Shriner House
The Shriner House ghost haunts an old house on the outskirts of the little town of Linwood in Carroll county. A murder from 1849 continues to impact the house.
Brother Against Brother
In the early 1800’s, the Shriner family owned the house. They may well have been the ones who built the house originally in 1804. In later years, one son began dating a young woman who previously dated his brother. The spurned lover took matters into his own hands and shot his brother. For years afterwards, the blood-stained floor in the dining room remained as a testament to the murder.
John Shriner, the victim, is buried at the Pipe Creek Church of the Brethren cemetery near Linwood as are many of his family. His brother, William, was apparently sent to an asylum for some time after the murder.
Terrible Occurrence An awful and melancholy occurrence took place, within about four miles of this village, yesterday afternoon. Mr. Wm. Shriner, a dental surgeon, 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 and ran into the adjoining room, seized a double-barreled gun, and discharged its 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. 1Baltimore Sun, 4/19/1849
Shriner House Modern Day Experiences
For more than 25 years, Bob and Carol (not their real names) have lived in the house. And, they have felt for years that there were others in the home as well. Shortly after they moved in, they converted the parlor next to the dining room into a bedroom for an elderly, terminally ill aunt.One day, soon after she started living at the house, the aunt asked Bob and Carol about visitors who came to see her the night before. However, there had been no visitors to the house the night before. That is, none of the live variety. The aunt said one of them had visited several times. She said he wore navy pants and a long coat.
Years later, Bob and Carol hired a cleaning woman. Before entering the parlor, she paused on the threshold of the room and asked ”Is this room haunted?” When Carol admitted that she believed it was, the would-be cleaning lady described the same man that the aunt had seen years before. To this day, electronic devices seem to have a mind of their own in the parlor. Furthermore, the family pets will not willingly enter the room.