Shriner House Ghost

On the outskirts of the little town of Linwood in Carroll county, a murder from long ago continues to impact the house. Though the events leading to this haunting happened many years ago, the energies continue to be felt in the home.

At some point in time, the house was owned by the Shriner family and they may well have been the ones who built the house originallly in 1804. In later years, one son began dating a young woman who had previously been involved with his brother, leading the spurned lover to take matters into his own hands. Sitting on one of the steps of the front staircase in the house, he angled his weapon through the railing and shot his brother as he sat at the dining room table. For years afterward, the blood-stained floor in the dining room remained as a testament to the murder.

Here's what the papers reported about the incident [1849]:

(Correspondence of the Baltimore Sun)
Uniontown, Carroll Co., Md., April 19.
Terrible Occurence
Messrs, Editors: An awful and melancholy occurence took place, within about four miles of this village, yesterday afternoon. Mr. Wm. Shriner, a dental durgeon, who , for some time, as I have been informed has given evidence of intellectual aberration, whilst sitting at the dinner table, suddenly sprang to his feet, ran into the adjoining room, seized a double-barreled gun, and discharged the contents into the body of his brother, Mr. John Shriner. One load of the gun entered his left eye, the other the shoulder - terminating his earthly existence in a few minutes. Mr. Wm. S. was sent to the Mount Hope Hospital, in your city, this morning. Mr. J. S. is to be buried sometime tomorrow. They are sons of Mr. Jacob Shriner, and reside in the upper part of Carroll county, Md.

The current owners, who have been in the house for more than a quarter-century, have lots of stories to relate dealing with manifestations in the house. Soon after they moved in, they converted the front parlor into a bedroom for an elderly relative who was terminally ill. Several mornings in a row, the patient mentioned having visitors in her room the night before, wanting to know who they were. She described one of them, who appeared to her several times, as being dress in navy pants and a long dress coat. Years later, a woman hired to clean the house paused upon entering the room and asked the owner pointedly, "Is this house haunted?" When the owner admitted that they believed it was, she asked further, "Is it  this room?" and proceeded to describe the same man that had been described years earlier by the elderly aunt.

To this day, electronic devices in the room seem to take on a life of their own and the family pets avoid the room, which is located directly in front of the dining room where the murder took place.

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