Rowlesburg Ghost Story

The Tray Run Viaduct near Rowlesburg. The viaduct is part of the image on the reverse side of the WV State Seal, according to Jim Comstock's West Virginia Encyclopedia.


I found this story in three sources, but I think Ruth Ann Musick's version, with a citation for the teller of the tale, is most credible. She called it The Misty Ghosts in her book Coffin Hollow (University of Kentucky Press, 1977. pp 41-42). Dr. Musick heard the story from Theresa Britton of Rowlesburg, who had heard it from her grandfather. Other sources are Ghost Train! by Tony Reevy and Haunted West Virginia by Patty A. Wilson. Ghost Train! cites Dr. Musick's book, but I don't have a copy of Haunted West Virginia to see its citations (I viewed the book online).


A young woman went to Pittsburgh to seek employment. (This was probably around the turn of the century when travel by rail was in its heyday). She found a position as household help and settled in to her job. But she grew lonely and she was homesick for the people and the place she left behind.


As it happened, she met a young man (one version claims she met him while visiting Rowlesburg, but Dr. Musick's story says that she met him in Pittsburgh). He was from a community called Manheim, which at that time was close to Rowlesburg, and now is incorporated within that town's city limits. With so much in common, they began to see each other a great deal.


Being far from home and lonely, the girl fell in love with the young man. Did he love her in return? That is hard to know this many years later. Whatever the case, he did not ask her to marry him. (Two versions of the story claim she was carrying his child, but the Musick story does not state that.) Perhaps he felt unable to support a wife financially, or thought they were too young to marry. It could be that he simply enjoyed her company but didn't care enough for her to marry her.


The girl grew despondent. She lost her position in Pittsburgh and had no choice but to return to Rowlesburg. As the train traveled through the night on the Cheat River line, she stepped out onto the platform. Perhaps she only meant to get some fresh air, or perhaps she was so upset over the turn of events in her life that she saw no other solution to her problems. As the train passed over the Cheat River caverns, she either fell, or she jumped to her death.


Bad news travels fast. The young man heard of her death and immediately returned home. He was overwhelmed with grief and felt he was to blame for her actions. On the anniversary of her death, the young man went to the scene of her death. He never returned.


When searchers found his body, it was a the bottom of the river near the caverns, opposite from where the girl had jumped.


The teller of this story said that old-timers say that on full-moon nights they would see mist rising from the place where the girl died; it would be joined by another mist rising from the Cheat River where the young man drowned, and then the joined mists would float away and out of sight.

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It's difficult to verify stories like this since no names were attached to it by the time Dr. Musick heard it. Folklore often happens that way--while facts and dates may have been part of the story in the beginning, in time those seemingly unimportant bits were dropped and the main points preserved.

There are apparently several places that might have been the "Cheat River Caverns" or "Caves of Cheat" referred to in the story, all undeveloped sites. Online information suggests that a) the caverns are now called something else and are gated and inaccessible; or b) that they are actually located on the Dry Fork of Cheat. I wondered as I read the story if she had perhaps jumped at the Tray Run Viaduct, which looks like a good place to do such a thing.

So pinpointing the place from which the mists rise might not be easy. But it might be worth spending a night on the river to try to find out--if you dare.

For more information about Rowlesburg's railroad history, visit WV Rail Fan's website. And for more about the town of Rowlesburg and it's role in the Civil War, visit the Rowlesburg Visitor's Guide.

Tale of a Tired Storyteller: Rowlesburg

Yes, I did a little shopping here--added a storytelling "flipflop" doll and a Russian Matreshka to my storytelling props. I am always delighted at what I find in little out-of-the-way shops, and this one was full of surprises. (Thanks, Gloria!)

Hannah, as usual managed to find someone she knew or who knew someone she knew--in this case, it was the latter. The owner of the shop knew Hannah's gym teacher from last year. Here we were, almost 4 hours from home, and Hannah knows people. Go figure.

Downtown Rowlesburg is a quiet, interesting place. We looked for the site of the History in Review celebration that I was booked for, and soon found it--people dressed like the lady below kind of gave us a clue. Everyone we met was friendly, laid-back and helpful.

The town is celebrating its 150th year. The town was part of the Jones-Imboden Raids of the Civil War, and re-enactors were in full dress to stage the Battle of Rowlesburg once again for the crowds that gathered.

The girls had to look in the windows of the old schoolhouse in town. They were surprised to discover a bandstand and chairs--"It's a jamboree!" Hannah said. I htink she may be right--it might be one of those places so prevalent in West Virginia that offer weekend jam sessions for any musicians who want to play; usually country, bluegrass and the occasional old-time musicians show up and everyone has a good time.

Larry liked the interesting brickwork on the building.

It was a bad hair day all day--the wind off the Cheat River behind me was steady and kept it whipped into a, well, a mess, no other word for it. It was cold too! Temps never reached higher than 60, I think. I was warm enough while telling, but needed a jacket otherwise. Rowlesburg is in the deep mountains and further north than where I live, so the temperatures were a good 10 degrees cooler than we had expected. Must be wonderful in the summertime.

We had a good audience of children and adults. The location was a little awkward--a large open grassy space separated me from where most people were sitting. The grass would have been ideal for sitting, but the ground was still wet--and cold--from the rains on Saturday. Kids don't care, though. Several settled on the grass to listen. Afterwards, the organizer told me that some grandstand seating had been ordered for the space but never materialized. While the seating would have been a better set-up, I was close enough to the children to be able to read their reactions---essential to a storyteller--and the adults looked attentive and interested, and laughed at the right times.

I had been asked by the organizer to tell any ghost stories I knew about the town. I found two, both connected with the railroads that played such a large role in the development of the area in the 1800's. (I'll post both stories in a later post.)

I was glad to visit this town. it's been on my list of places to go ever since I read in our family tree that a relative had been a doctor in the town in the 1770's. He apparently had no offspring. Still, it was a family connection to West Virginia and to this place and I wanted to see it. What I found was a little jewel nestled between the mountains, the Cheat River and the railroad that still runs close by.

Haley and Hannah find much to do at the edge of the mighty Cheat.