Halloween 2023 Wrap-Up

I can't quite explain why, but the Halloween season is a bittersweet time for me. I love it; it's my favorite time of the year. But at the same time, I get really depressed as well. Part of it is hiraeth---an obscure word meaning homesickness for a time or place that no longer exists. I can never go back to the magic of the Halloween from my childhood. It's also partly FOMO-the fear of missing out on all the awesome NEW activities that are out there, that I just don't have the time or the energy to fit in. 

I've been a little mopey the past several of weeks thinking about all the things I didn't get to do this year. I didn't carve pumpkins for the first time in my entire life. I didn't decorate the new apartment. I didn't visit a haunted house/trail. Oh, and I only watched about a third of the Halloween movies I usually I watch each year. Today, however, I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself, and take a look back on the wonderful things I DID get to experience this year, including a couple of bucket-list items for me. Let's start with some of the activities I did with my group, Spectral Research and Investigations!

Brian dressed up at ready
to receive trick-or-treaters!

2023 was the start of our (hopefully!) annual Safe Trick-or-Treat, held at the Museum of Radio and Technology in Huntington. In the three hours we were open, we had well over 220 people come through the museum, where they were greeted by costumed members of the SRI team. We loaded them up on candy and non-food treats (we even had to make a store run halfway through!), and let them play games, participate in Halloween crafts, and of course, explore the museum itself. It was a wonderful way for us to give back to our community and introduce the museum to many new faces. Almost everyone we talked to either didn't realize the museum was even there, or had never had the opportunity to stop by. It was so awesome to see entire families dressed up and having a great time. Plans are already underway to make 2024 an even bigger event! 

Another community outreach service SRI offered this Halloween season was donating our services to the Cabell County Library's Halloween Gala. After the gala had concluded for the evening, SRI members led small groups of gala participants around the main branch library in search of ghosts, giving them a little history of the building's alleged haunts, and showing them how to use popular ghost hunting tech. We had done something similar last year, offering two separate public hunts of the main branch and the Gallaher Village area. Those events were so much fun and went so well that we were honored to be asked to return again this year to help raise funds for the library system.

The SRI team and the Uncovering
History team in front of the Lowe Hotel

The last big project that SRI worked on in October was a two-day on-location film shoot with the crew from Uncovering History! We joined the guys in Point Pleasant in search of the Mothman, starting with an investigation of the haunted and historic Lowe Hotel, and wrapping up with a wild romp through the TNT area. We did a little of our own filming as well, so I'll be sure to share when each of our videos premiers. We had a blast and got along so well with the crew that we've been asked to lend a hand on further adventures...more on that coming up soon!

Amidst all that chaos, I managed to work in some personal adventures as well, starting with attending MystiCon at the Ravenswood Public Library. MystiCon is an annual all-things spooky and Halloween event, offering guest speakers, vendors, and all kinds of other cool activities to get you in the mood for the season. I've already blogged about it (MystiCon blog) so I won't babble on, other than to say that this is a REALLY well put together event with some great speakers, and I look forward to hopefully vending next year. 

MystiCon 2023

My husband, who is trying to make a solid effort to join me on more of my spooky pursuits tagged along to MystiCon and had a great time. He didn't, however, care too much for another event I dragged him along to....

Okay, so ever since I saw the Halloween episode of King of the Hill with the Hallelujah House, I've wanted to experience that for myself. The problem was, I could never find a Hell House or Judgement House close by. This year, I started my search early, and found that Memorial Baptist Church in Beckley was offering a Judgement House AND it had a Sunday date that I could work into my schedule!  It was quite the experience. The place was packed, and that poor staff was trying their best to move the huge number of guests through as efficiently as possible, which meant that each 'scene' involved us being stuffed butt to gut with about 20 other people into a small viewing area. We got super up close and personal with our fellow patrons as we moved through the story line of a family just discovering church....only to be gunned down in a home invasion. 

It seems we were the only ones who were there ironically, lol. I won't get into the subject of religion other than to state that I wholly disagree with the message that was being preached. But, we watched as the mother went off to Heaven, while the father went off to Hell, which was the coolest scene in the whole production. Afterwards, we had to sit in a room with a preacher for an additional 30 minutes, not unlike a timeshare presentation. I was disappointed that this was not one of those Hell Houses that were really wild and gruesome in its coverage of multiple sins. It was fairly tame with one message at hand and one story line. Still, we remained absolutely respectful and left there knowing that we were surely going to Hell. 

