That Time WV Almost Had a School of Parapsychology

 

Salem College, ca 1912
Source: WV History on View

The former Salem College, located in Harrison County, WV, was chartered in December of 1888 and began its first term in April of 1889. For 70+ years, it was a small, local school offering a liberal arts education and training for future teachers. However, in the 1960's the school saw a huge expansion in both physical space and program offerings, marking the beginning of the modern-day Salem University as we currently know it. 

Part of this 1960's expansion included the development of a new Department of Psychology. Lucien Sansouci, a graduate of the University of Paris, was hired as department chairman, despite already being in his 70s at the time. As part of the new curriculum, Sansouci off-handedly suggested to the Dean that they include a parapsychology course.

Parapsychology, defined loosely as "the branch of psychology that deals with the investigation of psychic phenomena," had been studied in some form since the 1800's, but had only begun to be taken seriously as an academic discipline a decade earlier at Duke University. Sansouci, while maintain an open mind, was interested in the subject after having met researcher Karl Young in 1953, yet skeptical. He noted that many major European universities also offered courses in parapsychology. Yet, when he suggested it to the Dean, he didn't really believe he'd get the green light. 

Miraculously, the Dean agreed to the suggestion, and in 1969, the first parapsychology course in West Virginia was taught at Salem College. By 1970, Sansouci was teaching a daytime course on the college campus in addition to an adult education evening class in nearby Clarksburg. The night class alone drew anywhere from 50-60 participants, as it became apparent that there was a real interest in the subject.

Parapsychology would continue to be taught under the guidance of Lucien Sansouci for three years. Sansouci also lectured on the subject. In one incident that made local newspapers, Sansouci had given a lecture in Charleston about witchcraft and demonology. As part of his talk, he challenged any practitioners out there to hex him. One such person came forward and claimed that Sansouci would die at the ninth stroke of midnight, on September 4, 1971. Students and other onlookers crowded the lawns and windowsills around Sansouci's abode, but as the designated hour came and went, Sansouci remained alive and well. 

However, later that same fall, Sansouci retired from the Psychology Department at Salem and moved to Parkersburg, WV. Over the past three years, his interest in parapsychology continued to grow, and he intended to open up his own school dedicated solely to the subject. But by Spring of 1973, Sansouci was ready to throw in the towel and move to Boston. 

His idea of opening up a school of parapsychology was not well received. Despite his attempts at community outreach (he offered free marriage counseling to the community) and debating with local churches, he was still denounced publicly by those who claimed he was trying to start a cult. He even hired a young man to help him recruit students for his new school, but the man's wife alerted her church officials who claimed that the family would be persecuted by demons should he follow-up with such employment. The school was never opened, obviously, and West Virginia lost out on the chance of becoming a leader in parapsychology research. 

As someone who dreamed of becoming a parapsychologist from an early age, learning about what could have been, right here so close to home, is really depressing! I also wonder why the people of Harrison County seemed more open-minded than the people of Parkersburg, a city well-known for embracing its haunted history. Was it because parapsychology taught within the confines of a small school's accredited Psychology department was different somehow than a school dedicated solely to that one subject? 

Side Note: I cannot confirm with 100% accuracy that this is him, but when I was trying to find a follow-up on what happened with Lucien Sansouci, I found a Find-a-Grave listing that had some crazy newspaper articles attached. The dates match up (if this is him, he died in 1987 at the age of 90) and mention he was a reporter for a French language publication (which makes sense as his degree was from the University of Paris). Anyway, the articles claim that in 1924, Sansouci was caught spying on a meeting of the Ku Klux Klan in Rhode Island. They kidnapped him, beat him, and branded him on the arm and forehead with a 'K.' Here's the link; I'll let you decide if it's the same person or not:  Find-a-Grave for Lucien Sansouci

22 September 1970
The Raleigh Register

08 September 1971
The Raleigh Register

03 April 1973
The Weirton Daily Times

The Death of Cecil Hellems: A WV Penitentiary Story

 

Tombstone of Cecil Hellems at Mt. Baptist Church
Photo by Find-a-Grave Contributor, Jean Stewart
Source

It's been a while since I've posted a non-paranormal story from the former West Virginia State Penitentiary in Moundsville. While the prison is obviously known for its haunted reputation, I like to explore the normal, everyday operations of the prison, and the lives of those who called it home. Unfortunately, death was a major part of life in the old prison. Men were murdered or died from disease. Some took their own lives. It's important to document these stories, no matter how tragic, before they are lost to history. 

