June 18, 1979 Baltimore, Maryland (New Jersey) John Doe

On June 18, 1979, the remains of a man were found in a pump of a dry dock in Baltimore, Maryland. The dry dock was towed from New Jersey to Baltimore in the late 1950s. This would estimate that the man had died between 1929 and 1959.

John Doe was likely white between 40 to 65 years old. He was 5'11" with a muscular robust build. He had arthritis in his knees and had mouth stress suggestive of a mind instrument player or glass blower. Two china buttons were found with the body. The buttons were likely used on suspenders and were a style of WWII. 

SOURCES:

NamUs

Doe Network

Unidentified Wiki

Murder of Maggie Pitt

 In 1894 Horace Cooper and Maggie Pitt were living together. He would ask her to marry him. She did not want to and would reject him. By November of 1894, Maggie would move out and would be living with a Perry Gibson in Cokesbury, Maryland. Horace would get angry at her thinking if she didn't choose him no one would have her.  He would threaten to kill her several times.

On the night of November 17, 1894 Horrace would sneak into Perry's home in  He would climb through a second-story window and would sneak into Maggie's room. She would wake up to Horrace and Perry would catch Horace with a gun pointed at Maggie. Perry would force Horace out of the home.

The next morning Horace would return wanting to finish what he wasn't able to do the night before. He would shoot Maggie three times. She was shot in the chest, abdomen, and thigh. Maggie would only live a few days.

After the shooting Horace would parade up and downtown threatening to kill anyone who dared arrest him. He would flee town and he would be caught in Columbia Pennsylvania by Harvey H. Mackey of Elkton. Horace would be tried for Maggie's murder. He would be found guilty and would be set to hang. On June 21, 1895, Horace would hang at the Elkton jail yard. 

SOURCES: 

Penalty USA

The Baltimore Sun November 20, 1894

The Baltimore Sun November 21, 1894

The Cecil Whig November 24, 1894

The Baltimore Sun December 10, 1894

The Midland Journal December 14, 1894

The Cecil Whig December 15, 1894

The Cecil Whig May 4, 1895

The Baltimore Sun June 22, 1895

Suspicious Deaths: Edgar Allen Poe

 

Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most known Authors of America. He was a poet, writer, critic, and editor that  Many of his short stories and poems haunted the minds of the readers. He’s even credited with giving birth to the detective story.  He’s even inspired many like Alfred Hitchcock. His poems and stories have even been adapted into a film and T.V. Poe even wrote a poem that the Baltimore Ravens were named after.

Born on January 19, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts, but was raised in Richmond Virginia. It’s not surprising that Poe’s young life was not shy from death at an early age. Before he was 3 years old both of his parents had died, his first love died when he was 15, and his foster mother when he was 20.

Poe did not know his parents and was separated from his brothers and sisters after their mother had died. He was sent to live with John and Frances Valentine Allan who were tobacco merchants. They never officially adopted Poe. He had gone to a good school and grew up in a good environment. But John and Poe did not get along, but Frances and he did. John did not like the fact that Poe wasn’t following in the family business and wanted to do literature.

When Poe was 6 he was sent for schooling in England. He returned to America when he was 11.

By the time Poe was 13, he was considered a prolific poet. Both his foster father and headmaster tried to discourage him. Neither could as he focused on his poetry. It was rumored that Poe even wrote poetry on the back of his foster father's paperwork.

By the time he was an adult, Poe did not mend his relationship with his father. Poe had gotten into the University of Virginia in 1826. Poe was a great student who excelled in his classes but did not get enough money from Allan to pay for everything. In order to help Poe turned to gamble, but it backfired causing him to go into debt. This was also the time that Poe started to drink excessively.

When he returned home he found that his fiance Sarah Elmira Royster was engaged to someone else. This made Poe decide to move to Boston and join the military. In 1827 Poe published his first poetry book called Tamerlane and Other Poems. In 1829 he published his second collection of poems called Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems.

In 1829 Poe was honorably discharged from the military. He had acquired the label regimental sergeant major. Poe’s father refused to give him the money to stay a cadet, and when Poe began to ignore his duties and violating regulations the military discharged him. Some think that he did it to spite his father.

He then went to New York City where he published his third poetry book Poems in 1831. Poe then moved to Baltimore to live with his Aunt Maria Clemm and her daughter Virginia. Poe was not rich and could not sustain himself on his own. Even after his father’s death in 1834, he wasn’t left with anything extravagant. In 1835 though Poe found a job at the Southern Literary Messenger as an editor in Richmond, Virginia. Poe brought with him his Aunt and his 12-year-old cousin. While being an editor he published many of his own poems and stories.

