The Dolls of Harry Powers' Victims

Merry Christmas! I hope Santa brought you and yours lots of goodies this year! Maybe he brought you lots of fun, new ghost hunting gadgets, or maybe a trip to your favorite haunted location in 2023? Maybe he even brought you a possessed or haunted collectible...

In the not too distant past, it was pretty much accepted that every little girl wanted a new dolly for Christmas. Baby dolls, fancy porcelain dolls, rag dolls---it didn't matter. As long as there was a new doll waiting under the Christmas tree, you were going to have one happy tot. 

On Christmas morning in 1931, little girls in and around Park Ridge Illinois may have woken up to a dolly under the tree...but that dolly may or may not have been NEW. In fact, it may have been previous owned by a victim of Harry Powers, West Virginia's very own serial killer!
 

Harry Powers was actually born Harm Drenth in the Netherlands on November 17, 1893. He moved to the United States in 1910, first settling in Iowa, before moving to a little area known as Quiet Dell, West Virginia in 1926. A year later, he married Luella Strother, owner of a grocery store owner, whom he met through a 'lonely hearts' personal ad. But, even after his marriage, Powers continued to correspond to multiple women through such personal ads.

One such woman was Asta Eicher of Park Ridge, Illinois, who Powers wrote to under the name of Cornelius Pierson. Mrs. Eicher was a widow with three children named Harry, Greta, and Annabel. Powers went to visit Mrs. Eicher in Park Ridge on June 23, 1931 and the two went away together for a few days while the children remained in the care of a family friend named Elizabeth Abernathy. While gone, Powers sent a letter to Abernathy saying he was coming to collect the children to bring them to their mother. When he showed up, he brought with him a check to cash from Mrs. Eicher's bank account. However, when he sent one of the children to the bank to cash it, the teller refused because the signature appeared to be forged. In response, Powers and the children immediately left, telling a concerned neighbor they were taking a trip to Europe. 

Unfortunately, this would be the last time that the people of Park Ridge would see the children alive. In August of 1931, police began investigating the disappearance of the Eicher family, and found "Mr. Pierson" had cleaned out the Eicher home. They also found letters connecting "Pierson" to the home in Quiet Dell, West Virginia. Authorities searched the Quiet Dell property and made a series of gruesome discoveries. In a set of rooms under the garage, a bloody child's handprint, bloody clothing, hair, and a burned bankbook were found. As neighbors began to ascend on the property to watch the proceedings, a 15 year old boy told authorities that he had recently helped Powers dig a ditch. When the filled-in ditch was searched, the bodies of Mrs. Eicher and her three children were found, along with the body of Dorothy Lemke, another 'lonely hearts' victim of Powers who had recently gone missing from Massachusetts. 

On December 12, 1931, Powers was found guilty and sentenced to death by for his crimes. He was hanged on March 18, 1932 at the West Virginia State Penitentiary at Moundsville. He is buried at the prison's cemetery, known as Whitegate Cemetery. 

The photograph above comes from the September 17th, 1931 edition of the Burbank Daily Evening Review (Burbank, California). It was posted by the awesome Facebook page, Historian of the Strange.  The photo shows a collection of dolls owned by presumably Greta and Annabel Eicher that were left in the house after their disappearance and murder by Harry Powers. The police officers are preparing to auction the dolls off to the public...just in time for Christmas! So, I'm guessing there were a few little girls out there who received a rather unique present that year, and a few macabre relic collectors who treated themselves as well. And I know it was a different time, but even back in 1931, it just seems really bad taste to auction off a bunch of toys owned by children who had just recently been discovered to have been brutally murdered.

I can't help wondering if any of these dolls are still out there and if any of their owners ever reported any paranormal activity associated with them. 

Another photo of Herbert Fraker with some of the dolls.
From NY Daily News Archives via GettyImages

Book Review for Real West Virginia UFOs

Title: Real West Virginia UFOs: Sightings and Close Encounters, Revised Edition

Author: Dave Spinks

Published by Starborn Illumination Publishing, 2022

Amazon Purchase Information

Dave Spinks' Website Information

After a two-year pandemic related hiatus, the annual Mothman Festival finally returned in September of 2022...and I'm pretty sure it was one of the largest paranormal events in history! So, needless to say, it was pretty crowded and pretty overwhelming, so much in fact that I really didn't get a chance to take many pictures or really do too many of my usual festival activities---except for one of my favorite activities: book buying!

No amount of crowds can stop me from taking advantage of having so many wonderful paranormal authors and vendors in one place. Yeah, most of the books that I buy at these types of events can be picked up online, through Amazon or the authors'/publishers' websites, but there's something really special about getting to meet the author in person. Even an introvert like me enjoys chatting about the paranormal with other paranormal enthusiasts. I love having the opportunity to add personally autographed books to my library. And, most importantly, I love directly supporting my friends and colleagues in the paranormal community. 

Among my pickups this year was Real West Virginia UFOs: Sightings and Close Encounters, by local author and researcher, Dave Spinks. As the title suggests, it is a compendium of UFO sightings in the Mountain State. Much of the book is laid out chronologically---each chapter covers a decade of UFO sightings in West Virginia, ranging from highly publicized cases such as the Flatwoods Monster incident and the Woodrow Derenberger encounter, to  never before reported sightings found only in this book. However, this book is more than just a laundry list of sightings; it is a fascinating look at how the history of West Virginia's ufology directly correlates with the history of ufology in the United States as a whole. 

For whatever reason, West Virginia is an absolute hot spot for UFO sightings and UFO-related phenomenon. This book is packed with information about eye-witness accounts, famous close-encounters, and the people/organizations who investigated them. Historically, there has been so much strangeness going on in the skies above the Mountain State and within the hills below, that we were chosen as an official spot for Project Ozma and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence! The huge radio telescope can be toured today at the Green Bank Observatory in Pocahontas County, and special SETI tours are offered periodically. 

Real West Virginia UFOs is a well-researched glimpse into that strangeness mentioned above. There's plenty of meat to each featured case to give readers a good, satisfying summary, but not so many details as to bog down the casual reader with unnecessary information. Resources and bibliography provided at the end are available for those who wish to deep-dive a little further into certain subjects discussed. Photographs of suspected UFOs are provided when available, and there's even a whole chapter contributed by Ron Lanham featuring cases sent into the Wild and Weird West Virginia High Strangeness Collective!  Overall, this is just a really fun, informative read about one side of West Virginia's unique history. Grab yourself a copy if you love anything to do with the strange and spooky history of the Mountain State, or pick up a copy for a friend or relative this holiday season---I'm sure this book will be the perfect stocking stuffer for the UFO enthusiast in your life!

