West Virginia!

Strange Laws in West Virginia

• In West Virginia only babies can ride in a baby carriage.
• One can’t cook sauerkraut or cabbage due to the odors and the offence is subject to imprisonment.
• Any person who commits adultery shall be fined at least twenty dollars.
• It is illegal to snooze on a train.
• A person may not hold public office if he or she has ever participated in a duel.
• Road kill may be taken home for supper.
• Whistling under water is prohibited.
• It is legal to beat your wife, as long as its done in public on Sunday and on the courthouse steps.

Interesting Facts and Demographics

• On July 1, 1921, West Virginia was the first state to have a sales tax.
• The longest block in the world is the 1500 block of Virginia Street.
• The first brick street in the world was laid in Charleston, WV on October 23, 1870, on Summers Street.
• West Virginia is one of the nation's leading producers of bituminous coal and is also noted for the manufacture of fine glass.
• Adena burial mounds are the largest example of the distinctive constructions created by Native American mound builders.
• Nearly 80% of West Virginia is covered with forests.
• Mother's Day was first observed at Andrews Church in Grafton, WV on May 10, 1908.
• Statehood: June, 20, 1863 the 35th state.
• Highest Point: Spruce Knob, 1482m (4861 ft)
• Population Density in 2000: 75 people per square mile.

Hank Williams, a West Virginia Urban Legend?

Hank Williams, was born on September 1923, is said to have died in Oak Hill, West Virginia in 1953. Hank was scheduled to fly out of Knoxville, Tennessee but the weather had taken a turn for the worse. Mr. Williams hired Charles Carr, a 19 year old college freshman, to drive him to Ohio in his new Cadillac. Before they left Tennessee, Williams was injected with two shots of vitamin B12 and morphine by a hotel doctor; Williams had reawakened a back problem and wanted it for the ride to Ohio. Hank had gotten in the back of the Cadillac with a bottle of whiskey. Here’s where it gets a little tricky; there are various versions of how, when and where Hank Williams died, here are two of them. The first is that Charles Carr was pulled over for speeding and the police noticed that Williams looked like a dead man. Hank was taken to a hospital in West Virginia where he was pronounced dead at 7:00 a.m. on January 1, 1953. The second was that Charles Carr had been driving for nearly 24 hours, stopped to get gas. When he turned around he noticed that the coat covering Hank had fallen and pulled it up. Noticing that his hands were cold he pulled the car in Burdette’s Pure Oil Station and told the men working there that he had a problem. The directed him to the Oak Hill Emergency Room where Hank Williams was pronounced dead at 7:00 a.m. on January 1, 1953. The Autopsy report noted needle marks in his arm, various bruises and hemorrhages in his heart and neck. With so many versions floating around, where exactly and how did Hank Williams die?

The Mothman Prophecies

This story began with a strange being sighted in the area of Point Pleasant, West Virginia from November 15, 1966 to December 15, 1967. This being was described as being part human, over 7 feet tall with large wings and red glowing eyes. No one ever died from this creature, but there was talk of it eating a dog. The Mothman tried to make contact with people while they were in their cars or through windows in their houses. With the Mothman (who got it’s name from an editor) only being sighted for a year, was it really a strange being or was it something else.

The Sandstone Ghost Light

Sandstone, a town where the Laurel Creek empties into the New River, has its own ghost legend. If you sit along the New River and listen to the sounds of the wind blowing through the trees and campers making their ways to and from the tents, you might think those are relaxing sounds in the night. But at Sandstone things are different. Sounds on the river at night are told to be a ghost light and a Union supporter making his way across. During the Civil War Samuel Richmond ran a ferry service back and forth on the New River. During one of these famed trips Samuel was shot by a Confederate supporter and paddled back to his home before he died. People today say that you can still see and hear him head across the water to pick up travelers on the other side.

Don’t forget about the famous or infamous Hatfield’s and McCoy’s. There are stories galore when asking about them in WV and Kentucky. This feud between the two families lasted from 1878 to 1891.