Sometime Between Dusk and Dawn Ghost Stories

Out of the Ashes: An old story from Hocking County, Ohio

Welcome to Sometime Between Dusk and Dawn Ghost Stories. This episode is written and produced by me, Jannette Quackenbush with folklore pulled from many resources, including an interview ofMike Shea of Hope Furnace Station by Bill Price in 1961. There is more than just this podcast.

The George Washington Heritage Trail makes its way through 3 counties in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle, where travelers can visit interesting historical places and follow in the footsteps of the first president. Along its path is a haunting in a quiet little cemetery in Berkeley Springs that is nestled beneath trees and surrounded by quaint homes. Sometimes your past comes back to haunt you. And other times, you come back to haunt your past.  This just might be said about a certain doctor whose deceitfully-made decisions in life caused him eternal problems after death.

I just finished my second book on Haunted Hikes of the Appalachian Hills and Hollows which included ghost stories, legends, and abandoned places in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. It is the perfect time of year to check out some scary places secreted into the Appalachian wilds. And for those who know me well, you know I don’t just write about it. I go to the site and check it out. And—you should get out there too! Here is a local Hocking Hills region story tucked within the pages of my book about a thief and a certain haunted cave that you can visit too—

A man and horses haunt a rock shelter off a lonely stretch of dirt-gravel road at the head of a valley. He died many years ago, and the reason for this haunting might have something to do with the dead man’s deeds in life.

Want to visit the cave? It is at Wayne National Forest,  12318 Burton Hill Road New Straitsville, Ohio 43766

(39.545483, -82.226367) Watch for the small gravel pull-off. The rugged trail is on the same side as the pull-off. Have fun, follow Wayne National’s rules, and be careful!

Welcome to Sometime Between Dusk and Dawn Ghost Stories. This episode is written and produced by me, Jannette Quackenbush, with folklore drawn from many resources, including this one from Ruthann Musick’s Coffin Hollow and Other Ghost Tales. 

Back in the 1870s, Jackson Hill in Wyoming County used to be called Sizemore Gap, and old-timers passed down that it had a ghost that would show up to travelers along the road. Here is the story of one man who came to face with it.

Something peculiar lurks in a wild pocket of overgrown scrub meadows mixed with deep, young woodland in Belmont County, Ohio. It is just off Interstate 70, and those who pass along the highway usually sense that there is more to the gutted terrain than meets the eye, more than just the strip mine that flourished greedily on the land. It was as if when peeling back the flesh of the terrain, then gouging out the soul of the land, something wicked was freed from the bowels of the earth. Something long buried. Something that should never return. Something so dreadfully evil, it still walks as if the land beneath its feet is still quite dead. And it still thrives there . . .that thing in Egypt Valley that got dug up.

It always seems appropriate to feature some theme-based, folklore-related post for each holiday. Most are easy to come by like redeeming ghosts on Christmas Eve, dead, angry lovers on Valentine’s Day, and Halloween is a no-brainer because it celebrates every kind of ghost story, folktale, and urban legend. However, Easter has always eluded me, and over the years, I have managed to sidestep it completely. This time is different, though, because I discovered a most frightening legend, but with a little twist. Full disclosure—the tale would not have much to do with the Easter holiday if it were not for the mythical mammal involved mostly because it originated in October of 1970—This is The Legend of Bunny-Man of Fairfax County, Virginia. 

When an early peddler is murdered not far from Grant Town, West Virginia, his ghost would return to frighten those crossing his path.

Welcome to Sometime Between Dusk and Dawn Ghost Stories. This episode is written and produced by me, Jannette Quackenbush, with folklore drawn from many resources. Today’s story is Ghostly Shenanigans of a Peddler. A public house in Waynesville, Ohio was known for the drunken antics of its guests and a resentful ghost.

An old story was once retold perhaps two generations ago by Jeanne deLavigne in her book Ghost Stories of Old New Orleans. I think enough time has passed to retell this eerie legend again –Today’s tale is Lost Golden Children. Even after an aged cemetery is removed for development, a stingy ghost returned to search for something he lost.

