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Haunted Appalachia

Whitegate Cemetery: ‘Rest ye Weary Souls’

Oh, Death, Oh, Death Won’t you spare me over till another year Well what is this that I can’t see With ice cold hands takin’ hold of me Well I am death, none can excel I’ll open the door to heaven or hell --Traditional The West Virginia Penitentiary still stands solemn and ...

Painter, Burdette and Old Sparky

On March 26, 1951, Fred Painter and Harry Burdette, both convicted of murdering Edward C. O'Brien, were the first inmates to be put to death by electrocution at the West Virginia Penitentiary.The two had been convicted of kicking a soft drink salesman to death in a parking lot on the corner of ...

Screaming like a banshee: Some Irish folklore

I first heard the term "screaming like a banshee," when I was a young girl. I remember thinking that this must be a sound that no one wants to hear and, oh, how right I was. The word banshee comes from the Gaelic language and bears several definitions, mostly identifying with a female messenger ...

The cemeteries of Athens’ Lunatic Asylum

It was a beautiful sunny day in December as we started out on our journey for dark history, and we found it, boy.did we find it. The grandiose Athens Lunatic Asylum sits impressively on top of a small knoll overlooking the winding Hocking River. Below the mammoth and sprawling building sits ...

Spirits linger in stately hotel

In the late 1800s, money from the natural gas and oil industries flooded into Parkersburg and the town quickly became a spirited and growing city.The town was the western terminus of both the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike and the Northwestern Turnpike. In 1857 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ...

Nicholas County Death Bell

With midnight always in one's heart,And twilight in one's cell,We turn the crank, or tear the rope,Each in his separate Hell,And the silence is more awful farThan the sound of a brazen bell.Standing on a small hill in the center of historic downtown Summersville, sits a Neo Classical and Art ...

Lewisburg’s Angel of Death

Appalachia has a long and rich folklore tradition and as anyone who has ever sat around a campfire at night or held a flashlight under their chin knows, ghost stories are one of the most thrilling parts of oral tradition. The month of October finds our nights getting chillier, wind rustling ...

Flinderation Tunnel, Urban Legend or Truly Haunted?

As haunted places go, Flinderation Tunnel seems to have it all. You have a creepy atmosphere, close proximity to an old graveyard, and the gory story of a deadly train wreck. The location is famous among ghost hunters and thrill seekers who walk into the tunnel at night looking for paranormal ...

The Wild Man of Clay County

Some stories do not need embellishment, as the facts can be intriguing enough all by themselves. Such is the tale of the Wild Man of Clay County. It was 1908 and Henry Ford had just produced his Model T automobile in Michigan; President Taft was elected, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were ...

Wheeling’s theater became a Civil War prison

I had finally found the location where my fourth great-grandfather had been held prisoner as a 'Dangerous Spy' during the Civil War. I was a bit disappointed, as I had expected to find a gloomy and dilapidated building that would speak of its dark history and sordid past as a prison. I was ...