Devils Hole and Jackson house
December 24th-25th 2003
It was Christmas Eve of 2003 and I had been invited to my best friend's house for her annual Christmas Eve Party.
I had only a few errands to get done before leaving to go and my kids were not quite ready.
I decided to go and pick them up on my way back, before heading into town. I had packed all of the gifts and cupcakes for the people at this party and for local people as well, in the back of my 4WD Chevy Blazer and headed out to get things accomplished.
I went into the nearest town and gave some Christmas presents to friends and picked up some things that I would need for the party.
I headed out of town but rather than come the regular route, I decided to try my luck at a back road..the "scenic route".
I thought that I could figure out which one of the roads which would out of tow would circle back around to my home.
I was mistaken!
There were two routes out the opposite side of town.
I chose the wrong route.
To make matters worse, the Blazer had been having troubles with the brake system and sure enough, by the time that I had realized just how far out of the way I had gone, the brake warning light on the dashboard came on.
I was in MacFarland, West Virginia by this time.
There is only one business in MacFarland and it was not open on Christmas Eve.
The next area would have been miles away.
I knew the area though, I had been riding through this area, on a 4 wheeler before with some friends of mine. They were just up over the ridge from where I was. As a matter of fact, we had come down to eat at the little restaurant in this store. I knew how to get to their house..I had remembered coming down off of Mellin Ridge, to his valley and out to this very place. These people would have a phone on and I knew that they were at their cabin over Christmas. I decided this was the route to go.
I turned up the road at about 4 pm in the evening..it was not yet dark but it was Wintertime and I knew, it soon would become so dark that I could not see.
When I got about 1/2 mile into Ritchie Mines Area, I saw a road leading up...this must be it!!
I drove excitedly up this road thinking that I would be able to get on a phone and tell my kids what had happened and they could have someone come after me. These friends were my daughter's boyfriend's parents cabin. It seemed perfect...until, I got to the end of the path where there was nothing but a natural gas well tank and a dead end. I turned by the tank and headed back out.
When I arrived back at the end of this road, I thought "If only I go a little farther, there will be another road"!
A lot of people are afraid of this area where I was now headed.
The head of this hollow was called "Devil's Hole" and it is reported that a country witch lived there and that she also had sons that were considered to be dangerous.
I decided to take the chance and try one more time.
Another 1/4 mile, I came across another road heading uphill.
The only thing was, it went to the left instead of to the right but having gone through creeks to get there.
It was possible that I was turned around. It was also possible that it led to somewhere better.
By this time, anything was starting to look good!
So, up I went, hand on emergency brake, in 4WD to the top. When I arrived there, it was nothing but a flat area with a tree stand.
The road had seemed big enough to go to a house but there was no house on that hill top.
I was dismayed and annoyed and it was getting dark. I could see Mellin Ridge from where I was but no road could be seen in the dark. I decided to head out of Devil's Hole and go back out to the main highway.
When I came down off of this ridge, I took a road which I soon realized was the wrong one. I had taken the right fork of the creek instead of the left fork but I knew to follow the stream out from the head to the road and could see that I was, at least heading in the right direction...but it had man twist and turns and I got lost. I soon found myself heading back across a creek bed. The problem was, it was not shallow. I came down off of the bank which was about two feet off of the water, into a water hole about 10 feet wide and 20 feet long. When the blazer hit the water and I realized how deep it was, I "gunned it" to get out. The Blazer did not get hung up on the bank. It did not get sunk down into this mini-pond. It did, however, "high-center" over a small log on the other side as I was trying to come out.
For almost 45 minutes, I revved this engine, trying to find a way to free myself from this log. It was a really long log and I was afraid to stop, for fear of the Blazer getting bogged down. I put it. in every gear and even tried 2WD, backing up, working my way sideways...anything to get loose!! Nothing worked! I finally gave up realizing, I had most likely, blown the engine. "Now what am I gonna do" I asked myself? Stuck in Devil's Hole in a fishing hole, like a bump on a log on Christmas Eve. I sat there a minute to let it sink in.
I decided to get out and build a fire. I'm thinking "Here I am in a public area where you are not allowed to set fires...hey, brilliant"!! I get out and begin to build a fire, in all hopes of getting arrested and hauled out of there. The ground had some snow on it but not a lot. I always carried lighters with me and was fortunate to have many of them in the Blazer. I didn't have anything to cut down trees but there was plenty of kindling and lots of smaller bits of wood. I was not a happy camper though..."of all of the times to be wearing party clothes. Why couldn't I be in a really heavy pair of blue jeans instead of these horrible dress pants" I wondered to my self.
