It has been a LONG TIME!

It has been a really long time since I blogged here....so....since it is October, I thought I would share with you a little story I wrote for Graffiti Magazine.
 A wee bit spooky and tragic as well.

Lewisburg’s Angel of Death

Appalachia has a long and rich folklore tradition and as anyone who has ever sat around a campfire at night or held a flashlight under their chin knows, ghost stories are one of the most thrilling parts of oral tradition. The month of October finds our nights getting chillier, wind rustling through the tree branches and as All Hallow's Eve draws near, I thought I would share with you a story and ghostly legend of one of my favorite cemeteries in the Mountain State.

In the town of Lewisburg, there is a very old cemetery with beautiful markers, statues and headstones. In the Old Stone Church Cemetery on Church Street, there are hundreds buried, including carpenters, soldiers, squires, homemakers, farmers and doctors. The rich, poor, famous and forgotten lie interred here, death being the Great Equalizer, rules us all in the very end.

Among the hundreds of graves there is a striking statue known to some as the Angel of Death. The beautiful yet dramatic statue is the marker for a little girl by the name of Maud Montague Matthews. She was born in 1876 on Monday, Oct. 2 to parents Alexander and Laura. As the old poem states "Monday's child is fair of face" and I am sure she was a lovely girl. As a child, she became ill during a pneumonia epidemic and succumbed to that condition on May 30, 1888, just a few months shy of her 12th birthday. Maud was buried in the Old Stone Cemetery next to the grand old Presbyterian Church. Her parents must have been in shock as just one year prior, their precious baby Anne had died at just 15 days old. Now, tragedy had struck again taking another child of theirs, darling Maud. On the base of her white angelic statue, these words are inscribed:

"Love hath a lien nor time nor death can sever. 

Our own are ours forever and ever"

One year later in the year of 1889, Maud's sister died at the age of 10 and I am certain the Matthews family felt as if the Grim Reaper was living at their doorstep. Florence Vane Matthews lies buried directly next to her sister Maud and shares her statue.

The story, as if not gloomy enough, takes a bizarre twist. Shortly after the statue was erected a few years after Maud's death, her young twin cousins came to visit her grave. Before leaving her grave, they each kissed the angel's cheek. They considered Maud not only a cousin but also a best friend. Soon afterwards, they both perished by the end of the year. One of the girls contracted the influenza virus and the other was a victim of a carriage ride gone wrong. The local legend has it that anyone who kisses the angel will suffer the same tragic fate and be dead within a year.

Stories such as this one can be found worldwide. Tales of grievous statues of death, headstones that eerily glow, hound dogs of hell barking at night on a graveyard hill and apparitions who walk among the stones just seem to go hand in hand with the Halloween season. I can tell you thison my visits to the Old Stone Church Cemetery I pay my respects to Maud, often taking a flower to her grave.

What is that you ask? Did I ever kiss the cheek of the Death Angel?

 I'm still here, aren't I??

Cemeteries in the Snow

Here the dead sleep – the quiet dead. 

 No sound

Disturbs them ever, 

and no storm dismays.

Winter mid snow caresses the tired ground,

And the wind roars about the woodland ways.

Springtime and summer and red autumn pass,

With leaf and bloom and pipe of wind and bird,

And the old earth puts forth her tender grass,

By them unfelt, unheeded and unheard.

Our centuries to them are but as strokes

In the dim gaunt of some far-off chime.

                                       

                                    ~ Archibald Lampman

Cemeteries in the snow. Utter silence but for the crunching of the white snow underfoot.  I enjoy walking  through these silent cities of the dead. The snow lies upon various tombs and monuments adding a new dimension to the stauary's stance.

Walking in the stillness of an old cemetery gives you time to reflect on life as you gaze upon the many who passed before us.

Old stones lie tumbled and crooked with pieces missing 

In winter’s months when all is bare

No flowers to distract looking eyes

We see the gravestones wearing away

And the remainder of unfinished good-byes

New tree growth next to old stones can cause them to be buckled upward

President McKinley's Monument standing silently in guard over the cemetery

The mists swirl, the moon shines bright.

No one dares stray here.

They would never desire to,

Unless the earth covers what they hold dear.

