Audio version of this story on our YouTube channel along with haunting stories sent in by fans about their experiences! https://youtu.be/gHPVGSzDUrw
The three sisters were called The Black Sisters because they wore all black clothing. They wore black dresses, shoes, gloves, hats and veils, as though they were going to a funeral, or mourning. Because the way they dressed and the fact that they only came out at night, they quickly became the talk of the town. Most folks said they were witches. Their names were Mary Snead, Caroline Martin, and Virginia Wardlaw. Mary and Caroline came to Christiansburg around 1902 to help their sister Virginia run the Montgomery County Female Academy.
It’s rumored that folks in town were downright terrified of these women. They only came out at night, most likely because they didn’t want anyone to know about what they were doing in secret. In one report it was said they used to lock their mailman in a room and go through his stuff whenever he delivered the mail. Then they would threaten to kill him if he told anybody. It was also reported by a cab driver that the sisters asked him to take them out to the local cemetery where they would perform some type of ritual on one of the graves.
There were also many rumors of people and animals going missing in relation to the sisters.One being the disappearance of an at the time controversial illegitimate baby birthed by one of the students at the school. That wasn’t the only baby to go missing though.
Sometime later, Caroline’s daughter Ocey came to town and married her first cousin (Mary’s son) Fletcher Snead. Shortly after, Ocey became pregnant and later Fletcher Snead was found burned to death in his bed.The police found his clothes were soaked in kerosene and even though the sisters had taken out a large insurance policy on him they were not seen as suspects in his death at this point.
After this it was up to the Black Sisters to take care of Ocey and the baby. It sounds like they didn’t do a very good job of it though. This baby also went missing, then about a year later Ocey was found drowned in a bathtub after, yet another large insurance policy was taken out on her.
After all of these events occurred, the sisters left town for New Jersey. Soon after their arrival the authorities caught up with them. The police searched the school and their home where they found several human remains on the grounds and the missing baby was found in the old well. Caroline was convicted of Murder and sentenced to 7 years in a mental hospital where she later died. Mary pleaded guilty but got off on a technicality, and after that she fled to Colorado. Finally, Virginia starved herself to death before she ever saw the judge.
After this you’d think this is the end of the story but it’s not! It’s reported that the spirits of the black sisters haunt two locations in Christiansburg Virginia. The first being the old Christiansburg High School and Middle school that was built on top of the grounds the old academy was built on.
________________________________________
Our first story was sent in by a friend of Jimmy and a fan of Spooky Appalachia. When I went to Christiansburg Middle school it was around 98 or 99 there were all kinds of rumors about people seeing or hearing things in the school and people talking about the black sisters. I remember one time I had left class to go use the bathroom, I always felt creeped out going places in the school by myself. Heading there I saw what looked like a shadow at the end of the hall dart away, I remember thinking this was really odd. As I was using the bathroom I started hearing what sounded like a lady whispering or chanting. I finished my business and took off back to class as fast as I could
______________________________________
Our next story was sent to us by a fan who found this story in a paper. We’ll link the paper in the description. Back in 1998 and 1999 I was working at the middle school as a service worker. I spent many late nights working at the school moving and helping clean. One night another lady and I were cleaning the downstairs of the main building when we heard what sounded like something being scooted across the floor above us, we were the only ones there. We went upstairs to check, and we found that every door that we had previously locked was now unlocked. After locking everything back up we headed back down the stairs and it felt like someone was on my shoulder the entire time coming back. I couldn’t wait to get out of there that night!
_________________________________________
Jared, I love your stories and the collaborations with Spooky Appalachia. When I heard you guys were looking for stories I had to jump on. Back when I was around 12 we lived in Kentucky and my parents took us on vacation. Our destination took us through VA. Dad had some friends in the area so we stopped for a visit. We knew his kids so we all went to play at the school that was just up the road.
As the five of us were playing my sister kind of zones out looking at the school. We laughed and kept playing. She starts walking slowly over to the windows. We start yelling at her but she doesn’t seem to acknowledge our existence. Our friend was the oldest 15 and he runs over and turns her by the shoulder. She looked confused and said she was supposed to go in. The whispers told her to. She later explained she heard ladies whispering telling her to come inside and find them.
_________________________________________
Another story from the same paper. One of the custodians said she was working one night cleaning the gymnasium where the well was said to be. This well is where Ocey’s baby was supposed to have been found, as well as the remains of a few others. It’s even said that if you put your ear to the floor in the gym you can hear a baby crying. That night the lady had just finished cleaning the building, left and came back for something and noticed child hand prints all over the last window she cleaned. She cleaned it again and to her horror the hand prints re-appeared.
__________________________________________
I went to the old CMS. Thursday JV football games they opened the school for bathrooms. My friend and I walked down to the office and sat at the bottom of the stairs. Not all the lights were on and upstairs was dark. We were sitting, talking and all of a sudden a small pebble fell from the top of the steps in the middle of us. No one else could be seen around us or at the top of the stairs. Needless to say we left swiftly!
__________________________________________
I grew up in West Virginia but my aunt would often visit for a week or so and she was from Virginia. So, naturally I grew up on stories about the infamous black sister’s. She told me one story about a time when her friend was leaving work late. It was around 10 pm. Not many was out that night. She locked up and was walking across the street to her car. There was heaviness in the air. She looked around because something didnt feel right but saw nothing. She unlocked her car and got inside in a hurry and locked the doors. As she was pulling out of the parking lot she saw the three black sisters. They were walking down the sidewalk dressed in their classic black dresses and black veils but seemed to be floating. She set there in shock just completely spellbound. They floated along looking straight ahead and right before her very eyes, they simply vanished. She was the manager at that store and worked there for many years till she retired. That never happened before or after.
________________________________________
The other location that is said to be haunted by the black sisters is Sunset Cemetery just down the road from where the school was. It is said that the sisters would come here to perform rituals late at night. Our next stories take place there.
My older brother and I were bored one night driving around trying to think of something to do one night back in the 90s when we came up on Sunset Cemetery. Remembering the legends of the Black Sisters we decided to go find Virginia’s grave and test out the legend that if you walk in circles 3 times around her grave she will appear. We found the grave and walked 3 circles around it laughing, nothing happened. A little bummed out we walked back to the car, that’s when we noticed what looked kind of like a person but it was completely back and charging towards us. We both screamed and ran for the car When we got to the car we noticed it was gone and got the heck out of there.
Another story I had heard of in Passing that took place at the cemetery was a couple of young boys vandalized Virginia’s grave, spray painted all over it one night back in the 80s. The next morning it was completely cleaned off. People believed it had a spell on it or the ghost of Virginia removed it.
________________________________________
Greetings Jared,
Here’s my experience. My best friend Jamie lived about an hour from the part of Virginia where the legendary three black sisters incident happened. One night I was visiting having a girls night. We were sitting around watching scary movies when it started to storm. Nothing major, just low rumbling. The power goes out and we start talking about ghostly things and then Jamie has the idea of daring me to go inside the black sisters cemetery. We drive down and get out. Strangeness filled that place. I go in with a flashlight. Shining around I see a ball of light. It’s circling a headstone. I ran out telling Jamie. She laughs and we go back in. I showed her where it was and it was circling what she said was the first sister’s grave!
For more info on the sisters as well as some fan submitted encounters of the hauntings check our YouTube video below:
