Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

The Case that Shook (literally) Real Estate Law

In the late 1960s, George and Helen Ackley purchased a fixer-upper...a Victorian "mansion" located along the Hudson River in Nyack, New York. The home, which sat at 1 LaVeta Place, was about 20 miles north of New York City, and already had a reputation. As the Ackleys moved in, neighborhood children were sure to let the family know that the deteriorating Victorian was "haunted."

The family shortly found out that there may actually be something to the children's tales. Over the years, the family, most notably Helen, went through plenty of strange, poltergeist activities. In one tale that is often told, the daughter, Cynthia, was awakened every morning for school by someone shaking her bed. When Spring Break rolled around, she told the ghost that she would like to sleep in...and the bed did not shake. Other family members constantly received small gifts that materialized out of nowhere. Babies were given baby rings that disappeared as quickly as they appeared, and other gifts included silver tongs and plenty of coins. Fortunately, the family was able to peacefully coincide with their resident ghost(s) and lived rather happily.

In fact, Helen was so proud of her ghosts that she made no attempt to hide them. The haunted house was mentioned several times in the local newspaper, and Reader's Digest also did a story on the home's ethereal residents. The house was so well known that it even became a stop on a local ghost tour.

When property values declined and taxes increased in the late 1980s, Helen decided to sell the home, and move to a warmer climate. Luckily, even though the market was "soft" she did eventually find a buyer: Mr. Jeffrey Stambovsky and his wife, Patrice of New York City. They agreed to an asking price of $650,000 and put up a $32,000 down payment. And then...they heard the rumors about the house being haunted.

Although a skeptic, Stambovsky said the rumors made his wife nervous, and that the thought of ghost hunters and curiosity seekers traipsing through the property did not interest them. They backed out on the deal, but Helen refused to return the down payment. In retaliation, a civil suit was filed against her, and her real estate company, Ellis Realty, and a lower court actually ruled in her favor. It was deemed "caveat emptor," or buyer beware. The house was sold "as is" and therefore, the Stambovsky's were not entitled to anything for breaking the contract.

However, they appealed, and it was ruled in their favor on July 18, 1991. Since Helen did publicize the hauntings, the house, for the purposes of this case, was deemed "legally haunted," and it was ruled that this fact should have been disclosed to potential buyers. Luckily, the same caveat that dissuades some, actually works in others' favor. The house was sold in 1991 and Helen moved to Florida. She passed away in 2003.

The photo above was found on several different websites without photo credits. If this is your photo, please let me know so I can give you proper credit!

More information on the ruling:
Stambovsky vs. Ackley

Madie Carroll House

The Madie Carroll House is notably the oldest house in Guyandotte...but it wasn't actually built IN Guyandotte! The wooden, saltbox home was built in 1810 in Gallipolis, Ohio, and floated down the river by flatboat by Mr. James Gallaher. In its early years, ownership passed hands several times, but the home's most noted residents are the Carrolls.

Thomas Carroll and his first wife Anne, lived in the home, running a tavern and ordinary out of it. The Carrolls, who had immigrated from Ireland, were also the first Catholic family in the area, and thus, the first Catholic church services in Cabell County were held in the home. After Anne died of pneumonia in the home in her early 40s, Thomas remarried...this time to a fiery Irish red-head named Mary Fee. Mary Fee Carroll is the one who is credited with saving the home during the burning of Guyandotte.

On the night of November 11, 1861, Federal troops stormed the town under the direction of Col. Ziegler. After finding the Union recruitment camp had been attacked by the Confederates the night before, and many of their comrades killed, wounded, or taken prison, the orders were given to burn the entire town in retaliation for its strong Confederate sympathies. Mary Carroll locked herself and her small children into the home, and refused to let the Federals burn her house down. She succeeded in saving the home, but the barn was set ablaze.

It is Mary's step-granddaughter, Mary "Madie" Carroll for whom the house is named. Madie came to live with Mary at an early age, when her mother passed away. She was raised by Mary, and continued to live into the home up until about 2 years before her death. Madie Carroll was a local piano teacher, having graduated from Marshall College and attending Juliard. She never married, as her fiance was killed in WWI. After Madie's death, the home went briefly to her nephews, but is now home to the Madie Carroll House museum.

