The Summit Snake

AI Image using ChatGPT

This strange story comes to us courtesy of one of my favorite Fortean Historians, Historian of the Strange. Back in July of 1914, Mr. and Mrs. A.W. Brooks of Summit (Wood County), WV were sitting on their porch. They had settled in to enjoy the evening air, when they heard a rustle in the nearby brush. Suddenly, a yellow hoop came shooting out of the brush and began rolling down the hill. Faster and faster it rolled, until it built up enough speed to straighten itself out and FLY through the air. It flew across the valley and landed in a tree about 400 feet away.

This strange creature was dark yellow. It was five inches across at the head, tapering to 1/2 an inch at the tail. Its length measured 30 inches. Instead of wings, it used its tail as a propeller. When questioned by skeptics, the Brooks swore that what they saw was NOT a bird carrying a snake. Others theorized that the creature may have been a dragon. Some rationalized it as a type of lizard with gliding abilities. The Brooks, however, were adamant that they had seen a flying snake and nothing more. 

Ophidiophobia is the official term for fear of snakes, and it's not an uncommon phobia for many. Luckily, that's not something I personally suffer from, but I will say that I'd absolutely be more than a little unnerved to see a yellow hoop roll down the hill, then spread its serpentine body and fly across the valley. The Brooks seemed rather unfazed by the whole incident, and it doesn't seem like the rest of the town cared much, either. As far as I can tell, this incident didn't make it into the local papers. The clipping below, provided by Historian of the Strange, comes from the Tampa Tribune in Florida! 

I can only imagine why a Florida newspaper would be interested in a weird, but not too weird story from a tiny town in West Virginia. It wouldn't have anything to do with the idea that it wasn't likely to be fact-checked would it?  Stay spooky, ya'll---and keep your eyes to the skies in search of flying snakes!

The Tampa Tribune
12 July 1914
Source: Historian of the Strange FB

Happy Independence Day from the Haunted Lake Shawnee

Lake Shawnee Amusement Park
Photo by Theresa

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY FROM THERESA'S HAUNTED HISTORY!

Although it is known today as one of the most infamous haunted places in the country, at one point, the former Lake Shawnee Amusement Park was the hottest vacation spot in southern West Virginia. Between 1926 and 1966, visitors came from all over southern West Virginia and parts of Virginia to experience dancing, swimming, amusement rides, and plenty of lake activities. The Fourth of July holiday was a HUGE deal at Lake Shawnee, often featuring 24+ hour celebrations. 

I thought I'd do something a little different with today's blog and share some of the newspaper advertisements from the park's heyday, along with a few other anecdotes found in the local papers! Please enjoy this sneak peek back in time. 

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
3 July 1928

In 1928, the town of Princeton decided to hold its annual Independence Day celebration on-site at Lake Shawnee, where FREE admission was being offered to all. The swimming pool was cleaned and chlorinated, ready for the influx in visitors, and the local Boy Scouts were put on parking duty. Baseball games, horse riding, drag races, and airplane rides were all part of the festivities. 

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
3 July 1931

This first advertisement is from 1931. For $2, one could dance from 10pm to 5am. Even by today's standards, that's pretty wild. Those are rave hours. And I'm not even going to speculate on the park hours listed for the actual Fourth of July. But, in addition to swimming, boating, and dancing, you could also watch the fireworks, enjoy a motorcycle race, and take a scenic airplane ride (Lake Shawnee actually operated a small airstrip on property at the time).

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
3 July 1935

The ad above from the 1935 celebration was followed up on July 5th with a blurb about how the festivities actually went. It unfortunately rained throughout most of the day on the 4th, and when there was no sign of it slowing by 4pm, most of the visitors decided to leave. However, one guy must have been fired up about the disappointing weather, and was arrested for assaulting Lake Shawnee owner, C.T. Snidow. T.A. Mills of nearby Lashmeet was arrested by the state police but was out on bail by 7pm that evening. 

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
5 July 1935

The war years were a little less joyous when it came to Independence Day festivities, understandably. But, as the country entered the more prosperous (and arguably calmer) family-centric 1950s, Lake Shawnee continued its 24 hour Fourth of July celebrations. In 1952, one reveler REALLY got into the spirit. Willard Howard of Pocahontas, Virginia, was arrested for walking around the crowded lake, haphazardly tossing lighted firecrackers at people. Luckily, it doesn't appear that anyone was hurt. The state police just happened to be there during the incident and Howard was arrested. He was fined $10, plus $5.50 in court costs. 

The Raleigh Register
1 July 1951

Beckley-Post Herald
9 July 1952

And finally, one last Independence Day related news article needs attention. The 1966 season would be the last for Lake Shawnee, and during the week of the Fourth of July, tragedy marred that final holiday celebration. On July 3, 1966 12 year old John Talley drowned in the pool, just one day after his birthday. He was at the park celebrating with family, and when they couldn't find him at the end of the day, assumed he had left already. But, when they got home and he wasn't there, they became worried. They went back to the park that evening to look for him. Sadly, he was found at the bottom of the pool. John would become the final victim of the Lake Shawnee swimming pool, following a drowning incident in 1961 and a head injury in 1930. You can read about those incidents in my article Lake Shawnee Swimming Pool Deaths. 

Once again, I want to wish everyone a happy Fourth of July weekend! Please stay safe, whatever your plans may be, but be especially careful if you're going swimming, traveling, or setting off your own fireworks---I don't want to have to do a haunted holiday about YOU. 

