1920s Booger Attack

I’ve been wanting to cover The Black Sisters since I started Spooky Appalachia, but I’ve been waiting for the right time. With a movie coming out soon I thought now might be a good time. I grew up in Christiansburg, Virginia, and I’ve heard many stories about the Black Sisters. Today I will share with you some of the local legends and stories I’ve heard.From what I can find, the three sisters were called The Black Sisters because they wore all black clothing. From the stories I heard, they wore black dresses, shoes, gloves, hats and veils, as though they were going to a funeral, or mourning. Their names were Mary Snead, Caroline Martin, and Virginia Wardlaw. Mary and Caroline came to Christiansburg around 1902 to help their sister Virginia run the Montgomery County Female Academy.Around this time a few mysterious events began to happen. First there was the disappearance of a controversial illegitimate baby birthed by one of the students at the school. Shortly after, Mary’s son John was found burned to death in bed just a week after his mother and aunts had taken out a very large insurance policy on him. Sometime later, Caroline’s daughter Ocey came to town and married her first cousin (Mary’s son) Fletcher Snead. Sometime after, Ocey became pregnant and Fletcher left town, and so it was up to The Black Sister to take care of her.It turns out they didn’t take very good care of Ocey and the baby at all. Shortly after the baby was born it died due to malnutrition. After that, Ocey was found drowned in the bathtub just days after a large insurance policy was taken out on her as well.After all of these events occurred, the sisters left town for New Jersey. Soon after their arrival the authorities caught up with them. Caroline was convicted of Murder and sentenced to 7 years in a mental hospital where she later died. Mary pleaded guilty but got off on a technicality, and after that she fled to Colorado. Finally, Virginia starved herself to death before she ever saw the judge. So where does the paranormal aspect of this story come in? From what I’ve heard there are two locations that one or more of The Black Sisters are said to haunt. The first one is the old Christiansburg Middle School building. The former middle school, which is now the Montgomery County Public School’s technology center, was built on top of where the Montgomery County Female Academy stood. There have been reports of lights going on and out randomly, whispers, footsteps in the hallways when no one is around, and dark shadowy figures in some of the rooms and hallways.The other location that I’ve heard the sister haunt is Sunset Cemetery, where Virginia Wardlaw is said to be buried. Supposedly, a taxi driver claimed to have driven them to the cemetery, where they conducted some type of ritual at a grave site. Was this ritual something that would allow them to later return as spirits to the cemetery? I’ve heard several people who have claimed to see their spirits at the cemetery. For the most part, people report seeing shadow figures darting around in the cemetery at night, but I’ve heard stories growing up that Viginia can be seen dancing around the cemetery at midnight.This pretty much sums up what I’ve heard over the years. I hadn’t written a story on this topic yet because I’ve been so afraid that I would mess it up. Hopefully I did this story justice and my home town doesn’t hate me for it. If you’ve ever had an experience you think is related to The Black Sisters, or any kind of paranormal experience that you’d like to see featured on Spooky Appalachia, you can email us at webmaster@spookyappalachia.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

8 Sep 20224min

Today’s story was sent to us by a fan who asked that we just refer to her as “Sally” who sent us a UFO sighting from Moneta, Virginia. She said it occurred around 2014.I lived in Moneta for 17 years on Diamond Hill Rd. There's a neighborhood behind it called Virginia Woods, very close to the lake. On a 4th of July weekend maybe 8 years ago I was sitting on my deck with my ex-husband. It was late. I could hear a family having a little party through the woods, kids laughing. We sat there just talking when I caught something out of the corner of my eye in the treetops. An orange kind of light hovering. I have to say, I was like what the hell. My first thought was a plane on fire but no noise and it wasn't moving. Then it slowly moved along again, no noise. I followed it out to the street. Once I made it to the road I grasped this ball of light was big. My hair on my arms felt like it was standing up. I had no idea what I was looking at. I moved to the shadows behind my car as it slowly moved away. Finally I go in the house and my husband said he had been looking for a camera. For many years he would say he didn't know what he saw really was. Guess he didn't want me to tell this out of fear it sounds unreal.Thank you Sally for sending this in and allowing us to share your story. Remember if you’ve had a paranormal encounter like this and want to send it in you can email us at webmaster@spookyappalachia.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1 Sep 20221min

