Site 2: Paw Paw Tunnel East Entrance
According to an article in the Cumberland Times-News in 2013, early one morning in the 1890s, passengers on a boat exiting the east end of the tunnel were greeted by an unexpected sight; the charred remains of the lock house. The lock keeper’s remains were found in his bed, his skull crushed; he had been murdered for his rare coin collection and the house burned in an effort to cover it up. The murder was unsolved. This led the team to the tunnel entrance.

In addition to the Ovilus and Flex 2, another motion detector-based item was deployed: the paranormal music box. This item is as much atmosphere as instrument: a motion detector housed in a 6-inch long model coffin, on top of which is mounted a music box which plays a delightfully creepy tune when the motion detector is triggered. This was placed on the stairs leading to the top of the canal entrance. Once again, the investigating team began inviting spirits to communicate, asking specifically about the lock keeper’s murder, and more general questions about strife and violence among the laborers who built the canal. At first it appeared that once again, the spirits would choose to keep to themselves. Then, after close to an hour, the music box played briefly, indicating movement when none of us were near it. The team took the opportunity to ask questions.
“Did you work on the tunnel?” 
Brief music. A yes?

“Did you have family here?” 
More music. Another yes?

“Did you die here?” 
Silence.
Repeating the question “did you have family here?” 
More silence.

The music box was replaced by the Flux 2, to allow clearer yes or no answers. It detects motion independently on the left and right, lighting up green on one side and red on the other. However, there was no reply when the previous questions were repeated. 
The team decided to be silent for a few minutes, and soon the green light on the Flux 2 came on.
“Can you turn on the red light?” 
After waiting in silence for a minute or two, the red light came on.

“Can you touch the other side?” 
Both green and red lights came on.

“Can you stop touching?”
The red light turned off.
“Now the green.”
The green light turned off

The SLS Camera, which draws stick figures on a video display when it detects a figure, whether human or ghostly, began to display a figure.

At this point, the team decided to set up the Portal. Connected to a Spirit Box, which scans through radio stations to provide sounds for spirits to manipulate, the Portal enhances the Spirit Box output in an effort to make it more easily understood. Because it also makes a fair bit of noise, it isn’t generally the first piece of equipment deployed. 
“How many of you are there?”
Portal: “Four”

“What are your names?”
Indistinguishable noise, then what sounded like “Palmer”, an English or Scottish name. In addition to Irish immigrants, many canal workers, particularly in the early days of construction, were indentured workers from England and Wales.

“Do any of you have family who died here?”
“I do.”

“Were they murdered? Was their killer ever caught?”
An incoherent shout, as though angered by the question.

The team continued to ask questions, but received no answers. It was at this point that we discovered that the batteries on a number of devices, in spite of being fresh at the start of the investigation, were drained. Both of our photographers, three cell phones, and the Flux 2 all had dead or dying batteries. Two team members suddenly felt very cold. And as suddenly as it had begun, it ended. Even after batteries were replaced, there were no more responses on the team’s instruments. Having obtained evidence, but no real answers, the team decided it was time to move on to the evening’s final location.

Note:
While researching the murder at the tunnel for the purpose of this write-up, the reason why we never received any responses to our questions about the lock keeper’s murder became clear: it never actually happened. The 2013 news article was based almost entirely on the contents of a book by George Wolfe in his book “I Drove Mules on the C&O Canal”. But historians actually don’t give Wolfe’s story any credit. He was prone to exaggeration, and passing on hearsay as though he had witnessed it. His account is so vague that it defies verification. No newspapers of the time have been found that mention the murder, which would certainly have been big news. In some versions, the killer was caught when he tried to make purchases with the coins, in others it “remains unsolved to this day”. Wolfe’s story bears striking similarity in details to other variations on “someone was murdered at the tunnel” stories. One says the lock keeper and his wife were killed in 1924. The closest thing that has been found in reality is a newspaper article from 1930 about a fire that killed a man named Joseph Davis and his wife Ella at their home outside the town of Paw Paw, West Virginia, six years after the C&O Canal ceased operating. Davis had indeed at one time been a lock keeper on the canal, at lock 61, several miles north of the Paw Paw Tunnel. Davis did indeed have a coin collection, but it was found, largely melted. The cause of the fire was determined to be a lit pipe which Davis had been smoking in bed. Was the angry reply the team received when they asked about a murder the result of a spirit being sick of hearing people talk about a murder that didn’t actually happen? If spirits wish to be remembered, how frustrating must it be to have your own story ignored in favor of an urban legend?