Patapsco River Horror Story

Chapter 2

Neil was awoken by the sound of water. It was not like a faucet running, it was much louder then a faucet and it was much more water then a faucet could produce. His feet felt cold and wet. He opened his eyes, the room was dark and ceiling was glowing and it was a grayish blue color. His mind was trying to calculate where the sound of running water was coming from and why the ceiling was glowing, it did not add up. He lifted his hand to his face, as he stared at it through the darkness and gloom he saw grass and dirt all over both his hands. Now it all clicked in Neil’s head.

“It’s not the ceiling that’s blue. It’s the sky. It’s not a faucet that’s running it the Patapsco River” he whispered to himself.

He looked to his left, and there it was the Patapsco River rushing by him less then a foot away.

“This can’t be happening” He thought to himself.
“How did I get down here?” He wondered.

Neil sat upright and looked around. He noticed he was at about the same place on the river bank that he saw the young woman last night. He looked over his shoulder; he could see the train station about 100 feet up the river bank. Then he looked forward again, down the river into the woods about 50 yards away, he thought he saw something moving in the bushes. Neil stood up and peered through the darkness to see if he could make out what was in the woods, as he stood up the wind started blowing. He began walking up the hill and away from the river bank toward the woods, the closer he got to the woods on the bank of the Patapsco the harder the wind would blow. Neil could see a figure in the woods.
.
“Is it Annie Van Derlot?” he thought to himself.

By the time he got to the edge of the woods the wind was blowing so hard Neil could hardly stand up. The wind was blowing east to west and at this part of the Patapsco the river ran north to south. The strength of the wind was producing waves that roll across the river and crashed on the west bank of the Patapsco. Neil slowly moved into the woods, holding on to the trees so to keep the wind from blowing him to the ground. The figure that he saw just a moment ago had disappeared. He stops to rest for a moment, the power of the wind was tiring Neil, it took all his strength just to stand up against the wind. The wind was howling through the trees, it sounded like a train whistle it was so loud.

He looks to his left through the trees to the river bank. There about 15 feet away from where he was standing, he saw the phantom. Neil could get a good look at it now. It looked like it was close to 6 feet tall and. It was wearing what looked to be a Civil War uniform. The uniform was in disarray and it was very dirty. The phantom man slowly walked out of the tree line and onto the river bank. The man walked with a slight limp. It had a cap on its head with what looked to be black hair. The phantom man was moving away from Neil, so he could not get a look at its face. It was walking south down the river bank. Neil decided to follow it.

The wind was still howling so Neil moved slowly from tree to tree, holding on to each tree as he moved through the woods for support. It was blowing so hard he could not keep with the phantom. He could see it off in the distant standing at the bend in the river. The phantom man had stopped and was looking across the river. This was Neil’s chance to catch up to it. He fought his way through the wind and the forest. He was within a few yards of the man. Then in the corner of his eye he saw the young woman in the white dress that he saw the night before. The wind was blowing even harder now.

The young woman was standing on the river bank about 50 yards behind the man in the civil war uniform. She had her head down as if she was searching for something in the dirt. Neil tried to get a good look at her. As he watches her through the trees by the light of the moon, he noticed that her skin was a dull grayish color or was this just the moon light playing tricks on his eyes. She had straight brown hair that went down past her shoulders.

Then his brain finally picked up on something he did not notice a moment ago. Was it shock and fear of the event going on in front of his eyes or the confusion about how he got here or both that made him overlook these details? The wind was blowing so hard the tree trucks were bending over, the leaves were coming off their branches and Neil had to hold on to the trees for support. Yet not a hair on her head or a thread on her dress moved one inch. Then he also realized the wind did not start blowing until he saw something moving off in the distant woods.

“Does she have the power to control the wind?” He wondered to himself or does the phantom man.

Then he thought to himself. “Are they both here for some demonic gathering?”
Neil Stood holding on to a tree as the wind ragged and watched her slowly raised her head.

He thought “now I will get a chance to see the face of whatever this phantom is.”

Neil was frightened and curious at the same time. He could feel the adrenalin pumping through his veins. When she finally raised her head to a point where he could see her eyes, all he could see was a bright red light that shot out of her eye sockets and her mouth. When she looked in his direction, the beams of light shined in his face. The lights were so bright that they knocked Neil to the ground.

Flat on his back, he put his hand up to his face to shield it from the light. The wind was still howling. He stumbled to his feet and began to run up the embankment and through the woods. A gust of wind caught Neil in the back and knocked him face first into the ground. He glanced behind him to see he had put no extra ground between himself and the phantom.

Neil got to his feet and started running again. He looked over his shoulder to see the woman pointing at him. He tripped over a stump and fell again. When he looked back this time, she was only a few feet away from him. The bright light that streamed from her eyes and mouth was gone. He could see her blue eye now. The wind had stopped, it was deathly quiet, and he could not even hear the Patapsco River that was only a few yards away. She stared deep into his eyes.

“It feels like she is looking deep into my soul.” Neil said to himself.

