The Feathered Monster of Lincoln County

"Don't shoot me, bro."
The stare of the Shoebill Stork

Between February and October of 1896, newspapers around the country (except any in West Virginia that I have access to) ran an interesting story of a large, unknown "feathered monster." These cookie-cutter articles claim that Elias Midkiff of Hamlin had visited Charleston in hopes of convincing the State Historical and Antiquarian Society that if they'd send a taxidermist to Lincoln County, he'd ensure they'd be adding a bird specimen that no one had ever seen before...at least not here in West Virginia!

The bird in question was shot by a Mr. W.W. Adkins while out on a deer-hunting trip, just south of Hamlin in the Ranger area, near Vannater's Creek. According to Adkins' story, the bird had been circling in the sky before alighting on the water, where he was able to get a good shot at it. He got it in the wing, hoping to take it alive, but as it was overly aggressive, he had to finish the job. It took five bullets to finally bring the monster bird down. 

Adkins and Midkiff measured the bird, which was 7 feet, 4 inches from tip to tip (I'm guessing wingspan), and 4 feet from the tip of its bill to the tip of its tail. Its bill was flat, like a duck's and measured 4 inches long and 3 inches wide. It had webbed feet located at the end of its 11-inch legs. The coloring was dark brown, with light blue highlights along the wings and breast.

Adult Shoebill

I couldn't find any follow-up as to whether the creature was ever taxidermized, and if so, where it ended up. There's really not a good date as to when this actually happened, as the story leaves that detail out and the story literally ran in different newspapers over the span of at least 8 months. The newspaper article below is from February 1896, but the same article ran as late as October of that same year. 

Out of curiosity, I searched the physical description given of the bird, and Google's best guess is that it might be a juvenile shoebill stork. While adults are usually a lighter gray color (possibly mistaken for light blue?), the juveniles are brown in color. These would be birds that have a HUGE duck-like bill, long legs, and webbed feet. I can't vouch for how aggressive they are, but if you look at pictures of these things, they just LOOK like they'd mess you up, especially after you SHOT them. The problem is, the shoebill stork is absolutely not native to West Virginia, or even the United States. Could a bird all the way from a limited geographical region in Africa make it to a little West Virginia town, or was this really some mysterious, unknown cryptid? Or...was the whole story simply a tale taller than the bird itself? 

As we enter the final stretch to the annual Mothman Festival and are just a couple months out from the first wave of the 1966-67 Pt. Pleasant sightings, I love sharing additional stories of large, unknown bird-like creatures terrorizing the skies over the Mountain State. West Virginia has no shortage of strange creatures, on land, in water, or in the air. 

The Bay City Times (Michigan)
4 February 1896

The Phillips House: A Hinton Historic Home

Phillips Residence (Hinton, WV)
Currently REACHH Child Advocacy Center
Photo from Google Maps

A white frame home sits at 411 Temple Street in Hinton, WV. Built around 1910-1911, the former residence houses REACHH, a charitable organization aimed at community outreach and youth services. It serves as the Child Advocacy Center, with a playroom for Birth-Age 5 programs, counseling services, intervention services, abuse awareness, and a host of other services for the area's youth. But, it once was just a normal family home in Hinton. 

The home was (most-likely) built by the Phillips Family. George Phillips, like so many other Hinton residents, worked as an engineer for the C&O Railroad. George Hayward Phillips was born on March 16, 1860 in Fayetteville to Mary Elizabeth and James Phillips. He settled in Hinton in the early 1890's, where he married Amanda Lowry Bailey, a widow with a young daughter of her own. They were married on October 23, 1893.

Amanda Hallie Lowry was born near Salt Sulphur Springs on February 14, 1864 to Samuel and Sarah Lowry. Her family arrived in Hinton in the early 1880s, where she married her first husband, James Henry Bailey, who passed away in 1890. Together, they had a daughter named Clara.

It doesn't appear that Amanda and George had any additional children. George continued to work as an engineer for C&O, and to pass the time, Amanda operated a floral shop out of the home for many years. Each holiday season, the local newspaper was filled with ads for the women of Hinton to come to Mrs. Philllips' home at 411 Temple Street to purchase their Easter lilies, Christmas wreaths, and any other decorative and/or exotic plants they could want for their homes. 

