Investigating Thurmond, West Virginia

A friend of mine suggested I check out the town of Thurmond, West Virginia,  saying that they'd heard it had 'weird energy.' Thurmond once was a booming town in the heart of the New River Gorge. A primary stop for visitors to the gorge as well as a hub for the coal business, Thurmond once had a population of several hundred people. As of the last census, the town now boasts a grand total of 7 residents. The drive into Thurmond is absolutely stunning. The road into town winds along Dunloup creek as it descends 600 feet to the New River. It's possible to drive among the commercial district, but I parked at the train depot and hoofed it on foot into town. My legs needed the stretch after my hike at Kaymoor. :-) 

As soon as I parked next to the depot, my head started swirling. I learned from my experience at Linville Manor that this means a heavy presence of active ghosts. I got the sense that there were 5 or 6 people that needed assistance. Alas the Depot is closed until Memorial Day, so I made a mental note of this and set off on foot to explore the rest of the town. The walk along the railroad tracks to the commercial district takes less than ten minutes. The National Park Service (presumably) has paved a section of this walk with brick. Random 'keystone' pieces along the walk highlight the history of the town. I thought it was a nice touch. Notably if one chooses to drive into town instead, this section of the walk gets circumnavigated. 

 I walked past the Erskine Pugh house. I took one look at that house and "noped" right the hell out. There is some bad energy there. I googled the house in looking for information about it, and found this link from the folks at Ace. Thankfully, as I have made it a habit of asking my guides for protection prior to any investigations, I didn't feel that threatened by its presence. I merely made note that there was something dark there and moved along. 

As I approached the stretch of commercial buildings, I got a sense of the existence of a brothel. I thought it had taken place at the Mankin Cox building, as this came to me as soon as I got close to the building. Historically this was a bank, and I found no mention of prostitution with that building. However the Lafayette Hotel (affectionately knick-named the "lay-flat" hotel) did have such a reputation. The Lafayette burned down in 1963. All that remains is the foundation wall. I continued along the remaining standing commercial buildings and read some of the interpretive materials left in the lobbies. I didn't get a whole lot else from that stretch of buildings, but that may partly be to the fact that I kept getting distracted by the presence in the coal tower. It was a warm, sunny day by this point. I found a shaded bench to sit on and I pulled out my notebook to see what else I was getting a sense of. 

I kept staring at the coal tower. In addition to whatever dark presence exists in that building, I saw a man fall off the tower to his death. I got the message that someone committed suicide in the Lafayette hotel. By this point, the gnats were getting annoying, so I got up and continued my walk down main street. 

I passed the Thurmond guest house - I believe it's in the process of being restored and used as an Air BnB. At one point, an owner or proprietor of that house had the name of Michael. 

I walked by the Marilyn Brown house and detected no active energies there, but the house itself definitely has something to say. I didn't feel compelled to take the time to listen and pick up the residual energies though. 

As I approached the Fatty Lipscomb house I got the sense that several 'entities' were present. That's all I was made aware of. I suspect my guides wanted me to get the sense but not dive deeper, so I kept walking. They will often give me snippets of information "for my awareness" only to have the meaning of said awareness revealed at a later date. This building in particular had been a boarding house, so there's likely no end to the information that is waiting to be discovered there.

As I walked by this house -> I felt someone watching me. Several ghosts hang out on that property. Someone was watching me from one of the second story windows. So much so that I walked up the street next to the house to try to get a better look. Whomever was watching had no desire to engage, so I made a mental note of their existence and went on my way. 

I did not take the time to walk up to some of the other existing structures in the town. Instead I walked back to my car at the depot and proceeded to have an exchange with my spirit team. Whomever was hanging out in the depot definitely needed some help. I asked several times if they would come out of the building to engage with me and I kept getting "no." I informed them that I cannot enter the building due to it being closed, so we arrived at an impasse. I made a mental note to myself that if I can make it back during the summer when the building was open, I would return to assist. My friend was right - there's so much energy surrounding Thurmond that I think I've only scratched the surface. I look forward to learning more about the town and the people still present there.