PAX, W.Va. — Of the many spirits said to haunt the hills of West Virginia, few stir as much unease as those believed to foretell death. Among them, one of the most chilling is the Horse Creek Hollow Ghost, a phantom whose legend has been whispered around campfires in the state’s southern mountains for generations.
Most versions of the tale agree on the essentials: the phantom appears to unsuspecting travelers and delivers an omen of the impending death of a U.S. president.
The late Jim Comstock, editor and storyteller, retold the legend several times in the 1970s. Yet he never specified which of the state’s many streams named "Horse Creek" is said to harbor the ghost.
There is one in Boone County on a branch of the Little Coal River. Another is in Fayette County and flows into Paint Creek near Pax. One in McDowell County feeds the Tug Fork. Another in Wyoming County that joins the Guyandotte River. Yet another in Raleigh County is a tributary of the Marsh Fork of the Coal River.
Which of these hollows holds the ghost’s secret is uncertain—perhaps some of Comstock’s witnesses can help us trace it.
The first recorded encounter came on April 8, 1865, when Major Walter Hanson and Elijah Miller were hunting along Horse Creek Hollow. Hearing a rustle in the brush, they readied their guns for a deer. Instead, they saw a spectral woman in a long, dripping black dress. She raised a finger and warned: “Lincoln will be gone before the full moon rises.”
“We didn’t hear about the president being shot and killed in Washington till nearly two months after we saw that thing,” Hanson recalled years later.
The phantom returned in 1881, when Clyde Pardue and his wife were walking home from a Saturday church service. They described seeing a glowing death’s head shrouded in a wet black shawl. Again, the ghost foretold the death of a president—and once more, the prophecy came true.
The most recent account came in 1963, when traveling salesman Max Alberts spotted the ghostly figure standing in the road as he drove along Horse Creek. Though he could not make out her words, that year brought the assassination of President Kennedy. As one elderly local remarked afterward, “The phantom only comes around when there is trouble a-brewing.”
HORSE CREEK GHOST
The first recorded appearance of this other-worldly being was on April 8, 1865, when Major Walter Hanson and Elijah Miller were hunting on Horse Creek Hollow. They heard a loud noise in the brush and, thinking it was a deer, got their guns ready. What actually appeared, though, was a female phantom in a long dark dress that appeared to be wet. She pointed a finger at the men and said, "Lincoln will be gone before the full moon rises."
"The news wasn't like it is now," Major Hanson said shortly before his death. "We didn't hear about the president being shot and killed in Washington till nearly two months after we seen that thing."
The specter next appeared in 1881 to Clyde Pardue and his wife, who were returning home after a Saturday night church service. What they saw was a glowing death's head covered by a dripping wet black shawl. The ghost again predicted the death of a president, and the prediction came true.
In 1963, the ghostly figure appeared to Max Alberts, a traveling magazine subscription salesman who saw her standing in the road as he drove his car along the creek. He claimed he couldn't hear what she said, but it was that year that President Kennedy was assassinated. An elderly resident of the area has been quoted as saying, "The phantom only comes around when there is trouble a-brewing."
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