In 1836 when he was 26 he married his 13-year-old cousin Virginia. The two were first cousins when Poe started to live with His Aunt Maria Clemm and Virginia he began doting on her. She eventually became the inspiration and a love interest. It was not uncommon at the time for first cousins to marry.

In the late 1830’s and 1840’s Poe’s works began to get more attention, but he didn’t make much profit from his works. He started editing for Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine and Graham’s Magazine in Philadelphia and the Broadway Journal in New York City.

Sadly on January 30, 1847, Virginia died from a 5 year-long battle with tuberculosis. She was 24 years old. This affected Poe deeply. He was reported to not want to see his wife’s face dead and would have wanted to remember seeing her as alive. Not having a picture of her he hired a painter to paint her.

On October 3, 1849, Poe was found wandering the streets of Baltimore delirious. He was brought to Washington Medical Hospital. It was found out that he was not wearing his own clothes. It was said that Poe was never coherent enough to say what had happened to him.

On October 7, 1849, at the age 40-years-old, Poe met with death and like many of his poems and stories, it’s a mystery. At the time Newspapers claimed that it was congestion of the brain from his alcoholism. In reality, no one is sure how he had died. There are many theories on what had happened.

Some think it might have been caused by a beating, or epilepsy, or even Alcohol poisoning, and many more theories. Even one theory is that he was a victim of electoral fraud which citizens force people to vote repeatedly for a candidate. They make the person change their clothes and force them to vote for a certain candidate which would have accounted for him not wearing his own clothes. It can sometimes lead to violence and sometimes death.

And the man who wrote about mysteries death involved a large mystery.

SOURCES:

Biography

Poetry Foundation

Poe Museum

Wikipedia

MONSTERS: The Blinking Man

 

Photo by Stefano Pollio

There is an entity that goes by many names The Blink Man, Peeping Tom, the Flickergiest, or The Tunnel Man that haunts the Iichester Tunnel in Elliot City, Maryland. You can't simply catch a glimpse of this entity, but have to summon him in an hour-long process. It is only accomplished by staring down the tunnel for an entire hour between midnight and 1 a.m. without blinking. 

If accomplished the Blinking Man will constantly be in your vision and with every blink, he comes closer. It's said that he comes so close that you can feel his eyelashes touching you. He wants you to blink a final time. What comes is either madness or death.

SOURCES:

Chesapeake Horror 

The Patch November 23, 2016

Horror Society June 25, 2019

Murder of Odessa Meister

 

On December 20, 1952, 35-year-old Odessa Meister left her home on Columbia Street in Cumberland, Maryland. She would board the Cumberland Transit Lines bus for work and be seen getting off the bus at the Celanese plant on McMullen Highway. Witnesses stated that she was seen approaching a car near the plant's gate after the driver honked the horn. After they talked for a few minutes she got into the car and was never seen alive again.

She wouldn't be seen for almost a month. On Jan. 16, 1953, two high school boys found her body on McNamee's Hill in a pile of cardboard and Life Magazines. She was lying face down 60 yards down the hill and approximately 100 feet west of the extension of Leiper Street. Her eyeglasses and handkerchief were found 50 yards from her body leading down to her. 

Odessa was beaten to death. She was hit about the head around 8 times with a blunt object like a tire tool or wrench. There was no sign of a struggle as her clothes seemed to be in good condition, but there was a bruise on the second finger of her right hand. It's believed that she was not beaten where she was found, but she did die there as blood was at the scene. Her stockings were not torn and would have been snagged on the brush in the area if she had walked there. It's likely her killer carried her unconscious body and dumped her there. 

SOURCES: 

Maryland State Police

Western Maryland's Historical Library

The Cumberland News Jan. 17, 1953

UNIDENTIFIED: November 15, Havre de Grace, Maryland John Doe

 On November 15, 1959, the body of an adult male was found on the shore of the Susquehanna River in Havre de Grace, Maryland. It is believed he died days before.

He was a white male between the ages of 50 and 70 years old. He was 135 lbs and around 5'5. He was described as having greying hair that was scant. He has a surgical scar on his lower right abdomen from Appendectomy, he also did not have his appendix. A scar on his lower right arm, right knee, and right hand. He was also uncircumcised.

