Max's Taphouse

This Fells Point establishment dates back to the city's early days when it operated as a slaughterhouse and brothel. The building has been transformed into one of Baltimore's premier beer bars while retaining its spectral residents.

Max's Taphouse occupies a historic building at 737 South Broadway in Fells Point, one of Baltimore's oldest and most haunted neighborhoods. Since the 1800s, the structure has served as a restaurant, boardinghouse, brothel, and chicken slaughterhouse before these businesses eventually combined into a singular saloon in the early twentieth century. The building became a disco called the Acropolis before the Furman family purchased it in 1985. Ron Furman transformed it into Max's on Broadway in 1986, initially operating as a live music venue where over 1,000 acts performed before achieving fame, including Dave Matthews, Smashing Pumpkins, Hootie and the Blowfish, and No Doubt. In 1994, Ron and his wife Gail pivoted to become one of the best beer bars in the world, renaming it Max's Taphouse.

The building's dark past as both a slaughterhouse and brothel has left multiple spirits who make themselves known to modern patrons. Breana Furman, whose parents have owned Max's for forty years, recounts the many ghost stories that have accumulated. Most disturbing is the tale of an employee who went to the basement to change a keg. According to Furman, the worker "came up screaming, 'There are headless chickens in the basement,' and everyone was like, 'What are you talking about?'" Staff members have frequently reported encounters with spectral headless chickens wandering the basement, a residual haunting tied to the building's former use as a poultry slaughterhouse.

The third floor is home to the building's most territorial spirit, known as the "Lady of the Night," believed to be a former prostitute from the brothel era. As Furman explains, "She doesn't like you hanging out really late. People have definitely heard her yelling 'Get out!'" A woman in a white dress is regularly seen on the third floor, causing considerable distress to those who encounter her. The paranormal activity on the upper floor became dramatically apparent during one incident when the alarm went off and police responded with their K-9 units. According to Furman, "They brought their dogs, and the dogs refused to go to the third floor—they would not go up. They just sat at the bottom."

Near the bar area, guests have spotted a spectral man who exhibits mischievous behavior. This phantom seems to "move through walls and play with beer bottles." Witnesses report bottles moving independently, floating in the air as though manipulated by invisible hands, or flying across the room entirely on their own. Staff have also reported bathroom doors that mysteriously refuse to open.

Fells Point's haunted reputation stems from its gritty maritime history. The neighborhood was a shipbuilding center in the 1700s, producing the famous Baltimore clipper ships, and served as Baltimore's waterfront red light district from the 1800s through the 1900s. With 323 saloons and 113 houses of ill-repute by the late 1800s, locals dubbed the vice industries "The Three B's": bars, brothels, and boarding houses. Sailors from foreign lands mixed with immigrants seeking new lives, and more than a few ladies of the night looking to make ends meet. Because Fells Point was not destroyed in Baltimore's Great Fire of 1904, buildings from the 1700s and 1800s remain standing—along with their spectral inhabitants.

Max's Taphouse now serves as the meeting point for Baltimore Ghost Tours, which depart from Broadway Square across from the establishment. The tours explore Fells Point's haunted history, and Max's remains one of the most spirited stops, where the ghosts of the past may still be raising a glass alongside the living.