Eternally yours, Thomas Dance

On February 23, 1793, a skilled craftsman named Thomas Dance was killed while he was applying a fresh coat of plaster to the dome of the Maryland State House.

After scraping up what was left of poor Thomas, workers placed his remains in a coffin and he was buried. But, that's where the story gets interesting, for Thomas had no intentions of leaving his job unfinished. It is believed that he resides in the State House to this day.

The reason many people claim that poor Thomas still haunts these grounds is that shortly after his death, his family was forced to suffer at the hands of greedy men. According to family accounts, his wife and children were shipped back to England under suspicious circumstances and denied the pension from Thomas' labor they would have otherwise received.

This indignity, some say, was too much for his soul to bear. Since Thomas' violent death, many people have spoken of strange occurrences taking place within the State House. They believe it is Thomas, haunting the building he helped construct, unable to rest since his family was betrayed.

From sudden unexplained gusts of wind to a floating apparition moving about the dome, Thomas has long made his presence known to workers and visitors alike. Some claim to have heard strange footsteps walking about on vacant floors at night. Others claim to have experienced sudden and drastic temperature changes, known as 'cold spots' to those familiar with ghostly spirits.

On one such occasion, a group touring the building is thought to have angered Thomas. As they were viewing the great dome, a particularly rude visitor commented how unimpressed she was with the craftsmanship. At that moment, a deathly cold wind blew open the doors, rattled the chandelier, and chilled the entire group to the bone. This event could have been easily dismissed, had it not been July, and a 100 degrees that day!

Now for those of you who still doubt this story, let me add one last note. Quite recently, and on two separate nights, the ghost of Thomas Dance was witnessed by tour guides and guests alike while on a walking tour with my company.

These sightings began when a seemingly sane visitor approached the Ghosts of Annapolis tour booth and asked how he could "get up inside the dome to have a look around, like the lucky guy I saw up there earlier."

As owner of the company, I had greeted this man and thought it an odd question and even odder that someone should be up in the dome, especially after it was locked for the night.

I asked the man what person in the dome he was talking about, and why he was asking. The man stated that he had toured the building earlier that day, and that the guide had told him that the dome was closed and that no one was permitted up there.

He said he was surprised and envious when later that evening, around 8 pm, he saw a man in a colonial garb walking around the outside ledge of the dome. As he watched, the man strolled slowly around the exterior of the dome, as if admiring the beautiful evening skyline. Looking away for just a second to retrieve his camera, he was shocked to find that when he looked back up, the man had vanished.

He thought it odd, but continued on his way; then he saw our booth. He wanted to know if he had been misinformed, or was this something else? Upon hearing his story, I told the man that I had no explanation for this event, and then I told him about Thomas. The man, now a little freaked out, thanked me and went again on his way, kicking himself for not getting a picture in time.

Later that evening, I relayed the account to the tour guide. I asked her to share the story with her 9 pm group, and to keep her eyes open for anything odd around the dome. Imagine her surprise and that of the entire tour group when they caught sight of the same man described by the earlier tourist.

This was not to be our only Thomas sighting. On the very next night, a different guide and a different group saw the exact same thing that had been seen on the previous evening.

Now, the really freaky part of this story is that I, being the skeptic that I am, went to find some answers from those in charge of the security and patrol of the State House, the General Services Police. A GSP supervisor told me that no one had been up into the dome since the day the President Reagan had passed away a few weeks earlier, and then, only to lower the flag to half mast.

He also stated that the access door was definitely re-locked, and that no one working at night had access to the keys...

WHOA! A chill ran down my spine. Since that night, I have been unable to walk past the dome without looking up, hoping to catch my own glimpse of Thomas Dance.

So, watch what you say when you're inside the State House, because Thomas may be listening, and he can apparently go wherever he likes.

For more information about the ghosts of Annapolis, please visit http://www.annapolisghosts.com/.

Mike Carter is an expert on Annapolis’ ghosts, the author of the soon to be released book, The Ghosts of Annapolis, and the owner of the Ghosts of Annapolis Tours.