West Virginia folklore

West Virginia has a rich tradition of folklore – including folktales, legends, and superstitions – resulting from the diverse ethnicities, religions, languages, and culture of migrants who moved there in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

This article summarizes selected examples of folktales, legends, superstitions, and reported cryptids associated with West Virginia, with emphasis on material documented in published collections and historical sources.^[1]

As the mining and railroad industries in West Virginia grew from the mid-1800s through the early 1900s, the demand for workers also increased.

West Virginia became a magnet for immigrants of diverse backgrounds. One group that began to flock to the state was natives of Asturias, Spain,^[2] a mountainous region in northwestern Spain where many were employed by the zinc and coal mining industries. This principality was already geographically similar to Appalachia, and when two zinc plants opened in Harrison County (north central WV), Spanish laborers began to flock to the area. A small company town called Spelter was established in 1910, and just 10 years later, over a thousand Spanish immigrants inhabited it. This accounted for approximately two thirds of the state’s net Spanish population.

During this time, West Virginia also attracted migrants from Italy, Scandinavia, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Hungary, and the Levant region of the Middle East.^[3] A large Polish community established itself in Wheeling,^[4] while many Levantine immigrants flocked to more southern areas near Charleston, WV.^[5]

In just a few decades, West Virginia became a melting pot for all sorts of ethnicities, religions, languages, and cultures. Included in these cultures were superstitions and tales of witchcraft and magic. Although many immigrant families have assimilated into American culture over the several generations that have passed since, West Virginia still maintains a rich culture of folklore and mystery today.^[6]

West Virginia folktales have often been preserved through oral tradition and later documented in printed collections and academic work on Appalachian folklore.^[7][8]

Many variations of a child-eating creature known as "Rawhead," "Bloody Bones," or a combination of the two have existed in North American folktales for centuries.^[9] The creature names "raw-head and bloody-bones" appear in print as early as 1693 in John Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning Education, in a passage discussing frightening children with bogeyman figures.^[10][11] It is commonly described as originating in Great Britain,^[12] with later circulation in the United States. Some versions of the legend depict Bloody Bones as a water demon that haunted lakes and rivers,^[12][13] a motif often interpreted as a cautionary warning to keep children away from dangerous water. Another version describes Bloody Bones as an evil spirit associated with violence and carnage. In a form associated with Appalachian storytelling, Bloody Bones is described as inhabiting the space beneath household stairs and preying on disobedient children.^[12] A tale of a child's encounter with Bloody Bones was recorded by Ninevah Jackson Willis, who compiled folklore and related traditions from the Appalachian region. In Willis's account, a young girl repeatedly calls for someone to come play with her while her parents are away, and a small voice replies that it will come soon. After several calls, the voice says it is coming, and a depiction of Rawhead appears by rolling down the stairs. Rawhead and the girl then exchange a series of interactions resembling the structure of Little Red Riding Hood, including the line that Rawhead's teeth are "to eat [her] up with." The account ends with the girl's parents returning to find her remains, a pile of bloody bones.^[8]

Known by many names and adaptations, such as "The Hairy Toe" or "The Skinny Toe", "Where's My Big Toe?" is a story that has circulated in American folktales for years.^[14] A widely known modern adaptation is titled "The Big Toe" and was included in the first volume of Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, first published in 1981.^[15] In Schwartz's version, a boy finds a toe while digging in his garden, brings it inside, and his family cooks and eats it in a soup. That night, a rasping voice repeatedly asks where its toe has gone. As the voice seems to come closer and closer, the teller typically pauses and then shouts "you've got it!" while lunging toward the audience.^[16] In an older Appalachian version recorded by Willis, an old woman discovers the toe while gardening and tosses it over a fence, rather than bringing it inside for dinner. The story otherwise follows a similar pattern: as she lies down to sleep, she hears a menacing voice asking for its toe, which seems to draw nearer, ending with the same kind of pause-and-startle delivery by the storyteller.^[8]

The “Angel of Mercy” is a folktale told to show that deceased loved ones watch over and take care of their living descendants.^[8]

