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Lake Shawnee Amusement Park, Mercer County, West Virginia

4/13/2020

Abandoned amusement parks are spooky. Look at that picture. Now imagine being there at night, far from any city lights. If the image of the rusted rides, squeaking ominously in the wind, isn't enough to give you the heebie-jeebies, this place also holds Native American burial grounds and is the spot where two teenagers met a gruesome death. This is the Lake Shawnee amusement park in West Virginia.
The place does have a legitimate bloody history. In 1783, the property was owned by Mitchell Clay. In August of that year, a band of Shawnee attacked the homestead, killing two of Clay's teenage children, Bartley and Tabitha. A third child, Ezekiel, was abducted and was found burned at the stake in what is now Chillicothe, Ohio.[1]
Conley T. Snidow purchased this land and operated a park there beginning in 1926.[2] At first, the park consisted of a swimming pond and cabins, but eventually he expanded the amusements to include a ferris wheel and swings. The park was shut down in 1966, briefly revived under new owners in 1986, and finally closed permanently just three years later. These days, the owners make some money by opening it up around Halloween and allowing ghost hunting groups to investigate.[3] Oh yes, it is claimed the park is haunted.
With the history, it is not surprising. What is surprising is that none of the ghosts seem to be of dead Shawnee buried there or the spirits of the Clay children whose lives were taken so suddenly and violently. Instead, these are the ghosts of children killed during the hey-day of the amusement park.
Depending on which source you read (and there are many, many websites and blogs with articles on the hauntings at this park), two children drowned in either the lake or the "pond" swimming pool and, most famously, was the young girl killed in a freak accident. According to the lore, this girl was riding the swings (like the ride in the picture) when a delivery truck backed into her path and she slammed right into it.
It isn't at all surprising that there were drownings in the past. I was able to verify the deaths of two boys who drowned there, one in 1961 and another in 1966.[4] However, I have not been so lucky with verifying the story of the girl's tragic death. It is said that she died in 1966 and that it was her death that caused the park to close.[5] I browsed the death certificates for Mercer County in 1966. Nothing. I then scoured the newspapers for that year. Still nothing. Then I did a keyword search in the newspaper database from 1926 through 1966, including articles from other states. One would think the story of a young girl in a pink ruffled dress getting killed while riding a harmless amusement would make, if not headlines, at least filler material for newspapers all across the country.[6] I found nothing.
At this point, I have to call hijinks on that story. The park may well be haunted from any of the other numerous deaths that occurred there, but I doubt this girl is one of them.
I would love to be proven wrong. I do not live in West Virginia, in fact I live on the other side of the country, so perhaps there are sources that would confirm this accident I could not find online. If anyone can send me proof (not of a ghost, just of the girl's death) I will happily post a retraction.

