The Haunted History of Coalfield Manor

 

Coalfield Manor
McGraw-Worrell Building (Mullens, WV)

Coalfield Manor is southern West Virginia's newest paranormal investigation destination! Located in the McGraw-Worrell Building at 102 Moran Avenue in downtown Mullens, Coalfield Manor dates back to 1918 and has functioned as a department store and most recently....a funeral home! Please see Coalfield Manor on Facebook for more information on this fascinating location and for updates on how YOU can explore its mysteries for yourself. 

At the confluence of the Guyandotte River and Slab Fork Creek in Wyoming County, WV sits the town of Mullens. Mullens was named after A.J. Mullins, who owned quite a bit of land where the town now sits and built his first cabin around the area of First Street and the (former) Guyandotte Avenue (now Moran Avenue) around 1898. On September 17, 1912, the town was officially incorporated as Mullens---someone forgot to dot the 'i' in Mullins, and it was interpreted as being an 'e'. In February of 1929, Mullens was upgraded to city status. Along the way, the Virginian Railway completed a terminal in Mullens (1909), and the timber and coal industries popped up and thrived in the surrounding areas. Mullens became a bustling place of business and residence in the southern WV coalfields. 

Unfortunately, Mullens was no stranger to tragedy. While the town thrived overall for quite a number of years, it was forced to persevere through some tough times. On Tuesday December 11, 1917, a massive fire completely destroyed Mullens business district. The fire began around noon in the apartment of the Jackson family, located above the 5 and 10 Store. This store was located extremely close to where Coalfield Manor now sits. Coalfield Manor is attached to the Bank of Mullens building, which is on the corner of First Street and Moran Avenue (formerly Guyandotte Avenue, and the approximate location of the Mullins cabin. The 5 and 10 Store was located halfway between the Bank of Mullens and the Dunman Hotel, putting it right around the corner from the current Coalfield Manor. 

Mullens ca 1914
The two-story building to the right of the corner building
is where Coalfield Manor now sits.
Source: WV History on View

This fire caused an estimated $500,000-$750,000 in damages and left 75 families (most of whom lived in apartments above the storefronts) homeless. It also resulted in the loss of one life. The 6-month-old son of Bertha Jackson, who was living above the 5 and 10 Store with her parents, was killed in the fire. According to one newspaper, the baby's body was completely cremated in the fire, leaving no remains behind. However, another newspaper article claimed the baby died of exposure---which is possible as 6 inches of snow fell that evening, complicating efforts to fight the fire.

Before the fire, there was a building on the site, which some sources list as possibly being a pharmacy/drug store. That building, which was also a wooden frame structure, was destroyed in the fire and replaced between 1918 and 1919 with the current McGraw-Worrell Building. Presumably built as a department store, the McGraw-Worrell Building was named for land developer, H.G. McGraw and attorney, Grover Worrell. 

1922 Sanborn Fire Map Detail
The McGraw-Worrell Building is the attached
pink structure pictured above the brown bank building.

The McGraw-Worrell building makes up a huge chunk of what is now the home of Coalfield Manor. However, the property is a mash-up of several buildings, constructed and renovated several times over the years. Additional fires and flooding have destroyed historical records, and the moving and renaming of several businesses and streets around town have made it a little unclear as to a complete history of the property at this time (don't worry---I'm still working on it!). We do know, however, that beginning in 1961, the property was used as the Sam Foglesong Funeral Home. The company did extensive renovations to the property, adding in the chapel, music room, operating room, etc. At one point, a third-floor apartment was also added to the property.

Following the Foglesong Funeral Home, the Tankersley Funeral Home would take up operations at the property, closing in May of 2024. Luckily for the paranormal community, the property would not sit abandoned for too long. While on a quest to find a rather spooky location, Heather Wheeler came across the listing for this former funeral home. At first, her husband Bob didn't seem super interested in the property, but after looking at several other options and weighing the benefits of the Mullens property, the couple decided to come to WV to take a look at it. Although their primary residence is out of state, the couple were familiar with the area and its potential. On a trip over Thanksgiving break, they toured the property and put in a bid. By January of 2025, they were the proud owners of a former funeral home, with plans on incorporating the building both as a future residence upon retirement, and as a hub of southern West Virginia tourism---including our state's spooky tourism!

