The Devil Steals a Body

Obviously, I come across some really weird stuff in my research, but this incident from Arkansas in 1913 is probably one of the weirder things I've seen in a LONG time. According to an article that appeared in the Fairmont West Virginian on June 21, 1913, a group of mourners were sitting up with the corpse of farmer near Waldron, Arkansas. To everyone's shock, a creature, complete with horns and a red-painted face entered the home, wrapped in chains. The red-furred creature was also clad in white robes, and apparently did not utter a word as he entered. Understandably, the witnesses fled, and upon returning, found the coffin of the farmer completely empty. Was this some cruel prank, or did the Devil himself come to collect one of his own?

The Fairmont West Virginian
21 June 1913

Friday the 13th's Freaky Phone Call

HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13TH! 

A normal telephone conversation between two sisters on Friday, December 13th, 1968 turned into a rather bizarre experience!  Mrs. John Cox of South Charleston rang up her sister, Mrs. Clyde Cox, also of South Charleston to wish her a Happy Anniversary. Mrs. Clyde Cox and her husband had been married for 33 years and this Friday the 13th, were celebrating a wedding that had also taken place on a Friday the 13th. With a marriage spanning a little over three decades, one could argue that for the Cox Family, Friday the 13th wasn't the unlucky occasion superstition would lead us to believe.

However, this Friday the 13th would just be a little...weird. At least, the phone call between the two sisters would leave them scratching their heads. Both sisters were talking on their private phone lines, but had a strange series of calls break onto their line. Within 10 minutes, calls came in from two local chemical companies (FMC and Carbide), a doctor's office (Dr. Dunn), and two private calls. All five callers were wishing to speak with a Mrs. Riffe.

So, who was Mrs. Riffe, why were so many people eager to contact her in a span of ten minutes, and how did they ALL end up breaking into Mrs. Cox's private phone line? Obviously, this little anecdote sounds more like supernatural snafu (or simply, a technical error, but that's way less interesting to write about) than it does an example of Friday the 13th being an unlucky day. But, I guess maybe it's all about perspective. Strange phone calls may not have necessarily been unlucky for Mrs. Cox and her sister...but somewhere out there was a Mrs. Riffe who no less than five people desperately needed to reach but couldn't. Sounds like it was an unlucky day for her and those trying to reach her!

I hope this Friday the 13th brings you good luck and good fortune...and maybe a phantom phone call!

The Charleston Daily Mail
13 December 1968

Batman in Charleston

"Holy Paperboys, Batman!"

The other evening, a friend related a tale from when he was a kid, growing up in the Charleston area. This friend, a former paperboy, recalled a time when paperboys in the area were being harassed by a very odd and very creepy stalker.  After a brief archive search, I found a newspaper article about the phenomenon. 

According to the Charleston Daily Mail in its Friday, September 16, 1966 edition:

COPS FIRE WARNING

'BATMAN' SCARES LOCAL CHILDREN

Running out of the dark woods like one possessed of devilish intent, someone dressed in a Batman costume has been badly frightening children recently in the South Main Drive area off Piedmont Rd.

It happened before dawn today for the second consecutive day, the victim in both cases being a 14-year old boy passing papers between 4 and 5 a.m. when the night is as black as Satan's heart.

Three weeks ago a man wearing a mask chased a paper boy down South Main and it has now reached the place, a district supervisor for the Gazette circulation department said, that it is very difficult to get boys to deliver papers there.

South Main is a dead end street. Beyond it is a patch of woods where the agile person lurks before racing forth to scare the daylights out of his victims. 

Residents of the area said this morning police were hiding there and fired two warning shots over the head of the fleeing "Batman" but he escaped.

"We'd like to know exactly what he is up to," Sgt. Arlie Robinson of the police Juvenile Bureau said.

Residents in the South Main section said today there have been recurring reports of a prowler in the area for two years but they do not know if he is the same individual responsible for the recent incidents there.

Robinson said his department is continuing its investigation. 

This tale is pretty weird all on its own. You have someone who is dressing up as a popular television character (the old Batman show with Adam West just premiered early that year in January) lurking in a small, secluded neighborhood before dawn with seemingly the sole purpose of scaring the hell out of paperboys. But...why? And who was this 'Batman?'

My imagination is all over the place on this one. On one hand, I kind of feel like this is probably another young person, which would be supported by the idea that the Juvenile Bureau of the Charleston PD has jurisdiction on the case. These paperboys aren't being attacked...yet...they're just being scared. And it does certainly seem that paperboys ARE the target, as not many others are going to be roaming a dead end street between those paper-delivery hours of 4 to 5 am.

Paperboys usually have pretty set routes, so was one kid in particular the original target? And was this simply a prank, or were there more sinister motives behind the whole thing? My friend who told the tale (and believes he may have encountered the stalker himself one night) remembers that the person behind this was eventually arrested, putting a stop to the incidents. I couldn't find a newspaper article showing that anyone was ever arrested (gonna keep looking!), but it just seems odd that the police would be out there hiding, fire warning shots, and still let this person initially get away on a dead-end street. 