[1]The story of the Clay family can be found in many sources. Here are two that I looked at: "Massacre of Clay Children Remains an Infamous Episode," Wyoming County (West Virginia) Report, 31 May 2010, online edition (http://www.wycoreport.com : accessed 4 April 2020); excerpt from Paul Ray Blankenship, From Cabins to Coal Mines (Oceana, WV: P. Blankenship, 1999). Also, "Mitchell Clay Reunion Will Be Held Sunday," Bluefield (West Virginia) Daily Telegraph, 10 September 1931, p. 2, col. 1; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 4 April 2020).
[2] "Conley Snidow will have his swimming pool" under "Princeton Paragraphs," Bluefield ( West Virginia) Daily Telegraph, 16 May 1926, p. 9, col. 2; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 4 April 2020).
[3] Michelle James, "The Haunted History of Lake Shawnee," The Register-Herald (Beckley, West Virginia), 25 October 2015, online ed. (https://www.register-herald.com : accessed 4 April 2020).
[4] The two children were Wayne Harman and John Talley. For Wayne Harman, see "Youngster Drowns in Pool Full of People," The Raleigh Register (Beckley, West Virginia), 6 June 1961, p. 10, col. 2; digital image Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 April 2020); also, "Damage Suit Filed in Mercer County," Beckley Post-Herald The Raleigh Register (Beckley, West Virginia), p. 9, col. 3; ; digital image Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 April 2020); also see Wayne Harman's death certificate at "Births, Deaths and Marriages (databases)," database and images, West Virginia Division of Arts, Culture and History (http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_view.aspx?Id=2579001&Type=Death: accessed 5 April 2020); West Virginia State Department of Health, death certificate 008166 (1961), entry for Wayne Eugene Harman. For Richard Talley, see "9 Tragic Deaths Mar State Holiday," The Charleston (West Virginia) Daily Mail, 4 July 1966, p. 1, col. 1; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 April 2020; also see John Talley's death certificate at "Births, Deaths and Marriages (databases)," database and images, West Virginia Division of Arts, Culture and History (http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_view.aspx?Id=777066&Type=Death: accessed 5 April 2020); West Virginia State Department of Health, death certificate 010587 (1966), entry for John Richard Talley.
[5] James, "The Haunted History of Lake Shawnee."
[6] Negative findings for girl who died in 1966: "Births, Deaths and Marriages (databases)," database and images, West Virginia Division of Arts, Culture and History (http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/) > Death > Mercer County > 1966 > Search, conducted 5 April 2020; also, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/ : accessed 6 April 2020, search parameters included various combinations of "Lake Shawnee", "West Virginia", swings, and death, narrowed down using dates 1966 and 1926-1966, conducted 10 April 2020.

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Hotel del Coronado, pt. 2

12/6/2019

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Where was Kate and what was she doing from the time of her marriage in 1885/86 to her death in 1892? We will never be able to trace her movements exactly, especially since the 1890 federal census was lost in a fire. Iowa has an 1885 census, but it was taken before she and Thomas were married and they are both enumerated with their families.
What is known is that Thomas was living in Nebraska at the time of Kate's death as a telegram apparently reached him in Burchard, Pawnee County, alerting him to his wife's death.[1] Thomas remarried a year after her death and spent the remainder of his life in Nebraska.[2] Upon his death in 1936, he was buried near his and Kate's infant son and his father in Riverton, Iowa.[3] And while this does not sound like a man who feared returning to the hometown of his first wife, he did not acknowledge his first marriage on the 1930 census. On this census, his age at his first marriage was given as 32 years, which was his age at his second marriage to Jennie Devor. [4] Did he lie about how many times he was married or did his second wife provide the information? The census-taker was not required to speak to the head of the household or each individual to obtain first-hand knowledge, they accepted information from anyone in the household old enough to provide it and sometimes even neighbors if the family was away, so we must be careful not to read too much into the omission.
We do know that she lived with Farmer relatives when she first moved to California. An article in The Los Angeles Times includes a message from a relative, W. F. Farmer of Hanford in Kings County. His message of December 12, 1892, reads, in part:

I am more than surprised to hear of the tragedy. If it was Kate Morgan you can rest assured that it was no case of suicide, for the reason that she had no cause for committing such an act. When she left me I told her if she needed anything to send to me and I would assist her. Her people are well-to-do. Her husband, Thomas Morgan, has been traveling in the interest of some manufacturing company. … Her relatives are Henry Broomback and Thomas Morgan, Hamburg, Iowa; John W. Chandler, her grandfather, and John Samuella, Riverton, Iowa.[5]

This W. F. Farmer was undoubtedly William Terrell Farmer, Kate's uncle. He was in central California by the time of the 1870 census and is buried in Hanford.[6]
What of Kate’s own father, George Farmer? It turns out Kate was well and truly an orphan. Her grandfather, Joseph Chandler, was appointed her legal guardian in August of 1879 as her father was deceased.[7] Perhaps it was the loss of both of her parents, her only child, and then an estrangement from her husband, all by the time she was 24, that caused her to take her life.

