Appalachian History

(…continued from yesterday) The “Anesthetic Prowler” or “The Phantom Anesthetist,” he was supposedly a dark, mysterious figure responsible for dozens of Virginia victims falling ill from mysterious gasses flooding their homes. Whole families reported sudden attacks of choking, dizziness, headaches and various respiratory ailments. However, lacking tangible evidence of a culprit or culprits, the press [...]

Whether or not gas will be employed in future wars is a matter of conjecture, but the effect is so deadly to the unprepared that we can never afford to neglect the question. General John Pershing, 1919 At 10 PM on December 22, 1933, Mrs. Cal Huffman detected a gassy odor in her Fincastle, VA [...]

Jesus, Jesus, rest your head. You have got a manger bed. All the evil folk on earth, Sleep in feathers at their birth. (But) Jesus, Jesus, rest your head. You have got a manger bed. Have you heard about our Jesus? Have you heard about his fate? How his mother came to the stable, On [...]

DECEMBER 1915 FRIDAY 24 “Well, the chittlings, a part of them Alice sent over by Pete. They were intestines cleaned ready to cut into short pieces to fry. I told Tillie she needn’t fry any for me. They stood in water two or three days and by that time they were smelling like ‘all get [...]

The Charleston Daily Mail Dec. 27, 1925 Grantsville, Calhoun County, W. Va., March 24, 1886. The following history of the haunted house, situated on the bank of Little Kanawha river, about three miles from this place, is presented to the scientist for explanation. The skeptical reader is frankly and honestly referred to any one of [...]