Our Family Ghosts

Our family has been located in this area for five or six generations now, and it all started in an old house that stands today, though abandoned, on a certain hill right in the middle of south Parkersburg. This old house was originally a church, and there are at least 3 graves somewhere on the property which are unmarked, the actual location of which varies depending on whom you ask, but are certainly there. The known graves are said to be a mother and infants. There have been many tales spun about that old house. Many years ago, there were no houses at the foot of the hill. The area was a swampy field. One night when my grandfather was walking up the hill coming home from the store, he saw a woman in white whose feet did not touch the ground coming toward him from the field. He threw his pack at the apparition and ran. Later, he fell asleep in a dormer room in the house which was never used and he awoke to a ghostly face staring right into his face! Years later, the patriarch of the family, my great grandfather, had been building a garage at the foot of the hill below the house (near where grandpa saw the woman in white).

He decided to give the unfinished structure and property to my grandfather and his new bride. The house was built from the structure, and it stands today, occupied by my best friends family. One night grandpa got up to go to the bathroom, and suddenly yelled for his wife in fright, pointing to the corner of the room he asked her “don’t you see it?”, she did not, but he saw a small coffin in the corner of the room. A short time later, his father died.

Today, my friends family have complained of various noises and happenings there. They hear the faint sounds of old time radio shows coming from the living room. They hear pacing footsteps in the hall. They feel large and small entities setting on their beds. They have heard other unexplained knocks and bangs, and the chair in the living room has been seen rocking by itself. Something is still present. They have even seen a man walk through the hall.

Lets now return to my grandparents. They moved around several times before settling with their children at the foot of the hill across the street from the house grandpa built. This is where my grandma still lives today, and where I grew up. There are ghost stories about this house, too, but I’ll come back to that. Now I’ll tell a story that may explain volumes in this case. There is a story that indicates grandpa’s brother-in-law might have accidentally dug up one of the old caskets on the old homestead property… and burned it. The tale says that when he was leveling a space for a utility building behind the house, he dug up a crate and burned it and a putrid odor filled the air on the hill, I have heard this from someone who says he was there and saw it! He died not long after the time when this was suppose to have happened.

After his funeral, my aunt was baby sitting his kids up there, his oldest son had been killed in a car wreck just before he died as well. The youngest daughter pointed to the staircase and said she saw the two of them coming down the stairs together! My aunt bolted for the door, sight unseen. Now then, my grandparents house, Growing up, I’d never sleep with all the lights out there. I saw things there on at least three occasions myself, and heard plenty of noises. I even got pretty use to them. One night grandpa was going upstairs in the dark, and when he got to the top he saw a little girl standing there.

Many years later, a friend of mine, who had never heard that story, also was shocked when he saw a little girl standing in the upstairs hall. My uncle saw a glowing figure against the wall when he lived here. My aunt claimed she saw the eyes of a statue light up in the dark here once. However, for all this there are long periods of time without occurrence as well… here and at my friends house. I think all of this ties together. A woman in white, a little girl ghost… just like those graves behind the old homestead. Toward the end of her life my great aunt called here several times wanting someone to come up because she was afraid to stay in the old homestead alone. All that generation is dead now, none claimed the old homestead. Haunting at the foot of the hill still occur from time to time. One would wonder if it was the ghosts of the father and son coming down the stairs at the old homestead like the youngest daughter said. Maybe great grandpa is the man listening to the old time radio programs, and pacing the floor, in what was to be his garage. Maybe the little girl that’s been seen here is the ghost of a child lost from its mother. If all that is true, you have to wonder how many of the elders of the family still walk in the old homestead.. in the border room.. at the foot of the hill.