Bank of Mullens with Coalfield Manor to the Right

After a winter and spring full of cleaning, renovating, and furnishing the property, Coalfield Manor opened to the public for paranormal investigation. Offering both public and private options, the Wheelers have cultivated a fantastic opportunity for the paranormal community---which is already yielding some spooky results!  According to a psychic friend of the owners who visited, the location has a few regular ghosties that hang out...but the property is also full of transient spirits who seem to stop by, make themselves known, then move on for whatever reason. As Mullens was a railroad town, this seems to fit in with its history of people constantly coming and going, with lives lived and lives ended. With so many fires, coal/timber tragedies, train-related incidents, floods, buildings being torn down and destroyed, and a HUGE number of traffic accidents in the area, it's easy to see where Coalfield Manor could easily become a place of gathering for those on their journey into the unknown. In many ways, the property has stayed the same for over 100 years, but at the same time, has seen so much change. Further, Coalfield Manor is surrounded on three sides by either water or train tracks, causing almost a 'trapping' effect.

And, with over 60 years as being a funeral home, the property WAS a gathering place for the town. It was a place where they came together to celebrate the lives and mourn the loss of friends and loved ones. That type of emotion is sure to leave an imprint on a location. There may even be a ghost or two attached not to the property, but an object within it. There were many items from the funeral home left on the property, including embalming equipment and caskets. In order to pay homage to that history, the owners have brought in additional funerary antiques to furnish the space. There's even a casket that visitors can 'test drive' for themselves while there! So, with that all in mind, this place has all the makings of being a haunted hot spot. But what type of activity has actually been reported?

Battery drain and equipment malfunction, especially in the area of the main viewing room is common. Members of Appalachian Ghost Tours experienced our own issues with batteries dying prematurely in the embalming area. 

The main viewing area. This room is known for
battery drainage and equipment malfunction.

Apparitions have also been seen...mostly. Earlier this year, a visitor to the property was on her phone, sitting in the main foyer when what appeared to be a man walked by. She scooted over a bit to let him by and looked up to realize that she couldn't see anything above his waist. All she saw was the man's shoes and slacks. In an odd addendum to this experience, the next day, an elderly visitor was in the same area when suddenly she pointed straight ahead and said she saw a man. When asked about his shoes and pants (to see if he was the same guy seen on the previous day) she stated that she could only see him from the waist UP. Why this guy chose to reveal his top half to one woman and his bottom half to another is one of those mysteries that keep me in this field!

Unfortunately, I didn't see either half of this dude during AGT's preliminary investigation, but I DID see what I thought was a woman's white skirt on the staircase a few times, as if she was at the top of the stairs, watching us. And it does seem that there is a female entity on the property as well. This female entity seems to connect with mothers, or those with a maternal instinct and we certainly got a ton of spirit box communication mentioning various aspects of motherhood. 

This woman may or may not be named Evelyn, a name that has come across for the owners and visitors several times, although always in a male voice. Aside from that clue, and a few other names that tend to pop up with varying degrees of frequency, we're not really sure the identity of any of the resident spirits quite yet. Hopefully, as the building is researched and investigated more, these answers will become clearer. 

Christy 'test drives' the embalming table.
We experienced equipment malfunction and battery
drain in this room. Christy was also touched on the neck.

As stated before, there are a variety of investigation opportunities available during the summer months at Coalfield Manor. Private overnights are available from either 6p-12a, or 6p-8a. There are also various public events which are shorter, but come with the education and guidance of experienced paranormal investigators to lead you through your experience. And, if you're reading this before August 23, 2025:

Appalachian Ghost Tours will be leading an investigation from 7pm to 12am on Saturday, August 23rd! Come join us for an exciting evening of food, fun, and hopefully ghosts! The price of admission gets you a fabulous potluck-style dinner in addition to your investigation. Bring your own equipment or borrow ours---we'll teach you how to use it, guide you through the process, and give you plenty of time to check out the behind-the-scenes areas of a former funeral home. A portion of the proceeds directly goes to benefit Coalfield Manor and to hopefully keep it flourishing as one of West Virginia's newest paranormal tourism destinations. Come hang out with AGT and help support this cool location owned by two of the coolest, nicest, most dedicated people you'll meet. (Facebook Event Page for more info!)