The Charleston Daily Mail
04 July 1966

Ada's Apparitions: Railroad Ghosts in Mercer County

 

Ada, WV
Photo by JP Mueller: Source

Ada, WV is a small town located in Mercer County...but it's a small town with a BIG ghost story. Well, BIG might not be the right word, but it is an extremely weird tale of the supernatural. According to an article in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, this ghostly encounter happened some years before it was published in the August 22, 1937 edition. 

The exact date is not mentioned, but it was a crisp and clear night. Well after dark, Reverend G.W. Lucado was taking a stroll along the railroad tracks (now part of the Norfolk Southern Railway Christianburg District line) between the towns of Pembroke and Ripplemead. Along the way, Rev. Lucado ran into two men, one of whom he didn't know, and another by the name of Bal Thompson. 

Rev. Lucado struck up a conversation with the two men, and as he was speaking, the two men literally vanished right before his eyes. They didn't wander off into the darkness or disappear around the bend while walking ahead. They simply poofed out of existence right in front of the reverend. 

What's interesting is that at least one of these men wasn't your average spirit from beyond the grave. At the time of the encounter, Bal Thompson was alive and well and claimed that he had been nowhere near that area on the night in question and he certainly didn't stop to have a conversation with Rev. Lucado. 

In ghost lore, apparitions of the living are not uncommon. In many cases, however, the apparition of a living person is seen as bad luck, or even as a death omen. So, being the curious person I am, I wondered if Bal Thompson had come to an early demise shortly after his apparition was seen. The problem with this quest was a lack of information in the original article, lol. 

Doing a simple search for "Bal Thompson" in the newspaper archives, the WV State Vital Statistics website, and Find-a-Grave, I found some interesting stuff on at least two different men named Bal Thompson...the Bal being short for Ballard. I have no idea whether or not any of these men mentioned are the Bal Thompson of Rev. Lucado's story, but I thought I'd include them here, just in case. 

The first mention of a Bal Thompson I found was from a Bluefield Daily Telegraph article dated March 15, 1912. This article states that a B.P. (Bal) Thompson, a merchant policeman and former police chief, had shot and killed Edward Young near Charleston. Young was the superintendent of the Kanawha County Infirmary and it is said that Thompson, who had previously worked at the infirmary, had 'differences' with Young. To take a tragic tale even further, Thompson committed suicide and passed on April 30th. His Find-a-Grave entry has further information on his suicide. 

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
15 March 1912

There was another Bal Thompson mentioned in a 1921 article of the Hinton Daily News. This Thompson, a constable at Cedar Grove, was suspected of killing Edward Dawes, a watchman for the Paint Creek Collier Company. Obviously, this cannot be the same Bal Thompson who killed Edward Young, but we do have a bit of synchronicity happening here. Two men named 'Bal' Thompson, both members of law enforcement, unlawfully murdered men named Edward. There's also a Find-a-Grave entry for a Ballard P. Thompson, buried in Kanawha County, who died in August of 1921, a month after Dawes' death. Was this another case where a Bal Thompson took the life of another...and then his own?

Hinton Daily News
21 July 1921

There's also a Bal Thompson who was killed in a mine accident in Stotesbury in 1925. His death certificate is available on the WV Vital Statistics website.

So that's 2-3 Bal Thompsons making the news prior to the ghost story article being published. I honestly wasn't aware that Bal was such a popular name/nickname. But, even if it was popular, it doesn't seem to be a very LUCKY name, as at least two Bal Thompsons made the news for murder. Given this scenario, is it possible that Reverend Lucado ran into the living apparition of Bal Thompson, doomed to walk the tracks with his future victim? Is it even imaginable that the unidentified man was one of the murdered Edwards, 'haunting' his murderer even before the act even occurred? Stranger things have happened out on the railways of West Virginia and beyond...

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
22 August 1937

1973 UFO Flap Hits Kanawha County

West Virginia State Police Headquarters
South Charleston

Happy World UFO Day! As we celebrate flying saucers, UFOs, and little green men across the globe, let's take a second to shout out another story (or stories) from right here in the Mountain State!

 In October of 1973, UFOs dominated the skies over much of the eastern United States. West Virginia had its fair share of reports that month, with a large concentration of sightings in the southern part of the state, namely around Beckley surrounding areas. But, although less talked about, Kanawha County got it's fair share of weird reports, too. The West Virginia State Police detachment in South Charleston took calls on two separate incidents of a potential UFO CRASH! The reports came in from the Coal Mountain area of St. Albans and from the Alum Creek area. 

The St. Albans call came first, and the caller was reported as being a 'sober-sounding' male saying that he had seen a strange craft covered with lights and making weird noises descending from the heavens. Bob Gunnoe, state police dispatcher, rather dryly comments that it must have ascended just as quickly, because the only thing matching that description (lights and weird sounds, I guess) was a jukebox in the local beer joint.

The second call came in around 10pm on October 17th. This time, a lady caller from Alum Creek reported an oddly colored and illuminated object falling from the sky. When troopers arrived on scene, they didn't find any spacecraft---just a drunk guy who they arrested for public intoxication. Before the article cuts off and is continued on the next page (which is conveniently missing from the archive service I've used), one last dig at the UFO sightings is given. A story about a married Clendenin man experiencing a "flying saucer", along with a flying ash tray and cup at breakfast that morning was shared, because in 1973 domestic violence was hilarious. 

