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Welcome to the Culture news directory at West Virginia Explorer. Follow along as we explore the diverse cultures that have come to define the West Virginia experience.

Strange rock carvings greeted early explorers of West Virginia

Images of beasts and men decorate a boulder at the Half-Moon archaeological site, now submerged beneath the Ohio River.
WEIRTON, W.Va. — When pioneers and other explorers first ventured into what would become West Virginia, they encountered artifacts of a much earlier age...

The horrific origin of the W.Va. city name "Wheeling" explained

The origin of the name "Wheeling" is more terrifying than any association it might otherwise be expected to have with "wheels."
WHEELING, W.Va. — To the average motorist hurtling through the City of Wheeling on Interstate 70, nothing about the place might seem particularly nefarious. An...

How the Pruntytown reformatory became a bogeyman in West Virginia

A farmhouse at Pruntytown was once part of the infamous boys' reformatory complex.
PRUNTYTOWN, W.Va. — If you were an unruly boy growing up in West Virginia before the 1980s, there's a chance your misbehaviors were met...

Did the first U.S. serial killer live in a quiet corner...

Harry Powers, of Clarksburg, West Virginia, appears calm in this police photo.
QUIET DELL, W.Va. — On the morning of March 18, 1932, Harry Powers plummeted through the gallows at the West Virginia Penitentiary and dangled...

Old legend of Strange Creek might never be confirmed

STRANGE CREEK, W.Va. — Too much time may have passed to confirm anything of the indomitable legend of Strange Creek, long among the most...

Legend of ancient warpath along the W.Va. Turnpike is fact

The West Virginia Turnpike follows part of an ancient warpath through the West Virginia hills.
Older folks who live in the valley of Paint Creek may recall legends about how the stream was named: an ancient warpath followed it...

Prehistoric mystery underlies ancient "Egypt" in Mount Hope, W.Va.

David Sibray points toward the possible site of a prehistoric ruin in the old Mount Hope Cemetery.
MOUNT HOPE, W.Va. — Due to its remarkable fertility, the valley of Dunloup Creek in south-central West Virginia was once called by settlers "Egypt."...

Tale of Petrified Witch of Kanawha County has been nearly forgotten

WITCHER CREEK, W.Va — It's likely that few English speakers who have observed the "Witchers Creek" road sign on US-60 have done so without...

Do three legendary monsters inhabit the Monongahela River in W.Va.?

FAIRMONT, W.Va. — Far from the city lights that shimmer about its mouth at the Golden Triangle at Pittsburgh, the Monongahela River rises more...

Here's how the West Virginia town of "Hundred" got its unique...

In the 1850s, illustrator Porte Crayon (David Hunter Strother) captured Henry Church "Old Hundred" for Harper's Magazine.
HUNDRED, W.Va. — There was a time soon after the completion of the B&O Railroad when passengers would clamber to the car windows to...

Ancient stone walls on Armstrong Mountain no old-timer's tale

A historic marker along U.S. 60 promotes the location of the Mount Carbon Walls.
If you grew up listening to the lore of old-timers in southern West Virginia, chances are you've heard of mysterious stone walls atop Armstrong...

Bigfoot sightings have clustered in New River Gorge region

New River at Grandview, Raleigh County, New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, New River Gorge Region
BECKLEY, W.Va. — While recent bigfoot sightings in southern West Virginia have gained national attention, one investigator says it's no surprise, given the number...

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