The Christmas Eve Hitchhiker

Route 310 across from
Valley Falls Road

Being from the Huntington area, and working with investigation teams based in that city, the most (in)famous phantom hitchhiker that I'm familiar with is the ghostly woman in white who haunts the 5th Street Hill area, begging cabbies and bus drivers to give her a ride to the bottom of the hill, where she promptly vanishes around Ritter Park.

I'm not sure of exactly when it was, but several years ago, I started seeing the story of another phantom hitchhiker in the state. Up in the northern part of West Virginia, between Grafton and Fairmont, was a woman in red. The Lady in Red has been seen along Old Grafton Road (WV-310) near Valley Falls Road. Drivers have noted a woman with long, dark matted hair wearing a matted gown, walking alongside the highway. She appears to be sopping wet, with her gown closely clinging to her skin, and her hair dripping down her back. Whatever the weather, she appears to be hunched over, struggling against a strong wind that may or may not be present.

Occasionally, she frantically waves down a passerby, and occasionally, a Good Samaritan will stop and offer her a ride. Those who have notice the woman emits a scent of old fashioned perfume---and death. She struggles into the vehicle, and then softly asks the driver to take her to Cook Hospital in Fairmont. Unfortunately, Cook Hospital hasn't existed since 1938-9, when a bigger hospital, Fairmont General, was built. Nevertheless, the drivers take the woman to the Gaston Avenue address. As they pull up in front of the NON-hospital site and go to open her door for her, they find her seat empty. She has vanished. 

Former Cook Hospital
Fairmont, December 2019

The most well-known sighting of the Lady in Red comes from a truck driver in what I'm guessing was the 1960's or very early 1970's. It was Christmas Eve, a little before midnight. The truck driver, working for the Owens-Illinois Plant was carrying a load of powdered glass to the Fairmont factory along WV-310 when he was flagged down by a woman in a red dress.

He helped her into the passenger side of his truck, and since she was shivering violently in the cold, December air, he draped his coat around her shoulders. As she always did, she quietly asked him to take her to Cook Hospital. Being local to the area, he tried to reason with her that Cook Hospital no longer existed. But, he pitied the poor thing, alone and shivering on the side of the highway, and so he drove her the 10 miles into Fairmont to the site of Cook Hospital. As expected, when they arrived and he went to help her down out of the seat, she had vanished, leaving only his own coat lying in the seat where she had once sat.

The trucker was already running late when he stopped to pick the woman up, and the side trip to the hospital was another several miles out of his way. Therefore, his bosses weren't happy and he was fired for his tardiness. It is said that he contacted the well-known folklorist and collector of ghost stories, Ruth Ann Musick, who was then able to contact his employers and get his job back!

To this day, no one knows who the fancily dressed woman in red is, or why she was so desperate to get to Cook Hospital. Was she a nurse/nursing student trying to get back home after a night of partying, yet met a terrible accident along Old Grafton Road in the rain? Was she involved in an accident on the way to or from a Christmas party and trying to make it to the hospital to receive treatment? We may never know for sure. 

Cook Hospital, 1906
Source: WV History on View

In December of 2019, my husband and I did try to see the lady in red for ourselves. We waited until nearly midnight, then drove up and down the area where WV-310 meets with Valley Falls Road. Valley Falls Road leads directly to Rock Lake; could this lake have something to do with why the woman appears to be sopping wet...or was she simply caught in a storm, fighting against both rain and wind? The night my husband and I went out searching, the weather was unseasonably warm and mild. To our disappointment, despite next to no traffic, no woman in red was observed either. We went ahead and drove into Fairmont to take a look at the old Cook Hospital. At the time, it was being converted from office space for the Marion County Board of Education to low-income apartment space. Nothing spooky was noted there, either. 

Obviously, this story contains a lot of the same phantom hitchhiking tropes that are found around the world---a mysterious person, usually a woman, and usually dressed inappropriately for the weather, asks motorists to take her to an address that may no longer exist (or when they get there, find out that the woman did live there, but has been dead for many years). When the motorist goes to let her out of the car, they've found she has mysteriously vanished without a trace. We don't get that closure that many of these stories have, however. We never get her back story. We never know why she was out, and why exactly it was the hospital she was desperately trying to return to.

What we do get is even MORE mystery. This story has elements borrowed from a few other West Virginia tales. For example, in Ruth Ann Musick's book, Coffin Hollow and Other Ghost Stories, there's a story called 'Vision in the Snow' about a cab driver during the Great Depression who was fired after picking up a disappearing woman in late December. The rationale was that the cab company couldn't afford to be picking up customers that didn't pay their fare, despite their status of being alive or dead. (I read this story on my TikTok if you're interested!)

So there's at least two stories from WV where someone was fired after picking up a phantom hitchhiker, and both have a direct connection with author and professor, Ruth Ann Musick. Further, our lady from this story isn't the only Lady in Red out hitchhiking West Virginia roads. As seen in the book, Cry of the Banshee, by Susan Sheppard, Rt. 50 (the road between Salem and Clarksburg) is home to a ghostly woman in red. When the moon is full, motorists have said to have spotted a woman wearing a red hooded coat, walking along the side of the road. Those who stop to ask the woman if she needs help are shocked to discover that under the scarlet hood, the woman has no face. Allegedly, this woman is also said to follow motorists home, pacing outside of their home, peering into their windows with her faceless visage.