The home is also said to be one of the most haunted in the sleepy little hamlet of Guyandotte. Like many historic homes in the area dating from the Civil War era, activity is said to increase around the time of the anniversary of the raid and burning of Guyandotte (November 10-11). In one incident, a reenactor getting dressed in the home heard the distinct rustle and bustle of petticoats and hoopskirts, and assumed another reenactor was also getting ready. However, when she went to go see if the lady needed anything, no one was found. A man in a black trench coat and wide brimmed had has recently been seen in the home, as well as another apparition of a man, possibly a Confederate soldier.

However, Civil War era ghosts aren't the only ones said to make their lasting home here. Madie Carroll has also been heard, and even seen. Phantom piano music is often heard drifting from the empty home, while one couple got up close and personal with Madie's spirit. While parked out back, doing what couples do in dark alleys at night, the gentleman looked up at the back porch and claimed to see an elderly lady in the rocking chair. Being from out of town, he didn't know who Madie Carroll was, but his girlfriend, a local, was able to confirm her identity from the description...despite the fact that she could see NOTHING on the porch at the time.

Another bit of interesting lore about the home is an upstairs bedroom nicknamed the "birthing room." It was the room where several Carroll family children were born...and where one member of the family, Ellen, died in childbirth. Legend states that ladies who visit the room will be overcome by a physical sensation of cramps and the pains of labor. Several years ago, I was 28 weeks pregnant and working a fundraiser at the home, when I decided to see for myself if these legends were true. Being pregnant with my first child, I had NO idea what to expect, and wanted to find out. I was disappointed when nothing happened in the room. Well, they always say be careful what you wish for...

The fundraiser was on Saturday. On Tuesday, I went in for my regular doctor's appointment and found out that I was in early labor. They managed to hold it off for another month or so, and I gave birth to a healthy, yet slightly premature little boy named Luke...named after Lucian Wolcott, the owner of the home from whom the Carrolls rented before taking ownership on their own. Interestingly enough, another member of HPIR in a separate incident, DID feel horrible cramps in the room, so much that she actually had to lie down to overcome the pain.

Fun Fact: One story that is often told about the house most likely isn't true...but it makes for a darn fine story! It is said that when Collis P. Huntington came to the Cabell County area to find a location for his railroad, the busy and prosperous town of Guyandotte was a prime location. Huntington stayed overnight at the Carroll House, and hitched his horse to the post out front. Sometime during the night, the horse ended up on the sidewalk, and the mayor slapped a fine on Mr. Huntington. Mr. Huntington, outraged, basically said to hell with Guyandotte...he would just make his own town to the west...and he did. Huntington, WV was incorporated around 1871, and Guyandotte was later incorporated into it.

Madie Carroll House website

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Breaking News! Dr. Grimes' Dental Office

I've always wanted to write that! Well, I finally get a chance, as I do have some somewhat shocking news when it comes to a most well-beloved case of paranormal activity here in the tri-state.

In 2007, Huntington Paranormal was still a fairly new group, and was eagerly exploring some of Huntington's most famous haunted locations. One of these locations was the dental office of Dr. William Grimes, located along 20th Street. The story reported by Dr. Grimes to WV Ghosts consisted of tales about a little ghost girl named Lavina who haunted the turn of the century duplex he had bought in 1973. Lavina lived in the former duplex with her mother and older sister. However, before moving to Huntington from Ohio, Lavina took care of the youngest child in the family, an infant, while her mother and older sister worked as waitresses to support themselves, and save up enough money to leave an abusive father. A house fire killed the young baby that Lavina took such loving care of, and the mother moved to the former duplex turned dental office with her two remaining daughters.