He had an Appendectomy in which the appendix is removed. He was possibly an Alcoholic or had abused alcohol. It is also possible he had a thyroid disease. It is also possible he was a coal miner or worked and or was somehow exposed to coal dust.

Dentals are available in this case, but Fingerprints and DNA are not.

SOURCES:
NamUs

Murder of Carolyn Loretta Wasilewski

 On November 8, 1954 at 6:15 p.m. 14-year-old Carolyn Wasilewski left her home in Baltimore, Maryland to go to her friend Peggy's home. The two planned to register for dance lessons at the nearby elementary school. She would never show up at Peggy's home, register for dance lessons, or return home.

At 7 a.m. on November 9, 1954 Carolyn's body was found in a rail yard under the Belvedere Avenue Bridge by an engineer on the Pennsy Express Train bound to Baltimore from Harrisburg Pennsylvania. She was not killed at the scene she was either tossed off of the bridge or dragged down to where she was found.

She was partially naked and had been beaten to death. She had fought back her attacker as she had broken one of her fingers. She was not sexually assaulted. Her skirt and shoes were missing . On her right thigh the name "Paul" was found written in lipstick. It was found that she had died at 11 p.m.

Not far from her family's home bloodstains and some of her stuff were found including her shoes. This was 8 miles from the tracks.

Carolyn was the oldest of seven children and was known to be a rebel. She joined a gang called the Drapes and known to commit petty crimes like auto theft and hosting hot rod races. She was often mistaken as someone in their late 20's to early 30's. She knew how to dress herself up to do look like she was.

Her case remains unsolved. 

SOURCES:

Find a Grave
Wikipedia
Behind The Monuments

Our Community Now

End of Watch: Murder of Officer August Baker and the Lynching of William Burns

On October 3, 1907, 22-year-old William Burns and Gus Little who were both African Americans were drinking at a Hussey's Saloon near canal wharf in Cumberland, Maryland. They were making threats to other patrons and being disorderly. They were ordered to leave and the duo did not do so. Officer August Baker came to arrest the two for disorderly conduct.

William was not having any of it and was supposedly resisting arrest. Officer Baker tried to subdue him with pepper spray, but during the scuffle, William shot Officer Baker.  He was able to handcuff William, but Gus Little escaped during the fight. The shot was proven fatal and Officer August Baker died due to his injuries on October 6.

 William had admitted he was drunk but did not remember that night. He sat in jail for several days and was fearful that the townspeople were going to go after him.

Which when the townspeople heard that an officer had died anger consumed the town. Sheriff H.R. Hamilton did not place extra guards on duty at the jailhouse because he didn't believe that people would harm his prisoner. Deputy Sheriff Noah Hendley was on guard at midnight on October 6.

Several small groups of men were in the streets making their way to the jailhouse. Many of them wore their jackets inside out and handkerchiefs over their faces. By 1 a.m. a group of around 50 men approached the jail and 100 were gathered by the time they reached the jail.

There were conflicting stories of how many were there. Deputy Hendley reported over 2,000 while others said no more than 25. Spectators claimed that Deputy Hendley did, in fact, give over the keys easily even though he claimed that they tore at his clothes for them.

The men stormed the jail doors and demanded the keys from Deputy Hendley. Hendly refused which enraged the group. They tore down a telegraph pole and forced the doors open. They dragged William out of his cell with a smashed nose, a torn ear, and numerous cuts and bruises.

There were two motives of the people who attended the mob. One was that they wanted William to confess to the murder. The other was to lynch William because they were convinced he was already guilty. It was said that several prominent men in the city were a part of the mob.

A rope could not be found, so the men decided to shoot William. After he was shot and his body fell to the ground they checked to see if he was still alive and when confirmed he was, in fact, dead the mod dispersed quickly.

On October 12, 1907, Allegany County was able to raise $500 for the conviction of those who were a part of the mob. Judge Boyd directed a grand jury to investigate the lynching. No one could be identified for the prosecution of the crime. The Afro-Ledger protested the lynching in an article that summed up the situation well.

"The men who lynched Burns are greater murderers than he was, for while he shot his man while under the influence of liquor, and without premeditation, these men deliberately planned and carried their plans in execution. Without a doubt, every one of them is guilty of murder in the first degree and justice will not be done until everyone implicated in it is brought before the bar and receives the penalty of his crime."

No one was arrested or caught for the lynching though. 

SOURCES:

Maryland 

Wikipedia