Elk River Ghosts Tales & Lore
by Mack Samples

Pull up a chair and join Mack Samples as he recounts tales from along the Elk River. The Porter’s Creek Ghost tells the tale of an American Indian who purportedly drowned in one of his boats along the Elk, his splashing and struggles being detected by shy horses and locals for a century. In The Northern Lights, chuckle along with Samples as local Pentecostals who observed aurora borealis believed that the end was truly near, with the righteous rejoicing and the less-than-righteous beginning to panic. In The Mystery Buck, an enormous eight-point buck appears to torment hunters for more than 25 years, apparently impenetrable to bullets.

Many of the stories have been passed along for a century around campfires. Samples has painted a realistic portrait of life as it was several generations ago in WV. He credits his late aunt, Mayme Samples Cole, with many of the ghost stories, and remembers the cousins often being afraid to walk home after evenings at her house. His ninety-three year old mother, Velva Kennedy Samples, has refreshed his memory on many of the stories and filled in some critical facts.

Book can be ordered from West Virginia Book Company
wvbookco.chainreactionweb.com