Mamie Thurman

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Mamie Thurman

• Ghost of 22 Mountain

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Mamie Thurman may not be nationally renown, but
her name is recognized in and around the southern
part of West Virginia and Kentucky. Who was
Mamie? Mamie was a young woman living in the city
of Logan is the 1930's. On June 22, 1932, her
slain body was found and recovered on 22 Mountain
near Holden. Holden is about ten miles from
Logan.
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R. B. Harris, undertaker for Harris Funeral Home,
who embalmed the body reached the murder scene at
two-thirty in the afternoon. She was wearing a
dark blue dress with white polka dots. One shoe
was on the body, and the other shoe was found
nearby. Her purse containing about ten-dollars in
change and a pack of cigarettes was located six
to eight feet from her body. Mamie was wearing a
watch, a white gold wedding ring, and a white
gold diamond ring valued at two-hundred dollars
which ruled out robbery as a motive.
TOP OF 22 MOUNTAIN NEAR WHERE MAMIE'S BODY WAS
DISCOVERED
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Mamie's neck was broken, and she had been shot
twice with a .38 caliber gun on the left side of
her head with both bullets passing through her
brain. There were severe powder burns on her face
indicating she was shot at close range. Her
throat had been cut from ear to ear almost in a
surgical-like fashion. Mamie was last seen June
twenty-first at nine o'clock in the evening. Mr.
Harris said she had been dead for several hours.
Mamie Thurman's body was taken to the Harris
Funeral Home at 200 Main Street which is now the
Honaker Funeral Home.
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After the trial for her murder, her burial status
was upset by problems. Records at the funeral
home stated she was buried in Bradfordsville, Ky.
A visit to that town proved that wrong. A copy of
the death certificate in the county courthouse
states she was placed in the Logan Memorial Park
at McConnell. A visit to that cemetery also
failed to show a gravesite. Searchers failed to
locate her grave. The questions surrounding the
mystery of her murder have followed her to her
grave.
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According to Logan County folklore, many claim
that Mamie Thurman's ghost wanders the hills,
searching for the person who took her life.
Others say that her spirit is still there,
waiting for justice. Some claim to have seen her
while passing by the Holden 22 Mountain mine
road. Folklore even tells that certain coal truck
drivers would pick up a woman wearing outdated
clothing, only to see her vanish from the cab
moments later. It is also known that if you put
your car in neutral on 22 Mountain, it will roll
backward up the hill. This is believed to be the
spirit of Mamie Thurman pulling you up the hill.
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• Pat Maynard, resident of Huntington, recounted
  his personal story of an encounter with Mamie
  Thurman.
• He told of himself and a friend by the name of
  Danny Vance were around 22 Mountain one night in
  1986. They were returning from a party and drove
  past the area when they say a young woman on the
  side of the road hitchhiking. As they pulled off
  to giver her a ride she abruptly disappeared.
  They looked for her but could find no trace. As
  they were searching their truck, left parked,
  began moving but instead of rolling down the
  hill, Pat says he saw the truck going backward up
  the hill with no one exerting any kind of force
  on it. After seeing this, both men returned to
  their vehicle and promptly left the area.

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• Pat also told of stories he had heard of many bus
  drivers through the area picking up a young girl
  who would match the description of Mamie Thurman
  and she would ask them to take her to 56 Holden.
  Upon arrival the woman would no longer be on the
  bus and her purse would be the only evidence of
  her ever existing.

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This picture was taken by Debra Dennison at 22
Mine Road and is said to show a face in the
middle of a phenomenon known as an orb. It was
taken during an investigation on Mamie Thurman.
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This is a picture taken by a group known as West
Virginia Ghost Hunters. It is of a brown house on
22 Road which used to be near the discovery
location of Mamies Body and there is supposedly
an apparition in the window.
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• The story of Mamie Thurman is one of the most
  well known pieces of lore in West Virginia.
  Weather her ghost walks the hills or if its just
  imaginative talk on the part of the inhabitants
  is up for you to decide.