Hey guys, Mark here. Before we start this episode, I just want to give a little update
on Mountain State Mysteries. Sadly, we had to say goodbye to our fur caster. He would
always sit in the middle of the table between me and Courtney when we were recording. Rocket
made sure everything was perfect when it came to Mountain State Mysteries. So Rocket, this
episode is for you. Due to the honey nature of these haunted places, listener discretion
is advised. I'm your host, Mark, and I'm Courtney, and this is Mountain State Mysteries State
Haunts.
Point Pleasant is known for winged, humanoid, known as mothman, that put Point Pleasant
on the map in 1966 with multiple sightings of the dark red-eyed creature along with UFO
and ET encounters, and a host of bizarre paranormal phenomena ever since the sleepy little city
has been a magnet for the curious and paranormal researchers. Point Pleasant, the seat of Mason
County, lies at the confluence of the Ohio and Canal rivers, and where the rivers meet,
it seems that the paranormal is often magnified. Point Pleasant may be famous for mothman,
but do you know its history of paranormal activity? The town has around 4,000 residents
as of the 2020 census, and nearly all of them have a paranormal story or two. The first
prominent European explorer to see the area was Robert D. LaSalle, who arrived in 1669.
In 1749, the French explorer, Péris, Joseph, Celeron, D. Blainfield, gave the confluence
of the rivers its name Point Pleasant. He buried a lead plaque there to stake the French claim
over this part of the Ohio River Valley. In 1770, George Washington made a trip to the area
to look after land grants that had been made by British proclamation in 1754. The local Indians
favored the British over the French in the French L'Ostale in the French and Indian War
of 1759 through 1763. Even the British had rocky relations with the Native Americans,
however tensions build over in 1774 in the Battle of Point Pleasant. The battle was part of Lord
Dunmore's War, a conflict between Virginia militia and the Shawnee and Mingo nations who
objected to the insurgents of white settlers into the Ohio River Valley and beyond. The Shawnee
under chief corn stock attacked the Virginians at the Point Pleasant River confluence on October 10,
1774. They lost and retreated. The fighting was the bloodiest ever fought between Native Americans
and white settlers in America. With the Virginians suffering 75 killed and 140 wounded, the Shawnee's
losses were unknown as they carried away their wounded and threw the dead into the river. The
Shawnee were forced to agree to a treaty ceding all their land to the south of the Ohio River.
During the American Revolutionary War, corn stocks position was one of the neutrality. In 1777,
he and his son and two other Shawnees made a diplomatic trip to Fort Randolph at Point Pleasant.
There they were detained as prisoners by the commander who on his own had decided to take
all Shawnee hostage. While the men were being held, an American soldier was killed by unknown
Native Americans. Enraged soldiers at the fort shot all four Shawnee to death. An attempt was made
to try the soldiers on charges murder, but they were all acquitted because none of their peers
would testify against them. You're listening to State Haunts by Mountain State Mysteries.
Corn stock was buried at Fort Randolph near the confluence in 1840. His remains were moved
to the Mason County Courthouse grounds. When the courthouse was demolished in 1954,
were reburied at the confluence in what is now known as Two Indy Wee State Park. Popular lore
holds that he cursed the land before dying, but there is no historical basis to that legend.
In reality, he could have died instantly after being shot at Point Pleasant Range. The alleged
cursed surfaced as a plot device in a plate performed in Point Pleasant in the early part
of the 20th century. After the Revolutionary War, the area grew slowly. Point Pleasant sits on a
large bed of coal, but the exploitation of it remained modest. The town also benefited from
the river's commerce during World War II. A TNT plant was constructed on State Route 62 just six
miles north of town. For the manufacture of munitions, it was named the West Virginia Ordnance
Works after the war. Sections of the land were deeded to the state sold off released and eventually
the plant was torn down. As the 20th century moved on, the fortunes of Point Pleasant slowly declined.
Few people outside of West Virginia even knew Point Pleasant was a town until 1966,
when the Mothman Flap erupted and made headlines around the world. A strange,
winged, dark humanoid with red eyes standing about nine feet tall was first seen in the old TNT area
and then throughout the mid Ohio River Valley. No one knew what it was, where it came from,
or why it has suddenly appeared in the area. People were terrified, although in the encounters
being had with the humans, it never seemed to move to harm them. The area sky seemed to be filled with
mysterious lights and unknown craft and people reported contacts with the aliens and NETs.
