These 4 More Urban Legends In West Virginia Will Keep You Awake At Night
Like any other place, West Virginia has its fair share of ghost stories and urban legends. We’ve all heard of Moth Man and the Greenbrier Ghost. Here are more haunting legends from the Mountain State that will have you sleeping with a light turned on. To read more, see this previous list.
Thurmond was found killed in Logan County June 21, 1932. Her throat was slashed ear to ear and she was shot twice in the left side of her head. A local boy found her body in a blackberry patch. Her jewelry was found with her, which ruled out the possibility of robbery being the motivation for the slaying. A handy man was eventually arrested and convicted of the murder. Mystery surrounds where she is buried and who actually killed her. Her death certificate says she was buried at Logan Memorial Park, but other records say she was laid to rest in Bradfordsville, Kentucky.
Today there have been reported sightings of Thurmond’s ghost on 22 Mine Road.
The Dingess Tunnel was built in 1892 for the Norfolk and Western Railroad, largely by African American and Chinese immigrant workers.
Legend has it that residents of Dingess, who didn't take kindly to outsiders, used to hide in the hills just outside the tunnel and shoot any dark skinned passengers aboard the train, according to internet reports. No records were kept but it’s estimated that hundreds of black and Chinese workers died. In addition to the murders, workers also died during construction, and at least two trains collided on the tracks there, causing more deaths.
The tunnel has the reputation of being haunted by the souls that perished there. Visitors have reported hearing organ music and hearing a voice say “hi," according to Theresa’s Haunted History of the Tri-State. One person even claims to have gotten a picture of a little ghost girl standing in the tunnel.
Here’s a video tour of the tunnel from Youtube user Joey Ferris.
3. Big Foot sightings in West Virginia
The internet is full of Big Foot sightings in West Virginia. I found a whole website dedicated to it. But this video is really interesting. It claims to show a sasquatch walking through the forest at Snowshoe Mountain in 2008.
Legend, retold on Americanfolklore.net, has it that Jenny, a poor woman with no family, lived in a shed along the B&O Railroad in Harpers Ferry. She barely had enough money to eat and the shed stayed cold during the winter months. One day in late autumn Jenny was drinking broth over a fire and trying to stay warm. She was so focused on the broth that she didn't notice a spark had flown up from the fire and caught her skirt on fire. Her skin started to burn, she leapt up and threw the rest of the broth onto the flames, but it did little to put it out.
She ran screaming out of the shed and onto the train tracks as she looked for help. In her agony, she did not see the lights from the train's headlight as it rounded a bend and mowed her down. She was given a pauper's funeral and buried in a church yard. People say that on the anniversary of her death, Jenny's burning ghost can be seen on the train tracks. Many engineers have seen Screaming Jenny as she makes her desperate attempt to find help while her body burned.
Were these creepy or what? And these are just a few of West Virginia’s urban legends. How many of these have you heard about? Can you think of any more?
