HILLSBORO, W.Va. — Visitors to a West Virginia Civil War battlefield have reported hearing galloping horses and cannon fire and seeing soldiers who seemingly disappear.
Now Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park in Pocahontas County is joining the West Virginia Paranormal Trail, a statewide tourism route devoted to places associated with ghosts, cryptids and other unexplained phenomena.
The W.Va. Department of Tourism announced the addition as the Paranormal Trail returns for 2026. Nearly 14,000 people worldwide have registered for the trail since it launched in 2024.
Ghost stories linger at Droop Mountain
The Battle of Droop Mountain was fought Nov. 6, 1863, when Union forces commanded by Brig. Gen. William W. Averell confronted Confederate troops under Brig. Gen. John Echols.
Echols’ smaller force initially held the high ground and blocked the highway with artillery, but Union infantry eventually overwhelmed the Confederate left flank. Echols and his remaining troops retreated south into Virginia.
The battle was the last significant Civil War engagement fought in West Virginia and helped secure federal control of the new state for the remainder of the war. Many Confederate soldiers were later buried in a cross-shaped grave at Lewisburg.
The battlefield was dedicated in 1928 as West Virginia’s first state park. Stories of strange encounters at Droop Mountain, however, were circulating long before the battlefield became part of a state-sponsored paranormal tourism trail.
Chelsea Faulknier, executive director of the Pocahontas County Convention and Visitors Bureau, grew up in the Hillsboro area and remembers hearing the stories as a child.
“I grew up kind of in the Hillsboro area, so I’ve heard the tales of the headless horsemen and folks seeing apparitions of soldiers and hearing cannons firing at night as they’ve explored the state park,” Faulknier said.
Faulknier said she has never encountered anything unusual herself.
“I’ve never experienced anything, but I’ve definitely heard a lot of stories about folks experiencing things,” she said.
Accounts collected by the visitor bureau also include the sounds of galloping horses and reports of what appeared to be a Confederate soldier sleeping against a tree.
One of the mountain’s stranger stories dates to 1920, when two campers staying near the battlefield reportedly encountered a headless figure.
The state cited the reported ghostly encounters in announcing Droop Mountain as the newest location on the West Virginia Paranormal Trail.
Paranormal trail returns for 2026
Launched in 2024, the West Virginia Paranormal Trail is a free, self-guided experience that connects destinations associated with paranormal stories across the state.
Travelers register online and receive a digital passport by email or text. Previous participants must register again to receive the 2026 passport and qualify for this year’s prizes.
Visitors who check in at three or more locations can receive a glow-in-the-dark sticker. Eight check-ins qualify for a custom beanie, while participants reaching 15 locations can receive an adventure lantern.
Those who complete the trail can receive a limited-edition poster and will be entered to win a gift certificate for an overnight tour for two at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston. Tourism officials will announce the winner in January 2027. The 2026 trail includes 20 locations.
West Virginia’s first state park
Droop Mountain’s place in West Virginia history extends beyond the battle.
National Park Service research identifies Droop Mountain Battlefield as the first property acquired by the state’s newly established W.Va. Forest and Park Commission. The state acquired the property by deed on April 14, 1928.
Civilian Conservation Corps workers later developed recreational facilities on the mountain during the Great Depression. A refurbished CCC log cabin now serves as the park’s Civil War museum.
Visitors today can explore hiking trails, battlefield features, monuments, the museum, and an observation tower overlooking the surrounding countryside.
More than 160 years after Union and Confederate troops fought at Droop Mountain, the battlefield remains both a preserved Civil War landscape and the setting for stories about soldiers who, according to the folklore, never entirely left.
Those stories now have a place on West Virginia’s Paranormal Trail.