Sources and Further Reading: 

Coalfield Manor (Web Site) (Facebook) (YouTube)

Paranormal Musings Podcast with Heather Wheeler of Coalfield Manor (YouTube)

WOAY TV Interview with Heather Wheeler (YouTube)

History of Mullens (Abandoned Online)

Mullens Historic District (National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form)

The Independent-Herald (Hinton, WV)
13 December 1917

The Raleigh Register
13 December 1917

The Independent-Herald (Hinton, WV)
20 December 1917

The Independent-Herald (Hinton, WV)
30 December 1920

The Raleigh Register
16 June 1961

Beckley Post-Herald
02 August 1975

Food Among the Flowers: A Haunted History of a Former Funeral Home

Food Among the Flowers
formerly Bartlett-Burdette-Cox Funeral Home

Several months ago, Spectral Research and Investigation was approached by April of The Charleston Ghost Tour Company to help investigate a 'virgin' location---a location right here in Charleston, West Virginia that had never before been investigated. Of course, we jumped at the chance, and made arrangements to meet with April, Gerry, and several other members of his staff to work out the logistics of a full-scale overnight investigation.

Walking into the location, I was already enthralled. From the outside, its a beautiful old building, and it's big, but I don't think you can really appreciate just HOW big until you really start to explore the maze of corridors and rooms that make up the two stories plus basement. Built on the west side of Charleston (Elk City District area) around 1930, the building began its life as Bartlett's Funeral Home, later to be known as Bartlett-Burdette-Cox Funeral Home. Currently, the location is home to Food Among the Flowers, a florist and event planning/catering business. 

I have to give a shout out to Gerry and the rest of the staff at Food Among the Flowers. This is an awesome local business. If you're planning a wedding, a graduation, or any other big event that needs food, flowers, or any other type of similar service, give them a call! If you need a beautiful bouquet of flowers sent to a loved one for any occasion, give them a call! If you'd like your home or business professionally decorated for the holidays, they can do that, too.  They do beautiful, professional work, and are just awesome people to boot. Plus, their showroom is just a really cool place to browse. Sprinkled among the tasteful silk floral arrangements and upscale lawn and home goods are hilarious, cheeky little gifts that are perfect for family and friends...or as a special treat just for you. Anyway....

From that initial meeting, we knew this location had a lot of potential. In fact, as we were standing around talking, we heard the distinct, disembodied sound of phantom keys jingling down an empty back hallway! We learned that we weren't the only ones that had heard that, or similar sounds. Footsteps, items shifting, jingling sounds, were common, as were other minor occurrences such as two swivel chairs in the main first floor work area rotating on their own and stopping like they were facing the person talking. There was also some talk about the sound system being played with, as if the potential spirits in the buildings didn't quite care for certain choices of music.

The elevator that always took one employee to the basement,
whether or not that's where she wanted to go or not!
To the right is the shelf where Baby Grace's body was
said to have awaited burial for so many years.

Overall, the activity described was not mean, scary, or malevolent in any way, although it could be a bit unnerving at times. We were told that one member of the staff hated using the elevator because even though she'd push the UP button to go to the second floor, it'd inevitably take her down to the dark, creepy basement where the old body storage units were found. Activity seemed to peak when the staff was staying late, and seemed more concentrated on the right side of the building where the living quarters/apartment section is located. It was described almost as if someone was watching them and knew that it was past hours, and therefore, time to be heading on out for the evening. 

As stated, this location WAS a funeral home from around 1930 all the way up until 2016 and I think the first inclination for some people is that, wow...that's creepy. OF COURSE A FUNERAL HOME WOULD BE HAUNTED! But would it be? According to ghost lore, most ghosts tend to haunt places that meant something to them, such as where they lived or where they died, or even where they spent a lot of time (such as places they worked, or places they really enjoyed visiting in life). Why would they want to stick around with their bodies? There are a couple of theories that say its possible that the soul would stay with the body for a set period of time, or perhaps indefinitely if it had nowhere else to go...so what type of ghosts could possibly be haunting THIS location? That's what SRI, joined with Charleston Ghost Tour Company and Mountaineer Paranormal set out to find during our investigation in late May. 