Anyway, I'm kinda bummed that the second part of the article is missing. I'll have to head out to the library to see if I can find the second page, and see whether or not it has additional information. St. Albans is no stranger to UFO sightings, and in fact, local UFO researcher, Ralph Jarrett, developed his interest in the phenomenon when he saw not one, but THREE separate UFOs over his St. Albans home between 1966 and 1967. I'd be interested to see if those sightings were cited, or if any mention was made about the weirdness over the skies of Beckley, which you can read about HERE and HERE and HERE.

Keep your eyes to the skies! 

The Charleston Daily Mail
18 October 1973

The Ghost of Canada's Gibraltar Point Lighthouse

Gibraltar Point Lighthouse (1955)
Source: City of Toronto Archives via TorontoJourney416

Happy Canada Day! In order to celebrate our neighbors to the north, I wanted to share a haunted and historic location from the Toronto area. Canada doesn't get nearly enough love here at Theresa's Haunted History, something that I hope will change as the blog continues to expand past the tri-state area. Anyway...

The Gibraltar Point Lighthouse sits on Toronto Island overlooking Toronto Harbour. It is Canada's second oldest surviving lighthouse, having been built back in 1808 when the city of Toronto was still known as York. It's first keeper, a Bavarian immigrant named John Paul Radelmuller dedicated his life to serving the safety of those coming into the harbor from Lake Ontario, and he might still be there over 200 years after his mysterious death. 

During the War of 1812, Radelmuller supplemented his lighthouse keeper salary with a little side hustle. He allegedly ran a bootleg drinking establishment in a little building next to the lighthouse. His best customers were British soldiers stationed at Fort York. Unfortunately, two of those soldiers would be implemented in Radelmuller's untimely demise. 

On January 14, 1815, after serving soldiers John Blueman and John Henry, Radelmuller disappeared. When he didn't show up the next day to tend to his lighthouse duties, people knew something was terribly wrong. In time, Blueman and Henry were taken in and charged with murder, having been the last to see Radelmuller. However, they were acquitted, mainly due to an overwhelming lack of evidence. 

It is theorized that on the fateful winter night, Blueman and Henry had drank more than enough to get drunk, yet when the booze ran out, they became angry. They chased Radelmuller, who ran up the stairs of the lighthouse, but stumbled and fell over the railing to his death. The two then hastily buried his body to avoid any inquest into the death. In another version of the story, Blueman and Henry actually beat Radelmuller to death before burying his body to hide the evidence.  No one can really decide on an accurate depiction of the tale, nor what really happened to Radelmuller's body. Some say he was never 'missing and given a proper burial near the lighthouse. In does stand to reason that however he got into the ground, he was buried on the property as years later, another keeper found a jawbone. 

Visitors to the Gilbraltar Point Lighthouse have heard a man whispering 'help.' They have heard unearthly moans coming down the stairs and unexplained banging noises near the top. But, most interesting to the story is that a man's apparition has been seen actually running up the stairs! 

Not only does Radelmuller seem to be re-enacting his death on the spiral staircase, but it also seems as if he's still hard at work, tending to his lighthouse keeper duties. Other witnesses have seen a shadowy figure working atop the platform, maintaining the old whale oil lantern, long since replaced by more modern technology. 

For more information on this story, check out this article from Ghost Walks or Denise Marie's article from Toronto Journeys 416! 

Historical Haunts of Blue Jay

 

Blue Jay Logging Company (c. 1910)
Source

In southeastern Raleigh County, the lumber and mining community known as Blue Jay was a thriving community. In 1903, a Mr. Billinger, accompanied by Frank Hayes, both of Pennsylvania, packed up and made the trek into West Virginia to establish the Blue Jay Lumber Company on land purchased from P.C. Lynch, C.L. Goodwin, and P.P. Griffin. 

Loaded down with the Billinger family, four drivers, 13 horse-drawn wagons, and enough household goods and supplies to set up the business and a small town, the trip took 13 days (wow, 13 coming up at least twice, lol...). By its peak in 1921, Blue Jay had 300 families and also operated a coal mine. Unfortunately, like with many logging and mining operations, accidents were rather common, and simply just a part of life. 

So obviously, the area is surely to have a haunted reputation! In the April 17, 1965, edition of the Beckley Post Herald, historian and columnist Shirley Donnelly writes about being taken on a drive through the former community of Blue Jay. Bill Harris, who was born in Blue Jay, was eager to point out some of the creepier legends. 

Lily Family of Blue Jay, WV
Source: WV History on View

In the first tale, Bill points out a location just past the newly built Baptist Church where for decades, travelers, especially young boys, were terrified to tread. On dark, moonless nights, those passing through would hear the phantom sounds associated with a logging operation. The clanking of heavy log chains was accompanied by the thud of rolling logs. These remnants of a time gone by were a ghostly echo of what was once a normal experience. 

Bill then took Shirley to a spot where long ago, a house once stood. According to legend, a young family lived in this home, but weren't there long before the baby mysteriously disappeared, and the couple packed up and left, not leaving a forwarding address. 

It wasn't long before those living in the area reported a horrifying phenomenon. The sounds of a baby crying were observed, but not just the typical cries you'd expect from an infant. It would start with a loud scream, almost like a child being tortured. A second scream would follow, but this one was almost like a scream of waning strength. Finally, a weakened, moaning cry was heard.   People put two and two together and the legend that a child was murdered and now haunted the area was born. 