So, was it an adult, or at least someone with a plan other than some innocent fun in mind? Was this person the same one reported wearing a simple mask last month...and why Batman? To reiterate, the popular Batman show had premiered in January of that year. Being a month out from Halloween, it was probably a pretty easy costume to come by. People do weird things for no apparent reason sometimes. Despite that, I can't help but want to look into this for some type of deeper meaning or connection...especially a supernatural one.

The first thing that comes to mind is a really-early viral marketing campaign, but I think if this was a creative way to promote the Batman show, the timing was way off, and we would have seen this happen on a nation-wide scale. To my knowledge, Batmans were NOT chasing paperboys around anywhere but Charleston, WV at the time. So, we can mark that one off the list. The second thing that popped into my mind is the similarities between a spooky Batman and the 2016 Evil Clown flap, where people from all over the country and even beyond were seeing clowns. Ranging from just hanging out in places they shouldn't be, to reports of them actually wielding machetes and/or other weapons, these clowns were absolutely creeping people out...and there was never really a satisfactory answer as to what the hell was happening. It probably did start as a marketing stunt, but due to mass hysteria and copy-cat clowns, things were taken way too far. 

Spring-Heeled Jack

Again, the creepy clown flap was really widespread, and the Batman incident was confined to pretty much one small area in Charleston (that we know of). So, all signs really do point to just one individual being weird and creepy for some unknown reason. That scenario kind of reminds me of another individual running around a city being weird and scaring not paperboys, but women. They even sort of looked similar. Beginning in London in 1837, young women were terrorized by a figure that would come to be called Spring-Heeled Jack. Witnesses said he wore a black cloak, had clawed hands, and had eyes that 'resembled red balls of fire.' These attacks were often physical, and the man/creature could escape the scene by jumping very high, over fences/walls. When looking at artists' depictions of Spring Heeled Jack, there's quite a close resemblance of his cloak (cape) and headgear with that of our modern Batman. But unlike Batman, Spring-Heeled Jack's his ability to move in supernatural ways, along with his 40+ year reign of terror caused many to believe he may not be of OUR world. 

There also seems to be a few similarities between Spring Heeled Jack and West Virginia's very own mystery monster, the Mothman, especially that description of the glowing eyes! And, I think it is very important to note the date of these attacks. The first Batman sighting seems to be around August of 1966, with at least two more documented in September of that year. In just two short months, the town of Point Pleasant, WV would experience the first reported sightings of the Mothman. Was our Charleston Batman here not as a weirdo to stalk teenage paperboys, but as some sort of scout or recon entity for Mothman? 

Or, is he related to yet ANOTHER odd 'visitor' to West Virginia around this time? A few weeks before Mothman showed up in Point Pleasant, Indrid Cold, from the planet Lanulos, arrived outside of Parkersburg and made contact with Woodrow Derenberger, resulting in a relationship that would last Derenberger's whole life. Cold often spoke of other beings from planets different from his that also stopped by Earth, some with more wholesome and pure intentions than others.  

Although my logical side is saying this was nothing but a boyish prank, I think I would be doing the Fortean world a huge disservice by not at least documenting some of the crazy coincidences that may lead to a tie-in between a dude dressed as Batman running around a Charleston neighborhood, and some sort of extraterrestrial or ultraterrestrial madman...the first in a line of strange, unexplained happenings from Autumn of 1966. Whatever it is, I can't think of a better setting than wild, weird, and wonderful West Virginia! 

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. 

MORE WV STATE PENITENTIARY ARTICLES

Tombstone Tuesday: Miles Vernon Dixson at Charleston's Spring Hill

Miles Vernon Dixson's Tombstone at Spring Hill
Photo by Find-a-Grave User, Rosa Nutt

My husband and I recently rented an apartment in Charleston's East End...which means I'm literally about a five minute drive from the city's beautiful, historic Victorian-era burial ground known as Spring Hill Cemetery. This massive, sprawling cemetery overlooking the state capitol is the final resting place for many of Charleston's most famous and accomplished citizens. It's a wonderful look at the history of the city and a snapshot of the lives of those who made it all possible. 

But there's one tombstone included in the cemetery's self-guided history walk that is rather unassuming. To walk up on the small, rather plain marker amid elaborate obelisks and extravagant displays of funerary art, you might not take a second glance. However, the young man buried there has a fascinating tale to tell. 

Twenty-one year old Miles Vernon Dixson of South Hills was a teller at the Kanawha Valley Bank, but his dream was to become a pilot. So, the young man enrolled in Glen Clark's flying school, which he ran from his seaplane base, located on the Kanawha River. On Saturday March 2, 1935, Dixson took one of the training sea planes out for a practice run in preparation for his upcoming licensing exam. As he was flying over the vicinity of Spring Hill Cemetery, something went wrong.