Clarksburg is not far from Fairmont at all, so it seems strange that despite the huge disparity between these two ghostly hitchhikers, they both appear in RED, as opposed to the classic white. The Route 50 hitchhiker doesn't actually hitch a ride...unless you count following people home ::shudder::...which makes me prefer an encounter with the Fairmont ghost any day, especially around the Christmas season! 

For more on this story, Haunted West Virginia is the place to go!

Elkins Inn and Suites

Memorial General Hospital in Elkins, WV
Source: WV History on View 

If you read yesterday's blog about my adventures in Sutton, WV, you may remember that I recently made a trip to Elkins with my husband. Being the spooky nerd that I am, any time I travel, I have to look up what haunted locations may be close to me, whether I have time to actually stop there or not. 

The whole area around Elkins is full of Civil War history, and there are a few really cool haunted places of note, such as Graceland and Halliehurst on the campus of Davis and Elkins College and Rich Mountain Battlefield, but I happened across a new-to-me location that we drove right past: The Elkins Inn and Suites.

Since it is a college town in close proximity to several big tourist destinations and state parks (as well as the state prison at Huttonsville), there are a LOT of hotels/motels around Elkins. There's one in particular, though that you pass right on the main drag through town that at first glance doesn't really look like a hotel. There's a reason for that---it used to be a hospital! 

I haven't been able to find out a whole lot about the history, but the earliest references I can find to the old Memorial General Hospital are from the 1950's, which looks about right from the photos of the building. As with any hospital, you're going to have a location with a lot of baggage, both good and bad. I'm sure the hospital saw happy times with babies being brought into the world, deathly ill people being brought back from the brink of death, and dedicated staff who gave their all to their work. But then you also have the negative events and emotions. Sick and injured people were brought here and many never made it home alive. Death, pain, and confusion were normal, everyday things. Loved ones left behind experienced anger, grief, despair, and sadness. All these factors are believed to be ideal for creating a haunting, and the old Memorial General Hospital is no exception.

I'm not sure when the hospital closed down, but it eventually did and was converted into use as a hotel. Originally branded under the Days Inn name, the earliest TripAdvisor reviews I could find date back to 2004. At some point, they dropped the Days Inn, and renamed the hotel as the Elkins Inn and Suites. According to their website information, the hotel boasts 46 pet-friendly guest rooms, free wifi, and an on-site restaurant (which early reviewers noted was downstairs in the basement morgue). There's also conference room space available, and apparently businesses can also rent out office space. Rooms come with TV, fridge, microwave...and maybe a ghost.

Today's Elkins Inn and Suites
Photo from FaceBook

Okay, so to start off, a LOT of the reviews I read for this location weren't favorable and a lot of that had to do directly or indirectly with the hotel's former life as a hospital. The guest room bathrooms were hospital room bathrooms, with very basic shower and toilet only. Thermostat controls weren't always available in rooms. The old elevator to the third floor where either all or the majority of guest rooms are located was out of order for awhile, and when it does work, seems to be rather noisy. Some reviewers also pointed out that there were windows in their rooms looking out into the hallway (like, in a hospital, lol). But, the biggest hospital-themed complaint seemed to be simply that it was pretty weird and creepy!

In July of 2014, that simple creepiness factor would evolve into claims of actual paranormal activity reported by one couple staying at the hotel. According to a review on TripAdvisor, user yakfit had this to say about their stay:

"We stayed one night last week. I did not read any reviews as we were last minute needing a room. I told my husband "this is a hospital!' As the elevator door was closing to go to floor 3, a man walked by and said "this is not a hospital!"I looked at my husband and just thought, that was strange that he would say that to me. After midnight, My husband woke me up as I was screaming because there was a woman in a hospital gown tying to push herself into bed with us.I went back to sleep and then he woke me up again as I was screaming because there was a babydoll head next to my husband's head n the bed!" I took a photo of the bathroom and the entrance door to our room and there are 2 orbs in the door photo.The lobby clerk told us that it was a former hospital. I think it is haunted."

Photo of 2 alleged orbs
Photo by TripAdvisor user yakfit

Although there was another review with the assertion that Ghost Hunters should come check this place out, it, nor any other reviews I could find mentioned any additional evidence or personal experiences with the alleged ghosts of the old hospital-turned-hotel. I'd love to know YOUR opinion; I think it definitely has the potential to be haunted, but I'd love for some more stories to come out. If you, or someone you know has stayed here and experienced something spooky, I'd love to hear your report. Feel free to comment down below, shoot me over an email, or find me over on Theresa's Haunted History FaceBook to share your story. 

Happy Blog-a-versary!

