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Friday, April 26, 2024

Culture

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.

The word "hillbilly" was once a term of endearment in Appalachia

"Dance" by Porte Crayon, an illustration for Harper's New Monthly Magazine; May 1872.
RICHWOOD, W.Va. — The word "hillbilly" was a term of endearment in the southern Appalachian Mountains region in the early 1800s, though it later...

Tale of the "Screaming Lady" based on true West Virginia historical...

The skeleton of a woman buried alive in the 1800s may still lie beneath the soil in Mason County.
POINT PLEASANT, W.Va. — Some of the most chilling tales of hauntings in West Virginia are based on actual events, and one of the...

Did the world's first teddy bear come from the forests of...

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — There's little doubt that the world's first teddy bear was crafted by toymaker Morris Michtom, who was inspired by...

Stonewall Jackson's cousin "Mudwall" led failed attack on fort in W.Va.

A line of trees follows a breastwork at the Bulltown Battlefield at Bulltown, West Virginia, in Braxton County.
BULLTOWN, W.Va. — During the first years of the U.S. Civil War, marauding bands of guerillas roamed the hills in what's now central West...

Mysterious worm invasion wreaked havoc in Wetzel County in 1918

Wetzel County Worm Invasion
LITTLETON, W.Va. — In the summer of 1918, a procession of billions of ravenous "worms" passed through the hills of eastern Wetzel County, wreaking...

Mysteries surround lost Washington graves on Hurricane Creek in W.Va.

FRAZIER'S BOTTOM, W.Va. — How did a great-nephew of George Washington come to be buried in a virtually forgotten graveyard in the Kanawha Valley...

Little "Two Mules and a Pony" rail line ran in eastern...

BURLINGTON, W.Va. — Railroads in West Virginia are most often associated with the export of coal and timber, but at least one small railway...

Legendary grave of judge straddled West Virginia-Pennsylvania line

NEW MANCHESTER, W.Va. — Some say that the ghost of Judge John Hoke Reddick still haunts his grave, and that's not hard to believe,...

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...

Tale of Rich Mountain Ghosts recalls early Civil War battle in...

In one of the first engagements of the American Civil War, Union regiments under the overall command of General George B. McClellan attacked and defeated Confederate troops defending a strategic mountain pass on the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike.
RICH MOUNTAIN, W.Va. — Every summer, thousands of Civil War buffs travel to the summit of Rich Mountain near Beverly, West Virginia, in Randolph...

Scrap marker remains to recount the tale of terrifying "Likker Charlie"...

CAMP CREEK, W.Va. — Only a few local historians may remember the obscure and chilling tale of Charles Anderson Mills, more infamously known in...

The day they knocked a hole in the Cheat River in...

Cheat River, Preston County, Allegheny Highlands Region
MASONTOWN, W.Va. — The strange story of "the day they knocked a hole in the Cheat River" has been passed down for more than...

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