Spring Hill Mausoleum 
Photo by Theresa Racer

Newspaper articles of the time period aren't 100% clear, but it seems as if a stunt may have went wrong, and one or both of the plane's wings were torn away from the body of the plane at about 1,800 feet up. He tried to deploy his parachute, but was unable to until he was only 200 feet high and it didn't have time to open. The plane crashed, and his body plummeted to the ground, right beside the mausoleum of Spring Hill Cemetery. His death certificate lists his cause of death as a fractured skull and crushed chest. Ironically, he was buried in Spring Hill, just a short walk from where his life actually ended. 

Over the years, Spring Hill Cemetery in Charleston (like it's counterpart, Spring Hill Cemetery in Huntington) has gained a reputation for being haunted. In recent years, the debate as to why cemeteries would even BE haunted locations of note has been a hot topic among the paranormal community. That's a blog post for another day, but it's stories like this one that definitely add an interesting layer to that debate! Unfortunately, this was a really sad case where a young life was extinguished way too soon. 

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
03 March 1935

The Bewitched Hen of Roney's Point

 

A Leghorn hen like this one laid a really weird egg
in West Virginia! 

It's Weird Wednesday! It's also Witchy Wednesday! Today's blog is a 2 for 1 in witchy weirdness, with the tale of a Leghorn hen that laid a rather interesting egg, near Roney's Point, West Virginia in 1886! The following story can be found on page 4 in the Daily Register, a newspaper from Wheeling, West Virginia, in the March 31, 1886 edition. 

MYSTERIOUS WORK OF A HEN

She Lays An Egg That Contains Cabalistic Inscriptions

Col. Jacob Nunge has a very peculiar Hen's egg on exhibition at his place in upper Market Square. This piece of hen fruit is about an inch and three quarters in diameter one way, and a fraction over that the other, it being almost perfectly round. On the outer edge of the shell the surface is corrugated all the way around, while inside of this is another circle in which the letters T A M N I O I U in Roman letters are plainly visible. At one of the ends of the egg a figure "6" is also to be seen.

A white Leghorn, owned by Jacob Fisher, of Roney's Point, gave up this mystery on the 25th inst, but whether the hen was bewitched or whether she performed this little feat just to have some fun, cannot be told. Nevertheless the curiosity is there and anyone can go and see it. 

I'm honestly not sure what to make of this strange incident, but I can't help to think that this is the sort of thing that the famed Charles Fort, collector of bizarre and unexplained occurrences in the natural world, would have been proud to have in his collection. And, it happened right here in wild and weird (and of course, wonderful) West Virginia!

Want MORE weird animal stories? Check out my blog post, Weird Wednesday: Weird Animals Around Charleston!

Noiseless Earthquake in Jefferson County?

It's a strange, strange Saturday! This historic newspaper article comes from a July 25, 1899 edition of The Wheeling Intelligencer. Just what the heck was going on in West Virginia's eastern panhandle in the late 19th century? 

STRANGE PHENOMENON

Occurs in Jefferson County-Sort of Noiseless Earthquake

Special dispatch to the Intelligencer

CHARLES-TOWN, W.Va., July 24--A strange phenomenon occurred yesterday in the orchard of Harrison Roper, a few miles west of this city. Huge beds of rocks, weighing tons, which for centuries have lain undisturbed, on Sunday slowly began to upheave and mixed with earth worked among themselves for some minutes, after which they again became quiet, and have since remained so. 

The disturbance was not accompanied by any rumbling noises as of an earthquake. Trees of the orchard which stood in the track of the disturbance were uprooted. People from the surrounding neighborhood have been all day flocking to the scene of the phenomenon. 

A Gruesome Grave Robbing in West Virginia

Find-a-Grave
Uploaded by Tammy Parks Markwood

Ghoul: n. An evil spirit or phantom, especially one supposed to rob graves and feed on dead bodies.

When I hear the word 'ghoul', that's the definition I usually associate with it, but throughout history, the term has also come to be a description of those flesh and blood living humans who engage in the heinous act of disturbing buried bodies. It was these types of ghouls that had a small community in Preston County, WV outraged.

Mary Ellen Shaffer Calhoun was a well-known and well-respected elderly widow living in the community of Newburg. When she passed away on January 27, 1916 at the age of 78, she was buried in the Calhoun Family Cemetery near Manheim, beside her husband, John G. Calhoun. There she laid in rest...for about two weeks. 

February 11th, 1916 was a Friday. That morning, two boys, Kramer Brandau and Harold Painter, were on their way to school in Rowlesburg. On route from their homes in Manheim, they passed the Calhoun Family Cemetery and noticed a big pile of fresh dirt and wooden boards strewn about. Being a small community, they knew that there wasn't a recent burial, so they walked over to check it out. To their horror, they found the body of Mrs. Calhoun, partially nude, lying above ground. The wooden case enclosing her casket had been smashed and scattered. The coffin lid and nameplate had been removed. The body, although outside of the coffin and lying on the ground, was left intact. However, the clothes had been partially torn off and ripped to shreds. 

