Food Among The Flowers
As summer began to loom and COVID-19 became some sort of a thing of the past, Mountaineer Paranormal was approached by April of The Charleston Ghost Tour Company and Brian of Spectral Research and Investigations about assisting with the investigation at Food Among The Flowers in Charleston, WV.
Food Among The Flowers, located at 513 Tennessee Avenue in the Elk City neighborhood of Charleston, WV is a local business that specializes in floral, catering, and party supplies. The building historically dates all the way back to the Great Depression, it served in its previous uses as the Barlett Funeral Home. It was built by a very important family of morticians from the Southside of Charleston, this location was nestled in the heart of a predominately African American neighborhood of "L", stretching across the Kanawha and Elk River.
(Charleston Residents, 1920s courtesy of Pinterest)
Elk City, during the great depression, represented communities struggling across the state of West Virginia. This neighborhood lied within the "shanty" district that represented the poorest classes in Charleston. Houseboats lined the Elk River where many of these poor folk lived a mobile life. They often times followed jobs down and up river.
( Elk River House Boat, 1938 courtesy of www.onlyinyourstate.com)
( WV Woman Standing In Shack Home, 1930s courtesy of www.explorepartsunknown.com)
Through some historical research led up by Brian from Spectral Research and Investigations Huntington, WV and April from The Charleston Ghost Tour Company, little was found about the current building. The building was built in 1931. This large, two floor structure served as a full service funeral home with capabilities of embalming, casket selection, funeral planning services. The first floor held the old chapel and foyer that was used to greet families and conduct funeral services. The second floor included the casket selection room, embalming room, arrangement conference room, and a apartment where some of the funeral directors probably lived when it was a funeral home.
This funeral home would go onto serve the community until 2017 when it finally closed its doors as a funeral home. One of the most compelling stories i have heard from this funeral home was the story of, "Baby Grace." Grace was a young girl who was, supposedly, found dead by funeral home workers one morning when they was arriving in for work. The body, which remained unclaimed for years, was embalmed and placed in a casket and placed on a shelf in the basement of the funeral home for years before being buried. While there is no definite proof of this claim, it contributes heavily to the overall lore of the facility.
(Two Men Standing Outside Store, 1920s, courtesy of www.onlyinyourstate.com)
Reports from the owners include hearing strange sounds, strange feelings in specific parts of the building, and other strange occurrences including music turning itself on and off, and chairs that mysteriously spin by themselves in the front room. Staff report strange elevator activity, feelings of being unwanted in the apartment area and more.
On the night of this precarious investigation, Mountaineer Paranormal, invited by SRI and Charleston Ghost Tour Company set out on a quest to seek what lies in the walls of this old funeral home. The teams arrived on location at approximately 2PM to setup equipment, do the initial walk through, equipment setup, and more. The investigation started around 7PM.
Due to having a rather large crew to do the investigation, we split up into teams to tackle this large structure. Mountaineer Paranormal went with Brian from SRI to start our part of the investigation in the basement. Strange sounds were recorded. We also noted some strange interactions with trigger objects on the DVR cameras. a K-II Meter that was placed in the old coolers went off with no electrical boxes near it.
In conclusion, this investigation was very interesting and the team at Mountaineer Paranormal would like to extend our gratitude
to the SRI Team and to Charleston Ghost Tour Company for inviting us to this investigation.
Mountaineer Paranormal, Spectral Research and Investigations, and The Charleston Ghost Tour Company will be on site July 30, 2022 for a dinner and movie premier. SRI and Mountaineer Paranormal will be on location that evening to lead tours after the film ends. Come with us to check this place out!!
I also would like to thank Brian from Spectral Research and Investigations for allowing me to use his blog post as a bases to mine. That means a lot to us and I appreciate your help with everything!