Early Logo for
Theresa's Haunted History

Today I'm celebrating a very special birthday...the birthday of Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State Blog! On January 16th, 2011, I sat at my communal desk in the break room of the Clay Center. I was on break from my duties as a gallery educator and decided that I might as well make the most of the hour I had. So I did it. I took the plunge and wrote the first blog entry: The Apollo Theater. It's not a long entry, and honestly, it's not a very well written one either...but it was the beginning. Well, sort of.

Theresa's Haunted History actually dates all the way back to 2006 when I first began serving as Historic Research Manager for Huntington Paranormal Investigations and Research. As part of my 'research duties' I thought it would be a good idea to take a deeper look at some of the known haunts around West Virginia and surrounding areas, just to see what locations might be worth looking into for future investigations. My inspiration came from popular websites, such as the Shadowlands Index and WV Ghosts, where I scoured the user-uploaded entries to find hauntings that I could substantiate a bit further. 

I quickly discovered that these types of websites weren't a huge help to those looking for places to investigate. Not only was historical background and location details often inaccurate, but most of the entries for 'haunted places' weren't really places you could actually investigate, or even FIND for that matter. As much as I enjoyed reading about a scream heard in the old haunted house down by Papaw's cabin, there was no way of finding out where that haunted house was. So, I decided to create my own list in a way. It started with our HPIR website's message board section. I'd post a location, with a brief description of where it was, whatever history I could find, and any relevant links for further information. Eventually, I decided to make that information more widely available, and started posting on a old FreeWebs website.

I ran my FreeWebs site for a couple of years, but it quickly became apparent that I was posting too much stuff and getting way too much traffic for the free hosting service to handle, and the website would be down for quite a few weeks every month. I wasn't super techy so I started researching better options, and decided on moving everything over to Blogger. It was still free and easy to use...and offered me much more flexibility with how much I could post! But, the process was a slow one. I started off the new blog with a fresh, brand new location, and then started the painstakingly boring task of moving everything else over. 

It's been 11 years now and the process isn't actually done. Sure, I moved over the most important entries, and have been busy creating new content over the years, but the blog still needs a LOT of work. My research skills and my access to research materials have evolved greatly over the last decade, so many of my early blogs on here need updated---BADLY. Dead links need to be gone, photographs need to be added, and some just need to be totally re-written as better and more accurate information has been uncovered about them. I'm constantly running across new information about 'old' locations, but it's been a struggle trying to juggle new content with updating the old. Every year, I make a resolution to make major improvements, and this year, I'm hoping to actually follow-through, lol. 

Anyway, I've had an absolute blast these past years. I love learning new things about the paranormal, and I love sharing what I learn with you all. This blog has been a big help to me (I find myself referencing it quite often for details I've forgotten) and I hope it has entertained and/or educated some of you as well! There may be times where I lack the motivation to post regularly, but I always keep coming back to. I'm looking forward to what the next decade in Theresa's Haunted History's history has to hold. Stay spooky, y'all! 

Theresa's Haunted West Virginia Page

The Haunting of Mose (Old Hospital on College Hill)

Photo from The Old Hospital on College Hill Facebook

Recently, Spectral Research and Investigation (SRI) traveled to Williamson, WV to investigate the haunted and historic Old Hospital on College Hill. Formerly known as Williamson Memorial, the hospital opened to patients on March 3, 1928 after a devastating fire destroyed the town's previous hospital. Built as a state of the art facility, Williamson Memorial served patients throughout southwestern West Virginia and eastern Kentucky for 60 years before being converted into doctors' offices, and then later used as storage. In 2020, the hospital was purchased by private investors, with the intent of saving the historic building and sharing that history with the public...as well as offering a really awesome spooky tourism opportunity. Public and private ghost hunts began earlier this year, and lemme tell you---if you get the chance to participate in an investigation or attend some other spooky event hosted by the Old Hospital on College Hill, DO IT! You won't be disappointed.

SRI had an extremely eventful evening, and I'll definitely be sharing all that in the upcoming weeks (also follow us on Facebook for updates!), but I wanted to start breaking down some of the most well-known ghost stories from the hospital. Let's get started with the haunting of Mose Blackburn. 

In the early hours of Saturday, July 21, 1962, a man named Mose Blackburn and his wife Ora had gotten into a pretty heated fight outside of the restaurant they owned on Pike Street. The police were called, and Lt. Garnet Richmond, accompanied by Patrolman Howard Hatfield arrived in their cruiser. When they arrived at the restaurant, they found Mose sitting in one car, and Ora in another. Hatfield got out of his vehicle and began to approach Mose’s car. At that time, Mose drew his .22 pistol. Richmond got out and circled Mose’s vehicle from the other side. Mose fired a shot through his windshield, and struck Lt. Richmond below the left eye. A gun battle ensued, and with 20 bullets fired, Mose ended up being struck in the right arm before being subdued when additional officers arrived.

 Both Richmond and Blackburn were taken to Williamson Memorial for the treatment of their injuries. Unfortunately, Lt. Richmond did not survive. According to his death certificate, he was shot around midnight, and was declared deceased 25 minutes later. In truth, he probably was dead long before he even made it to the hospital.