The boys ran all the way to Rowlesburg to report the incident to authorities. It wouldn't be long before Sheriff Laco Wolfe, accompanied by a pack of bloodhounds belonging to Sheriff Ross F. Stout were on the scene. Dim footprints were found in the mud, but unfortunately, the dogs were unable to sniff out the trail of the alleged grave robbers. Mrs. Calhoun's body was placed in the care of the local undertaker, who hastily reburied her with as much dignity as the situation could merit. 

Local rumor believed that Mrs. Calhoun was the victim of grave robbers because she was buried along with expensive jewelry, valuable papers, and even perhaps a large sum of cash. Local newspapers covering the story even first reported that rings were violently cut from her fingers and stolen by the grave robbers. However, all this would prove false. The family claimed that she wasn't buried with her jewelry, and she certainly wasn't buried with CASH. These rumors may have been started when Mrs. Calhoun's oldest son, Albert Dodson (AD) Calhoun, who was named administrator of her estate went over all the assets on February 5th. In doing so, he discovered that his mother had never cashed or deposited a check for $400 that he had written her 18 months prior for debts he owed her. Upon discovering this and checking with the First National Bank of Grafton, he reissued a check in the same amount to be paid to the estate. However, he claims that no one, not even other family members, were aware of this transaction.

So what was the motive for this horrific crime?

Perhaps the motive was robbery. Mrs. Calhoun seemed to be a very well-known figure in the community, and she probably had some wealth to go along with her reputation. Maybe the grave robber(s) thought she WOULD be buried with jewelry and/or other items worth stealing. That would account for the disarray of the clothing/shroud as the robbers hastily tried to find what they were looking for. However, a strange article came out in the February 12, 1916 edition of the Daily Telegram. This paper claimed that Mrs. Calhoun was disinterred in such a disrespectful manner because of SPITE. It was noted that the body was found in a field near the railroad tracks...the same railroad tracks traveled daily by her son, H. Calhoun who was a conductor on the Morgantown and Kingwood Railroad. 

That's an interesting take on the whole situation, but I never found out what in the actual hell Mrs. Calhoun or her family had done to make someone want to hurt them and disrespect them in such a gruesome manner. Digging up a corpse and leaving it out where it can easily be found by two young boys on their way to school is absolutely horrific. For one to do so out of spite is the sign of a pretty twisted mind.

Whatever the reason behind the gruesome event, it doesn't appear that the case was ever solved. On February 19th, the Martinsburg Herald basically stated that the case had gone cold and all leads exhausted. However, on the following day, the Sunday Telegram ran a small article saying that all clues had been exhausted, BUT an unnamed hypnotist/mind reader was being called in as a last resort to uncover clues. After that, it seems that local papers dropped the matter, and I couldn't find any additional mentions in the sources I regularly use. 

This story may seem a little more...gruesome...than what you're used to seeing on Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State. And although it's not paranormal, it is WEIRD---weird and spooky. I love branching out into ALL aspects of West Virginia's strange and fascinating history and thought a tale of grave-robbing might be something YOU'D be interested in as well! Lemme know down in the comments what YOU think of these types of stories, and as always, let me know what kind of content you'd enjoy reading about. 

Sources:

The West Virginia Argus. 17 February 1916

The (Clarksburg, WV) Daily Telegram. 12 February 1916

Martinsburg Herald. 19 February 1916

The Sunday Telegram. 20 February 1916. Accessed through Newspapers.com 

BONUS GHOST STORY:

As a paranormal researcher/investigator, I was REALLY hoping I could find some ghost stories associated with the Calhoun Family Cemetery, or tales of it's reputed haunting. How cool would that be to find documentation that this lil' location has a history of being haunted...and making the connection that this tragic tale could be behind it.

Unfortunately, that wasn't to be. But, I did find a very, VERY brief mention of another cemetery being haunted! Mrs. Calhoun was apparently living in Newburg, WV at the time of her death. Newburg is a good 30 minutes away by today's standards from her burial place between Manheim and Rowlesburg. Newburg is also home to an allegedly haunted cemetery of its own! The Damon Cemetery (sometimes referred to as the Knights of Pythias Cemetery) is haunted by the ghostly apparition of a lady in white. A visitor to the cemetery, checking on her father's grave, also had her own personal experience in the cemetery, which was shared on the Facebook page, West Virginia's Most Haunted Places. 

Weird Wednesday: Animals Around Charleston

Back in the early days of the 20th century, Charleston, WV was kind of a weird place. I mean, it still is...but back then, it was much more common to see such interesting sights as a horse in pants or a trained bear, escaped from a local theater, wandering around the federal building. Luckily, these delightful tales were odd enough to warrant the attention of local newspapers, and are preserved for us to enjoy today. I found both of them while researching other spooky stories in the area, and while there's nothing really PARANORMAL about these tales, they're definitely strange, and deserve a Weird Wednesday mention!