He saw tears running down her face. She fell to her knees, He looked to his right to see if he could see the phantom man down on the river bank but it was gone. His heart was pounding so loud in his chest he could hear it in his head, it sounded like a fist beating on a piece of wood. Then he hears a voice yell out “DADDY?”

Neil sat straight up in his bed; a sheet of cold sweat covered his face. Adrenalin and fear were throbbing through his whole body. Again he hears the voice say “Daddy?” A bright light shined in his face, it was a rectangular shaped light with a dark figure in the center of it, and total darkness enclosed the light. His eyes try to focus in on the dark figure in the light. He recognized the voice this time it was Debbie’s voice. He finally realized the light was the hallway light shining through his bed room door and Debbie was standing in the doorway.

“Was it all just a bad dream? It seemed so real” he thought to himself.

“Are you ok Daddy? I am sorry to wake you.” She said.

Neil puts both hands up to shield his face from the light and to wipe the sweat off.

“That’s ok Deb. I was having a bad dream anyway.” He says as he tries to collect his thoughts.

“Daddy, can I go out with some friends tonight?” Debbie says as she leans on the door frame.

“Where are you going and who with?” Neil replies.

“I am going to a teen dance at the B&O Railroad Station Museum with Adam, Amanda, Jack and some other friends.” She said.

“Adam Withers?” he asks as he stretches his arms over his head.

“Yeah” said Debbie.

The name brought back memories of the conversation Neil had with Adam’s father Kevin at lunch earlier that day. Neil was trying to figure out if what he saw last night and the dream he just had, was connected or if they were just apart of his rum soaked imagination as Kevin had suggested? After a short pause in the conversation

“Well?” says Debbie.

“What? I am sorry Deb what were we talking about?” He asks

“Is it ok if I go?” she says.

“Oh, right, the dance, sure its fine, have a good time Deb.” Neil replies.

“Thanks Daddy! Can you give me a ride?” Debbie says with a big smile on her face.

“Sure” Neil says. “I am heading that way to meet up with Adam’s dad.”

“Say Hi to Mr. Kevin for me. I am going to take a shower now.” Debbie says as she runs down the hallway.

“I will and don’t use up all the hot water I need to take a shower too.” Neil says as he hears the bathroom door slam shut.

Neil reached for a bottle of rum that was sitting on the night stand and drank straight from the bottle. His hands were still trembling from the bad dream he just had.

“This should help ease my nerves.” He said to himself.

He looked at the clock it read 7:47. “I have been asleep for almost four hours.” He said.

Neil sat up on the edge of the bed, with his head in his hands, he looked down at the floor and he noticed something unusual. His feet had dirt, leaves and grass on them. He could feel the fear building up inside him. Neil jumped up from the bed and turned on the bedroom light so he could examine his feet better. The dirt was fresh, and the leaves and grass were still wet. Looking at his pants, he finds more dirt. He examined the bed and found dirt and grass.

“Maybe I was sleep walking out in the back yard.” He tried to convince himself.

He looks in the mirror over the dresser. His hair is dredged with sweat; his face is as white as a sheet.

“Am I having a nervous break down?” Neil mumbles as his stairs into the mirror at his trembling body.

After a shower, something to eat and a few shots of rum, Neil was able to calm his nerves a little. Neil was sitting at the kitchen table going over in his head the nightmare he just had an hour or so before and how he got dirt and leaves all over himself. Then Debbie walked in.

“Are you ready to go, Daddy?” She says.

“Sure Deb, I am ready to go if you are?” Neil replied.

Neil got up out of the chair. They both headed out the door, Debbie made sure the door was shut and locked.

“Do you have your house key?” He asked her.
“Yes Daddy, I do.” She said.

Debbie examined the truck as they walked down the driveway. As they got in the truck, Debbie said with a look of disguised on her face. “Oh Daddy, this truck looks like a nightmare. When are you going to clean it up and have it fixed?”
Even by moon light you could see what the years and neglected had done to it. Neil was trying to get the truck to start; he turned the key in the ignition about a half dozen times before it finally started.

With a sigh of relief and a hint of frustration in his voice Neil replied, “soon Deb soon!”

Debbie was putting on her seat belt when she asked “Speaking of nightmares Daddy, tell me about the dream you had this afternoon?”

The question startled him; he is not sure, how much to tell her about his dream.

“Oh it was your usual nightmare, I dreamed I was lying on the banks of the Patapsco River and I saw a ghost in the woods, you know, that type of thing.” Neil said, trying not to give to much detail.

Then he thought back to the conversation he had with Kevin at lunch earlier that afternoon. Kevin’s words and voice were echoing in Neil’s head. “Damn Neil even our kids know those stories.”

Neil wondered if Debbie did know the stories of haunted Ellicott City. Neil backed out of the driveway and headed down Old Columbia Pike into the historic little town.

As they drove toward Ellicott City, Debbie turns to Neil and asked “So what did it look like?”

Neil glanced over at Debbie and said “What did what look like, Deb?”

Debbie was digging in her pocketbook when she said. “The ghost Daddy, the one you dreamed about this afternoon.”

