Heard isn't the only one who thinks there's a spirit about in Courtroom No. 600 and adjoining chambers on the sixth floor of the Mitchell Courthouse. Her law clerk, Natasha Todman, is convinced. So is Adam Sean Cohen, a lawyer and friend of the judge who said he was "neutral" on the existence of ghosts - until a few months ago, when he had a seemingly paranormal experience in her chambers.
"We were talking, and she mentioned to me that she had become convinced there was a spirit or some type of presence in the courtroom," Cohen said. "C'mon!" he thought to himself. "There's probably a logical explanation."
Next thing you know, the skeptic got the chills.
"My entire body felt like I was in a grocery store in the frozen foods section, when you open the door - you're warm, in a warm area, but there's this coldness around you. I stopped talking and said I had to leave. 'I gotta leave.' I literally turned my back to her and walked out. ... It was the most unnerving thing ever. Never in a million years would I turn my back on a judge and just walk out. You want to give them the most deference possible."
This judge, at least, was understanding.
"She said that I looked like I'd just seen a ghost," Cohen said. "But I guess for lack of a better term, I'd just felt a ghost."
(Taney never presided in that courtroom, having died decades before the courthouse was completed in 1900. But he lived across the street, in a now-demolished house on East Lexington, said U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James F. Schneider, who is the Mitchell Courthouse historian and who takes no position on ghosts.)
Taney wrote the pro-slavery Dred Scott decision. That gives the departed justice motive if not obvious means or opportunity.
"He might have a little bit of a problem with me presiding," said Heard, noting that her ancestors were slaves.
During a break in court proceedings one day, Heard said she was chatting about the history of the courtroom. Just as she pointed out Taney's name, "We heard this huge pop and a giant piece of glass sitting on the table in front of [her secretary] had broken into a million pieces."
Case closed.
Wasn't the timing kinda funny?
Spokesman Roger Young didn't think so.
"We would not consider it a laughing matter," he said. "Obviously it's a difficult time for our industry."
Harris' Democratic rival, Queen Anne's County State's Attorney Frank Kratovil, told The Times he was glad the Cockeysville anesthesiologist was thinking about buying in the area. "I am also glad that, while so many families are struggling to make ends meet and afford one mortgage, the Harrises are blessed with the opportunity have a second home."
And you thought the pols were too busy sniping at each other to notice the mortgage crisis.
Connect the dots
My column about Cynthia Sobotka, the Baltimore cop who tried, and failed, to weasel out of a speeding ticket, had one Wire fan wondering: Is she related to the Sobotkas down at the port? ... The Maryland League of Conservation Voters gave lawmakers chocolate CRUNCH bars with a message on the wrapper: "Help End the Job CRUNCH. Clean Energy Industries Create Jobs." ... The duck fat french fries mentioned in Friday's column elicited this from a reader: "[T]here is a still-new restaurant in Columbia called Victoria Gastro Pub that has 'poutine' on their menu. Poutine is a French-Canadian curiosity that folks in Baltimore would recognize as 'gravy fries, hon.'" Eight-dollar gravy fries, which come with duck confit, gruyere cheese and, of course, duck gravy. Adds my anonymous gourmand: "I think there is an ambulance parked in the rear to transport folks directly to the CCU at the hospital."
