Explore haunted places of Montgomery County, Maryland, and its surrounding area through 53 ghostly stories: Brookeville to Gaithersburg, Poolesville, and Leesburg, Virginia; the C & O Canal to Rockville and Silver Spring; Chevy Chase and Washington, D.C. to Sandy Spring. Learn about the many ghosts, apparitions, and supernatural occurrences that can’t be explained logically, including the Headless Horseman that continues to terrorize visitors to the old railroad bridge; the poltergeist that haunts the Madison House; the Tommyknocker at the Maryland Mine; and the farmer that keeps searching for his buried treasure. The history of gold mining, presidential politics, the Civil War, the burning of Washington during the War of 1812, the French and Indian War, and various important personages come to life through these mind-tingling stories. Are you brave enough to take this haunted journey back into time?
ISOMG:MC, the book, grew out of the “In Search of Ghosts (ISOG)” event at the Montgomery County Historical Society which Karen ran for many years with the help of Dorothy’s researching acumen. Over the years they amassed quite a collection of local ghost stories and thought it was time to share their research Stories from the book, new ghostly discoveries, and other fun things about Montgomery County history will be posted on the blog. We hope you enjoy them and feel free to share your own haunted experiences or history questions with the authors.
MEET THE AUTHORS
Karen Yaffe Lottes is an historian and museum educator. She worked for many years as Education Director for the Montgomery County Historical Society and is currently program coordinator at the Gaithersburg Community Museum. She has developed many site-specific and county-wide local history programs, including In Search of Ghosts, one of the first history-based Halloween programs in the Washington, D.C. area. This is Karen’s first book, although she has written about the history of Montgomery County, MD in MCHS publications as well as in local newspapers. She lives in historic Washington Grove, MD with her family and several furry companions.
Dorothy Pugh has had a lifelong interest in history which she was able to turn from hobby to vocation when she volunteered for many years at the Montgomery County Historical Society’s Library and Archives as an assistant librarian and researcher. She has researched and written extensively about the history of Montgomery County, MD. Her article “Ghost Stories of Montgomery County,” published in the Montgomery County Story, led her to the realization that most paranormal happenings can be tied into the history of a house or place, thus creating an intriguing story.
montgomeryghosts 
Hello, my family and I lived in the Layton house 1967-1971. My sister and recall many odd and unexplained events that went on in the house. Particularly in the Attic. The attic was our play room. Never smelled baked beans but, our toys were moved and when we shut the door the handle would rattle. At that time the handle was a latch you had to lift up on the handle to release the lock/latch. Other spirit encounters went on. I would love to know who was the child’s father was. When he was born, what he died from. I have purchased your book and look forward to reading it. Thank you,
Elisa Tredway
How interesting. I really appreciate you adding to the story. You didn’t also happen to lose marbles or other small objects?