Once again Neil was not sure, what to say. He was not sure if he should tell her the whole story. He was trouble by what she would say or think. Neil knows he had to tell her something.

“Well it looked to me like a young woman with long brown hair in a white dress.” He said.

Debbie stopped ransacking her pocketbook for a moment and looked at Neil and said. “Long brown hair, white dress, she looked young and she was down by the river? Wow. Sounds like you dreamed about Annie Van Derlot.”

At that second Neil could feel his stomach start to knot up. Neil glanced over at Debbie again, this time with a look of shock and horror on this face.

“Annie Van Derlot!” he said.

“You have heard of Annie Van Derlot?” He said.

With what appeared to be some what of a disinterested look on her face Debbie replied “Hasn’t everyone heard of Annie Van Derlot?”

Neil just stared at the road in shock and thinking how out of touch he was with the world. He said nothing to her about the creature he also saw that night. He thought that would be a little too much. Neil thought this would be a good time to find out what Debbie knows about Annie Van Derlot and at the same time he could learn something about her. He knows almost nothing about Annie Van Derlot.

Neil said to Debbie “I have heard very little about Anne Van Derlot, please tell me what you know.”

“What’s to tell” Debbie said? “I thought everyone knows about Anne Van Derlot. The story goes that Anne Van Derlot was the daughter of a rich southerner. They say she died of pneumonia during her first winter at the Patapsco Female Institute which was like a finishing school for well to do southern girls around the time of the civil war and her ghost is still said to linger there, roaming the ruins. Annie was said to have resented being sent to the small town. She sent many letters home which protested her ‘captivity’. You have to wonder how happy she must be when wandering the reviled buildings under the light of the moon.”

After hearing the story that Debbie just told, Neil’s nerves did not really feel much better.

He did not want to think he believes it so he started to laugh and said “That probably just a story that someone at the tourist office made up to bring people into Ellicott City.”

Debbie turned from the window and said. “If I was a tourist and I heard that story I would not want to come here.”

Neil was beginning to think Debbie believed what she was saying. He was also starting to think he was beginning to believe what he was hearing and what he thought he experienced that afternoon and the night before.
Theirs a pause in the conversation for a moment or two, Debbie had turned back to the window.

Then she turns back toward Neil and with a look of fear on her face she said. “You know Amanda’s Sister Clare don’t you?”

Neil was concentration on the road but replied. “Yes, I think I do remember her.”

Debbie started into another story. “A few years ago, Clare and a few friends were partying up at the institute. Clare went back to her car to get her jacket on her way back from the car she saw something that she will never forget. She was alone near the front steps of the school when she saw a young woman in a long gown walk out of the front doors, down the stone steps and across the lawn.... where she abruptly vanished. Was it Annie.... or some other spirit lingering behind at the former institute?”
Neil gave out a nervous laugh and said “Maybe it was the beer she had?”

Debbie just looked at him and turned back to the window.
Neil asked. “Are there any other stories?”

Debbie was still staring out the window replied. “Oh I’m sure there are hundreds, the Lilburn Castle on College Avenue is supposed to be haunted. There is a horse drawn carriage that is supposed to ride through a wall in one of the shops on Main Street. A little girl in a blue dress wonders through another store. Some jaded lover hung herself at the Courthouse Tavern, back in the 1800’s and she is supposed to haunt the place.”

With a big grin on his face Neil said. “Well I’ll check that one out tonight.”

But the grin quickly melted away from his face when Debbie said. “Oh yea, theirs supposed to be a civil war soldier that roams the river banks and the town at night.”

Neil looked into the rear view mirror, he could see the blood run out of his face, and it was as white as a sheet.

“Could that have been the phantom he saw with the young girl?” Neil said to himself.

At this point in the conversation he wanted to change the subject. The moon was full as Neil drove down Old Columbia Pike to its end and took a right at the stop sign onto Main Street.

“Well Deb” he said “it’s a full moon tonight; all the crazies will be out.”
Debbie just looked at him laughed and said “That’s true Daddy and your one of the crazies.”

Main Street was lined with cars, the pubs were filling up and the antique’s shops were getting ready to close for the night. Neil turned right onto Maryland Avenue and stopped the truck in front of the B&O Railroad Station Museum. Adam, Amanda and Jack were waiting by the Museum door as Debbie jumped out of the truck. All three waved to Neil and he waved back.

“Do you have enough money?” Neil asked Debbie before she closed the truck door.

“Yes Daddy I do.” Debbie replied.

“Be careful” Neil said as he waves to Debbie.

“I will and you should too.” She replied.

Neil drove up Maryland Avenue a little way to the parking lot. He parked in almost the same place as he did the night before. Neil turns the truck off and sat for a few moments surveying the river bank for any movement. He could hear the Patapsco River rushing passed on it way to the Chesapeake Bay and beyond. His search came up empty. Neil got out of his truck shut the door and once again looked down on the banks of the river one more time but could see nothing. He turned and walked down Maryland Avenue toward Main Street.