Cheat Lake
Cheat Lake
Description
On January 18, 1970, two West Virginia University freshmen, Mared Malarik and Karen Ferrell, left a movie theater screening of “Oliver!” in downtown Morgantown and were never seen alive again. The students had been attempting to hitchhike back to their dorms on Evansdale Campus. Eighty-eight days later, on April 16, 1970, their decapitated bodies were discovered by a National Guard unit approximately six miles south of Morgantown. Their skulls were never recovered, and the case remains officially unsolved despite a confession in 1976 that was later recanted.
According to local legend, the spirits of the two young women roam the woods near Cheat Lake and along Route 857 North, searching for their missing heads. Witnesses have reported apparitions of two figures running through the woods, which some believe have caused distracted drivers to have accidents on this route.
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Case Notes
The specific association between the coed murders and Cheat Lake and Route 857 North appears only in later paranormal retellings and could not be substantiated in contemporary news coverage, police records, or archival historical materials available at this time. It should be regarded as unverified local legend rather than documented tradition.
Imported from The Shadowlands Database
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Contact Listing Owner
Blennerhassett Hotel
- 320 Market St, Parkersburg, WV 26101
- paradbsite@gmail.com
- May 11, 2026
Morgantown Public Library
- 373 Spruce Street, Morgantown, WV 26505
- paradbsite@gmail.com
- May 11, 2026
Old Foamy Road
- Old Foamy Road, Johnson County, Texas, 76033, United States
- paradbsite@gmail.com
- May 11, 2026