By Allen Hamrick
The WV Paranormal Trail is full of local haunted legends and places that will curl your spine and give you enough heebie jeebies to have nightmares for a week. Places like the Mothman Museum, the Trans-Allegheny Asylum, the WV Penitentiary and The Blennerhassett Hotel, just to name a few, along with known ghost and paranormal activity, some with brutal pasts, may still have the screams of the victims in the evening winds. If you go to the WV Paranormal web site, you can sign up, get a passport to do the tour, explore for yourself and unlock prizes. All you have to do is sign up. Our own Elk River Trail Sasquatch of Clay County has been given paranormal status by being assigned to the WV Paranormal Trail tour. “Why?,” you ask. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people have already visited Sasquatch on the Elk River Trail above Ivydale since he was stationed at the site.
After doing some research into it, the 10.5 foot, 1800 pound wooden statue has somehow been stepping out, according to some. Whether it’s the alone time he has standing day after day, the foggy mornings or the eerie nights, Sasquatch has a life of his own. He is different; some visitors have said they have seen a tear in his eye, and others say they just feel like he is looking straight through them. Nobody truly knows the mysteries of the unknown or the paranormal world where things can occur that we can’t explain, and when we can’t explain it, it’s simply not real…but we are human after all…we are real…right? There are some that have been on the trail at dusk and have said when they pass Sasquatch their pace quickens to the point that fear grips their backbone.
So, does he step out at night? Does the spirit of the true Sasquatch reside within the statue and has now given it life? The latest tale is that the statue comes to life, leaves the area at night and goes to his mate somewhere on the trail. Many questions arise as to the how, where, why, and the complete absurdity of the notion. He didn’t get on the WV Paranormal Trail by just being wood, someone said. So, the next time you’re on the trail and you get to his area in the day or night, take a change of clothes because when you stand beside him and take a minute to look up, he just might be looking down.
