When I was in college in the mid 1960s there was a cemetery right behind the football field. I did not pay much attention to it--just thought it was a dumb place to put a cemetery never thinking that maybe it was there first! We were married in 1967. After a few years we both became interested in genealogy in a small way and started doing research. About three years ago we found out that one of my husband's uncles was buried in the town that I had attened college. So one weekend when I was visiting our daughter, who was attending a university near to where I had gone to school, I talked her, my niece and a friend into going to this cemetery to fine Uncle Samuel. We go to the cemetery and park the car in a central location and start hunting. It was a large area. It started raining. After about three hours of hunting in the rain we give up. I went to the car to turn on the air conditioner and the other three are coming from different directions. All of a sudden my friend starts yelling "There he is!" I had parked the car right in front of Uncle Samuel. We all felt kind of eerie. It was like he wanted us to find him. On another trip coming back from seeing our daughter I decided to see if I could find my mother-in-law's grandparents in this little out of the way town. They died in 1904 and 1939. No problems finding the cemetery. Not a really big cemetery, but I had never been there. I just followed my instincts and walked straight to the graves of both grandparents. That gave me quite a shock. I really expected to take a couple of hours anyway! Those are my "ghost stories". Nothing big, but I really had the feeling that I was being "called".

This is a true story. It happened to a member of my family through marriage. He doesn't like to talk about it so I will protect his identity. The maternal family Cemetery was in jeprody of being moved since the Coal Company claimed that the land that it resided on was theirs. Ralph (name changed to protect me) decided to trace the family tree back to see if there might be documentation proving that the land was actually left to the family by an ancestor for use of his decendants. To make a long story short, Ralph had all but given up after many long nights and miles of research. He was close, just needing one last document. The cemetery is located in West Virginia, however, no document could be found in the local resource center. Sometime in the middle of the night an elderly bearded fellow appeared at the foot of Ralph's bed and told him that the document he needed could be found in Richmond Virginia which was the County Seat for where the Cemetery is located - before 1863 when West Virginia became a State. Ralph got up early, drove to Richmond, and found the document just as the old fellow had said. A short court case later and the Cemetery is verified as family property for all time. The old fellow's decendants are still being buried there as he had originally wanted.

My husband and I "discovered" High Knob last fall after a day in the Wise Co. Courthouse digging up bones. We were just driving around, sight-seeing, looking for the grave and old home place of Benjamin Bolling, (which we later found at Flat Gap), when we ended up on this mountain. It was very beautiful, with a wonderful view from the lookout. But as we started down the other side, I started feeling strange. It is very hard to describe, and I can't believe I am telling this story. There was an overwhelming feeling of sadness. I finally asked my husband to stop, because there was a very high-pitched noise, almost inaudible. I got out of the car and tried to locate the direction and/or source. It seemed to be coming from all around. This was an extremely isolated area, with a dirt road I believe. There was no other cars, but the "humming" continued. I looked at my husband, and he said "get in the car!".

My husband is not one to over-react, but I could tell that this really spooked him. It seemed like it took forever to get off that mountain. We tried to think of all possible explanations; a mine, a factory in the valley below, a logging operation? But we did not see another car nor locate anything that would explain the noise. When we finally came out, there was a sign that said "Devil's Fork." I have never thought of myself as superstitous, but I swore I would never go back there.

While I was on the mountain, trying to figure out what this was, the only noise that I could compare it to would be Indian Whoops in the old cowboy movies. Yet, that was not quite right either. It was low in volume, and yet high pitched, kind of like many, many voices whispering.

We have made several trips back to the area, and I would always say, "I'll go anywhere except for that Devil Mountain." But still I seemed to be drawn it. So a couple of weeks ago, we were driving along the Clinch River, near Ft. Blackmore, and there it was, the same sign we had seen before, that said Devil's Fork. I did not want to go back up that mountain, but somehow we had to.

Well, this time there were no noices, no strange feelings; just beautiful scenery. As we came back down, toward Norton, I saw a sign that I had missed as we went up that way the first time. We stopped and it was Benge's Rock. The Historical Marker said that this was where the Indian Chief? Benge was killed. My gggggrandfather, Neal Roberts was "killed and scalped by the 'half-breed Injun', Benge, while in the employment of 'gensanguing' on the Black Mountain."

I did not know, that this mountain was Stone Mountain, and the heart of Melungeon Country. Was this mountain ever called 'Black Mountain'? I always thought that my Neal Roberts reference was to Black Mountain, on the KY/Va line. I would like to have any information about this mountain, and any possible Indian attacks, or tragedies. Or were there Melungeon murders, deaths, etc. there? I do feel that this is almost a sacred place. Could there be an old Burial Ground?

Anytime I am visiting back home I spend some time trying to find cemeteries where ancestors are located. My goal is to find and document all of them. I was home Easter week 1997 and decided to try to find Miller Cemetery in the vicinity of Edens Fork Road in Kanawha County, WV. My brother was with me this particular day. We spotted a cemetery high on a ridge overlooking Sissonville and walked up to it. It wasn't Miller Cemetery but we decided to walk around just in case there might be an ancestor there.

Parts of the cemetery are in good repair and other parts are badly overgrown and in disrepair. After about a half hour we had found no ancestors and decided to leave. We started down a path through a heavily overgrown part and my Brother called from behind me that he had found an EDENS. He had tripped over a rock sticking out of the edge of the weeds mostly buried in the mud. A closer look revealed a home made stone marker. We cleaned it enough to read Baby Edens, Son of J. A. & A. Edens, January 5, 1853.

I couldn't believe it. I had been researching this family. James Alexander and Arinda HUBBARD Edens were my 2nd Great Grandparents. Until this day I only knew of a stillborn child for them. Now I knew that it was a boy, child number 12 of 18, my Great Granduncle. No other member of the family is in this cemetery. I was in the wrong cemetery. Actually, I was in the wrong town being somewhat lost. This was also my Brother's first time to join me in my quest.

I suppose I should be amazed at the number of coincidences that had to be for me to find this ancestor. I'm not though. I believe in a higher power and the hereafter. Besides, I've had this kind of help before.