Graham House Hauntings

Graham House 2024 Photo by Theresa

Last year, SRI investigated the haunted and historic Campbell Flanagan Murrell House Museum (blog coming soon!) in Hinton, WV. I arrived in town early to check out some of the local museums and explore downtown a bit. I wandered into the Summers County Visitor’s Center and had a lovely chat with the girl working. Obviously, the topic of why I was in town came up, and taking full advantage of the resources at hand, asked her about other local places that were haunted. She suggested the nearby Graham House, an 18th century log cabin that had a history of spooky encounters and had even been investigated several times by local ghost hunters.

The following Monday, I sent a message and quickly booked an investigation at this fascinating and new-to-me location!

The Graham House was built between 1770 and 1772 by Colonel James Graham and his wife, Florence. The log cabin boasted two full floors plus an attic, and various outbuildings.  Life on the western frontier wasn’t an easy one, but the Graham family made a good living on their 286 acre farm, raising at least nine children there. But, tragedy would strike one spring evening in 1777. 

1777 was a tumultuous year for attacks on white settlers by the Native Americans in the area. In fear of an upcoming attack, the family, joined by several other area settlers, spent a couple of weeks across the river at the fort/home of the Van Bibber family. However, the family needed to return to their own property and prepare the crops for the upcoming season. On the evening of May 16th, the family was asleep, not knowing that their home had been stalked for days, awaiting the right time. 

Colonel Graham had been feeling ill and had actually fallen asleep on a bench in front of the door to the cabin. That move may have saved the lives of those in the cabin, as he was able to quickly block the front door with the bench and a heavy water tub. Unfortunately, through the scuffle, shots were fired through the door. A neighbor man named McDonald, who had accompanied the family to help with the crops, was shot and killed. The remaining men fired their own guns towards the attackers, while the women and some of the younger children were holed up upstairs. With them was the Graham’s oldest son, 13 year old William, who had been sleeping in the main house because, like his father, he was also feeling ill. And, again, that was probably what saved HIS life. 

Had William not been ill, he probably would have been bunking with his two middle siblings, 10 year old John, and 8 year old Elizabeth. 

While the majority of the family were busy securing the main house, John and Elizabeth had been sleeping in the second-floor loft area of the kitchen building, located behind the cabin. Also in that building was a young slave boy named Sharpe. Sharpe, realizing what was going on, tried to flee via the chimney, but as the building was invaded, the attackers saw his foot dangling from the chimney and grabbed him. They dragged him outside and killed him. 

Whether because the children began crying, or the Native Americans had reason to suspect there were additional people upstairs, they fired their guns into the loft area. John was hit in the knee and also dragged out. As the boy was deemed too wounded to be kidnapped and marched away, he too was killed. Elizabeth, however, was taken hostage. She would remain with the Natives for eight years, until her father, at an estimated cost of $300 was finally able to negotiate her release at a meeting in what is now Chillicothe, OH, and travel to Maysfield, KY where she had been adopted by an Indian family. It is said that even after she was returned, she had a hard time readjusting and tried to run away at least three times before being married off to Joel Stodgill in 1792. 

After Colonel Graham passed away in 1813, the home remained in the family until right around the time of the Civil War. It was then occupied by the family of Colonel Wilson Lively, followed by the Keslers, who married into the Livelys. Other owners included the Thayer family, the Barickmans, and the Muhlys. The Muhly family, with its six kids, were the last private owners, calling the Graham House home from the mid-1970′s to the mid-1980′s. Unfortunately, they lost control over the property. Luckily, the home would be saved by the newly formed Graham House Preservation Society, who operates it to this day. 

With over 250 years of history, there are bound to be some ghost stories attached to the property, many of which seem to stem from the horrific tragedy of 1777 that left a stain upon the land. Two settlers and a slave were killed. A young girl was kidnapped.  It is also believed that at least one Native American was fatally injured and taken to nearby Indian Draft. When a skeleton was found there several years later, Colonel Graham claimed the jawbone and used it in the home as a gun rack. The energy of this location is palpable and those who are even the least bit sensitive are likely to pick up on the tension. On one side, you have a family who is fighting with everything they have to protect their home, and what they believe is their right to be there. On the other, you have a group of people fighting to protect THEIR way of life after seeing from prior events that the white settlers as a whole couldn’t be trusted.

Aside from a general feeling, there have been plenty of specific incidents. An old Victrola, presumed to be inoperable, was found playing by itself. To date, it has not worked since.  The caretaker’s mother witnessed a very life-like woman in white coming down the stairs from the second floor to the main floor, right about where the stairs turn. Two separate witnesses have seen a ‘brown man’ in the vicinity of the modern kitchen/banquet area that was built in the 1970s. Footsteps are heard coming from downstairs when the witnesses are upstairs, and vacuum cords are known to unplug themselves from the wall. 

When SRI visited last spring, at two different times, we distinctly heard a female’s voice. The first time we heard it, Brian and I were upstairs at Leila was outside taking pictures. No one else had shown up yet. The voice sounded like it was coming from outside, so we just assumed it was Leila. When she joined us inside, we asked who she had been talking to. We thought she had either taken a phone call, or another member had shown up. She hadn’t said a word. And, to test it out, we sent her BACK out to talk at various points around the building. When on the front porch, we could BARELY hear her, and it was very muffled, not like the loud, clear, crisp voice we had heard earlier. 

Later, as the entire team was on the first floor, we again heard a woman’s voice. We ran outside to make sure no one was trespassing but found nothing. However, we realized that we DID catch the voice on audio. It sounds like the same female voice as before, but it cannot be made out exactly what she is saying. 

There were some phantom touches that night, as well as plenty of references to witches and witchcraft coming over the spirit box. I was asked through our resident sensitive if “my daddy was an injun.” I can only assume that Colonel Graham and family have some lingering prejudices in the afterlife…

Graham House Preservation Society Website

Graham House Preservation Society Facebook

National Register Application 

Source: http://theresashauntedhistoryofthetri-state.blogspot.com/2025/04/graham-house-hauntings.html