Holiday Folklore: A Victorian Christmas Tree Tradition Rich Knoblich December 23, 2022 Note: This is a fictional tale. Rich Knoblich, WV storyteller and a regular winner of the Liar Contest at the annual Vandalia Gathering hosted by the WV Dept. of Arts and Culture, likes to ad...
This Thanksgiving, Have The Conversation of a Lifetime Alex Panas November 23, 2022 As a platform dedicated to telling Wheeling’s story, the team here at Weelunk is familiar with what it takes to have engaging conversations with interesting people and turn them into meaningful stories. Jonatha...
Wheeling Haunts Season Finale: Halloween Extravaganza Wheeling Heritage Media October 31, 2022 Happy Halloween! Are you ready for some spooky tricks and treats? This week, Cassie and Alex are closing out the first season of the Wheeling Haunts podcast with an episode with special interviews, spooky liste...
Ghostly Campfire Tales for Halloween Jessica Broverman October 31, 2020 For thousands of years, storytelling has played an integral role in connecting one another and building communities. We engage in storytelling all the time, whether it be at work, through social media, or while...
The Patsy … (Or a Full House on the Train to Notre Dame) Bill Hogan February 7, 2018 Back in the late '40s and early '50s, we would either hitchhike home from Notre Dame, or four or five of us would split the cost of a car rental. The rental cars had governors that restricted the speed to 60 mp...
The Griffith Files: Nick’s Music Gerry Griffith January 8, 2018 1 Nick’s Music was a Cradle of the Folk Music Revival of the 1960s and it Vanished – or did it? Before he could expand upon his fading memories about growing up in Wheeling for the brief stories he wrote for ...
My Town: Kid Catholic Bill Hogan September 3, 2017 6 May Devotions were held at 7:30 in the evening and were charming. The grade school kids would bring flowers they had picked and file up the side aisle to place them before the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mar...
Hamburger Man Mike Quinn August 15, 2017 I have got to remember, it is a fine memory, that soft naked lady God meant her to be. That is how the song goes, but this is a different memory. A thousand, maybe two thousand years ago I worked at the Bu...
The Griffith Files: A Wheeling Delivery Boy in the 1960s Gerry Griffith August 11, 2017 6 Dodging Snippy Dogs and Dealing with Cranky Doltish Husbands: a Wheeling Delivery Boy in the 1960s Even with my limp, I could always outrun a yappy little dog like a Chihuahua or a Pug, and a Dachs...
Leo the Barber Jack Blackwell July 10, 2017 7 Leo was the McColloch Street barber. His was a single chair shop. Nothing remarkable, but perhaps it's worth a few minutes to tell how a barbershop worked in the '60s. Simple things, like how to get a haircu...
McColloch’s Leap Jack Blackwell May 30, 2017 7 In East Wheeling in the mid 1960's there was a 'bar' on almost every corner. But the word 'bar' isn't all they were, they were also community centers. Places that glued the small neighborhoods together. Plac...
Griffith Files: Grandma’s Rocker-A Baby Boomer’s Downsizing Dilemma Gerry Griffith May 27, 2017 8 They are taking away my grandma’s rocking chair tomorrow and it feels like an old friend I’ve known all my life is going away to live with strangers. The decision to give it up was a tormenting struggle invo...
Romantic Wheeling: August 21, 1990 Megan Jacobs February 28, 2017 August 21, 1990 Dear Meg, My platoon and I are stationed at Camp Casey in Korea for now and no one knows for how long. It feels like forever since I’ve been home, I can hardly remember what yall look like...
Woman Artist Finds Her Passion In Documentary Photography Maria Kimble February 23, 2017 Rebecca Kiger wanted to be an artist. She attended Shepherd College and set out to find her means of expression. She didn’t draw or paint. Her second semester, she decided to take one more art class: Photogra...
Simple Twist of Fate Brian Wilson November 23, 2016 This piece of paper may seem insignificant but I assure you that it tells an interesting story with a very important lesson for me. Rehanging a door last summer, I found this slip of paper being used as a sh...
just another Warwood brat David J. Thomas September 16, 2016 8 just another Warwood brat, son of Clyde and Vera, running the streets with Moe, Rudy, Mario, Bill, and Ray near North 20th pacing the courts at the YMCA under his dad’s skeptical eye lettering in three...