Cecil H. Hellems was born on February 28, 1938, to parents Kenneth and Idella in Quinwood, WV. This would be where he would make his home the majority of his life, even attending services at the Baptist Church. Regrettably, Cecil couldn't stay out of trouble. 

In 1962, Cecil, his brother Lorren/Loren, and a third man were indicted in Greenbrier County for felony larceny in the amount of $190 from the property of Harry Woolridge and Gilmer White. He was again indicted in 1967 for forgery. It is unclear if it was this incident or a separate charge that led him to being sentenced to 1-10 years in the state penitentiary the following year for passing forged checks in Nicholas County. Either way, on November 25, 1968, Cecil became an official resident of Moundsville.

Less than two years later, tragedy struck.  During roll call on April 21, 1970, Cecil was found in his cell by guards at 6:45 am, deceased. He had allegedly strangled himself with strips of bed linen. No note was left behind, and no clues were ever given as to why he'd want to take his own life. However, no autopsy was performed, and suicide was listed as the official cause of death. 

Apparently, there had been no less than five violent deaths within the past 18 months at the penitentiary, and Cecil's death followed just weeks after the murder of another inmate, David Painter. The warden was quick to dismiss any theories that the deaths were related in any way. The two were housed in separate units in the prison and should have had minimal to no contact or connections that anyone was aware of.

Cecil's family claimed his body, and he was taken home to be buried in Mt. Baptist Church Cemetery in Carl, WV. Rev. Pearly Orrdorff presided over the funeral services. Cecil was just 32 years old. Sentenced for a non-violent offense, he met his end at one of the most violent prisons in the country. Hopefully, his soul is at peace.

*MORE WV STATE PEN ARTICLES HERE*

Death Certificate of Cecil H. Hellems
Source: WV State Archives Vital Statistics

22 April 1970
The Dominion News (Morgantown, WV)

23 April 1970
Beckley Post-Herald

Ohio River Mud Mermaids

One visual interpretation of the Mud Mermaids.
Why is he so jacked?

Back in 2021, I came across an article about a potential MERMAID spotted near Clarksburg, WV. Something was splashing around the river there, and the article notes that it could have been a sea serpent, a mermaid, or even a ghost...but was probably a skinny-dipping milkmaid taking a swim under the cover of darkness. Although this particular incident probably wasn't a very reliable sighting of an actual undiscovered creature, the idea of inland mermaids existing within Appalachia was intriguing.  However, I didn't really continue the search until June of 2025. That was when I published a blog post about Naomi Johnson of Evansville, Indiana being grabbed by a green-clawed monster while swimming in the Ohio River. That incident led me down a rabbit hole of Ohio River weirdness, which included learning about the Mud Mermaids. 

According to some sources, the Mud Mermaids first made an appearance in a 1839 Pennsylvania newspaper. Unfortunately, as of this writing, I couldn't find the article in question. The main source of information about these creatures comes from a 1894 article that was reprinted over and over again in newspapers across the nation for at least the next TWO YEARS. This article was about a pair of mud mermaids that had made their home along the Ohio River in the Vevay, Indiana area. 

Originally appearing in the Cincinnati Enquirer, the article explains that for at least four years, a pair of amphibious humanoids lived on a sandbar in the Ohio River. The sandbar was full of 'snags,' or logs and stumps placed there by snag boats trying to keep the channel clear. When the water was high enough to cover these snags is when the two creatures, presumably male and female, were said to frolic in the area. When the water was low, evidence of their carnivorous diet became apparent, as the sandbar was littered with mussel shells and the bones of fish and other small animals. They, on the other hand, retreated into an unknown lair elsewhere. 

The first sighting of the Vevay Mud Mermaids is cited as being around 1890 when a fisherman who had no idea what a mermaid was gave a description of what he saw that to others, sounded pretty much like a mermaid. It wasn't until the following year that we get the best description of the creatures. 

William Henry Johnson
Displayed by P.T. Barnum as Zip the Pinhead

Captain J.M. Ozier of Covington, KY was in charge of a traveling art exhibit and was in town to set up a showing. He heard of the mud mermaids and was determined to catch a glimpse for himself. He was granted his wish when he was able to observe the male from about 20 feet away. He sat on the bank of the river and managed to sketch the creature's features.

