A Woman in White at the Haunted Elk Hostel

The Elk Hostel in Sutton
Source: Elk Hostel FaceBook

As many people in the paranormal community are discovering, the little town of Sutton, WV, located in the central part of the state, has quickly become a can't-miss paranormal tourist destination. Sutton is home to both the Flatwoods Monster Museum and the West Virginia Bigfoot Museum. It's home to one of SRI's favorite haunted locations, a charming Victorian home known as the William Edgar Haymond House, which can be rented out overnight for paranormal investigations or simply as a cool, spooky place to stay the night. Several festivals are held throughout the year celebrating the area's unique contributions to the world of paranormal research, and there are plenty of local businesses and attractions celebrating the town's history and its lore. 

However, there's one location in Sutton that has a long reputation of being haunted, but surprisingly doesn't get as much attention. It's a historic building where you can stay the night when you're in town, and has been the filming site of several interesting movie projects. This building is the Elk Hostel, which can be found right downtown at 200 Main Street. 

Before it was the Elk Hostel, the old building started as The Elk Hotel. Construction of the hotel was completed and it was ready for guests by April of 1894. However, the Sutton Hotel Company, which was behind the project, was formed on June 6, 1891. J.S. Hyer, a local politician and businessman, was a member of this committee, and would ultimately become the first official owner of the hotel, which was occasionally referred to as The Elk House. 

Elk Hotel prior to 1910
Source: Clio

By 1909, the Home National Bank was incorporated and moved into the bottom floor of the Elk Hotel. The following year, the hotel underwent some renovations. The outside facade was covered in a stucco, scored to imitate stone blocks. The corner entrance into the bank lobby and the Doric columns adorning this section were also added. 

Over the years, the hotel changed owners and management several times, and even became known under the ownership of Mr. and Mrs. Lester Gerwig as The Midway Hotel, because it had become a midway stop on the WV Bus Company's route. Space in the building was used as a bank, a general store, a billiards hall, and even a restaurant before the building finally was abandoned. It sat abandoned for 20 years until it was purchased by Kevin Carpenter around 1999. Kevin began the process of restoring the hotel, and opened it up as a cool little place to stay in downtown. 

But during those 20 years when the old hotel sat abandoned, it might not have been as empty as it appeared. On October 31, 2003 NPR published a wonderful little Halloween ghost story piece with reporter, Erika Celeste, talking about the alleged hauntings of the Elk Hotel/Hostel. Weird sounds, doors slamming shut, misty apparitions, and strange feelings were all experienced after Kevin purchased the building. However, two witnesses came forth and claimed that they saw something...

Lobby of the Home National Bank
Source: Sutton, West Virginia, Looking 
Back Again, by Craig A. Smith

Colleen Dickerson worked across the street from the Elk Hostel and she reports that one night about 2am, she happened to glance at one of the windows of the then-abandoned building. Knowing the building should be empty, she was shocked to see a young woman with long, blonde hair wearing an old fashioned white blouse looking out. 

Janet Butler possibly saw the same ghostly woman. She saw the apparition of a woman, possibly holding a candle as it was bathed in a dim light, looking out from the hotel's enclosed balcony. But who was this woman?

The NPR recording goes on to state that there was some historical precedence for why the Elk may be haunted by this woman and several others. To begin with, it was stated that downtown Sutton was once home to an Adena Burial Mound, which was leveled by early settlers to make room for the town. Further, there were some deaths associated with the Elk Hotel, including a story about a guest who went missing, only to be found a short distance away. He was deceased and his body was being eaten by pigs. Another story tells of a mother who took her own life at the hotel shortly after losing her child to a fever. Could this mother be the phantom woman seen by both Janet and Colleen?

As with many projects, research into this location is on-going, and I'm hoping to find some documentation of the deaths mentioned above, as well as get to finally tour the site for myself! I'll update as needed, but until then, if you have had any experiences yourself at the Elk Hostel or anywhere else around Sutton, I'd love to hear from you! Please share your story in the comments below, or find me over on Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State FaceBook. And as always...happy haunting! 

