How Old Woman's Run Got Its Name

Elk Hotel
Photo by Theresa ca 2017

2017 is the year I really started getting acquainted with the spooky little town of Sutton, West Virginia. One such trip led me to the end of the downtown district to check out the Elk Hotel, then known as Cafe Cimino. The beautiful historic home (which I'll be posting about in a different blog post!) sits at the confluence of the Elk River and a small creek and accompanying road named Old Woman's Run. 

At the time, I was intrigued with the odd name and even remarked to my partner that I bet there was a cool story behind it. And there was. It would just take me quite a while to find it and even longer to write about it.

The answer was waiting within the pages of The History of Braxton County and Central West Virginia, by John Sutton, grandson of the town founder. (You can read it for free at Internet Archive) It was published in 1919 and on page 40, tells exactly how Old Woman's Run came to be. 

During the early days of white settlement in the area, the area between Old Woman's Run and Granny Creek was filled with laurels, rocky cliffs, and dens. A large female bear roamed this area for years, giving birth to several litters of cubs. The she-bear wasn't seen for several years, but hunters in the area knew she was around by the extremely large tracks she would leave behind. It was these hunters who named the bear "Old Woman" and the creek near her stomping grounds, Old Woman's Run. 

The book goes on to mention that Old Woman was finally killed by hunters in the area where Moman Rhea lived. Although the book doesn't specify where exactly Rhea lived, it does give a little blurb about him later on. Rhea was one of the very few people of color in the entire county at the time the book was written. He was a former enslaved person, who, after his bondage had acquired quite a bit of land and become a progressive farmer known for his acts of kindness. 

To be honest, I'm kind of sad that the Old Woman of this story is simply a bear and not related to some ghostly apparition of an elderly woman haunting the hillside. However, this bear was described as being quite large and leaving behind large tracks. The book even notes that people of the area had always had issues raising pigs and lambs. What else leaves big tracks and steals livestock? Some may say Bigfoot. Interestingly enough, there are tales of just such a creature!

Reports of a possible Bigfoot have lasted up through modern day in the area of Sutton Lake....right near this confluence of the Elk River and Old Woman's Run Creek. These reports date back to at least 1919 when an interesting newspaper article about a wild man was published in the Evening Telegram out of Lakeland, Florida. The article reads:

Return of Wild Man Revives Old Terrors

Flatwoods, W. Va. – The belief that a wild man is still lurking in this vicinity, stealing and killing children and young pigs, is stronger than ever just now. A story related by Luther C. Douglas has dispelled all hopes that the terrible creature had fled to other localities. Douglas’ story follows:

“I was on my way home from lodge meeting,” said Douglas, “when I heard a noise near Ed Wiley’s barn, which is close to the road. I thought it might be a dog and paid little attention to it at first. Then, as I was passing a vacant house a short distance from Ed’s place, I heard a distant door slam and a wild-looking fellow, in rags and with long hair and beard that others who have seen him have described, came rushing out of the front door of the old house, brandishing a huge knotted club and uttering the most horrifying sounds I ever have heard.

“Being convinced by his actions that I was to be assaulted and possibly killed, I drew my revolver and took two shots at him. With this he turned and fled, screaming louder than ever. I didn’t pursue him. Not me. It would take a braver man than I profess to be to go on the trail of that horrible creature.”

The authorities are again agitating the question of taking some means to capture the much-feared lunatic, or whatever he is.

Obviously, whatever or whomever was stealing children and pigs in 1919 was described as being more human (even wearing some type of clothing and brandishing a weapon) than a she-bear, it gives one pause as to what exactly was going on in the little town of Sutton, so close to Flatwoods. 