From The West Virginian
30 August 1916

From The Charleston Daily Mail
24 August 1914

The Cyclops of Buzzard's Bay: Weird Wednesday

 Happy Weird Wednesday!  Like a lot of paranormal enthusiasts, I follow a lot of Facebook pages dealing with the strange and supernatural.  One such page is Blurry Creatures, a page dedicated to a podcast about cryptozoology.  Today, I ran across a newspaper clipping they had posted about a cyclops skull!  I noticed the article was from a West Virginia newspaper, The Wheeling Intelligencer, and got more excited than I should have. So, I consulted my trusty sources in a search for more information.

On the Chronicling America database of historic newspapers, I found a more in-depth article from the Wheeling Register, dated July 8, 1891. Unfortunately, the 'cyclops' in question was not found in West Virginia, but in Buzzard's Bay, Massachusetts, on the property of actor, Joseph Jefferson. Apparently, Jefferson had recently purchased the property as a summer residence, and when doing some alterations, found it necessary to remove a sand hill. Inside this apparent burial mound was a large skeleton, which crumbled to dust when the workmen tried to move it.  Fortunately, the skull of the taller than average skeleton remained intact and was brought to Mr. Jefferson. Mr. Jefferson was astonished to find that the skull did not have two eye sockets...but rather one large eye socket in the middle of its forehead, and thus concluded he now owned the skull of cyclops. Although he encouraged men of science to offer an explanation, Mr. Jefferson, being an actor, apparently was more excited over using the skull in an upcoming production of Hamlet than finding a scientific explanation for its existence. You can read the article in its entirety down below.  Happy Weird Wednesday! 

How the Juniors Came Together

So this is a pretty horrifying picture! I found this macabre gem posted on the Facebook page, The Victorian Book of the Dead, with the following description: 1905 medical students dressed as ghosts, with a cadaver. As I've remarked before, there is a genre of disrespectful photographs of medical students playing pranks with cadavers.

That's all well and good, but if you know me, you know that when I find something that interests me, I NEED to find out all I can about it!  Thanks to a quick Google reverse image search, I found enough to appease me!  This isn't just a medical school class...it is the WHOLE Junior Class of Otterbein University, a small liberal arts college in Westerville, Ohio!

The photo is from the 1905 edition of Sibyl, the school's yearbook. And, this wasn't the only photo included from this particular event!  The three pictures below show the Juniors, dressed as ghosts, having some sort of party? ritual? with the anatomy class skeleton, a fellow they apparently call Pluto.  Images from the event are accompanied by a poem, The Wigwam by the Styx, penned by Henrietta Du Pre, the class president. College kids are known for doing some strange things, and having some cider with an anatomy skeleton while wrapped up in ghostly sheets seems pretty tame by today's standards...even though as most of you will know...anatomy skeletons from the time period were actual REAL HUMAN SKELETONS. This sort of brings to mind my blog post on WVU's female secret society, the Rejetos Jichancas, although those students never showed their faces on film!  Anyway, to read the poem for yourself, you can click on the individual pictures to enlarge, or you can go to the PDF version of the 1905 Sybil.  The entry starts on page 39.  Stay spooky, ya'll...just maybe not THIS spooky!

Happy Old Man's Day!

Ghost lore is full of tales about people being buried alive.  In a time before modern medical technology and widespread embalming, many unfortunate souls were believed to have been buried prematurely...only to awake inside their own cold, dark coffin. More often than not, despite whatever supernatural message they tried to pass on to friends and loved ones about their plight, these occurrences ended with a tragic and horrifying death.

Fortunately for Matthew Wall of Braughing, England, he was one of the lucky few to avoid a similar fate!

Matthew Wall was a farmer who lived in the area during the 16th century.  As a young man, it is believed he slipped into a coma, caused by an epileptic episode.  Believing Matthew to be dead, his family and friends prepared him for burial.  The funeral procession, complete with Matthew in his wooden coffin, began the journey down Fleece Lane from his home to the local church, St. Mary the Virgin.  This is where fate would step in.

It was October 2, 1571 and the road was covered in damp, fallen autumn leaves.  One of the pallbearers carrying Matthew's coffin slipped on the wet leaves, causing the coffin to fall to the ground.  The jolt was enough to shake Matthew out of his coma and he began pounding on the side of the coffin with his fist.  His life had been saved, and a year later, Matthew became a husband.

But, no one can live forever and Matthew did die (for real this time) in 1595.  Before his death, however, Matthew left instructions in his will for the village to commemorate the anniversary of his 'first death' each year by ringing of the church bells and giving Fleece Lane a good sweeping.