And one of the first stories we concentrated our research and investigation on was the tragic tale of Baby Grace. As the story goes, some time around the 1950s or so, the body of a baby girl was left on the steps of the funeral home. There was nothing left with the body to identify who the little girl was, or who her family had been. As with any other unclaimed body, the funeral home processed her as normal...but there was one difference. Generally, when an unclaimed body was brought into an area funeral home, it was processed by that funeral home and sent for burial at Charleston's Spring Hill Cemetery, which had a 'pauper's cemetery' section laid out for indigent individuals. For whatever reason, this baby girl's body was embalmed, laid out in a little coffin, and put upon a high shelf in the basement. 

Bruce Bartlett, original owner and founder
of Bartlett-Burdette-Cox Funeral Home

There she stayed, on a wooden shelf, right by the staircase, until 1996, when John 'Sonny' Cox, the owner, sold the business to Stewart Enterprises (which later became Service Corporation International). Cox stayed on as the funeral director, but under the business' new ownership, the staff was told that Baby Grace, as the little infant was now known, would finally need to be laid to rest. Supposedly, it was now time for her to take her place among the other unknowns in Spring Hill Cemetery. It's a heart-wrenching story, and those with knowledge of the tale are adamant that the story is exactly as described. Unfortunately from a documentation point of view...we just can't verify it. 

Sadly, there were a LOT of newborn babies found abandoned in the Charleston area, especially between the 1930's (onset of the Great Depression) and the 1960's (when most of the online records cease to be available). Going through the state archives, there are just pages after pages of unknown infants, many of them found thrown in the Elk River and the cause of death being hemorrhage due to the umbilical cord not being properly clamped. Several of these babies were brought in to Bartlett's, but the death certificates all state they were promptly buried in Spring Hill. There is no mention of any NOT being buried, or any actually being found on the steps of the funeral home itself. Nor is there any publicly available record of such a burial in or around 1996 at Spring Hill. So, although we cannot say the story didn't happen, we can't prove as of this writing that it did. 

This 2nd floor apartment wing was the site of much
activity during our investigation. Motion-activated 'cat balls'
continuously went off without any known source of provocation.

There's another unfortunate story connected to the funeral home, one that happened rather recently. In 2016, there was a mix up. Two women, passing away around the same time, were 'misidentified,' and the body of one ended up being shown at the funeral for the other. Despite protests from the family that the body in the casket was not who it was supposed to be, she was put in the grave meant for that other woman. The mix-up was finally acknowledged and proven, and of course the funeral home was sued by both families. That same year, Mr. Cox decided to retire as funeral director, so both factors inevitably led to the Bartlett-Burdette-Cox Funeral Home being shuttered for good. 

Those two cases by themselves could theoretically be fodder for some hauntings, but to do our due diligence, we have to look at ALL scenarios. Based on the feelings of the staff and the concentration of activity in the apartment area, could the ghosts of the building be from those who worked and/or lived there? To learn a little more about that, we had to take a look at just who owned the building. 

The land that now sits at 513 Tennessee Avenue was acquired by Bruce E. Bartlett in 1928 for the purpose of building a stately new funeral home. Bartlett had come from a family of funeral directors, and had been in business since 1918 on the East End of Charleston with a man named Boyle. The new West Side funeral home was finished around 1930, with Bartlett serving as funeral director until the early 1960's. He passed away in 1965, but his predecessor, Garnet Frank Burdette had already purchased the business...but not the building. The building actually remained in the Bartlett family until 1981 when John 'Sonny' Cox purchased the building. Cox had already been working there for years, and had purchased the business in 1976, right around the time Burdette passed away. These three owners/funeral directors were the main faces of Bartlett-Burdette-Cox, but they were joined by Harold Meadows, M.C. "Dugie" Tatum, and a host of other employees over the years.

