The wood sided church sits on a hill on a one lane road, miles from the nearest town. The tree-lined road is quite and family homes speckle the trip up to the 1910 church. The well cared for church and cemetery were once the center of catholic life in the Lewis County, West Virginia. With many of the parishioners being immigrants from Ireland who brought with them their Catholic faith and traditions. These include the sad tradition of not allowing the bodies of the damned buried inside church cemeteries. The story of John Kennedy and his unusual burial is the reason so many have thought over the years that this church and cemetery are haunted.
Construction on the single room church finished and services began in 1910. Yet, many of the graves in the cemetery are from the late 1800’s, the graves are remnants of earlier church yards.This structure is actually the third version of the church.The first being recorded back to a log Catholic Church that was active in the 1850’s. All of the churches have looked down over Loveberry Ridge as a beacon on the hill to those looking for a place to worship.
Many churches and cemeteries in the mountain state are on the tops of hills or mountains no matter what the denomination.West Virginia people held the belief that you were “closer to God” when you worshiped/ spent eternity/ on a mountain top. The other more practical reason to have a cemetery on a hill-top is flooding. West Virginia is prone to flash flooding and has a wet climate making bottom land swampy and full of bogs if not well-drained. So in the 1800’s a wise choice was to place the wooden coffins in higher locations where they would not float to the top of the ground during a flood or bob up to the surface if a fresh water spring started under the cemetery.
If you look closely at the above photo and the photos below you will see a tombstone that is not in line with the others in the church cemetery. Up against the fence, alone, is the stone marking the grave site of John Kennedy. The stone is so close to the fence that an adult can not pass between it and the fence. On the ground in front of the headstone is his foot stone with just the J.K. marking. This is a strange placement for a foot stone during Victorian times, it would have been places several feet below the head of the dead. It is this grave that started the stories of the haunting at the Church.
As was the custom of the 1800’s Catholic Church, any person who committed a mortal sin was unable to have a Funeral Mass or burial in the church cemetery. John Kennedy committed suicide at the young age of 19 making it impossible for his remains to stay in St Bernard’s cemetery. Johns other family members are buried in the cemetery and were people of wealth and power making it possible for John to have the large marker with in the fence of St Bernard’s but not his body. The remains are in the small bank along the road outside the fence. Leaving John to forever struggling with the fact that his bones are outside the sacred ground of the church and without the holy blessing of the priest. Some say that John roams the road and parking lot. That he is always looking for a way back into the good graces of the church and family.
First hand sightings have said that the front and back gates of the church will open and close on their own even though both gates into the property have latches. That a black shadow figure moves around the parking area and up and down the road to the church. That at certain times of the year that the church windows glow at night as if by candle light. As if some one is trying to look out of the church into the cemetery.
It is interesting to note that the remains of the Rectory are still visible across the road where Father Thomas A Quirk over saw the building of this church and lived most of his life. The rectorie’s well, cellar and stone path are still visible to anyone who would want to walk up the steep bank to see them. The property is also protected with a huge wooden cross that stands on the front of the bank where the main house and offices would have stood. This maybe why the ghost is only seen in the road…
It is also possible that the strange happenings at (inside and out) the church could be caused by the ongoing conflict between the longtime resident Father Thomas Quirk and the young man John Kennedy. Father Quirk passed in 1937 after serving his parish for over 39 nine years passing at the age of 92. His resting place in the cemetery has a large white sculpture of Calvary with a monolithic gray granite stone slab where his remains rest only feet from the stone marker for John Kennedy.
1937, St. Bernard’s Catholic Church.
Photo: Arch Ellis. sourced from http://www.orlandostonesoup.blogspot.com
Locals believe that Monsignor Quirk is the spirit still protecting the church and its Revival Gothic interior. The Monsignor’s ghost will not allow anyone who enters the church to remove anything that belongs to his church. The story goes that nothing from hymnals to bibles can be removed from the church by anyone who is not approved by the watchful ghost. Many stories state that if a person attempts to remove the altar bible from the church the book gains weight as the uninvited guest progresses down the isle of the church. Finally the book becomes to heavy to carry and drops to the floor where it is impossible to moved.In the last few years the care takers of the church have also added the watchful eyes of security cameras to prevent unwanted intruders from entering the church. The Church is officially closed now days, no services are regularly held, but the church remains part of Catholic life in Lewis County. Some summers the church is open when they choose to have home-coming events and weddings at the remote location.
I did not need to see the inside of the church this day. All I needed was to see the headstone of John Kennedy and say a little prayer for him. I hope that his eternal struggle is over and that one day he would find some kind of peace in the cemetery way up at Loveberry Ridge.
Mountain Mama Reads and Writes 
I love hearing stories like this. There must be so many places like this, and people like Mr Kennedy. Thanks for sharing this and the beautiful pictures!
