Bell Manor

On the back side of the property, there is a large manor that was part of the Underground Railroad in the 19th century. It is rumored amongst the camp to be haunted by a woman who hung herself in front of the oval window and the slaves who died in hiding. It's an extraordinary building. I haven't been inside yet, but they are trying to renovate it to it's original look and I have heard that it is started to look really nice inside. People at the camp have claimed to see the "ghost" of the woman hanging in the window and have heard of eerie things happening in the basement, such as screaming or voices. I think the stories are pretty entertaining.



We walked to the house and looked around the outside. It was pretty creepy, but we all had a great time trying to retell the stories. Apparently there are also sub-basements on the property that lead to underground tunnels they used to move slaves through. I haven't seen them firsthand, but I would really like to. One of our trainers said that one tunnel is still in tact and there are multiple entrances/exits throughout the woods around camp. I'll take more pictures when I get a chance to go inside.



On the other side of the field, by the manor, there is a stone chimney that is free standing. It is also rumored to be haunted. The story goes that a woman, during the Civil War, saw soldiers coming in the distance and hid her children in the chimney. The soldiers came inside, took her out, and burned the house to the ground. Many claim to still hear the cries of the children "on moonlit nights". I sat inside the chimney and didn't hear anything...it's also really tall so I was curious about how they would have hidden up inside of it. It's a cool chimney and we had a lot of fun telling stories and taking pictures inside of it. While we were walking there, I rushed ahead of the group and hid in the woods. When they walked by, I jumped out and scared them. It was pretty funny...had to start the night off right, of course! There was also a message in a bottle a couple girls had found a few days earlier inside of the chimney, but when we went tonight it was missing. We joked that the baby took it, but we're pretty sure it was the guy who came and did our outdoor training. He was a firm believer in the ghost life of Camp Conowingo and claimed to be a part time ghost hunter. He also mentioned something about a hybrid snake, but that's a story for another time.

I'm off to my Yurt for bed. Goodnight!