Enjoy our livestream with Julie from St Albans Sanitorium! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

27 Aug 20221h 9min

The Lowe Hotel is located just across the street from the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Originally named the Spencer Hotel in honor of J.S. Spencer, a local judge and steamboat-company operator, the hotel opened in 1901 to cater to those traveling along the Ohio River. Sleeping arrangements for guests occupied the top floors, while the lower floors housed businesses such as a barber shop, bank, and billiards room.When the Lowe family purchased the hotel in 1929 after the stock market crash, they renamed it the Lowe Hotel. Ruth, Rush, and Marcia Finley, the current owners and managers of the Lowe, purchased it in 1990. The Finleys have been continually upgrading and adding their personal touch to the building. A visit to the Lowe is a step back in time with today's conveniences. The friendly atmosphere and hospitality create a very pleasant and restful experience for any traveler.Because of the hotel’s longevity, it’s no surprise that it is supposedly haunted. There are several ghosts who call the Lowe Hotel their home. Among them is a young woman in a dress that many have spotted dancing on the first two floors. On the second floor, guests have reported seeing the apparition of a young girl riding a tricycle and have even heard the creepy squeaks of her tricycle in the empty hallways. On the third floor, guests have reported hearing a soft whistling sound, as well as doors opening and closing on their own. Also on the third floor is the ghost of "Captain Jim", who many have reported seeing looking out of the window of room 316 toward the Ohio River. The creepiest part? He has no legs.I have personally stayed at the Lowe Hotel several times, but one visit stands out above the rest. Around 2:00 a.m. during that stay, I woke up to hear footsteps going up and down the hallway on the third floor. The noise lasted for around half an hour. The next morning, when the lady at the front desk asked how I slept, I mentioned the people walking around in the middle of the night. She asked if I was sure I wasn’t dreaming and informed me that I had been the only guest that night.Have you had an experience at the Lowe Hotel? We would love to feature it! Email us at webmaster@spookyappalachia.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

25 Aug 20222min

This story is a bit special to me since I grew up very close to Radford. I found out about this haunted location many years ago. I think I was at a cross country meet and someone pointed to the bride and asked if I had heard it was haunted. Flash forward to many years later when I’m on a family walk, and we come upon the bridge. I remembered hearing the story, and after some internet sleuthing, here is what team Spooky Appalachia has come up with.We found out this bridge is actually a trestle. It was built in the 1940’s to service the American Viscose plant, it would allow easier transport of materials to and from the plant. Ultimately the plant was never built, and the trestle was mostly abandoned save for residents of the community using it to walk across the river. Over the years there have been several incidents reported on the trestle, as well as a few deaths. Given this information, it’s no surprise that the trestle is reportedly haunted. Residents report seeing a lady in a white wedding dress or white gown standing on or falling off the trestle. Due to the incidents the trestle was closed off but there have been several reports of people climbing up on it to this day.While researching this topic I spoke with several individuals. None had a sighting themselves, but some had known someone that had. One individual, who wishes to remain anonymous, informed me that her grandmother lived close to the trestle and had seen a transparent looking young woman in a white gown passing about on it at night.It’s been very interesting researching this story. I spent some time searching online initially and was unable to find anything about it. It wasn’t until our team started reaching out to the community on local Facebook groups that we found the information for this story. We had a lot of fun doing it.If you’ve seen anything at this location or had an experience you’d like to share be sure to reach out to us at webmaster@spookyappalachia.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

