Whipple Coal Company Store...haunted?

The Whipple Coal Company Store in Fayette County West Virginia

We ghosthunt here this month! Spots are available online here.

Hmmm...what makes a building haunted? What constitutes paranormal activity? Is it actual scientific data gathered in a controlled setting?

Is that possible even with today's technology?

 Is it simply a feeling of being watched when you are all alone? 

Objects moving around all by themselves?

Seeing shadowy forms moving when no "human" is nearby?

The sensation of hairs standing up on the back of your neck and arm...temperatures dropping into a bone chilling coldness that begins and ends suddenly?

Is it the smell of cigar smoke when no one is smoking....at all?

Could it be the capturing of Electronic Voice Phenomena on tape when no one is speaking?

All of this...and more...happened when we investigated the old Whipple Company Store in Fayette County West Virginia in May 2010.

Why would spirits linger here?

Our Ghosthunting 101 class May 2010

As I am often fond of saying, you must learn the history of a location before you can begin to understand how it could be haunted...or paranormally active.

This southern part of West Virginia is fraught with stories of coal mining accidents, age old superstitions and the dark history of Appalachian folklore. Its an area where the frontier was carved out by frontier slayings, Indian massacres and the hardiness of the pioneers. It's also an area filled with mine war history and shoot outs between the union, miners, the mine owners and the Law.

This window above the front door to the Whipple Company Store shows evidence of a shoot out and bears the bullet holes to prove it.

The old store is one of the oldest wooden Coal camp

company stores left in our country today. Its newest owners, Chuck and Joy, have poured thousands of hours of clean up, work and love into this old structure.

The Whipple Company Store in the booming days of coal mining,  provided everything the coal miner and his family would need. Clothing, shoes, dry goods, groceries etc.. Although the Company Store had its benefits to the coal miner, it did not go without reputation. The coal companies owned the store, the goods, the homes, the miner, and their money.

The store on the evening of our Ghosthunting 101 class and Investigation May 2010

Whipple Company Store was designed by a coal baron by the name of Justus Collins. He was said to be a man of strong will and merit. This store at Whipple, is one of 4 he had built. All of the stores had unique architectural details, and today the only one left standing is this one. The building features a museum and has specific hours of operation.  ( The Museum is a 501c3 non-profit organization )

 ( read more about this at their website http://www.whipplecompanystore.com/home.html )

steps leading to the ballroom

The Museum area has a wonderful hand operated freight elevator which is very cool to see and I believe it ios the last one in the state of West Virginia. The original post office is still present along with an old telephone operators station. The secret second floor has a dark history due to the fact a man was found hanging in the elevator shaft years ago.  The third floor ballroom is intriguing and has been the site of a shadowy figure in the one back room.

the room upstairs where a shadowy figure has been taped on video

When we did our Ghosthunting 101 Class and hunt on site here back in May, it was quite an exciting night. Several voices...or EVP as ghosthunters call them, were captured upstairs and down in the old basement as well.

The old basement

The basement itself is like stepping back into a time machine. There were so many items standing about to see. To some it may look messy, but to others....what a great place to explore! If you know ANYTHING about the paranormal, you know what a room filled with items like this can hold for investigations. It's all about energy and energy can be imprinted upon items from jewelry, to clothing to antiques. All of these items laying about have been touched, used, held, etc.. for years and energy can be left behind upon them. Think of the typical psychic show on TV where the psychic "feels" an item and then can tell you all about who held the item or wore it.

The basements darker history

The above photograph is a picture I took back in the spring of 2010 when I first visited Whipple. Its sits on the first floor of the museum area and makes you stop and wonder "why is this here?" What shocks many people, is the fact that over 7000 men were embalmed in the basement. Why???

You will just have to come on a tour...or join us at our next Ghosthunt at Whipple.

Am I teasing you a bit? You bethcha!

Even if you don't join up with us on Friday night September 24th 2010...swing by the Whipple store and do a day time tour. You will love this building!

To find out more about our ghosthunt in this building

Venture here!

Where is Whipple located??

Whipple Company Store & Museum in Fayette County, West Virginia, 10 minutes from the famous New River Gorge Bridge. This unique and only one of its kind company store is easy to access from Interstate 77 at the Mossy (612) exit, or off state road 19 north of Beckley at hwy 612 west.

Until next blog....happy ghosthunting!