Looking into Mike Kasnia's house in Norwood Avenue, the feeling of Sykesville's ghostly past awakens.

Peering through a small hallway beside his garage sits three cells that house a former jail. Inscriptions line the wall filled with ramblings, names and numbers that inmates etched to fill the time.

"It's quite a piece of history of town," said the former town councilman.

The Sykesville Ghost and Legends Walking Tour has added a date for one last spook this year — Friday the 13th.

The tour starts at 6 p.m., Nov. 13, at the Town House, 7547 Main St. Limited tickets are available. An 8 p.m. tour that same day has already sold out.

After having nearly all of this year's tours sell out, Ivy Wells, Sykesville's Main Street manager, noticed the calendar date after Halloween and added two times on that date. The tours have generated about $3,000, she said.

"After doing these tours, I never realized how many people are into ghost stories and ghost hunting," she said.

Tales of Bigfoot, a drummer boy, missing coffee and shredded hoses fill the night as tourists visit the Inn and Norwood, Baldwin's Station Restaurant and Pub and the Town House during the hour-long tour, Wells said.

Inside the Town House, tour leader Jeannie Nichols, a former councilwoman, asks everyone to be quiet in the dark to listen to the emptiness of the night.

"It's eerie how quiet this place can be," she said. Imagine hearing something, then, in the middle of the night, or even day like some town employees have, she said.

What did they hear? What did they say? Well, you'll have to go to find out if you dare.

A group of Howard County Police officers came on a recent tour, Wells said, and were so impressed by the stories, they're going to investigate using Electronic Voice Phenomena equipment to capture any sounds in the Town House.

Soon the town will know whether its municipal headquarters truly is haunted.

If you go

Sykesville Ghosts and Legends Tour

Friday, Nov. 13, 6 p.m.

$10 for adults, $8 for seniors 65 and older, $8 kids 12 and under. Not recommended for children younger than 5 years old.

For details, call 410-795-8959.

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