Westminster Burying Grounds Investigation

The Old Western Burial Ground is a haunted graveyard in the area of Baltimore, Maryland.

This is also known as the “Presbyterian Churchyard”. There are a number of notable figures buried in this particular cemetery. Famous names include that of Edgar Allan Poe, the direct descendant of Francis Scott Key, and several popular generals that served in well known wars, such as that of the year of 1812. There have been many paranormal experiences that have occurred here. In this article, you will be introduced to some of the strange happenings at this haunted cemetery.

Nestled just below Westminster Hall, which is also believed to be haunted, this spooky cemetery has often been referred to as one of the most haunted places in America. There are stories surrounding the fact that many individuals were buried in the cemetery that were not dead, and once they did pass to the spiritual side, their spirit began to wander the grounds seeking out the person and/or group of people that buried them alive in order to seek out revenge. There are quite a few unsettled spirits at this haunted graveyard who seem to be searching for something that they just cannot find, and they often frighten the individuals that stumble upon them in their search.

Naturally, it is believed that the spirit of the ever-popular author, Edgar Allan Poe lingers among the graves nestled in the Old Western Burial Ground. Poe died unexpectedly as he traveled through this area that he called “home” a good majority of his life. His death could not be explained. However, he was on his way to visit his true love and her mother. He was to return to the area in order to wed, but never left the area. It is believed that his apparition has been seen around where his body is buried, as well as in other areas near the area, such as the church. He seems to either mourn for the fact that he was unable to marry, or there are some instances in which he is believed to be waiting at the altar for his true love in order to commence in the wedding ceremony.

Address: 519 W. Fayette St., Baltimore, Maryland 21210

The ever-popular “Skull of Cambridge” is buried in this haunted graveyard as well. This is said to be the head of a minister that was murdered. It is believed that they took the skull and placed it in a segment of cement in order to block out the sounds of screams that seemed to emerge from it. It is said that it screams at all times of the day and it seems to linger in the minds that hear it on a consistent basis. Many individuals have been severely frightened by this particular haunting, and it is said that several people even experienced insanity and were placed in psychiatric wards after being exposed to it for a prolonged time.

There have been documented reports of people being buried alive and this was evidenced when coffins were moved and sometimes opened. They would find bloody claw marks inside the lids of the coffin. What a horrible way to die. Sometimes this happened due to the lack of embalming the deceased and they may have been in a deep coma where there heart beat or respiration was so low as not to be detected by doctors.

There is also the mysterious visitor to the memorial to Edgar Allen Poe near the entrance to the cemetery. For many consistent years someone would leave a half-empty bottle of cognac and four roses on Poe's birthday, January 19th. That person was dubbed, the "Poe Toaster." This happened from 1949 (the centennial of Poe's death) until 2009. The gifts were often left between the hours of midnight and 6am. He or she was never identified.

The Ghost Research Society investigated Westminster Burying Grounds on August 8, 1987 and the team members included: Dale Kaczmarek, with help with Sarah Estep of the American Association for Electronic Voice Phenomena (AA-EVP).

Equipment setup: Very basic equipment was used during the public event hosted by the AA-EVP. I used a portable cassette tape recorder and a 35mm SLR camera loaded with high-speed infrared film while another 35MM SLR camera was loaded with a very high-speed black and white film. Since this was in the later 1980s, there was no specific ghost hunting tools or EMF devices like we have today.

Experiments performed: This was a dual event/experiment as Kaczmarek was teaching spirit photography in the underground catacombs while in another part of the area Estep teaching how to record spirit voices via EVP.

Personal experiences: I personally didn't feel anything unusual during my experiments with the participants that were with my workshop. I cannot speak for those in Estep's workshop using cassette tape recorders.

Evidence collected: Unfortunately no spirit photographs or unusual anomalies were recorded with either camera that was used in the darkened catacombs. Again, I cannot speak for any possible EVPs that participants in Estep's group might have captured.

Conclusions: This was a very scientific and fascinating set of experiments in underground catacombs beneath Westminster Church. It was very creepy and a bit dusty as the floor was covered with a fine layer of loose dirt. This could have interfered with photographs taken if it for not the safeguards that I employed to keep the debris from floating around and possibly creating some false but explainable dust bunnies in the finished film when developed.

This is a great example of very early paranormal investigators using rudimentary equipment which, while was state of the art then, would have been considered ancient in today's standards.