Want MORE UFO content? Check out my post, UFO Tourism in West Virginia!

Mothman in St. Albans

When two young couples witnessed a terrifying, red-eyed, winged humanoid just outside of Pt. Pleasant, WV one November evening in 1966, that sleepy little West Virginia town along the Ohio River became forever entwined with the Mothman story. For 13 long months, the citizens of Pt. Pleasant were plagued by sightings of the creature, along with reports of UFOs, Men in Black, other strange cryptids, ghosts, and even psychic visions. 

Even to this day, Pt. Pleasant is home to the annual Mothman Festival, the world's only Mothman Museum, and of course, the beloved Mothman statue. People come from all over the country, and even all over the world to learn more about this mysterious monster, tour the places where it was seen, and take home plenty of Mothman-themed souvenirs from some of the many local shops! But...Mothman wasn't confined to JUST Pt. Pleasant. It seems as if our winged friend was quite the traveler, even during the initial 1966-1967 flap. One of the many places he was spotted (twice!) was St. Albans, West Virginia!

St. Albans is a town located in Kanawha County, not far from Charleston. As the crow flies, it's about 40 miles south of Pt. Pleasant, straight down on the Kanawha River. Less than two weeks after the initial Mothman sightings, West Virginia's favorite cryptid showed up on two consecutive evenings in or near town. 

On Saturday, November 26, 1966, Ruth Foster, a housewife, got a really good look at a strange bird-like creature standing in her front yard, by her porch. She said it had a "funny little face" with no beak, but "big red poppy eyes" that popped out of it's face. She said the creature stood around the same height as her husband, who was 6'1''. Understandably, Ruth let out a scream at seeing such a strange creature, and ran inside the house. Her brother in law immediately ran back out to see it for himself, but by that time it had disappeared. Neither apparently saw the creature actually leave. 

The next day, Mothman was a busy lil' beast. Around 10:30am, he was seen by 18 year old Connie Jo Carpenter near New Haven in Mason County, not far from Pt. Pleasant. Connie was driving home from church services when she noticed what looked like a large man in gray standing near the Mason County Golf Course. Suddenly, ten-foot wings unfolded and this...THING...took off straight up and then straight towards her car. She said the thing stared at her with it's huge red eyes through the windshield, then veered off and flew away. The whole incident affected her greatly, as she rushed home in hysterics. She was unable to go to school for the next few days, and had to seek medical treatment for klieg conjunctivitis---eye burn---that lasted two weeks. Like Ruth, she also got a good look at the thing's face, but she was so shook up by the experience that she couldn't really describe it beyond saying how awful it was.

After physically and mentally damaging that poor young girl, later that evening Mothman would return  to St. Albans, where he would again scare the crud out of two young girls. Thirteen year old Sheila Cain and her younger sister were walking home from a store on Route 60, just outside of St. Albans when they saw a large "something" next to a local junkyard. The girls described the creature as being gray and white, standing about 7 feet tall (bigger than a grown man), and having large, red eyes. It flew straight up in the air, and as the girls started running towards home, it flew over them, chasing them part of the way. Allegedly, a neighbor also witnessed the creature. 

As far as I have found, those were the only two times Mothman was reportedly seen in St. Albans, but it was one heck of a weekend! Fortunately for the citizens of this little city at the confluence of the Kanawha and Coal Rivers, Mothman had many more places to be and people to scare, always returning to his home base in Pt. Pleasant, West Virginia. 

Sources: 

Keel, John. Strange Creatures From Time and Space. New Saucerian Books, 2014. 

Keel, John. The Mothman Prophecies. Tor Publishing, 2002.

Sergent, Donnie and Jeff Wamsley. Mothman: The Facts Behind the Legend. Mothman Lives Publishing, 2002. 

Tombstone Tuesday: Egyptomania in Huntington's Spring Hill Cemetery

Huntington's Spring Hill Cemetery

I'm an all-around spooky kinda person. In addition to cruising cemeteries for potential ghosts, I also just love visiting these locations for a glimpse into the art, history, and culture of a particular location! There's so much beauty to observe and so many secrets to uncover, simply by taking the time to look closely at the clues hidden within the tombstones themselves.

A few weeks ago, Spectral Research and Investigations had an investigation that was rescheduled at the last minute, due to an emergency on the part of the client. As several members had already taken off work or otherwise cleared their schedules in anticipation, we were left with a free evening and nothing to do.  As tempting as it was just to sit at home and relax for once, I decided that I wanted to take the opportunity to once again participate in a fun little Halloween season activity, Remnant Stew's annual Cemetery Crawl!

Remnant Stew is a paranormal podcast that I love listening to, and each year, they hold a lil' contest. Participants are urged to visit local cemeteries and take selfies from a guided list of things to look for while in the cemetery, such as tombstone symbolism and types of epitaphs. This year, prompts included an anchor, an obelisk, a death date after 2021, a soldier's grave, and quite a few other things.  Beth, another member of SRI, met me at Huntington's historic and sprawling Spring Hill Cemetery, and armed with our cameras and list of prompts, we set out to explore.

I'll be posting more about our adventures in a separate blog, but it was a lot of fun, and we found quite a few, but not all, of the prompts on our list. We also discovered a few extra little gems that were not included on our list...

Two-Headed Snake with Orb
Close-up of Glick Monument
Spring Hill Cemetery, Huntington, WV

Perusing the Jewish section of the cemetery we found a really neat carving on the Glick Family monument, featuring an orb and two snake heads (or a double-headed snake?) peering out from behind it. It definitely stood out among the normal (and somewhat mundane) funerary art that we kept coming across. You can only photograph so many praying hands and heavenly gates before something like this would cause you to stop in your tracks...which it did! And, I immediately pulled out my phone to start searching for what such fascinating tombstone symbolism could possibly mean.

The first article I came across was a really fascinating piece on the Web Urbanist called The Language of Death: 15 Gravestone Symbols Explained. It was written by SA Rogers and had some great information on a variety of things commonly (and not so commonly) found on tombstones, complete with pictures. There was even an example photograph of an orb flanked by a two-headed snake that was very similar to the Glick monument. But, just like with dream symbolism, tombstone symbolism is rarely black and white, and the snake, while overall meaning everlasting life, can mean different things in different contexts, none of which really seemed to make any sense in this case. The snake wasn't wrapped around a cross, so it probably didn't mean our deceased was a high-ranking Mason. It wasn't wrapped around a staff, so our deceased probably wasn't a member of the medical field (later confirmed by research). So what did it mean? 

