Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State: TALA Tales: The Strange Death of George Elkins

Friday, July 3rd, 1896 started out as a nice summer day for George W. Elkins. Despite being a patient at the Weston State Hospital, he was considered a "better class of patient," suffering not from insanity, but epileptic seizures. He had gone to town that afternoon to do some shopping at the local stores, and even got a negative made for some photographs.

However, presumably upon returning to the hospital later that afternoon, something happened. George Elkins was found dead, lying face down in a bed of mortar. It was assumed that George had an epileptic fit, but unfortunately, no one saw the accident, and he was not found until he was already deceased. His official cause of death in the Lewis County registry is asphyxia. George Elkins was only 22 years old at the time of his death, and according to a Find-a-Grave entry for the young man, he was buried in the hospital cemetery.

I haven't been able to track down much more about George Elkins, unfortunately. In a newspaper article from the Wheeling Daily Register that erroneously states that Elkins died at the state hospital in Spencer (debunked by the listing in the Lewis County death registry), Elkins is said to have been from Kanawha County (although his death registry and Find-a-Grave listing note he was born in Pennsylvania).

If that's true, ANOTHER newspaper article I found may give some insight into George's medical condition. In November of 1895, the Shepherdstown Register ran a short blurb about a George Elkins from outside of Charleston who had fallen off a high porch and broken his neck. Although his injuries were severe, he was expected to survive. If this is our same George Elkins, is it possible that his fall off the porch was the result of another epileptic seizure...or did the potential head injuries sustained in that fall lead to his development of a seizure disorder?

Collections: Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum