Cover Photo: Cover of Forward magazine published by Davis & Elkins College courtesy of the Booth Library Special Collections & Archives.
D&E Student Blog: This blog post was written by a D&E student, Eloise “Frenchie” Hutton, in the ENGL 326: Writing for the Community course as a collaboration with Augusta.
When I came to Davis & Elkins College back in 2021, I never truly realized how much history a campus has until I witnessed it in person. More particularly, when I saw Halliehurst Mansion in person it made me realize even more how rich in history the college and the City of Elkins are. I have a niche interest in paranormal activity—ghosts and everything that fits that category—so when I first heard about the ghost of Halliehurst I went into a deep rabbit hole on the internet trying to find more explanation on the subject. While some ghost stories may seem less than plausible, such tales help form communities and connections, recording an important part of our history.
I quickly found out the Halliehurst Mansion is a Victorian-style building, first built in the 1890s by Stephen B. Elkins. Halliehurst and her sister mansion, Graceland, are both a part of the Register of National Historic Places. The house was named after his wife, Hallie Davis Elkins, who was also the daughter, wife, and mother of other US Senators. The mansion was the first building on the relocated Davis & Elkins College, and it now houses most of the administration offices for the school. Even though I had heard people numerous stories about the ghost of Halliehurst, the internet did not have much information about the topic. I decided to go around campus asking staff and faculty if they had any stories. That’s when I got access to the archive in the Booth Library and read an old Forward magazine edition from the winter of 1979.
The magazine has a very distinctive front cover—a ghostly picture taken in the main stairs case of Halliehurst—with text saying, “Ghostly Tales, see page 5.” Naturally, I went flipping through the pages for the story, started reading it, and was captivated. The “Ghostly Tales” story is about three students wanting to go to Halliehurst at night to take eerie pictures but ending with a paranormal encounter with the ghost of Hallie. One of the students even reported getting pushed down the steps when no one was physically behind him. Presumably, some spirit wanted to make contact with them.
The fact that this is in a published article was so unnerving to me. There are generations of testimonies and stories of students, staff, or faculty having had paranormal events happen to them. The Forward paper was the only published ghost related story I could find within the archives of the campus library, but after talking to our lovely librarian Mary Jo DeJoice, she told me I should talk to Scott Goddard about the spirit of Hallie. I did what every student does: I sent an email, a shot in the dark, hoping he would have some stories for me. Which he did. He told me about an anecdote from 2008, when Chris Fleming came on campus for a lecture and a ghost tour. They went down to the basement after hours because Chris had a feeling he needed more time down there. After Chris set up equipment, Scott Goddard said, “I distinctly remember hearing a voice respond to Chris’s call, saying, ‘I’m here,’ loud and clear.”
Just imagining myself in their shoes is terrifying. Hearing clear voices talking within the halls of Halliehurst is nothing short of disturbing. But this story made me want to do more research on what type of spirit or ghost Hallie might be. I quickly found out she would be call a so-called “nice” ghost based on the few testimonies I read. For example, these encounters usually record how “you’ll feel a hand pull you back saving you from falling down the stairs” or “you’ll hear some kids laughter up and down the hallways.” These are not malevelent ghosts but strange, unexplained encounters that usually leave people unharmed. In many cases, these encounters might impel you to see details in a new light. For example, while I knew the mansion was a big part of the history of Davis & Elkins College, it wasn’t until I learned about the ghost stoies that I realized that one of the paintings near the cafateria on campus contains an image of Hallie. It looks like a seeminly regular painting of the mansion, but if you look more closely you will that in one of the top-left windows, there is a little girl painted. Few people might notice details like this, but ghost stories can often cast a new light on history or art in this way.
When I contacted Scott Goddard initially, he also put me in contact with Wendy Morgan so she could share her stories about Hallie (which I am very thankful she did). Her story happened about 15 years ago, when one of the women working in dining services told her about an encounter. The woman had been asked deliver food inside of Halliehurst, and she took her young son with her. She had asked her son if he wanted to come inside but he replied, “I’m not going in there as long as that man is at the window.” The window he was referring too was Wendy’s office, but upon checking the window from the outside of the building, no one was standing in it. Nevertheless, the young boy was adamant a man was there and refused to come in.
I have always believed that children and animals can sometimes see things that grown ups cannot, and maybe this story is proof of that. Even though there might not be that much information online about the spiritual presences on the grounds of Davis & Elkins College, I believe every bit of information I have either researched, found, or was told. When you have a campus as old as the one at D&E, there is bound to be some weird stuff happening within the walls.
D&E Student Bio: Eloise “Frenchie” Hutton is French-born and raised in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (near Newfoundland, Canada). She is a senior student-athlete at Davis & Elkins College, majoring in Sport Management with a minor in Communication. Splitting her time between her studies and the tennis team, she still finds time to take pictures of the sports teams.