Twisted Tour Guide: Baltimore

Book excerpt: Evade the Tourist Herds and Enter Into An Insider’s Baltimore. Known and unknown history, hidden delights and fascinating stories pervade the history of Baltimore. This kaleidoscope of discovery, personalities, egos, scandals and conflicts frame one of America’s oldest cities. This guide transports you to the precise famous and infamous locations where history occurred. The scenes may sometimes appear ordinary, weird, but often illuminate the physical background and descriptions behind events. Many of the narratives defy believability, yet they are true. This Twisted Tour Guide is your alternative to conventional travel. It accommodates the restless visitor, tourist and resident seeking a unique and different perspective to traditional tourism. Baltimore remains an intriguing historical destination despite contemporary urban issues and challenges. Historical Events Battle of Baltimore, War of 1812 Between England and The United States, Star Spangled Banner, Locust Point Immigration, American Civil War, 1861 Pratt Street Riot, Archdiocese of Baltimore Scandal, Camp Washburn, Underground Railroad, Illegal Bodysnatching, Invention of the Ouija Board, Great Fire of 1904, Rosewood Training Center Scandal, Zion Lutheran Church Wartime Loyalties, Johns Hopkins Medical Scandals, Alger Hiss Communist Trial, Governor George Wallace Shooting, Vice President Spiro Agnew Resignation, Baltimore Colts Relocation, Baltimore City Hall and Jail Scandals and Gun Trace Task Force Debacle. Landmarks: Fort McHenry, Latrobe Park, Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, The Horse You Came On Tavern, Fells Point, Captain’s House Brothel, Federal Hill Park, Clifton Mansion, Lake Clifton Valve House, Basilica of the Assumption Cathedral, Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Carroll Mansion, Homewood Mansion, Johns Hopkins University, Star-Spangled Banner Flag House, St. Mary’s Seminary Chapel, Mother Seton Hall, Battle of North Point Sculpture, Patterson Park, Asian Pagoda Observatory, Peale Museum, The Causeway, Lafayette Monument, Phoenix Shot Tower, Washington Monument, Mount Clare Train Station, President Street Train Station, Quaker Meeting House, Edgar Allan Poe House, Washington Medical College, Westminster Burial Grounds, Enoch Pratt Free Public Library, St. Vincent de Paul Church, Max’s Taphouse, Garrett Jacobs Mansion, Orianda Mansion, Crimea Estates, Cylburn Arboretum, John Wilkes Booth Grave, Green Mount Cemetery, George Peabody Library, Davidge Hall, Rawlings Conservatory, Druid Hill Park, Babe Ruth Birthplace, George Ruth’s Taverns, St. Mary’s Industrial School, Admiral Fell Inn, Public Bath House #2, Belvedere Hotel, The Block, Emerson Bromo Seltzer Tower, Gayety Theatre, Sagamore Pendry Hotel, Haunted Lord Baltimore Hotel, St. Mary’s Ecumenical Institute of Theology, Two O’Clock Club, American Visionary Art Museum, Memorial Stadium and Graffiti Alley, Political and Historical Figures Babe Ruth, Francis Scott Key, French General Lafayette, General Benjamin Butler, Bishop John Carroll, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Charles Carroll, Major General George Armistead, Mother Elizabeth Seton, Big Ann Wilson, Frederick Douglass, John Wilkes Booth, Elijah Bond, Wallis Simpson Duchess of Windsor, Al Capone, American Spy Virginia Hall, Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall and Roger Taney. Literary, Visual and Performance Artists and Venues Edgar Allan Poe, Rembrandt Peale, Billie Holiday, Lyric Theatre Boycott of Conductor Karl Muck, H. L. Mencken, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Upton Sinclair, Blaze Starr, Tom Clancy, John Waters and Michael Phelps, Murders and Massacres: Emily Brown Burking Killing, Bromo Seltzer Bottle Poisoning, Spiritualist Emma Kefalos Murder, City Councilman Leone Shooting, Westview Mall Shooting, Leakin Park Dead Body Dumping, Hae Min Lee Killing, Joseph Palczynski Hostage Standoff, Black Widow Spider Murders and Freddie Gray’s Death.