The merman was about 5 feet long and weighed approximately 150 pounds. He was yellowish in color, and had coarse, straggly chestnut-colored hair down his back, but his head was bald. He had four 'legs,' with the upper extremities resembling human arms, ending in claws. It didn't have a tail like what we'd normally associate with a mermaid---between its back legs it had a tapering point, almost like an alligator tail. 

Despite being bald with pointed ears like a dog, the head was said to be the most human-like feature. The timid creature is described as having no intelligence within its facial features, and the article in question even goes on to compare it to Zip, a popular 'freak' in P.T. Barnum's sideshow. Zip was an African-American man who suffered from microcephaly (commonly referred to as a pinhead during that time) who was dressed up in a fur suit and exhibited as a missing link. 

As a sidenote to these sightings, I was reminded of an article I came across when I was researching the Naomi Johnson incident. I found a newspaper article from 1903 describing a terrifying near-abduction. The family of Frank Sedler was camping along the Kentucky side of the Ohio River across from Lawrenceburg, Indiana. In the night, Frank heard screaming coming from his children's tent. He jumped up in time to see a half-human, half beast clutching his one-year old and making its way to the river. His shouting startled the creature, who luckily dropped the child before jumping into the river and swimming away. Sedler gave the opinion that it was a baboon that had escaped from a riverboat. Lawrenceburg is about 227 miles away from Vevay, and this incident happened 9 years after the infamous newspaper article brought the attention of the mud mermaids to a national audience. Still, I can't help but notice a few similarities. Anyway...

Are the Vevay Mud Mermaids a missing link in their own right, or are they the victims of mistaken identity? Or, was the whole thing just a story?

Sources and Further Reading:

The Mysterious Mud Mermaids of Vevay: Indiana's Hidden Cryptids (YouTube/Uncle Perry)

Talking With Shadows Episode 106: Indiana Mud Mermaid (YouTube/One Candle Society)

The Courier-Journal
24 July 1903

21 November 1894
The Bucyrus Evening Telegraph

The Ohio River Octo-Man

Monster Hunters!
14 February 1959
The Cincinnati Enquirer

I think we've well established that the Ohio River is one weird waterway. From the Parkersburg Sea Serpent of 1893 to the Evansville Green-Clawed Monster of 1955 (and so, so many other incidents), there doesn't seem to be a stretch of the river that doesn't have some type of strange story associated with it. In January of 1959, it was the greater Cincinnati region's turn to experience some aquatic high strangeness.

But it wasn't just the Ohio River. Cincinnati is where the Ohio, the Little Miami, and the Licking River all come together, essentially making it an ideal spot for someone...or someTHING...to travel great distances, mostly undetected. Except in this case, the Octo-Man WAS detected. 

The calls began flooding local police stations in the early hours of Friday, January 30th. The first was from a man four miles outside of the town of New Richmond. This unnamed gentleman called the police to report something indescribable emerging out of the Ohio River. The police did nothing. 

However, when a truck driver en route to Indianapolis called in a short time later saying that HE had also seen something, the reports were taken seriously. The truck driver, calling from a Kellog service station near the Little Miami claims that he was on Ohio 125 when he also saw something climb out of the river that was indescribable and unlike anything he had ever seen before. Police sent out several cars who searched in vain throughout the early morning hours. 

Reports continued to come in to multiple agencies throughout Friday morning. A "scientist working on things out of this world" allegedly saw the creature and gave us the first real description of the previously indescribable monster. He claims that as he was driving across the Licking River, the beast leaped onto the bridge. It was bipedal and large---two or three times the size of a human in its bulk, standing higher than his automobile. He notes it definitely wasn't a cat or dog. 

A further description came from a young lady who had her own encounter with the creature near the Ft. Thomas pumping station. She saw the creature emerge in and out of a creek leading into the Ohio River. In her words, it was 'like an octopus.' Thus, the moniker of the Ohio River Octo-Man was born. 

Although newspaper articles of the time didn't elaborate on this particular sighting, additional details would surface in 1978 when Dennis Pilchis, a ufologist and Bigfoot researcher, published a booklet called Bigfoot: Tales of Unexplained Creatures. The booklet goes on to say that the young woman witness actually saw the creature bent over. She said it was grayish in color, had a lopsided chest, ugly tentacles, and rolls of fat running horizontally over its bald head. 

That sounds absolutely hideous! I'm not sure what that could be, but it certainly doesn't sound like the 'official' explanation given by officials at the time. 