For further reading and information:

Elk Hostel FaceBook Page

Info on the Elk Hostel from the Braxton County WV website

NPR Interview with Erika Celeste

Downtown Sutton Historic District Nomination for National Register of Historic Places

The Haunting of Haymond House (Sutton, WV)

Theresa's Note:  Today's blog is a wonderful Guest Blog Submission from Carrie Holcomb-Snuffer about the historic William Edgar Haymond House of Sutton, WV.  The Haymond House is a gorgeous home, which has recently opened up for public and private paranormal investigations, metaphysical and psychic fairs, and much more!  I'm thrilled to be able to bring you information about this location...albeit a bit late, lol.  I meant to run this story weeks ago, but just didn't have the time since I was busy running back and forth between Teays Valley and Grafton every few days.  So, a big apology to Carrie (and you all) for being late!  But, better late than never, and I if you're in the Sutton area, I highly encourage you to check out the historic and haunted Haymond House, located just a short drive from the Braxton County Monster Museum. 

The William Edgar Haymond House is a Queen Ann style home built in 1894. It still has it's original floors and staircase, both of which are beautiful and without any creaking you would expect to find in a home that is over 100 years old. It sits on a sandstone foundation as well.

The home was built by prominent lawyer, William Edgar Haymond, and was home to two of his wives; Emma Catherine (mother of his two children) (1864-1907) and Ethel Rhodes (1871-1932).  His grandchild, who died at the age of 8, was listed as living in the home at the time of death.

During our investigation weekend we recorded a woman’s voice that was in total shock while we were discussing removing a couple of things from the home (original items). 

Us: “a man told us that these could be removed and sold for a certain amount of money.” 

Woman’s voice: “THOSE???” 

Us: “I think they should stay even if they do not work”

Woman’s voice whisper: “yes” 

On the second floor I had someone or something grab the back of my arm in an innocent way, like it was leading me away from the servant stairs. The next morning (around 5:30am) we captured a voice saying a team member's name.  According to recorders, that member woke up a few minutes later for no reason. We also caught footsteps coming down the steps, along with what sounded like the front door lock unlocking. There were sounds of doors opening and closing all night. We shut the blinds early that evening and left to get dinner. Two were opened when we returned. 

We had a psychic come in, at his request, and said he could feel the energy of a mentally challenged spirit. And also felt that a death occurred in the servant stairwell, either by strangulation or by a hanging. He confirmed that the home holds many spirits but none of them wished any harm to anyone. I have spent two nights in the home and always felt at ease there. 

On a separate weekend stay I had two of our Jr Investigators come along. We caught the sound of a bell ringing on our recorder and having one go outside to the yard where there is a bell still standing and ring it while I recorded it, we got the same sound. On the second floor in the “Pink Room” one of our Jr Investigators became overwhelmed with a panic feeling in her chest. We walked out to the hallway and she felt fine. We reentered the room and she became overwhelmed again, and the ghost box said, “OUT.” Back in the hall we still had the ghost box going. The next three words were 'lifetime', 'exit', and 'terrible.' We feel as though this may be the spirit of the one who died in the house by strangulation or by hanging.

Other reports include the same sounds we caught, along with seeing a woman in white on the stairwell landing between 1st and 2nd floor. The woman in white is also seen going in to the bedroom on the 2nd floor. Reports of a child being seen playing in the basement are recorded as well.

Please go give the William Edgar Haymond House a LIKE on Facebook for updates on future events and information on how you can book an investigation at this hot new haunted location here in the Mountain State, which has already been investigated by prominent local investigators including Dave Spinks and Les O'Dell from WV C.A.S.E.! This sounds like a fascinating location, full of history and spooky (yet benevolent) activity and I cannot wait to visit for myself.