 Lt. Garnet Richmond was a 43 year old veteran of WWII. He left behind a wife, Ola Mae, a daughter Marcia, a step-daughter Janice, and…according to the Officer Down website, a daughter named Garnet Elaine who he never met. It seems as if Ola Mae had been pregnant at the time of the shooting. He was buried in Mt. View Memory Gardens in Huddy, Kentucky.

Hinton Daily News, 30 July 1962

Blackburn’s arm wound must have been fairly serious, because he was still in the hospital on Tuesday, July 24^th. A newspaper article from that day states that his arraignment was to be held upon his release from the hospital and had been scheduled for Monday (presumably the following Monday-July 30^th?). However, Mose would never make it to his arraignment.

While under the care of hospital staff, Mose was guarded by two sheriff’s deputies, who took turns watching him. These deputies were Enoch Fillinger and Morrie Blair. On Sunday night, July 29^th, it is reported that Mose asked Fillinger to go to the nurse’s station and get him a drink of water. When Fillinger had stepped out of the room, Mose took off running out of his third floor room into the hallway, and leapt out a window. It is surmised that Mose had tried to commit suicide ahead of his Monday arraignment, but the fall left him in critical condition---for awhile at least.

 Mose survived and was being treated at Williamson Memorial up until his death at 2:15 am on Friday morning, August 24, 1962.  In a newspaper article from the next day, the Mingo County coroner, Tabor Ball, declared the cause of death to be an abscess on the lung. The death certificate backs this finding up, stating that the immediate cause of death was a condition called ‘empyema,’ which is when pus builds up in the area between the lungs and inner chest wall. This condition arose from having fractured his rib in his jump from the hospital window. In that leap, he also managed to suffer a broken femur, a fractured mandible, and multiple contusions, on top of the injuries sustained to his right arm in the gun battle. Mose was buried in Davis Memorial Gardens in Stone, Kentucky.  These are the facts as are backed up by newspaper articles and death certificates. What is left to speculation is whether or not Mose REALLY jumped out that 3^rd story window or not, and if he did, why.

Mose's Death Certificate (Source)

Various sources have speculated that Mose did not jump on his own accord. Rather, he was thrown/pushed out the window by one of the police officers in retaliation for killing one of their own. This is plausible if the window Mose jumped from was the window in his own room. If he was thrown out the hallway window, surely a nurse or another patient would have seen what was going on.  Maybe they did, but chose not to say anything about it.  

This is the short-form county-issued death certificate for Mose Blackburn, which
can be found hanging beside the window Mose is said to have leapt from. 
Note that cause of death is listed as emphysema, NOT empyema. I
believe this is a transcription error and that the true cause of death
is actually empyema, not emphysema. 
Photo by Bree Fitzpatrick, SRI

Either way, let’s say that Mose DID jump out the window on his own. It makes perfectly good sense that a man in his mid-50’s would choose suicide over spending the rest of his life in the state penitentiary, or more likely, facing the electric chair (WV didn’t abolish the death penalty until 1965).  However, there might be a darker reason. There are stories that leading up to the suicide attempt, Mose was plagued with nightmares about someone coming to get him, and had commented that he feared for his life. Was he afraid of the living, breathing police officers that were constantly watching his every move, or were his fears a little more…supernatural?  Could the spirit of Lt. Garnet Richmond, who suffered a terrible death at the hands of Mose Blackburn, have been haunting him? Both men were taken to the same hospital and treated by the same doctors, yet one of them was dead within the hour, never again to see his expanding family. Did Lt. Richmond get his revenge by scaring Mose so badly that he tried to escape that hospital through any means necessary? Did Richmond’s spirit actually physically push him?  These are the questions that paranormal investigators are trying to answer, as it is believed that Mose is one of the ghosts that haunt the Old Hospital on College Hill.

When Paranormal Quest investigated the building in Spring of 2021, they actually gathered some data in that area. One member felt something breeze by him several times, taking the route that Mose would have taken when fleeing towards the window. Various sensors designed to pick up energy also were activated along the route that Mose would have taken, but could also be interpreted as being along the route that the officer or a nurse would have taken if they had rushed from the nurse's station to the window.  Other claims include sightings of a man standing in a third story window, seen from the outside by neighbors and visitors, which may or may not be the spirit of Mose Blackburn.

SRI spent a portion of our evening attempting contact with Mose and actually had some rather intriguing words pop up on the Ovilus, as well as being spoken through a 'ghost box' device. Obviously, the Ovilus isn't a super scientific, fool-proof tool of paranormal investigation, but I will say that we were almost able to have a conversation with whatever or whomever may have been present, with little to no outlier words popping up. Communication was brief, and abruptly stopped after only a short time, but not before we were able to establish that Mose seemed to feel at least some level of remorse for what he had done, but also felt that he was a victim too. Again, there is absolutely no scientific proof that we contacted anyone, let alone Mose, but it was intriguing. 

If you're interesting in booking a private investigation at the Old Hospital on College Hill, or wish to stay up to date on all the public hunts and other spooky events held throughout the year, be sure to check out the official Old Hospital on College Hill website, as well as their Facebook page. Stay spooky, ya'll! 