Logging in the Blue Jay Area
Source: WV History on View

Sources and Further Reading:

Home Sweet Home: Blue Jay, West Virginia: Goldenseal Article Preview by Janetta Crawford

Coal Camp USA

Beckley Post-Herald
17 April 1965

A Premonition of Her Death

The Charleston Daily Mail
November 29, 1915

Saturday, November 27th, 1915 was a bad day for the Baisden family of Laurel City (Boone County), WV. Around 5:30pm, Mrs. Baisden got into a pretty brutal argument with her neighbor, Mrs. Chandler. The fight turned physical, and Mr. Charles Baisden, hearing the chaos, started to approach the women to break it up. Unfortunately, at the same time, Miss Frankie Chandler, daughter of Mrs. Chandler, came out at the same time with a pistol. She shot the approaching Mr. Baisden twice, hitting him in the arm and into his side, hitting his spinal column. 

Mr. Baisden turned to flee, but realized his wife was still in jeopardy. He turned to try to reach her just in time to see her being shot in the breast by Frankie. She died ten minutes later. Frankie was later indicted for the incident and claimed she was not sorry for what she had done, and that she would do it again. It really makes you wonder what details the newspaper articles are leaving out---what started this fight and why did it turn so deadly?

This tragic tale also has a supernatural twist. 

A week before the shooting, Mrs. Baisden traveled to Madison to pay taxes and visit friends. While there she shared that she had a premonition that something was going to happen to her. She even shared that she had a dream about her deceased little girl who warned her to "be good." 

Be good? Does that mean that this horrible tragedy could have been avoided if Mrs. Baisden had done something differently? Was it she who started the horrific fight that quickly turned deadly? Could all of this have been prevented if the warning of a little girl's spirit had been heeded? We may never know, but that warning has earned this story a place in West Virginia's paranormal lore. 

*This isn't the only WV story where a daughter has issued important information to her mother through a dream or visitation. Please see my article on the Greenbrier Ghost.*

The Grafton Monster

From the Grafton Monster Facebook Page

West Virginia is home to a number of strange and unusual incidents, and quite a few popular 'monsters' of pop culture today got their start here in the Mountain State! Joining Mothman, Veggie Man, and the Flatwoods Monster is a weird, white, headless horror from Taylor County known as the Grafton Monster. 

On June 16, 1964, Robert Cockrell was headed home along Riverside Drive in Grafton. For the most part, Riverside Drive is a straight stretch of road with the Tygart River on one side, and much of the other being either steep cliff or heavy underbrush. At around 11 p.m., Robert had just rounded the last curve and had hit the straightaway. Going about 50 mph with no other car in sight, he flipped on his high beams. The bright lights of his vehicle illuminated something that immediately grabbed his attention. Standing to the right of the road, in the narrow strip of land between the road and the riverbank, white a GIANT white mass.

Standing 7 to 9 feet tall and measuring about 4 feet wide at its widest point, this THING lacked a discernable head, but Robert knew immediately it was some type of living creature. It had seal-like skin, or some type of covering with a distinct sheen to it. Understandably, Robert floored it and raced towards his house. But, by the time he got there, he had calmed down and realized that as a reporter for the Grafton Sentinel, he really should go back and investigate.

Robert grabbed two buddies, Jerry Morse and Jim Mouser, and the three men headed back to the spot where the creature had been seen. Fortunately for them, the monster was nowhere to be found, and it didn't leave any tracks that would have aided in its identification or direction it took off in. What they did find, however, was that quite a bit of the vegetation in that area had been mashed down, like you'd expect to see if a giant creature had been stomping through. 

The three men looked for about an hour and never saw any proof of the monster. What is strange, though, is that intermittently, they would hear a strange whistling sound coming from the river that they just couldn't place. Robert made a decision to keep quiet about the whole incident, but it leaked out and by the next night, dozens of teens ascended on Riverside Drive, armed with such things as mallets and crowbars, to do some literal monster hunting. Robert claims that at least 20 people mentioned that they had seen something similar in the area, and it was even claimed that the creature was spotted in Morgantown and made its way south to Grafton implementing the river system. 

Two newspaper articles appeared in the Sentinel in the following days, but as opposed to being a serious account of Robert Cockrell's experience, these articles were more tongue-in-cheek, focusing on the teen monster hunting aspect, and theorizing that the monster was nothing more than either someone pushing boxes on a handcart, or a combination of boredom fueled by ANOTHER monster sighting from Michigan that was making newspaper headlines across the country. Known as the Dewey Lake Monster, there were a few definite similarities, but it doesn't seem plausible that Michigan's creature would come vacation in West Virginia for the season. Other explanations explored included an escaped polar bear or even someone hauling a refrigerator. 

By July, Robert had reached out to West Virginia's own colorful and controversial UFOlogist, Gray Barker. Barker interviewed Robert and even wrote an article chronicling the account. That article doesn't appear to have ever been published, but it, along with some letters back and forth between Barker and Cockrell, including newspaper clippings, are preserved in the Gray Barker archives, housed on the campus of the Harrison County Public Library in Clarksburg. 

Unlike the Mothman sightings that would hit Point Pleasant two years later and last over a year, nothing more was mentioned about the Headless Horror of Grafton, and the monster faded into obscurity for many years. Lucky for us, the tale was rediscovered and shared to the masses through an episode of Mountain Monster and of course, the creature's inclusion in the popular Fallout 76 video game. 

Today, the Grafton Monster has its own pop culture following and has taken up its rightful place in West Virginia folklore. There's even an annual Grafton Monster Festival held in Grafton, featuring speakers, vendors, and so much more. And, if you ever find yourself on Riverside Drive at night, make sure to turn on your high beams and scan the riverbank. You never know what you'll encounter! 