Death would come for Amanda Phillips on Halloween morning at 8 am, 1942. She had been ill for over two years and had recently taken a turn for the worse, but the doctors thought she was improving. Unfortunately, they were wrong. Amanda passed away in her Temple Street home from complications due to diabetes. Within a few months, the home was listed in the newspaper for sale, and George went to live with the Hedricks family on Tunnel Hill.

Photo from REACHH Child Advocacy Center FaceBook

George's own health had been in decline since his retirement in 1938. He would pass away at the Hedrick home on May 16, 1946 from pneumonia. Both George and Amanda were buried in Hinton's Greenbrier Burial Park. Despite the couple being well-known and respected citizens, involved in many civic and church activities (he was a Mason, she was an Eastern Star, for example), George had very little family left upon his death. He was survived by a sister, and his step-daughter, Clara, and her husband Allen Hill. 

Over the years, several additional families called the old house home, both the main living area and the attached above-garage apartment. In 1956, there was a near-fatal fire at this apartment that almost took the lives of a father and two small children. While Mrs. Morgan was at her nursing job at the local hospital, her husband, Homer and their two children (Cecil, 3 and Susie, 18 months) napped. Cecil woke his father up to tell him that the apartment was filled with smoke. Homer was able to safely exit the blaze with his two children, singing his hair and eyebrows in the process. 1956 was not a great year for the Morgan family, as that year Mrs. Morgan's sister, Jennie Lester passed away. Her body was brought to the home on 411 Temple for the funeral. 

In 1951, there was another near-fatal accident in the home. E.D. Fredeking, a C&O fireman, took a nasty fall down the stairs before bedtime, around 10:30pm. He tumbled down 15 steps and was bruised severely. He was also bleeding profusely from several cuts on his head. The doctors believed he had fractured his skull, but luckily, the hospital checked him out and he suffered no broken bones. 

The REACHH House/Phillips House is one of the featured locations on Hinton's Haunt Fest 2025 Creepy Crawl! Come join Appalachian Ghost Tours for a rare chance to investigate the potential paranormal activity! Can we capture on audio the residual "thump, thump, thump" and the unfortunate Mr. Fredeking takes a nasty tumble down the stairs? Does the aroma of violets and roses still permeate the air as a testament to the love and devotion by Mrs. Phillips to her craft? Or, do the spirits of those who lived and died in the home still walk its halls?

There have been recent reports of visitors having personal communications come through the spirit box from what appears to be an intelligent haunting connected with the home. From hearing one's name called to having confirmation that yes, the spirit DID know the person 'since they were a little girl' definitely indicates that the property is still home to at least one former resident. 

To find out for yourself, come see me on Saturday, September 13th at 411 Temple Street! From 7pm to 12am, the building will be open for paranormal investigation and exploration. Bring your own equipment, or borrow ours---we'll guide you through the building and ghost hunting process. The cost is only $25, which includes full access to all speakers and workshops during the day. You may stay in one location the entire evening, or you can Creepy Crawl to a total of five locations throughout town, including the Poe Haus, the Campbell-Flanagan-Murrell Museum, the Summers County Library, and the old Wilson Warehouse. More information on Hinton Haunt Fest can be found at our Facebook Event Page, or on the flyer below!

The Independent Herald (Hinton, WV)
4 November 1942

Beckley Post Herald
17 May 1946

The Haunted Halloran Home (Hinton's Poe Haus)

Poe Haus (formerly the Halloran Home)
Hinton, WV
Photo by Rachel Weaver

On the corner of Summers Street and Fourth Avenue in Hinton sits a beautiful and well-loved Queen Ann Victorian home. Now known as the Poe Haus, this magnificent piece of history and architecture dates back to 1896 when it became the family home of Dan Halloran, his wife Emma, and their seven (I think!) children. 

