By Holly Kozelsky
Garrett Channell, executive director of the Salem Museum, presented the MHC Historical Society’s Sunday Afternoon Lecture in October, sharing stories about local places tied to ghost legends and mysterious sightings and sounds.
In Patrick County:
Mountain Rose Inn, built in 1901 in Woolwine by whiskey seller Joe DeHart. When he saw Prohibition coming, DeHart shifted his business model to make whiskey for medicinal purposes, but mostly sold flour, meal and vinegar. He died in 1956, but his footsteps are still heard in the house, and his old porch rocking chair rocks.
Poor Farmers Farmhouse, Meadows of Dan, an 1800s cabin that evolved into a farmhouse. By the 1990s it was a boarding house. Since the mid-1900s people have reported hearing voices and sounds in the walls, have felt beds shaken and have seen the apparition of a blond woman in a blue gown.
Reynolds Homestead, built in mid-1840s in Critz, and the home of tobacco magnate R.J. Reynolds. People have reported seeing male apparitions, feeling cold spots and smelling cigar smoke.
In and near Martinsville:
MHC Heritage Museum, the former Henry County Courthouse. Attorneys have talked about hearing footsteps and noises in the empty courtroom.
Sam Lions Trail in the Forest Park neighborhood. Sam Lion was the son of a chieftain in Africa, kidnapped and sold into slavery and used by the Hairstons. He was sent out to help clear paths through the woods. Viciously cruel overseer Red Tupper attacked him twice. The second time, Lion attacked back, escaped into the woods and lived for 3 years before he was captured and hanged. His ghost is still seen where he wandered around for those 3 years.
Beaver Creek Plantation, built in 1776 and now home to the Carter Bank offices. Marshall Hairston often stood at the window to watch what was happening outdoors. One day as he was doing it lightning struck and captured his image in the window glass. Sometimes it still can be seen today.
In Danville:
The Sutherlin Mansion, built in 1859—it the house Jefferson Davis stayed in at the end of the Confederacy, giving Danville the moniker “The Last Capital of the Confederacy.” People say they see a translucent man staring out the window, smell cigar smoke, hear people talking and a little girl crying, and see reflections in a mirror of a woman or little girl.
At Lanier House, people say they hear footsteps and conversations and smell cigar smoke.
On nearby streets, people say they see soldiers walking on the sidewalks and through the doors into houses.
Crytids
A cryptid is an animal whose existence is suggested through unconfirmed sightings and folklore but not scientifically proven, such as the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot. The Appalachian region is home to a few:
Wampus Cat is a six-legged wildcat with huge fangs. It walks upright, which is how it is differentiated from mountain lions; it makes a terrible piercing scream in the middle of the night. The name comes from the word “cattywampus,” meaning an unknown sound in the woods, from the time of the settlers.
Dogman is like a werewolf but instead of making a moonlight transformation, Dogman permanently has the body of a man but the head of a dog. One sighting was reported by a woman and confirmed by a policeman in Danville in 1990. In 2017 one was sighted in Henry County running on the backroads through the woods. It jumped up onto the passing car of the witness who reported it, then ran back off into the woods.
Sasquatch, a legendary huge, hairy, humanoid creature, is called Bigfoot in other areas. A sasquatch was seen in Fieldale in 1982 by a man who woke up in the night and went for a glass of water. Looking out the backdoor, he saw a huge, hairy, humanoid figure walking away, crossing the road in one stride. His grandmother, who lived next door, had seen a man standing and looking into her second-story bedroom window.
Sheepsquatch, one of the rarest cryptids, is like Sasquatch but with white wool instead of fur and big, curved horns. It was first seen in West Virginia in the 1990s and in 2014 was seen on a trail in Fairy Stone State Park.
