In the fall of 1953, a group of men from the CIA held a retreat of sorts at Deep Creek Lake. Dubbed by the official CIA papers as the “Deep Creek Rendezvous,” this trip would turn out to be the central turning point in a major CIA scandal. Netflix recently released a 6-part documentary hybrid series, aptly named Wormwood, on CIA biochemist Frank Olson’s mysterious and untimely death following his visit to Deep Creek Lake.
The now infamous trip to Deep Creek Lake in 1953 started as any other trip to the lake would – with a reservation at a rental cabin. Even at that time, Jim Railey Sr. and the Railey family were the go-to vacation rental home company. The Railey cottages lined the shores of Deep Creek Lake near the old iron Rt. 219 bridge. In 1998, Frank Olson’s son Eric would make the trip to Deep Creek Lake from Frederick to hopefully find insight or closure. Even though 45 years had passed, when Eric tracked down Jim Railey Sr., he knew exactly who Frank Olson was. The cabin in question was no longer a vacation rental and had been completely remodeled, but Eric was still able to visit the place that had inadvertently been the starting point in a very tragic journey for his father. That home still stands today on what is now Glendaloch Lane!
If you’re unfamiliar with the Frank Olson case, or even if you’ve heard it all before, Wormwood is fantastically done. Director Errol Morris used dramatic reenactments, with stars like Peter Sarsgaard as Frank Olson, interviews from Eric Olson and others who have been involved, footage from government forums, and uncovered government documents to give the viewers perhaps the most complete version of possible events and evidence.
While it’s not under the best circumstances that Deep Creek Lake is associated with the Frank Olson case, it is pretty interesting that our small area turned out to be such a pivotal piece of the puzzle. We won’t give away any spoilers in case this is your first exposure to the Frank Olson scandal – but we will highly recommend watching the show! If you’re still thirsting for more information after watching Wormwood, you can pick up a copy of A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA’s Secret Cold War Experiments (which mentions the Railey cabins) or read Eric Olson’s account of meeting Jim Railey Sr. at Deep Creek Lake in 1998 here.
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