Spirits at St. Mark's (St. Albans)

St. Mark's Episcopal Church
St. Albans, WV
Source: WV History on View

I've mentioned the paranormal activity concerning the St. Mark's Episcopal Church on my blog before (see Civil War History with the St. Albans History and Mystery Tour). However, after hearing local historian Denise Cyrus discuss the haunted history of St. Albans at September's St. Albans Paranormal Discussion Group, I was inspired to give this fascinating location its own post! If you'd like to learn more about Denise and her upcoming St. Albans History and Mystery Tours, please check out the link provided. 

Back in 1825, an early settler to the Coalsmouth area named Morris Hudson built a small church on his property. Located along today's Kanawha Terrace, this church was called Bangor Parish Church. Services were presided over by a preacher from Fort Lee in Charleston and the church lasted until it was destroyed by fire in 1845. Luckily, the bell was saved and became a focal point for the newly rebuilt church.

The newly rebuilt church was moved to the property of Phillip Thompson, on what is today 405 B Street, St. Albans. Completed between 1846 and 1847, the church was officially consecrated by Bishop Meade in 1847. The name was changed to St. Mark's in honor of Thompson's former church in his native Culpeper County, Va. The church grew and thrived in its new location...until the Civil War came to the area. By 1863, Union troops had commandeered the church. Unfortunately, St. Mark's, like so many other churches of this era, suffered severe damage under the soldiers, as they ripped the floors up, tore out a back wall, and used the beautiful brick building as a stable for their horses. 

Upon the close of the war, the congregation began to come back and tried to fix as much damage as possible, holding makeshift services on the grounds. Between 1874 and 1878 the church building was deemed unsafe and closed off until adequate repairs could be made. Vast improvements on the old building wouldn't occur, however, until 1913 when Rev. Herbert Jukes would come to the church. Before joining the ministry, Jukes had been an architect and aided by the $2,400 in Federal Restitution money received in 1915, was able to make vast improvements, which are still seen today.

St. Mark's 2022
History and Mystery Tour

The church would continue to grow and change. In 1955 an educational wing was added, and in 1969 a new, larger sanctuary was added, giving the modern structure a U-shape. Services continue to be held, and the church offers a variety of community outreach programs to the citizens of St. Albans. The church may also still harbor some citizens from the past.

In addition to a basement that gives many people an uneasy feeling, there has been a sighting of two full-bodied apparitions. A friend of Denise was alone in the church, practicing the organ, and had taken a break to go to her car. The parking lot is located behind the church and beyond the parking lot is a playground area. The witness reported walking out and seeing two men in the playground area. These two men were dressed as Civil War era soldiers! She went to grab her phone to take a photo, but by the time she was ready to snap a picture, the two men had vanished. 

It is believed that these were possibly the spirits of the Union soldiers who camped on the property during the war, still on duty after over 150 years. More likely, however, this isn't a sentient, intelligent haunting. Rather, it seems like the witness caught a glimpse of a residual haunting---a moment stuck in time, playing over and over again under the right conditions, much like a movie on repeat.  To be fair, the idea that it wasn't a ghost of all has to be considered. Ironically, when I went on the History and Mystery Tour several years ago, we were stopped at the church, hearing the stories, when we noticed an unhoused gentleman who was napping under a nearby bush. He looked a little rough, but I wouldn't say he looked like a soldier from the 1860s! 

Parking Lot/Playground where soldiers were seen (2022)

Either way, St. Mark's Episcopal Church has a long and interesting history. It has seen people come and go, it has seen the area change dramatically with time, and it has even witnessed the town changing names a few times. It is very plausible that those who are lucky enough can and will catch a peek into the past---a past that shaped the Kanawha Valley into what it is today. 

If you've had a paranormal experience associated with St. Mark's, I'd love to hear from you! Please feel free to comment down below or find me on Facebook at Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State. Stay Spooky! 

Additional Reading/Sources:

St. Mark's Website--History by Betty Evans, Archivist

National Register of Historic Places Nomination Application

St. Albans Historical Society

Society of Architectural Historians

Denise Cyrus, President of St. Albans Historical Society

The Ghostly Nun of St. Frances of Rome

Source

Being that this blog is called Theresa's Haunted History of the TRI-STATE, it has always been my intention to fully integrate Ohio and Kentucky into my work...but I just can't help always coming back to my home state of West Virginia! Here in the Mountain State, we're wild, we're weird, we're just plain spooky! However, there are plenty of wonderful stories out there from other locations as well, and today, I'm finally gonna dive into one of those places I came across while reading an article on hauntings in Louisville.  There's actually a West Virginia connection...but the actual haunted location IS in Kentucky!

