FAIRMONT, W.Va. — At least two mysteries tangle in the tale of the Neerly house. What happened to the house? What happened to “old man Neerly? And where did the late folklorist Ruth Ann Musick encounter the legend? The following version of the West Virginia tale appears in the West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia, edited and … Read more
SKULL RUN, W.Va. — A traveler motoring through the pastures in this wooded section off the Ohio River might have little idea of the dark tales that have arisen there. With its grazing cattle, it seems a world away from warfare, but according to the late historian Nathan Goff Carder, its red clay isn’t all … Read more
FAIRMONT, W.Va. — In the hills and river bottoms of Marion County in north-central West Virginia, stories have long circulated that blur the line between frontier memory and myth. Few are as strange or as enduring as a tale recorded by the late historian Glenn D. Lough in his book “Now and Long Ago: A … Read more
FRANKFORD, W.Va. — Long before viral videos and roadside attractions, West Virginia produced a creature so outsized that stories about him drifted into legend. Yet, despite decades of exaggeration, the animal at the center of the tale did exist. According to the late Jim Comstock, the renowned West Virginia storyteller and publisher of the West … Read more
CLAYTON, W.Va. — Few West Virginia place names come with a tale as improbable or as theatrical as that of Clayton, a quiet Summers County community whose name traces back to the crash of a hot-air balloon nearly two centuries ago. The year was 1835, a time when flight of any kind carried an air … Read more
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Paranormal tourism is booming across West Virginia, but the increase in ghost tours, haunted history walks, and supernatural-themed events doesn’t necessarily reflect a rise in belief in the paranormal. According to David Sibray, publisher of West Virginia Explorer and a long-time interpreter of Appalachian folklore, the state’s growing ghost-themed tourism sector has … Read more
MIDDLEWAY, W.Va. — The Wizard Clip haunting, the first documented poltergeist in America, occurred in the late 1700s in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. Though centuries have passed, its legend endures, earning residents the nickname “Clippers” to this day. Referred to as the “truest ghost story ever told” by the late James Cardinal Gibbons, … Read more
BEAVER, W.Va. — For those who step outside on Wednesday to look up, the full moon that rises over West Virginia will be more than a pale, familiar globe. It’s the closest and brightest full moon of the year—a supermoon popularly known as the “Beaver Moon.” Its name carries echoes of state history stretching back … Read more
FAIRMONT, W.Va. — A lesser-known encounter with an extraordinary Mountain State cryptid is still capturing the imagination of West Virginians a half century later. On a warm July day in 1968, in the hills near Grant Town, West Virginia, Jennings Frederick was hunting for groundhogs when he heard a high-pitched noise that morphed into a … Read more
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — From cauldrons to candy corn, favorite Halloween traditions in the U.S. have been brewing for thousands of years, according to two West Virginia University religious scholars. Aaron Gale and Alex Snow, associate professors of religious studies in the university’s Eberly College of Arts and Sciences in Morgantown, West Virginia, say that modern … Read more