The pile was made but I was having a really hard time lighting it..the wood was mostly damp. I remembered that I had a quart of brake fluid which was likely flammable enough to get this fire started. Normally, I would never do such a thing but this was an emergency!! I needed a good strong fire to be seen and get arrested!!
It flares up and is starting to get going when the snow starts coming down so heavy that you can't see a thing. You can't see 3 feet in front of you and the fire is hopelessly getting put out and my hopes for getting arrested were getting squashed as well. I got back into the Blazer, relieved to have shelter from the cold and out of the snow but my feet were freezing. It was then, I remembered the liquor set that I had as a Christmas present for my friend. "Great" I thought as I tore open the package that had the Rum inside of it and the gift pack large glasses that went with them.
I took the rum and poured it into the glasses and set in the back with the seat folded down...the two small fires burning away and warming it up a little inside of the vehicle. It must have been just barely cold enough to freeze out side!! I also had an entire packet of lighters which I would rig up to set up and burn by using the cellophane off of the packages to keep the thumb holds pressed down. "An entire package of lighters...yeah, I can make it until morning" I thought.
I also had a pair of boxer shorts that I had bought a friend as a gift, I took them out of the package and I wrapped them around my feet, in place of my wet socks, wrapped some of the plastic that I had around that, another layer of plastic, my socks back on and my shoes...tight fit but it worked to keep them warm enough to sleep a little while.
I was a fanatic about always keeping blankets an pillows in the vehicle. I was thinking that I "loved wherever that tip had come from"..and the fact that there were chocolate cupcakes that my daughter had made in the Blazer with me, chocolate and rum for a nighttime snack! I curled up to stay warm for the night and I laid there thinking about, what the plan would be, to survive this stupidity.
The next morning came and the sun rose and with it, so did I! I figured that it was time to head out. I wrote a note telling the direction that I was headed, what had happened and the phone numbers for my house and my mom and dad. I knew that water would not be a problem with all of the snow but I got some any way and melted it in a glass to wash my mouth out and get a nice drink of rum tasting water. While I was out getting snow, I had spotted a gas line. Natural gas lines running above ground like this only meant one thing to a native West Virginian, it meant a house somewhere nearby..follow the line..find the house!!
Off I went, to follow the line. Unfortunately, it headed straight up a hill side. Not just any puny little hill either. This hill was about 1000 feet straight up! I decided that i didn't care, this was the direction that I would head. I began my ascent, slipping from the plastic in my socks but determined to find the house that belonged to that gas line. It took forever, it was slick outside and I was exhausted and cold.
When I got to the top of the hill, I looked around expecting to see a house, no house!! Worse yet, the gas line was buried from there on out and I had no idea as to which direction to head. there as a path there where people had been on 4 wheelers or motorcycles but which direction to go??
I saw a "No Trespassing" sign on the side of a tree. I decided to go in the direction that it was pointed. I walked for quite a while, seeing nothing but trees and this path. It was then, I heard a dog barking...thank goodness it wasn't a bear growling or coyotes yipping! I thought "Where there's a dog, there are people that feed it". I headed in that direction.I came around the hill and was headed down a dip to where there was a fishing pond that looked man-made. I was really excited to see it. this meant that someone had cared enough to dig it and maintain it...it meant civilisation at last!!
I had been thinking all day of my family, on the climb up the hill, how upset and frightened they must be, what they must be thinking had happened to me. I had just gone through a very ugly split with my ex-husband who had turned out to be a violent man. I could only imagine what they thought must have happened to me, where I had vanished? Tears were in my eyes most of the day thinking about it and I was just completely worn out. The only thing that kept me going was the little signs along the way. I had my coat and the quilt from the blazer snug around me but I was freezing and hungry and very depressed. Oddly, being scared had never entered my mind. It was more of the idea "keep it together..keep it going"! I was also curious about why the sound of that dog wasn't getting any closer to me. I had walked for a really long time and yet, no closer at all?? I kept going though, in it's direction trudging through deeper and deeper snow as it had not let up since the night before. By this time, the snow had reached halfway up my shins, with no boots on, it was getting painful.
At last I reached an open field and saw a house in the distance. The house was two story with a wrap around porch and it was a very old log cabin style house. The one where the logs have been squared off and mortar shoved in the cracks. Better still, I could see people on the porch. Two people as a matter of fact were there. One was a young blond woman with long blond hair, she was wearing a white cotton dress that was the style back in the late 1800's and there was a man who was a little pudgy with bibs and a checkered shirt on. He was staring out across the field and there was equipment in the field, too.
