When I was a little girl, my grandmother told me the chilling story of Blue Dog Hill. The spine-tingling story has stuck in my memory and it is still circulating Southern Maryland’s collection of ghostly legends to this day. Some middle and high schools even teach the legend to the students during Halloween-time.
Blue Dog Hill & Peddler’s Rock
In the late seventeen hundreds, there was a soldier and his beloved dog who lived in Port Tobacco, Charles County. The soldier had just come into some money and decided to visit a local tavern with his canine companion at his side. They were walking home when a couple of thieves overtook them. They beat the soldier to death and killed his dog, too. Legend has it a rock known as “Peddler’s Rock” lies on the property of Rose Hill Manor. This is the rock the poor soldier was thrown against, fatally wounding him. After the thieves murdered the soldier and his dog, they stole his money and fled the scene.
There were rumors around town the soldier had had more money on him that night and the deed to his new home. So the thieves returned to Peddler’s Rock on Rose Hill, in search for the money and the deed. When they were approaching the rock, they noticed that the soldier’s body was gone and there was a ghostly blue dog standing at the site! The dog could have been black in life but in death he appeared to have a bluish coat…and glowing eyes. The men froze in their steps…they couldn’t do anything but stare at the ghostly dog in front of them. In minutes, but what seemed like hours, the blue dog gave up returning their stares and let out a howl. Then did something the men were fearing from the moment they laid eyes on it – it charged right at them! The two thieves fled in terror, never to return to Peddler’s Rock in search for the remaining money and deed.
Blue Dog Sightings
The “Peddler’s Rock” is a large rock located on the Rose Hill Manor property. It’s rumored to have red stains and sits atop Rose Hill, but when keeping with the phantom blue dog legend, is more appropriately known as Blue Dog Hill. Some speculations and different theories on the story have been told by locals over the years. The story was originally recorded in the late eighteen hundreds, most of which claimed a soldier who had just come in to his riches. Others say the man was a peddler who had stolen the money from someone else which led to his untimely death.
Blue dog sightings have occurred since the eighteen hundreds, with the more recent sightings taking place in the 1970’s. The locals of Port Tobacco claim you can still hear the blue dog howling at night – sad howls that emanate from Rose Hill. The story that is uttered to frightened children in local schools refers to the blue dog who “hovers over Peddler’s Rock”, still guarding his master’s treasure and possibly his remains from whomever may come to desecrate or steal. Locals Some have been chased by the blue dog. Most will not go near Peddler’s Rock at night and never ever on Halloween! There is another story similar to the Blue Dog Hill of Maryland that is told in England, resembling to the soldier’s sad tale and the phantom blue dog. Who knows if this story wasn’t just carried over to the New World from the Colonists or if it actually happened. Either way, the story is spooky and lends a chilling twist to Maryland’s historical Rose Hill Manor and Park.
PLEASE NOTE: The owners of Rose Hill Manor ask to be left their privacy!!!
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