A stretch of railroad tracks between Weirwood and Pax in Fayette County, the focus of a regional 'headless ghost' legend about a man decapitated by a train who is said to follow walkers to a bridge.
Railroad corridor between Weirwood and Pax, Pax, WV 25904
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
No formal site. The legend is set on active or former railroad right-of-way; walking railroad tracks is dangerous and often trespassing. Do not walk active tracks.
Access
Limited Access
Railroad right-of-way and a bridge; uneven, unlit, and hazardous
Equipment
Photos OK
Pax is a small town in Fayette County in southern West Virginia, an area shaped by coal mining and the rail lines built to serve it. Weirwood is a nearby locality, and the railroad corridor connecting the two is the setting for one of the region's better-circulated railroad ghost legends.
The community of Pax, its city hall, and the surrounding railroad infrastructure are real. Fatal train accidents were a genuine and tragically common hazard along West Virginia's coalfield rail lines in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which gives the legend a plausible backdrop. However, no specific named victim, dated incident, newspaper account, or coroner's record corresponding to the headless-ghost story has been located.
The legend appears on regional folklore and tourism outlets including West Virginia Ghosts (wvghosts.com) and Visit Southern West Virginia, which add narrative detail beyond the original Shadowlands submission. These retellings, however, do not constitute independent documentation of an actual death. The entry is therefore treated as a real geographic setting with a single-source paranormal tradition and is flagged for human review. Critically, because the story is set on railroad tracks, Hauntbound does not present it as a visitable site.
Sources
According to West Virginia Ghosts (wvghosts.com, an independent West Virginia ghost-story site with a dedicated submission program and newsletter) and the official Visit Southern West Virginia tourism bureau (visitwv.com), anyone who walks the railroad tracks from Weirwood toward the Pax City Hall at night may be joined by a ghostly presence. The story begins with a glowing light or orb that follows the walker; when the walker runs, the orb moves ahead of them and stays in front until they reach a bridge. There it takes the form of a headless man. In some versions the figure appears to be carrying a lantern, until the walker realizes he is carrying his own head.
West Virginia Ghosts published the account on July 14, 2004, attributed to a witness from the town who described seeing a figure on the tracks that she initially believed was carrying a lantern. Visit Southern West Virginia includes the 'Wierwood to Pax tracks' in its official county-by-county ghost-story guide for Fayette County.
The ghost is said to be a man who was decapitated by a train while walking the tracks. At the bridge, the figure reportedly jumps off into the stream below, splashing mud and water onto the witness. No specific named victim or dated accident record has been confirmed. Because the legend is set on hazardous railroad right-of-way, it is documented here strictly as folklore, and visitors are urged not to walk railroad tracks.
Notable Entities
The headless-ghost legend is set along railroad tracks between Weirwood and Pax in Fayette County. Because the story involves active or former railroad right-of-way, Hauntbound documents it as folklore only and does not recommend walking the tracks, which is dangerous and often illegal.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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