There’s something about fall in West Virginia that makes you pause and reflect on the changing of the seasons.

Maybe it’s the cooler air, the changing leaves, or the realization that we have a limited number of weekends left before winter gives us a very different reason to stay home. Whatever it is, October seems to bring with it a particular kind of curiosity. There are places to go, things to eat, music to hear, stories to discover and, apparently, a few things in the woods that we may or may not want to encounter after dark.

That feels like a pretty good way to describe this issue of Hashtag. We start with two stories that take a deeper look at the things we think we already know.

Carly Thaw’s exhibition, Back in Appalachia, is about coming home after nearly 12 years away and seeing the landscape with fresh eyes. Now she’s looking even closer, at the patterns in plants, animals, rocks and landscapes that are sometimes easy to overlook. Her work is a reminder that you don’t need to go somewhere new to see something differently. You just need to slow down long enough to really look.

Then there’s Mimi’s Kitchen and Asian Cuisine, where looking beyond what is familiar has become part of the menu. Mimi Yong and Jim Panciera moved to West Virginia from the Northeast, and when they couldn’t find the bold flavors and foods they were craving, Mimi started making them herself. Now their takeout kitchen just north of Lewisburg brings together Korean, Japanese, Thai, Malaysian, Chinese, Vietnamese and Italian influences, all made from scratch. It’s another example of how people bring pieces of where they’ve been into what they’re building here.

And then October gets a little weird.

Our cover story features an absolute must-do this Halloween season. Miller’s Nightmare Haunted Farm is back for its 12th season, with a new trip into the dark and mysterious town of LORE, where Appalachian folklore and cryptids come to life. If that isn’t enough, there’s the Miller Institute, an isolation ward, more than a mile of haunted trails and a Dark Midway to keep you occupied before you work up the nerve to head into the woods.

If your idea of a fall adventure involves searching out the unknown, the West Virginia Bigfoot Festival is returning to Summersville. Bigfoot believers, skeptics, families, researchers and curious newcomers will gather for a weekend built around one of Appalachia’s most enduring mysteries. You may not find Bigfoot, but you’ll find plenty of people willing to talk about him.

If you prefer your ghosts to come with a little documented history, the Historic Cemetery Tours return to the Old Stone Cemetery. Local performers will take on the roles of people from Greenbrier Valley’s past, bringing their stories back to life among the stones where they were laid to rest. There’s history, theater and just enough mystery to make you wonder what you might see out of the corner of your eye.

And there’s plenty to get curious about beyond the spooky stuff. Carnegie Hall presents bluegrass and old-time music masters Jason Carter and Michael Cleveland, bringing two remarkable musicians together for an evening that’s worth getting out of the house for. And after some time away, Patrick O’Flaherty is back in the Greenbrier Valley, with new local performances giving familiar listeners, and anyone who hasn’t heard him yet, a chance to catch him onstage again.

Maybe that’s the thread running through these pages.

Fall has a way of making us look a little closer. At the landscape around us. At the food we eat. At the stories that have been passed down. At the music we’ve heard before and the musicians we’re discovering for the first time. At the things we think we know, and the things we’re still trying to figure out.

Sometimes that means noticing the intricate patterns in something growing beside the trail. Sometimes it means trying an exotic dish that you’ve never had before. Sometimes it means listening to a spooky story about those who came before us.

And sometimes it means walking into the woods at night because someone told you there might be an unmentionable cryptid waiting there for you.

There’s plenty more to explore in these pages, and that’s really what I hope you take from this issue: Get curious.

Take the scenic route. Try something different. Go somewhere you’ve never been. Look a little closer.

And if you happen to see something moving between the trees, well… RUN! — Or embrace the unknown.

See you out there,

Zachery