The tradition continues on to this day. Each October 2nd, the village gathers outside the Golden Fleece to hear the local vicar tell the tale of Matthew's near mishap.  The village school children then take to the street with brooms, giving Fleece Lane the required sweeping as per Matthew's will. The church bells are rung, prayers are said, songs are sung, and sweets are distributed.  A small graveside service at Matthew's final resting place concludes the festivities of Braughing's Old Man's Day for another year. 

Photos and information for today's blog come from the Calendar Customs website. 

Thirteen Club Comes to Morgantown

I absolutely LOVE this photo! I first shared it a couple of years ago on my Theresa's Haunted History Facebook page, and then shared it again last October. I felt, however, that it needed a more permanent spot here on the blog!

The photo comes from one of my favorite websites, WV History on View. It is labeled: "Friday the Thirteenth Group Dinner, Morgantown, W. Va". However, I THINK we can take it a step further and assume that this is an example of a local 13 Club! 

In the 1880s, the Thirteen Club was created to debunk the superstition of "13 at a table" being unlucky. This belief states that when 13 people are seated together at a table, one will die within a year, usually the first one to get up and leave. They met on the 13th of the month for a dinner served to 13 people at each table.

Now, I don't like to think of myself as a superstitious person, but if I were invited to one of these dinners, I'm going to be taking my good, sweet time in finishing it! 

For more information on 13 Clubs, check out this article in the Paris Review. 

The United States Marine Corps...and the Ouija Board

Happy Ouija Wednesday, everyone! If you've been on Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State Facebook for a few years, you might recognize this photo. It comes from the Talking Board Historical Society's Photo Gallery and shows a group of United States Marines playing with a talking board, circa 1944. I really love this photo and I cannot help but wonder what it is they are asking the spirits to tell them? Are they asking about their wives/girlfriends left at home...or is it something more serious? Given the date of 1944, perhaps they are wondering how and when the War will end. The man on the left seems to be rather jovial about the whole process, so I'm guessing the topic of conversation isn't too serious in nature. 

What is kind of serious is what happened 70 years after this photo was taken. In early 2014, the Marine Corps Engineer School outlawed the use of Ouija Boards and similar devices due to them "creating mystery and fear." I guess students at the school were scaring themselves silly, to the point where administration felt the need to take action.  Personally, I think the situation would have been better handled with a healthy dose of education concerning the ideomotor principle. You can read more about my thoughts on the Ouija Board at the link provided, but in short, the ideomotor principle means that the planchette is not being moved by spirit hands; instead, it is being moved by the sitters through very small, imperceptible, involuntary muscle movements.

Source

The Talking Tree of Paducah, Kentucky

I've really enjoyed sharing some strange and unusual vintage newspaper articles lately! Today's post features an article from the Paducah, Kentucky area. It seems that the farm of William Albert is home to a very special talking tree---one that keeps telling anyone who will listen that "there are treasures buried at my roots." The article states that a group of citizens tried to investigate the unknown voice, but there is no mention of anyone trying to dig up the tree and see if there really WAS treasure! 

This article was posted 6 February 1905 in the New York Times. 

Madness and Mistaken Identity at the Weston State Hospital

The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, also known as the Weston State Hospital, has been a fascination of mine for years. Obviously, I'm a sucker for the paranormal aspects of the old haunted hospital, but I enjoy the non-spooky history as well. I'm in the process of documenting as many former patients as I can find, and sharing their stories. Through this, I'm hoping to have a strong database of potential ghost suspects, but more importantly, I feel that these people deserve recognition. They deserve to have their lives remembered, and not just be a statistic. 

One such person with a pretty strange story to be told is a Croatian immigrant named George Marzic. His story appeared in numerous newspapers at the time, but this transcription comes from the 29 December 1936 edition of the Charleston Daily Mail: 

BROTHER THOUGHT BURIED SIX YEARS AGO FOUND ALIVE

CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY IS REVEALED AT WESTON HOSPITAL

Woman Finds Relative Is In Institution, Recovering; Dead Man Is Unknown; Records Found in Error

Benwood, Dec. 29 (UP)---Mrs. Amanda Kurl learned today that the "brother" she buried six years ago is alive and well.  

The almost incredible story of the "death" and the "burial" of George Marzic, 52, ended with the realization that Marzic still lives and that the identity of the man buried under his name in 1931 may never be known.

Marzic, a Croat, was sent to the state hospital at Weston, W.Va., in 1929.  On May 9, 1931, hospital officials notified Mrs. Kurl her brother had died.

The body was brought to Benwood for burial.

Marzic's friends went to his bier and wept.  Some were amazed because George did not "look like himself" but they dismissed it with "well, he has been sick a long time."

Did Not Doubt Identity

"I was sure it was George," said Mrs. Kurl.  "His face was a little thinner, I thought, but I had no doubt." 

Mrs. Kurl paid $237 to a Benwood mortician. And on the day of the funeral she went to St. John's Catholic church and wept while a priest celebrated requiem mass. 

