One of West Virginia’s most iconic locations, Babcock State Park, has 4,127 acres of beautiful mountainside, rivers, and a fully functional replica of the original Cooper’s Mill that once stood on the grounds.
Park visitors can enjoy a wide range of recreational activities such as hiking, fishing and mountain biking, as well as whitewater rafting nearby in the New River.
What many visitors don’t know, however, is that the park has a dark past.
In the early morning hours of April 30, 1996, a Fayette County 911 operator received a phone call from a distraught Mike Flippo, a well-known and well-liked pastor of the Landmark Church of God in Nitro, a community of 8,000 located 11 miles west of Charleston.
Flippo claimed that he and his wife, Cheryl, had been attacked by a burly, masked intruder in the middle night. Flippo stated he had been knocked unconscious and cut by the attacker and that his wife was breathing but laying in the floor in a pool of her own blood. When paramedics arrived that the scene, Cheryl Flippo was pronounced dead.
As police began to investigate and details of the case emerged, it quickly became apparent that Mr. Flippo wasn’t telling the truth.
A cabin with no sign of forced entry, injuries on Mr. Flippo that didn’t match the brutality he claimed happened, key objects out of place and testimonies of any unhappy marriage were all clues that the police used to charge Flippo with his wife’s murder.
Flippo’s appearance of guilt only left one question. Why?
Living Lore, Episode Three focuses on the key facts of the Flippo case and works to solve the puzzle that is the murder at cabin 13.
Listen to Living Lore, Episode Three here.