[1] "Telegram to her husband about her death," Johnson & Co. (San Diego, California) to Thos. Morgan (Burchard, Nebraska), telegram, 12 December 1892; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 October 2019); posted by ChristineRogers95350, 28 May 2017.
[2] ”Nebraska, Marriage Records, 1855-1908,” digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 October 2019), entry for Thomas E. Morgan and Jennie M. Devor, 2 December 1893; Nebraska State Historical Society. Also, 1900 U.S. census, Pawnee County, Nebraska, pop. sch., Miles, Enumeration District (ED) 0127, sheet 1B, dwelling 19, family 20, Thomas E. Morgan household; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 October 2019), citing National Archives microfilm publication T623, roll 935. Also, 1910 U.S. census, Pawnee County, Nebraska, pop. sch., Plum Creek, ED 0154, sheet 1B, dwelling 16, family, 16, Thos. E. Morgan household; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 October 2019), citing National Archives microfilm publication T624, roll 852. Also, 1920 U. S. census, Jefferson County, Nebraska, pop. sch., Pleasant, ED 109, sheet 6B, dwelling 72, family 72, Thomas E. Morgan household; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 October 2019), citing National Archives microfilm publication T625, roll 991. Also, 1930 U. S. census, Harlan County, Nebraska, pop. sch., Alma, ED 0002, sheet 2B, dwelling 50, family 50, Thomas E. Morgan household; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 October 2019), citing National Archives microfilm publication T626, roll 1289.
[3] Find A Grave, database with images (www.findagrave.com : accessed 26 October 2019), memorial 7398365, Thomas Edwin Morgan (1861-1936), Utterback Cemetery, Riverton, Fremont County, Iowa; memorial added by Graveaddiction, ID 46528400.
[4] 1930 U.S. census, Harlan Co., Neb., pop. sch., Alma, ED 0002, sheet 2B, dwell. 50, fam. 50, Thomas E. Morgan.
[5] "The Coronado Suicide," The Los Angeles Times, 14 December 1892, p. 9, col. 3; digital image, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 20 October 2019).
[6] 1870 U.S. census, Contra Costa County, California, pop. sch., Township 2, p. 41-2 (written), dwelling 339, family 325, Stevenson Schmidt household; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 October 2019), citing National Archives microfilm publication M593, roll 71; also Find A Grave, database with images (www.findagrave.com : accessed 20 October 2019), memorial 143982378, William Terrell Farmer (1831-1901), Hanford Cemetery, Hanford, Kings County, California; memorial added by RowWalker, ID 143982378.
[7] ”Iowa, Wills and Probate Records, 1758-1997,” database with images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 December 2019) > Probate Records, Vol A-D, 1892-1812 > image 25 of 829, Kate K. Farmer, heir of G. W. Farmer, 18 August 1879; citing FHL microfilm 1533772, item 5.

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Hotel del Coronado - San Diego, CA

10/10/2019

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I'm kicking off the History Behind the Hauntings with a bit of a cheat. As I said, the thing that irks me most about ghost stories is that they never seem to be based in historical fact. However, this ghost is known. In fact, the ghost that haunts room 3327 at the Hotel del Coronado is famous. Not because the ghost was a celebrity during their lifetime, but because (1) she was a young woman who killed herself and (2) the ghost can be traced to a real, documented person.
Kate Morgan, the most famous ghost at the hotel, was definitely a real person, but in the aftermath of her death, she was nearly misidentified. Twice!
A woman arrived at the hotel alone, with no luggage, on November 24 (Thanksgiving Day), 1892. She signed the register as "Mrs. Lottie A. Bernard" of Detroit. She mainly kept to herself over the next few days, but she did share with the housekeeper that she was waiting for her brother to meet her there. Oh, and that she was suffering from stomach cancer. The evening of November 28, she was seen going onto the ocean-facing veranda. The next morning, a hotel employee found her body on the steps leading to the beach. There was a bullet wound on her right temple and a revolver near her right hand. Local officials deemed it a suicide, probably brought on by the physical suffering and despondency she felt due to cancer.[1]
It didn't take long for the newspapers to suggest other reasons for the suicide.

