(Publisher’s Note: This article is fictional.)
“Sudden” and “completely unexpected” is how Ohio County Sheriff Howard Thomas described the moment when the female apparition abruptly vanished from the back seat of his cruiser.
Thomas said the disappearance took place when he and the spirit were returning to the sheriff’s office in downtown Wheeling following a second ride-along. This time Thomas took the “lost soul” through both Greenwood and Mount Calvary cemeteries along National Road in Wheeling. The poltergeist reportedly circled an area on a map that included the east and westbound lanes of Interstate 70.
“The years on the grave markers pretty much span the entire life of the city and the county, so I thought there was a good chance she had been interred there following her death,” the sheriff explained. “I drove her along every road in both of the cemeteries and again, there wasn’t a reaction at all.
“But then, on the way back to the office, it happened,” Thomas said. “After we went through Mount Calvary, I took the right onto National Road and then got on Interstate 70 at the Park View entrance. As we were approaching the exit (1B) for (W.Va.) Route 2, she dissolved through the ceiling and was just gone.”
The History
Once he arrived at his office along 16th Street, Thomas contacted local historian Jane Finsley and explained what happened, and that is when Sheriff Thomas concluded that the poltergeist must have been buried in the Peninsula Cemetery before the construction of I-70 in the 1960s.
The interstate actually split the burial grounds in 1964, and more than 100 graves were removed and moved to either Greenwood or the County Farm cemeteries. Before the excavation, Peninsula extended 22 acres, had more than 1,700 graves, and was one of the largest cemeteries in the state of West Virginia.
“According to the records, there were 46 men and 54 women whose graves were removed and moved,” Thomas said. “So, what we have concluded is that she was a patient at the hospital and passed away there, and then was buried by her family in the Peninsula Cemetery. Our investigators will continue combing through the records to see if we can identify who she was.
“Initially, we believed the spirit circled the area of the map because of direction, but we know now that’s not what she meant to tell us. Of course, there’s a lot that we would like to know that we may never know,” he continued. “I would love to know how long her soul was trapped in the hospital. Did it take place when her grave was removed? Or was her soul there from the moment she passed away? If that’s the case, why did she make contact with us now and not before?”
Future Demolition?
Thomas said he plans to further secure the former medical facility at Roney’s Point to prevent trespassing in the future. The majority of the windows of the building have been broken by vandals since its closure in 1972.
Thomas added that he will have a conversation with the three Ohio County commissioners about demolishing the structure in the future. Last Saturday, Sheriff Thomas and three deputies responded to calls made to the Ohio County 911 Center that reported screaming coming from inside the hospital. Upon their arrival, screaming was not heard, by law enforcement did observed a light from the interior.
“The building itself may be solid, but the interior has significantly decayed over the past 50 years, so bringing it down may be the best move,” he said. “There is a small neighborhood up there, too, and those residents likely would appreciate it coming down so trespassers would no longer have a reason to venture up there.
“As I have said before, I wasn’t much of a believer in ghosts and things like that, but I definitely am now. It’s been a strange week; that’s for sure, but I am glad that we managed to find the poltergeist’s home,” he added. “Sure, it was by accident, but let’s just hope her soul has finally found her final resting place.”
