Haunts of High Street: Harpers Ferry

Photo courtesy of True Treats Facebook

Harpers Ferry is arguably one of the most haunted towns in West Virginia. It's also (in my opinion) one of the most beautiful and picturesque little towns in the Mountain State.  Walking down its narrow roadways, it's easy to imagine yourself walking those same streets over 150 years ago.  Not much has changed since Harpers Ferry experienced the 1859 armory raid by abolitionist, John Brown, or since it became a strategic location for both sides during the American Civil War.

But, a lot has changed since Harpers Ferry's earlier years! 

Robert Harper was the first white man to own land in what is now known as Harpers Ferry, having come to the area in the 1750's.  After George Washington visited the area in the late 1700's, he decided that the area would be the perfect place to construct a new federal armory, and the town grew from there.  However, it wasn't until 1852 that the town was finally incorporated and town officials were elected. After the Civil War devastated area factories, mills, and shut down the federal armory, the population of Harpers Ferry fell, and time seemed to come to a halt.

Today, the quiet little gem, located at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers, is the location of a National Historic Park, established in 1944.  As far as national parks go, Harpers Ferry is a tiny one, but I'm convinced that every square inch is packed with ghosts from the town's bloodied history.

High Street is the main thoroughfare through Harpers Ferry's historic district.  Many of the buildings located in this section of town pre-date the Civil War, having been built in the 1830's and 1840's to serve as housing for armory employees and to serve in various other capacities related to the armory. 

The 3-story red brick building located at 144 High Street was built around 1843 and houses the Village Shop, and also the most awesome candy store in the state:  True Treats Historic Candy. 

True Treats is owned and operated by Susan Benjamin who opened up the High Street shop in 2010.  The store features a variety of candies for sale, showcasing the history of candy from its earliest days through the early 1900's. The shop is part store, part museum, as Susan uses academic research to ensure historical accuracy in the selections she offers, as well as with the educational material she puts out relating to the history of candy.  You can tell from her videos on True Treat's Facebook page that she truly is a knowledgeable individual who absolutely LOVES talking about candy!

But it's another employee at the shop who has a slightly different passion.  Manager Tara Dockman has earned the nickname of 'Ghost Lady,' thanks to her sensitivity to paranormal activity.  Tara claims that True Treats is home to not one, but TWO ghostly residents.  The first ghost who calls True Treats home is a female who wears a white, flowy gown.  This particular ghost is the shyer of the two, and prefers to hang out in the upper levels of the building, away from guests.  However, she has been blamed for throwing candy around and slamming doors customers' faces.

The second ghost at the location is a male whom the staff call Colby.  Colby also likes to throw candy and slam doors and seems to be a bit more aggressive than our lady in white.  He's been known to push people, but has calmed down after being reprimanded for the behavior.  The strange thing about Colby, though, is that he never seems to materialize in full form.  Rather, he shows up in...for a lack of a better phrase...pieces.  Witnesses will see a pant leg disappear around a corner, or a man's shoulder glide past them, but never a full-body apparition. Former employee, Christine, has noted that on one particular night during her employment at True Treats, things got super crazy, with cups spinning and a plaque falling off the wall.  Was it Jacob the Troublemaker, or the Lady in White?  And just who ARE these two phantom inhabitants of this world-renowned sweets shop? Are they connected to the land or to the building?  Or, are they just drawn in by all the old-time treats that fill the lower level of the red brick building on High Street?

True Treats Google Streetview.  That's Hog Alley on the right! 

Speaking of red brick buildings on High Street...

While researching the ghosts of True Treats, I began perusing some of my books on West Virginia hauntings and ghost stories. In A Ghostly Tour of Harpers Ferry, by Shirley Dougherty (1989), I rediscovered the tale of Jacob.

According to Dougherty, a red brick building on lower High Street, just a couple of stores away from Hog Alley, was used during the Civil War as a Confederate prison.  The prisoners were housed on the third floor, while guards and other staff, including a young prison guard named Jacob, were housed on the lower two floors.

One night, Jacob went out with a lady friend, and asked his fellow guards to cover for him.  However, that same night, there was a surprise inspection. Jacob's friends tried to cover for him, but they ended up getting in even MORE trouble for doing so.  Needless to say, they weren't too happy with Jacob and planned on teaching him a lesson.  So, they tied his hands and feet together, stuffed feathers into his mouth and nose, and beat the crap out of him.  However, after they decided he had had enough, the young men were horrified to find Jacob not breathing. They had inadvertently suffocated him to death.

