67.7 F
Beckley
Friday, July 11, 2025
Home Blog Page 20

The Apartment Complex: The Beginning

The Apartment Complex: The Beginning
Confederate Cemetery / Stock Photo

My friend Melanie and I went out driving one day in Lewisburg, West Virginia. We went by the Confederate Cemetery. It was in September 2001 and for some reasons unknown to me, there were Confederate Flags aligning the the big cross, which is a mass grave of about 95 Confederate Soldiers.

Melanie being the typical rebel gal decided to steal one of those flags (A Really bad idea!). When she got back in her car I went off on her and made her take it back. It gave me the creeps disturbing anything in a grave yard. We returned back to our home in an apartment complex in White Sulphur Springs. That was the day Melanie awoke something at our complex.

Our complex sits on a Battle Field of the Civil war. Melanie was in apartment 16 and I was down the side walk 8 dwellings away.

It was about 10pm that night when I heard the blood curdling screams and saw the naked wet Melanie running down the side walk. She had been in the tub and something started scratching her. She had blood red marks all over her legs arms and back. She had to finish her shower at my apartment. I being the brave one went to get her some clothes and I saw the bath water still there with her blood in it. The room had a nasty smell in it like old hamburger. It was awfully cold and the outdoors it was still steamy due to the fact we were having an Indian Summer.

Over the next 4 months many things happened. Her bathroom commode would flush on it’s own. Things moved and reappeared. Things were never the same after that.

Seen By Only One

Seen By Only One
Cross Tombstone / Stock Photo

It was a couple of months ago, my friend Sarah and I were exploring a grave yard near Sarah’s house. We looked around and saw only graves. Then my friend looked at a cross-shaped grave and saw an old lady. She then told me that there was an old lady and to keep are voices down. I looked and saw no lady. We argued for a couple of seconds and Sarah said the lady was still standing there.

We looked at each other then looked at the grave. There was no one there, my friend then said how could it be, she was there a second ago? We looked at the grave and ran up to it. It read Jane on it. We screamed and ran back to Sarah’s house and didn’t go there anymore.

Lost Encounters with the Chocolate Loving Ghost

Lost Encounters with the Chocolate Loving Ghost
Empty Jack-o-lantern / Stock Photo

It was October 31, 2001; Alley my 4yr old was dressed as a cat. Destiny Rose, my 2yr old was dressed as a pink Devil, or Debil as she said. Austin, Melanie’s 3yr old boy was Scooby Doo. That night all three kids got enough candy for an Army.

I took the girls stash and froze some. Put some away for birthday parties. And, of course I let them devour some, as I did too. Melanie being a chocolate connoisseur from way back, did even better than I did. She divided the chocolate and the other junk. When going for a Snickers mini, she didn’t want to be bothered with a Bottle Cap sour or a Pixie Stick.

The next day me and my girls came by and Melanie was in a panic. The chocolate was gone. The jack-o-lantern was empty. Well I figured Melanie was lying. I felt that way until that weekend when she and I made four-dozen no-bake cookies. We put them in an ice cream bucket to store them. We went to Hardee’s with all 3 kids for about an hour came back and the bucket was on the counter were we left it. It was completely empty. I apologized to Melanie that night.

House Ghost

House Ghost
Shadow Ghost / Stock Photo

My aunt used to live in a house in Elkins, West Virginia. She has three sons, the oldest son is 10, the youngest two are a set of 8 year old twins. Well one night my aunt was laying in bed and all of the sudden she heard a young boy yell “mom!”. Thinking it was one of her sons she got up went checked both bedrooms and found all three of her sons were fast asleep.

A couple minutes later she heard footsteps running in the hallway. She thought it was her cat, but no cat could make such big loud footsteps. It sounded like a person a little person running through her house! A couple nights later she was in bed and saw a blue light about 12 inches long it just hovered there.

Another occurrence happened, I think this is the last one. My aunt was in the hallway and she saw the shadow of a man, he was about 5 feet tall and the shadow just stood there. Well it could not have been her husband because he was at work, and her sons were all at school, she was all alone in the house that day until about 3:30pm.

So is her house or not? You tell me!

Another Black Panther

Another Black Panther
Black Panther / Stock Photo

I can confirm not only by myself but with about half the town of Richwood as well that black panthers do exist in WV. I saw one myself while camping on the south fork of the Cherry River. It was about 2:00 am and my dad and I had returned to our camper for the night. We had just laid down in our beds when we heard leaves crunching and sticks snapping. I looked out the window first and with the small glow of the fire that was burning out. I could see a long and slender black cat that was about 4 or 5 feet long and a massive tail.

I whispered for my dad to look and when he did he was trying to say it was a black bear, but after he saw it’s tail he agreed with me that it was a cat, and also nothing like he had ever seen. We watched it for a good 5 or 10 minutes so I know it wasn’t mistaken identity.

Dad’s House

Dad’s House
Eerie nighttime scene with ghostly figure and fearful children / AI Generated

About a year after my parent’s got divorced my dad Thomas Bolinger ll “Tom Bolinger” was renting a house near the town bank. One night my mom had my sister and me staying there for the weekend. The last night we were staying there something very disturbing happened.

