In 2015 I decided to pursue my dream of writing. Writing all the stories that my mother told me about living near Tygart. There were bootleggers, moonshiners, train riders, hobos and gypsies that roamed the hills. A lot of stills in the area, hid behind the brush and deep in the woods. It was a common thing to jump on the side of a train and ride to wherever you wanted to go. Many people fell beneath the wheels and were decapitated. The “night riders” rode the trains at night looking for moonshine being hidden in suitcases and caskets. The dead were brought home on the trains to their final resting place and funerals were held in the home of the deceased. The city park was filled with cottages on both sides of the river, and the ferry and streetcars carried people to and from the park. Many drownings took place in the city park, and along the Tygart Valley River. The stories you have read are all true stories from 1906-1934 that took place along the Tygart Valley River.