Admittedly, I got really excited when I read that the serpent could be seen as an occult symbol, and that a serpent around an egg, called the Orphic Egg (this symbol ISN'T an Orphic Egg, however) is the occult symbol of the personification of light, the Greek deity Phanes! My mind started racing, and probably influenced by recently watched shows such as Archive 81 and The Midnight Club, I was envisioning some cult or secret society of occultists operating right here in the city during the early part of the 20th century. 

Glick Monument
Spring Hill Cemetery
Huntington, WV

The second article I came across, however brought me back to reality. I was overreacting; there probably wasn't a secret occult symbol hidden in plain view in a popular Huntington, WV cemetery. Rather, we had found a beautiful example of 1920's Egypto-mania!  So what does that mean? Well, back in the 1920's, the United States was especially obsessed with anything having to do with Egypt. King Tut's tomb had been discovered and opened, leading the western world into a period of fashion, jewelry, architecture, and yes...even tombstone design...being heavily influenced by the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. Cathy Wallace wrote a great blog post for the Billion Graves site, called Egyptian Gravestone Symbols.   In it, she explains that Egyptian symbols on tombstones are actually pretty common here in the United States, including the image of a winged sun-disk with two serpent heads, as seen on the Glick monument. According to history, Pharaohs would wear the image of a cobra on their crowns as protection against their enemies, and what is the greatest enemy of all, but death? 

Now that I had a better understanding of the symbolism, I wanted to find out as much as I could about the people who would choose that symbolism to adorn their final resting place.  As it turns out, the monument stands over the graves of Samuel J. Glick and his wife, Sara Lewis Glick, a prominent Jewish couple living in Huntington, WV.

Samuel was a furniture merchant, born in Russia on January 15, 1872 to parents Abraham and Sarah Lewis (yeah, same name as wife, lol). The couple married on December 31, 1907 and had a daughter ten years later named Babette Samara. They were active in the B'Nai Israel Synagogue and lived in a very nice home on Washington Boulevard. From what I can gather, the Samuel was closely related to the Glicks who operated Star Furniture in Huntington, but I'm not 100% of the connection. 

Samuel passed away on October 27, 1925 (death certificate), and I assume that the larger monument was erected around this time, as this was the height of Egypto-mania here in the United States!  He was a charitable sort, leaving donations to a handful of charities in his will, including the Colored Orphan's Home in Huntington. The rest of the estate was left to his wife.  Interestingly, when doing research on a married couple, I usually find much more about the husband than I do the wife, but in this case, it was reversed. It seems as if Sara was a little more...well-known...than her husband. 

Sara was born in Washington, DC on September 9, 1885. However, her father was born in Russia, and I suspect was either related to, or was very close friends with the Samuel's family before THEY immigrated. In the 1910 census, Sara is listed as being a teacher. This is a profession she'd maintain well after her husband's death, and up until her own death from coronary thrombosis on January 7, 1940 (death certificate). But, she wasn't JUST a teacher. She was a leader in special education in West Virginia, serving in 1929 as the state supervisor of education for crippled children in the State Department of Public Welfare. She was responsible for founding a speech clinic, establishing vocational rehabilitation projects, and helping handicapped graduates enter the workforce. She truly was a pioneer, and it's a shame that she and her husband passed away too soon. 

My own mother spent over 40 years herself in the special education field, first as a teacher and then at the board office as an educational diagnostician. For years, she championed for the rights to a solid education for students of all abilities. She passed away on September 24 after a brief battle with cancer.  It seems almost serendipitous that a trip to the cemetery for a fun distraction would lead me to learning more about Sara Glick, a real hero to the special education program here in West Virginia.  A really cool, somewhat mysterious Egyptian motif on a tombstone sparked my curiosity to the point where I was led to discover someone I know my mom would have looked up to and would have loved to have known. 

Stay spooky, stay curious, and happy haunting, everyone! 

The Cumberland (Maryland) News
08 January 1940

Civil War History with the St. Albans History and Mystery Tour 2022!

Tour Guide, Denise Cyrus

One of the things I love almost as much as the paranormal is learning about local history. As a native West Virginian, I'm fascinated by my state's rich and unique background, and the stories of those who have called these hills home over the years. And obviously, whenever, I see an opportunity to experience the SPOOKY and unusual history of the Mountain State, I jump at the chance! Last week I did just that with a guided walking tour of St. Albans!

Led by local historian Denise Cyrus, this month's St. Albans History and Mystery Tours are focused on the Civil War era and the impact of the war on the citizens of a small, but bustling town known then as Coalsmouth. Like many towns in what is now West Virginia, this area truly embraced the old 'brother against brother' saying, as families, friends, and neighbors were split as to whether their sympathies were with the Confederacy or with the Union...and interestingly enough, some citizens' sympathies seemed to align with whichever side was in control of the village at the time! Still, other families just left the area entirely. But, those who stayed left quite a treasure trove of stories to be passed down for us today.

St. Mark's Episcopal Church

Our group met at The Loop, and after an introduction to the history of the town, proceeded to our first stop, which was St. Mark's Episcopal Church on 'B' Street. Originally organized as the Bangor Parish on the other side of town, St. Mark's was built on this site around 1847 after the previous church burned down. During the Civil War, Union troops camped on the site and used the church to stable their horses. In fact, our first spooky story is connected to this Union occupation of the grounds. A lady was out back behind the church and witnessed a man dressed as a Civil War era soldier. This gentleman was so clearly seen that she just assumed that he was some sort of re-enactor...but no re-enactors were present.  In a weird twist of fate, as we walked back to the area where the presumed spirit was seen, the group noticed that there was a man lying down near the corner of the property! I can't help but wonder if it was just a homeless guy taking a rest in a relatively safe and comfy spot...or if we collectively caught a glimpse through time and observed one of those Union soldiers, still camping out there behind the church. 

Anyway, while we were back there, we discussed the nearby Hansford House on Riverside Drive. The Hansford Family were prominent citizens in the area, and Victoria Hansford was a figure whose name came up in multiple stories throughout the evening. I don't want to give too much away, because I encourage you to take the tour for yourself, but let's just say she was quite a brave young woman! The house she called home, however, was the site of at least two tragic deaths. After the Battle of Scary Creek, it is said that a wounded soldier who knew the family made his way to Hansford House in search of help. Unfortunately, he passed away from his injuries, right at the entry to the house. After the Civil War, 78 year John Hansford was going out to vote and was walking along the train bridge when he was struck by a passing train and knocked off the bridge. He was dragged home from the river's edge, still alive, by his daughter Victoria and a servant, but unfortunately passed----in the SAME EXACT SPOT the soldier had died in. 