It was a cold winter, the roads were covered in snow over 2 feet deep. One neighbor's wife had died, but the only way to get a coffin for her was to walk through the impassible roads to town and bring one back by yoked oxen. The family had placed their wife’s and mother's corpse in the snow and set out to town with the neighbors to get her a coffin. Once they got the coffin and were heading back towards their houses, it had gotten too cold to maintain their speed. Both the people and the oxen had slowed down so much that they had thought that they were not going to make it back to the house that night. Then a light began to come towards them. A woman held the light and, without speaking, led them back to the house. When they arrived at the house, in the reflection of the glass, someone saw the woman’s face and recognized her as the woman who had passed. Later, the family went back to where the corpse had been laid in the snow. Surely enough, her body was still there, dead as ever.^[8]

In the 19th and 20th century, it was standard to start stories by saying "once upon a time." But if you wanted to get an audience's attention, you started with "one time" as it meant that it was not just published, but it was rather seen by someone's own two eyes.^[8] For example:

One time there was a mother, old and crazy, who did not want her baby anymore. She decided to take her child behind an old barn, held it by its heels and bashed its brains onto a rock. It is said that if you go out there after midnight, you will hear the poor baby cry, and you can see the indent on the rock where it was murdered.^[8]

The story was told this way to get the audience to have the reaction of trying to hear the poor little baby crying, and to give them shivers.^[8] These "one time" stories are to cultivate the reader's attention and to have them searching by the end for something to come to life from the story. They are to make the audience believe that the story is not a fiction one written for books, but that it is true, and the tale is being passed down generations.^[8]

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Irish and Scotch-Irish migrants remained a major cultural influence in West Virginia, while immigrant communities from other parts of Europe, including Italians, also established themselves in the state during the same broad era.^[17][18] One belief motif associated with Italian folk tradition and discussed in West Virginia collecting is the evil eye.^[19] In general terms, the evil eye is a harmful influence believed to be transmitted by a hostile or envious look, a belief found in many cultures and periods.^[20]

An evil eye is a type of spell or curse that can be cast intentionally or unintentionally, often attributed to jealousy within a community. When afflicted with the evil eye, one can suffer from migraines or become otherwise ill. Generally, the only way to cure an evil eye is for the person who cast it to confess and apologize. However, there are rare instances where a third party can provide a successful cure through a series of prayers and rituals, often involving olive oil. Olive oil is not only important to this legend as a potential cure. Another ritual involving olive oil is said to be able to reveal who cast the spell. This is convenient considering that, since evil eyes can be cast through jealous thoughts, the offender may not know they are responsible.^[19]

One reported story of the occurrence of an evil eye curse in West Virginia is a tale folklorist Ruth Ann Musick records as "The Beautiful Hair." In this story, a girl who has long and beautiful hair is envied by her friend. The friend asked if she could trim the girl's hair, and with persistence after an initial no, she was finally allowed to perform the task. Afterwards, the girl's friend kept the trimmings and she soon began to experience painful headaches. The girl and her family were baffled as no doctor or cure seemed to alleviate her pain. One day, the girl told her mother about the haircut. Upon hearing that the girl's friend had kept the trimmings, her mother suspected that her daughter was afflicted with the evil eye. The next day, the mother paid a visit to the friend's home, where she found a pot of boiling water on the stove containing her daughter's hair. The mother threw out the water and took the hair back from the pot. From that day on, her daughter never experienced a migraine again.^[19]

Stories of the devil are popular in West Virginian folklore. Because the state’s folk tradition reflects many backgrounds and settings, the devil appears in multiple roles and forms in regional legendry. Some stories are told with him as a dapper young man, more utilize the classic tail-and-horns image, and others take a different approach all together. It's important to note that the devil sometimes serves a different role in these legends. Traditionally, the devil is known as a tempter and the master of all evil. While this is certainly a relevant narrative in West Virginian folklore, the devil can alternatively be depicted as an omen. This can be seen in the Legend of the White Raven Inn.^[19]