Articles from the Grafton Sentinel
Gray Barker Archives

Theresa's Note: I may transcribe the newspaper articles, the correspondence between Barker and Cockrell, and Barker's unpublished article at a later date. Instead of making a separate post, I'll probably just update this one, so if that's something you're interested in, please check back! You can also find these documents transcribed in Tony Breeden's Gray Barker's Book of Monsters Volume II. 

No Cottage #13 for Lake Shawnee!

Lake Shawnee (2024)

"Somehow they [hotel guests] feel that to occupy room 13 would be to invite fate to make them the principal ingredients in a murder mystery, with hotel towels used for strangulation purposes."--Conley T. Snidow

Happy Friday the 13th! Today is a day that I love to share strange superstitions and quirky coincidences regarding Friday the 13th, and the number 13 in general being feared and thought 'unlucky.' Today's post was especially fun to share because it directly ties to one of West Virginia's most famous haunted locations: Lake Shawnee Amusement Park in Mercer County! 

Lake Shawnee has been on my mind a LOT lately, as I prepare for the first ever Haunt Fest on June 21st. Haunt Fest is an amazing paranormal and vendor convention, hosted by Appalachian Ghost Tours. Dozens of vendors, speakers, workshops, ghost hunts, and much more await those brave enough to spend the day at the site of the former park. For those who are REALLY brave (or just really tired) overnight camping will be available for an additional fee (please register with Lake Shawnee beforehand). But, unfortunately, things will look a little different than they did nearly 100 years ago. You will have to bring your own tent, as opposed to staying in the state-of-the-art vacation cottages that were such a draw when the park was in its early years. 

Lake Shawnee, or Shawnee Lake as it was more popularly known, opened in the summer of 1926 under the ownership of Conley T. Snidow and his family. Both a lake and a swimming pool were the main attractions, with a few rides added in over the years. Nightly dances were a staple and many, many groups held meetings, picnics, and other events at the park. Visitors came from miles around, and many rented out a cabin or cottage on-site to make the most of their vacation. 

The Virginian Hotel
Princeton, WV

By 1936, the park boasted thirteen...yes, THIRTEEN cabins or cottages on the property. However, in the Bug Dust column of the Beckley Raleigh Register, Snidow makes it a point to ensure potential guests that they never had to stay in the 'unlucky' Cabin 13. You see, the Snidow family reserved two of the cabins for their own use, leaving only eleven rentable cabins. 

The column further goes on to explain that this was a conscious decision on Snidow's part, due largely to Snidow's experience as a hotel owner and dealing with superstitious guests. In addition to Lake Shawnee, Snidow also owned and operated the Virginian Hotel in downtown Princeton, WV. He quickly learned that guests did not want to stay in a Room 13. To quote the article: "Somehow they [hotel guests] feel that to occupy room 13 would be to invite fate to make them the principal ingredients in a murder mystery, with hotel towels used for strangulation purposes."

Ironically, 60 years later another cabin, Cabin #13 at Babcock State Park in Fayette County, WOULD become central to a murder mystery when a preacher from Nitro, WV, Michael Flippo, murdered his wife Cheryl and tried to blame a mysterious intruder. Today, many believe that cabin to be haunted. But...that story is for another Friday the 13th. There's also a blog post in the works further exploring some legitimate bad luck associated with the Virginian Hotel, and how one tragic event may have led to a popular ghost story connected to the park. 

If you'd like to learn more about the history and the hauntings of Lake Shawnee Amusement park, you can check out my Lake Shawnee page here on Theresa's Haunted History, which will be updated significantly this summer. You are also cordially invited to come join Appalachian Ghost Tours on June 21, 2025 for the first annual Haunt Fest!  Learn about the history and the hauntings and then join us at 8pm to midnight for a ghost hunt of the park to uncover its secrets for yourself! Please see the AGT Facebook Page or Haunt Fest Event Page for more information. 

The Raleigh Register
21 July 1936

Breaking News: Mothman Does NOT 'Love Lamp'

Ya'll. We've been lied to. All those cute lil' images of Mothman and his obsession with lamps, found in cartoons, memes, stickers, and even festival cosplay are unfounded. According to a newspaper article appearing in the Charleston Daily Mail on November 17, 1966, just a day after the Scarberry/Mallett sighting----Mothman HATED any sort of lights!  This rather, 'un-mothy' behavior, may not make sense at first, until you realize that witnesses and locals alike did not initially refer to the iconic creature as Mothman. They called it the Bird, or the Big Bird. It wasn't until a few days later that a newspaper reporter dubbed the being 'Mothman.'  Here's a transcript of the article:

NIGHT RIDER IN SKY AFRAID OF LIGHTS

People in Mason County are talking about a flying man who is afraid of lights.

He is a 6-foot creature with a wingspan of 10 feet and can scoot along at 100 miles per hour. 

Wednesday about midnight the gray and white replacement to mundane flying saucers startled two young couples driving north of Point. Pleasant on W.Va. 62, they said. 

Once they spotted it, they headed for town at 100 miles an hour and along came their weird airborne friend, breezing about 50 feet above them with the greatest of ease, they told police.

But once they neared the lighted confines of the town, the high horsepowered night rider in the sky veered around and took off toward the dark and less populous countryside---the two couples told police. 

Charleston Daily Mail
17 November 1966

Trooper Sees UFOs Over Ashland, Kentucky

Ashland, Kentucky

Throughout 1966 and 1967, flying saucers filled the skies over the tri-state area and beyond. In Point Pleasant, WV, residents were reporting UFOs, Men in Black, psychic experiences, and of course, our infamous Mothman. But a little over an hour away in Ashland, Kentucky, there were also strange reports of things in the skies. One example comes from late November of 1967 when a former pilot turned police trooper allegedly spotted several UFOs over the course of several hours.