The only people in the house were my sister, Dad, and me. My dad was already asleep and it was about 1:00 A.M. when my sister and I heard a loud noise from upstairs. It sounded like something slamming against the closet upstairs but there was nothing up there, my dad had just moved in.

As soon as we heard the noise we went quiet. We started hearing a noise like something coming down the stairs so we just sat still so whatever it was wouldn’t see us. When the noise stopped at the foot of the stairs I saw a white figure quickly appear and disappear.

We think it might have something to do with the buried cellar under the house. It had a covering over the old entrance in the kitchen floor. I dare not go back near that house ever again.

Cursed Property

Cursed Property
Blair Witch Doll / Stock Photo

I have lived in the country since I was a young, young boy. When I came of age to go out on my own, I bought some property I had my eye on since I was five or six. I worked for an electric company, and decided to buy more property, and as I extended I used property to house goats, cows, chickens, and some beagles I used for hunting coon.

Many occasions I would have odd feelings of panic, and fear while I was among the wooded areas of my property putting up tree stands, or throwing feed out to attract deer. When those feelings would arise, I would leave. One night I was getting ready for coon hunting. I went to get the dogs, and they were going crazy. Howling, and barking before we even went into the wooded area to hunt.

We got in the wooded area about two miles from my farmhouse, when I started to feel uneasy. The dogs were whimpering at this point, and I could not figure out why. When we came up on one of my tree stands I saw someone sitting in it, then glanced again and saw nothing.

I kept moving until I walked into a clearing where I saw a fire burning. Well this couldn’t be, cause my property was private property. I looked around, but saw no personal effects. I walked back to the tree stand to look one more time when I heard many footsteps crackling in the wooded area. I drew my rifle up and headed back toward the fire. When I made it back, the fire was gone and no trace of it, so I packed it in for the night.

The next morning I went out to look for the fire spot, but saw nothing. I went to the tree stand and found a doll made out of brush and twigs. I had found these on my property up until I became ill in 1997. I never saw anything, or anybody, but I always heard local lore about witches on the property, prior to me owning it. I must say I believe it.

I had many animals die in my time there. My family currently farms the property, and reports the same things back to me.

Dad’s Token

Dad’s Token
Door Handle / Stock Photo

Around 1947 my father and mother built a two story frame house in the hollow of Grant County, known as Iman Hollow. Back then there was no electric running to the house, until several years later. Kerosene lamps, candles, and flashlights were the source of light after darkness fell.

I remember my Dad telling me about this when I was young, and later before his death in 1989, and his story stayed the same.

One fall night, dad woke up and couldn’t sleep, instead of waking my mother up; he got up and went into the living room, where he sat down at the table to smoke a cigarette, as he was smoking, he saw the dark figure of a man walk by the living room window. Being a moon lit night, Dad thought it might be one of his brother-in-laws, who had the reputation of having just a few to many pulls from a whiskey bottle., who sometimes when he was walking home in his unsteady condition, would stop at mom & dad’s and sleep it off until the next morning. But he would always holler, “Glenn, its Homer”, and he wouldn’t come into the house until Dad got up and let him in. Back then, due to the low crime rate and everyone knew everyone for miles around, no one ever locked their doors at night.

Dad said he got up and walked into the kitchen. He had a metal 5 cell flashlight and from the moon light shinning through the kitchen window unto the kitchen door, he was sure of what he saw later.

Dad was waiting for Homer to announce his presence, but no one called out his name.

Dad said from the moon light, he could see the door knob and he saw the door knob start turning, it turned about half way, but not enough to open the door. Dad then got behind the kitchen door, using the flashlight as a possible weapon, Dad knew it wasn’t Homer. The door knob then returned to its former position as if someone had started to open the door and then let go of it.

When this happened, Dad using the flashlight as a club opened the kitchen door. No one was there, he then checked all around the house, no one was there.

Dad told me that he was sure of what he saw of the figure and the turning of the door knob.

About a week later, my grandfather lived about two hollows over, known as Hinkle Hollow or Ours Road, because he lived at the upper end of the hollow. Granddad walked out on the porch of his house, took a brush of snuff and turned around to go back into his house. As he grasped the door knob, he had a massive heart attack and died instantly, the snuff dried stiff in his mouth.

Dad always believed it was a “Token” (as older people called stage signs or happenings) of his father’s death, his seeing the figure and the turning of the door knob, just like when my grandfather died.

Hilltop House Ghost

Hilltop House Ghost
Hilltop House / Stock Photo

If you’ve ever been to the Hilltop House Hotel in Harpers Ferry you probably thought it was haunted. If you ever worked at the Hilltop House, you knew it was haunted. There were stories from employees and guests. We even had strange things show up on the surveillance video.