She was waiving at me as she leaned out over the wooden porch rail, her hair swung out over the rail and I was thrilled to see her. I was finally, going to be where other people were! I still had to walk the length of a football field to get there but hey, who cared at this point?? I had to pay attention to my steps to get there..my legs were getting shaky and I was as tired as I could ever remember being.
When I arrived at the house, nobody was out on the porch. Not only were they gone but the porch seemed different, darker than before. I decided to be polite and walk around to the front of the house. The wrap-around porch encompassed three sides of the house. It was obviously, a well cared for house over the years. The grounds were well-cared for, the road out in front had gravel on it, the windows and doors were in great shape but nobody appeared to be at home. There were no fresh tracks where a vehicle had left either..there would have been, had they just left?? I knocked at the front door, there were no sounds coming from inside of the house. It was not that big of a house either but they could be in the kitchen or have gone back out, onto the back porch? It was then that a lot of things came rushing to my realization. The house was in the Summer from the distance, while I was in Winter out in the field. The woman had a cotton dress on with no coat. When she leaned out over the porch rail, were summer flower blooming below her in the flower beds. This was a ghost..not a real person!! She/they seemed friendly enough though?? Just to make sure, I knocked on all three doors of this house. By the time I got to the back porch, I decided that noting mattered but getting into the house and laying down for some rest. I leaned against a window where the woman had been standing on the back porch and shoved up on it. Thankfully, the owners had not nailed the windows down and it slip up pretty easily. I slid through it fairly awkwardly, thankful to be inside of somewhere and spying a fireplace out of the corner of my eyes..there was wood there too but I also felt something else..what was it??
Heat!! There was heat in the house..no furnace but heat!! I walked around a bit until I saw where it was coming from, there were burners lit on the stove!! I was overjoyed and astounded. "Nobody does this" I thought "She (the ghost) must have lit them when she saw me" was what immediately went through my mind. It had to have been her because nobody would dare to leave a burners running on that ancient stove in a house where nobody had been tending it..they just wouldn't take the risk of it flaring up or malfunctioning and burning down this beautiful historic home. I was too tired to care, it was beginning to get dark outside. I found a can of soup and made it to eat..the fire was already lit..why not?? It came out as crunchy tomato soup, probably hadn't paid enough attention to the pan..far too tired!!
I lit the fire in the fireplace. Luckily, the owners had preset it to be lit (or had they). All I had to do was light it and soon it was ablaze. I then set down for a few minutes to see what was around me. There was no electricity and it was getting very dark. There were old fashioned gaslights on the walls and several candles in holders. i felt bad about trespassing but soon I was to feel even worse!! There lying on the table was a letter with the last name of Sprouse on it.."OH, CRAP" I thought..of all of the people to have owned this house..this man?? There had been a recent murder in the area and the man's last name was Sprouse..here I was, maybe in his house, as a trespasser. For the first time, i was worried. If he comes here on Christmas day...if my some reason, or less than stellar justice system has set this murderer free, who had just killed his wife in a rage of jealousy..me there...alone, not good!!
I had to come up with a new plan, and soon!!
I lit all of the candles in the house and put them up in the windows. I was at the top of this hill and I didn't belong there. If someone saw me and called the police...maybe today would be my lucky day and I would finally get arrested! I waited for a bit, nothing happened..nothing at all!! I was so tired and it was dark now and nothing was happening and I needed to rest, badly!!
I blew out all of the candles and climbed the stairs to where there were beds. The beds were very old, wrought iron beds. Most likely, they had been there since the house was built. As I laid down to sleep, I could sense that a young boy had slept there..most likely a boy of 10 years old or so?? I could see out of his eyes as I was drifting off to sleep. He was looking at his mother standing there..I am pretty sure that it was the same woman who was out on the porch and I could see her glancing out of the corner of her eyes, looking at me, or looking at him, i don't know which it was?? I was too tired to care and very comfortable there..very content to sleep.
As I was sleeping I dreamed of a man coming to me..he was from an even different time frame. I was guessing the time period to be around the 1930's or 40's. He wore a three piece suit, dark in color and I associated him as being a school teacher of some kind. I believe he was carrying a book?? I could hear that song "I'll Be Home For Christmas" very loudly in this dream...then he says to me, quite sharply "Your mother is trying to call you and there isn't a phone in this house". It woke me up from a very deep sleep. Oddly, this never happens. I am so used to dreaming that I never startle from something this trivial. Yet, this did wake and shake me!