Behind St. Mark's where the ghostly soldier was seen

Moving on, we stopped at the new, modern post office building and talked a little about postal service in Coalsmouth during the time before, during, and shortly after the Civil War, which was really quite interesting. But, more importantly, the current site of the post office is actually the original site of the the Chilton House, before it was moved in the 1970's. Now known as Angela's On the River, the old Chilton House is a beautiful, upscale (yet fairly priced!) restaurant. 

The Chilton House was built around 1857 by Allen Smith, and didn't become known as the Chilton House until well after the Civil War, when the house was purchased by Mary Elizabeth Wilson Chilton and William Chilton I. And, it has a reputation for being haunted. Or rather, it DID have a reputation for being haunted. I had actually written a blog post about the hauntings of the Chilton House after speaking with an employee during the St. Albans History and Mystery Tour of 2019! I know have some updated information to add to that blog! You can read my original post HERE, but in short, when the current owner took over the building, she had bought an antique mirror which had come from England. Apparently, fingerprints were noticed on the mirror, and no amount of Windex could scrub these things away. Things progressed, and what were just fingerprints on apparently the inside of the mirror, became the vision of an entire HAND, which culminated in an image of a terrifying FACE peering back out from the mirror! Strange knockings and other disturbances seemed attacked to the mirror as well, so it was decided that the thing had to be gotten rid of...and was put out on the curb where some lucky passerby snagged  him or herself a FREE possessed mirror! 

Angela's On The River,
formerly the Chilton House

Walking down the river's edge a short ways, we stopped to discuss the importance of the old covered bridge that once stood over the Coal River and how as Confederate troops left town, they burned the bridge in attempt to stop the Union troops from following them. Hilariously, I guess it had been a particularly dry season, because the Coal River was low enough for them to just walk across without the aid of the bridge, so that piece of history was lost in an instant for nothing.  And, while we were still in sight of the Coal River, Denise told us the ironic tale of a former preacher who gave up the pulpit for the whiskey selling business, but drank away all his profits and ended up killing his wife and 'hiding' her body in the river. His subsequent trial and hanging were a big deal and featured in newspapers well beyond the borders of then-Virginia! 

The next location was St. Paul's Baptist Church, where there is some beautiful artwork on the doors to the church, and then a short uphill hike to everyone's favorite house in St. Albans---The Mohler House. Now, technically, the Mohler House isn't really Civil War related as it wasn't built until the early 1900's, but Denise found a couple of ways to tie it in, including the fact that where the house sits was once part of the large Muckamore estate, and was probably where the enslaved members of the estate lived. The Mohler House has an absolutely fascinating history, including being used to house nearly 100 young women known as 'Rosies' during WW2 who worked at the Naval Ordnance Plant in South Charleston. It's also thought to be haunted, of course! Activity isn't really specific, but the area around the staircase and in the basement tends to give people a very, very bad feeling. 

Mohler House

More stories were told as we got to take a little sit-down break on Old Main, and even more stories wrapped up the evening back at the parking lot.  Along the way, the sun had set and a bright, fat moon peeked eerily out from behind the clouds. It was a perfect evening...despite the earlier wind and clouds, it never got too terribly chilly, and it never rained. Just a wonderful night for a lot of history and a lot of mystery!  I absolutely had a fabulous time and learned a lot about the history of St. Albans. Denise was a great story-teller, and a wealth of information about anything and everything having to do with the history of the area formerly known as Coalsmouth. I can't imagine the dedication and hours of research that went into making these different tours, but it shows in her passion for sharing this knowledge with her tour guests. Each guest went home with a really cool photo postcard of the old covered bridge, a walking tour pamphlet of historic locations around St. Albans, and hopefully a greater appreciation for the history and mysteries of our little neck of the woods!

Know Before You Go:  

Make sure you're following St. Albans History and Mystery Tour on Facebook for updates on tour schedules and much more. See schedule below as well!

The October tours meet at the Loop in front of Family Care, across from the bridge.

The cost is $10 for adults/$5 for kids.

Tours generally run about 90 minutes.

Estimated length is 1.5 miles.

(It's a fairly easy walk, with only one fairly small hill. Even with my bad back, I managed to do just fine!)

Ghostly Image Appears on Window Pane in Fayette County

1880 Victorian Woman By Fresh Grave
Source: GettyImages

One night in December of 1904, Mrs. C.T. Rodgers, who lived at the head of Keeney's Creek in Fayette County, WV had a dream. She dreamed that her deceased sister came to her, asking for help. This sister had a daughter (Mrs. Rodgers' niece) who apparently had been led astray, and was not living a very moral life, according to the deceased. She begged Mrs. Rodgers to speak with the girl, and convince her to change her ways. To this, Mrs. Rodgers replied that it would be useless; the girl would not listen to her. So, the deceased then asked Mrs. Rodgers to simply pray for the misguided youth instead. 

The next morning, Mrs. Rodgers was mulling over the dream in her head as she prepared breakfast. But as the smoke from the stove began to curl oddly about, she felt something weird was definitely going on. As the smoke drifted toward the window, an image began to take form on the glass pane. At first, Mrs. Rodgers just thought it was the cold, morning frost, but the image soon took on the unmistakable likeness of a blonde haired woman in a blue dress, standing aside an open grave. Different accounts of the tale claim that the image was like that of a photograph, while others say it was more like the artwork of French artist, Gustave Dore, who specialized in woodcuts. Either way, it was a clear image of a woman beside a grave, just standing there.  However, despite the implied link between this ghostly image and the previous night's dream, the woman did not appear to be either the sister OR the wayward niece.

