HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Harpers Ferry rail legend of a burning woman who runs the tracks at night
Potomac Street rail corridor, Lower Town, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free to view the rail corridor from public areas; ghost tours charge a fee. Never walk on active tracks.
Access
Limited Access
Active railroad corridor along the Potomac; view only from public streets and platforms
Equipment
Photos OK
Appalachian railroad folklore · Harpers Ferry ghost-tour tradition
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad bridged the Potomac and reached Harpers Ferry in 1837, threading its line through the narrow Lower Town along the river. The Screaming Jenny legend is usually dated to the decades after the railroad arrived and is set in the makeshift shacks and storage sheds that once stood near the tracks.
As the tale is told, a destitute woman named Jenny lived alone in one of those sheds. One cold night a spark from her fire caught her clothing, and the flames spread faster than she could put them out. Engulfed, she ran toward the station for help and onto the tracks, where an oncoming train struck and killed her. There is no documented death record tied to the story, and the historical Jenny — if she existed — has never been identified, which places the account firmly in the realm of folklore rather than verified history.
The legend has been carried forward in West Virginia folklore columns and newspaper features, including the Charleston Gazette-Mail, and it remains one of the best-known stops on Harpers Ferry's commercial ghost tours. The setting is a working rail corridor; visitors are warned to view it only from public areas.
Sources
The haunting follows the legend closely. About a month after Jenny's death, the story goes, an engineer rounding the bend near the station saw a burning figure sprinting down the tracks and wailing. He braked hard and jumped from the cab, but found no body and no sign of a fire. From that night on, crews and townspeople reported the same scene returning.
The most repeated version of the modern haunting describes a ball of flame rolling along the rails on cold autumn nights, accompanied by a scream that fades as it passes. Tour guides place the apparition on the stretch of track west of the old station. The reports are anecdotal and passed down through folklore and ghost-tour scripts rather than documented investigation, and we present Screaming Jenny as one of Harpers Ferry's enduring rail legends.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
The Screaming Jenny legend is set on the old Baltimore & Ohio tracks that run through Lower Town Harpers Ferry along the Potomac. The corridor is an active rail line and can be seen from the public streets and the train platform — stay well clear of the tracks themselves.
Screaming Jenny is a standard stop on Harpers Ferry's commercial evening ghost-history walks, which retell the legend along the public streets near the tracks.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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