed something different- the crickets were quiet. Seeing a glow coming from the window, the woman looked out and saw a glowing figure about 50 yards from the house.  The specter was taller than any normal human being and hovered above the ground.  Terrified the woman closed the shutters and hid in the bed under  the covers.   Several nights later, another friend was occupying the same room.  As she got ready for bed, the woman noticed a strange glow coming from the window.  When she went to investigate, she saw the same ghostly figure.  The woman ran to get Madeleine to bear witness to what she had seen.  As both women watched, the figure spread a pair of large luminous wings.  Madeleine slammed the shutters closed and both women dropped to their knees and prayed.

Though she has since passed away, Madeleine Dahlgren still resides in her home at Old South Mountain Inn.  The current owners tell a story about how the ghost of Madeleine saved the Inn.  One evening, the cleaning man was staying late at the Inn waiting for a delivery of linens.  He noticed that a door that was always kept closed was sitting open.  The janitor smelled smoke through the open door and called 911.  A fire had started in the rear of the Inn, but the smell of smoke coming from he open door alerted the man and the Inn was saved.  The current owner also mentions seeing a "flash of something" in the attic one day as she was looking for some holiday decorations.

The White Woman

There are reports of a banshee roaming the South Mountain.  This banshee is said to be a harbinger of death or disaster.  A young girl saw a shrouded figure rise out of the ground and pass through her house.  Two days later her uncle died and the house burned.  The White Woman was also seen by a woman caring for her nine day old grandchild.  The banshee was seen leaning over looking at the child in her cradle.  Not long after, the child died. The White Woman has been seen other times, though there were no deaths associated with her sighting.

The area of the Appalachian Trail that runs through Maryland isn't just known for its ghost stories- it also has its fair share of cryptids (a creature whose existence has been suggested but hasn't yet been discovered or documented by the scientific community). And personally, I find the cryptids a little more frightening than the ghosts.  Afterall, the ghosts are not alive, the cryptids are...

Snallygaster

The snallygaster is described as being part reptile and part bird with scaly body, lizard tail, and metallic beak
lined with razor sharp teeth.  Some descriptions report octopus like tentacles as well.  It has hooked claws, one large eye, poisonous breath and its screech sounds like a train whistle.  It flies over South Mountain looking for prey, and once it finds a meal, it tears the flesh from the victim and sucks the veins dry. So when you're laying in your sleeping bag at night on the Appalachian Trail on South Mountain and you hear a train whistle you'll wonder "Is that really a train or the Snallygaster looking for a meal?"

Dwayyo

The Dwayyo is said to be similar to a wolf with the arms, stance and stature of  man.  It has a dark colored
shaggy coat and a bushy tail.  The Dwayyo is tall with some estimates claiming it's 7-9ft tall and leaves enormous clawed footprints.  It makes a frightful screaming noise.  Chickens and cattle have been found dead in area where the Dwayyo has been sighted, and dogs have refused to hunt the animal and hide when they sense the Dwayyo is near.  It has allegedly attempted to attack several people and shows up every summer.

Snarly Yow

The Snarly Yow is possibly more ghost than cryptid, but no one knows that for sure.  It's described as a
phantom black dog with a grotesque red mouth and fangs.  While most descriptions say it's black, some say the animal appeared as a white headless dog and some say that the dog had the ability to change color from black to white.  The Snarly Yow is known to chase cars and jumps out of bushes to scare passing hikers.  Many have heard its werewolf like howl.

Bigfoot

You can't have a list of cryptids located in a wooded area without adding Bigfoot.  Maryland isn't without Bigfoot sightings, and some hail from the South Mountain area.  There are some who believe that the Appalachian Trail is used by Bigfoots (Bigfeet?) to migrate along the mountain range.

When you're out and about on South Mountain, keep your eyes and ears open-

 there's no telling what you might encounter.

For more in depth information on some of the hauntings/cryptids, 

please check out the Gettysburg Ghosts blog.

The Haunted Appalachian Trail

I mentioned previously that I had come across information about parts of the Appalachian Trail being haunted.  While I'm not surprised to learn that the trail is haunted, I am surprised that it wasn't something I had even considered.  I've been a paranormal investigator for many years, and before that I was a paranormal junkie- going back to the age of 4.  Typically my adventures start with the paranormal, but this particular trip was only about accomplishing something on my list and enjoying the outdoors.  For me, adding in the paranormal has made this the ultimate adventure.
Since I've been trying to come up with something interesting to blog about on my ghost blog (Gettysburg Ghosts), I came up with the idea that I would research ghosts and other paranormal occurrences along the AT.  So from time to time, as I gather my information, I'll throw a post up here about the ghosts and legends of one of 14 states along the AT.  I decided to start with Maryland as that is the state I'll be spending most of my time in during my section hike in October, and it's the state that I have the most knowledge about as far as the paranormal. 

So stay tuned! 

Unless you're worried you'll be too scared to sleep in those shelters.