It is now thought that the woman registering at the Hotel del Coronado as Lottie Anderson Bernard,
who suicided yesterday morning, was not suffering from cancer in her stomach, but had been ruined
and realizing that she had been deserted as well, decided to end her troubles…. Her evident illness
is attributed to medicines taken with the purpose of effecting a miscarriage, though this has not been
fully demonstrated, no post mortem examination having been authorized.[2]

By December 4th, a new identity for the victim emerged: Lizzie Wyllie of Detroit. According to Lizzie's mother, Lizzie had disappeared about 5 weeks previously and it was assumed she had gone off to California with a married man she knew named John Longfield.[3] They had to twist this story a bit to make all of the parts fit, however, as it had already been confirmed that Lottie Bernard had telegraphed an acquaintance by the name of Mr. Allen in Hamburg, Iowa for some money.[4] It was now supposed that the couple must have stopped by Hamburg on their way to California long enough to make a friend from which Lizzie could borrow money.[5]
Just four days later, the newspapers reversed course again.

Hamburg, Ia., Dec. 6.—It is not believed here that Mrs. L. Anderson Bernard, who killed herself
at Coronado, was Lizzie Wyllie of Detroit. It has been learned that there was recently in this place a
man named L. A. Bernard, a professional gambler, and he is believed to have been the suicide's
husband. Bernard left Hamburg November 7 for Topeka. He said his wife was sick in California
and he intended to bring her back to Iowa. He tried to borrow money for that purpose, but failed.
No word has since been received from him. G.L. Allen of this place, to whom the woman telegraphed
for money, was a schoolmate of Bernard's in Illinois, and had never met Mrs. Bernard. Simply
out of charity he sent her $25. Therefore, it is strongly believed here that the Detroit identification
is a mistake.
The story is not believed in San Diego. On the contrary, it strengthens the opinion that somehow
Allen is more deeply interested than to the extent of $25, and has invented the above as a blind.
A San Diego man, who happens to know Allen, says he is a cattle man, of some wealth, a sport and
a lady-killer. The situation in this mysterious case resolves itself to this – either Allen is a consummate
liar and had dealings with Lizzie Wyllie, which he is trying to conceal, or the girl lying on a slab
at the morgue here is Mrs. L. A. Bernard, the wife of a gambler.[6]

By this time, newspapers across the country were carrying the story of the mysterious woman who killed herself. And the story of who she was and why she committed suicide changed daily. The Los Angeles Daily Herald confused things even more with their story of December 9.

A trunk marked "Mrs. Kate Morgan" was taken to the central police station on yesterday from the
house of L. A. Grant, 917 South Hill street. Mr. Grant stated that Mrs. Morgan had been employed
in his house as a domestic and that on the evening of November 23rd she left, stating that
she would return the next day.

The paper went on to say that Kate Morgan was definitely not the Coronado suicide victim. There was a photograph of Kate in the trunk who was, according to them, entirely too unattractive and coarse looking to be the beautiful, refined woman who could afford to stay at a first-class hotel.[7] However, that same day, other papers admitted that the suicide's name was most likely Kate Morgan. The story was that she had been working as a domestic in Los Angeles the last couple of months. She did not share much about her past with her employer for fellow domestics, but she did state that she was married to a gambler and that it was an unhappy marriage. In her trunk was a marriage certificate for one Kate K. Farmer and Thomas E. Morgan, married in Hamburg, Iowa on 30 December 1885.[8]
After this, it was agreed that her name was Kate Morgan, of Hamburg, Iowa. Finally, on December 14, a telegram was received in San Diego from Riverton, Fremont County, Iowa.

Your telegram received regarding Kate Morgan, nee Farmer. Bury her and send me statement.
J.W. Chandler.[9]

Lottie/Lizzie/Kate could finally be buried. J W. Chandler was her grandfather, however neither he nor any other family member ever visited the morgue to identify her body or attended her funeral, though there were relatives living in California at the time.

