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

Happy Independence Day 2020

Happy Independence Day from Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State!  If you're staying in this year, celebrate with a virtual tour of the United States...the HAUNTED United States...with my Haunted America page, featuring ghost stories from all around the country. You can also join me on Facebook and Twitter for more patriotic-themed paranormal goodies all day long.

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July weekend, everyone. 

The Bee Gee Board

A friend recently sent this to me and I thought it was perfect for today's Friday Funny! It reminded me of a recent incident with my son. He has his moments of fleeting interest, but for the most part he absolutely does not follow in my footsteps with a love of all things spooky.

After watching the paranormal episode of Brain Games on Disney+, which featured a segment on how the Ouija Board operates using the ideamotor principle (and is NOT controlled by spirits) I thought it would be funny to pull out our own Ouija Board for Family Game Night!  My child was NOT impressed and refused to play. I asked him what he was afraid of, given that we just watched an explanation on how it wasn't paranormal.  His reply was that the Brain Games show was only ONE opinion, and he had seen plenty of other videos that to him, proved Ouija Boards were portals to the spirit world, and he wasn't about to take any chances. I guess I should be happy that my son is overly cautious when it comes to things like that.

I hope you stay overly cautious this weekend as well!  Have a safe and happy Fourth of July weekend. Practice social distancing, don't drink and drive, watch your fingers around fireworks, and as always...

STAY SPOOKY!

For more Ouija Board information, including an explanation of the ideomotor principle, see my article, Ouija Boards ARE Dangerous.

1973 UFO Flap Comes to Southern West Virginia

It's July 2nd, otherwise known as WORLD UFO DAY!!!  World UFO Day was started back in 2001 as a way for UFO researchers and enthusiasts to bring awareness to the field of UFO research, share information and evidence, and to celebrate this fascinating field of study!

In honor of World UFO Day 2020, I wanted to share an article from The Raleigh Register, dated 17 October 1973. Around this time, the local paper, based out of Beckley, WV was publishing numerous articles about area residents reporting some pretty strange things in the skies...and even LANDING close by.

While other sightings had been reported earlier in the year this wave of the 1973 UFO flap seemed to originate on October 11th, when Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker, Jr. reported being abducted by aliens while fishing down by the river in Pascagoula, Mississippi.  Both men passed lie detector tests and the case immediately garnered mass national attention.  Soon after, people in other parts of the country started reporting their own UFO sightings. These reports came from all over, but most notably from the Deep South, Ohio, and...southern West Virginia.

Pascagoula Abduction.  Source

Skeptics were quick to dismiss the majority of these sightings as an alignment of Mars, Jupiter, and Venus, which appeared very bright in the night sky, misidentified aircraft, and of course weather balloons.  Some were deemed outright hoaxes, others simply the result of people getting caught up in the UFO hype.  But, could so many witnesses be wrong about what they were reporting? There were some pretty credible witnesses to various events, including Ohio's governor at the time! Either way, I found it really interesting that West Virginia, which has a pretty fascinating track record when it comes to UFO history, was right there in the middle of the 1973 events.

STATE POLICE REPORT MORE UFO SIGHTINGS

Beckley State Police say they received numerous reports Tuesday night of 'unidentified flying objects, flying saucers, and lights in the sky' from all over Raleigh County.

One trooper estimated 20 calls came into state police headquarters here over a period stretching from 8:30 pm to 11:30 pm. Reports came from Bradley, Mount Tabor, Daniels, and Shady Spring.

The trooper said the callers spoke of lights in the sky, 200 to 300 feet off the ground.

Trooper B.A. Vaughn reported that one man called from Bradley and said, "one of these flying things was out on the ground."

"He was scared to death and breathing hard---too serious to be lying," Vaughn said and he went with the man to investigate, but found nothing.

Vaughn said the man told him he couldn't describe "it,"---"but it looked like it had diamonds all over it."

A UFO sighting was reported Monday night by several people at the Raleigh County Airport. One man chased "it" in a small plane toward Bolt Mountain. Residents of that area have reported seeing a similar "something" in the sky that night.

Meanwhile in central and southern Ohio, reports of UFOs poured in from residents and law officers, according to United Press International. The sightings, which started in the Dayton area last Thursday, were reported in seven counties Tuesday night.

Three Greenfield, Ohio police officers reported separate sightings in Highland County.

"The one I chased was about 100 feet in diameter and glowed with a real bright white light," said Patrolman Mike Conklin.

"There were about 20 people out there looking at it at the same time I was, so I know I'm not crazy," he said.

Sgt. Raymond Davis said the Cincinnati Police Department received so many calls Tuesday night they asked people to refrain from reporting sightings because jammed switchboards waylaid emergency calls.

UFOs were first reported sighted in the Raleigh County area 26 years ago, with some nine sightings since that time reported in the newspaper.

Numerous sightings have been reported from around the nation in recent weeks.

My Weirdest Personal Experience

Illustration by Arthur Rackman

Can you believe it's already July 1st?! 2020 is half over (thank goodness) and to celebrate a new month and a new Ultimate Blog Challenge, I thought I'd start off with sharing a personal experience that I've never shared before. I'm usually pretty open about sharing my potential paranormal experiences, but this one is so weird that I've had a lot of trouble wrapping my head around it...

