Tuesday, May 22, 2012

The Ghosts of Williams Hollow Road.

   For those of you that are regular readers of my blog, you will recall that I live in the country farmlands of Virginia. This area is littered with old hollows or "hollers" as locals call them. Many of them have frightful histories of murder, monsters, and ghosts stories. Williams Hollow Road is one such place.


   Our tale takes place during the late 1930's to early 1940's. Unfortunately most of the facts of this story have faded with time. I can't be sure of exact dates or names but only the heart of the legend itself.
    There was a family that had lived back on Williams Hollow for many years. They were reclusive people that did not get out and around the other township often. This was due mostly in part to the couples only son.


   He was reported to be ," Monstrous in both his looks and his actions". The young boy was somehow hideously deformed and most likely shunned and shamed by his own family. Living way back in the hollow gave them some protection from outside ridicule.


   The town of Big Stone Gap known for it's iron and coal mining, and as such attracted many job seekers from the north. One such family had relocated to this area for just such a reason. This new family consisted of a hard working father who had ties to the railroad, a loving mother, and their beautiful daughter of age 6. They purchased a plot of land at the far end of Williams Hollow and started their new life.
   As it was, the "monster boy" was intrigued by this new family who set up housekeeping in his neck of the woods, especially the young daughter. He was fascinated and confused by this new family. Their actions, laughter, and love made him both eager to learn more, and angry that he had never had such a life. The more he watched this family from the darkness of the surrounding woods, the more he longed to be involved. On one such occasion, he found the little girl playing alone and approached her. She was frightened by his hideous appearance and screamed for her father. He ran the "monster boy" off with a few firm lashes from a hedge switch. This of course, did not set well with the mentally unstable boy.
   The "monster boy" kept watching the family and the little girl from the safety of the forest as his anger grew. One day he found the little girl walking alone down Williams Hollow Road. She may have been headed into town, to the general store near Cadet, or just down to the river to play. The only thing to be certain of was she was alone, and being followed by one very confused creature.


  The family never saw their daughter again. Her bloody clothes were located by the river at the end of the road where apparently the backwards boy had beaten and then drowned the poor child. As the story goes, the father of the little girl went into a rage, located the "monster boy" and beat him to death in the woods where he found him. 
    That would be the end of a very tragic tale if it were not for the multiple sightings of ghosts on the road to this very day. 
    Williams Hollow Road is a popular parking spot for teenagers looking to escape the watchful eyes of parents. Many have reported feeling something watching them from the trees. Others have even seen a small child like apparition walking down the hollow. The small ghost seems to almost be walking backwards as if the spirit feels the presence of something watching and following it down the road. This leads many people to believe that the spirit of the slain child is forever being stalked to the river by the cruel ghost of the deformed boy who killed her. Perhaps the feeling of being watched is the ghost of the "monster boy" looking into the cars with envy and a little anger at the normal people who invade his home? 


   I have had this story sitting on my computer for almost a year now. I had intended to post it closer to Halloween, but as fate would have it, I received an email from a local resident, Sarah Chandler, who stumbled upon my Blog while searching for this very legend. Sarah went on to recount an experience from one of her friends :

"My friend's sister's boyfriend walked in on us telling ghost stories one night and said, "Why tell stories when you can see the real thing". So we all loaded up in the car and headed to Williams Hollow Road. He drove us all the way up the dark road until it ended and then turned around. About a quarter of the way down he stopped and said to wait a few and look up the embankment. We waited about 15 mins and you could see this thing walking down the embankment. The closer it got the more it looked like a child. The child looked in the opposite direction the whole way down until it got beside the car. As soon as it did it looked over at us. I was so scared that I just kept hitting the car seat and screaming go go go....."
"A few weeks later I was telling a close friend of mine this story. He said that his dad told him that when he was younger he would go there parking and it felt as if someone was watching him..."

   Thank you Sarah for sharing with us. So, is Williams Hollow Road truly haunted? There is only one sure way to find out. Just head down to Williams Hollow at night, park your car, and keep your eyes open. You never know what you might find.....or.......what might find you!

9 comments:

  1. *shiver* Oh, I love a good ghost story, I do! This was a great one!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you very much. I really have to dig down and get all the stories of this area out there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I didn't believe in ghosts or paranormal activity until I had several encounters myself.Keep in mind,I am only 11.I woke up to a tall,slender,black figure standing in my living room.I got the chills and couldn't sleep for the rest of night.Now,I have the feeling that I am destined to become a detective.That is why how I came upon this website and wonderful and thrilling story.Thank you for sharing this story with us.

