The building at 420 Main St. in downtown Logan has housed AEP, the Prosecuting Attorney's Office and Day Report. It started out as Logan's first post office. Mamie Thurman, whose 1932 case is still one of the best-known in Logan County, reportedly lived about 200 yards away and would have collected her mail there. Rafael and Joanna Rodighiero bought the building about a year and a half ago and named their restaurant The 1910, after the year it was built.
This fall the same address hosts a lantern-lit ghost walk and an original play about the Thurman case. The City of Logan's free Saturday events fill in around them. Most of what downtown offers this October comes from Logan's own past, and 420 Main St. is where much of it starts.
The Walk Starts Where The Mail Used To
"Shadows of Logan: A Ghosts and Legends Walking Tour" is a joint project of The 1910 and Art & Soul Creative Arts Company. Art & Soul is run by Jody Logan and Mitch Vance. The walk began Thursday, Sept. 24, and runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights through Halloween.
WVOW reported that groups leave about every 30 minutes starting at 7 p.m., with two costumed guides carrying lanterns for each group. Each walk lasts about 45 minutes. Tickets are $20 per person, and groups are capped at roughly 15 to 20 people. The sources disagree on the last departure. WVOW and the Logan Banner say 9 p.m. WOWK lists 9:30 p.m. If you're aiming for a late slot, check with The 1910 first.
According to WVOW, the guides mix local history with legends tied to specific places:
- The Honaker Funeral Home
- The Robertson building
- The former home of Sheriff Don Chafin, who served two terms as Logan County sheriff in the 1910s and 1920s. He was known locally as the Czar of Logan County and led armed opposition to unionizing coal miners during the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain.
- Places from Mamie Thurman's life, including her birthplace
The organizers call it a history-based experience suitable for a range of ages, not a haunted-house attraction. The walk touches on Thurman without centering on her, because her story has its own production this fall.
Mamie Gets The Upstairs Stage
"Mamie" was written by Logan native Joyce Robertson. It covers the 1932 murder of Mamie Thurman and how the case affected Logan County and drew national attention. Thurman was found on what is now called 22 Mountain near Holden. A man was convicted later that year, but members of her family and others have long questioned the verdict.
The Aracoma Story, Inc. previously staged "Mamie" in June 2015 and again in October 2019, according to the Logan Banner.
WVOW lists performances on Oct. 23, 24, 30 and 31 and Nov. 1, 6, 7 and 8. Friday and Saturday shows start at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday matinees start at 3 p.m. The show runs about an hour and 45 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission. Tickets are $20, and seating is limited. WOWK's run includes Sunday, Oct. 25, which isn't on WVOW's list. Check with The 1910 before you plan around that matinee.
The theater is upstairs, and the 116-year-old building has no elevator. The restaurant is finishing a first-floor private room with a live video feed of the play for guests who can't take the stairs. Tickets for the play and the ghost walk are sold through separate links in a pinned post on The 1910's Facebook page, and at the door when space allows. If you want dinner first, the Logan Banner describes the menu as "Appalachian fusion": sandwiches, salads, soups, steaks, seafood and familiar local staples.
The City's Free Saturdays Fill In Around It
The 1910 events are paid and run on weeknights and weekends. The city's series is free and runs only on Saturdays. City Councilman BJ Picklesimer organizes it, and this is its fourth year in the current format. He told the Logan Banner that turnout has roughly doubled every year since it started. In the same story, he named The 1910's ghost walk as another draw that helps keep downtown active all month. He said he hopes to add similar seasonal events in summer and around Christmas.
