08/29/2026
The Snow Hill Inn
On East Market Street in Snow Hill, Maryland, there sits a house that has had more documented ghostly encounters than any other single site in Worcester County. Built about 1835, it served as a private home, post office, doctor’s office and restaurant. For decades, residents, workers and visitors have reported strange activity: lights turning on and off, windows closing by themselves, unexplained noises, fireplaces igniting and apparitions of a young man.
The house is widely considered haunted. But by whom?
Dr. John S. Aydelotte occupied the house in the 1870s and practiced medicine in Snow Hill. He died in 1929 and is buried nearby with his wife, Delia, and their son, William—whose tragic death remains the mystery surrounding this house.
William was only 21 when he died in Baltimore in 1904. A pharmacy student at the University of Maryland, he was found gravely wounded with multiple cuts to his throat. A note to his father said, “It is useless to keep me at school,” but he never finished the letter.
The Baltimore Sun concluded su***de, but the Aydelotte family questioned what really happened. William’s nephew, George Walton Mapp, later told the newspaper, “We never believed he killed himself.”
In the early 1990s, the family home became the Snow Hill Inn. Soon, stories spread about a young man roaming the halls. Guests and employees reported doors locking, lights switching themselves on and off, beds shaking, fireplaces lighting on their own and a figure appearing in mirrors. The innkeepers called the spirit “Ghost JJ.”
In 2003, a psychic investigated the Inn and said the spirit was strongest in the Barrister Room. She claimed the ghost spoke back to her and identified himself as William Aydelotte. William reportedly told her that he did, in fact, commit su***de and spoke of heartbreak and emotional trauma—details the psychic said were “best left unshared.”
Our own Mindie Burgoyne worked in Snow Hill for a year and heard story after story about this house. She even witnessed the gas fireplace light itself and watched lights come on while switches mysteriously stopped working. Restaurant staff talked of being terrified at night when closing up.