Despite the potential for backlash, Patrolman Roger Gussler admitted to his co-workers that he had seen four to five flying saucers on or around the weekend of November 25. For over three hours,
Gussler watched the objects fly over Ashland at an elevation of 15,000 to 20,000 feet. They appeared as red blinking lights, but behaved in a manner not common to any known aircraft at the time. The lights were blinking much slower than a human aircraft. Also, the objects would zip through the skies at great speeds, then abruptly stop---an act which the human body could not handle. 

Gussler was not outright ridiculed by his colleagues. In fact, three other patrolmen agreed to a stakeout at a ranger tower nearby later in the week. Unfortunately, I couldn't find an update as to whether or not they actually saw anything themselves. This is an interesting story, however, because the main witness is not only a member of law enforcement but is also a former pilot. Both these positions would theoretically put him at a greater advantage of discerning the difference between a normal aircraft and one not of this world, and if he were caught lying or deemed 'crazy,' then the damage to his career and reputation would be irreparable. So, even as an unverifiable event, it has earned a spot in the archives of Fortean phenomena here at Theresa's Haunted History!

Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro KY)
28 November 1967

 

Harvey Fairman's Ghost Seeks Justice

One of my favorite themes in ghostlore is the idea of a spirit coming back to seek justice and/or revenge on the person who was responsible for their death. This is a trope that comes up time and time again, especially in some of West Virginia's older ghost stories, including this little gem from 1884. That year, the (Wheeling) Daily Register ran an article about a ghost sighting from Wayne County, WV that "silences the Wheeling [ghost] stories with its superior horrors." It is the tale of Harvey Fairman.

One summer evening, Alexander Moore was out hunting in an area near Bartrum Fork in the Big Lynn area of Wayne County (today, in the area of Genoa). Around dusk, he encountered a rather large, and rather strange goose-like creature, which was behaving oddly. He followed the goose, yet it disappeared into some bushes. Suddenly, Moore found himself face to face with a ghost...not a goose. 

He immediately recognized the ghost as Harvey Fairman, a farmer who had disappeared five years earlier. One winter night in 1879, he was out getting firewood but never returned home. Some thought he simply abandoned his family, while others claimed that the devoted husband and father would never do that. A search party was organized but was unsuccessful in locating Fairman. So, without any sort of evidence, it was largely concluded that he must have been murdered, and his body hidden. His family moved to another county and nothing more was ever said about ol' Harvey...until July of 1884.

Staring at this ghostly apparition, Moore was frozen in fear as Fairman gestured at his own neck. His throat had been slit ear to ear. Luckily, the paranormal doesn't follow our earthly laws of physics and despite such an injury, Fairman was able to speak to Moore. He told him that he had been murdered. For two days, his body had been hidden under his own granary but was later moved and hidden in a hollow tree nearby. Having given this statement, the ghost 'melted away,' leaving Moore to 'drag himself home.' 

Moore went before a Wayne County Justice of the Peace to give his version of events, and it was decided that an investigation should be opened to both look for the hollow tree presumably concealing Harvey's skeletal remains, as well as to inspect the granary for signs of a murder. 

Harvey failed to mention WHO killed him and WHY. And, unfortunately, the anticipated follow-up with a local correspondent either never came, was never published, or I simply haven't found it yet. In any event, it doesn't appear that Harvey Fairman ever truly received justice. Yet, no additional stories have surfaced of him reaching out from beyond the grave to anyone else unlucky enough to encounter a strange goose in the woods. 

The Daily Register
28 July 1884

St. Albans Lady in Black

 

Bridge over the Coal River
St. Albans, WV 1870

During the summer of 1871, the little river town recently renamed 'St. Albans,' located in what is now Kanawha County, WV was plagued by a ghost. This wasn't just any ghost; it was an infamous Lady in Black. An anonymous correspondent was quoted in a Wheeling Daily Intelligencer column from July 7th that a mysteriously lady in black had been spotted around town beginning in late June.

The first witness was a St. Albans resident named Mr. S-----. Mr. S----- was returning home late one evening from 'business' when he encountered the apparition. However, it didn't occur to him that she was anything other than a flesh and blood woman, except for maybe the fact that when he approached her, she disappeared into the bushes. 

He saw her several times over the next week, always between the hours of 11pm and midnight. He mentioned the weird behavior of this strange woman and shortly after a group of gentlemen out for a nightly stroll encountered her for themselves. One of the men was determined to discover who the mysterious woman was and began to go after her. However, the faster he went, she went, until both were at a run. He never did catch up with her. 

Others came forward and claimed that they, too, had seen the mysterious woman between 11pm and 12am, always on the same path. She was seen as if coming from the home of Colonel Cunningham and heading towards the old bridge. No one ever claimed to have known her true identity. 

Theresa's Note: Over the years, I've come across quite a few 'woman in black' tales from various towns across West Virginia and beyond. These tales all seem to have very similar elements; an unknown woman in black is seen very late at night by gentleman out doing, well, whatever. When she is approached, she speeds up and cannot be caught. These tales tend to be morality tales, or warnings to the men of town that they shouldn't be out and about so late at night. But I wonder if this ghostly woman was in fact, a real woman who perhaps was up to no good herself. It's odd that the correspondent made sure to note that she was seen coming from the area of Colonel Cunningham's residence (a Union soldier who had acquired much of Philip Thompson's land after the Civil War) but failed to give the full name of the main witness. Personally, I'd like to believe that the mysterious woman was simply a ghost, perhaps mourning the loss of a lover or son lost in the War, making her evening stroll down to the Coal River. If you're in the area, keep your eyes open. Even if you don't see the Woman in Black, chances are that in THAT area, you're bound to see something strange and unusual!