Growing Up At 2 Laurel Ave. Bill Hogan March 15, 2016 7 I don’t think I am different from anyone else in that I thought everyone was raised like I was. It wasn’t until I moved out of my neighborhood and got a little life experience that it began slowly to dawn on m...
Postwar (Woodsdale) Rascals Conquer The Hill Mike Quinn March 6, 2016 5 World War II had ended. Soldiers returned to our beloved country. Those soldiers settled down and immediately started reproducing. That meant that there would be another generation born to pick up arms. Woodsda...
Napping On The Porch Mike Quinn February 26, 2016 6 Growing up in Wheeling was like coming from a special planet. Wheeling seemed to specialize in cultivating unusually eccentric people. Wheeling suffered from a disease called acute prosperity. The prosperity...
The Mostly True Story of “Betsy” Zane Earl Nicodemus February 7, 2016 3 Just about every school child knows the story of how a 17-year-old girl named Elizabeth Zane saved Fort Henry by running to the cabin of Ebenezer Zane and returning with an apron full of gunpowder...
Lowell Windfree’s Bobsled Run Rich Knoblich December 19, 2015 Note: This is a fictional tale. Rich Knoblich, WV storyteller and a regular winner of the Liar Contest at the annual Vandalia Gathering hosted by the WV Dept. of Arts and Culture, likes to add some dr...
Harshman Brings Santa To Mountain State Steve Novotney November 28, 2015 His ideas arrive at moments sometimes unexpected, and on occasion the plot lines are delivered by a friend or a colleague. Such was the case with Marc Harshman’s latest children’s book, “Mountain Christmas.”...
Digital Storytelling Class Focuses On Wheeling Christina Fisanick November 19, 2015 Bringing Archives to Life A Weelunk partnership with Archiving Wheeling. For more great Wheeling stories visit www.archivingwheeling.org. Most history lovers are familiar with Ken Burns’ epic documentari...
A Family Story: The Curtises of West Liberty Earl Nicodemus November 5, 2015 1 One of the old families of importance to the history of West Liberty and of America was the Curtis family. They were descendants of a Welsh gentleman named Sir James Curtis. In 1776, John Curtis joined Smallwoo...
Wheeling’s Haunted Confluence Rich Knoblich October 25, 2015 2 Note: This is a fictional tale. Rich Knoblich, WV storyteller and a regular winner of the Liar Contest at the annual Vandalia Gathering hosted by the WV Dept. of Arts and Culture, likes to add some dr...
Captain Samuel Brady: Part 3, Conclusion Earl Nicodemus May 4, 2015 Brady’s Rangers were very effective in their pursuit of the Indian raiding parties. Numerous times, they rescued women and children who had been taken captive by the Indians. When Brady’s Rangers encountered an...
Captain Samuel Brady: Part 2 Earl Nicodemus April 27, 2015 1 After living in a cabin in Wellsburg for a period of time, Sam and Drucilla obtained property in West Liberty, with assistance from Van Swearingon, where they built a large frame house. One of the photos with t...
Captain Samuel Brady: Part 1 Earl Nicodemus April 14, 2015 2 Captain Samuel Brady – Hero of the Revolution Part 1 During the Revolutionary War, the most well-known and respected individual in the Upper Ohio Valley was not named McCullough or Zane or Wetz...
The Mostly True Story of Simon Girty Earl Nicodemus January 29, 2015 1 By Earl Nicodemus Weelunk Contributor Even though I am a storyteller rather than a historian, I have attempted to find out the real story of Simon Girty. Other than Benedict Arnold, no other individual as...
Storytelling: Court Day in West Liberty Earl Nicodemus January 23, 2015 2 by Earl Nicodemus To the reader: I must preface this document by informing the reader that I am a storyteller rather than a historian. Until radio took over the storytelling role about 100 years ago, Americans...