Advertisement from 1974

Any number of these employees probably spent a great deal of time at the funeral home, working late into the wee hours of the morning, and probably spending more than a few overnights in the apartment wing of the building. It is interesting to note, however, that NONE of the buildings owners ever actually lived full time in the building with their families. Each owner maintained a separate private residence in another part of town. So, we speculate that the multiple bedrooms were either for those employees who were tasked with being 'on-call' or who had to work too late to make the drive home worth it...or perhaps as one newspaper ad from 1936 would suggest that those rooms were sometimes rented out to the public. There is a separate entrance on the side of the building which allows access to this section of the building. Could one of these former employees still be looking after the building that for so many years bore his name? It seems very possible, as throughout our evening the majority of the activity WE experienced on our investigation was concentrated on the second floor, especially in the area where the embalmings took place, and the hallway of the apartment wing. Most notably, we had quite a few odd noises picked up, and quite a few times where motion-activated 'cat balls' went off on their own. Personally, I felt extremely drawn to the stairway leading from the apartment wing to the outside exit, and as I was standing at the top of those stairs, our guest investigator who was conducting an Estes Method listening experiment stated that I should 'go down there.' 

Because of the experiences WE had, the potential evidence we caught, and the majority of activity reported by the clients, I feel inclined that there is a strong connection between the activity at Food Among the Flowers and the people associated with the daily operations of the funeral home. But, again we wouldn't be doing our due diligence if we didn't go back even another level...and take a look at the history of the location BEFORE the funeral home was even built. 

The pre-1930 West Side of Charleston was an interesting place. Prior to the Civil War, that entire area was home to several large plantations, including one named Edgewood owned by the James Carr family, and we do know that there was some minor troop movement probably directly through the area where the building now sits. Starting in the 1870s, however, is when the area begins to break up into individually owned plots of land, and the little town known as Elk City would be born. 

The crew prepares for our investigation!

In 1870, J.B. Walker moved to Charleston, West Virginia and began rapidly buying up land west of the Elk River, including land belonging to the James Carr family. He turned around and sectioned the land off, selling this particular plot to William Reveal in 1877. The land was in the Reveal family for ten years until it was sold to the James and Mary Cox family.  It was also owned by the Holians and the Higginbothams, before finally coming into possession into to Mr. Bartlett.  And, according to the Sanborn Fire Maps that are available, we know that at LEAST as far back as 1893, there was a private residence on the property--a two story wooden dwelling. Research is always an on-going endeavor, but as of this writing, I haven't found any significant events involving any of the families that owned the property previously that would make me suspect that we were in contact with them, or did we? Messages about a fire, or being burned kept coming through. Similar feelings of heat, or suffocation, or other things that could be associated with a fire kept popping up. What happened to that wooden dwelling? Was it simply torn down to make room for the new or was it destroyed by a fire at sometime between 1893 and 1912 when we have confirmation from available Sanborn maps that it stood on this corner? 

Spectral Research and Investigations has just begun to scratch the surface into this fascinating piece of Charleston's history, and we're hoping that we will have many more opportunities to come in and gather evidence and continue to compile historical documentation which will let us share the stories that have been hidden among its walls for 90 years. We've already had a wonderful opportunity this past weekend, to rejoin Charleston Ghost Tours and Mountaineer Paranormal, along with teaming up with Haunted Beckley and Amber's ParaWorld for a unique public event! Dining with the Departed: The Wake of Baby Grace offered patrons an eventful evening of delicious charcuterie, complimentary psychic readings, the premier of SRI's evidence compiled into a feature-length video, tours of the building, ghost stories, and of course, a chance to break into groups a do a little hands-on ghost hunting! 

If you missed out on that opportunity, don't worry...SRI's episode of Locked In: The Wake of Baby Grace at Food Among the Flowers, a film shot mostly by, and produced entirely by SRI videographer Kaysee Brabb, has officially been made public on our YouTube page! And...I wouldn't be too surprised if you see this location pop up as the venue for future public events. Stay spooky, everyone...and make sure you check out the links below to support the many people who pulled together to make this investigation and subsequent public event a reality. Stay spooky, ya'll. 

Links of Interest:

Food Among the Flowers Blog by Brian Clary, SRI Founder (SRI Official Website) (Facebook)

Locked In: Food Among the Flowers Video by Kaysee Brabb (SRI YouTube Channel)

Food Among the Flowers Blog by Austin Stanley, Mountaineer Paranormal (MP Website) (Facebook)

Food Among the Flowers

Charleston Ghost Tour Company (Facebook)

Haunted Beckley 

Amber's ParaWorld (YouTube Channel)

Sources: (Complete list coming soon!)

Glenwood Chronicles PowerPoint Presentation (PDF)

Elk City Historic District National Register Nomination Application (PDF)