The Wiggle Latch

Feb 4, 2020

This story comes from Spirits of Frederick by Alyce T Weinberg…

“A latch on the cellar door that opens into the kitchen rattles, an empty rocking chair rocks, and footsteps are heard upstairs from the basement to the attic some nights. And voices come from above though no one is upstairs.”

There is a house, called Friendship, built in 1743 off of Route 15 one mile south of Creagerstown…this is where this story takes place. The story is told by the owners. this particular road, Stevens Rd, was once an Indian trail and it is near the site of an original Monocacy Indian Village and burial ground.

The old log house was restored and enlarged years ago, but when the house was small, the family would sit and watch the latch wiggle while they ate. One of the children would jump up and open the door wide to find no one there. Nor was anyone ever in the cellar (basement) – no ghost, Indian – nothing was out of place. The family laughs now, when the latch wiggles and yell “come on in!”, but they keep the door locked.

One daughter hears muffled conversations in the bedroom next to hers, but when she opens the door the conversation stops. And they all her the steps creak, one at a time, when the house is quiet.

One teenage son says, “I was sleeping in the living room, the oldest part of the house, because I had given up my bed for company, and I heard the old rocker squeaking. What in blazes is going on now, I thought. I reached over my head from the sofa and turned on the lamp, and the rocker was in motion as though someone had just left the room. And some books were on the floor that hadn’t been there when I went to bed. Believe me, I spent the rest of the night upstairs with the family, on the floor in a sleeping bag.”

The next morning, the family heard that a Mrs. Hankey, the elderly wife of the previous owner had died in her sleep.

THe family also owned another house, built before the Civil War, that they were restoring. One day, the same teenage boy and a girl friend were working in this house when they heard stamping right over their heads. In what they thought was an empty house. They literally fell over each other, trying to get out of the house – expecting someone to come rushing down the broken stairs.

Nothing unusual was found the next day…

– not my photo

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