I watch as nature masks herself In flakes of snow that leap and twirl

They fall in endless chaos

Hiding her unveiled cruelty. The stones bear the weight of snow and ice

Graves covered in pure white snow as if a cloud from heaven had descended and shrouded the stones in a ethereal blanket.

Take time out to visit a cemetery in the early months of the new year. 

Walk gently, dress warmly and take a camera. (and something hot to drink!)

Until next time, Sherri  

www.HauntedHistory.net 

Carnegie Hall Ghosts?

As I sit here and look out the window at sleet falling and snow and ice on the ground, it is hard to think ahead to warm ghost hunting season. Of course, here at the haunted office, GHOSTS are always in season but to the average investigator, warmer weather is required. The older I get though, the more I can agree to that statement! Warmer weather, please!

There is ONE location here in West Virginia that I am anxuous to sink my teeth into. Pardon the vampire reference- but it gets my blood flowing when I have a new location plump for the attack...err....study.

Carnegie Hall is located in Lewisburg West Virginia and was built in 1902 by steel baron and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie as a classroom building for the Lewisburg Female Institute, later the Greenbrier College for Women.                              

Carnegie Hall, Lewisburg, WV

Carnegie Hall was incorporated in 1983 as a regional not-for-profit arts and education center. According to their website, the cultural center annually serves more than 75,000 patrons with live performances by outstanding companies and artists from around the world. One thing it neclgets to mention at the website is that they have visits from other dimensions. That's right! There are many a person who whisper of the odd events that happen on occasion. Poltergeist activity, shadow people and a few apparitions have been reported in the halls (and some of the rooms) of Carnegie Hall. It's no wonder as the entire town has a haunted history dating back to the Civil War era. remember those tried and true theories of imprinted energy and residual?

Lewsiburg was home to the Battle of Lewisburg which took place here. Going waaay back in history, Lewisburg was formally established in 1782 by an act of the Virginia General Assembly. uring the Civil War a number of engagements were fought in and around Lewisburg. Several of the present buildings in town were used as hospitals and barracks by both sides in the War Between the States. Bullet marks can still be seen in some today!  The Virginia Supreme Court library, which was located in Lewisburg and served as the Greenbrier County Library until 2008, was used as a hospital and has preserved a section of wall with soldiers' graffiti. Can you imagine? 

Up the road from Carnegie Hall is the Confederate Cemetery. A gray garbed soldier has been seen walking from the old Stone Church cemetery in town and up the hill past Carnegie Hall while he makes his way towards the Confederate cemetery.

The old Stone Church Cemetery

The Confederate Cemetery

The entire town has stories to share of darker history and paranormal events- you just have to know who to ask. As usual, there are some folks who don't believe or think its a bunch of "hogwash". But then again, there are those who I have spoken to who believe and in hushed tones, have shared with me their experiences.

All in all, I am very excited at the prospects of having another Ghost Hunting class in Lewisburg thru the New River College. I am hopping it all works out schedule wise and that one evening this Spring, we will be packing our equipment into the hushed hallways of Carnegie Hall and ready for a night of investigating.

Exit stage left.......

Stay tuned! For more info on Paranormal Classes: 

December Musings

Well, here we are again. Winter weather is here!

It's the end of another year, and perhaps the end of the world if we listen to some of the folks who believe it all comes to a grinding stop on December 21st.  I am of the belief that perhaps this will not be the dire event that some people believe it to be, but rather a bit of an awakening spiritual for many people. I think the sun will set on December 21st and will rise again on December 22nd and life will continue on. (hopefully!)

It's been a busy year. Even though I cut my schedule down quite a bit, it was still chaotic! The last book came out in January, there were book signings to attend, haunted events to put together, overnight ghosthunts to attend, kids to enjoy, a house to plan, a husband to supervise and all while working on yet another book. 

It seems as if research is never done. I love the research part of any project to the point that I believe I must have been a project manager in another life. (that would be sandwiched between my previous life as a country singer and my other past life as a Confederate soldier LOL)

  Research on book #5 (2014 Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum) will continue and I hope it will be out in late 2014. Before my favorite holiday of Halloween would be ideal! 

Book #4 should be out in a week or two...and will hopefully be a great resource for lovers of West Virginia hauntings and folklore. It is called "Fireside Folklore of West Virginia"

The new book will feature 24 chapters with each chapter focusing on old, and not so old, haunting's and folklore across the Mountain State. I was very happy to have Lisa Minney, owner and publisher of West Virginia's largest independent publication, write the foreward for the book. Thank you, Lisa and thank you Two-Lane Livin'!!

