Jonathan Hager House

Forbes named this 1739 limestone house the most haunted place in Maryland, with at least 13 documented deaths inside its walls. The nursery is the worst room: a cradle rocks on its own, a corn-cob doll moves between visits, and four Hammond children who died in a three-month epidemic in 1844 are blamed for most of the activity.

Forbes named the Jonathan Hager House the most haunted place in Maryland, and the body count supports it. At least 13 people died within these limestone walls over 280 years, including four of Michael Hammond's grown children in a single three-month stretch in 1844.

Jonathan Hager, a German immigrant who arrived in Philadelphia in 1736 aboard the ship Harle, built this homestead in 1739 on 200 acres he'd purchased from Daniel Dulaney for about 30 cents an acre. He named it "Hager's Fancy" and presented it to his bride Elizabeth Kershner in 1740. The two-and-a-half-story house has 22-inch-thick limestone walls and sits over two freshwater springs that run through the cellar at a constant 40 degrees Fahrenheit, serving as both water source and natural refrigeration. Hager founded the town of Elizabethtown (later Hagerstown) in 1762, served in the French and Indian War, and became the first German-born American elected to the Maryland Colonial Legislature. On November 6, 1775, a wooden roof beam crushed him while he was supervising construction of the German Reformed Church he'd donated land for.

The house passed through the Rohrer family until Michael Hammond purchased it in 1813. The Hammond years were devastating. Four of Michael and Catherine's adult children died within three months in 1844, likely from an epidemic. Three infant children and other family members also perished between 1838 and 1844. The Civil War-era Downin family occupied the house after that, adding more layers of loss.

The nursery is the worst room. A cradle and rocking chair move on their own. Temperatures swing without pattern. During a ghost tour, a woman fainted there. Visitors describe a sudden dread that hits the moment they step inside, then disappears the moment they leave. A corn-cob doll moves to different locations throughout the house between visits, and the Downin children are usually blamed. They're also credited with turning off lights and making cameras malfunction.

Multiple ghosts have been identified over the decades. A "Lady in Green" appears at windows or as a fleeting flash of green dress in the hallways. A "Man in Black" (possibly a Hammond family member) shows up on the porch smoking a pipe and has been spotted walking the grounds of City Park. A little girl spirit has a particular interest in female guests. People report being poked by invisible hands, feeling a toddler tug at their clothing, sharp neck pains that come from nowhere, and the smell of alcohol in the basement when nobody's been drinking.

Cabinet doors with functioning latches open on their own. In the cellar, where those 40-degree springs still run, visitors hear footsteps and the sound of heavy objects being dragged across the stone floor. A psychic who visited the house reported a strong presence concentrated in the basement, near the water.

Recreation Supervisor Amy Riley acknowledges that "people do believe that the Hager House is haunted" and calls it "one of the most haunted places in the region." The City of Hagerstown runs annual lantern-lit ghost tours that sell out every year. The Calico Spirit Investigation Team has conducted formal investigations, including a beginner paranormal investigation night in October 2024 open to ages 10 and up. The tours are marketed as "entertainment purposes only," but the curators and guides who've worked the house for decades have accumulated their own stories, quietly shared after hours, about voices from empty rooms, phantom footsteps on the stairs, and the persistent feeling that nobody is ever really alone in Hager's Fancy.