Panicked, the guards quickly constructed a crude wooden coffin and shoved Jacob's body in it with the intent to bury it out back and claim that Jacob had deserted his post.  But, as the group tried to walk down the stairs carrying the coffin, one of them slipped and lost his grip.  The coffin crashed down the stairs and out the back door, spilling Jacob's body out right in plain view of the neighbors who had rushed out to see what the noise was all about. Although the group was punished, it seems as if Jacob was still buried in the backyard as planned.

His body and his spirit never left the property where he spent his last moments.  People who lived in the building after the war ended claimed that they could hear the phantom sounds of a struggle and crashing noises going down the stairs.  Objects would be thrown about, locked doors would open by themselves,  and once, a pair of pewter candlesticks were found bent with a man's fingerprints embedded into the metal.  The letter 'J' was also found carved inside a window pane.

I've taken a look at maps and the National Register of Historic places application for the area, and I don't THINK the house where Jacob died is the same that houses True Treats, but I'm not 100% sure.  Could 'Colby,' really be 'Jacob'?  Their behavior does sound similar and both locations are described as being in close proximity to Hog Alley, which is home to its own ghost story! 



Sources and Additional Reading:
Haunted Harpers Ferry, West Virginia: A Modern Witch's Guide.  MoodyMoons 4-9-2019

True Treats Named No.1 Candy Store in West Virginia.  The Journal article, by Mary Stortstrom 10-07-2015

Ghostly Things are Happening in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. By Deborah Block 10-30-2017

Harpers Ferry Wikipedia

True Treats Website

Harpers Ferry NPS Website

Harpers Ferry Historic District National Register application

Harpers Ferry KOA Campground

Civil War trench at KOA, by StoneSentinels.com

I'd like to thank Melinda from the Theresa's Haunted History FaceBook page for the tip on today's location!

The location is the KOA campground in Harpers Ferry!  Over 30 years ago, this land operated as a Civil War Showcase Museum, which held different living history events throughout the season.  It eventually became a KOA campground, and then later The Holiday Travel Park.  After that, it was officially known as the Harpers Ferry Campsite, catering to many of the re-enactors and visitors to Harpers Ferry National Park.

In 1996, the family-run franchisee company, Recreational Adventures Co., took over the site and returned it to a KOA facility, complete with a host of improvements and amenities for the modern guest interested in the history of the area as well as the other recreational activities offered.  One offering that does NOT get published in the pamphlet is the haunted camp store.

According to Melinda, a local paranormal investigation team was called in to deal with a host of paranormal activity, mainly affecting the camp store.  The most disturbing activity that was witnessed was the apparition of a woman crawling and dragging herself across the floor.  She was missing the lower half of her body.

Colonel D.S. Miles

I honestly have no idea how this woman got to where she's been seen, or who she may possibly be, but I wouldn't completely rule out the turbulent Civil War history connection.  The site that now houses the KOA campground and where actual trenches can still be seen was the site of the last stand of Colonel Dixon Stansbury Miles.

There really isn't a ton of information available about this battle and its my theory that the cause of this is because the old adage of history being written by the winners.  Since the defeat of Colonel Miles and the surrender of Harpers Ferry on September 14, 1862 by the Federals happened with the culmination of this battle, sometimes known as the Sheraton Heights or the Boliver Heights battle, not much gets written about it.  Local historian, Dennis Frye, has written the most thorough account of the incident that I've found and that article can be found linked below.  However, just briefly:

Colonel Miles had taken up his headquarters at Harpers Ferry as commander of George McClellan's Railroad Brigade, protecting the railway from Confederate troops.  In mid September, as Stonewall Jackson's troops surrounded his position on Boliver Heights, things still looked promising.  However, things suddenly changed and by Sunday September 14th at 8am Miles had surrendered.  Jackson lost 289 men, but there was no mention of any Civilian/female casualties....

Still, with such a historic reputation, awesome activities for both history buffs and outdoorsy-types, AND the possibility of seeing a ghost, I know exactly where we're staying the next time we go to Harpers Ferry! With the demolition of Harpers Ferry's most haunted hotel, this is an awesome alternative.  As an added bonus, the campground is pet friendly!

Frye's Historical Account

KOA Website

Other Harper's Ferry Haunts to check out while you're in the area.  Scroll down to the bottom of the page!

