Relic on the Lethe

The Wheeling Register seems to be an unending font of strange tales suitable for Halloween. In the December 14, 1883 edition was a reprint of a story that ran one day earlier in Mexico, Mo., about a strange creature roaming the area around Hopewell Church. Exactly what the creature was seemed to be up for debate. At least some people thought it was a ghost, but most of the reports call it a "lean monster man, between eight and ten feet in height, wearing a long cloak, and going about with his head bowed in an abstracted way, but occasionally glaring at those it meets with small, glittering eyes said to resemble those of a cat or some wild beast." A number of sightings happened in the fall of 1883, to the point that farmers were going armed and the school was nearly abandoned in fear. Two separate accounts of seeing the creature were related in the paper, which we will reprint here: John Creary, a well-known old resident, declares that yesterday afternoon [Dec. 12] as he was ...

Our next ghostly tale is recounted in Cooper's Clarksburg Register on November 30, 1853 . This is a second or third-hand account by this point of an event that happened in Wetzel County, West Virginia, though the newspaper editor claims it was presented as-is to make it as factual as possible. Like the Radiant Boy tale, it's on the lengthier side, so certain areas will be paraphrased (but the full tale is linked above). The original tale seems to have been printed as a letter to the editor in the Wheeling Argus, Nov. 4, 1853. The week before, there had been something of an uproar about the arrest of a man on charges of murder, based "upon a revelation from the other world." The rumor mill had begun to circulate this man was detained only on the testimony of a ghost. The letter writer wanted to set the matter straight that it was not just this ghost's word against a living man. To present the full facts, they started at the beginning of the case: Three years ago th...

The Alexandria Herald of January 29, 1823 , reprints a ghostly encounter in England between Lord Londonderry and a boy over twenty years earlier. The unnamed mansion of this event is located in the north of Ireland, and the writer claimed everything from the setting to the architecture and furnishings would predispose anyone to start seeing ghosts and other wild apparitions. Here is a condensed version of the story with select quotes from the original article: After acquainting himself with the room he had been assigned, settling into bed, and turning out the lights, Lord Londonderry perceived a light gleaming on the draperies of the lofty canopy over his head. Conscious that there was no fire in the grate—that the curtains were closed—that the chamber had been in perfect darkness but a few moments before, he supposed that some intruder must have accidentally entered his apartment; and, turning hastily round to the side from which the light proceeded— saw—to his infinite astonishment—n...

Happy October! It's time for spooky stories and frightening photographs, and I hope to share a selection over the next month. These will be in a slightly shorter format to allow for a few more posts during the spooky season. Here's the first in the series! From the Suffolk News-Herald, June 20, 1934 is a fine "ghost photograph" of the old courthouse in Cynthiana, Kentucky. The pioneer-era structure is where David Sheely was wrongfully sentenced to death. (Content warning for the link, as the original source includes an uncensored photograph of a lynching.) Not being familiar with this story as it's a bit outside my usual local history sphere, I looked into the case for more details. The tale begins when David was accused of murdering his wife Nancy in June of 1847. After a day of fishing, David and some friends returned to his cabin on Beaver Creek (or sometimes Crooked Creek) and demanded Nancy clean and prepare the fish they caught at 2 AM. She refused, and all...