Mrs. Rodgers, not wanting to bother her husband with such matters, tried to quickly scrub the image off the pane, but it wouldn't budge. It was there to stay. Mr. Rodgers must not have been a particularly observant husband, because Mrs. Rodgers didn't say a word, and he never noticed the freaky image that was now permanently part of his kitchen window. That lasted all of two weeks before Mrs. Rodgers finally said something to him. After that, things kind of got out of control. Neighbor by neighbor learned of the eerie image and before long, the whole county knew. By the time different newspapers throughout the state had picked up the story in March of 1905, it was estimated that at least 2000 people had traipsed to the small Fayette County community to see the woman in blue. Among the sightseers was the Hon. J. Alfred Taylor, a politician who would later serve in Congress. A glass worker with years of experience who claimed to have never seen anything like this before, was also in attendance, along with some scientists who brought a microscope. But, just like trying to wipe the image away produced no effect, oddly, neither did the microscope. It was reported that for whatever reason, the image of the woman by the grave refused to get any bigger under the lens. 

No one ever did discover the identity of the mysterious woman in the image, nor whose grave she stood watching. And, I never did find out exactly what became of the image---whether it ever faded away, or even if the house still stands. But, one thing I DID learn was that the wayward niece whose deceased mother was so concerned about....well, after seeing the image in the window pane for herself, she vowed to change her ways and live a moral life once and for all. So, whether or not the image actually WAS linked to Mrs. Rodgers' dream doesn't really matter; the deceased woman's plea was answered. 

Sources:

The Weekly Register (Point Pleasant, WV). 8 March 1905. Page 3

The Independent-Herald (Hinton, WV). 16 March 1905. Page 2

Strange Lights Seen by Raleigh County Airport Employees

Raleigh County Memorial Airport
Source: Facebook

On World UFO Day 2020, I published a blog post called 1973 UFO Flap Comes to Southern WV, discussing a newspaper article dealing with a UFO flap in the Beckley, WV area. During the late summer months into fall of 1973, the United States as a whole was experiencing quite a number of UFO reports, including the infamous Pascagoula Abduction. That newspaper article, from the Raleigh Register, was dated October 17th, 1973 and in addition to the other numerous reports of strange lights and flying saucers coming in from around the county, mentions a UFO that was seen over the Raleigh County Airport by multiple witnesses. It's taken me over 2 years to realize that I should probably go into a little more detail about that particular sighting, sometimes referred to in UFO literature as the Howard Moneypenny sighting.  

Howard Moneypenny was a weather service specialist for the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) and was on location at the Raleigh County Airport in Beaver, WV on the evening of Monday, October 15, 1973. Starting around 8:45pm and lasting 30 to 40 minutes, Moneypenny and virtually every other employee on duty that night at the airport witnessed an unidentified flying object over the airport. 

According to Moneypenny, the thing really didn't have a discernible shape, and due to the clear night, they really couldn't tell how big it was, or even how far away it was. What they did know was that whatever this was, it had red, green, and white flashing lights, but unlike the red, green, and white lights associated with aircraft, this thing would entirely change color at the same time. Oh, and at one point it seemed to HOVER for about 15 minutes at a point 300 degrees west-northwest.

A local pilot who wished to remain anonymous, jumped in his Cessna 182 and actually tried to go after this thing. He confirmed that the object would change color, and that he never seemed to be able to get any closer to it; it was moving away from him towards the area of Bolt Mountain. This pilot was apparently not a newbie to night flying, and could not understand exactly what he was seeing.

Darris Moore, Piedmont Airlines supervisor, however, had a rational explanation. According to Moore, this was just simply an aircraft, most likely a military helicopter, about 20 miles away. He absolutely refused to believe that the strange lights observed by so many employees of the airport could possibly be extraterrestrial. 

Whether or not the lights seen over the Raleigh County Airport were extraterrestrial, it's pretty interesting to note that the local newspaper stated that this was the first UFO report from West Virginia in quite some time, meaning that if true, it was the first UFO report of the huge 1973 flap to hit the Mountain State. But, it wouldn't be the last, not by far! The local newspaper would go on to report that in the following days, there would be at least 200 more calls about flying saucers in the Beckley area.  There would even be a rather significant sighting in Mingo County, where the Chief of Police and a whole restaurant full of people reported seeing something strange in the sky (see UFOs over Gilbert).  West Virginia has had a rich history when it comes to ufology, and this little tale of a UFO seen over a small, county airport is just one small piece to the larger puzzle. 

Raleigh Register
16 October 1973

Williamson's Haunted Rail Yard

Norfolk and Western Rail Yard (1944)
Williamson, WV
Source: WV History on View

It seems weird to me to write a blog post about Williamson, WV that ISN'T about the haunted and historic Williamson Memorial Hospital, now known as the Old Hospital on College Hill. But, awhile back as I was collecting old newspaper stories about haunted places and ghostly goings-on throughout West Virginia, I had clipped a tale from the September 1st, 1935 edition of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph.  At the time, the newspaper was running a series of articles featuring ghost stories submitted by readers. Most of the submissions were coming from Virginia, but a handful were from the Mountain State, including this story from Mingo County. 

For whatever reason, I pushed back sharing this article for quite some time and kind of forgot about it...until I saw where my good friend and colleague over at The Southern Spirit Guide had shared HIS blog post about this story. That post, while recently shared again, was published in 2018 so I'm REALLY late to the party, lol.  (Go check out the post, entitled Railyard Revenant) However, I still wanted to record the story here at Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State in an effort to further preserve the haunted folklore of West Virginia and share this story with as many people as possible. 

The rail yard in Williamson is still there, and still in operation, although the Norfolk and Western is now known as Norfolk Southern. The next time you're in town, especially if you're attending a private investigation or one of the upcoming spooky Halloween events at the Old Hospital on College Hill, take a moment to stop by. Although the yard itself is private property, you can still get close enough to MAYBE hear the phantom cries of a long-lost baby....

WRITER UNFOLDS NEW GHOST STORY

Strange Incident on Williamson Yards Baffles Railroad Men; Cry of Babe Heard From Locomotive Firebox

The popular demand for Sunday ghost stories has reached the point where these true tales are literally being "eaten" alive.

The first railroad ghost story, learned by accident, attracted so much attention that readers requested more of them.  Last Sunday was told how a fireman jumped off his engine at Flat Top yard after a voice from heaven had demanded that he quit railroading. That was a true story. Another voice from the spirit world warned an engineer in charge of a flier of an open switch ahead. A beautiful white pigeon alighted on a locomotive and the engine was wrecked killing the engineer. 

But today comes the strangest ghost tale ever published. The wonder of it is some of the big newspapers have not grabbed it, for it sure is a knockout. Many Norfolk and Western railroad men vouch for the truth of the story, men whose word is as good as their bond.

This amazing happening has its setting on Williamson yard, and has been told and retold until around the Mingo County seat the kiddies are sometimes put to sleep thinking about the yarn. 