      Delete
  3. I have lived a few miles down from this road for 25 years. I have a great aunt and Uncle that love at the beginning of the holler. My cousin actually lived down from the house, back near threes end of the holler for a little while. I am actually engaged to be married to the nephew of the people who owned the farm back there. The wife just recently died this year, and her husband died a few years back. My boyfriend's grandmother died just last month. She was 91. The whole family seems to live almost 100 years before death. The names are not lost. I'm not really sure why they would be considering the same generation from the time.of your story was the same generation that just recently died. My boyfriend grew up in that holler. As boys, him and his friends were real close to the old ma, and a few years back, he stood by the man's side till he passed. He called my boyfriend hoss. He talks about him all the time, and how he was such a good man. He talks about a rock his uncle would sit on and while the boys were out in the field. The rock is very significant to my boyfriend for some reason. His uncle used to tell them all sorts of stories. There is one particular story that my boyfriend trod nee from time to time about his dad and uncle and someone else, i can't remember who, were waking an old trail to work. The worked in tbd coal mines. In the way, they came up on a man in Tbs middle of the road. They spoke to him. I'll have to ask Chris about what they said. But, the man turned around and walked straight down into the ground. It scared them something awful, and it caused them to be late for work. When they got there, there had been an accident in the mines and a bunch of men were killed. Turns out, if they hadn't seen that, they would have been in the mines and killed too. I've heard some others. Besides Chris, they never told anyone about that day nor talked about it with each other. It scared them to the point that they put it behind them to forget. Chris has told me a few others too. I've lived here all my lids and had never heard anyone else say anything about tis holler till i ran across your page tonight. My mom grew up in keokee and my dad in exeter. They have told me a few. My dad told NW one that he's never told anyone else and will never tell me again. He worked in the mines for 22 years, then retired as big stone's police chief. He's seen some interesting things.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would really like to hear some more of these stories!

      Delete
    2. I live up that hollow my name is jaylen maddox were going to park there and sit tonight

      Delete
    3. I really need to get with you on some other local stories... sounds like you have some great ones!

      Delete
  4. So as i said i went,me and mom and dog! I got scared and so did mom.So we were there w windows down car off,so a little girl walked by and said,and i quote.did you see him? Mom wwent what ssweetie then she looked into the woods and kept going down the road.so we both looked into woods and saw a kid,standing there.deformed in the face,and he screamed.went down the road the way the girl went,and we heard a scream.then later abt 20 mins that smae boy walked up the road and disapeered.but i live here and im scared,in the hollow.you know how usually adults think its fake.well my mom was shacking w tears and tryed to hide it.her words are "ill never leave this house at night,again".p.s my dog was barking like crazy.jaylen maddox

    ReplyDelete
  5. I believe this story. I use to live there at 1480 Williams Hollow Road with my mom and 2 of my brothers. Its the red and white house at the top of the hill up the gravel road next to the cow pasture, although when I lived there they had the horses thers. We all was vdry uneasy about going out at night and would not even attempt to leave the front yard or house at night unless in a vehicle. We had a friend come visit one night unexpectedly and had no clue until some unsettling news came our way. He had been hospitalized because he was found part way up Williams Hollow near the woods beaten. When we got the story from him that night at the hospital, he told us that he did not know who jumped him that all he could see was a dark shadowy figure but he was jumped from behind. The same night we went back home and I was doing laundry out on the back porch. I decided to walk out to the back yard but never strayed from the back door. I would not go anymore than a few feet from the door because I kept feeling like someone was watching but never seen anyone. When I turned to walk back into the laundry room A rock was flung at my head and left a pretty good not. I turned quickly cussing in the direction the rock came from only to fond nobody was there...Once again...Then before I had a chance to do anything else here came a bunch more rocks flying at me. Then I stormed in the house freaking out and ran to my mother explaining what had happened and her being the way she is went checking to see if someone was out there hiding that I was unaware of, only to find nothing and she was shocked. After that I was told to stay inside the house after dark and to only do laundry before then because the fact that it is just a screened in back porch. By the way, my name is Yvonne. At the time I lived there it was me, my mother Carla, my brother John, my brother Brandon and my Mom's husband Toni.

    ReplyDelete

Do you have wicked words of wisdom? Then please leave a comment.