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By Susan Sheppard
Quincy Hill is not only the highest elevation in Parkersburg, it is also one of the most haunted areas of the city. The alleged reason behind the hauntings stems from Quincy Hill's importance to western Virginia during the Civil War. Quincy Hill was a Civil War overlook where Union soldiers kept watch over not only the Ohio River but parts of the B&O railroad which could be seen from the hill. This area of the city also had one of five Civil War hospitals in Parkersburg.
But the hospital on Quincy Hill differed from the others. It had no building but was a tent city hospital. At any given time during the time of the Civil War, the Quincy Hill hospital held 500 to 1,000 sick and dying soldiers. What is not generally known about the Civil War is that most of the fatalities died from disease rather wounds from battle. Quincy Hill was no exception. Most of the soldiers struck down had typhoid fever, pneumonia and small pox, but the biggest killer of Civil War soldiers was dysentery, or chronic diarrhea.
Hauntings are often associated with trauma. Strong energies can imprint upon an area where a traumatic event has occurred and gets played back as ghosts and hauntings. No time period in American history had as much trauma instilled upon its population as much as the Civil War. It is no surprise that Quincy Hill has more of its share of ghost stories.
Several years ago, a ghost hunter and Civil War reenactor decided to go up on Quincy Hill late one night for a solitary ghost hunt. It was a spur of the moment idea and he decided a ghost hunt on his own might be entertainment for the evening. He took with him a camera and also a recorder, since spirits often come across as only their voices but cannot be seen. These are called EVPs, or electronic voice phenomena.
The ghost hunter spent a few hours snapping pictures, then sitting on the steps at the top of Quincy Hill with his recorder on. Nothing dramatic happened. He did not see or feel any ghosts and of course, this can be typical on ghost hunts as most evidence gathered is electronically. When the ghost hunter went home he immediately downloaded his photographs. Much to his disappointment, there was nothing on them. His disappointed left him as soon as he listened to his recorder. Someone was on it whistling a song the man recognized.
It took a few moments before the ghost hunter remembered the song being whistled on his recorder. It was music from the Irish Spring television commercial. This struck him as peculiar so he decided to research the song.
Into his research, the ghost hunter discovered the origins of the song. It was an old Irish folk song from the mid-1800s. Also very odd, he decided to phone a local Civil War historian to see what he could find out. The Civil War historian was astounded. The historian told the ghost hunter that the soldiers up on Quincy Hill quarantined and not allowed to be with the other men. They are the African-American troops and the immigrant Irish. Sadly, the kindly ghost hunter passed away after capturing the voice recording of the Civil War soldier whistler. The ghost hunter graciously gave the story to Susan Sheppard head of the Haunted Parkersburg Ghost Tours to use on her tours before he passed on.
But that is not where the story ends.
It was on Halloween night a few years ago on the Haunted Parkersburg Ghost Tours when Susan Sheppard was standing at the bottom of the steps on Quincy Hill telling the many stories of the ghosts on the hill including the one about the "Irish Spring whistling ghost." It was a particularly cold evening as the tour goers huddled together in their winter coats. A cold breeze moved through the crowd as a piece of paper wrapping blew across the street along with the dry, crisp fall leaves. A man ran over and picked up the piece of paper.
As soon as the tour guide finished her story and the crowd proceeded down the street the man walked over to her and said, "Look." The piece of paper was a wrapper from a bar of Irish Spring soap.