But we will not longer keep the reader in suspense.

From the inferno of the boiler of a Norfolk and Western yard engine in use in Williamson yard may be heard the pitiful cries of a baby. Of course, there is no baby in that firebox. Even a child need not be told that.

But often during the dead hours of night from the firebox the engineer and fireman almost stand speechless as the faint cry of an infant is emitted from the seething furnace of their locomotive.

Billy Dotson, veteran engineer, is said to have been the first to hear the baby cry, but since, others claim to have heard the voice distinctly. 

One theory advanced is that a long time ago a young baby in some manner was tossed into the firebox of this particular engine, and that its tiny spirit remains.

Anyway, you have the story. It is not for us to offer a solution of this amazing phenomenon. 

Don't forget to check out my other blog posts from Williamson, WV!

The Nurse Who Never Clocked Out--Old Hospital on College Hill

The Haunting of Mose

Theresa's Travels: Williamson's Coal House

The Damron Family Tragedy at the Old Hospital on College Hill

Cheech and Chong Meet the Warrens

It isn't Friday yet, but I could desperately use a little laugh!  The photo above was all over Facebook the last few months, but was also all over Reddit, and by the caption, appears to have originally come from ifunny.co. It shows the legendary pot-smoking comedy duo, Cheech and Chong, meeting the world-famous ghost hunting couple, Ed and Lorraine Warren. 

You know me---I had to do a little digging to see what I could learn about the context of this rather odd celebrity meet-up. 

On September 24, 1982, both Cheech and Chong and Ed and Lorraine Warren appeared together on The Merv Show, with host, Merv Griffin. This was the 15th episode of the 21st season of the popular talk show, and the four appeared that day along with musical guest Richard Walley and actress Carol Channing. Another guest on this particular episode was Judith Glatzel, the mother of David Glatzel, who would become a central character years later in the movie The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It. 

The previous November, Judith believed that the 11 year old David had been possessed by a demon and had sought the help of the Warrens. While trying to petition the Catholic Church for a formal rite of exorcism to be performed on David, the demon allegedly hopped into David's sister's boyfriend, Arne Johnson. Johnson, under the influence of this demonic possession, killed his landlord, and was convicted of first degree manslaughter. 

David and his brother would later go on to sue the Warrens for publishing his story without his permission, and as family testimony of exactly what happened told very different stories, David seemingly dropped out of public view as an adult. So yeah, that's some pretty heavy stuff for this type of television program! I looked at various newspaper clippings showing TV guides, and it seems as if this show came on around 4pm EST...so particularly heavy stuff for late afternoon!  

Luckily Cheech was there to add in some much needed comedy to a rather dark segment of television history. I'm just hoping that the actual video surfaces soon! Happy Haunting ya'll. 

3rd Quarter Spooky Reading 2022

Another three months have passed, which means its time for another quarterly update on my yearly spooky reading! Ya'll know I love to read anything and everything I can in the paranormal non-fiction genre. As a paranormal investigator and researcher, I'm always trying to learn as much as I can about this field, and exploring books from a variety of viewpoints in a variety of different topics is a great way to accomplish that. As a blogger, it's also a great way to get new ideas for content to share with you all. And, as a paranormal enthusiast, I just love reading a good, spooky ghost story! 

Unfortunately, this quarter wasn't a great one for me. I only got around to eight paranormal nonfiction titles (and my general reading list wasn't much better). I managed to get a couple of gems, though, so let's take a quick look!

1. Living Among Bigfoot, by Tom Lyons:  This is the first in a whole series of books about one gentleman's encounters with Sasquatch. I found this as a free download, and while it was a quick, enjoyable read, I probably won't pick up any more in the series unless they become available for free as well. I'd just rather get the whole story in one volume, as opposed to a bunch of REALLY short (more like essays) books.

2. Strange Creatures From Time and Space, by John Keel:  John Keel is one of those authors you just HAVE to read if you research anything Fortean or strange. Keel has a very distinct style of humor to his writing, and each of his books, while usually overlapping heavily with his others in the content department, are full of really interesting cases of high strangeness and Keel's theories as to why these events are happening.

3. Queen Victoria's Other World, by Peter Underwood:  I love Peter Underwood's collections of ghost stories from various places around the British Isles. This book is a little different...instead of focusing on ghostly tales of haunted locations, it takes a look at the life of Queen Victoria and her interest in Spiritualism and the occult. There are also quite a few haunted places and ghost stories thrown in, with the note that no doubt Queen Victoria would have been familiar with this tale since she lived at this location, or visited it, or so forth. That part felt a little...forced for content...but it was still an interesting read.

4. Freak Files: The Unexplained Tales, by Gia Scott:  A free ebook download I found on Amazon. Not terrible, but nothing to write home about. Just a quick read about some spooky stories.

5. Real Celebrity Ghost Stories, by Sherri Granato. See above, but focusing on celebrities, lol. 

6. Life After Death, by Hans Holzer:  I love me some Hans Holzer. He was the author who inspired me as a kid to be a 'ghost hunter' in the first place, so I'm always thrilled when I come across one of his books. I found Life After Death at Goodwill and flew through the battered old paperback, loving the stories of people who claim that they have proof that life doesn't end with bodily death.

7. Mermaids: The Myths, Legends and Lore, by Skye Alexander: Ironically, I came across this book at a thrift store right as the whole Little Mermaid controversy was reaching a head. This is a beautiful little book filled with the origins of the mermaid myth, the mermaid in popular culture, and, well...anything and everything else you could want to know about mermaids. It gets super repetitive at times, but it was a fun read. 

8. The Grafton Monster, by George Dudding:  George Dudding is a prolific writer of all things paranormal, especially strange things going on in the Mountain State! I try to collect as many as his works as possible, so when I saw him at the 2022 Mothman Festival, I decided to pick up The Grafton Monster. My husband is from Grafton, so it's a topic that I love discussing with him, as he knows so much about the general area and his mom was living in the area at the time of the sighting. This was a fun book on a subject that there just isn't a whole lot of information available on. 

So there ya have it! That's what I've been reading lately, but I'd love to hear what paranormal nonfiction books you've been reading and loving lately. Join me over on Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State Facebook or let me know in the comments below! 

Theresa's Book Reviews

Spooky Season 2022 is Finally Here!

From SRI's Fairfield County Infirmary
Investigation in September

I mean, it's spooky season all year long here at Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State, but as October 1st finally arrives, it seems...official! Along with plenty of ghosts, spooks, monsters, and goblins, October also brings along with it another round of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. That's right---thirty one more straight days of brand new paranormal content here on the blog. 

