Panther's Phantom Fire Truck

 

Panther Fire Station--Google Maps

In 1961, the Westerville, Ohio Volunteer Fire Department was in desperate need of a new fire engine. Unfortunately, budget issues wouldn't allow for a shiny, new engine to be purchased at that time. So, a used chassis from a 1959 fire truck was purchased. The firefighters themselves worked hard, adding a 2,200 gallon water tank and other vital pieces of equipment, creating an engine that the whole department and town could be proud of.  They named the new truck 'Big Red.' 

As the city of Westerville continued to grow and the budget increased, the volunteer fire department switched to a paid department. In order to be eligible for a paid firefighter position, one had to pass a test.  It is said that after one old volunteer failed to pass the test, he swore that he'd come back after his death and haunt Big Red.  

Big Red served the community of Westerville for about 18 years when the city decided it needed to be sold off.  This provoked some mixed feelings among the firemen.  Although Big Red was somewhat outdated and difficult to drive, it had for so long been a symbol of pride for the department and the town. The fire chief at the time tried to prevent the sale of Big Red, but was unsuccessful and it was sold to a truck dealer.

In 1979, the small town of Panther, WV, located in McDowell County, purchased Big Red for its volunteer fire department. Big Red put in two good years of service before it became a liability. Chief Edward Prince called it a 'death trap,' as its brakes and other mechanical parts were badly worn.  The engine was parked out back of the fire station and was stripped of any usable parts and equipment. 

It wasn't long after Big Red was taken out of service that people in western McDowell County, mainly around Panther and Gilbert started seeing Big Red out on the county's roads, mainly at night. Whenever someone tried to follow the phantom fire truck, they would lose sight of it as it would disappear around a curve or as it topped a hill.  Chief Prince, along with his wife and mother, actually had their own sighting of Big Red in the autumn of 1981. He immediately drove to fire station to confirm that Big Red was still parked out back, too stripped down to actually be driven anywhere. 

The spookiest part of these Big Red sightings were that every time it was seen, a fire would break out in the immediate vicinity of the sighting soon after.  In various tellings of the story, these fires would be completely catastrophic, destroying the building completely, and/or resulting in at least one fatality. Whether the fire was a major one or a minor one, almost everyone could agree that a Big Red sighting definitely would result in some type of fire in that area. 

So who is driving Big Red? Obviously, one candidate would be the Westerville volunteer fireman who promised he'd haunt the engine, but the answer might not be so simple.  Apparently, the former Westerville fire chief who tried to stop the city from selling Big Red passed away---right about the same time the phantom fire engine began appearing around western McDowell County. 

I became familiar with this story YEARS ago when my local news station ran a short piece on the sightings of a phantom fire truck. Several years ago, I searched the web for more information, and found a few conversations on an old TOPIX post. There wasn't a lot of detail---only that a 50's era fire engine, driven by an invisible driver, was seen around western McDowell, and that each sighting would coincide with fire shortly after. Therefore, I was THRILLED when I was at my local library, doing some unrelated research, and happened to take a break to read the book, A Wayfaring Sin-Eater and Other Tales of Appalachia, by James Gay Jones. The book was written in 1983 (reprinted in 2005) and contained the information that made this blog post possible! As an added bonus, when I found a photo of the Panther Volunteer Fire Station, it appears that Big Red is still there, still a part of the community.  I wonder if it's still making its nightly runs? 

UPDATE:

The Carport Chronicles Podcast has featured this story on a recent episode! Go check 'em out, along with the rest of their spooky, paranormal content! 

Stevens Clinic/Correctional Facility

Stevens Clinic Hospital-Circa 1940s

When I sat down to do some internet research this evening, I had a very clear goal:  I wanted to find out more about a very interesting "ghost" story that I had heard several years ago and add it to my growing list of Haunted Places in West Virginia.

That story was a tale from Panther, McDowell County in which witnesses were seeing a phantom fire engine, often described as having no driver, but always described as being an older engine, possibly from the 1950s.   Locals feared seeing this engine drive by because within the next three days, a house nearby would inevitably burn down.  At one point, this vehicle was being spotted so often that a local news channel, TV6, picked up the story.  I had heard about it because our local WSAZ channel also picked up the story.

There are a few mentions of this tale online, but not a lot of details that I didn't already know from memory.  And, surprisingly, the BEST information came from a McDowell County TOPIX post on haunted locations throughout that county.  It was this TOPIX thread where I found an overwhelming amount of stories from another location:   Stevens Clinic.

The Stevens Clinic opened up in Welch in 1930 under the direction of the Bluefield Sanitarium.  It was named for Dr. W.B. Stevens, who along with Dr. Harry Camper worked with two other Bluefield doctors to get the hospital up and running as a 100 bed facility.  The hospital closed to patients in 1987.  However, it already had a reputation for being haunted.

According to the TOPIX thread, both staff and patients alike had reports of paranormal activity...and many of the personal stories that dotted the conversation were eerily similar.

One of the most prolific experiences involved a tragic death of a four year old girl who was the victim of a fire.  Sounds of a baby or small child were often heard throughout the building and one nurse who was working at the hospital at the time of the girl's death reported that immediately afterwards, you could hear the child actually crying out to make the fire stop and that you could catch whiffs of a fire smell run past you in the halls.

The apparition of an unknown woman could be experienced in the former OB ward and the third floor was home not only to an unearthly moaning sound, but a man who would leave one room, only to walk into another and disappear.  The second floor is also active, with lights flickering on and off on their own and sink faucets that would turn themselves to full blast.

Stevens Correctional Center-Present Day

In 2001, the property was bought by the county's Economic Development Authority.  In 2006, after renovations, the former Stevens Clinic reopened as the Stevens Correctional Center, a medium security prison with 322 beds.  There is no word whether or not the inmates or staff are experiencing paranormal activity!




*Looking for more McDowell County haunted places?  Check out Welch Community Hospital!*