A Dedication to Dave Knotts (1989-2020)

Photo courtesy Dana M.Bridges.

In my first post, a few days ago, I shared the official, university-approved, one-page summary of my Weird Western Maryland sabbatical project. I will spare you the entirety of the complete five-page, 2,400-word proposal that wound its way through the coils and recesses of Frostburg State University, but I do want to share its final paragraph:

When this project is published, I hope to dedicate it to the memory of one of my former Frostburg State students, Dave Knotts, who was 30 when he died in a hunting accident in January 2020. He loved talking to me about this sort of thing, and I vividly remember his telling me, with great animation, about a supposedly ever-fresh bloodstain on the centuries-old floor of the Tomlinson Inn in Garrett County, which he was shown as a teenager. Dave himself thought it was probably groundwater seepage, but as he warmed to his story, he almost convinced himself otherwise. I hope these topics energize my future students as much as they energized Dave.

Thank you, Dave, and thanks to all my students who have inspired and encouraged me.

 

 

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