John Brown's Ghost

John Brown

The War Between the States was not something that started overnight.  Tensions were running high years before the first battle ever broke out, and in Harpers Ferry, VA (now WV) it was no different.  It was this small town on the border of Maryland that made its mark on the Civil War even as early as 1859.  It was that year when John Brown would make his ill-fated raid on the Harpers Ferry Arsenal.

John Brown was an abolitionist, who in October of 1859 led a raid designed to secure arms from the Harpers Ferry arsenal in order to supply a slave revolt.  On the night of October 16th, Brown, along with 20 men, both black and white, free and enslaved, left their planning headquarters in Maryland and marched towards Harpers Ferry.  There, Brown hoped that additional slaves and freed blacks would join, but that wouldn't be so.  By the evening of the 17th, a troop of U.S. Marines, led by Robert E. Lee would oust Brown from his "fort" in the arsenal's engine house, killing several of his men, and capturing Brown.

The first man killed in the raid was Dangerfield Newby, whose body was fed to local hogs, haunts the appropriately named Hog Alley...but John Brown himself has also been seen...

After John Brown was captured, he was accused of treason and murder and taken to Charles Town.  He was hanged there on December 2, 1859, but his ghost has been seen around Harpers Ferry.

Witnesses to the apparition have seen what appears to be a flesh and blood human being, in period dress, walking around the town, sometimes accompanied by a little dog.  This person is so life-like that many just assume that he is a re-enactor.  So authentic looking is he, that many tourists to the popular historic park will ask the gentleman to pose for a photograph.  He complies, but when the photo is developed, the man is not there....just a blank spot where he should have been.

This happened so many times that about 20 years ago, the local newspaper ran this story, and if I remember correctly, had an accompanying photo that showed a happy tourist posing with SOMEONE...someone who wasn't actually there.  The apparition of a gentleman who bears a strikingly strong appearance of John Brown is still being seen around Harpers Ferry, so keep your camera handy if you're in the area!  John is more than willing to pose for you, but whether or not he'll show up for you is debatable!

As an interesting side note, there was a photograph taken at the Haunted Cottage that shows what looks like John Brown's image peering in through an image.  Obviously, this doesn't fit his MO that he's held onto for so many years.  Is John Brown changing things up?  Is this the apparition of ANOTHER ghost of the super-haunted town-turned-park?  Or, are we simply dealing with the ol' pareidolia explanation.  Take a look and decide!

John Brown's Ghost Photo

This link has a great summary of the events:
John Brown and the Harpers Ferry Raid

Engine House Today

McArthur House's Ghostly Child

I love detective work, but I usually find myself more frustrated than I am gratified, lol.  Here's another tale that makes for a great ghost story, but I'm having trouble verifying the details!  According to Haunted Houses of Harpers Ferry by Stephen D. Brown (1976):

In the town of Bolivar, adjacent to Harpers Ferry, there is a large old home that has been converted into an antique shop. 

A woman was touring the house with the owner one day.

"Who is that child," asked the visitor upon entering a room on the first floor.  The lady was gazing intently at a small antique bed located in one corner of the room.

"What child?  There is no child here."

The woman continued to gaze at the bed.  She saw a small child, apparently very ill.  Moments later the image began to fade, then disappeared altogether.  She described at once everything she had seen, and the owner immediately went over to the bed, which seemed to him as usual, empty and undisturbed.

Several days later the owner met two elderly women who knew the house and of its former occupants, the McArthur family.  The ladies remarked that Mrs. McArthur, a century ago, was the first woman offered a pension by the federal government for her service in the military.

Intrigued with the history of the house, he asked the ladies to continue.

They told him that Mr. McArthur, the local undertaker, operated his business in the two towns ravaged by war.  He had a daughter who also lived there with her baby.  But the child became ill and eventually died.

"Can you tell me which room the child died in?" he asked.

They named the location.  It was the same room where the visitor two days earlier had seen the phantom child.  He decided to move the bed to another area, and the child has not been seen again.

Historic research is rarely easy, especially on locations that I'm not familiar with...and don't live close enough to really access certain key documents that can make or break a story.  I hate to publish anything until I thoroughly examine all facets of research, but I do love this story...and I did find SOME background information on it!

There WAS a John McArthur and his wife, Mary (Polly), who lived in Bolivar...on Washington Street, in fact, according to the 1900 census.  And, according to this census, John McArthur did serve as a funeral director.  At this time, also living with the couple was a servant woman named Martha, and a 9 year old colored child named John A. Welcome.