Shortly after, Lavina, who was about 11-13 years old, died in the home of appendicitis. It is said that she never got over the death of her baby sister. This information came from an informant known as Mrs. Andre. Sightings of a ghostly girl matching Mrs. Andre's description have been spotted, and even been picked up on by sensitives. Data collected by various groups seemed to support the story. Dr. Grimes even has a portrait of the sad looking little girl who appeared to him on the staircase. After painting her portrait, apparitions tended to fade away, but she is still said to be felt in the home, and loves to interact with children who come to visit.

HPIR did two investigations in 2007 of the office; the first in May and the second in October, when we were called back because activity had seemingly increased. From my understanding, at the time of our May investigation, we were the only group that had been in to investigate since a group from Marshall in the 1980s. Both investigations did yield a plethora of personal experiences, as well as EVPs and strange EMF readings that could not be explained...even by a fuse box that was later changed due to the high amount of EMF it was putting out! (Click the links above to see investigation results and listen to the EVPs.) The level of activity and the interesting history landed this location on the number one spot of our Top 10 Most Haunted in the Tri-State list!

Fast-forward to October 2011. Clint and Judy of WTCR 103.3 FM decided to do an overnight investigation, and live broadcast from a haunted location in Huntington to celebrate Halloween. Dr. Grimes' office was chosen, and HPIR was contacted to appear live on the broadcast. I was the lucky one who was off work that day, and able to make a guest appearance...but also managed to set up an additional investigation for the following month. Since HPIR has several new members and lots of new equipment that we didn't have in 2007, I thought this would be the perfect time to contact "Livvie" again, as she was dubbed by a visiting sensitive.

In order to prepare for the big event, I started doing some heavy research into the lives of the former occupants, and found something sort of shocking: Lavina Wall's TRUE identity!

According to an official death certificate, with supporting information from various federal census reports and other sources, Lavina G. Wall was born on September 7, 1908 in Lawrence County, Ohio to parents Cyrus Kemp Wall and Bernice Rodger Wall. She died at the age of 21, on October 28, 1929 at the Kessler-Hatfield Hospital, which later became Huntington Memorial. Her occupation is listed as "dressmaker." The primary cause of death is listed as "gastro-enteritis acute" caused by "poison liquor?" This is interesting because during this time, Prohibition was in full swing, and it was known that the government "poisoned" industrial liquors to make them unsafe for consumption...but they were stolen and sold as drinkable liquor anyway. I'm assuming that the addition of the question mark to the cause means that it was not verified that this was a contributory cause or not. Another interesting side note: on an HPIR investigation, the overwhelming smell of peaches was observed in Lavina's former bedroom. After searching in vain and finding nothing to account for the smell, it died away as quickly as it had come. During this time of Prohibition, cyanide was one of the poisons added to make liquor un-drinkable. Peach pits contain cyanide.

In any event, Lavina was buried in Locust Grove Cemetery in Lawrence County Ohio. Her death certificate states that she was buried on October 30, 1929. However, her death notice in the Huntington Advertiser, dated October 31, said she was buried on THAT date, after a funeral at Pilgrim's Holiness Church, on the corner of 20th Street and 9th Avenue. A death notice from the same paper the day before (October 30) states that Miss Wall died following a brief illness, but another notice, from the morning edition of the paper on October 30 stated that Miss Wall died from complications following a fall two weeks earlier. Strange, huh?

Various death notices also listed Miss Wall as being survived by both parents, two brothers, and two sisters. There is no mention of the death of a baby sister. However, there's no record proving that a baby DIDN'T exist, either. The 1910 census shows the family living in Windsor Township, in Lawrence County, Ohio. By the 1920 census, the family is living in a rental property in Wethersfield, Illinois. By this point, 11 year old Lavina has two younger siblings...a sister named Irma who is six, and a brother Carter, who is 9. Older siblings include Alice and Virgil, both present on both the 1910 and the 1920 census.

By the 1930 census, the father seems to have disappeared, and the mother is living in Huntington with Carter, Irma, and a boarder named Alice Holley. She is working as a seamstress to provide for her two teenage children. The Social Security Death Index indicates that Bernice Wall died on October 6, 1972 in Los Angeles, CA, after presumably moving there to be near her son, Virgil. (At the time of Lavina's death, Virgil was listed in the death notice as living in LA).