This story takes place in a small roadhouse near Keyser, WV during the 1950s. It's said that a crowd of about 30 patrons was enjoying their evening drinking and dancing. The party was quite "disorderly"^[19] as all in attendance were heavily intoxicated. According to eyewitness accounts, the devil allegedly came through the floor. He flew around the room for several moments, sparks flying as his tail hit one of the walls. Other than that, he said and did nothing, disappearing back through the floor just a few moments later. As the legend goes, every patron began attending church after this experience. They remained believers in God for the rest of their lives.^[19]

In another story, a man was deathly sick with typhoid fever. As the illness progressed, he began to shout about terrible things he claimed to see. His primary concern was the black dog that he claimed was under the bed. The neighbors who were taking caring of him attributed this to his delirious state of mind, as the man did not own a dog. However, as he became more persistent, his caretakers finally looked under the bed. To their disbelief, a massive creature resembling a dog was in fact under the bed, taking up its full length. The man screamed that they must remove the dog. His neighbors did everything they could to get rid of the dog, first attempting to lure it out, then by physically attacking it. Nothing they did worked. Eerily enough, the dog not only didn't move, but never even made a sound. Meanwhile, the man continued to scream and writhe in pain. This was distressing to the neighbors, so they decided to step outside for a while. When they came back, the man was dead and the dog was gone.

Another way the devil has been depicted in legends is as an almost ordinary man. In a story native to Wetzel County of northern WV, a girl is confronted by a young man who prompts her to sign a book in her own blood. The girl refused after glancing at the man's feet and seeing that they were cloven hooves, a telltale sign of the devil. In contrast, some legends perceive the devil as completely inhuman such (i.e. a ball of fire with glowing eyes). Such is the case in a tale passed down the generations from Ruth Ann Musick's great grandfather, who, as a teenager, skipped church one Sunday to go riding on his horse. After night fell, he passed through a cemetery, where he was confronted with this version of the devil. He was scared out of his mind, and vowed to never miss church again.^[19] This also serves as an example of how the devil can sometimes be depicted as an omen.

The practice of witchcraft, or suspicions of it, both malign and beneficial, was common in early West Virginia. Magic was an explanation for otherwise unexplainable phenomena. If a child fell ill and could not be treated by a doctor, sorcery was blamed. Alleged witch doctors traveled the region, lifting curses and defeating evil. One such doctor was known as Jesse Bayles. Bayles and his family settled in Northern West Virginia near the border of Pennsylvania. He considered himself an enemy to "all who practiced evil magic."^[21]

The art of witchcraft could be taught and passed through generations. Jesse Bayle taught what he knew to his son Aden, but Aden did not pass the knowledge on to any of his children. Another example of magic being taught occurred in Monongah, a small mining town located in Marion County, WV. A reclusive Hungarian woman was supposed to be a witch by her neighbors due to her fixation on dolls and old Hungarian superstitions. One day, a curious little girl asked if the woman could teach her to cast spells. The old lady put the girl through various tests, then told her to return in a couple of days. When the girl came back, she found the woman lying dead. Next to her was a doll with a pin through its heart. This seems to allude to voodoo, which was not a common form of magic practiced in the region. As for the little girl, it's said that she acquired magical powers which she kept for the rest of her life.^[19]

Besides causing harm to others or healing, those who practiced magic were sometimes said to be able to tell the fortunes of others. This was usually through the use of cards, and on some occasions, the bottom of a coffee mug was utilized as well. One such account was published in the Goldenseal Magazine in 1995 by the daughter of one whose fortune was told. The woman's mother was named Margaret Rogers. Margaret's great aunt Adeline (also known as Ad) was described as "proficient in the ways of mountain life." One night, she told the fortunes of a couple of her nieces. When she made it to Margaret, it's said that she became unusually serious in her tone. She proceeded to predict very specific details of Margaret's future, including a description of her future husband, house, and financial situation.^[22] All of these predictions later came true.