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I love them too! and finding them is not real hard I just have to ask and people love to share their experiences and stories… then I try to do research on the place and people if I can… so much fun!
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This is a neat story, I just think you might want to go back through and fix some grammatical errors. ex: “with in (within) the fence of St Bernard’s but not his body” “Finally the book becomes to (too) heavy to carry and drops to the floor where it is impossible to move.”
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Thanks so much for sharing the history
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Wonderful story and pictures! I need to check and see if we have this story in the library. Will share with Hacker’s Creek FB site. Thank You
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Thanks for the share and interest in the story. I am guessing that the library has very little information on this church or the tradition of catholic burial.
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We actually have some books on the local churches. We have one that has some history on the Catholic Churches in Lewis County. For instances, I found the Old Columbia Club had its beginning as the Catholic Church, and has a corner stone that held a time capsule. Lot of the genealogical family research of Lewis County leads back to the Catholic.
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I have visited this church years ago it is very beautiful on the hill ut there is an erie feeling too it .the church has stained glass in the front sides and we found it strange that it did have like a glow behind the stained glass that resembles a demon or devil like picture defining the eyes especially . It’s a real cool place to visit.
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I grew up near Loveberry and visited the church many times. Many of my ancestors are buried there. This is an interesting story that I’d not heard.
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I had pictures of a black shadow figure in the first window on the side of the church that is opposite of the graveyard. I had three black cats go in front of the vehicle me and my friends were in while we were on our way to love berry on October 31st 2009. Not that I’m superstitious doesn’t matter if I am either way it was very weird…
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I love the story and have heard it many times. My Mother’s family are buried there–the Murray Family. This was my Mother’s church and we visited it often when she was still with us. Thank You so much for sharing this story.
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I believe my ancestors are buried there, murphy name,
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Chilling account of unforgiveness, back in the day and a different perspective, with prayerful seeking of the peaceful rest of the poor soul, at a later time….Through the Mercy of God.
Lynne Llewellyn Snyder
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When I visit the grave of John Kennedy ( that’s what I go there for, I hug His stone and tell him that I love him, for there is nothing an 18 year old boy could do that warrants that kind of shame. We all know now that depression and despair are mental illnesses that warrant understanding, not shame. To me he has committed no shame. I hope John is at peace.
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It wasn’t just a “custom in the 1800s” not to bury the damned within the hallowed ground of a Catholic cemetery – it was never allowed in any century as a mater of Faith (not custom) – until after the liberal invasion of the late 1960s.
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Great history lessons. Love to read more….thanks for including pics….WV has lots of history like this to offer.
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Loved the story… great as always. The cemetery looks just like the one in the T.C.C. books. I would love to get some old Black and Whites.
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Thanks so much! It is one of the more popular posts on my blog. I love a good ghost story and this one was actually told to my son. So we spent the day investigating the church. I would love to get to go to a church reunion and see the inside also!
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I hope you was still able to in joy the story with the grammatical errors!
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I am sorry for the grammatical errors dyslexia is a terrible problem and adding Grammarly has helped me write better!
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I came upon your site tonight and am fascinated. John Kennedy was the son of my great-great grandfather, Thomas Kennedy, from Ireland. I am a blogger also and am working on some family history and commentary. Please let me know any further information possible.
Is there an obituary for this young John Kennedy? What details are known of his suicide and the cause. According to an extensive family history book, he was a Protestant Minister. Was that possible at his age? Thomas Kennedy was a staunch Catholic, married to Sarah (Sally) Williams who was a devout Methodist. The focus on my own musings and family research writing actually deals with this split, in part.
There is a bit more that I’ve read, but I am quite anxious to hear more from you.
I am making an assumption you are of no relation, but are either connected to Saint Bernard’s somehow, or a general historian in that area.
My mother’s family was from Buckhannon…she was born in 1923. Thomas Kennedy (father of young John) was my mother’s great-grandfather.
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Eileen I have just started using this account again if you would like to talk more please feel free to reach me at Tjcpowers@gmai.com. The address to this blog is one I hardly use unless it is related to my schooling.
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I’m actually working right down the road from this church it’s very beautiful and I had no idea of the history on it until today may have to go check it out now. Thanks for the history on this church and I hope John finally finds some peace, no 19 yr old should be shunned like that.
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I have a “John Kennedy” in my ancestry and would be interested if there is a way to find out if this 19 year old may have been him. I would like to be connected with someone in that area to specifically discuss the basis for my wondering if this is a relation of mine.
Thank you for anyone local who is interested in messaging with me. My family was from Lewis/Upshur and other surrounding areas. My great-great grandfather was a Thomas Kennedy from Ireland. He had a son, John Kennedy, whom family history says he disowned for becoming a Protestant Minister.
I have been actively trying to research this part of my family stories…
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