Historical Haunts of Blue Jay

 

Blue Jay Logging Company (c. 1910)
Source

In southeastern Raleigh County, the lumber and mining community known as Blue Jay was a thriving community. In 1903, a Mr. Billinger, accompanied by Frank Hayes, both of Pennsylvania, packed up and made the trek into West Virginia to establish the Blue Jay Lumber Company on land purchased from P.C. Lynch, C.L. Goodwin, and P.P. Griffin. 

Loaded down with the Billinger family, four drivers, 13 horse-drawn wagons, and enough household goods and supplies to set up the business and a small town, the trip took 13 days (wow, 13 coming up at least twice, lol...). By its peak in 1921, Blue Jay had 300 families and also operated a coal mine. Unfortunately, like with many logging and mining operations, accidents were rather common, and simply just a part of life. 

So obviously, the area is surely to have a haunted reputation! In the April 17, 1965, edition of the Beckley Post Herald, historian and columnist Shirley Donnelly writes about being taken on a drive through the former community of Blue Jay. Bill Harris, who was born in Blue Jay, was eager to point out some of the creepier legends. 

Lily Family of Blue Jay, WV
Source: WV History on View

In the first tale, Bill points out a location just past the newly built Baptist Church where for decades, travelers, especially young boys, were terrified to tread. On dark, moonless nights, those passing through would hear the phantom sounds associated with a logging operation. The clanking of heavy log chains was accompanied by the thud of rolling logs. These remnants of a time gone by were a ghostly echo of what was once a normal experience. 

Bill then took Shirley to a spot where long ago, a house once stood. According to legend, a young family lived in this home, but weren't there long before the baby mysteriously disappeared, and the couple packed up and left, not leaving a forwarding address. 

It wasn't long before those living in the area reported a horrifying phenomenon. The sounds of a baby crying were observed, but not just the typical cries you'd expect from an infant. It would start with a loud scream, almost like a child being tortured. A second scream would follow, but this one was almost like a scream of waning strength. Finally, a weakened, moaning cry was heard.   People put two and two together and the legend that a child was murdered and now haunted the area was born. 

Logging in the Blue Jay Area
Source: WV History on View

Sources and Further Reading:

Home Sweet Home: Blue Jay, West Virginia: Goldenseal Article Preview by Janetta Crawford

Coal Camp USA

Beckley Post-Herald
17 April 1965

School Spirit at Shady Spring

Back in December of 1953, the Beckley Post-Herald ran a rather interesting article, written by Bill Childress of the Shady Spring High School newspaper, the Panorama. In what they called a 'publicity stunt,' Bill, accompanied by two other members of the school newspaper (editor Jack Wills and sports editor Robert Cole) spent an entire night, locked in the dark and empty school. Their mission---to record evidence of the Shady Spring school spirit.

Built in 1924, the original Shady Spring High School was referred to as 'the Shoe Box on the Hill.' Over the years, the school would go through various enlargement and improvement projects. It would also pick up a reputation for being haunted. It was noted that visitors to the school after dark would hear strange noises. 'Several reputable persons,' as quoted in the article, reported hearing both phantom whistling and footsteps within the hallowed halls. 

On a windy, rainy night in December, the three young men went spook-hunting, armed with nothing more than a tape cassette recorder, intent on capturing these ghostly sounds. After several unsuccessful attempts at capturing anything paranormal on tape, by midnight, the three decided to go ahead and make their efforts thrilling to their fellow students by creating some ghostly sounds of their own to be played back later. Interestingly enough, shortly after they faked their own phantom sounds, the boys DID experience a tapping sound that they could not debunk. 

A full night's effort was put into the investigation, lasting until classes began the next morning. Unfortunately, aside from the unexplained tapping sound, no other ghostly experiences were reported or recorded. The article doesn't state the opinion of the school principal, John Saunders, concerning this little foray into ghost hunting, but he must have been an awfully cool guy. I can't think of too many school principals who would approve of such an adventure! As a side note, I found an article from March 1953 stating that money would no longer be kept overnight in the school safe, as the school had been robbed 5 times in the last three years, the safe being targeted each time! I wonder if that had anything to do with the phantom noises heard at night...or the decision to let these boys come in and investigate.  Anyway....

School of Harmony

The Shoe Box on the Hill would serve as Shady Spring High until the 1966-67 school year, when a new school would be built. The Shoe Box would serve as an area junior high for several decades, before finally becoming home to The School of Harmony, teaching music to young children. No word on whether or not those ghostly footsteps and whistling are still heard to this day...but at least a whistling ghost would fit right in at a music school, right?  

Information for today's blog came from the 17 December 1953 Beckley Post-Herald article, written by Bill Childress. Additional information and photos came from the wonderful Facebook group, Our Southern WV Roots, posted by Joe Green. Stay spooky, y'all! 

The Ghost Dog of Peach Tree

Brindle Plott Dog
Photo by Mary Bloom

In his 1975/2008 book, Witches, Ghosts and Signs, Patrick Gainer shares an interesting story told by 'Uncle' Bud Workman. The story comes from Peach Tree, a small mining community in Raleigh County, West Virginia, and deals with what locals believed to be a ghostly dog.

The event takes place over a three-week span in 1880. A very large brindle-colored dog suddenly showed up in town, only being seen by the townspeople after dark. Although it was said this dog approached a local house where its very presence sent the owners' dogs (noted as being the meanest in town) running to hide with their tails tucked between their legs, it was never know to show any aggression towards humans. Still, since no one knew where the dog had come from and why it only appeared at night, the townspeople were fairly well spooked. Most everyone avoided going out at night for fear of running into the ghost dog. 

However, some were brave enough to actually try to confront the dog. One person tried to throw rocks at it, but the rocks went right through it. A local preacher took things a step further at fired five shots at the dog from close range. The bullets didn't touch the dog, nor did it seem bothered by this attempted murder. 

Luckily for the people of Peach Tree, sightings of the phantom canine only lasted about three weeks. Then, the dog disappeared as quickly and mysteriously as it had appeared.  Never again did the phantom dog bother the people of that small Raleigh County community. 

I find this story really interesting because when you think of ghost dogs and supernatural dogs and superstitions surrounding dogs, rarely does a brindle-colored dog appear. Generally, black dogs (especially here in Appalachia) and occasionally white dogs are the subject of such rumors. There are also some elements of this story that are reminiscent of a similar tale from nearby Wyoming County, where a 'witch dog' was said to frighten passersby, and was even shot at to no avail.  Anyway, I'm glad no one was hurt in this telling of the tale, including the dog.  Please see the links below for more spooky tales of phantom dogs here on Theresa's Haunted History!

Witch of Wyoming County

Pt. Pleasant's Phantom Black Dog

Beckley's Shape-Shifting Ghost

This newspaper story was published in the February 25, 1889 edition of the Wheeling Intelligencer. The story originally came from the Raleigh County Index, a short-lived weekly newspaper out of Beckley, WV. It was only published between 1880 and 1893. I found this copy on my current favorite website, Chronicling America! 

Transcript: The Raleigh County Index gives the following ghost story: For some time past some of our townsmen and citizens of the vicinity have been alarmed at the sight of a ghost that makes its appearance at a coal bank about two miles from the village. Sometimes the apparition assumes the shape of a man's head with eyes as large as a saucer, while at others it is pleased to masquerade as a young female, so unlike the balance of the feminine persuasion that it refuses to speak even when addressed. A crowd recently went to the coal bank, determined to make the personal acquaintance of this supernatural being, but spooks never appearing to a multitude, they were, of course, disappointed.