That place is the St. Frances of Rome Catholic Church, located at 2119 Payne Street in Louisville, KY. More specifically, the haunting itself seems to take place in the part of the church used as a school, as the ghostly apparition seen is none other than a former teacher. 

When Steve Wiser was doing some research for an upcoming book on the history of the church, he interviewed quite a few parishioners of St. Frances, many of them having a similar story to tell. It seems as if the apparition of a ghostly nun, pushing a broom around the inside of the school area had been frequently seen. It was believed that she could possible be none other than St. Frances herself. 

Steve, though, had another theory. He believed that the ghost was actually that of former nun/school teacher, Sister Frances Eccles. 

Unfortunately, I couldn't find out much about Sister Frances, but I believe she was the daughter of George and Christina Eccles. She had a sister, Mary, and three brothers: George, Gerald, and John. According to the Find-a-Grave listing for her burial, she was born on January 20, 1935 in England. At some point, she joined the Sisters of Charity in Nazareth, KY.

Sadly, her life ended too soon when she boarded a Piedmont Airlines flight on August 10, 1968. The Fairchild-Hiller 227 had left Louisville that morning, en route to Roanoke, Virginia. It had already stopped in Cincinnati, with another scheduled stop in Charleston, WV at the Kanawha Airport (now Yeager). But, at 8:56am, the plane, hindered by fog, came up short of the mountainous runway, clipped some trees, and burst into flames. 35 of the 37 people on board perished, including Sister Frances, or Sister Francesca as she was listed on the passenger manifest.  She was brought home and buried in the Sisters of Charity Nazareth Cemetery.

After that, the mysterious ghostly image of the sweeping nun was reported at the school and throughout the church. It seems as if even if death, the Sister was not ready to leave her work here on Earth. According to the historical marker database, the school closed in 1975. Hopefully with the students now gone, she has since found peace and has moved on to her greatest reward. 

Sources and Further Reading:

8 Louisville-Area Ghost Stories and Urban Legends That Keep Us Up At Night, by Carolyn Brown

My WV Home: Info and Photos on the Piedmont Crash

George Eccles Obituary

Sister Frances/Francesca Find-a-Grave

Lviv's Haunted Church

Photo by Maksym Kozlenko
WikiCommons

The Dominican Church of Lviv, Ukraine is a massive, but beautiful piece of architecture. Although the Dominican Order came to the Lviv area centuries before, the current church's cornerstone was laid in 1749. Designed by Polish engineer, Jan De Witt and largely financed by the Potocki Family, the church was finished 15 years later. In 1764, it was consecrated by the archbishop of Lviv, Waclaw Hieronim Sierakowski. 

Over the next couple of centuries, additions and renovations slightly changed the look of the building. In the years following World War 2, the church was occupied by the Soviets, who used it as a storage warehouse before finally turning it into a museum of religion and atheism. However, following the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the church was given back to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and resumed its function as a parish church. 

Somewhere along the line, the church picked up a reputation for being haunted! 

Witnesses report that quite often, as the midnight hour descends upon the city, the church comes alive. For at least three hours at a time, loud, passionate, ghostly sermons can be heard thundering through the empty building. A phantom choir sings out, their voices amplified by the wonderful acoustics in the building. 

The church library is also a scene of regular paranormal activity. Books tightly packed on library shelves still manage to wriggle themselves free and fling themselves on the floor. Sounds of an old-fashioned typewriter, pecking away with unseen hands, are also observed. 

According to various websites, more than a few night watchmen have quit their post after experiencing these disembodied sounds, and even more have quit when they've run into the ghost monk! It is believed that the hauntings of the church only began over the past few decades when the basements were opened up and renovated, setting lose the ghost of a monk who was most likely buried on the property. This monk appears as a translucent shape, wearing a white robe. He seems trapped in a time long gone by, as he performs his usual duties, going about on his usual route, oblivious to the frightened night watchmen who have encountered his image. 

It is my great hope that this wonderfully historic (and haunted) showpiece to Ukraine's architecture still stands tall and proud and in the ownership of the Ukrainian people for generations to come. Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State proudly supports a FREE and Democratic Ukraine and stands with the Ukrainian people as they currently fight to keep their freedom. Please keep the people of Ukraine in your thoughts during these horrific times, but also remember to include the Russian people who are NOT responsible for the acts of their government, and whom of which many don't support this assault on Ukraine. 

Source: 

Top 10 Mystical Spots in Ukraine, by Oleh Apostolov. 24 February 2012.  The Ukrainian Week. 

