PAX, W.Va. — Tales of roadside ghosts make up many of West Virginia’s most famous ghost stories, according to the editor of the Mountain State’s popular paranormal website. Ghosts of West Virginia.
Jonathan Moore has been publishing first-hand accounts of the supernatural submitted by visitors to the website since 1999. According to him, four of the ten most popular stories on the website involve roadside ghosts.
He says interest in haunted stories in West Virginia has grown since the website launched, and the Mountain State has since become a national leader in ghost stories, possibly due to increased tourism there.
“Talk of hauntings in West Virginia started to increase around 2004,” Moore said. “Before that time, people talked about hauntings, but their discussions remained under the radar. Television brought talk of ghosts into the mainstream, and soon West Virginia was regularly in the news.”
More than 1,500 users visit WVGhosts daily, contributing to the growing compendium of nearly 500 stories about ghosts and other paranormal phenomena.
Moore said he expects interest in the paranormal to increase in West Virginia, largely due to normal market trends, including increased interest in the state because of its accessibility and a yearning for stories of home among displaced West Virginians.
“I think interest will grow as people in the eastern United States discover us. Interest in West Virginia as a whole seems to be growing. Paranormal sites like the Moundsville prison and the Weston insane asylum are just the tip of the iceberg.”
Stories of street ghosts in West Virginia.
Here are five of the most popular roadside ghost stories from the West Virginia Ghosts collection. Haunted highways and roadside ghost stories refer to roads, trails, or highways that are the subject of folklore and urban legend, including rumors and reports of ghostly apparitions, ghostly figures, phantom hitchhikers, phantom vehicles, repeating or looping highways, or other paranormal phenomena.
Share your stories with WVGhosts.com
Have you had a supernatural encounter you’d like to share? WVGhosts.com offers a free forum where anyone can submit a story about their real-life encounter with the paranormal.
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