The last in a series of Ghostly Encounters: read the terrifying Terrapin Tales from the University Archives!

Terrapin Tales

In honor of Halloween, we saved the spookiest story for last.  Take a look back at the previous weeks for more ghostly tales: week 1, week 2, week 3, and week 4.  We hope you have enjoyed our paranormal accounts over the last four weeks.  Make sure to stop by some of them tonight!

We finish our ghost tour at the Rossborough Inn, one of the best UMD sites to experience unexplained paranormal occurrences.  The Rossborough, built between 1804 and 1812, was named for its builder John Ross, a tavern keeper and local landowner, and was one of the original college buildings.  Many travelers and stagecoaches used the inn as a way-station to break their journey between Baltimore and Washington, because it was situated on the main route between the two cities.  The building has also served as the headquarters for the Agricultural Experiment Station, housing for…

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This post is part of a series of Ghostly Encounters shared by the University Archives; follow Terrapin Tales for some great UMD adventures!

Terrapin Tales

Are you following our spooky posts about campus ghosts?  Creeped out yet by the spectral spirits of Morrill Hall and Marie Mount Hall?  Keep reading – the best is yet to come!

This week finds us at the McNamee Cemetery behind the Stadium Drive Garage.  Not many people know about this spot, which looks pretty innocuous to the innocent passerby. While there is no record or rumor of paranormal encounters occurring here, who knows what the McNamee family gets up to when there’s no one around?

The cemetery contains the remains of several members of the McNamee family, who sold this part of campus to the university in 1938.  We are pretty sure we know at least two of the people buried there.  One of the deceased was a child named Albert McNamee.  He was the son of Charles and Elizabeth McNamee. Albert was born in 1904 and unfortunately…

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Spooky Special Collections: Rare Books

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are a few photos of the rare books featured in our latest Spooky Special Collections display. Visit the Maryland Room in Hornbake Library to see these incredible works up close.

Miniature book: Kriminal-geschichten, a German translation of short stories by Edgar Allen Poe. How could something so tiny be so terrifying?!?

Praxis criminis persequendi, elegantibus aliquot figuris illustrata, by Jean Milles de Souvigny. So glad I’m not these guys.

The Vampyre, by John William Polidori. Before Team Edward and Team Jacob ever existed, this was “Twilight” in 1819.

Rare books displayed in the Maryland Room. Visit the Spooky Special Collections display through 11/2/12.

You can read some of our books online! Visit The Vampyre and Edgar Allen Poe’s The Bells in WorldCat UMD.
Also see our growing list of haunted reads throughout the centuries.

Spooky Special Collections

Buffy could show you a thing or two about primary source research.

Libraries are often the focal points for the spooky, mythical, and gruesome. Special Collections are no different, and we’re celebrating the spirit of Halloween in style!

University Archives Blog:

“Ghostly Encounters” will feature haunted places at the University of Maryland. Visit their site every Wednesday, and be prepared to think of your classroom in a new, terrifying, way.

Spooky Special Collections Display:

Girls’ Series Books from the Pagnani Collection

Celebrate Halloween with the Spooky Special Collections display in the Maryland Room of Hornbake Library!  Our current display hosts girls’ series books. Each of these books (from the Rose and Joseph Pagnani Collection) features a heroine forced to use her skill and resourcefulness to face the mysterious criminal unknown. Especially enticing are the colorful, suspenseful covers.

Come back next week for rare books from our collection with a decidedly grisly twist. The display runs through November 2^nd.

Online Resources:

Visit the WorldCat UMD list of items featured in our Spooky Special Collections display, and a list for books about the state of Maryland’s haunted locations and local ghouls.