2008 Woodie Awards
Huntington's haunted side
HEATHER BERRY
Issue date: 11/11/05 Section: Life!
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It is said on some evenings, the ghost of a woman can be seen on Fifth Street hill in Huntington. The woman was the victim of a bad car accident in that area.
"The story has it that she had just been married and was on route from Wayne back to Huntington with her new husband and her parents," Dr. Ron Enders, adjunct in anthropology for the Teays Valley branch, said. "They were riding in a taxicab, which had a horrific accident on the Fifth Street bridge. The bride was the only one killed."
Some believe the spirit of the woman now walks the area trying to find a way home.
"It is reported that she haunts the hill above the bridge waiting for a taxi driver to pick her up," Enders said. "She goes as far as the bridge then simply vanishes."
But why does the spirit haunt Fifth Street hill?
"She likes to prowl the bridge on misty evenings waiting for the chance to be reunited with her family, or perhaps to tell a story about the accident that we otherwise will never know," Enders said.
Enders, originally from Connecticut, has expertise in the field of shamanism and the anthropology of religion.
"[Shamanism] is a form of religion found in less complex cultures, tribes and bands," Enders said. "Shamans undergo trance and other rituals to serve and protect their people from natural disasters and disease."
Enders has spent time investigating the paranormal.
"My work with the paranormal spans many years focused mostly in New York State and New England," Enders said. There, he investigated haunted houses and haunted towns.
"[I] had a nasty experience with a poltergeist in New York State," Enders said. "I was flung across a room. Most haunting[s] are very tame, but some can be perilous."
As the professor of a folklore class offered at the Teays Valley branch, he decided to use urban legends as a theme for a semester. A group of 13 people known as the Marshall Paranormal Hunters, or MPH, decided to go investigate the Fifth Street hill that they had learned about. They took cameras, tape recorders, and heat sensing equipment on the investigation.
"The story has it that she had just been married and was on route from Wayne back to Huntington with her new husband and her parents," Dr. Ron Enders, adjunct in anthropology for the Teays Valley branch, said. "They were riding in a taxicab, which had a horrific accident on the Fifth Street bridge. The bride was the only one killed."
Some believe the spirit of the woman now walks the area trying to find a way home.
"It is reported that she haunts the hill above the bridge waiting for a taxi driver to pick her up," Enders said. "She goes as far as the bridge then simply vanishes."
But why does the spirit haunt Fifth Street hill?
"She likes to prowl the bridge on misty evenings waiting for the chance to be reunited with her family, or perhaps to tell a story about the accident that we otherwise will never know," Enders said.
Enders, originally from Connecticut, has expertise in the field of shamanism and the anthropology of religion.
"[Shamanism] is a form of religion found in less complex cultures, tribes and bands," Enders said. "Shamans undergo trance and other rituals to serve and protect their people from natural disasters and disease."
Enders has spent time investigating the paranormal.
"My work with the paranormal spans many years focused mostly in New York State and New England," Enders said. There, he investigated haunted houses and haunted towns.
"[I] had a nasty experience with a poltergeist in New York State," Enders said. "I was flung across a room. Most haunting[s] are very tame, but some can be perilous."
As the professor of a folklore class offered at the Teays Valley branch, he decided to use urban legends as a theme for a semester. A group of 13 people known as the Marshall Paranormal Hunters, or MPH, decided to go investigate the Fifth Street hill that they had learned about. They took cameras, tape recorders, and heat sensing equipment on the investigation.