Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State: Spencer State Hospital

Monday, November 6, 2023

The Man Who Wanted to Go Back

Wheeling Daily Intelligencer
4 January 1898

Hey, everyone! By now, regular readers to Theresa's Haunted History know that I love to share weird history, even if it isn't necessarily paranormal. I also like to share interesting tales from popular haunted hot spots that aren't necessarily related to the location's ghost stories. Today's blog is a two-for-one deal, covering both those themes.

The story first came to my attention through an un-named author's account collected in West Virginia Heritage, Volume Two (1968) and was further confirmed through a newspaper article in the January 4, 1898 edition of the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer. The un-named author in the story was apparently a lawyer working in Clay County, West Virginia who represented Mr. William 'Bill' Dorsey, the Man Who Wanted to Go Back.

It started on Sunday, January 2nd, 1898 at the Big Sycamore Church in Clay County, a small location that served as a one-room schoolhouse during the week and held services during the weekend. On that particular Sunday, the preacher failed to show up for services, so Mr. Dorsey took over duties, leading the congregation in prayer and song, and even preaching a short sermon. After he dismissed the congregation, he hurried out the door.

After many church services, the priest/preacher often greets and shakes hands with the congregation as they leave the church. But, familiar pleasantries were the furthest thing from Dorsey's mind. He waited until a young man named Benton Jarrett exited (who just happened to be chatting with and escorting Bill's wife out of the church building). Not saying a word, Dorsey pulled out his .38 caliber revolver and fired two shots at Jarrett. One of the bullets hit Jarrett in the stomach, killing him.

Dorsey turned himself in to authorities without incident. Due to the fact that he was the brother of Judge J.M. Dorsey of Clay County, the trial was moved to Parkersburg, under Judge Lew Tavenner.

Dorsey's family, obviously in shock over the events that had transpired, insisted that he was insane, and his lawyer agreed to that defense. Per court order, he was examined by a panel of doctors, who couldn't agree on a diagnosis. Some believed he was insane, while others thought he definitely knew right from wrong. During the trial, his lawyer noticed that Dorsey was sweating profusely...but only on the right side of his head/face. The reason for this was a nasty scar on the left side of Dorsey's head, caused by a head injury sustained when a piece of lumber fell on him. The family claimed that he hadn't been the same, mentally, since that accident, and it was the cause of the insanity that led to tragedy.

Another factor used in the insanity defense was the rumor that Dorsey had shot Jarrett because he was jealous of the relationship between Jarrett and Mrs. Dorsey. However, everyone insisted that Mrs. Dorsey was a fine, loyal wife who never gave her husband reason to suspect her fidelity, so even if he WERE jealous, there was no reason to be, other than insanity.

The jury deliberated, but were torn. As a compromise, instead of offering up a charge of premeditated murder, which would have surely resulted in a hanging, they found Dorsey guilty of voluntary manslaughter, a charge carrying a penalty of 1-5 years in the state penitentiary at Moundsville. The judge decided on a sentence of two years for Dorsey.

As the trial concluded, Dorsey thanked his lawyer for his help in defending him and offered up a pretty damning detail: he told the lawyer he had actually waited for Jarrett in the woods over a period of three weeks, but he had never shown up. Wisely, the lawyer kept that tidbit to himself until many years later! Dorsey was transported north to the penitentiary, and it was said that the Warden himself remarked to the Sheriff chaperoning Dorsey on his trip that the man was obviously insane and should be in the state asylum, not prison.

Anyway, Dorsey served his two years, minus 4 months off for good behavior. Upon returning home to Clay County, he stopped by his former lawyer's office and asked for help in writing a letter to the governor. It seems as if Dorsey didn't want to leave the penitentiary. It was the 'best place he had ever been,' and wanted the governor to allow him to return. The lawyer promised to write the letter, but never did.

It wouldn't matter. Dorsey would soon devise a plan to make it back. He went to go visit his adult daughter on Sycamore Creek. The daughter had several small children and Dorsey asked her how many she had now. When she replied that she had three, Dorsey pulled out a pocket knife, remarked that three was getting to be too many, and that he intended to thin them out.

Understandably alarmed, the daughter ran to the neighbors for help, who in turn took Dorsey in to a local Justice on an insanity charge. But, Dorsey would NOT get his wish. He wasn't sent back to the WV State Penitentiary. Instead, he was found insane, and committed to the State Hospital in Spencer, where he died two years later.

'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.