WEST VIRGINIA (WVDN) – In the dead of night, the wind howls. A deer stepping on a twig sounds like a gunshot. The full moon glows behind a bank of clouds, creating eerie shadows. A chill is in the air, sending a shiver up an unsuspecting person’s spine. Something moves at the edge of sight, causing a rise in heart rate and beads of sweat. Is it a murderer? A ghost? Perhaps a werewolf is on the hunt?
All Hallows Eve, better known as Halloween, is here, and the spooks are ready to play. Edgar Allen Poe once wrote, “The lines between life and death are, at best, shadowy and vague. Who is to say where one ends and the other begins?” Halloween night is said to be when the veil is at its thinnest when ghostly encounters are frequent.
Ghost stories are common around the world. Some have been adapted into books and movies. Others exist in near obscurity. In West Virginia, tales include a court case, where a ghost allegedly solved a murder, a headless soldier and the infamous Mothman spirit. Here are some popular spooky tales from the Mountain State.
The Greenbrier Ghost
The Greenbrier Ghost is the only known case of a ghost’s testimony helping to convict a murderer. This title was bestowed upon the ghost of Elva Zona Heaster Shue, a young woman in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, who was murdered in 1897. Her death and the subsequent trial of her husband, Erasmus Stribbling Trout Shue, for her murder, is one of the most famous and fascinating paranormal cases in American history.
Heaster was a beautiful young woman who lived with her mother, Mary Jane Heaster, in the small town of Livesay’s Mill. She seemed to have a fantastic life when she married Trout Shue, a handsome but mysterious man from out of town. Heaster’s mother was against the marriage from the start, but Zona was determined to wed this charming man.
Tragically, 126 years ago, on Jan. 23, 1897, Heaster was found dead in her home. Her death was initially ruled natural causes, but Heaster’s mother was convinced that her daughter had been murdered. She claimed that Heaster’s ghost appeared to her in a vision and told her that Shue had killed her.
Mary Jane Heaster’s testimony regarding what her daughter’s ghost had allegedly told her was enough to convince the authorities to exhume the young woman’s body for further examination. The autopsy revealed that Heaster had been strangled to death. Shue was arrested and charged with murder.
The jury found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to life in prison.
Shue did indeed spend the rest of his days incarcerated. He died from the flu epidemic of 1900 in the third year of his sentence.
Zona Heaster, better known as the Greenbrier Ghost, is said to haunt the area where she was murdered to this day. Some people claim to have seen her apparition walking down the stairs where she died. Others say they have heard her crying or moaning at night.
This case was well documented in newspapers such as the Greenbrier Independent.
The Ghost of Droop Mountain Battlefield
Most readers have likely heard of the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow, but did you know about the headless ghost of Droop Mountain Battlefield? The battlefield is located in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, and was the site of a major Civil War battle in 1863.
The story of the headless ghost is said to have originated with a logger named Edgar Walton in 1920. Walton and a friend were working in the forest nearby when they decided to camp for the night. Walton woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of rustling leaves. He looked up and saw a headless Confederate soldier floating towards him. The soldier was wearing a gray uniform and had a bloody stump where his head should have been.
Walton was terrified and tried to scream, but no sound came out. The soldier floated right past him and disappeared into the night. Walton’s friend was also sleeping in the camp, but he didn’t see or hear anything.
Walton told other people about his experience, and the story of the headless ghost of Droop Mountain Battlefield quickly spread. Over the years, many other people have reported seeing the headless ghost, including park rangers, hikers, and campers. Some people have also reported hearing strange noises on the battlefield, such as the sounds of battle or horses galloping.
Some people believe that the headless ghost is the spirit of a Confederate soldier who was killed in the battle of Droop Mountain. Others believe that he is the ghost of a Union soldier who was beheaded by the Confederates. Still others believe that he is the ghost of a civilian who was caught in the crossfire.
Whatever the explanation, the headless ghost of Droop Mountain Battlefield is a popular legend that has been passed down for generations. Whether or not the ghost is real is up to each individual to decide. But one thing is for sure: the legend of the headless ghost is a chilling reminder of the tragic events that took place on Droop Mountain Battlefield all those years ago.
These are only two of the chilling ghost stories from Southern West Virginia. Many more haunt the valleys, hills and roadways. Are there ghosts among us, or do imaginations just run wild late at night when the only sound is a nearby creek?
