Trivia Advent Calendar

[L Verge]

I must have been under a bucket all these years 'cause I never remember hearing of the Booth House. Not even friends who are on the edges of the paranormal have mentioned it to my knowledge.

In searching for its history online, I found that it is now closed, but was being run as a museum for paranormal studies. There is a pretty bad interview with an elderly man in Charles Town, WV, about how it came to be named the Booth House. From what I could make out, it supports the John Yates Beall story of his friendship with Booth. I knew that Beall was from the Charles Town area, born on a farm called Walnut Creek. After his execution, his body was finally brought back for burial in the Episcopal graveyard in the town.

The gentleman who is interviewed claims that Booth rented this house on the Frank Cavalier Farm in order to spend time near his friend Beall. Not sure that I'm buying this story. What does Art Loux's work say about any trips to Harpers Ferry or Charles Town (other than for the execution of John Brown)? John Yates Beall spent a lot of time in Iowa before the war and then served in Confederate forces before being badly wounded. He then turned to his most famous exploits as a Confederate privateer/saboteur. When would Booth have been visiting him in WV?

Great question, Joe, and it gave me another historic puzzle to pursue - maybe...