Bud Mountain

My family has a long history with the ghosts on Bud Mountain and plenty of other places in West Virginia and other states. However, this story will deal only with Bud Mountain.

The first ghost is that of George Sizemore. His stepson killed him. My family moved into the house sometime in the 60’s. My mother felt him standing over her bed each night and was so scared that she would not sleep alone or at least had to have the light burning. The house is not there anymore, but George is. He never was limited only to the house.

My Aunt had seen him once while she was hanging out clothes at her house, which was down the road. My Uncle has seen him staring in the windows at his house.

George never does anything or says anything. He just stands there and looks at you. However, I was told that after he died, whenever his wife would walk home at night after visiting her boyfriend, she would see George walking up the road in front of her. That might be why they moved!

The other ghost is that of old Mrs. Eastridge. She was supposed to be somewhat mean and crazy. My mother seen her standing at the foot at one of the beds in the house and my grandmother would hear the bed springs creak like someone was getting out of bed and then footsteps going to the kitchen. They would stop at the sink as if she was getting a drink of water and then they would return to the bedroom where the bed springs would once again creak.

Mr. Eastridge haunted the place too. He was killed one day while out in the fields I believe. I have heard that he was possibly murdered. Anyway, after being mortally wounded he did manage to crawl back to the house. My Uncles saw what they thought was a dog crawling toward the house one night. Nevertheless, when it got closer, they saw that it was a man and he was stepping up onto the porch. They got inside pretty quick!

Once, my mom and grandpa were walking up on the mountain when they seen a big white dog. They recognized it as Leonard Lester’s dog. The only problem was that Grandpa knew the dog was dead.

Two of my uncles were walking past a coal heap one day carrying a gun when they both took off running! When they got a little ways down the road one turned to the other and said, “Did you see what I saw”? The other confirmed that he did. It was a local man who had been shot & killed after arguing with another man over a gun.

One other occurrence involved yet another aunt and uncle. None in the family exactly knows what to make of this one. They were walking by the cemetery on the way to my oldest Aunt’s house when they seen a lot of people and cars. The people were standing around the other man who was digging a grave. They were all talking. Neither of them recognized any of the people there so when they got to their sister’s house they asked her who had died recently. She said that none that she knew of had. That was funny since Bud is a small place and they knew everybody. When they walked back by a little later, none was there. There also wasn’t a fresh grave or tire marks.