Walking tours and locally written play coming to Logan ahead of Halloween
Art & Soul Creative Arts Co. and The 1910 have partnered for the 2026 Halloween season to put on guided walking tours featuring ghost stories and local legends in the Logan area and a play written by Logan native Joyce Robertson about the events surrounding the 1932 murder of Mamie Thurman.
Tours and local play coming to Logan ahead of Halloween
Robert Fields | WVOW News
LOGAN Downtown Logan will have two separate history and Halloween-themed events at The 1910 this fall, beginning with a lantern-lit walking tour later this week and followed by a stage production based on one of Logan County’s most well-known unsolved murder cases.
"Shadows of Logan: A Ghosts and Legends Walking Tour" begins Thursday and will continue Thursday through Saturday nights through Halloween.
Tours will start at 7 p.m. and will leave roughly every 30 minutes, with two guides leading each group. Two groups can be active at the same time, and the final group is scheduled to leave each night at 9 p.m. The tours are expected to last about 45 minutes. Ticket prices are $20 per person.
The tours will use costumed guides carrying lanterns through historic downtown Logan. The guides will combine local history with ghost stories and legends connected to specific buildings and locations, including the Honaker Funeral Home, the Robertson building and the former home of Logan County Sheriff Don Chafin. Chafin served two terms as Logan County sheriff in the 1910s and 1920s and became known locally as the Czar of Logan County. He later gained statewide notoriety for leading armed opposition to unionizing coal miners during the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain.
The walking tour will also include the story of Mamie Thurman, whose 1932 murder remains one of West Virginia’s most enduring unsolved mysteries. Thurman was found dead on what is now known as 22 Mountain near Holden. Clarence Stephenson, a Black handyman, was convicted of her killing later that year, but the verdict has long been questioned by members of Thurman’s family and others.
The tour will touch on places connected to Thurman’s life, including her birthplace, but organizers say her murder is not the sole focus of the walking tour. Her story will instead be the subject of a separate production later this fall.
The ghost walk is intended to be more of a history-based experience than a haunted-house attraction. Organizers say it is designed to combine Logan’s history and architecture with some spooky stories and legends and is suitable for people of different ages.
Rafael and Joanna Rodighiero purchased the building about a year and a half ago and named their restaurant The 1910 in honor of the year the structure was built. The building originally served as Logan’s first post office over 100 years ago and has a connection to the Thurman story in that capacity. Thurman reportedly lived within about 200 yards of the building and would have picked up her mail there when it served as the city’s post office.
The Rodighieros partnered with Art & Soul Creative Arts Company, operated by Jody Logan and Mitch Vance and Jody Logan, to develop the events.
Performances at The 1910 are scheduled for October 23, 24, 30 and 31, and November 1, 6, 7 and 8. Friday and Saturday performances will begin at 7:30 p.m., with Sunday matinees at 3 p.m. The production runs about an hour and 45 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission. Tickets are $20, and seating is limited.
The 1910 is a 116-year-old building without an elevator. Therefore, the restaurant is also finishing a private room on the first floor. That room will have a live video feed of the play for guests who cannot climb the stairs to the upstairs theater.
Tickets for both events are available through a pinned post on The 1910’s Facebook page, with separate purchase links for the ghost walk and Mamie. Tickets will also be available at the door as space allows.
Walking tour groups will be limited to roughly 15 to 20 people, so organizers are encouraging people to purchase tickets in advance.
PHOTO | The 1910 - Facebook