Kenova Pumpkin House

The other bucket-list item I checked off for 2023 was my first visit to the Kenova Pumpkin House! I'll be dedicating a whole blog to this one, but the Pumpkin House is a internationally-known attraction, with thousands of carved and lit pumpkins on display. We went on Halloween night, and surprisingly, found a good parking spot. It was crowded, but not overwhelming, and plenty of food trucks and vendors were set up along the street to enhance the experience of seeing more jack-o-lanterns in one place than I'd ever seen before. It was kinda funny, though...the weather had been downright HOT that week, then wet, so there was quite a bit of visible mold on most of the pumpkins, which actually somewhat added to the Halloween atmosphere, lol.

Sadly, I have yet to bring back my own Halloween party, but I went to the St. Albans Paranormal Discussion Group's end of the year Halloween bash, and it was awesome! Games, costumes, prizes, good food and great friends were just what I needed to cheer me up. Ron Lanham of Wild and Weird made a little alien body cake that we all devoured, my team dominated Paranormal Trivia, and Denise Cyrus from the St. Albans Historical Society gave our group a special haunted walking tour of the town. Angie Breeden, who started the group with a young man named Barry, has done an excellent job with this group, and if you're interested in the paranormal at all, I'd highly suggest you follow on Facebook for updates! Meetings will resume in January 2024 and are held on the last Wednesday of the month at the St. Albans Historical Society.

Move over, Jaimie!
This alien was delicious

One last thing my husband joined me for was a Ghost Hunting 101 class with Tracey Perry. I attended Tracey's class last year as well, and both times have lucked out; I've walked away with the door prize! Last year I won a nice video camera, and this year I (well, my husband actually won, but....) walked away with a little ghost hunting kit.  It was a nice  presentation, and I'm always interested to see how other teams out there are operating, and I'm always willing to support my fellow investigators. I wrote about my experience last year HERE. 

Looking back over this super long list of things I did, I realize that I need to stop moping around! I did a LOT of cool things this Halloween season, and made some lasting memories with friends and family. I only hope that Halloween 2024 is as awesome as this year was. 

The Horse with a Halo

This spooky and strange tale can be found in Appalachian Ghost Stories and Other Tales, by James Gay Jones, originally published around 1975. If you'd like to hear me read the story in it's entirety, as written in the book, head on over to my TikTok account. But, read on for a more summarized version of this fascinating tale from the Leatherwood Creek area of Clay County, West Virginia. 

It seems that many years before the tale was collected, a family was being plagued by an odd apparition: a white horse with its head surrounded in a halo of ethereal light. One evening, this family was sitting on their front porch after dinner, enjoying each other's company and conversation. After awhile, they noticed the spooky horse trotting up the highway in front of their house. When it turned off the main road onto their lane, the family, understandably spooked, ran inside and took their positions at the windows to see what the horse would do next.

 As the horse reached the gate, it paused, snorted, then leaped over into their yard and on towards the house. By this point, the family was already getting pretty anxious. Some tried to get a better view out the windows, while others abandoned their post and started trying to find a place to hide! Meanwhile, the horse continued to approach the house, and within seconds had leaped up onto the porch. From this close-up view, the family could see that the horse was 'monstrously large,' had 'eyes shining like coals of fire,' and of course, the halo. 

The horse started stomping through the front door, sending the family fleeing out the back door and up the hill behind their house, where they hid behind the trees, waiting to see what else this fallen angel of a horse would do next. Fortunately, the horse did not pursue the family. Instead, it backed out of the house through the front door and into the yard. But, it didn't turn around and continue on down the road. Instead, it began to ASCEND into the sky, up and up until it had disappeared. However, it did leave a clue to it's existence. For some time after, a halo of light was observed around the moon. No one ever did figure out what this strange phenomenon meant, where it had come from, or where it went. 

Theresa's Note: This is an absolutely wild story to me, and I couldn't even begin to fathom what it all means, especially since we aren't given any more details about who the family was or what happened to them afterwards. Depending on your culture and interpretation, a white horse can symbolize death, but it can also symbolize purity and good fortune. The addition of a halo further denotes that this horse was a symbol of something divine, not evil, and some native tribes believe that a halo around the moon was either a sign of good luck or of change. Was it an omen foretelling the imminent death of a young and innocent family member? Was it a guide of sorts, guiding that soul to Heaven? Or did the family prosper following the sighting? Maybe it was just one of those weird things that aren't meant to be understood. 