 To write a book is like giving birth. Cigars, anyone?

Power outages during the Franken -Storm

Halloween this year was very odd. Never before have I seen that much snow at one time!

We had the effects of a Noreaster hit us while Hurricaine Sandys moisture added to the mix. All in all we had about 3 feet of snow in central West Virginia. The power was off for 8 days. What fun though! I DID miss hot water, but it was great to slow down a bit and enjoy life. Farm chores had to be done in daylight hours, house cleaning was minimal, and water to wash with was warmed on the woodstove. I read by oil lamp and flashlight at night. Kinda cool. On the down side of the storm, people lost homes, business roofs collapsed (8 here in Nicholas County WV) and food spoiled. Many people lost entire freezers and fridges full of food. Gas stations couldn't pump gas if they did not have electric and of course, that added to the chaos. We survived though!

Snow on the Swinging Bridge and broken trees

Website Updates!

Tour dates, festivals, conferences, and events that I am scheduling will be posted at my website this month www.HauntedHistory.net  

 I have already listed the Ohio State Reformatory dates for 2013. They will go up for sale online on Saturday January 5th at noon. The Reformatory holds a warm spot in my heart...and always will. Strange how a building can "grab" you like that. One of the volunteers told me years ago that the building picked her...not the other way around, So true!

The Ohio State Reformatory

Mobile Phone update

Our website is now a more mobile friendly website with text that is much easier to read on smaller screens and a sleeker more simple design. Check it out on your smart phone at www.HauntedHistory.net

    

As the month draws nearer to its end,

 I hope you have a great Christmas season and a wonderful, memory filled New Year!

Sherri Brake

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum ghosthunts in 2011

Call me crazy.

Why would anyone want to walk and roam the halls of the 2nd largest stone cut building in the world with the lights out?

We rented out the entire old hospital in Weston West Virginia for two nights in 2011. It was called the Weston State Hospital in 1913 but has now reverted back to the original name: the Trans - Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.  Each night, we packed in ghosthunters, skeptics and wanna believers who all admired the architecture, history and ghost stories. Most hoped something of the paranormal sort would happen, and to some, it did!

Darrin and Danielle did not expect to have it happen to them but it did. It occurred on a day time tour! Darrin and Danielle both felt as if "something" moved thru them when they took the history tour at TALA before our private ghosthunt there on Friday the 13th of May 2011. It happened at the same time and caught them both off guard.

Why investigate this building? Come on! Looking at the history alone, one can almost imagine what kind of energy has been left behind here. Lobotomies, electro shock therapies, insulin therapy, and cold water immersion? The list goes on and on.

The hospital structure was begun in 1858 using prison labor and eventually the help of European stone masons. Construction was halted during the American Civil War for almost a year. The final stage was completed in 1881 but patients had already begun arriving in 1864. The first patients were several housewives from Ohio. Hmmm....

Some of the faces carved by irish immigrants on the wall outside the Civil War section

The hospital was originally built to house about 250 and ended up blowing that number away by 1950 with around 2400 taking up residence. The hospitals original grounds were 666 acres. Yes.... 666..  The hospital had its own dairy farm, gas well, water supply and its very own cemetery. It was all intended to make the hospital self sufficient and it pretty much did.

The famous clock tower. One side does not have a clock face so workers could not look up and see what time it was while they were hard at work!

The hospital building commands your attention.
It was designed by the renowned architect Richard Andrews following the Kirkbride plan, which called for long rambling wings arranged in a staggered formation, assuring that each of the connecting structures received an abundance of therapeutic sunlight and fresh air. The Kirkbride plan influenced the construction of over 300 similar facilities throughout North America. Other Kirkbride buildings include the Athens Lunatic Asylum in Athens Ohio, Columbus State Hospital, Danville (PA) State Hospital and the Maryland State Hospital for the Insane to name a few.

