Mathews native Dr. Rosalind Hammond, a retired professor and former dean of Bowling Green University, will give a talk on her research into the tales of strange phenomena surrounding Old House Woods at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 20, at Kingston Parish House, Main Street, Mathews.

An expert in folklore, Hammond has written several papers on Old House Woods and Mathews witches. Part of her research is from oral histories produced in the 1930s by the federal Works Projects Administration.

Residents of Mathews County are fascinated by the phantasmagorical aspects of Old House Woods, said a press release. It is rumored to be one of the five most haunted places in the United States.

One story tells of an old ship creaking through the foggy sky to the edge of the woods, filled with ghostly figures clambering out of the ship to search for lost treasure they buried hundreds of years ago. Other stories tell of headless dogs that leap into the backs of pickup trucks and of a woman in white who...