Ball of Fire--A restless ghost divulges a murder near the swirling waters of the Little Kanawha River.

Welcome to Sometime Between Dusk and Dawn Ghost Stories. This episode is written and produced by me, Jannette Quackenbush, with folklore drawn from many resources, including clippings from historic newspapers, Children lost in the mountains by Timothy Hupp, and J.B. Huffman’s Little Lost Boy in the Mountains of Virginia. There is more than just this podcast. You can buy my book series on Amazon and in bookstores. And watch for my upcoming book Appalachian haunted hikes, where this story will be passed along. Today’s story is Little Lost Ghost of Bluff Mountain, about a boy who disappeared into the forest, never to return . . . alive. But now he comes back in ghostly form.

It is one of the stories (about Ottie Cline Powell) that I'm working on for my newest book on Appalachian ghost hikes. And yes, I hike all the trails in my books. You can check out my other ghostly books: https://smile.amazon.com/Jannette-Quackenbush/e/B009RN009M or find them in local gift shops and bookstores.

You can visit the site. I did. It is along the Blue Ridge Parkway with parking at Punchbowl Mountain Overlook. The trail is 2.0 miles, a rugged and strenuous uphill mountain hike on the way up. If you go, take a short side trip to Punchbowl Shelter. A sign will lead you there. This is one of the places the little ghost is seen. 

Music from Uppbeat :

Traditional Christmas in Victorian England was held around the fire at night, telling the most horrifyingly morbid of ghost stories. So in celebration of those old-time traditions, here is an ageless ghost story I’ll share with you that happened in a tiny community called Fallsville, which is now little more than a ghost town located in the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s Fallsville Wildlife Area. It is about a ghostly apparition that would appear in December in an old mill town.

What happened in Moonville, Ohio? Not long after a horrible train accident one autumn night in the late 1800s, a ghost began to appear at a tunnel along a remote and dark stretch of the Marietta and Cincinnati railroad. And the haunting of Moonville would begin . . .

Deep in the woodland of Shawnee State Forest in southern Ohio lies a lone gravestone tucked in an ancient valley called Dead Man Hollow. This is the legend surrounding the grave and the nearby hollow. 

The North Bend Rail Trail in West Virginia stretches 72 miles along an old, abandoned railroad with 36 bridge crossings and 13 tunnels along its passageway. It’s a beautiful place to hike and bike . . . mostly. However, it also has some dark and spooky settings on its path. Among its spookier sites are two haunted tunnels secreted along the abandoned stretch of railway between the old oil boom and railroad towns of Walker and Petroleum.

You can find the two tunnels, Eaton Tunnel and the hidden Lost Tunnel along the West Virginia Rail-Trail after a short gravel backroads drive, and perhaps run into the ghostly crew of long-dead miners still working. After taking the path from the parking area, you will come upon the Eaton Tunnel. After passing through, look for a rugged path on your left and follow it. The Lost Tunnel is sealed off from the curious. However, you can peer into a small opening and perhaps hear the ghosts of its past within.

Today’s story is a legend of Pirate Alley in New Orleans—Reginald Hicks. Many, many years ago, a beautiful French Creole girl and a young pirate fell madly and deeply in love. What could possibly go wrong with that situation? Obviously something, because nowadays one returns to lament the other’s death.

Today’s story is the legend of Calico Lady of Lafferty Run and Chicken Hollow Road in Brown County, Ohio. An old lady with a collection of cats used to chase those away who traveled too fast past her home . . . even after she died. 

The Story of the Telltale Lilac Bush- An Old-time Favorite - One of the most beloved folklore stories of West Virginia, the Telltale Lilac Bush, was brought to life by Ruth Ann Musick via Keith Ketchem, as given to him by Mrs. Sarah Dadisman of Union in Barbour County. 

