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| Photo by Find-a-Grave contributor, Kathy Cook |
I absolutely LOVE stories of haunted cemeteries and cursed tombstones. There's just something about these particular legends that I think appeal to the thrill-seeker and adrenaline junkie in all of us! Recently, I learned of another such legend here in the Mountain State: The Stocking Lady of Sistersville. Like many of West Virginia's tombstone legends, this particular grave marker should be respected and admired....from far, far away!
Although we'd probably not consider Sistersville a booming city today, at one time the area was filled with wealthy citizens who made their fortunes in the oil and gas boom of the 1800s. Many of those once-prominent citizens now call Oakwood Cemetery home, including the family of Philo Stocking.
Philo Stocking migrated from New York to the Wheeling area, and finally settled down river in Sistersville around 1841. Local history has Philo Stocking as being one of the first people to attempt to drill oil in the area, but unfortunately it didn't quite work out. However, Philo was a smart man. He was sure that there was oil under his property, so he retained the oil and mineral rights to his property for him and his heirs. Meanwhile, Stocking and his wife, Nancy, opened up a flour mill in 1852, which is still standing today under the name of Riverside Mills. His son eventually took over the business and the family experienced financial success in the latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century.
Philo passed away in 1882 and his wife Nancy followed in 1901. Both were buried in the beautiful Oakwood Cemetery. A large granite monument with the elaborate figure of a woman cradling the grave was erected, overlooking the Stocking plots. At one time, it must have been an impressive piece of funerary art. Unfortunately, vandals have turned the once opulent statue into a desecrated mess of broken stone.
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| Close-up from Granny Sue's Blog |
The Stocking Lady still stands guard over the graves of the Stocking family, but her arms have been broken off. If you look closely at her face, you'll find it scratched and gouged, her eyes which were supposed to watch over the family in their eternal slumber now indistinguishable. Because of the disrespect shown to her, local residents feel that the Stocking Lady is out for revenge!
The Stocking Lady is one of the tales collected and told by Appalachian story-teller, Granny Sue. In a recent appearance at the WV Book Festival, she told the story of the Stocking Lady, and how at one local event, quite a few audience members came forward with personal knowledge of the statue's wrath! It seems as if the gentleman responsible for breaking off the arms of the Stocking Lady soon after suffered a horrific accident in which he lost an arm. The man accused of vandalizing the statue's face went blind. In fact, it seems that if anyone just simply TOUCHES the statue, they will suffer bad luck, most likely in the form of health problems occurring in the part of their own body corresponding to what part of the statue's body they touched.
The cemetery is also alleged to be haunted by phantom moaning and white, wispy apparitions floating about. Is this further evidence of the Stocking Lady or members of the Stocking family showing their displeasure for how their grave site was treated...or do the mysteries of Oakwood Cemetery extend even further? If you find yourself in the Sistersville area, possibly staying at the historic and haunted Wells Inn, make sure you take a moment to stop at the cemetery and pay your respects to the Stocking family and the Stocking Lady. Just...don't get too close!!
(This story can also be found in Rosemary E. Guiley's book, The Big Book of West Virginia Ghost Stories. I've seen the cemetery in question be listed as both Greenwood AND Oakwood, but according to Find-a-Grave, the grave is officially listed in Oakwood. If you have any clarification or corrections, please let me know!)
Happy Haunting, ya'll!
Hi Theresa! Thank you for the shout. Good article. Like you, I have researched the Stocking family to find their history--it's really a microcosm of the history of the area, I think. The cemetery is actually Oakwood. I was told that it was called Greenwood originally, but later learned the Greenwood is the "new" cemetery located somewhere else near Sistersville. The other interesting cemetery in Sistersville is the old Wells Cemetery. It fell into disrepair and looked pretty bad the first time I saw it, but last time we were there the cemetery had been cleaned up and looked nice. It has many of the early Sistersville settlers too, many of the Wells family. Yet another in the area is the Ben's Run cemetery. The church fell in over the past year, but the cemetery is still cared for. Rumor has it that there is a slave cemetery somewhere in that area but no one knows where it is. I have wondered if it's the little wooded area beside the Ben's Run cemetery.
ReplyDeleteThank you granny sue, Greenwood is the newer one on old 18!
DeleteMy Great Grandfather was born on Ben's Run and pap used to tell me stories his father told him of things he experienced there as a child. Creepy indeed.
DeleteThe slave cemetery you mentioned is located to the right when you drive up into Friendly Cemetery up on Friendly Hill Road. I don’t believe there are many that are marked but there are small stones to mark graves. From what I’ve always heard, the slaves were originally buried at the south end of Sistersville by the golf course, but had to be moved when they put the overpass in that goes over the railroad tracks coming into Sistersville. My mom and I are very interested in the local cemeteries if you ever have any questions. Magoudy106@gmail.com
DeleteI know of an instance where this statue has ahowed its wrath. There was a guy who peed on it. He got back to his house and his dog peed on him.
ReplyDeleteHa!
DeleteThis cemetery used to be my quiet place when I was a teen ager. My grandmother's house sat at the top of the hill so as kids we would frequent this cemetery quite often. I would climb on top of this stone, and set and tell all my troubles to the Stockimg Lady as if she was my best friend. I would always kiss her cheek and leave several coins as a sign of appreciation for the ear she lended me that day. I always felt a sense of relief, and calm when I left her. There are many crazy things that happen in this cemetery, especially after dark. My mother grew up playing in this cemetery, and has told many wild tales of seeing a soldier in the far corner of the yard before you go up the hill. Seveal of my friends and I have witnessed this as well on a few different occasions. This is by far one of the most interesting cemeteries I have viseted over my years.
ReplyDeleteThe slave Graves were moved from the traffic islands of the rt2 -180 intersection and moved to the south east corner of the friendly cemetery.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know why she has coins on the grave of the stocking lady
ReplyDelete