Guyandotte's Lady in Black

The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer
07 July 1871

Cicada Used in 'Armed' Robbery

"Hands up!"

A giant, eerie creature with wings and menacing red eyes. At any other time, such a description found here on Theresa's Haunted History would probably indicate a post about West Virginia's infamous Mothman. However, on this particular Weird Wednesday, we're talking about something quite different, yet arguably, just as strange.

On June 4, 1987 two men in their 20s were accused of robbing the Cincinnati, OH restaurant, Grand Slam. They walked into the establishment and approached Marquisa Kellogg, a 22-year-old cashier. Instead of a firearm, or even a knife...the 'deadly weapon' of choice brandished by the alleged robbers was a big, nasty cicada. Yes, a cicada. 

Despite being a harmless insect, Marquisa fled in terror at having this thing thrust at her, which left the cash register unattended for several minutes while she composed herself. Upon returning to her post, she found the men (and their bug) gone, along with $25 in cash. Unfortunately, there were no security cameras there at the time, and no one saw the men take the money. To my knowledge, they were never identified. 

That summer, the 17 year cicadas were out in full force across the Eastern United States, including in Ohio, where local police would even claim that the insects were to blame for an increase in traffic accidents. In a later article by David Sarasohn of the Flint Journal, a rather tongue-in-cheek discussion emerged as to whether or not brandishing a cicada could qualify as a deadly weapon under the law, and thus, up the charges to first degree armed (winged?) robbery. 

But, is this story too weird to be true? Unfortunately, yeah...but there is a basis in truth to the whole tale, as Marquisa told a local newspaper in 2021. Decades after her story went viral, Marquisa was interviewed about what really happened that summer at Grand Slam. According to her, she and a friend were sitting outside the restaurant. She decided to play a prank on him, and grabbed a handful of cicadas that had accumulated there in abundance, and put them on him. Of course, he screamed and flailed around a bit, while Marquisa laughed. She then went inside to wait on two male customers. She knew these guys from the neighborhood, and considered them friends. While she was with them at the register, her friend from outside took that moment to exact his revenge. He rushed up to Marquisa and tossed a handful of cicadas directly at her FACE. 

Understandably, she booked it out of the way...and out of sight of the open register. When she returned, she noticed that the bills in the till were no longer straight and organized. She counted down her drawer and found that $25 was missing. The two customers swore they didn't take the money, and Marquisa was forced to call the police and make a report of a robbery. A poorly written police report (Marquisa believes the cop sold the story to the media) was picked up and published in newspapers across the country. 

As West Virginia and surrounding areas are currently dealing with our own cycle of cicadas, I can only hope that no one reading this takes a certain inspiration from the events transpired in Cincinnati back in 1987. These poor little creepy crawlies don't have much time here above the soil, so please don't implicate them into a life a crime, nor use them to terrorize your friends while they are at work. 

Stay weird, stay spooky, and watch out for those cicadas. And a big shout-out to the Facebook page, Historian of the Strange, where I first learned about this extremely interesting and bizarre story! 

The Bay City Times (Michigan)
06 June 1987

The Flint Journal (Michigan)
07 August 1987

The Times Recorder (Ohio)
16 June 2021

Stay Out of the Ohio River!

My AI attempt at illustrating
Naomi Johnson's attack in the Ohio River

I would NEVER advise anyone to go swimming in the Ohio River, especially around the Huntington, WV area. However, there was a time when the Ohio River flowing near Evansville, Indiana, was not only relatively clean, but it was fairly shallow at a maximum depth of 15 feet, and reasonably slow moving, at less than 1mph. Therefore, when temperatures became unbearably hot one summer day, two friends in the Dogtown area near Evansville decided the Ohio River would be the perfect place to cool off with a swim. 

It was Sunday, August 14, 1955. Naomi Johnson (35-year-old wife of Darwin Johnson) along with her three children and her friend Louise Lamble (wife of Chris Lamble) went down to the river for a swim. While the children played on the shore, Naomi swam out about 15 feet. Suddenly, she felt an enormous furry, clawed hand grab her left leg from beneath the water! It managed to pull her under, but she squirmed free. She resurfaced and managed to scream before the creature grabbed her again and pulled her under. Meanwhile, Louise was about 4 feet away and although she couldn't see what had a hold of Naomi, was desperately trying to get to her friend. Naomi managed once again to resurface and grab a rubber innertube that Louise had brought along. As she struggled to pull herself up onto the innertube, it made a loud, rubbery thump, which apparently scared the creature away long enough for the women to get safely to shore. 

Naomi's leg was covered in scratches and bruises for which she sought medical treatment. And although I couldn't find it in any of the news articles at the time, there was apparently a strange greenish-bluish handprint-shaped stain on her leg, which couldn't be washed off. My guess would be that if this 'fact' was known at the time the articles were written, it was probably just explained away as being a bruise and not some supernatural proof of contact with a strange being. 