The Man Who Wanted to Go Back

Wheeling Daily Intelligencer
4 January 1898

Hey, everyone! By now, regular readers to Theresa's Haunted History know that I love to share weird history, even if it isn't necessarily paranormal. I also like to share interesting tales from popular haunted hot spots that aren't necessarily related to the location's ghost stories. Today's blog is a two-for-one deal, covering both those themes. 

The story first came to my attention through an un-named author's account collected in West Virginia Heritage, Volume Two (1968) and was further confirmed through a newspaper article in the January 4, 1898 edition of the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer. The un-named author in the story was apparently a lawyer working in Clay County, West Virginia who represented Mr. William 'Bill' Dorsey, the Man Who Wanted to Go Back.

It started on Sunday, January 2nd, 1898 at the Big Sycamore Church in Clay County, a small location that served as a one-room schoolhouse during the week and held services during the weekend. On that particular Sunday, the preacher failed to show up for services, so Mr. Dorsey took over duties, leading the congregation in prayer and song, and even preaching a short sermon. After he dismissed the congregation, he hurried out the door. 

After many church services, the priest/preacher often greets and shakes hands with the congregation as they leave the church. But, familiar pleasantries were the furthest thing from Dorsey's mind. He waited until a young man named Benton Jarrett exited (who just happened to be chatting with and escorting Bill's wife out of the church building). Not saying a word, Dorsey pulled out his .38 caliber revolver and fired two shots at Jarrett. One of the bullets hit Jarrett in the stomach, killing him.

Dorsey turned himself in to authorities without incident. Due to the fact that he was the brother of Judge J.M. Dorsey of Clay County, the trial was moved to Parkersburg, under Judge Lew Tavenner. 

Dorsey's family, obviously in shock over the events that had transpired, insisted that he was insane, and his lawyer agreed to that defense. Per court order, he was examined by a panel of doctors, who couldn't agree on a diagnosis. Some believed he was insane, while others thought he definitely knew right from wrong. During the trial, his lawyer noticed that Dorsey was sweating profusely...but only on the right side of his head/face. The reason for this was a nasty scar on the left side of Dorsey's head, caused by a head injury sustained when a piece of lumber fell on him. The family claimed that he hadn't been the same, mentally, since that accident, and it was the cause of the insanity that led to tragedy.

Another factor used in the insanity defense was the rumor that Dorsey had shot Jarrett because he was jealous of the relationship between Jarrett and Mrs. Dorsey. However, everyone insisted that Mrs. Dorsey was a fine, loyal wife who never gave her husband reason to suspect her fidelity, so even if he WERE jealous, there was no reason to be, other than insanity.

The jury deliberated, but were torn. As a compromise, instead of offering up a charge of premeditated murder, which would have surely resulted in a hanging, they found Dorsey guilty of voluntary manslaughter, a charge carrying a penalty of 1-5 years in the state penitentiary at Moundsville. The judge decided on a sentence of two years for Dorsey.

As the trial concluded, Dorsey thanked his lawyer for his help in defending him and offered up a pretty damning detail: he told the lawyer he had actually waited for Jarrett in the woods over a period of three weeks, but he had never shown up. Wisely, the lawyer kept that tidbit to himself until many years later! Dorsey was transported north to the penitentiary, and it was said that the Warden himself remarked to the Sheriff chaperoning Dorsey on his trip that the man was obviously insane and should be in the state asylum, not prison.

Anyway, Dorsey served his two years, minus 4 months off for good behavior. Upon returning home to Clay County, he stopped by his former lawyer's office and asked for help in writing a letter to the governor. It seems as if Dorsey didn't want to leave the penitentiary. It was the 'best place he had ever been,' and wanted the governor to allow him to return. The lawyer promised to write the letter, but never did. 

It wouldn't matter. Dorsey would soon devise a plan to make it back. He went to go visit his adult daughter on Sycamore Creek. The daughter had several small children and Dorsey asked her how many she had now. When she replied that she had three, Dorsey pulled out a pocket knife, remarked that three was getting to be too many, and that he intended to thin them out. 

Understandably alarmed, the daughter ran to the neighbors for help, who in turn took Dorsey in to a local Justice on an insanity charge. But, Dorsey would NOT get his wish. He wasn't sent back to the WV State Penitentiary. Instead, he was found insane, and committed to the State Hospital in Spencer, where he died two years later. 

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