THE CAMPSITE WITCH

I am bored at work on the graveyard shift and I got to reading some of the horror stories on you website. I have one I would like to share.

It happend like 7 years ago or so (I think I was 14 or 15). Anyway, I lived in Maryland and we would go on camping trips with family and friends. We went out to the C&O canal trail in Sharpsburg. What happend one night was this. I was camping with friends at the same spot that we have for years. At our campsite there was a cement block in the ground with two metal things sticking up like a crank or something. I never knew what it was nor did I care two much. There was like 6 or 7 of us camping that night, I was sharing a tent with my friend Sara, the "guys" were in a tent of their own, and another slept solo in his own tent. I was just falling asleep when I heard a shriek like an owl getting attacked or something. It was very low and far away, so I paid no attention and went back to sleep. The shrieking started to get louder and louder, closer and closer, I was scared so I woke up Sara and had her listen she heard it too. At this point I could tell it was definately a woman screaming. We were 3 miles from the nearest campsite so I knew no one was around. Sara and I started hollering for the guys and soon as one said "what?" the screaming stopped. We ran to their tent and stayed there the rest of the night.

The next day we explained what had happend the night before and everyone said they didnt hear anything except our screams for them. Creepy, but thats not it. When we awoke the guy that was sleeping in his own tent woke up to his tent completely flipped upside down like a strong wind blew it over but he was still in it and I dont remember it ever getting that windy in Maryland. We went caving that day after "the night", and we were walking down the trail to get to the caves. I was a few yards in front of everyone and I saw a woman coming towards us. Given there is only one trail and no way to veer off unless youre going into the woods. She was dressed in a long black dress that looked like she was from a ;pmg time ago with long hair that was so white it looked like it was silver. I said hello to her, she smiled and said hello back and we continued in opposite directions. When the rest of my group caught up I asked them if they saw that lady, they said they didnt see anyone and that I was going crazy. I shrugged and we went into the caves. When came out, one of the guys was crawling out and saw a shadow like someone was trying to come in. There is only one way out or in this cave. He said "excuse me", shadow didnt move. He said it again and still the shadow didnt move. He continued on and we crawled right through this "person" trying to come in. We left that day and I hadnt returned.

I did some research on that area and apparently there was a hermit that lived out there by herself, when people started coming to that area, kids started to disappear out of the villages. When they returned they were pale as a ghost and the first person they saw the kids dropped dead. Literally scared to death. The blamed the hermit and accused her of withcraft. The caught her and chopped her up into pieces and put each piece of her body in cement, covered it up, and put the next piece in, so she couldnt pull herself together. They then buried the cement block containing her pieces in the ground where the campsite we stayed in. I guess thats what that cement thing was that I mentioned earlier.

I did go back there a few years later(I was 18 or 19 now) to try my go at camping again. The cement block was completely gone, Im guessing it scared too many people. The first night I went back, I was lying in my tent with my boyfriend at the time and went into panic attacks, hyperventilating and everything. We left in middle of the night and I refuse to ever go back again.

*This is a free campsite that is open to the public, if anyone would like to explore it themselves, it is at Snyder's Landing on the C&O Canal in Sharpsburg,MD across the Potomac from Shepardstown, WV.*

By: bmmatz@yahoo.com