Ghosts Stories of the Allegheny Mountains
This is the third post in a collection of posts take from the article “Folk-lore of the Mountain Whites of the Alleghenie” by J. Hampden Porter. Check the links at the end of this post to read others from the collection.
Ghosts & Specters of the Allegheny Mountains
Supernatural manifestations are very common in these highlands. Three blows struck by an invisible hand upon the door signifies that death is near the hearer, or some member of his or her family. Doors that open of themselves, the howling of a dog, three barks of a red fox, also prognosticate disaster and death. A wild bird flying into the house and perching there, does the same, and a sight of the black dog that haunts the vale of Chatata, the white stag who roams the heights above the great Sequatchie Valley, the headless bull of those forests in the southeastern angle of Tennessee, or the bleeding horse met with among the ravines of the Smoky Mountains in Georgia, all convey the same fatal augury.
Some spectral appearances have no special significance. To these belong the gray wolf seen at midnight where the road from West Virginia crosses Piney Ridge, and that nondescript goblin animal, now one thing, then another, who goes before the traveller though Haunted Hollow, near Green Hill in Rockingham County. Illuminations of houses that have been deserted and become ruinous because of ghosts come under the same category, together with those sights and sounds which many have seen and heard within them--corpses laid out in the empty rooms, phantoms gliding through their open doors, the sound of bodies falling on their floors, and the moans and shrieks of miserable spirits within.
The following personal experiences were unattended by any consequences apart from fright.
Mrs. S-- was accustomed to visit her sister's farm by a path that led along Trout Run. Here, at dusk one evening, she saw small white dog trotting along in advance, but paid no attention it until the form suddenly disappeared at a spot where there was cover. This happened several times, and she put salt in her shoes and said an abundance of prayers. Then the spectre followed her.
Miss F , who was not born on Christmas week, and therefore had no natural power of seeing spirits, related the apparition of brother's first wife. This lady was devotedly attached to her husband, and when in the last stage of consumption could not die until he made oath to remain single for the remainder of his life. Not long after he perjured himself, but the peace of that household was gone. Ever after there was " a sense of something moving and fro" upon them all. His sister, in common with the rest, heard the sighs and sobs of the disconsolate ghost, she saw her dim figure floating through the dusk, and was chilled to the heart by its atmosphere as the spirit went by in passages or upon the stairs.
Mrs. H- , riding on a pillion behind her father from camp-meeting, saw a tall white form rise beside the horse. It was not terrified, however, as often happens in such cases. Her father did see the phantom, and was very deaf. She remained motionless from fear while the spectre moved along beside them. Soon a running stream was reached, and it vanished upon its brink.
Mr. B , going home one night by Crackwhip Furnace, then abandoned, beheld the likeness of a black bear in front, but it screamed horribly at him with a human voice. His horse was terrified, and when the thing came nearer and screamed again, he rode for his life. Half a mile away from the spot this same dreadful cry sounded in his ears shriller and more appalling than before.
Mr. C-, riding on the same road one dark autumnal evening, suddenly found his mare attacked by an invisible adversary. Blows were struck at her head, but the animal, though snorting, plunging, and rearing in terror, could not stir from the place; something met it at every turn. The rider tried to pray, but in vain. He was able to think the words, yet not to utter them. In his extremity the name of God at last burst from his lips. At once the horse sprang forward, and clasping its neck the pair dashed down hill into a brook. Whatever it was that beset them could not follow across flowing water, but a shriek that shook his heart swept by him as fled.
Where men have been murdered, and such spots are too often come upon, they, and the wraiths of those whose other wrongs re- main unavenged, wander around their graves as moving lights. A spirit similar to the Celtic Faire-chloidh watches at lonely tombs. Another, resembling the Dourdognese La Vivre, inveigles wayfarers within reach of demons and witches, like its counterpart of the Cote d'Or. The Ignis fatuus, or Jack-a-lantern of the seaboard States, is here called Jack Polant. This is not the "faithless phantom" which lures travellers to their doom, but a spirit of the waste whom they are compelled to follow.
Ghostly Revenge Stories & The Headless Horseman of Indian Fort
Sometimes an apparition comes on a mission of justice; at others, ghosts revisit "the glimpses of the moon," inspired with the desire for vengeance. Before the separation of West Virginia from the mother State, Colonel --- murdered one of his negro women with aggravated circumstances of cruelty. The crime could not be proved against him, and his act remained unpunished by law. But when investigation was at an end, and it became evident that nothing would be done, a white dog made its appearance upon the estate. Numbers saw it, and knew it for a spectre by its vanishing while in full view. This goblin brute hunted the man to death. It followed and went before him, came into his room, haunted the guilty being night and day, until he pined away, and, having made a confession, died.
A miser, whose ruined house still stands, disappeared and was never seen again. Two single women, living in a poor way in the neighborhood, suddenly came into possession of money, concerning which they gave an improbable account. Inquiry was made, but it came to naught. The dead man's ghost, however, headless and bleeding, walked upon the hill where their cottage stood. It passed along the garden fence between sunset and dark, and the elder of these murderesses was soon literally frightened to death. Her companion lived longer and suffered more. She wasted away, said one of the many persons from whom I heard this tale, " till nothing of her was left but a little pile of bones." Then death came, and it took four strong men to lift the coffin in which her body was enclosed. The hidden money was there.
A headless horseman rides upon the road near Indian Fort, in the foothills of Cumberland Mountain. His story is unknown, and this phantom's wanderings are apparently objectless. Nevertheless he is ill to meet, for unlike the same kind of an apparition described by Crofton Croker in the south of Ireland, this brings misfortune, and those who have seen it had reason to regret their encounter.
For more in this series of Scot-Irish Folklore check out the previous posts:
Lycanthropy Lore of the Allegheny Mountains
Witchlore of the Allegheny Mountains