So, several years ago I was awake at the literal ass-crack of dawn. I had gone to bed early the previous night, so by 5 am I was up and ready to go. It was a school day so I decided to go ahead and get everything ready to send Luke off to school. But, I had left his backpack, with his student planner that needed signed daily and his lunchbox in it, in my car.

I opened my front door and walked out on my porch stoop, but before I could step down off the stoop and onto the short, paved sidewalk leading to the driveway, I was startled by some movement. I looked down, fully expecting to see one of the dozens of rabbits that live around my yard, scurrying away.

What I saw DID scurry away, but as hard as my skeptical brain tries to rationalize it, I'm not so sure it was a bunny.

Running from the direction of my house, across the sidewalk, and disappearing around the back of my car, was a small creature. It was a light brown/tan color, very similar to our local rabbits. It stood a little under a foot tall, from my estimation. Being a late Spring morning sometime between 5 am and 6 am, there wasn't full sunshine, but it certainly wasn't super dark out, either. Plus, the porch light, while not super bright, was still turned on.

Everything about this encounter screams RABBIT to my rational side. It was about the same color and size as a rabbit, which are especially plentiful in my area around that time of year. It ran away, like you'd expect a rabbit to do when a human suddenly pops up, and it can be argued that in the early morning light, I couldn't get that good a look at the thing.

But...I did. I was standing only about 8 feet away from the creature when it stopped and looked directly at me for what seemed like much longer than it actually was. I wasn't looking into the eyes of any rabbit species I've ever seen. What I saw was a fully formed little man. He was nude, except for what looked like a tattered loincloth-type garment that was approximately the same color as his skin tone. He was barefoot. He had a somewhat stocky, not quite muscular, build. While he didn't seem dirty, per se, he just seemed sort of...weathered.

I couldn't see what color his eyes were, although for a brief second, he did look me directly in the eye before running off, on two feet, obviously. He didn't have a beard, and he wasn't bald, but his hair seemed very sparse, very light, and very wispy. His face reminded me of a combination of Dobby the House Elf from Harry Potter, Hoggle from Labyrinth and the Russ troll dolls from my childhood. It was heavily lined and creased, giving the creature a very old and wizened appearance. He seemed as shocked to see me as I was to see him. I also remember that his nose, while not huge, seemed to be his most prominent facial feature.

Dobby is a great example of a Brownie

Honestly, the description of it reminds me of a type of house spirit known as a Brownie, or sometimes called a Robin Goodfellow. According to Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns and Goblins, by Carol Rose, a brownie is defined as:

"A household spirit of northern English and Scottish folklore; in southern England goes by the name of Robin Goodfellow. The Brownie is described as being like a very small, brown, shaggy human, sometimes naked and sometimes wearing ragged brown clothes. Families were proud of their Brownies as they brought good fortune; to lose one was disastrous. Outside of the family, a Brownie was viewed with caution, as they were prone to mischief when annoyed.

In general, the Brownie was the most industrious of the household spirits, ploughing, reaping, grinding grain, cleaning the house and barns, churning butter-in fact, most of the tedious jobs he would gladly do. In return, the Brownie was entitled to a bowl of the best cream and new baked cake or bread, to be put within his reach. To offer the Brownie any form of payment other than this, especially to take pity and to give him new clothes, was an insult, and he would vanish immediately."

After standing there a few seconds in shock, I walked over behind my car where he had run off to, and couldn't find anything. No little man, no little bunny, nothing. I quickly grabbed Luke's school stuff out of the car and headed back in, telling myself I had just seen a rabbit, nothing more.

But, rabbits don't usually run on two feet and they certainly don't wear little loincloths. For several years, I've tried to convince myself that I must not have been completely awake, and simply imagined seeing what I saw, but on the off-chance I DID see something, I wanted to finally document and share it.

After all, its not the first time I've had something fae-related happen at this house! We owned the house for about 6 months before we could even move in. It needed a LOT of work, both inside and out, but as the renovations neared completion, we were staying much more often. One day, we noticed a very distinct fairy ring had popped up in the front yard. It wasn't huge, only about 4-5 feet across. If you've never heard of a fairy ring or fairy circle, it's basically a naturally occurring ring of mushrooms that take on a circle shape thanks to how the spores are released. But, they have quite a folkloric connection with the fae.

Fairy Ring, Source

It is said that anyone who enters a fairy ring may disappear, only to be lost among the fae world forever. Or in a scarier alternative, a child entering into the fairy world through such a fairy ring would be replaced by a changeling. So, when Luke saw the fairy ring and started running towards it like he was going to jump in the middle, the superstitious side of me overpowered the skeptical side and I plucked that kid out of air, mid-jump, and ushered him back into the house!

Those are the only two things I've personally noticed around here and I'm sure both have a perfectly natural explanation. However, I like to keep my mind open to the possibility of things surrounding our world that we don't quite fully understand. Let me know down in the comments, or join me over on Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State Facebook page if YOU'VE ever had an encounter with the fae!

Stay Spooky!

For more info on the folklore of fairy circles, check out the article 

'Never, Ever Step Into a Fairy Ring', by Marla Brooks