Friday, October 21, 2005

Haunted Pocahontas County: Droop Mountain Battlefield

A view from Droop Mountain

The oldest and most highly-embroidered ghost story from the Droop Mountain Battlefield is summarized by Terry Lowry in Last Sleep: The Battle of Droop Mountain November 6, 1863.

The earliest known episode of a supernatural occurrence at Droop Mountain took place in 1865 when Betty and Nancy Snedegar, residents of the west side of Droop and the daughters of James C. and Rebecca Kellison Snedegar, walked to the east side of the mountain to pick berries. On their return trip they located two guns, apparently lost during the battle two years earlier. As the two girls "started to carry off the guns, rocks were thrown at them but they saw no person. They went on home. As they went to milk, more rocks and clubs were thrown at them. At the house rocks Book Cover: Last Sleep came down the chimney and knocked the lids off the pots. Rocks came through the log walls, but left no holes. There were sheepskin rugs on the floor which started rarin' up..." Another account claims the sheepskin rug would stand erect and bawl. The Snedegar sisters then "gathered all the rocks and threw them in a sinkhole several [hundred?] feet deep. The rocks all came flyin' back out." One version of the story claimed "dog irons would come out of the fireplace and race around the room." Reportedly, an uncle came to visit and two rocks hit him in the arm and head, after this he quickly departed. Finally, the guns were returned to their original location and all the problems ceased.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I once visited there, back in the 90's, with a group. We had taken a group of kids camping on the river. We decided to visit the park about midnight. It must have been over a 100 degrees and there was heat lightening in the sky. The boys went in one car, and the girls in another. The man driving the boys got spooked and said he wanted to leave, and they all got in their car, which was parked behind mine. In the excitement, the girls were rushing to get in ours on the right side and one of the girls elbowed her little sister in the eye. The little girl let out a scream that would curdle milk. I ran from the driver's side over to check on her. I no more got there, when the driver's side of my girl was pelted with rocks. No one was over there to have thrown rocks in that direction. The boys were all in their car, the girls all on the other side. We jumped in the car and left. The next day upon inspection, my driver's side paint was chipped from front to back. I haven't been back.
The man driving the other car was very upset and would hardly talk about what had spooked him. Only stated that he saw something cloudy in the field. There was no fog anywhere.