Blue Church and WVSG: Scary Stories Coming Oct 31

What’s Halloween without a chilling ghost story or two?     

Wheeling National Heritage Area’s new series, The Word @ Blue Church, and the West Virginia Storytelling Guild are preparing an evening of shivery fright with a Halloween ghost story concert at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, at The Blue Church, 1206 Byron St., Wheeling. The major sponsor for the concert is the Wheeling Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The concert is the second in the new series, The Word @ Blue Church.

Four members of the West Virginia Storytelling Guild will present a variety of ghost stories for adults under the title, “Would You Like to Hear a Scary Story?” The concert is a joint fundraising event primarily to benefit The Blue Church renovations, as well as the WVSG ongoing professional development workshops around the state.

Tickets are $10 each and will be sold in advance on social media through Eventbrite on the Wheeling National Heritage Area and The Blue Church sites. Tickets also will be $10 at the door.

Guests will enjoy a complementary light hors d’oeuvres buffet. Beverages will be available.

photo from weelunk,com

The storytellers:

Rich Knoblich of Marshall County is author of Talking ‘bout the Relatives. He frequently judges and participates (eight ribbons) in the WV Liar’s Contest. His writings have been published in various national and regional magazines. Once the Ghost Host for Steel City Bus Tours paranormal excursions, he now guides for Oglebay Resort’s Festival of Lights.

Mikalena Zuckett of Charleston has lived most of her life in West Virginia. Born in Wheeling, she earned a BA from Bethany College in communications and a MA from WVU in counseling psychology. Mrs. Zuckett is currently WVSG’s secretary. She has performed a variety of folktales at WVSG’s tent during the past three Vandalia Gatherings and performed on the Capital Grounds for WV 150^th Celebration. Today Mrs. Zuckett is excited to share some of the stories she heard growing up, stories about the early days of Wheeling and Ohio County.

Judi Tarowsky lives in St. Clairsville, Ohio.  She tells original tall tales, history stories, folk tales and Appalachian ghost tales.  Judi currently is president of the West Virginia Storytelling Guild. She holds a graduate certificate in storytelling from the University of North Texas School of Library Sciences.  She received her bachelor of science in journalism at West Virginia University and she had worked for many years in Wheeling with The Intelligencer and The News-Register. 

Stas Ziolkowski of Pittsburgh has been telling stories for more than 40 years as a schoolteacher of science, mathematics, and as a planetarium director. He has years of experience in community and school theaters, acting, directing, writing, and even some choreography. He moved to the Pittsburgh area after six years in Arkansas, where he produced the Fairfield Bay Storyfest.

Telling Tales at the WV Storytelling Festival

Storytellers Fred Powers, Adam Booth, Susanna Holstein and Ilene Evans were the featured tellers at the annual West Virginia Storytelling Festival at Jackson's Mill near Weston, WV on October 14 and 15, 2015. 

Over 1000 school children attended over the two-day event. This festival has been in existence since 1996 and continues to attract schools that bring children to hear some of the finest of West Virginia's storytellers.

Fred "Powerhouse" Powers tells tales from his years of experience as a coal miner in McDowell County. A retired miner, Fred taught middle school before retiring a second time; he is now writing stories and performs widely as a storyteller. Fred is a WV History Hero.

Ilene Evans shares traditional folk tales and songs as well as stories from the African American experience, often appearing as History Alive character Harriet Tubman. Her performances include music, dance and sometimes multilingual stories.

Adam Booth tells Appalachian stories and original tall tales. He also sings ballads and folk songs and plays a variety of musical instruments. Adam is a multiple-time winner of the WV Liars Contest and was a featured New Voice at the National Storytelling Festival in 2015.

Susanna "Granny Sue" Holstein also tells traditional Appalachian folk tales including Jack tales, tall tales, ghost stories, historical stories and family stories. She sings Appalachian and British ballads and often tells stories about her husband's childhood in the coalfields of southern Kanawha county, WV. She leads an annual ghost walk in her county's seat or Ripley, WV.