The 'Ghost' of McMillion Church

Photo by Find-a-Grave user, Old Hokie

This story was found in the Fall 1997 edition of Goldenseal. In a special Halloween article, author Ruth Zicafoose tells the tale of a long forgotten ghost encounter at McMillion Church on Friar's Hill.  The church was built around 1889 and is located in Greenbrier County, about 6 miles from the town of Renick/Falling Spring. 

Ghost in the Church

By Ruth Zicafoose

This is a true story of an event that happened long ago in our community.

Near Renick, there is an area known as Friar's Hill.  In this vicinity there was, and still is, a place of worship known as the McMillion Church.

The area around there was sparsely settled with several miles between families, although not considered far apart according to the way we think of distances today.  There was a family of Knights who lived not too far from the church and several families of McMillions, from whom the church got its name.

It was in the summer time when a young gentleman of the community was courting a girl who lived three or four miles away.  In those days folks either walked, rode horseback, or drove a horse and buggy.  This young fellow had a fine saddle horse which he used for transportation in all of his romantic endeavors.

On this particular Sunday he was spending the afternoon with the object of his affections when about 4 o'clock the sky suddenly turned dark, signifying that a severe thunderstorm with heavy rain was fast approaching.  Desiring to reach his home before the rain started, he bid his beloved adieu, hurriedly mounted his horse, and galloped away.

By the time he reached the McMillion Church, which was right beside the road to his home, the rain was increasing rapidly.  Rather than risk ruining his Sunday-best clothes he decided to dismount and seek shelter inside the church.

The church doors were never locked and it was only one step from the ground over the threshold of the church door and into the shelter of the building.  He stepped far enough inside to escape the rain, but not too far so that he could hold his horse's bridle reins, leaving the horse standing outside in the terrible storm.

It was really pouring rain by this time and the sky had turned so black that one would have needed a lantern to see his way around the inside of the dark church.  Occasionally, when the lightning flashed, the inside of the church would be bright as day, just for an instant, then even harder to see than it had been, or as we used to say, dark as pitch.

After standing there and listening to the rain for a bit, he happened to be looking toward the pulpit when the lightning flashed another time.  He saw something that made the hair on the back of his neck start to crawl!  He caught a glimpse of a figure, dressed in white, rising from behind the lectern.  Then it was all dark again.  His eyes were riveted in the direction of the front of the church and he could not move!  

At the next lightning flash he could see it had not been his imagination playing tricks on him---it really was a tall human-like figure with long black hair.  The apparition, if that is what it was, had moved over from behind the lectern and had taken a step down from the pulpit.

At the next flash the figure had taken a few steps down the aisle toward the front door--it was coming toward him! He was frozen to the spot and scared speechless.  In another minute there was a big clap of thunder followed by an unusually bright flash of lightning.  The tall white figure was moving slowly, but surely, in his direction.  Each time there was a flash of lightning the figure was a little nearer.  If ever a heart was tested for failure that was the time.

The tall white figure seemingly floated past the middle of the church, then an arm on the side of the figure started rising.  In one of the flashes the young man could see a hand outstretched as though it would grab him!  He tried too run but he could not move.  Then he felt the hand on his shoulder!  It is a wonder he didn't collapse in a dead faint.

Then he heard his name, "Willis!" His heart seemed to stop!  He thought his feet had been nailed to the floor.  Then he recognized the figure.  It was a lady in the community who had lost her mind.  In her long white nightgown she had slipped from her bed and out of the house the night before, without any of her family knowing about it.  Her folks had searched all day Sunday and had not found her.

Since there were worship services only once a month at the church in those days, the lady had had the church all to herself.  

I do not know if the young man married the girl he had been courting that day, but I do know that he never forgot the time when he thought a ghost had captured him for sure!  All the rest of his life he would repeat the story for anyone who would listen.

Happy Halloween from GOLDENSEAL!

Theresa's Note:  Some of the spookiest ghost stories aren't really ghost stories at all!  This tale is another example of how things aren't always what they seem...an important thing to keep in mind when researching and investigating hauntings for yourself.  Having said that, I think I would MUCH rather run into a real ghost than a mentally unstable woman hanging out in the local church during a thunderstorm!  The description of her in her white nightgown and long, black hair, moving slowly up the church aisle, closer with every flash, is straight up out of a modern day horror movie! I hope she was taken back to her family and compassionately cared for...and I hope Willis wasn't too emotionally scarred after the whole ordeal! 

Renick, WV ca 1910 from WV History on View

The Haunting of St. Mary's Church---Rhode Island

Source

The Folklore:
According to the popular paranormal website, Haunted Places, St. Mary's Catholic Church in West Warwick, Rhode Island is haunted! The folklore, as related by the site, states that St. Mary's was the first Catholic Church to have been built in Rhode Island. This didn't sit too well with the large Protestant population in the area, and so the story goes, the Protestant congregation 'cursed' the new church, dooming the first person to break ground on its construction to an eternity beneath its walls forever.