Evening Telegram (Lakeland Florida)
08 March 1919

A Woman in White at the Haunted Elk Hostel

The Elk Hostel in Sutton
Source: Elk Hostel FaceBook

As many people in the paranormal community are discovering, the little town of Sutton, WV, located in the central part of the state, has quickly become a can't-miss paranormal tourist destination. Sutton is home to both the Flatwoods Monster Museum and the West Virginia Bigfoot Museum. It's home to one of SRI's favorite haunted locations, a charming Victorian home known as the William Edgar Haymond House, which can be rented out overnight for paranormal investigations or simply as a cool, spooky place to stay the night. Several festivals are held throughout the year celebrating the area's unique contributions to the world of paranormal research, and there are plenty of local businesses and attractions celebrating the town's history and its lore. 

However, there's one location in Sutton that has a long reputation of being haunted, but surprisingly doesn't get as much attention. It's a historic building where you can stay the night when you're in town, and has been the filming site of several interesting movie projects. This building is the Elk Hostel, which can be found right downtown at 200 Main Street. 

Before it was the Elk Hostel, the old building started as The Elk Hotel. Construction of the hotel was completed and it was ready for guests by April of 1894. However, the Sutton Hotel Company, which was behind the project, was formed on June 6, 1891. J.S. Hyer, a local politician and businessman, was a member of this committee, and would ultimately become the first official owner of the hotel, which was occasionally referred to as The Elk House. 

Elk Hotel prior to 1910
Source: Clio

By 1909, the Home National Bank was incorporated and moved into the bottom floor of the Elk Hotel. The following year, the hotel underwent some renovations. The outside facade was covered in a stucco, scored to imitate stone blocks. The corner entrance into the bank lobby and the Doric columns adorning this section were also added. 

Over the years, the hotel changed owners and management several times, and even became known under the ownership of Mr. and Mrs. Lester Gerwig as The Midway Hotel, because it had become a midway stop on the WV Bus Company's route. Space in the building was used as a bank, a general store, a billiards hall, and even a restaurant before the building finally was abandoned. It sat abandoned for 20 years until it was purchased by Kevin Carpenter around 1999. Kevin began the process of restoring the hotel, and opened it up as a cool little place to stay in downtown. 

But during those 20 years when the old hotel sat abandoned, it might not have been as empty as it appeared. On October 31, 2003 NPR published a wonderful little Halloween ghost story piece with reporter, Erika Celeste, talking about the alleged hauntings of the Elk Hotel/Hostel. Weird sounds, doors slamming shut, misty apparitions, and strange feelings were all experienced after Kevin purchased the building. However, two witnesses came forth and claimed that they saw something...

Lobby of the Home National Bank
Source: Sutton, West Virginia, Looking 
Back Again, by Craig A. Smith

Colleen Dickerson worked across the street from the Elk Hostel and she reports that one night about 2am, she happened to glance at one of the windows of the then-abandoned building. Knowing the building should be empty, she was shocked to see a young woman with long, blonde hair wearing an old fashioned white blouse looking out. 

Janet Butler possibly saw the same ghostly woman. She saw the apparition of a woman, possibly holding a candle as it was bathed in a dim light, looking out from the hotel's enclosed balcony. But who was this woman?

The NPR recording goes on to state that there was some historical precedence for why the Elk may be haunted by this woman and several others. To begin with, it was stated that downtown Sutton was once home to an Adena Burial Mound, which was leveled by early settlers to make room for the town. Further, there were some deaths associated with the Elk Hotel, including a story about a guest who went missing, only to be found a short distance away. He was deceased and his body was being eaten by pigs. Another story tells of a mother who took her own life at the hotel shortly after losing her child to a fever. Could this mother be the phantom woman seen by both Janet and Colleen?

As with many projects, research into this location is on-going, and I'm hoping to find some documentation of the deaths mentioned above, as well as get to finally tour the site for myself! I'll update as needed, but until then, if you have had any experiences yourself at the Elk Hostel or anywhere else around Sutton, I'd love to hear from you! Please share your story in the comments below, or find me over on Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State FaceBook. And as always...happy haunting! 

For further reading and information:

Elk Hostel FaceBook Page

Info on the Elk Hostel from the Braxton County WV website

NPR Interview with Erika Celeste

Downtown Sutton Historic District Nomination for National Register of Historic Places