Information for this blog post came from the following newspaper articles:

"Cop Killer Critical." The Raleigh Register. 30 July 1962

"Police Lt. Killed in Gun Battle at Williamson." Beckley Post Herald. 22 July 1962

"Cop Killer to be Arraigned." The Weirton Daily Times. 24 July 1962

"Death Cause Fixed." Beckley Post Herald. 25 August 1962

"Williamson Man Jumps Hospital." Hinton Daily News. 30 July 1962

"Slayer of Williamson Cop Dies in Hospital." The Raleigh Register. 24 August 1962

Harrison County Railroad Ghost

Railroad Through Wallace. Source

Happy Throw Back Thursday!  Today's vintage newspaper article is from the February 9, 1915 edition of the Clarksburg Daily Telegram.  The story takes place in the small oil boom town of Wallace, WV, located in Harrison County, about 18 miles northwest of Clarksburg, and close to the small town of Bristol, WV.

BRISTOL, Feb. 9--It has been authentically reported here that a real, sure-enough "ghost" has been seen at Wallace, a little town on the New Martinsville branch of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, 18 miles northwest of Clarksburg, during the last fortnight. The entire populace of the town is very much excited over the apparition. It has been declared by several who have seen the "ghost" that it resembles the wife of a resident of Wallace, who died two years ago.

The apparition, or whatever it is, appears along the railroad not far from the depot. A few of the most fearless men of the town--two of them armed with Winchesters--went one night to "see" the ghost and demand an explanation; thinking it to be a "ghost incarnate."  They saw it alright. It was coming toward them. They commanded it to halt, but it did not. They fired at random, several times, again commanding it to halt.  It did not halt, but kept coming. Seeing that it gave no sign of obeying their command, they fired point blank at the "thing", which was then quite near and still advancing despite the flying lead. Then the men showed their heels in fine style.

An engineer has stated firmly that he thought he ran over a woman at the same place one night.  He felt his engine strike something. He stopped and went back but could find nothing. An examination of the wheels and rails disclosed no sign that they had run over anything. The railroad crosses a creek near at hand and the engineer thought it might have been while crossing the bridge that he struck whatever it was---supposedly a woman---and he searched the creek but nothing could be found. A few nights ago, about fifty people congregated to see the apparition but nothing rewarded them for their trouble.

Notice the small railroad bridge in the background. Could this be the location? Source

Fresh Seafood Company Haunted by an Apparition in Plaid

Fresh Seafood Company. Photo by Theresa

I cannot tell you how excited I get whenever I hear about a new-to-me haunted location, especially one so close!  Awhile back, one of my Theresa's Haunted History Facebook page members shared a newspaper article from September 2016 about a haunted seafood restaurant in Jefferson, WV...a location only about a 15 minute drive from me!  I was intrigued, but as I was bogged down with other things at the time, I just sort of put in on the back burner.  Until now...

The restaurant is The Fresh Seafood Company Restaurant and Market, owned by Tim Cerullo.  It is located in the St. Albans/Jefferson area at 6230 MacCorkle Avenue, beside the Venture Lanes bowling alley, sort of tucked behind it to the side, by the Kanawha River.  I don't come through Jefferson too often...and my family (besides me) really doesn't eat a lot of seafood, so I never really paid much attention to this location.  I had seen the sign, but it never really registered that there was such a quaint little HAUNTED restaurant back there.

According to an article by Ben Calwell in the Kanawha Metro, the ghost haunting the Fresh Seafood Company Restaurant and Market is a friendly one. Employees have reported seeing a gentleman in plaid pants and glasses who simply vanishes into thin air.  Cerullo himself experienced the spooky manifestations when he saw a seashell move on its own, actually flipping over a desk.

Photo by Theresa

The restaurant area is located in an old house, and Cerullo believes that the home's former occupants are still around.  The ghost (or ghosts) seems quite pleasant, and I definitely wanted to know more!  Since the worldwide unpleasantness won't let me get out to actually access documents at the library and courthouse, or to even go EAT at The Fresh Seafood Market's beautiful dining area, my research was limited...so expect a follow-up one of these days.  Anyway, I did find out a little about the history of the location...

The Beach House, as the restaurant area is known, gives a bit of its history on its own menu.  It simply states that George Washington once owned the land where the restaurant now sits and that the house dates back to before MacCorkle Avenue was built.  It was a lot harder than I thought it would be to figure out just when MacCorkle Avenue was built!  MacCorkle Avenue is named for William MacCorkle, former Governor of West Virginia and a state Senator.  He passed away in 1930, but I found newspaper references from the mid 1920's referring to MacCorkle Avenue addresses in the Kanawha City area.  The area of MacCorkle Avenue that runs through Jefferson is also still considered to be part of Route 60...so from that reason, I'm guessing the house was built possibly around the 1920's or 1930's.  That's PRETTY close to what I found through online property searches.


From what I can gather, Tom Cerullo purchased the property in December of 1996, a sale which can be found in Deed Book 2401, page 976.  There are actually several deeds associated with the property the restaurant is on and surrounding lots, all acquired by Cerullo in December of 1996. And, all the deeds were formerly held by the same family.

