Happy Blog-a-versary!

Today I’m celebrating a very special birthday…the birthday of Theresa’s Haunted History of the Tri-State Blog! On January 16th, 2011, I sat at my communal desk in the break room of the Clay Center. I was on break from my duties as a gallery educator and decided that I might as well make the most of the hour I had. So I did it. I took the plunge and wrote the first blog entry: The Apollo Theater. It’s not a long entry, and honestly, it’s not a very well written one either…but it was the beginning. Well, sort of.

Theresa’s Haunted History actually dates all the way back to 2006 when I first began serving as Historic Research Manager for Huntington Paranormal Investigations and Research. As part of my ‘research duties’ I thought it would be a good idea to take a deeper look at some of the known haunts around West Virginia and surrounding areas, just to see what locations might be worth looking into for future investigations. My inspiration came from popular websites, such as the Shadowlands Index and WV Ghosts, where I scoured the user-uploaded entries to find hauntings that I could substantiate a bit further. 

I quickly discovered that these types of websites weren’t a huge help to those looking for places to investigate. Not only was historical background and location details often inaccurate, but most of the entries for ‘haunted places’ weren’t really places you could actually investigate, or even FIND for that matter. As much as I enjoyed reading about a scream heard in the old haunted house down by Papaw’s cabin, there was no way of finding out where that haunted house was. So, I decided to create my own list in a way. It started with our HPIR website’s message board section. I’d post a location, with a brief description of where it was, whatever history I could find, and any relevant links for further information. Eventually, I decided to make that information more widely available, and started posting on a old FreeWebs website.

I ran my FreeWebs site for a couple of years, but it quickly became apparent that I was posting too much stuff and getting way too much traffic for the free hosting service to handle, and the website would be down for quite a few weeks every month. I wasn’t super techy so I started researching better options, and decided on moving everything over to Blogger. It was still free and easy to use…and offered me much more flexibility with how much I could post! But, the process was a slow one. I started off the new blog with a fresh, brand new location, and then started the painstakingly boring task of moving everything else over. 

It’s been 11 years now and the process isn’t actually done. Sure, I moved over the most important entries, and have been busy creating new content over the years, but the blog still needs a LOT of work. My research skills and my access to research materials have evolved greatly over the last decade, so many of my early blogs on here need updated—BADLY. Dead links need to be gone, photographs need to be added, and some just need to be totally re-written as better and more accurate information has been uncovered about them. I’m constantly running across new information about ‘old’ locations, but it’s been a struggle trying to juggle new content with updating the old. Every year, I make a resolution to make major improvements, and this year, I’m hoping to actually follow-through, lol. 

Anyway, I’ve had an absolute blast these past years. I love learning new things about the paranormal, and I love sharing what I learn with you all. This blog has been a big help to me (I find myself referencing it quite often for details I’ve forgotten) and I hope it has entertained and/or educated some of you as well! There may be times where I lack the motivation to post regularly, but I always keep coming back to. I’m looking forward to what the next decade in Theresa’s Haunted History’s history has to hold. Stay spooky, y’all! 

Theresa’s Haunted West Virginia Page