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Saturday, January 18, 2025

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.

Bizarre 'Wild West' massacre erupted in Cowen, West Virginia, in 1905

Richwood, West Virginia (WV) in 1910 was the center of a booming timber industry.
COWEN, W.Va. — Cowen today is a sleepy town of 500, perhaps best known for its location near a quiet lake. It was hardly...

Prehistoric relic on display in West Virginia was discovered by accident

CEREDO, W.Va. — On the south side of Main Street in the Town of Ceredo, West Virginia, a small community along the Ohio River...

Witches were perceived as real threats by settlers in what's now...

An evergreen forest in West Virginia.
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — For pioneers in western Virginia, life was complicated enough without talk of "witches." Any interruption in the business of avoiding hunger...

Little-known Battle of Scary Creek in West Virginia one of first...

Scary Creek meanders through the Teays Valley.
SCARY, W.Va. — Though nothing remains on the battlefield along the Kanawha River today, the Battle of Scary Creek was one of the most...

Nightmarish mummies attracting curious to rural West Virginia

The fingers of a Philippi Mummy are drawn into crippled fists.
PHILIPPI, W.Va. — Stored for years in an old barn, the creations of a rural mad scientist, the hardened cadavers known as the "Philippi...

Mass grave at Lewisburg unique among Confederate monuments

Pennies on Rebel Grave, Lewisburg, West Virginia, Greenbrier County, Greenbrier Valley Region
LEWISBURG, W.Va.—Of the many historic landmarks in Lewisburg, West Virginia, perhaps none is more remarkable than a cross-shaped Confederate grave on a hill above...

Mystery surrounds rare Catholic shrine in southern West Virginia

A statue of Saint Anthony of Padua stands outside Saint Anthony's Shrine at Boomer, West Virginia .
BOOMER, W.Va. — Only one church of the Roman Catholic faith in West Virginia is venerated as a "shrine"—a place of special devotion that...

Historians seek origin of "The Little Graves" on a West Virginia...

BASIN, W.Va. — Sharp-eyed motorists traveling Barkers Ridge in southern West Virginia may have noticed a faded sign that commemorates the burial of what...

Windy nights recall legend of Sam Hart and his race with...

Old Stone Church Cemetery, Lewisburg, West Virginia (WV)
LEWISBURG, W.Va. — Windy nights such as those that sweep through the hollows in West Virginia may put residents of Lewisburg in mind of...

Bells at Concord University in W.Va. linked to strange phenomenon

Forty-eight bells, include a 2.96-ton bourdon, hang in the bell tower at Concord University.
ATHENS, W.Va. — Farmers in the countryside near Concord University in West Virginia sometimes speak of a strange winter phenomenon. When conditions are just right,...

Legend of beast resurfaces in the mountains near Fireco, West Virginia

Fireco, West Virginia, in Raleigh County, as it appeared in the 1960s.
BECKLEY, W.Va. — In almost every respect, the coal camp at Fireco was the end of the line. It was as far up the...

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...

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