Dan was born in Washington, D.C. on July 4th, 1864, to parents John and Ellen, who hailed from Ireland. At the age of sixteen, he moved to Montgomery, WV where he got a job with the C&O Railroad as a car repairman. He was promoted to fireman in 1886, and then to engineer in 1887. The following year, he married Emma Humphreys, and within a few more years, the couple moved to Hinton and built their home.

Emma, who was born on March 23, 1872, near Montgomery to Thomas and Melissa Humphreys, raised seven children at the Summers Street home. Known for her skill at baking, the Halloran home was a popular party spot and after-school hangout for the local kids and teens. Mrs. Halloran made sure no one went away hungry; donuts, walnut fudge, cakes, candies, and other pastries were always in abundance. So was popular music. The Halloran family was a musically inclined one, with several of the children becoming proficient at the piano and son, Earl, taking up the banjo and the sax. Those who weren't playing an instrument sang and hummed along to favorite tunes of the day. 

But, the children would grow up and the parties would wind down. Two of the sons, Linville and R. Overt, went to medical school and became well-known physicians. Daughter Vera, married Dr. R.G. Broaddus. Earl, the banjo/saxophone playing son, was incredibly mechanically inclined. He enjoyed ham radio and aviation. In a controversial move, he piloted a plane 'rented' by coal operators during the mine wars to spy on miners' activities. On a return trip to Hinton from Logan in 1921, the plane crashed, and Earl narrowly escaped with his life. After settling in the Hinton area, he opened up an Oldsmobile dealership and garage with a partner, and later operated the Victory Bus Lines in town. 

Throughout it all, Dan Halloran continued to work as an engineer for the C&O Railroad, as did many men who lived in Hinton at the time. That almost all ended in 1909 when Mr. Halloran was involved in a major accident. A train derailment left him pinned under the fire box of the engine. When he was pulled out, he was unconscious with no pulse and had been vomiting blood. He had severe head and internal injuries and was burned severely on the back. It was assumed he would not make it when he was brought to the local hospital. However, miraculously, Halloran slowly recovered. He was able to go back to work and remained with the C&O until his retirement in 1933.

Dan Halloran's Tombstone
Greenbrier Cemetery
Photo by Find-a-Grave user (D. Mack)

Death would eventually find Mr. Halloran. After suffering from paralysis for several months, he passed away on July 16, 1942, at Raleigh General Hospital. He died around 3 am, with the official cause of death being pneumonia, a complication from the paralysis. He was buried in Greenbrier Cemetery in Hinton. 

After living in the home on Summers Street for 40 years, Emma moved to another beautiful home in the Bellepoint area. It is there that she died on November 23, 1960 at the age of 88. She was buried alongside her husband in Greenbrier Cemetery. 

Beginning in 1935, the Dillon Family became associated with the old Halloran home. In 1951, they were mentioned in the local paper for completed EXTENSIVE apartment renovations on the house. In fact, since 1931, rooms were being offered for rent at the 401 Summers Street address. A few of the names who were mentioned as living at this address over the years are as follows: 1935--S.B. Coleman and family (who welcomed a baby daughter), 1945--Mary Carden, 1945---Edna Hall (husband still on deployment at the time), 1947--Robert Sims (who also welcomed a daughter born in the house), 1947---Claude Scott, 1950---Mrs. Minnie Farr, who had taken in a Korean refugee (16 year old Insoo "Skippy" Kwak) after her son and the boy's guardian, Guss Farr, was killed in action, 1954---Sadie Steele, 1959---W.A. Womack, 1960---Dewey Ranson who complained of chest pains before heading to bed and died of a massive heart attack on arrival at the hospital, and 1973---Katherine Redden who started the Restlawn Cemetery with her husband and was a member of multiple civic organizations such as the Eastern Star, the Silver Leaf, and the White Shrine. 

In the early 2000s, ownership was under Larry and Sue Carmichael. However, in September of 2010, Mike and Alisha Segars opened up the Chestnut Revival. The coffee shop/tea room would have made Emma Halloran proud, as fresh-baked goodies were available each day, along with an extensive tea menu. Guests could enjoy the fare in a beautifully renovated sitting space and on occasion, experience live music and other events.  Services were expanded to renovate the upper areas of the building into a B&B space. 