John McArthur was born in Scotland around 1837, and married in New York around the year 1857.  In 1880, the family was still living in Pennsylvania, and it appears that the McArthurs did have one daughter, Emeline.  It is unclear whether or not Emeline made the move to WV with her parents, as records for her seem to disappear.  However, after John's death in 1919, the 1920 census does have an Emma Ketzner and husband living with Mary in Bolivar.

Based on this information, it is possible that Emeline DID have a child who passed away, but the question as to where this house actually stands is another mystery.

I was able to track down some information from a life-long Bolivar resident who remembers a Ms. McCormick having an antique store in a big yellow building in town.  The obituary for Mrs. Edith McCormick does mention her running an antique store in Bolivar...on Washington Street, the same street where the McArthur's lived!  Today, there is another antique store on Washington Street--Jason's Antiques.  That's a pretty big coincidence!

Dangerfield Newby at Hog Alley

Dangerfield Newby

From Ghosts of Harpers Ferry by Stephen D. Brown

Hog Alley didn't get its name in a very pretty way.

During the John Brown raid, the first raider killed was a black man by the name of Dangerfield Newby. Dangerfield had been freed by his white father, but he had a wife and seven children held in slavery in Warrenton, Virginia. His wife's master had told him that for the sum of $1,500 he could buy his wife and his youngest baby, who had just started to crawl. Dangerfield earned that amount of money and went back to Warrenton to purchase his wife and baby, only to have his wife's master raise the price. The free black man then joined John Brown in the hope of freeing not only his wife and youngest baby, but his entire family.

There were a lot of guns in Harpers Ferry, since they were made in the town and stored in the 22 building armory complex near the train tracks. There was little ammunition for the guns, however, and townspeople would fire anything they could find for their guns. One man was shooting 6 inch spikes from his powder loaded gun.

When John Brown raided the town in October of 1859, it was one of those spikes that hit the throat of Dangerfield Newby. He was killed instantly.

The people of Harpers Ferry, frustrated and angered by John Brown and his raiders, took the body of Dangerfield Newby and stabbed it repeatedly with their rusty knives. They left the mutilated body in the alley to be eaten by the hungry hogs.

Some night, if you are walking down Hog Alley and see a man dressed in baggy trousers and an old slouched hat with a terrible scar across his throat, you will know you have met Dangerfield Newby. He is still roaming our streets, trying to free his family.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hog Alley, 1940s. Source

Back in high school, my friend's family invited me on a weekend trip up to Harpers Ferry with them. While we were there, we were lucky enough to catch one of the last ghost tours the famed Shirley Doughtery ever gave. After the tour, my friend and I took a walk (by ourselves) around the darkened streets of the historic town. 

After a bit we came to Hog Alley. Even before the tour, she and I were well-versed with Dangerfield Newby's ghost. And, I'm ashamed to admit it...but we were a little...apprehensive. As we stood at the top of the street, staring down Hog Alley, we kept daring each other to walk it alone. I couldn't do it, lol. Every time I began to step foot into the alley, my mind would go straight to this WV PBS special on the ghosts of Harpers Ferry. I have desperately searched for a copy of my own (my friend had an old VHS her family had taped off the television years before) but have been unsuccessful. Anyway, this video featured a teen boy who goes on vacation to Harpers Ferry with his family. He scoffs at the idea of a ghost tour, but then later on finds out there may be some truth to the legends. The man who played Dangerfield Newby did a great job of eerily scuffling along, neck wound gaping. That's the image I had in mind as I stood there.

All of a sudden, my friend asked, "uh, what is THAT?!" Down the alley we could see what appeared to be a large, inky-black shape...and it was MOVING! Was it coming towards us? We didn't stick around to find out. Her parents were waiting for us about a block or so over, so we ran over to them, freaking out about how we had seen Dangerfield Newby walking up Hog Alley. Once we had sufficiently calmed back down, they walked us BACK over. Feeling a little braver with her family along, we all took the stroll down the haunted alley...and soon came upon our 'ghost.' 

What had appeared to us as a dark, bulking human shape was actually a large trash can. The black trash bag was flapping in the breeze, which had caused the movement that scared us so badly. In some ways I was disappointed that we didn't see a ghost that night. However, deep down, I really was quite relieved!