Two of the deeds were under the name of Edna Wood Carden, who acquired the property on Christmas Day, 1939. The two other deeds were both under the joint ownership of E.L. and F.E. Hadsell, who acquired the lots on April 18, 1944.  A little digging through the genealogy site, Family Search, provided some clarification.  Edna Wood Carden and Felix E. Hadsell were married on September 5, 1943, in Lawrence County, Ohio.  This was his first marriage, but Edna had been married before to a man by the name of Carden.  With no additional details on the marriage, it appears that Edna owned the property where the house now stands (and possibly the house itself) during or slightly after her first marriage, and then lived there with her new husband, Felix, acquiring adjoining property a year after they were married. Another frustrating thing to note is the property info online doesn't list any information about the house itself.  All those fields are left blank on the summary page, including year built.

Map Card-Kanawha County Assessor

And until I can find more information, this is where speculation REALLY comes into play.  WHO is the man in the plaid pants and glasses?  One guess could be that it is Felix Hadsell, who presumably lived in the home from the early 1940's until close to when the restaurant opened.  Felix was born on August 6, 1909 and passed away on July 22, 1995.  He is buried in South Charleston's Sunset Memorial Park, along with his wife, Edna, who passed away on December 27, 1992.  Could the apparition instead belong to Edna's other husband, Mr. Carden?  I haven't been able to find anything out about him, including whether or not he even LIVED on the property in question.  Or, is the ghost someone else entirely?  I found a newspaper article from 1970 about the winners of a horoscope contest.  One of the winners was Edna Hadsell, of 6230-A MacCorkle Avenue.  With the addition of the A to the address, does that mean that someone else owned or rented and lived in another section of the house/property and are now haunting it?

Questions like these are driving me crazy, and I can't wait until this unpleasantness is all over and I can get out in the real world again!  I'd love to do some additional research, perhaps interview the owner (the 2016 article states that the wholesale market was opened 29 years ago and the restaurant 22 years ago) and some employees, and of course EAT there myself!  I'll be coming for the ghost stories, but definitely staying for the delicious-looking fresh seafood!

Resources:

Something Fishy Going On at Landmark Eatery Near St. Albans. Metro Kanawha article by Ben Calwell.  September 21, 2016

Fresh Seafood Company Facebook

Find-a-Grave Entries for Felix Hadsell and Edna L. Wood Carden Hadsell

Kanawha County Assessor Map Cards

Marriage Certificate for Felix Hadsell and Edna Wood Carden from Family Search

The Ghostly and the Ghastly: A Passel of WV Folk Tales

Like many paranormal enthusiasts in the Mountain State, part of my earliest exposure to West Virginia ghost stories came from the collected works of folklorist, Ruth Ann Musick!  I've read The Tell-Tale Lilac Bush and Coffin Hollow cover to cover multiple times, and both books are still a staple in my personal paranormal library.

Ruth Ann Musick taught mathematics and English at Fairmont State from 1946 until 1967 and during her time there, she started a folk literature class, helped revive the West Virginia Folklore Society, and founded the West Virginia Folklore Journal.  She also collected hundreds of ghost stories from around West Virginia, not all of which ever made it into publication!

Luckily, a handful of these forgotten tales has recently been brought to life by the students and staff of Fairmont State's theater department!  On Saturday, my husband and I attended a showing of The Ghostly and the Ghastly: A Passel of WV Folktales at Wallman Hall Theater.

The play takes a look at ten ghost stories through the eyes of a bored, chatty, and unprepared college folklore class. Their lecture on the preternatural takes on a spooky twist as their professor and fellow students share spooky stories such as Ida Crawford, The Witch and the Onion, and the Fate of Frank Collins.  Together, they learn the importance of folklore and oral tradition, and a little about the history of how their ancestors migrated to this area, bringing with them their own beliefs and culture, which helped to shape Appalachian culture (and ghost lore!) as a whole.

Overall, the play was really good.  Any date night with my hubby is special, but it is extra special when when I can share my love of West Virginia history and ghost stories with him!  The entire cast and crew did a wonderful job in recreating each story and although they were given a more modern context, you could absolutely still just FEEL that same vibe you get when reading one of Ruth Ann Musick's books.  Lighting and music combined with the acting to evoke a spooky Appalachian atmosphere---perfect for a 'passel of WV folktales!' It was apparent that the cast and crew really had fun with this project, and although the atmosphere was a ghostly one, there was plenty of humor thrown in to break up the tension.  I think Ms. Musick would have been pleased at how her (mostly) unpublished stories were portrayed.  According to a recent post by the theater department, over 677 people got to experience this portrayal for themselves through the public performances.

Unfortunately, Sunday was the last day of the play's four-day run, so if you missed it, you may be out of luck.  However, you can always follow me on Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State Facebook and Twitter---I try to share all the wonderful paranormal events held throughout the tri-state that I think my readers would have an interest in.  You can also follow the School of Fine Arts' Facebook page for articles, behind-the scenes photos, and more about this play and others!  Maybe if there is enough interest, we could see an encore of The Ghostly and the Ghastly or similar such works in the future!

Any chance you get, please come out and support events such as this that highlight West Virginia's paranormal history and heritage!