So, who was Kate (Farmer) Morgan?

Kate was born 23 September 1868 in Hamburg, Fremont County, Iowa.[10] Her mother, Elizabeth Philamena Chandler, died shortly after giving birth to Kate and was only 23 years old when she died.[11] Her father, George Washington Farmer, seems to vanish from the picture at this point and Kate was raised by her maternal grandparents.

1870 U.S. census, Madison, Fremont County, Iowa.[12]

1880 U.S. census, Riverton, Fremont County, Iowa.[13]

Kate married Thomas Edwin Morgan around 1885 and their only child, also named Thomas, lived just three days.[14] What events occurred between 1886 and 1892 that led to the separation from her husband and ultimate suicide so far from home?

I will try to get to the bottom of it next time…

[1] "By Her Own Hand," San Diego Union, 30 November 1892, p. 5, col. 3; digital image, GenealogyBank (http://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 4 October 2019), Newspaper Archives.
[2] "Death Brought Relief," Fresno Morning Republican, 1 December 1892, p. 1, col. 3; digital image, GenealogyBank (http://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 4 October 2019), Newspaper Archives.
[3] "Identified," San Diego Union, 4 December 1892, p. 1, col. 1; digital image, GenealogyBank (http://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 4 October 2019), Newspaper Archives.
[4] "By Her Own Hand."
[5] "Identified."
[6] "Further Evidence," San Diego Union, 8 December 1892, p. 8, col. 3; digital image, GenealogyBank (http://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 4 October 2019), Newspaper Archives.
[7] "Not the Coronado Woman," Los Angeles Daily Herald, 9 December 1892, p. 6, col. 1; digital image, GenealogyBank (http://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 4 October 2019), Newspaper Archives.
[8] "The Girl Suicide," San Francisco Chronicle, 9 December 1892, p. 4, col. 4; digital image, GenealogyBank (http://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 4 October 2019), Newspaper Archives.
[9] "Darker Than Ever," San Diego Union, 15 December 1892, p. 2, col. 1; digital image, GenealogyBank (http://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 4 October 2019), Newspaper Archives.
[10] Find A Grave, database with images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 4 October 2019), memorial 7966, Kate Kathleen "Lottie A. Bernard" Farmer Morgan (1868-1892), Mount Hope Cemetery, Coronado, San Diego County, California; gravestone photo added by Terry Girardot.
[11] Find A Grave, database with images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 4 October 2019), memorial 8116096, Elizabeth Philamena (Chandler) Farmer (1844-1868), Mount Olive Cemetery, Hamburg, Fremont County, Iowa; memorial added by Graveaddiction, no. 46528400.
[12] 1870 U. S. census, Fremont County, Iowa, population schedule, Madison, p. 5 (written), p. 477 (stamped), dwelling 36, family 36, Joseph W. Chandler household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 October 2019), citing National Archives microfilm publication M593, roll 392.
[13] 1880 U. S. census, Fremont County, Iowa, pop. sch., Riverton, Enumeration District (ED) 65, sheet 81C (stamped), dwelling 101, family 105, Joseph Chandler household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 October 2019), citing National Archives microfilm publication T9, roll 341.
[14] Find A Grave, database with images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 5 October 2019), memorial 73983646, Thomas Morgan (1886-1886), Utterback Cemetery, Riverton, Fremont County, Iowa; memorial added by Graveaddiction, no. 46528400.

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History Behind the Hauntings

10/6/2019

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I admit it - I'm a sucker for a ghost story. When I walked into the library as a kid, I made a bee-line straight to the 133s (Dewey Decimal, in case you are interested) where the "true" ghost books were shelved. One thing I have often noticed about ghost stories is how there never seems to be any historical fact to back up the tales. The ghost is always a woman in white named Mary or some generic thing. So I decided I am going to start investigating these hauntings and try to put real names, dates, and places to the stories.

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