Evansville Press
15 August 1955

Although it was a frightening and probably traumatic experience (Naomi even swore off ever swimming in the Ohio River again and vehemently warned neighbors that they, too, should avoid swimming there) one would think that the story really wasn't all that important to the annals of Fortean history. After all, no one actually SAW the furry claw that had a death grip on Naomi's leg. Was it actually some sort of monster...or could it have simply been a misidentification? One theory is that it could have been some plant material or other debris that Naomi got caught in. The sequel to the Creature from the Black Lagoon, called Revenge of the Creature, had just been released to theaters across the USA a few months before. And, having a 13-year-old son, Naomi was probably pretty familiar with popular movie monsters. It's possible that in that scary moment of almost drowning, those movies came to mind, and she mistook a piece of debris wrapped around her leg as being a hairy claw. 

But the story doesn't actually end there. In fact, it goes off into several directions and had me hopping down different rabbit holes, which cannot possibly be done justice in this one blog post. Nevertheless, I'll try to summarize a few of the directions in which this story took me, and as always, provide you with links and sources for more information. Anyway....

One week later, another strange incident would occur. On Sunday, August 21, 1955, a family in Kentucky were victims to a siege of "little green men," which would come to be known in the ufology field as the Kelly-Hopkinsville Little Green Men incident. The little creatures, believed to have ascended from a UFO spotted in the area, terrorized the family's property for hours. Their description, especially that of their long, webbed fingers with sharped claws, immediately resonated with Naomi when she read the story in her local paper. In a later news article, Naomi reiterates that the arms of the creature must have been long to have grabbed her the way they did (a description shared by the Hopkinsville creatures) and also was twice as strong as a human. 

Not only is she certain that the hand that grabbed her was the same as the hands on these little creatures, but hearing also that they were associated with a UFO landing nearby sparked a memory for her. Apparently, right before entering the river a week before, she and the rest of their swimming party had seen their own UFO! They had seen a shiny object in the sky, "about as big as the bottom of a bushel basket." Mrs. Lamble also saw the object, which they jokingly said at the time must have been a flying saucer, but her description was slightly different. She described a "long, slender looking light about the size of a wash pan or dishpan," but couldn't be more descriptive than that. 

Source

Within a week, two very strange incidents occurred, each involving a flying saucer and potentially a creature or creatures with long, furry, claw-like hands. And honestly, the distance between Evansville and Hopkinsville is not long, especially for a flying saucer! Presumably, such a craft would make the 83-mile journey well before the estimated hour and 15 minutes by modern car. Because of their proximity and shared details, these two events, whether related or not, are now closely tied together. But the rabbit holes don't stop with just that connection!

On Monday, August 22, an unknown woman drowned in the Ohio River at Evansville. She was described as an attractive brunette, about 20-30 years old. That evening, she had gone swimming in the river with two men she had met at a local tavern. The two men, who were questioned by police, said they tried to save the woman when it became apparent she was in trouble, but were unable to get to her in time. It wouldn't be until two days later that her body was recovered. 

I can only imagine how Naomi felt when she saw that another woman lost her life in almost the same place and same way that she narrowly avoided just a week before. But what happened? It is important to note that there is always an inherent danger when swimming, which increases exponentially in a body of water such as the Ohio River and also when you're swimming at NIGHT. Did she, too, get tangled up in some debris underwater? Were the men she was with not telling the truth about what happened that night? Or was she victim to an otherworldly creature lurking beneath the depths of the water? Again, drownings in the Ohio River were not uncommon. I actually found several articles about people drowning in the Ohio in or around Evansville, but it is kinda strange that this particular incident happened just a week after Naomi's experience, and a day after the Hopkinsville incident. 

Kelly-Hopkinsville Goblin/Little Green Men
Sketch by Bud Ledwith 
Source: UFO Evidence

These events all happened within a week during the summer of 1955. However, it wouldn't be the first time that a strange creature from the Ohio River between Kentucky and Indiana would cause problems. In July of 1903, a man named Frank Sedler was camping along the bank of the Ohio River on the Kentucky side, just across from Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Around midnight, he heard a terrible scream coming from one of his kids in a separate tent. As he rushed to see what was wrong, he saw his one-year-old child in the clutches of a half-man/half-beast. The creature took off with the child, but when Sedler yelled, it dropped it at the river's edge, before jumping into the river itself. Sedler theorized that the creature was a baboon that had escaped from a boat show. 

Lawrenceburg and Evansville are admittedly quite a way away from each other, but what is fascinating is that in both the Hopkinsville case and Sedler's experience, MONKEYS were theorized to be the culprit as opposed to a monster, terrestrial or from outer space. And, since Naomi is so sure that what she experienced was the same thing as what was going on in Hopkinsville, her experience can theoretically be linked to monkeys as well. But why monkeys? 

I honestly can't answer that. If we can rule out escaped monkeys from circuses, private collectors, and zoos, where does that leave us? I saw an interesting idea brought up that perhaps the Hopkinsville "little green men," who weren't actually green, by the way, may HAVE come from that landed/crashed UFO seen by witnesses. In the 1950's, the United States was using monkeys as test subjects in its space program. What if all these flying saucers reported throughout the decade were experimental terrestrial aircraft containing monkey test subjects? Maybe these creatures were from another planet or even plane of existence and just resemble our earth primates. Again, I have no idea. What I do know, however, is that I will absolutely not be going swimming anywhere NEAR the Ohio River any time soon!

Sources and Further Reading:

Green Clawed Beast of the Ohio River

An Evansville Legend: The Attack of the Green Clawed Monster at Dogtown

The Courier-Journal 
24 July 1903

The Paducah Sun
16 August 1955

Evansville Press
15 August 1955

Evansville Press
23 August 1955
Pt. 1/2

Evansville Press
23 August 1955
Pt. 2/2

The Republic
26 August 1955