Journalists and paranormal author John A. Kiel investigated and wrote his now classic account,
The Mothman Prophecies, later made into the 2002 film starring Richard Gere. On December 17, 1967,
the Mothman wave ended when the Silver Bridge, spanning the Ohio River collapsed,
sending 47 people to their death. The traffic has stalled on the bridge. Many of the occupants of
the vehicles have been Christmas shopping on the Ohio side of the river. There was not a family in
Point Pleasant untouched by this tragedy. Whether through blood relations, business, or friendships,
the bridge has structural faults that weaken, but many blame the collapse on Mothman who vanishes
from the scene afterwards. 2002, an annual Mothman Festival was launched by Jeff Wamslee
and Caroline Harris to showcase the original Mothman wave, celebrate the film and bring tourism
to the area. Wamslee operates the Mothman Museum in town and has authored two books on Mothman.
Harris owns the Harris Steakhouse on Main Street, a gathering place for Mothman lovers. The festival
has grown over the years featuring new things each and every year.
The Low Hotel is the biggest landmark and the only hotel in downtown Point Pleasant
has a number of invisible residents who sometimes like to get the attention of the living. Guests
often share their ghostly experiences with the owners Ruth and Rush Finley and their daughter
and they send in their photos and videos showing the mysterious phenomena. The Low Hotel opened
in 1901 at the corner of 4th and Main. Near the site, a Point Pleasant fought on October 10th,
1774. The land had been given to the Anjou Louis as part of his payment for military service
during the French Indian War. The hotel was first called the Spencer Hotel named after a local judge
the honorable J. S. Spencer. Two brothers Homer and Griff Smith owned and operated in. A green
structure the hotels cost 65,000 to build and boasted all of the modern conveniences.
It had 45 rooms on four floors. The lobby featured a 16-feet high ceiling and a stupendous fireplace.
The ground floor house, the bank, barbershop, saloon and a wholesale liquor house. And the Spencer
was the center of the high society and lavish entertaining. In the 1920s it was renowned as an
elegant dance hall. When the stock market crashed in 1929 ended the Smith brothers were forced to
sell. The Homer Low Senior family bought the hotel that same year and changed its name to theirs.
The families acquired the Low in 1990 and began a restoration project that is ongoing.
The ground level shops and services are long gone but the lobby with its grand fireplace
and impressive griffins is still a gathering place for guests. Today 32 of the original rooms
are in use. Then baths have been added and some rooms have been joined into two room suites.
You're listening to State Haunts by Mountain State Mysteries.
All floors at the Low have haunting activity. One of the most commonly reported experiences
is an eerie feeling of an unseen presence in halls and rooms. Guests say that they feel a
presence when they turn a corner and the hallway would come up on the grand staircase to the second
floor. Right outside of room 202 is a parlor where people report feeling a presence of a woman. Some
have seen her filmy white apparition. Miss Low lived in room 206. Perhaps she has decided to stay
in her hotel. Guests who stay on the second floor reported hearing phantom music playing
late at night and the sound of a heavy ball rolling around on the floor above when there was no one.
In room 210 a man was alone in the room taking a shower one evening when he heard someone coming
to the room and a female voice called his name. He thought that it could be one of his friends
in his traveling party. What? He called back. The voice called his name again. What? He asked
for the second time. The voice said his name for the third time. He came out of the bathroom
but no one was in the room. In another room on the second floor a woman retired for the night
and had an odd sensation of something soft like a cloth fluttering down from the ceiling
down to her face. She put her hands up to see what it was but there was nothing tangible there.
On the third floor room 314 has been deemed the most haunted in the hotel. It is occupied by a tall
thin man in a 1930 suit with a long beard who has appeared in a mirror. This is believed to be
Sid Hatfield of the famous feuding Hatfield and McCoy family. Sid was a minor and then police chief
to the town of Mate 1 in Mingo County and often stayed at the hotel when it was a Spencer. Room
314 was his favorite. In 1920 unrest among minors in Mingo County led to a famous shootout called
the Battle of Mate 1 in which Hatfield was shot to death on the steps of the courthouse. His ghost
at the low was photographed by two women who stayed in the room and captured an image of an unknown
man. They showed the photo to Ruth Finley who recognized Hatfield from one of the old photographs.