However convincing tales of Appalachian witchcraft may appear, it's more likely that these witches were just ordinary men and women who had learned to utilize their strange appearance or eccentric personality as a means of financial gain.^[23]

Lovers Leap is a story similar to Romeo and Juliet. It is about a young Indian of the Cherokee tribe who was out on his first hunt after becoming a man. He went out to a valley with the rest of the men from his tribe. They all split up during the day and the new man travelled further from the camp than he should have. While away, he saw a young girl on the ridge above him. The young girl was of the Shawnee tribe. They saw each other every day while on the hunt. Finally the young man desired to hunt a deer more than anything, but apparently Cupid drew his bow faster and the struck the young Cherokee man. The young Cherokee and Shawnee fell in love and spent much time together that season. One day, the father of the girl caught them and began to drag his daughter away. He told her he could never see someone of the Cherokee tribe, but instead of parting ways, the young Shawnee girl ran to her lover and leaped into his arms. Together, they jumped off the precipice and met their premature demise in the jagged bottom. To this day, that precipice is still called Lovers Leap.^[8]

This legend comes from the Scottish-Irish settlers of West Virginia. It tells of a sick young boy with only one possible cure: an herb grown by a nearby swamp. The boy's father set out to go look for the herb to save his son. As he searched the swamp grounds, he felt that he was not alone. He felt that as he walked faster, it followed faster. When he walked slower, it followed slower. Eventually, the father felt as though the presence were so close that it was breathing down his neck. He looked up and was shocked to see a headless figure. Perhaps even more shocking was that the figure perfectly resembled that of his great grandfather's. The apparent ghost seemed to want to help, even take the lead in the search for the herb. After it led the father to the middle of the swamp, he was shocked to find the exact herb he had been searching for. He dug up the herb and the ghostly figure led him home. The father arrived home just in time to save his son.^[8]

The prevalence of superstition in West Virginia has often been discussed in relation to settlement patterns and cultural traditions associated with Irish and Scotch-Irish communities in the region.^[24][25] Beliefs in supernatural beings, including fairies and related motifs, are also widely attested in Celtic and Irish folklore, and scholars have often treated later vernacular “signs,” household omens, and protective practices as part of that broader folk-belief landscape.^[26][27] Some examples of persisting superstitions are listed as follows, including folk remedies, protective charms, courtship-divination practices, and omens associated with death and misfortune.^[28][22]

• If one swallows a live minnow backwards, they will be less susceptible to the whooping cough.^[28]
• To keep witches away and harbor good luck, one is to keep a buckeye in their pocket.^[28]
• For a sharper shot, one should tie a hair from their left armpit to a groove they carve in a bullet.^[28]
• To break a bewitchment, shoot a picture of the witch with a silver bullet.^[28]
• If the hem of one's dress is turned up, they can make a wish by kissing it and turning it back down.^[28][22]
• To prevent a dog from running away, take hair from its tail and bury it under the front door step.^[28]
• Count 10 stars for 10 nights in a row to dream of the person one will marry.^[28]
• A dog that rolls on its back means that someone will die before the sun sets.^[28]
• If one opens an umbrella indoors, someone will die. The one who opened it will die if they put it over their head.^[28]
• To cross a black cat is bad luck.^[28]
• A bird that flies into a house foretells the death of someone in the household.^[28]
• Moths are deceased loved ones coming back to visit.^[28]
• A chill up the spine means that someone has walked over the ground that one will be buried in.^[28]
• Sweeping a floor at night, especially through a doorway, brings bad luck.^[22]
• To rock an empty rocking chair is bad luck.^[22]
• If a rag is dropped on the floor, it foretells the visitation of someone unclean.^[22]
• A young woman can discover who she will marry by eating a thimble full of salt then walking backwards without speaking.^[22]

Many superstitions focused on the curing of certain ailments or spotting omens of death. Folk medicine through superstition is largely obsolete in the modern era, but the myths remain strong. Like other forms of legends and folklore, superstitions are often passed down through oral storytelling. Through the 1950s, this storytelling could stem from the mouths of town elders or "solid citizens".^[28] Presently, these beliefs are largely passed down intergenerationally by older family members such as grandparents.