Further research is still being conducted on the home itself, on the Wall family, and of course, on the death of an infant in later years. As additional information is found, cross-referenced and verified, it will be added. We are still exploring the possibility that there was another Lavina who lived in the house, but at that time, there is no death record for her listed at the state archives. Thanks for reading, and please visit HPIR's site to find out more about our investigations into this case!

UPDATE: November12, 2011: Information HAS been found that may lend some integrity to the original story! Full details will be disclosed at a later date!

UPDATE November 28, 2011: Additional information has been compiled and it seems as if we were in fact able to debunk the story related by Mrs. Andre. For part 2 of Lavina's True Story, please see the link below.

Lavina's TRUE Story: Dr. Grimes' Dental Office Part 2
Carla's Story: Part 3 of the Dr. Grimes Investigation

Photo above property of the Cabell County Assessor's Office

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Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Monday, October 31, 2011

Guyandotte Methodist Church Cemetery

Not to give away too much information...but with Halloween today, and our tour season about to come to a close, I thought I'd give everyone a chance to experience some of the haunted history of the Guyandotte Methodist Church Cemetery!

In 1804, the prominent and wealthy Holderby family donated a parcel of land in downtown Guyandotte to be used as a church, a graveyard, and a school. We have no record of the school ever being built, and the original church is now gone, but what we DO have still remaining is the Guyandotte Methodist Church cemetery...one of the oldest public burial grounds in Cabell County.

Visitors to the cemetery will notice a distinct lack of tombstones to indicate over 200 years of burial. However, this parcel of land survived not only the 1861 Raid and Burning of Guyandotte, but also the floods of 1913 and 1937, and nearly 100 years of vandalism and neglect. When taking that into consideration, we're extremely lucky to have what markers we DO have, whether or not they are in their actual correct location. Today, the cemetery is maintained by the Park Board, who has graciously allowed HPIR to hold an annual tour in September.

HPIR has uncovered many fascinating stories about the lives of those interred in the cemetery. Here is just a sampling of two of their stories:

Eleanore LeTulle
Eleanore LeTulle came to America with her husband, Victor LeTulle, from the Normandy area of France. In the 1820s, they settled in the new community of Guyandotte, and ran a grocery business out of their home. When Eleanor died in 1836, Victor buried her in the Methodist Church graveyard, erecting a fine, and elaborate stone marker in her honor.

Three years later, Victor married his second wife, Nancy Forgey, and built her a house on what is now Guyan Street. Together, they too ran a baking and grocery business out of the home, all the while taking care of their rapidly growing family.

When Victor passed away in 1853 of pneumonia, he was buried beside Eleanore in the church graveyard. Nancy continued to live in the home, which still stands today along the flood wall. When it was Nancy's time to go, her children buried her in the new Spring Hill Cemetery, which was now the popular place to be buried. Nancy's surviving children, who had never met Eleanore, disinterred their father from his slumber in Guyandotte, and re-buried him along side their mother, Nancy Forgey LeTulle, in Spring Hill.

This action was enough to rouse the spirit of Eleanore LeTulle. It is said that Eleanore's apparition has been seen walking through the cemetery, down the street to Victor's home, and even IN the home itself, looking for her lost love.

Anthony Lawson
Anthony Lawson was born in England, on Halloween, in the year 1788. At the time of his death in 1849, he was living in what is now Logan County, West Virginia. During a return trip from Pennsylvania, where he was conducting business, Anthony Lawson took ill along the Ohio, and passed away here in Guyandotte.

However, it is theorized that Anthony Lawson's body was disinterred, and taken back home to Logan County by his son. A major clue to this is the inscription on his tombstone, which reads "Sacred to the Memory of." Generally, when this is seen on a tombstone, it denotes that it is simply a memorial...and that the body is NOT there. This is seen often on the graves of persons who have died at sea, or have otherwise died in a situation where the body has been lost elsewhere.