A young woman named Mary, often quoted as being the builder's wife, was the lucky one chosen to break ground on the project. As a result, her restless ghost still remains, messing with light switches, blowing out candles, and moving objects about.

The Fact:
St. Mary's Catholic Church is in fact the oldest Catholic Church in Rhode Island. The current church dates back to 1844 and was originally operated under the name of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The need for a Catholic church arose in the 1830s when a boom in  local textile production required skilled laborers from England and Ireland, many of whom were Catholic. On September 23, 1844, Mary Doran, the wife of calico printer Paul Doran, was chosen to be the one to break ground on the construction of the new church. It would be officially dedicated on July 20, 1845.

The official church history leaves out any actual 'curse' put on the church or its members, but this WAS a time period when Irish immigrants, especially those of the Catholic faith, were not well-received in this country, and it stands to reason that there was some friction in town. And whether or not you believe any curse or not, the fact stands that Mary Doran did NOT live a long and prosperous life following her role of breaking ground on the church.

Mary and her husband Paul had two children. Their daughter Elizabeth died at the age of 11 months in May of 1849. She was followed by her ten year old brother, Edward, that December. Mary also perished that year. She passed away at the age of 33 years old, on October 1, 1849. Being that three members of the family died the same year, so close together, indicates that there was probably some illness or epidemic that struck them. In 1849, there was a major outbreak of cholera sweeping throughout the country, which would be my best guess as to what happened to the family.  Paul would live long enough to remarry and have at least one more child before he joined his first family in the family plot at the St. Mary's Cemetery. It is true that Mary will spend eternity on the church grounds...but whether or not she is actually HAUNTING the church, you can decide!

Church History
Graveyard Transcription

The Ghosts of Lewisburg's John Wesley Methodist Church

Photo by Chuck and Alice Riecks

Also known as the First Methodist Church, the John Wesley Methodist Church in Lewisburg, West Virginia is one of the oldest brick churches in the state.  Construction began on what is now E. Foster Street in 1820 under the direction of John Weir.  Major renovations were undertaken by notable mason and architect John Dunn in 1835, giving the church a new vestibule, indoor staircase, and office space. Unfortunately, between the time when the church was originally built and when it was renovated, there was a tragic death involving a young girl who was a member of the congregation. 

Although the cause of death is not given, local legend states that visitors to the church have noticed the little girl, about ten years old, seemingly FLOATING high above the ground, her braids and dress flapping in the breeze.  The reason the child appears to be floating is that when she was alive, the staircase to the upper slave balcony of the church was located outside the building. The 1835 renovations, which included an indoor staircase, made the outdoor one obsolete and it was eventually removed. In life, it was said that the young girl enjoyed sitting on the top stair, bouncing her ball as she looked down.  It is this phantom sound of her bouncing ball that draws the witness' eyes up to the young girl seemingly suspended in mid-air, waiting on a staircase that has been gone for over 100 years.

The death of a young church member wouldn't be the only tragedy the church would face in its history...and it wouldn't even be the only tragedy that would result in paranormal activity!

Prior to the Civil War, the Methodist Church was split on a national level over the issue of slavery.  The congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Church remained in the building, while the Methodist Episcopal Church South faction moved into a new facility across the town.  The two factions would eventually reunited after the war, building a new church.  According to information from the National Register of Historic Places, the John Wesley building was then given or sold to the freed Blacks who were once relegated to only worshiping in its upper balcony.   However, before that happened, the John Wesley Methodist Church had to survive the war.

During the Civil War, the church found itself literally in the middle of the May 23, 1862 Battle of Lewisburg.  During the fighting, a cannonball struck the church, and the resulting damage can still be seen today. After the fighting had died down, the church was used as a makeshift hospital building for the wounded and dying soldiers on both sides.  The second ghostly legend from this church involves a young soldier who was mortally wounded.  For whatever reason, instead of receiving medical treatment inside the church, the young soldier was said to have crawled into some bushes on the side of the building, hiding from the enemy troops.  He died before anyone found him and today, the energy of his tragic death seems to have left a lasting impression.  The area on the side of the church is shrouded in an unearthly darkness...a darkness so deep that it seems to swallow up anyone who enters.  Those who do enter, however, report overwhelming feelings of sadness and melancholy, almost as if they are feeling what the young soldier felt as he lay dying all alone.

*Information on the ghost stories associated with this location came from the book, Haunted Lewisburg West Virginia, by Nancy Richmond, Tammy Workman, and Misty Murray Walkup.*  

National Register Application