18 Aug 20222min

This story of a possible bigfoot sighting was sent to us by a fan who requested that we refer to her as “SW”. I was born in Roanoke, but when I was maybe 11 or 12 years old, around 1978, my family had a small weekend cabin on the Bedford end of Smith Mountain Lake. We were on a cove, and so to the left was the lake and the right was forest and open land. There was a barbed and cattle wire fence that ran along the dirt road so you couldn't just go hiking into the woods. I had walked up the road to see if friends were home that had a weekend house across the cove from us. They weren't there that weekend so I was walking back home. The lake is on my left and the wooded area is on my right. It was about 2pm and the sun was very bright. I know it had to be around July because it was hot and we had been swimming that weekend. I was walking and glanced over to the woods and saw something very dark, semi crouched behind a pine tree looking toward a small clearing in the woods at some deer.At first I thought it was a bear but bears do not crouch like that, and thought maybe it was an Angus heifer rubbing on the tree, but again it wasn't moving and it was in a semi crouched position. I only saw the back of him. He was in the shadows of the pines, but he had dark hair, almost black. Not overly long hair, but shaggy. Definitely on two legs in a hunched/crouched position behind the tree. I don't remember his head, but he did have broad shoulders. The wind was blowing to my back so I didn't get any odor from whatever it was. I watched very briefly and then ran very very fast to the house.I told my Dad and he said to stay away from the woods and close to the house. I know when we left the next day, the object behind the tree was not there, so that eliminated it just being a branch or somethingThank you for the story SW! I’m glad you decided to reach out with this fascinating story, and let us use it here. Remember, if you’ve had a paranormal encounter like this and want to send it in, you can email us at webmaster@spookyappalachia.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

11 Aug 20222min

For today’s story we have a possible Mothman encounter story sent in by Natasha. This one is particularly interesting because it’s a very recent Mothman sighting in West Virginia and her friend got a photo! I hope you all enjoy this as much as we did! I've seen a few posts now for people looking for something fun and scary to do, so what better time than to tell you about our trip to Cairo, West Virginia the other night.First we stopped off at the school to take a quick tour inside but we were chased out by bats so we went down another road which ultimately got us lost and scared that our vehicle would roll over the hill. We didn't stop there! We continued out to Silver Run tunnel 19, but instead of walking we decided to drive through. Upon coming to the opposite end, we looked over to a picnic table and all we saw were two bright red lights on top of this table. The odd part was the lights would appear and disappear. So two brave souls got out to look and one of them actually picked up two tea light candles, yet the candles were cold and were never lit so he kicked the candles to the woods and we backed the hell up and went to speed out of there. Then we decided to stop in in middle of the tunnel and turn the lights out while letting my son in law and another fella out, we lock the doors and go to speed off to mess with them but then my son in law comes hauling ass back to the vehicle and starts begging to be let back in. Once again these two red lights followed him into the tunnel. Mind you there were six of us total and we all watched these lights blink like they were eyes. So I stepped on the gas and we got the hell out of there! The even crazier part of all of this was when we got to the bridge to come across back into the little town, we came to a stop and suddenly you could hear the loudest scratching noise come across the outside of the vehicle. Of course, we all say what the heck was that and we sit there for a minute. My son in law got out and looked under, over and all around the vehicle and not a branch, twig NOTHING in that road,we booked our butts outta that town fast as crap,and I hold my hand to God this shit really all happened. That was my second most creepiest encounter at Silver Run in Cairo and I can say I'm definitely done with that place.I’ve also sent along some photos my friend managed to take of it.Pretty incredible story, and with a photo! Not many people have gotten them. We feel extremely lucky to have been given permission to use this. Thank you Natasha!! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

4 Aug 20222min

The Flatwoods Monster Museum in Sutton, WV is themed after the famed monster that first appeared in the area in 1952. The museum opened in 2018 and is located on Main Street, just two miles from Exit 62 on I-79. It is easy to spot from the road due to its awesome window stickers and displays.Inside the museum, there are many Flatwoods Monster themed displays, such as costumes, video games, figurines, and even a sword! There is also really cool themed merchandise available for sale, such as shirts, hats, books, and the famous Flatwoods Monster Lantern that can only be found for sale in Sutton.You can also find maps for the Flatwoods Monster chairs around the area. If you are able to locate and sit in all five chairs, you will be able to stop the Men in Black from covering up Braxxie’s existence! There are also brochures for other awesome attractions in the area. Admission is free of charge, so if you are driving through the area be sure to check it out.Also, be sure to stop by the new Bigfoot Museum, which is located a few blocks away from the Flatwoods Monster Museum. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

28 Juli 20221min