Several days ago, Mrs. Kurl was notified by officials of the state hospital that her brother had recovered. She was dumbfounded as she read a letter from Dr. J.E. Offner, hospital superintendent, which said in part:

"Only recently this patient's mind has cleared and he now claims to be George Marzic. We are now almost thoroughly convinced that the man Marzic is living."

Mrs. Kurl disbelieved until friends investigated and proved beyond doubt that her brother still lives.

Tests Are Made

Nick Rumora wrote to George Marzic at the Weston State Hospital, asked him a number of personal questions in the Croatian language. Marzic replied---in the Croatian language.

Mrs. Kurl remained unconvinced. 

Police Chief Pat J. Scully, Rumora, Antone Fabyanic, lifelong friends of Marzic, went to Weston.  They walked into the hospital unannounced.

Someone called their name. It was Marzic.

When Scully informed Mrs. Kurl of this, she was convinced. 

Scully said hospital officials could not explain the error and could learn nothing of the identity of the man who was buried. Marzic, it is said, will remain in the hospital until doctors make sure his sudden recovery is not temporary.

Still Legally Dead

George Marzic is legally dead, according to reports in the division of vital statistics of the state health department.

A report that Marzic died May 9, 1931, is on file in the division's offices, but the bureau has a rule that detailed information cannot be given out except upon payment of a 50 cent fee for making out a certified copy.  For that reason, other details in the bureau's possession could not be learned.

"Never heard of it," said M.D. Carrico, member of the state board of control, when informed that Marzic is actually alive now, despite the reports. Dr. C. Denham was superintendent of the institution in 1931. 

Theresa's Note: What is even more interesting about this case, is that when you go to the WV State Archives' website, George Marzic still has his 9 May 1931 death certificate on file! It makes me wonder what actually happened to George...and whether or not he did die in 1931. 

Sir Francis Bacon and the Ghost Chicken

Would you consider this a 'poultrygeist?' 

I write about a lot of weird stuff here at Theresa's Haunted History. I've written about so many weird things over the years that I had to add a whole page dedicated to these freaky, strange, and unusual pieces of history. Mummies, people being buried alive (on purpose!), curses...its all here at the Weird History section of the blog. But today, I'm adding a story that is weird even for me! What could be weirder than being haunted by a frozen chicken?

I recently came across this story while reading The Ghosts of London: A Collection of Ghost Stories from the British Capital, by Charles River Editors.

Back in March of 1626, Sir Francis Bacon decided to test out a theory he had been toying with. He believed that meat could be preserved without the use of salt by simply keeping it at a cold temperature. In order to test this out, however, he had to have some meat---and he chose a chicken from a farm near the Highgate area of London. The chicken was plucked and slaughtered, and then Bacon stuffed it full of ice to see if his theory was correct.

Unfortunately, Bacon never got to see the full results of his experiment. During this process, he came down with a cold, which turned into the pneumonia that would take his life on April 9, 1626. That should have been the end of the story. But it wasn't.

Pond Square Stock Photo from Alamy

Visitors to Highgate's Pond Square have been terrorized for centuries by the apparition of a headless, featherless chicken. The bird has been seen running around in circles, flapping its bare wings madly before disappearing from sight. Recent sightings have occurred in 1943, when a man named Terrence Long heard the sounds of what he thought was a phantom carriage, but when he turned around to see where the noise was coming from, he witnessed the chicken, and again in the 1970s when the chicken made its most horrifying appearance ever.

During that time, there was a young couple out on a date in Pond Square. As they sat on a bench, their make out session becoming more and more risque, the chicken carcass allegedly fell (or jumped) from a tree branch above them, right into the middle of their laps. I guess there's no better birth control than a dead, yet sentient, frozen headless chicken falling from the sky. Unfortunately for us, that was the last time the chicken was seen. Perhaps it had fulfilled its purpose?

*If you want MORE weird chicken stories, I've got a blog about a strange chicken from Wayne County, West Virginia! *

The Harpers Ferry Crazy House---Weird Wednesday

From WV History On View

Usually if you say you're headed to the 'Crazy House,' it means you've finally lost ALL of your marbles and you're on your way to be committed. However, if you say you're going to visit the Harpers Ferry Crazy House, it doesn't mean you're off on a vacation to a room with padded walls---it means you're visiting one of the town's most quirky attractions!

The Crazy House, more politely known as the Curio House, can be found at 844 E. Ridge Road, overlooking the Potomac River. It was built between 1914 and 1915 by Eugene Shugart and his wife, Maggie. Shugart, born in nearby Charles Town in 1867, bought the land around 1910 and as his family and political career (he was elected for 7 terms as mayor of Harpers Ferry beginning in 1902) continued to change, constructed his unique domicile.