An old cabin is tucked into the trees just outside a small college town in Nelsonville that has a ghost that just will not give up its home. And you can visit it.

You can find the story in this book:

I found an old ghost town cemetery along the New River in West Virginia hidden in the forest and on an island. If you hike the Southside Trail, you may be able to discover it too.

Today’s story is The Sordid Tale of Etienne Deschamps. In 1889, a deranged dentist living in New Orleans committed a heinous crime which left a ghost still wandering the rooms of the building where a murder took place.

Today’s story is about the Wampus Cat, a mysterious wild thing as fearsome as a cougar and as frightening as a phantom. This half-human and half-wildcat haunts the mountains of West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and perhaps, even Ohio. And its story comes in many forms . . .

I hope you enjoy this episode of Sometime Between Dusk and Dawn Ghost Stories. If you like it, please pass it along. And most of all, I hope I helped you find your scary place sometime between dusk and dawn.

A Legend comes from the tiny Mt Olive cemetery outside Mansfield, Ohio, where a Bloody Mary legend was born beneath the boughs of an ancient pine.

Those prisoners who once called the jailed cells of this West Virginia Penitentiary home may have left many ghosts in their path even before finding themselves imprisoned there. But what comes around, goes around; some of those same inmates have become ghouls themselves and haunt the cells and hallways they once trod in life. Just ask the local tour guides during the historical and paranormal tours at West Virginia Penitentiary Paracon coming up on September 11, 2021, during the seasonal haunted tours offered later in the year . . . or go and discover one yourself.

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Today’s tale is Dancing Octoroon Mistress of New Orleans. On windy and cold December nights, a bare, wraithlike form gyrates and whips about frantically on top of a brick building on Royal Street. Its story comes from long ago and centers around the ill-fated devotion of a young mistress for her callous lover.

The house of the octoroon mistress is 734 Royal Street in New Orleans. 

Today’s story is Stumpy. Many years ago, a doctor in a small Ohio town was awakened past nightfall by persistent knocks upon his door, and as he called upon a patient, the man would come face to face with a phantom.

A ghoulish legend comes from a place just a little southwest of Columbus, Ohio of murder and madness and a place called Woolly Booger Cemetery. This comes from my Ohio Ghost Hunter Guide III, by Jannette Quackenbush.

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Today’s story is Thump. A rivalry for a woman between two young men living along Big Run turns bitter and ends in a ghastly deed and a ghost that comes with an eerie thumping noise.

Today’s story is Betty Knox and the Calling Ghost.  When a reclusive farmer disappeared in the late 1700s, travelers on the isolated trails where she once drove her old ox heard strange noises and calls in a certain deep pocket of woods along Dunbar Creek. And I heard them too-

Today’s story is about Hangman’s Hollow in the city of Hamilton—Butler County, Ohio. When four boys sneak off on an adventure to see the Butler County fair back in the mid-1800s, they hap upon a ghastly sight in the most dreaded of places, Hangman’s Hollow.

A unique legend comes from Pleasants County’s Mount Welcome Cemetery about how a mother’s love for a child goes far beyond the mortal world. I visited Ikie’s Tomb on a Memorial Day not long in the past. And here is Ikie’s story-

Today’s story is the Pale Lady of Ash Cave. For years, hikers at Hocking Hills State Park’s Ash Cave have been startled by a ghostly, pale woman walking the trail before she suddenly vanishes. But unlike most, this curious ghost isn’t reluctant to show herself to just lone hikers. . .

Today’s story is That’s Mine. Many ghosts haunt the mining and railway ghost town of Moonville in southeastern Ohio. One was a brakeman with a fondness for whiskey but a foolish approach to finding a bed to sleep in after he got drunk.

Welcome to Sometime Between Dusk and Dawn Ghost Stories. This episode is written and produced by me, Jannette Quackenbush, with folklore drawn from many resources, including early interviews of community members by Bill Price, Ohio’s First state park chief naturalist, and my interviews of a few locals from Zaleski who I’ve met over the years.