So, while all these reports were coming in during the wee hours of Friday morning, there was another unsettling piece to the puzzle. All the streetlights along Kellog Avenue between Coney Island and Lunken Airport went out. With the streetlights being out and reports of a strange creature being reported multiple times, the first working theory was that a vehicle had crashed along Kellog Avenue, taking out a power pole and ending up in or around the water, with the driver and/or passenger emerging from the wreck covered in mud. But, after patrol cars spent several hours in the area, finding nothing, another theory was presented. 

During this time, the Cincinnati area was receiving wind gusts of up to 40 mph. Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company reported that the strong winds blew a connection on a feeder circuit, causing the lights to go out. Further, swaying trees and logs bobbing down the churning river, all framed by the uncanny darkness led to the belief that one was seeing something...indescribable. 

Whatever the Octo-Man was or wasn't, he had apparently moved on. Reports waned and by Saturday, there were no longer any reports of a bipedal, tentacled monster roaming the Cincinnati region. 

Sources and Further Reading:

Indescribable Octo-Man, by Rob Morphy. Published 07 February 2015. Cryptopia

31 January 1959
The Cincinnati Enquirer

31 January 1959
The Cincinnati Post

30 January 1959
The Cincinnati Post

A Haunting on Wolf Creek

Whitlock Farmhouse
Source: WV Explorer

Just outside Fayetteville (WV) sits the old Whitlock Farm. It's bordered by Rt. 16 and Wolf Creek Road, the latter being a road that parallels the actual Wolf Creek. Wolf Creek is a tributary to the New River, offering several beautiful small falls along its path...as well as a history steeped in local lore. 

Throughout the 1800s, much of West Virginia was inhabited by wolves. Our mountains and rural terrain made the perfect home for these creatures, even when neighboring states were quickly eliminating their presence. As beautiful and majestic as we may see wolves today, during the 1800s they not only were a danger to humans traveling these hills and valleys alone, but they were a menace to local farmers. A lone wolf could ruin a small farm by picking off its livestock, one by one. 

Officially, the last wild wolf in West Virginia was killed in 1897 in Webster County. But that doesn't mean the spirit of these animals ever left.  Wolf Creek was so named for the abundance of living wolves in the area at one time, but now it has become associated with one ghost wolf.  People in the area tell stories of a misty white form that prowls the fields of Whitlock farm, often around the pond area. More often, the wolf flits in front of cars passing the bend in front of the old Whitlock farmhouse. 

Arrow pointing the assumed location
of the White Wolf sighting

A personal experience involving the ghostly white wolf was submitted and published to the WV Ghosts website by Brenda Calfee on July 12, 2019. About 25 years prior, Brenda and her boyfriend were driving home from a party and decided to pull off the road at a bend in front of the farmhouse for some alone time. Brenda admits that at the time, even though she was familiar with the stories of the white wolf, she was more worried about the potential of seeing a ghostly figure staring out the window of the farmhouse. 

The farmhouse ghost didn't show that night, but the white wolf did. 

The couple sat in the car with the headlights off. In the pitch dark, Brenda noticed a white form slowly circling the car, and movement in the nearby tall grass. At first, she thought it was an illusion, caused by the dark, and further, her boyfriend hadn't seen anything. However, after telling him to be quiet and listen for a minute, an unearthly howl was heard, and the creature was directly in front of Brenda's door! She could see its eyes looking at them but was paralyzed in fear. 

Her boyfriend managed to come to his senses, start the car, and scream out of the area. They didn't stop until they were a mile away. 

But why would a ghost haunt a farm? It's possible that the animal was killed by a farmer, as so many other wolves were, and its spirit is somehow trapped in the area where it took its last breath. It may be a guardian spirit of some sort, watching over the old farm, or even the general Wolf Creek area as a reminder of man's impact on nature. Wolves once ruled the area before settlers encroached upon their land, slaughtering them by the hundreds. Or maybe...it really is just a trick of the eye. I'll let you decide!

In 2016, the abandoned farm property was purchased and is now the home of New Roots Community Farm. No word yet on if the ghost(s) has been seen in recent years. If you have any additional stories or information, I'd love to hear them. 

Sources and Further Reading:

The White Wolf of Whitlock Farm, by Brenda Calfee (WVGhosts.com)

Ben Gustafson and Danille Elise Christensen. "New Roots Community Farm." Clio: Your Guide to History. December 10, 2022. Accessed August 1, 2026. https://theclio.com/entry/159657