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Authors: Ruth Ann Musick
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home. After a very hard day in the fields, he decided he could stand it no longer. He was willing to risk death itself rather than continue life under these wretched conditions. He made his break through the open fields and into the woods unseen.
His break was not discovered until the next morning. Upon learning of the boyâs escape, the master immediately went for his bloodhounds, which quickly picked up the trail and sped, barking, into the woods. Curt, being on foot, had been unable to cover a great distance, even though he had several hoursâ head start.
When he heard the hounds in the distance, he decided to backtrack to a swamp near the plantation. As he neared the swamp, the dogs had closed the gap to just a few hundred yards. He began to run with all his strength across an open field that lay between him and the swamp.
He was caught by the dogs in the center of the field and was badly torn up by the time the master got to him, but he was still very much conscious. As the master arrived, he called off the dogs, and in front of many a watching slave (for the field was in sight of the huts) he drew his sword and with one mighty blow cut off the young boyâs head.
After that, the master couldnât sleep, for he kept hearing strange sounds â as if someone were trying to enter his bedroom. This went on for several nights. One night he heard the voice of the young boy he had brutally killed. He began following it and eventually was led back to the field where he had killed young Curt. Some of the slaves saw him as he passed.
Suddenly a loud scream was heard. As the rest of the whites rushed into the field, they saw a horrible sight. The master lay dead in the same spot where Curt had lain. To their surprise, they noticed he had no head, and beside the body lay the very same sword he had used to murder the slave boy. There were no tracks to be picked up by the dogs, and the mystery was never solved.
29: Frist House
During the Civil War, Hardy County was one of the few counties in West Virginia to go Confederate. The reason Hardy turned rebel was that several well-to-do farmers in the county used slave labor. The only important person opposed to the Confederacy was John Frist, an influential man who lived in a large house outside of Moore-field. Because of Johnâs resistance, a group of hotheaded rebels went to his house one night and murdered him, his wife, and their three children.
After this, John Fristâs home was used as a prison for runaway slaves who were caught. The slaves would be taken into the basement of the house, chained to the wall, and left for dead. Those who performed these acts of insanity were called the McNeil Rangers, and they operated out of Moorefield.
After the Southâs surrender the slaves in Hardy County were released â all except the ones who had died in the cellar of their prison. A group of townspeople went to the Frist house and cleared out the bones and decaying bodies.
This house is still standing and is in very good condition. Several families have owned or rented it since the end of the Civil War but none of them has remained in it for more than a year. I know of five families â all from other places â that have owned it in my lifetime. The families that have lived there claim that once a year, on the anniversary of the Frist familyâs murder, blood appears on the floor and walls of the room in which they were killed. It slowly wears off during the year, but it canât be painted over or sanded out. Also strange screams and the sound of chains rattling come from the cellar.
All my life I have heard that this house is haunted; I hope it does not carry a curse, because my parents rented it for a few months, about a year after they were married, and I was born there.
30: The Murdered Prisonerâs Ghost
About 1900, the Hall family lived near a so-called haunted hollow on a farm in Pendleton County. Their house was on one side
His break was not discovered until the next morning. Upon learning of the boyâs escape, the master immediately went for his bloodhounds, which quickly picked up the trail and sped, barking, into the woods. Curt, being on foot, had been unable to cover a great distance, even though he had several hoursâ head start.
When he heard the hounds in the distance, he decided to backtrack to a swamp near the plantation. As he neared the swamp, the dogs had closed the gap to just a few hundred yards. He began to run with all his strength across an open field that lay between him and the swamp.
He was caught by the dogs in the center of the field and was badly torn up by the time the master got to him, but he was still very much conscious. As the master arrived, he called off the dogs, and in front of many a watching slave (for the field was in sight of the huts) he drew his sword and with one mighty blow cut off the young boyâs head.
After that, the master couldnât sleep, for he kept hearing strange sounds â as if someone were trying to enter his bedroom. This went on for several nights. One night he heard the voice of the young boy he had brutally killed. He began following it and eventually was led back to the field where he had killed young Curt. Some of the slaves saw him as he passed.
Suddenly a loud scream was heard. As the rest of the whites rushed into the field, they saw a horrible sight. The master lay dead in the same spot where Curt had lain. To their surprise, they noticed he had no head, and beside the body lay the very same sword he had used to murder the slave boy. There were no tracks to be picked up by the dogs, and the mystery was never solved.
29: Frist House
During the Civil War, Hardy County was one of the few counties in West Virginia to go Confederate. The reason Hardy turned rebel was that several well-to-do farmers in the county used slave labor. The only important person opposed to the Confederacy was John Frist, an influential man who lived in a large house outside of Moore-field. Because of Johnâs resistance, a group of hotheaded rebels went to his house one night and murdered him, his wife, and their three children.
After this, John Fristâs home was used as a prison for runaway slaves who were caught. The slaves would be taken into the basement of the house, chained to the wall, and left for dead. Those who performed these acts of insanity were called the McNeil Rangers, and they operated out of Moorefield.
After the Southâs surrender the slaves in Hardy County were released â all except the ones who had died in the cellar of their prison. A group of townspeople went to the Frist house and cleared out the bones and decaying bodies.
This house is still standing and is in very good condition. Several families have owned or rented it since the end of the Civil War but none of them has remained in it for more than a year. I know of five families â all from other places â that have owned it in my lifetime. The families that have lived there claim that once a year, on the anniversary of the Frist familyâs murder, blood appears on the floor and walls of the room in which they were killed. It slowly wears off during the year, but it canât be painted over or sanded out. Also strange screams and the sound of chains rattling come from the cellar.
All my life I have heard that this house is haunted; I hope it does not carry a curse, because my parents rented it for a few months, about a year after they were married, and I was born there.
30: The Murdered Prisonerâs Ghost
About 1900, the Hall family lived near a so-called haunted hollow on a farm in Pendleton County. Their house was on one side
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