Weird Western Maryland

  For the same number of Halloweens as Dante had circles of Hell, Nina Fike has turned her front yard into the Frightmare on Finzel Road, and documented the annual adventure on a public Facebook page .   " I have a crazy imagination, and I'm a giant kid," Fike told WVNews. "I've always loved Halloween, but since I started decorating nine years ago, it has become an obsession." Mark it on your map for 2022: The Frightmare is at 1035 Finzel Road in eastern Garrett County, just north of old U.S. 40. Photos courtesy of Nina Fike.   Sources: "Aragog and ferryman." WVNews 27 Oct. 2021. https://www.wvnews.com/aragog-and-ferryman/image_2a019920-3741-11ec-9e4e-7f6ab38a654c.html . Accessed 10 Nov. 2021. Fike, Nina. Frightmare on Finzel Road. https://m.facebook.com/Frightmare-on-Finzel-Road-271423083358001/ . Accessed 10 Nov. 2021.

  A local newspaper published this account of an 1897 Halloween party at the Woman’s College of Frederick: Hallowe’en was celebrated in fine style by a phantom party in the college Hall. About eight o’clock a ghostly procession could be seen wending its wayl through the corridors to the Hall where lanterns of pumpkins, ears of corn, autumn leaves, and the skeleton of Mr. Smith, made the scene one to be remembered. After a march in which sixty girls joined[,] each carrying long tin horns filling the air with soft sweet strains, dancing was indulged in until the lights were suddenly turned on and you were requested to unmask, then began the fun. Fortunes were told and bright futures prophesied for all, corn and flour were freely used, which cou’d be easily told from the looks of the chapel the next morning. Refreshments were served later in the evening, and at eleven o’clock the crowd dispersed after having spent a most delightful evening. Thanks are due to the kind friends w...