How a haunted house is supporting historic preservation
By Stephen Baldwin, RealWV
This summer, Felicity Morgan and Abby Smith learned that a piece of Ronceverte history was scheduled to be demolished.
“We saved it by four hours,” Felicity Morgan explains. “We found out it was on the city’s demotion list, so we called the owner and asked him to purchase it. And he agreed.”
The previous owner was a grandson of the Ellis family who lived in North Carolina. He had not seen the home in decades and no one had lived in it for 26 years.
“He asked us a lot of questions about our plans,” Morgan recalls.
“A lot of people question us about why we’re doing this,” Smith adds. “We know it sounds crazy.”
So why are Morgan, a Ronceverte native, and Smith, from Talcott in neighboring Summers County, tackling such a major renovation project?
“History is something you can’t get back,” Smith says. “That’s our motivation.”
“We launched the haunted house as our first fundraiser towards restoration,” Morgan notes. “It’s gone really well. Better than we ever thought.”
With several hundred visitors coming to the Ellis Mansion each weekend in October, they are grateful for so much community support.
“This wouldn’t be possible without the community,” says Smith. “We hope they know how much we appreciate them coming out.”
A team of approximately 12 scare actors, including Morgan and Smith, guide visitors through the haunted house on Friday and Saturday nights. Relics from the Ellis family and their businesses figure prominently in the decor as shown above.
“We’ve got three more nights to do,” Morgan says. “Come out on Oct 24, 25, and 31.”
The haunt is open from 7-10pm this coming weekend and then from 7-midnight on Halloween. Trick-or-treaters are welcome at the Ellis Mansion on Halloween night, plus the haunted house will be open to visitors.
Morgan and Smith say this is just the first step in what will be a long journey of restoring the historic property. “We’ve got some ideas for other holidays, so stay tuned,” says Morgan.
For more information, visit the Ellis Mansion Haunted House online.
