'Bewitched' Man Adjudged Insane

 

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
22 May 1917

As someone who started her college career as a psychology major, the line between mental illness and the paranormal has always been a topic that has fascinated, but has also befuddled, me. While arguably there a many, many cases that would once be deemed the work of demons and/or spirits that can now be easily diagnosed and treated as a mental disorder, there are always the cases where the lines are blurred. Perhaps there are even cases where the lines overlap. And...in the most frightening scenario, perhaps there are even a few cases where a person was experiencing true paranormal activity, yet was deemed 'insane' by the medical community. 

Which one of these scenarios, if any, fit the tragic fate of Crew Hall, a middle-aged farmer from Mercer County, West Virginia.  In may of 1917, Mr. Hall was was committed to the state asylum in Spencer, WV after being adjudged insane by lunacy commission. What was the cause of this diagnosis? Well, Mr. Hall was convinced that he, along with his farm animals and farm equipment, were bewitched by neighbors. He nearly beat his horse to death, and sold a young heifer because he claimed that both animals were under a spell. He also claimed a spell affected the handles of his plow and axe, causing his to be unable to use them. At the time of being admitted to the hospital in Spencer, Hall was married with three daughters. The local newspaper that reported on the case mentions that three years prior, Mr. Hall had undergone similar delusions, but to a lesser extent. 

Entrance to Spencer State Hospital
Source: WV History on View 

Unfortunately, it seems as though Mr. Hall would never recover from this latest bout of delusions. On January 20, 1919, C.D. (Crews) Hall died within the walls of the Spencer State Hospital in Roane County. The cause of death was tuberculosis.  It would seem to the modern reader that Mr. Hall was simply another mentally ill patient, admitted to a state facility in a time where there weren't many options in the way of treatment for such issues. But COULD there be something deeper? COULD Mr. Hall have been telling the truth when he claimed that a neighbor bewitched him? 

A superstitious belief in witchcraft was prevalent in the county and surrounding areas, at least until the late 1930's. Back in April, I posted a blog sharing another old newspaper article which not only mentions that residents were still taking witch stories seriously, but told the tale of a young boy, years previously, who had been bewitched by a neighbor. In the boy's case, he refused to take any food or drink. Yet, when a certain neighbor visited, the boy would eat what the man would feed him. The father decided to get to the bottom of what was going on, and nailed a picture of the man to a tree. He then drove another nail straight through the head on the picture, and sure enough, the neighbor came down with a splitting headache, which didn't go away until the nail was removed. After that, the boy's appetite came back and he recovered his full health. 

Just out of sheer curiosity, I looked up the Hall family in the 1910 census, and found Cruse Hall (age 31), with his wife Virginia and infant son, living in Mercer County somewhere in the East River area. All this matches up. I've included a clip of his closest neighbors to each side, both of which who ran farms in the area. Obviously, no one had 'witch' or 'conjurer' listed under their profession, and no one on the whole census sheet really stood out as what would be considered an 'outsider' for that time period. I also just did a really quick, cursory newspaper archive search to see if there were any obvious legal troubles, property disputes, or so forth that were published in the papers, but didn't come up with anything. So yeah...was it just an unfortunate case of mental illness, or has history silenced an actual case of witchcraft in a small West Virginia community. 

1910 Census

Want MORE Articles on Witchcraft in West Virginia? 

Witchcraft in Bluefield, WV

The Witch of Hooker Hollow

The Tyler County Witch

The Cave Ghost

In 1812, Samuel Tanner and his wife, Sudna Carpenter Tanner, became Spencer's first permanent white settlers.  They made their first home under the cliffs where Spencer Middle School now stands, and that is allegedly where their daughter, Elizabeth, was born.  Elizabeth is credited with being the first white baby born in the area.

The Tanners weren't the only settlers to make use of this convenient natural phenomena, and many white and Indian families used the cliffs and caves throughout the area as either camping grounds, or temporary shelter until more permanent homes could be constructed.  This unique style of living would eventually lead to one of the area's most prolific ghost legends.

According to a story told to WVGhosts by Edward Hensley, one such cave-dwelling family lived in an area known as Steel Hollow Road.  A man, along with his wife and three children, made a cave there their home in the early days of Roane County's settlement.  As winter approached, the man left out on a hunting trip to ensure the family had enough food to last the winter.  While he was gone, the wife and the three children came down with a fever.  With the mother too ill to properly care for the sick children, the three wailed non-stop.  Finally, the mother, in her fever-induced state, gathered the strength to smother the children to death, one by one, in order to stop the constant crying.  The father came home from his hunting trip and found the mother, rocking her dead children, telling him to "Be quiet.  The children are sleeping."  Local legend dictates that due to this traumatic play of events, visitors to the area could hear the sounds of ghostly children crying in the area of the caves well into the 20th century.

The gentleman reporting this incident decided to see for himself whether the legends were true or not, and upon investigating the cave in question, DID witness the pitiful sounds of a crying baby at midnight.

But who WAS this family?  Public records aren't the greatest for this time period, and if the children's deaths WERE reported and recorded at all, its very likely that the cause of death was simply listed as "fever."  The WV State Archives available online only go back to 1856 in Roane County, and during that time and the years following, there are literally tons of deaths attributed to scarlet fever, typhoid fever, or simply...fever.  This ailment would sometimes take out entire families, including young sibling groups.  One can only speculate the gravity of a similar situation in a much earlier time, when doctors were scarce, and "cave-dwelling" was the way of life for so many.

Photo and much more information on Spencer's earliest "cave-dwelling" citizens can be found at the Living Appalachia website.