As some readers may already know, I lost my mom last week after a nearly 6 month battle with cancer. I haven't had a whole lot of time, energy, or motivation lately to focus on my work, but I'm desperately needing a distraction. Hopefully, this blog will provide that much needed outlet for me to concentrate on during these next few months, and the UBC will give me the push to actually get it published. I've certainly got quite a back log of content I've been wanting to share with ya'll! Despite everything going on, I've still tried to keep up with my paranormal investigations with Spectral Research and Investigations, my spooky reading, making research notes on cases I'd like to study further, and going to as many local paranormal events as possible. 

Please join me all month long as we get caught up with some new haunted locations in West Virginia and beyond, take a look at some of SRI's events/investigations, and explore everything strange and spooky throughout the tri-state. This is my favorite time of the year, and I'm excited to get to share it with you.  Happy haunting! 

Wayne County's Mystery Animal

Wayne County News
2 January 1936
Source: Wayne County News Archives FB

MYSTERY ANIMAL KILLED AFTER ALL-DAY CHASE

Wayne County's mystery animal is dead!

The animal which has harassed residents of Grant district for more than six years was killed December 24 after an all-day chase by Will Spry of Milum Creek. Mr. Spry shot the animal in the shoulder after it had fallen into the creek when the ice broke in crossing.

More than a dozen men and several dogs chased the animal. It was discovered by Milton Nelson, who chased it with his dog all day. Other men and dogs joined in the chase but the dogs would quit when they got near the animal, except Rouster, Mr. Nelson's dog, which stayed in the chase the entire day.

Early in the chase the animal ran the ridges but in the evening, when the animal became tired, it dropped down to the creek level. 

Other men in the chase where Sammie Nelson, Norman and Boyd Finley, Fletcher Spry, Keither Caldwell, Charley Maynard, Ballard Finley, Max Lester, Noah Nelson, Carlos Nelson and Lindsey H. Perry, Jr.

It was not learned what kind of animal it is, but it was described by those in the chase as being about five feet in length, with the height of a sheep and feet and legs larger than those of a fox hound. Its weight was estimated at 75 pounds. It has a nose sharp and and long like a fox and its tusks are 1 1-2 inch in length. The animal is heavily furred, and tinted brown and gray. 

The animal was fond of pigs and sheep and several farmers have reported loss of their domestic animals during the past year or more. 

Several people saw the animal during recent years and it became almost a legend in that section of the county.

The animal, it was reported, is being mounted and will be on display in Wayne in the near future. 

Theresa's Note: I found this story in the January 2, 1936 edition of the Wayne County News, which was posted to the awesome Facebook page, Wayne County News Archives at the Wayne Public Library. The headline caught my attention immediately, because ya'll know I love me a good mysterious animal story! 

I was further intrigued when I tried to find out some additional information on the story and found the legend of the Booger Cat, posted to Wayne County History Portal website. The article states that during the early 1930's, the residents of southern Wayne County, especially around the area where Cabwaylingo State Park was currently being built, were being harassed by some weird animal that was eating up their livestock. A group of about 20 men finally hunted the creature down and shot it, but still could not figure out exactly what it was---it was black, had a bushy tail, and sported a snout like a dog's, only shorter. They sent the creature off to Charleston to be identified, where experts came to the conclusion that it was a...grey wolf.  The only problem was that grey wolves were allegedly extinct in that area. Could a small population still have been living deep in the dense forests of Wayne County for over a hundred years, mostly undetected? It is said that even after this creature was shot, other sightings of a similar animal continued. Perhaps the Mystery Animal shot on Christmas Eve was one of the last remaining relatives in a small family of wolves living in the area. 

Pigeon 167

Myers Hospital in Philippi
Source: WV History on View

One of the many strange and fascinating topics I like reading about is how afterlife studies play into the field of parapsychology as a whole. Earlier this year, I finally finished The Signet Handbook of Parapsychology, a collection of parapsychology articles edited by Martin Ebon on a variety of different subtopics within the genre. Included in the lengthy tome was a chapter on ESP ability in animals, in particular a paper by J.B. Rhine and Sara R Feathers entitled "The Study of 'Psi Trailing' in Animals." This paper first appeared in the Journal of Parapsychology Volume 26, No. 1 March 1962 edition and discussed the fascinating phenomenon of animals (namely, domesticated pets) who were able to trail their owners across vast distances using nothing but, presumably, psi abilities.

To be honest, I wasn't super interested in this chapter. It had the usual heart-warming tales of dogs and cats that traveled cross-country to be reunited with family that had moved away and left them behind, sometimes YEARS later. A common thread within these tales, noted by the authors, is that in many cases where this 'psi-trailing' was suspected, it was just really hard to PROVE. While the owners of the animals were convinced that they had found their missing pet, there was just really no way to be sure in many cases. So, I was only half-heartedly reading this chapter, not paying too much attention, when I came to the information about Pigeon 167.

The story of Pigeon 167 grabbed my attention right off the bat because this story takes place right here in West Virginia! 

According to the source, around 1939 a 12 year old boy (identified as H.B.P.) from Summersville, WV had found a homing pigeon in his backyard. The pigeon wasn't in great shape, so the boy fed it and nursed it back to health, and he and the pigeon became fast friends. The pigeon, although obviously owned by someone (it had an identifying band on its leg reading AV39 C&W 167) stayed with the boy and became his pet. 

Ripley's Believe It or Not
Weekend Daily Reporter
4 November 1967

Sometime later (sources seem to say April 1940), the boy, who was also identified as being an 8th grade honor student and son of a local sheriff, had to be taken to the hospital for an operation. The hospital he was taken to was Myers Memorial Hospital in Phillippi, WV---105 miles away! He had been there about a week, when one dark, snowy night he heard fluttering and scratching at his hospital window. He called the nurse, who opened the window for him, just to humor him. In hopped a pigeon!

When prompted by the boy, the nurse did confirm the fact that the pigeon had a band around its leg reading 167. He was allowed to keep the pigeon in a box in his hospital room and when his parents arrived a few days later to visit, they were hesitant to share with him that his pet bird had recently flew away. But all was well when they realized that the pigeon was safe and sound; he had found his way to their son's hospital room!