"We just want more people in town. I tried my best to do something for the little kids, the teenagers, and adults ... to where they're having fun and coming down and enjoying something." BJ Picklesimer, speaking to the Logan Banner
The first two Saturdays are done. Oct. 3 opened with ASW Wrestling in a lot provided by Honaker's, and Oct. 10 was race night, with this year's chasers dressed as classic Universal Monsters. Here is everything left between now and Nov. 8, with the city's events alongside the history programming and the park:
| Date | Daytime | Evening downtown |
|---|---|---|
| Thu., Oct. 15 | Ghost walk | |
| Fri., Oct. 16 | Logan and Chapmanville homecoming parades, 1 p.m. | Ghost walk |
| Sat., Oct. 17 | Elk tours, morning and afternoon | Pumpkin Carving Night, 6 p.m., with "Coraline"; ghost walk |
| Sun., Oct. 18 | Elk tour, afternoon | |
| Thu., Oct. 22 | Elk tour, afternoon | Ghost walk |
| Fri., Oct. 23 | "Mamie," 7:30 p.m.; ghost walk | |
| Sat., Oct. 24 | Elk tours, morning and afternoon | Hocus Pocus Festival, 5 p.m.; "Mamie," 7:30 p.m.; ghost walk |
| Thu., Oct. 29 | Ghost walk | |
| Fri., Oct. 30 | "Mamie," 7:30 p.m.; ghost walk | |
| Sat., Oct. 31 | Midnight screening of "Halloween" as the day begins | Trick-or-treat, 6 to 8 p.m.; "Mamie," 7:30 p.m.; ghost walk |
| Sun., Nov. 1 | "Mamie," 3 p.m. | |
| Nov. 6 to 8 | "Mamie" Sunday matinee, Nov. 8 | "Mamie," Fri. and Sat., 7:30 p.m. |
On Pumpkin Carving Night, the lot becomes a pumpkin patch with inflatables and vendors. The carved pumpkins stay on-site, then move to the Pumpkin House, the Woman's Club of Logan's annual display, now in its 10th year. Picklesimer calls the Oct. 24 Hocus Pocus Festival the city's largest Halloween event of the month. It will have more vendors than ever, carnival games run by local schools, a kids' costume contest, and a scavenger hunt that drew about 50 teams last year. A hayride runs to the Pumpkin House, which opens that night.
Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, and the city's schedule is built around that. The original 1978 "Halloween" screens downtown at midnight as Oct. 31 begins, and trick-or-treating runs from 6 to 8 p.m. that evening.
Before Dark, Logan County's Newer Story
The daytime column above comes mostly from Chief Logan State Park, and its story is far more recent than 1932. West Virginia's elk restoration project began in 2016 with 24 elk from Land Between the Lakes. Since 2018, 95 more have been brought to Tomblin Wildlife Management Area in Logan County: 53 from Kentucky and 42 from Arizona, according to the WVDNR.
The tours are four-hour guided trips that start and end at Chief Logan Lodge. Morning tours leave at 5:30 a.m. and evening tours at 4:30 p.m., and each includes a walk of two to three miles. WVOW reported that the route goes from the lodge to a tower at Tomblin WMA with a 360-degree view, and in rut season you may hear bulls bugling. Park naturalist Lauren Cole leads the tours, and West Virginia State Parks cautions that sightings aren't guaranteed.
Tickets are sold online only. The price is unclear. The State Parks booking calendar shows $35 for Oct. 17 and Oct. 22, but the WVDNR's 2025 announcement of the 2026 season listed $30 a ticket. The checkout page will have the final number.
Stacking A Saturday
Oct. 24 is the one day with all four events on the schedule. A morning elk tour that leaves the lodge at 5:30 a.m. gets back around midmorning, which leaves the afternoon before the Hocus Pocus Festival opens at 5 p.m. "Mamie" starts upstairs at The 1910 at 7:30 p.m., and the ghost walk groups head out from the same building that night. The evening elk tour doesn't fit with the festival, since it leaves at 4:30 p.m. and runs about four hours.
Oct. 17 is less crowded. A morning elk tour, Pumpkin Carving Night at 6 p.m. and a late ghost walk group fit into one day without overlapping. On Halloween night, trick-or-treat ends at 8 p.m., and both the play and the ghost walk are scheduled that evening at 420 Main St.
Ghost walk groups are small, play seating is limited, and the elk tours are online-only, so buy those tickets ahead. The city's Saturday events are free.
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