Book Review: West Virginia Ghost Stories, Legends, Haunts, and Folklore

Title: West Virginia Ghost Stories, Legends, Haunts, and Folklore
Author: Janette Quackenbush
Published: 2018 by 21 Crows Dusk to Dawn Publishing, 21 Crows, LLC
Amazon Purchase Information
Author's Website

I don't mean to go all fan-girl, but I've been following Jannette Quackenbush's awesome Facebook page, Haunted West Virginia for quite some time and I try to share her wonderfully researched stories of West Virginia ghosts and haunted locations whenever I can. 

Therefore, I was ecstatic when I finally got to meet her in person during the Beckley Oddities Fair last October!  In addition to having a wonderful chat where she deeply inspired me to get off my butt and finish up my own book, I was able to purchase a signed copy of West Virginia Ghost Stories, Legends, Haunts, and Folklore, which includes the Legend of Seneca Rocks.  Jannette had several books for sale (which can also be purchased through Amazon and through her website), and I kind of chose this particular title somewhat at random.  I chose wisely!

Ya'll know I LOVE collecting books on West Virginia hauntings, ghost stories, cryptozoology, UFOlogy, and just anything weird pertaining to the Mountain State, and so I've amassed quite a few volumes over the years.  And I have to say, this one is definitely one of my favorites!  What really stands out to me is that not only are each of the stories that perfect mix of history and legend, but that Jannette and her family actually VISITED each and every location listed!

By actually visiting the locations discussed in the book, the author is able to share updated photographs of the area, personal paranormal experiences, interviews and information from locals, and first-hand knowledge (complete with GPS coordinates) of where exactly to find these places so you can visit for yourself.  The stories are arranged according to geographical location, making it even easier to find specific stories for a specific area.

There's also a great mix of classic, well-known stories from West Virginia ghost lore that most people will be familiar with AND stuff that is a little more obscure.  Historic haunts are plucked from newspaper archives and more recent hauntings are told by those who have experienced them. West Virginia's strong connections with both the Civil War and the history of the railroad industry are prominently featured and explored through their ghostly heritage, making this an especially interesting read for me personally from a historic viewpoint. Overall, it's just a really well-written, super entertaining read.  It's packed FULL of stories coming in at 300+ pages, but its a quick read as each location ranges from a few sentences to a few pages in length, and generally comes with lots of historical and current photos.

Obviously, I highly recommend making West Virginia Ghost Stories, Legends, Haunts, and Folklore (and the author's other books) a part of your own paranormal library!  You can purchase them online, or meet Jannette at upcoming events, including the Morgantown ParaCon on March 14th 2020  and at Wild and Weird Con on April 4th 2020!

Want MORE Book Reviews? 

Personal Experience at Cabell Huntington Hospital

If you follow me on Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State Facebook page, you may remember seeing a post from way back on July 28, 2018 asking for any information on potential hauntings or personal experiences from the Cabell Huntington Hospital in Huntington, WV.

Cabell Huntington (Source)

In the comment section, I did share WHY I was asking, but I wanted to go ahead and share it again here, just so that hopefully my story will reach more people and hopefully someone else will come forward with more information!  Anyway, here's what happened to me...

I'm pretty sure it was Thursday evening.  My son, Luke (8 years old at the time) had gone to the local library earlier that day to watch a program about wolves.  We were now sitting around the house waiting to go to a birthday party for a family friend when Luke started complaining that he was having some pain in the boy parts.  It wasn't real bad, so I suggested he take a nice warm bath before the party to see if that helped.  By the time he got out, the pain was worse and he decided he felt too bad to go to the party.  Luke has a pretty high tolerance for pain, so I knew if he was willing to miss a party, he was feeling bad.  And, even though I still didn't think there was anything really wrong, I decided to throw him in the car and run him down to the local MedExpress before they closed...just to be sure.  We were leaving on Saturday for the beach, and if he needed any prescriptions or anything I wanted to have plenty of time to fill them.

As we pull up to the MedExpress, Luke is now in so much pain that he can't sit down.  They take him right back, and at this point, I'm still thinking its nothing too bad.  My first thought was that he had a UTI, and that the doctor was going to tell Luke to stop using bubble bath. However, the doctor pushed on his left testicle and this kid let out a yelp of pain that I had never heard before.  THAT is when things got serious.  Luke was tentatively diagnosed with testicular torsion, but needed an ultrasound to confirm it.  The doctor told us we had a choice of hospitals:  Women's and Children's in Charleston, or Cabell Huntington in Huntington.  These were the only two options because she said if he needed emergency surgery, these would be the best two places to be.  We thought we could make it to CHH quicker, so we were sent on our way, with instructions to go straight there, without stopping.

Our doctor had called ahead, so when we checked into the emergency room at Cabell Huntington, we didn't have to wait too long until we were called back into the ultrasound waiting room.  And, this is where my experience happened!