This case garnered quite a bit of attention. The boy would later be identified as Hugh Brady Perkins, and the little pigeon would come to be known as 'Billy.' Their story was featured on a Columbia radio program called Strange As it Seems and Ripley's Believe it or Not even ran a comic strip telling the tale of the brave little pigeon who flew across the state of West Virginia to find his friend who was in the hospital. More importantly, however, this case was actually seen as pretty significant in the argument for psi trailing ability in animals. Here we finally have an animal that we can reasonably PROVE is the animal in question. Billy was confirmed to have been at the Summersville residence after Hugh was taken to the hospital, so we can rule out the idea that he followed the car there. As far as anyone could tell, Billy had never been to Phillippi, so it's remarkable that he not only found his way there---but found his way to the correct hospital window!

I can't say for sure that the psychic bond between a young boy and his pet bird was the cause behind Billy being able to find Hugh's hospital window in that snowstorm, 100+ miles away, but I'd like to think its the reason. It certainly left an impression on researcher, J.B. Rhine, and is a case that is still cited today in parapsychology texts making a case for the psi-trailing ability of animals. 

Hinton Has Saucers, Too

 

The Leader
10 July 1947

I just love an interesting tidbit of flying saucer lore from the Mountain State! This little article was published in the 10 July 1947 of The Leader, a small newspaper out of Hinton, West Virginia. Just DAYS after the story broke about an alleged UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico, a housewife from Hinton reported her OWN eyewitness account of no less than six flying saucers over the southern WV town of Hinton, located in Summers County. 

The inevitable report of saucers flying over Hinton came into the Daily News office today.

B.M. Ramsey, 419 Summers street, said his wife, Lee, saw them Saturday afternoon at 2:50 o'clock and "they were about as big as those little plates you get out of boxes of oatmeal."

"She was sitting on the front porch and saw them come over Cemetery hill. I was in the house and she hollered to me, but by the time I got outside they were gone.

"She said they were standing up on edge, cutting through the air. I asked her how many there were and she said she couldn't tell, but she counted six.

"A plane had come over just a minute before, and she glanced up and saw these saucers come over the hill. They were flying from south to north and disappeared over the mountain."

Five years later, Hinton would once again jump on the UFO bandwagon. As reports of flying saucers were coming in from all over the United States, including Washington, D.C., multiple sightings made the local newspaper that summer! In late July of 1952, three women (also on Summers Street) saw a spinning UFO. A month later, a bus driver and several passengers saw what looked like a slow-moving 'wash tub.' I've discussed these two cases in depth in an earlier blog, which you can read here: UFOs Over Hinton

Is Hinton, West Virginia some kind of UFO hotbed or area of high strangeness? Were the locals simply influenced by bigger UFO cases gripping the nation at the time and simply made a misidentification based on those perceptions? Did the newspaper editors just have a brilliant plan to sell papers? Whatever the reason for the influx of UFO cases over Hinton, the fact that they were preserved by the local paper has inevitably tied them to West Virginia's weird and wonderful history...a history that I hope to help document and share with future generations!

*If you have a UFO sighting or experience you'd like to share, please leave me a comment below, or find me over on Theresa's Haunted History Facebook!*

Movie Review: American Werewolves

Last night, my husband and I decided to have a lil' impromptu home movie night. Being as we're cheap, we popped some popcorn, snuggled into bed, and brought up the Tubi app on my tablet to see what was available. Our original plan was to find a pretty bad B-level sci-fi horror to riff on ( awhile back we watched a horribly hilarious movie called Christmas Twisters, but the title card was misspelled as Christams Twisters and we still laugh about it to this day). But, Tubi has really stepped up its level of programming, especially when it comes to paranormal documentaries, and is even carrying quite a few of the Small Town Monsters selections!

As a native West Virginian, I've been following Seth Breedlove and the rest of the STMs crew almost since the beginning. I've loved their work on films featuring West Virginia favorites like the Flatwoods Monster and the Mothman...and I've (almost) forgiven them for leaving me out of the UFO feature---I swear, it felt like I was the only WV researcher NOT interviewed for that one, and I've actually seen quite a few UFOs in addition to my documentation of old UFO cases. Anyway, I digress. I try to keep up with all the new releases, and when I contributed to the 2022 Kickstarter, American Werewolves was one of the projects I was most looking forward to. 

Each STM movie is its own documentary. I've enjoyed seeing the the filmmakers' style evolve with each new production, but not just evolve. Each movie really is unique in the way it is shot and laid out. American Werewolves is a rather dark, atmospheric documentary that relies almost entirely on eyewitness accounts. There's a little folklore and history thrown in for context, but for the most part American Werewolves is a collection of stories told by the people who lived them. And these stories are absolutely terrifying.

When I think of an American werewolf, my thoughts go straight to the rougarou of the southern states. That's not really the focus of this documentary, however. Rather, the focus is on what cryptozoologists generally have come to call dogmen, a phenomenon largely associated in the case known famously as the Beast of Bray Road (Wisconsin). The dogmen of American Werewolves, however, are tales mostly from Ohio and Kentucky,  but especially an area of Tennessee known as The Land Between the Lakes. I kind of wish that the distinction between a dogman and a werewolf was explained a little more thoroughly, but to some, there really is no distinction, as we have no idea exactly what these 'dogmen' are. It's interesting to note, however, that many of the witnesses who told their stories, despite describing flesh and blood bipedal creatures with a canine head and ears, swore that they felt there was some sort of supernatural element to these beings. They weren't just animals; they were truly monsters beyond our current realm of understanding.

I don't want to give away too much of the actual stories because I really think you need to watch this film. But, I'm pleased that they mentioned a few things that research has seemed to link with these sightings, such as encounters being reported near Adena burial mounds and near sources of water. With all the Adena burial mounds that were (and the many that still are standing) in West Virginia, I'm really surprised that we don't have a ton more reports of dogmen. However, that may be a good thing, as another common thread in many of the stories shared in American Werewolves was a theme of violence. At best, the encounter left the witness with a feeling of fear and dread. At worst, people were presumed to be massacred. 

Overall, I'd definitely recommend giving this film a watch. It's a little under an hour and a half long, and is available on a variety of streaming platforms. Even a die hard skeptic who might not necessarily give much credence to eyewitness testimony alone, can still enjoy these tales for simply just being well told spooky campfire stories---in some cases, literally. American Werewolves is an interesting look at a cryptid that doesn't seem to get as much attention as some of the others in this field, but if there is any truth at all to these claims, it's definitely a phenomenon that warrants all the attention we can give it. It might just save someone from becoming the next victim of the dogman. 

Small Town Monsters Website

Small Town Monsters YouTube