In room 309 the bathroom light turns on by itself. Also on the third floor there is a
three-room suite that overlooks the Ohio River where guests have reported the ghost of Captain Jim
or Jimbo as he is also known. Jimbo tells guests that he is waiting for the boat to arrive. In
September 2005 Jimbo drove guests away from the room. According to Ruth Finley river boat captains
likely stayed at the log. The four floor features a large ballroom where elegantly dressed guests
once did the night away. Current guests experience spooky sensations in the ballroom including cold
spots and cold breezes. Some of the strangest hauntings is an unfinished section of the floor floor
that is used for storage. One of the items stored away is an old ratten rocking chair
that once belonged to Mrs. Lowe who was blind. The chair was on display in the lobby when the
Finley's bought the hotel. Ruth had it moved to a locked storage room on the fourth floor.
Only her husband Rush has a key to the padlock.
You're listening to State Haunts by Mountain State Mysteries.
The rocking chair sat undisturbed for some time and then mysteriously disappeared. It was no better
to be found in the entire hotel. Several years later every period in the same spot in the locked
room. Guests at the Lowe had taken numerous photographs to show an anomalies of unusual
lights patterns and orbs. Ruth Finley gives tours of the hotel that included ghost stories told by
her guest. Up Main Street from the Lowe Hotel is a historic state theater. A worn but comfortable
theater where talks and stage presentations are offered. The theater designed an art modern style
opened in 1942 with seating for 700. It operated until 1980 then it closed and set vacant until
1993. The theater reopened early in 1994 but closed as a movie house in 2003. It presently is used
for stage performances and served as the venue for lectures during the annual Mothman Festival.
During the festival it also features screenings of Mothman films and documentaries. When the
Silver Bridge collapsed in 1969 the basement of the building next to the theater which was a
hardware store served as a temporary morgue where some of the bodies pulled out of the river. A
shadowy form is sometimes seen heading into the ladies room on the main level. Other presences
are felt throughout the building. In addition the spirit of the state's first owner, Rals
Fielsen is said to walk up and down the aisles every night around 8.45 p.m. as though he's just
checking things out. Other phenomena includes objects being moved around and a light in the
projector room going on and off by itself. The OS Virginia ordinance works known as the TNT
grounds is another mess for Mothman enthusiasts and paranormal lovers. There have been no
sightings of the Mothman depicting the original 1966 1967 wave. There are some who have proud
that area after dark so they have seen shadowy forms that might be Mothman. Plenty of other
haunting activities occur on the grounds. However in its world war two days the ordinance works
covered 8,320 acres. The TNT and other wartime products and other munitions manufactured in
the plant were stored in about a hundred above ground concrete iglies whose massive cell doors
had withstand at bomb blasts. The iglies were camouflaged with dirt and grass. The Department
of Defense and the plant and the US Army ever saw all of the productions of the TNT from 1942 to 1945.
After the end of the war the TNT plant was closed. The soil was heavenly contaminated with waste,
TNT byproducts and asbestos. The area was decontaminated and the surplus munitions were
sold. The plant was torn down in 1945. You can actually still see some of the ruins today.
The army deeded 2,785 acres to the state to be used as a wildlife preserve. In the
McClintic State Wildlife Management Area was created and is used for public recreation.
Other portions of the land are owned by Mason County and private citizens. There have been
ongoing cleanup throughout the years including a major project launched in 1991. The iglies have
been the favorite sports of researchers and investigators. Most are closed and sealed but
if you are open and are access via footpaths of the networks of roads through the area
investigators had captured photographic anomalies of orbs, streaks and unexplained
shadows and misty shapes as well as EVPs of mysterious voices. Some believe to be Native
Americans. Some visitors often feel uneasy in the iglies as though they are being watched
or many presence are crowded around them. In 2010 a freak explosion occurred in one of the bunkers
that still contained some live munitions. Luckily it happened during the day so no one was in the
vicinity. The area was completely sealed off until inspections of the bunkers were completed.
Other hauntings have been reported in the area as well. Dark forms known as shadow people have
been seen on the footpath gliding up and down at night. It seems to peek into the igloos as if
they want to see what people are doing. State Route 62 is haunted in the vicinity of the TNT
ground. Dark figures have been seen leaping across the highway.
Dark figures have been seen leaping across the highway.
Thank you so much for listening to the second episode of Mountain State Mysteries State
Hots.
Stay tuned for the season 2 premiere coming very soon.
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podcasts.
Igorอ nope, I've grown so much closer.