I worked on the desk, as the night auditor several years ago and then the desk manager more recently. So I had the opportunity to work the 11pm-7am shifts when need be. I didn’t mind. There was plenty of time to get things done. One night I was working 11-7 to cover for someone. I had a lot of paper work to do that night and thought I’d have some peace. About 2:00am, I heard a sound in the large dining room like chairs being thrown across the room. I went in and looked around and nothing was disturbed. Therefore, I went back to my work. About 45 min later, I heard the sound again. Again I looked. Again, nothing was disturbed. This time though I took my camera that I always took in with me when I worked over night. I took some shots and got a couple of orbs.

Over the next hour, I heard what sounded like chairs scraping on the floor off and on. The floors are wood in that room and it was set up with multiple large tables of eight. No chairs were pulled out from any tables in the room. At about 4:30 am I went into the waitress pantry, which opens into the large dining room to make coffee. I had just ground the coffee beans and turned to put the coffee on and standing in the doorway to the pantry was a man. He was about 5’9″ tall, red wavy shoulder length hair, red full beard, mustache, full face,(nice looking face) blue/gray eyes, stocky but not fat, gray tunic like jacket with shiny brass buttons, gray pants with rough looking fabric, black boots. He looked at me, I looked at him for several seconds, and then he disappeared. I can still see his face as plan as day and would know it if I were to ever see it again.

Grandpa Skip

Grandpa Skip
Graveyard / Stock Photo

My Grandpa Thomas A Bolinger Sr. was in the army in the sixty’s but eventually came down with and died from pneumonia when my dad was about nine years old. Since he died there have been several supernatural accounts with him.

In 1975 my mom Wanda Vandyke was laying on our couch at home by herself and she felt a breathing sensation on her shoulder. When my dad returned home later from work she told him of what had happened. His only response was that it was probably his dad.

Many years later in 1997 my sister Sheena was asleep on the couch at my grandmother’s house and woke up to knocking on the sliding door late at night. When she went to see who was there she saw our grandfather “Skip” standing at the door.

Then later that same year I had my experience with him. While my dad and I were going into town I looked over on the hill were my grandpa was buried and I saw him standing over his grave just staring into my eyes as if he knew what I was thinking.

Almost everyone I meet believes this because I’m not the kind of person to lie about these kinds of things.

Civic Center Ghost

Civic Center Ghost
Kingwood Civic Center / Theresa Marthey

This story did not happen to me but to my father. Back when my father was in his late teens he used to work at the Civic Center in Kingwood as a janitor. One night after a dance, my father and his friend had to buff and wax the floor. Since buffing and waxing the floor was a 2-step process they decided to catch up on some sleep while the floor dried.

This story takes place around 2 in the morning so it is very dark out and no one else is in the Civic Center. After locking all the doors and turning off the lights, they finally got to lay down.

When they were about to fall asleep, they heard footsteps coming from the bleachers as if someone was walking across them. The bleachers were all pushed in. The only place where someone could be walking was over 12 feet high. My father jumped up and turned on a small light that allowed them to see the top of the bleachers and no one was there. They checked all the doors and no one had entered the building nor left since they had locked them. My father is now 43 and he still believes he heard a ghost.

There have been other encounters in the Civic Center that I heard about, so I believe it is truly haunted.

A Ghost and a Coon Hunt

A Ghost and a Coon Hunt
Coon Hunting / Stock Photo

My son and I were coon hunting in the Fort Gay area of Wayne Co. On this night we had a pretty good young 14 month old Red Bone hound with us. He had treed 2 nice coons and we were getting ready to leave for home.

We called for the dog and he was coming in but when he was about 30 or 40 yards out he opened on another track. But when he made the strike it was not right. My son said that bark did not sound right and I agreed. Bill (the dog’s name) was not known as a dog to run anything but coon. So I was not too concerned about the bark not sounding right.

Bill took off running after that thing, the chase lasted 2 maybe 3 minutes. When he sounded his location bark and started his chop bark we started for what we thought was the tree. He ran that track maybe 200 or so yards. All of a sudden he changed his bark and now he seemed to be barking into a hole.

When we got to him we found him in a country graveyard. And he was digging on a grave and eating the dirt from it. Well we got him, put the lead on him and walked him back to the truck.

Before this night I had always heard this land we were on was haunted but I never felt it was until that night. Now the name on that grave I will not tell because this story is true. But I will tell you that I knew the man before he died.

Follow West Virginia Ghosts

18,626FansLike
131FollowersFollow
4,054FollowersFollow

Latest Stories

Silver Gap Ghost near Oak Hill

Silver Gap Ghost near Oak Hill

I was walking with friends at night along the tracks that lead west out of Oak Hill toward Dothan. This gap is where the...
The Spirit that Stayed Around

The Spirit that Stayed Around

This is a true short story from my newest book, Stories of the Fire House. Enjoy! No collection of firehouse stories would be complete without...
The Devil House

Buried Secrets

This story took place at my parent's home in Brooke County in a town called Wellsburg, WV. My parents purchased this home back in...
The Shadow People

The Shadow People

I have lived in the small town of Burlington my whole life. Burlington is rich in history that is extremely hard to find. One...
One Night On Poca River

One Night On Poca River

When I was about 16 years old, I had a good friend of mine named John Mitchell Burdette or “Mitch” for short. We both...