Another clue that Anthony Lawson may not be around is the grave itself...it is the only one in the whole cemetery surrounded by an iron fence. It is also under a large concrete slab that obscures the bottom part of the tombstone's inscription. These two devices were added in the early 1940s because at that time, the grave of Anthony Lawson was caving in, and becoming a safety hazard. Although...some believe that these devices were actually put in place not to keep people from getting in..but to keep something from getting OUT!

Anthony is the only person, however, in his family, to meet with mysterious circumstance. Two years prior to his death, his wife, Ann, was murdered by two of her own slaves. His grandson had the unfortunate luck to have found himself in the town of Guyandotte waiting on his boat to Pennsylvania the night the Confederates raided the town. He was taken prisoner, but escaped with his life when it was proven that he was simply in town for business.

In any event, we have discovered over the years of leading various tours that whether Anthony Lawson is at his grave or not, SOMETHING likes to mess with visitors' cameras. Many people report that their cameras will turn off and not turn back on until they leave the graveyard...only after trying to photograph Lawson's grave. Others can get their cameras working, but report weird streaks or balls of light, shadows, and other strange flaws on the image. Is this caused by an influx of natural EM fields, messing with the camera...or Anthony Lawson trying to say hello? Take a tour and find out for yourself!

The annual cemetery tour takes place each September in conjunction with SwineFest. The cemetery is also a stop on other tours, but only features a small sampling of the stories. For more information, see our tour website below!

Haunted and Historic Guyandotte Tours

Photography by Melissa Stanley, HPIR Founder/President

Happy Halloween from Vienna!

It's that time again...the most wonderful time of year: Halloween! Here's a funny story to start the morning off right!

Tall Tale from Vienna Graveyard

Chris Cross, a tourist in Vienna, is going passed Vienna's Zentralfriedhof graveyard on October 31st. All of a sudden he hears some music. No one is around, so he starts searching for the source. Chris finally locates the origin and finds it is coming from a grave with a headstone that reads: Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770-1827. Then he realizes that the music is the Ninth Symphony and it is being played backward! Puzzled, he leaves the graveyard and persuades Tim Burr, a friend, to return with him.

By the time they arrive back at the grave, the music has changed. This time it is the Seventh Symphony, but like the previous piece, it is being played backward. Curious, the men agree to consult a music scholar.

When they return with the expert, the Fifth Symphony is playing, again backward. The expert notices that the symphonies are being played in the reverse order in which they were composed, the 9th, then the 7th, then the 5th. By the next day the word has spread and a throng has gathered around the grave. They are all listening to the Second Symphony being played backward.

Just then the graveyard's caretaker ambles up to the group. Someone in the crowd asks him if he has an explanation for the music.

"Oh, it's nothing to worry about" says the caretaker. "He's just decomposing!"

Source

*The cartoon I recently found (August 2013) is from FaceBook. It was posted with no mention as to where its from or who created it, so if its your property, lemme know and I'll give credit where credit is due! And yes, I realize that its a different composer than what is in the joke itself, but it was too good to pass up!*

Ghost Found on Guyandotte Ghost Tours?

We had another successful round of tours this past weekend! Despite the rain on Friday, we still had a fair number of people, but a clear, brisk Saturday brought them out in droves! A big thank you to everyone who came out and supported HPIR this year! We do these tours because we're proud of the history of our small town of Guyandotte...and what better way to teach history than through a good ghost story?

Perhaps through a good ghost photo?

The photo above was submitted by a family who attended my first tour of the evening on Saturday. It was taken at the Patterson House, where a spirit dubbed Harry has been said to make his presence known. According to the family submitting the photo, visible in the window is what appears to be a young boy. I DO see what can be called a young boy's face, complete with bangs, an ear, a nose, and the eyes and chin. Unfortunately, despite having a second photo taken seconds before for comparison, I cannot completely rule out pareidolia. However...I'll let YOU decide what you see (or don't) see in the photograph! ; )

Also, if you missed this past weekend's tours, its not too late! This coming weekend will bring the Guyandotte Civil War Days' tours. My favorite ghost is a Civil War era ghost, and you're sure to meet one or two on this interactive tour. For more info, see the link below!

Haunted and Historic Guyandotte Tours