                                                       Weston State Hospital aka TALA


On our July 16th 2011 hunt at TALA, one participant was thrilled to get her first "ghost voice" or EVP on tape. Electronic Voice Phenomena or EVP  can be captured on audio tape, which means video recorders and voice recorders. She emailed me this:

" I've not gotten through my pictures yet, but I started listening to my audio (not all the way through all of them yet either). My FIRST recording, where I had walked in on a group doing a light session in the children's ward, I got something that literally made me go "Ho-Lee Shit!" (pardon my .... not french).  During the session the guy who was asking questions was talking.  Over that, you hear a male (sounded about 20 years old) say "Go away. Please leave me alone".  The recording was no one in the group!"
Needless to say, this was just one of the many EVPs captured on our ghosthunt at the old hospital.

One of the paranormally active areas in the hospital. Children's voices have been recorded here when no kids are present. People have placed toys and balls in this room as trigger objects.

The Medical Center building

This is the location of the Morgue

Inside the morgue area

We look forward to more investigations in this grand old building in 2012.

Check our website for information!

But in the mean time, swing by their website or stop over and do a day tour.

You'd be crazy not to.

Cemeteries, Cameras, and Lanterns, Oh My!

Cemeteries, cameras and lanterns, oh my!

Just another day in the life of Sherri! October 4th found me "posing" for a photography class as a light fog and mist enveloped the hills around us. Mark Romano's photography class from the New River college needed a spooky prop in the cemetery and I guess that meant I was "it."

One of my favorite "trick" photos that my Grandpa Brake did

I grew up with my family in NE Ohio in a home where we had a darkroom in the basement. My dad was a avid photographer and did it mostly as a hobby, but he did do a record album cover for a local singer in Canton Ohio back in the 1980s. My Grandpa Brake was as a photographer as well and was with the first unit of army photographers to visit Hiroshima after the bomb was dropped. Grandpa Brake had a photo studio in Webster Springs WV and ran it for about 20

 years. Anyway, I'm a sucker for anything dealing with photography, nighttime and cemeteries so of course I said "yes" to Marks query as to whether I would help him out with his photography class.

Cemeteries occasionally make people a bit leery, even during daylight hours. Not me! I remember our parents hauling us around Webster County WV many summers ago. They would stick us all in the back of a pick up truck and we would go visit family cemeteries. Sometimes we would sit on the tailgate or cemetery ground and have lunch, snacks, or a maybe just a bottle of pop. We would walk the cemetery, hear about our ancestors and clean some graves. Pulling back vines, brushing off dirt and walking the hillsides of many cemeteries perhaps added to my adult interest and love of the "Silent Cities of the Dead".

When Mark approached me about posing for his students and helping them learn how to use their cameras at night and on various settings, I thought of two places locally in Summersville that would be good back drops. The Walker Cemetery and the Southern Methodist Episcopal Cemetery by the Moose Club downtown.

This photo was taken by Pam Mace and was shot in the old Methodist cemetery next to the Moose Lodge in downtown Summersville. This cemetery is the one we venture into on our Haunted History Walks of Summersville. Love the lighting!

Another eerie photo shot by Pam Mace. This was up on the hill as you first arrive into the Walker Cemetery in Summersville WV. The sky was perfect early on and shows up well in some of the early evening shots. All that is missing is a full moon!

Pam captured an image of me being reflected on the back of one of the headstones to the left. Do you see it?  This was taken at the Walker Cemetery in Nicholas County WV. I use the candle lanterns featured in the shots on my walking tours of town and my husband Perry make them for us to sell as well. They have a great ambiance at night, don't they?

This is another shot taken at the Methodist Church cemetery in Summersville. There are many variations of markers in this cemetery. Recumbent, table top tombs, new England style, hollow metal markers and victorian symbolism is present on many.

This is the simple headstone for a child who dies in 1860. Lambs represent innocence, the Lamb of God and purity in children. I took this photo this past summer as I strolled through the cemetery researching the stones for my walking tours.

New England style markers usually represent those who moved into the area from the NE area of the United States. In this cemetery in Summersville you can see a few of these all carved from local sandstone. The stones can be compared to human torsos as they have "heads" and "shoulders".

Malvina Kelly's marker as been snapped in half and lies propped up against a tree trunk towards the backside of the cemetery.

The grave of Margaret Dotson taken during the day....

and then one at night....

This was taken by Pam Mace during the photo shoot. Assistant Rick is standing at the head of the grave while I am sitting on the table tomb.

Thank you to Mark Romano of Images by Romano for letting me share in the class expedition!

More haunted blogs to come this week.....

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!