There's nothing super weird about the basic architecture of the home; its a classic Craftsman design of the period, although it was known as being the first 'modern' home built in that area of Harpers Ferry. Construction materials came were recycled from the old Federal Armory, made famous in 1859 by John Brown---which is an interesting little tidbit, but not what makes the house so one-of-a-kind. That honor goes to how the eccentric collector, Eugene Shugart, chose to decorate his abode.

From Goldenseal (Summer 2009)

Shugart liked to collect Civil War relics. He also had a soft spot for collecting fire-damaged pieces. In fact, in 1904, he contacted the mayor of Baltimore, asking for a 'souvenir' rescued from that city's recent major fire tragedy. He displayed these items by literally embedding them into the walls of the home, over doorways and windows, and even lining pillars and columns with them.It's not uncommon to see baby doll faces, pieces of China, seashells, you name it. In the free spaces, he tacked up various odd quotes, many dealing with worry. Shugart was especially worried about worry and even went as far as to bury "The Remains of Old Worry" in a coffin impression in the sidewalk in front of the home.

Photo from Unpopped Collar

But maybe he DID have something to worry about...Shugart only got to enjoy his Crazy House for a few short years before dying in 1919. In 2001, Chris Craig and Ed Wheeless bought the home. They were only the third owners of the property they would soon call Laurel Lodge. After renovations, the two opened up a Bed and Breakfast at the home in 2007. Unfortunately, it looks as if the B&B has just recently closed it doors to the public. If you're local to that area and have any insight as to the fate of Laurel Lodge, please let me know down below in the comments! I'd hate to see Eugen Shugart's strange legacy no longer be available to visit. (Further reading: Herald Mail Media)

May the weirdness live on. Stay spooky, ya'll!

Wayne County's Weird Chicken

Happy Weird Wednesday! It's been a long time since I shared some just plain strangeness. Luckily, as I was researching a completely different topic, I came across this news article from the August 9th, 1923 edition of the Wayne County  (West Virginia) News.

LOST: COUNTY'S FREAKISH CHICKEN AMONG THE MISSING!

Send for Sherlock Holmes.

The three-legged chicken, the nine-days wonder of Dock's Creek, has mysteriously disappeared and left behind not a clue, not even a track.

Wayne county once again strutted its stuff by producing a chicken in a million--a three-legged one. This chick which disappeared last week belonged to Wiley Irons of Dock's Creek. It was a Plymouth Rock and was about six or eight weeks old. . . .

This short little news article was transcribed and submitted to the WV Archives by June White. And for me, it raises a lot of questions! So, Dock's Creek is an area in Kenova, WV and Wiley Irons WAS a citizen of this small community. Born in 1869, Wiley passed away on September 17, 1947. He was buried among many other relations in the Dock's Creek Cemetery. His life can be verified, but what about that of the chicken?

As of this writing, I have yet to find any other sources that confirm the freakish chicken's existence, but that's not really the mystery, here. Chickens born with extra legs aren't super rare, so I have no doubt that such a creature was born in Wayne County. However, I want to know what happened to the unfortunate bird! Did it just wander off? Was it eaten by a wild animal? Was it kidnapped? And just what does the title of the article mean: "among the missing?" Had an entire group of chickens gone rogue? During my next trip to the library, I plan to search the newspapers from around this time to see if there were any follow up articles claiming the chicken made its way back home...but I'm not holding my breath! 

*MORE West Virginia Weirdness can be found HERE!*

Project Ozma

Project Ozma. If that sounds like something out of this world...its because it IS! And it has its roots right here in West Virginia.

Project Ozma was the very first attempt ever at using radio telescopes to search for signs of extraterrestrial life, and was the brainchild of Frank Drake, a radio astronomer.  Using an 85 foot radio telescope, located at West Virginia's own National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, the project lasted from April 8, 1960 to July of 1960. For six hours a day, resulting in over 200 hours of data, the telescope was aimed at  two stars: Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani.

The hope was that these stars, similar in size, age and temperature to our own sun, would be most likely to have inhabitable planets in their orbits. Unfortunately, no alien radio signals were ever picked up. There was a brief false positive resulting from a confidential military operation, but no actual proof that anyone out there (at least from Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani) were sending out any signals. Still the project wasn't a total failure. It was an important milestone in the creation of SETI---the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Today, that work is still being carried out at the observatory in Green Bank, WV, and it is accepted that we here in the Mountain State would be the first recipients of any extraterrestrial messages that may come in in the future. Keep your eyes on the skies, and here in West Virginia, the scientists at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory will keep their ears open!

Oh, and the name for Project Ozma? The inspiration for that was from the Wizard of Oz books by L. Frank Baum. Ozma is the Princess of Oz, "a land far away, peopled by strange and exotic beings." In later books in the series, she was able to keep in touch with the 'real' world with a special phone. Sounds like a perfect name for such a project, to me!

Sources and Further Reading
SETI Institute: Project Ozma
Mitton, Jacqueline. Informania: Aliens, published by Candlewick Press
Green Bank Observatory: Tours open to the public