Folklore in West Virginia has been documented through both informal community collecting and more formal efforts by scholars and cultural institutions, including early 20th-century folklore organizations and later archival and public humanities programs.^{[29][30][31][32]}

As early as the early 20th century, references to folklore collecting and public interest in folk narrative and song appear in regional newspapers. A 1916 edition of the Martinsburg Herald reported on the founding of the West Virginia Folklore Society.^[33] Another newspaper article published in the same year described a meeting of the West Virginia University Women's Club in which members asked the folklore society to assemble a collection of ghost stories to be shared at a club meeting.^[34] Later, local newspapers continued to advertise public events framed around regional traditions. In 1963, The Republican advertised a festival that would feature aspects of local folklore.^[35]

Many folktales and legends are still alive today, although many have been altered throughout the generations. The legend of “Lovers’ Leap” can be seen in modern popular culture in the form of a game with the same name. To play, children pick a partner and stay on different sides of a room while running around. When the person overseeing the game yells a command, the children have to run to find their partner and complete the command. Some of the commands include "titanic," "backpack," "3 in a row," but most importantly, "lovers leap." This game is used for leisure entertainment as well as sports conditioning.

Another folktale that has seeped through into mainstream society is "Where's My Big Toe?" This is largely due to its inclusion in the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series by Alvin Schwartz.^[36] Schwartz's series was adapted into a film with the same name in 2019, directed by André Øvredal.^[37] While many aspects of the original story as passed down in West Virginian folklore were changed by both Schwartz and Øvredal, its central elements remain.

Fifteen years before the first edition of the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series came out, Ruth Ann Musick published Telltale Lilac Bush, a compilation of folklore and ghost stories exclusively from West Virginia.^[38] The book was first published in 1965, and later printings remained available to readers in Appalachia.^[39] This publication was widely popular, both inside and outside of West Virginia.

In addition to folktale retellings, West Virginia’s folklore has also been reflected in modern tourism and media. Festivals and museums themed around local legends and cryptids have become recurring public events, including the annual Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant and attractions such as the Flatwoods Monster Museum in Sutton.^[40][41] Popular media has also drawn on the state’s folklore as subject matter, including the video game Fallout 76, which incorporates West Virginia locations and references to regional cryptid lore.^[42]

This list of West Virginia cryptids includes cryptids within the state.^[43] Some of the best-known figures have been described in reference works and regional collections, including the Flatwoods Monster, Mothman, and the Grafton monster.^[44][45][46]

• Appalachian folklore
• American folklore
• Folklore of the United States
• Ghost stories
• Urban legend
• Superstition
• Witchcraft
• Fairy
• Cryptid
• West Virginia
• Culture of West Virginia
• West Virginia Folklore Society
• List of West Virginia cryptids
• Mothman
• Flatwoods monster
• Grafton monster

• Milnes, Gerald (2014-07-11). Play of a Fiddle: Traditional Music, Dance, and Folklore in West Virginia. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-4767-3.
• Musick, Ruth Ann (1965-12-31). The Telltale Lilac Bush and Other West Virginia Ghost Tales. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813101361.
• Cox, John Harrington (1925). Folk-Songs of the South: Collected Under the Auspices of the West Virginia Folk-Lore Society. Harvard University Press.
• "WV Folklife Collection". West Virginia & Regional History Center (WVU Libraries). Retrieved February 10, 2026.
• Bayard, S. P. (1938). "Witchcraft Magic and Spirits on the Border of Pennsylvania and West Virginia". The Journal of American Folklore. 51 (199): 47–59. doi:10.2307/535943.
• Gonzalez, Suronda (1999). "Forging Their Place in Appalachia: Spanish Immigrants in Spelter, West Virginia". Journal of Appalachian Studies. 5 (2): 197–206. ISSN 1082-7161. JSTOR 41446913.

• West Virginia Folklife Program (West Virginia Humanities Council)
• WV Folklife Collection (WVU Libraries digital collection)
• Folklore at e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia (West Virginia Humanities Council)