There were a group of us who were called back to the ultrasound waiting room together.  There was a middle aged man by himself, a man in his 50s or 60s there with his wife, and Luke, along with my mom and I.  The six of us were shown into a fairly good sized waiting room to await our individual turns back to the ultrasound room.  This room was rectangular, running parallel to the hallway.  The side of the waiting room against the hallway was all glass.  The younger man sat near the door on the short wall; the older couple sat under the windows about 3/4 of the way from the waiting room door, and Luke, my mom and I sat in the corner furthest from the door.  Luke and I sat in the last two chairs facing the windows, and my mom sat in the adjoining chair on the short wall.

The only other person we saw the whole time in that area of the hospital was the nurse who came to take us from the waiting room to the ultrasound room.  It was shortly after the younger man had been taken back, that I noticed movement coming down the hall.  I looked up briefly and saw a young boy.  I couldn't get a great look at him, but he had dark hair, not quite a bowl cut, but similar.  From his height and size, I would guess him to be anywhere from 6-10 years old. I can't recall what he was wearing, but it wasn't a hospital gown.  It wasn't anything that would stand out, like old-fashioned clothing, either.  He just looked like a normal kid...mostly.

I have no idea what it was about him, but something just FELT off. I thought it was weird that this kid was being allowed to walk in this section of the hospital by himself, so I was focusing less on HIM, and watching the hallway behind him to see if he was accompanied by anyone.  No one else ever came down the hall.  While all this was going on, the kid was still walking down the hall, and he was passing behind where the older couple was sitting.  These people weren't huge, but they were bigger people.  They were tall and broad shouldered, so they took up quite a bit of viewing area.  However, I could still see the top of the kid's head moving behind them.  But, what was weird...he never passed by them.  There was still a good bit of unblocked window space between the couple and the wall and this kid just never showed up in that space.  I even got up out of my seat to look for a door or hall he could have gone through, but there was nothing but blank wall there.  It left me feeling a little eerie, but I kind of just chalked up the whole thing to the stress of the situation.

Luckily, whatever was wrong with my son corrected itself.  His ultrasound came back clear and he felt fine the next day. He has since had no more problems.  Although the ultrasound didn't indicate it, his doctor felt that perhaps he DID have a slight case of testicular torsion, but that the twisty bits had un-twisted themselves so quickly after that it didn't do any damage.  That still leaves the question of what I saw that evening in the ultrasound waiting room, around 9 p.m.  When I asked on my Facebook page, no one came forth with any similar experiences...but that's where things took an even weirder turn, lol.

So, last month I saw a new story pop up on one of my favorite websites, WV Ghosts.  It was from Cabell Huntington Hospital!  I'm reading this story, and with a few altered details, it is the same story that I had told back in July!  I thought that it was really, really weird...but hey, maybe someone had an eerily similar experience as me and this would be a great confirmation!  I contacted the owner of the site, and found out the story was submitted the same day that I made my post.  When we looked at it, there were even some of the same words used that I had used in my post...That post is still available, and can be found HERE.

I'm still curious, though.  If you have a similar experience, or ANY experience from Cabell Huntington please let me know!  You can drop me a comment here, or catch me over at Theresa's Haunted History Facebook page.  Stay spooky, ya'll!

Former Ravenswood Theater

This tale is summarized from two different books on WV ghost-lore, Ruth Ann Musick's Coffin Hollow, and A Guide to Haunted West Virginia by Walter Gavenda and Michael Shoemaker:

A young man who worked at the former Ravenswood Theater as a projectionist shared a very eerie tale which happened to him while working at the theater one night.  After the last movie had ended, and the last guest had left, the boy was sweeping up, and getting ready to lock up for the evening.  That's when he saw what he described as something passing behind the screen, carrying what appeared to be a lantern.  Knowing that no one else was in the theater, the boy panicked and called the police, who found the door locked and no evidence of anyone having been there.


The owner of the theater, an older lady, was also alerted, but told the boy he didn't need to worry about someone being there who shouldn't because for the past 30 years, this same person walked the theater on a regular basis...and he was not of this world.  She went on to explain that at one point, there was a lodge for a local fraternal organization located adjacent to the theater, and at one point, there were actually passages between the buildings.  The type of lodge this was has been lost to folklore, but many believe the second floor was used in questionable initiation rites, which were shrouded in secrecy.  One night, a fire broke out in the lodge, gutting the building.  There was allegedly one tragedy--a man believed to have been in the attic at the time was never found, and presumed dead.

The owner believed it was this man who haunted the theater, as she herself had seen the phantom many times.  The boy verified this story with his father, who provided one more fascinating detail:  the man who died in the fire was the HUSBAND of the theater owner.

During the 1960's the theater ceased operations, and would later house Almeda's Clothing Store.  Today, its home to a physical therapy office.  As an interesting side note:  As I was sitting here typing this entry, I had the Guide to Haunted West Virginia book sitting open beside me on the desk to refer to.  I checked a fact, looked away, then looked immediately back at the book to verify what I had just read.  In that split second I looked away, a ladybug took up residence right on the page.  Ladybugs are considered almost universally as a good luck sign!

*There's been a ton of visitors to this post today, and I want to thank you all for stopping by!  If you'd like to hear of another Ravenswood area haunt featured on Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State, please feel free to check out the Washington Motel! *