Today, the Halloran house has resorted once again to a private family home and is being lovingly cared for, inside and out by Les Haas and family. Bursting with unique pieces of art, Victorian furnishings, plants, family, friends, and some adorable kitties, the home is the perfect combination of historical living space and museum. And, with many of Hinton's historic homes, the newly minted 'Poe Haus' may have a few ghosts lingering about.

In preparation for the upcoming Hinton Haunt Fest Creepy Crawl on September 13, 2025 (Facebook Event Page Link HERE), members of Appalachian Ghost Tours were graciously invited to explore the home in search of paranormal activity. We were not disappointed! Outside the home, shadow figures had been seen, lurking around the surrounding streets, that were once part of a bustling railroad town. Inside, phantom scents came and went, shadows moved under doorways, and some pretty strange stuff came across the spirit box. At one point, a member even got locked in the restroom! Some of our more intuitive members also picked up on several different entities that call the Poe Haus home, including Emma, who is the lady of the house, and possibly Dan. What was interesting is that several of us picked up on Mr. Flanagan, who lived at the other end of the block in what is now the Campbell-Flanagan-Murrell House Museum! Through cursory newspaper archive research, there is definitely a family connection between the two families, and the two men did work on the C&O together. Mr. Flanagan has not once attempted to speak or make his presence known to me over the multiple times I've investigated the CFM House Museum, so it was exceptionally weird that I tended to pick up on him down the street. 

As the new owners have not lived in the house long, and our investigation wasn't a full one, there are still many more mysteries to uncover and (hopefully!) many more spooky experiences to share at the Poe Haus! And, on September 13th, you'll have your own opportunity! As part of Hinton Haunt Fest, AGT will be hosting a city-wide paranormal investigation at FIVE different locations. Between 8pm and midnight, you may stop at our locations, listed below, and join us in an investigation. Pick one favorite to stay at the entire time, or "crawl" to each location when you're ready. The cost is $25, which also gets you access to all speakers and workshops being held throughout the day. 

CREEPY CRAWL DESTINATIONS:

1. Campbell-Flanagan-Murrell House Museum (422 Summers Street)

2. The Poe Haus (401 Summers Street)

3. Summers County Library (201 Temple Street)

4. The Reachh House (411 Temple Street)

5. Historic Wilson Warehouse (501 Commercial Street)

Forest Dale Cemetery's Not-So-Ghostly Ghost

Entrance to Forest Dale Cemetery
Malden, Mass
Photo by Find-a-Grave user (LMJ)

The Forest Dale or Forestdale Cemetery in Malden, Massachusetts is picturesque tribute to the city's former residents. Laid out in 1884 by Boston surveyor, F.R. Page, the cemetery was formally dedicated on Memorial Day of 1885. For many years, the cemetery was also adjacent to property operated by the county alms house and 'Contagious Hospital'. It was one of the patients at this hospital that gave one passerby quite a fright back in 1915!

It was early in the morning when milk dealer, Isaac Cohen, passed by the cemetery on his route. What he saw, however, shocked him awake. Rushing through the cemetery at break-neck speed was a white figure. After rubbing his eyes and assuring himself that he wasn't just seeing things, Cohen made a hasty decision to follow the fleeing figure. 

As he caught up to the figure, he was probably pretty relieved to see that he hadn't been chasing a ghost at all. Rather, he had caught up with 14 year old Ivan Clark. Clark was a patient at the nearby Contagious Hospital and had escaped out a second-story window around 3 am when a nurse woke him up to give him some medicine. Cohen turned the kid over to authorities, and he was returned to the hospital to continue treatment for his diphtheria. 

Clark has to be commended for his extreme elusive action as he definitely didn't want to be confined any longer to the hospital, which is completely understandable. However, I think if I was Cohen, I'd have much rather had a run-in with a ghost than a living person with a presumed highly contagious and potentially fatal disease! 

The Sunday Telegram (Clarksburg, WV)
4 July 1915