Mountain Top Daily - 09/18/26

A Floyd County man is facing multiple charges following an alleged domestic violence incident and an Old Williamson hospital is open for spooky season. I'm Nick Colum and this is the Mountaintop Daily. >> [music] >> A Floyd County man is facing multiple charges following an alleged domestic violence incident Sunday night in the Herald area. According to a Floyd County Sheriff's Office citation, Prestonburg Central Dispatch received a call around 10 p.m. September 13th about an unconscious woman at a residence on Route 979. The caller reported the woman was breathing but unresponsive. A second call reported that the woman's boyfriend, identified as 45-year-old Orville Phillip Hall of Herald, was armed with a handgun and threatening to kill himself. A trooper responding to the scene says he encountered Hall running along Kentucky 979. Hall initially identified himself as Philip Hall before being identified as Orville Hall. The citation says Hall appeared intoxicated with bloodshot, glassy eyes, and the smell of alcohol on his breath. Hall reportedly admitted he had been drinking. When officers returned to the residence, they found the victim with visible injuries, including swelling and bruising around her neck and bumps on her head. According to the citation, the woman told officers she remembered Hall hitting her, then holding her down and grabbing her around the neck until she could not breathe. She could not remember what happened after that. Hall is charged with seconddegree strangulation, fourthderee assault involving domestic violence and minor injury and public intoxication. He is scheduled to appear in court Monday for arraignment and a preliminary hearing. The old hospital on College Hill in Williamson is opening its doors tonight to admit patients looking for a spooky thrill. Connor went there today to find out more. Friday the 18th marks the start of the spooky season for the old hospital on College Hill in Williamson. This year they are hosting a haunted hospital attraction for the public with spirits and actors alike to scare everyone. Here we have Tanya Webb, the co-owner of the hospital to tell us more about the hospital and the event. >> The old hospital on College Hill has been here since 1928. Uh it was formerly known as Williamson Memorial Hospital. Um, it served as a regular hospital from 1928 till around 1988. And then they built a newer one up on the hill, just a little bit up from us. And then thankfully they saved the building and transformed it into a clinic. And it served as a clinic from 1988 until around 2014. And then primarily it was shut down after that for storage. Yes, we are officially kicking off spooky season um this weekend with our haunted house. And um what you'll basically do is uh navigate three floors of the hospital with some hospital characters kind of making it a little bit difficult for you. Um but you know, you're entering an almost a 99year-old hospital. So um with that comes u you got the regular spirits that are here and the ghosts that are already here, but then we throw in some haunt actors with it. So we love doing things for the community and putting on events for children and families and just having something to do. Even without the haunted attraction, the hospital is believed to be haunted by former patients and staff alike. With reported sightings from people far and wide, the evidence is hard to deny. Even Webb herself has had some experience with the paranormal in the hospital over the years. We are actually in the basement of all places. Um the basement's one of my favorite floors. Um it's probably one of the most historic floors as well as um one of the creepiest floors. Um, we get visitors from all over that come not only for spooky stories and paranormal investigations and paranormal stories, but also for history as well. Um, this hospital, as you can imagine, it's 98 years old, so it's got it'll be 99 in March, so it's got a lot of history to it, and it went through a lot of things, the Great Depression, a lot of the diseases. So, the hospital saw a lot of things in its life. So, we're just happy to be able to preserve it and keep it going and hopefully tell more stories as we go along. We've had things from shadow figures to hearing footsteps on floors above us if there's nobody else in the building or below us. Um, doors shutting when they shouldn't be shutting, lights turning on and off when there's no power in the room. Um, disembodied voices. Um, that's what really happened to me the first time. I could hear a male's voice, but I couldn't find the person. and um searched the whole hospital. Long story short, I didn't find him. Um and this was like at 8:00 in the morning, so I wasn't expecting it, but you know, you got to think about it. Hospitals were active all the time. Um especially morning time, you know, you had doctors making rounds, nurses doing shift changes, people coming to see their loved ones. So, it was really a uh eye opener for me. >> Reporting from Mountaintop News, I'm Connor Kidd. Coming up after the break, the Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce held their annual awards night. That's coming up when the Mountaintop Bailey continues. But first, sports and weather. Here we go. Bada bing, bada boom. We've got some new sound equipment. How's it going, sports fans? Cody the Professor Davis here with your Mountaintop sports recap. And let's just jump into it. All right, tonight's the night. We've got Pikeville and Belelfrey football coming to you live on the Mountaintop Sports Facebook TV app and cable TV channel. Before the game, be sure to catch a special edition of the Hail podcasted starting at 6:30. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30. Then after the game, you're going to want to stay tuned for our social post. We'll have players of the game, different achievements, and then after that, we're even going to have some video highlights and [music] photos. Trust me when I tell you that you don't want to miss it. That's all for today. Be sure to make it out to Hillard Howard Field for one of the biggest games in Eastern Kentucky. You don't want to miss it or join us live on all of our streaming options. [music] This has been your Mountaintop Sports Recap. I'm Cody the Professor Davis and as always, thanks for watching. Ned Pillarsdorf fights for the underdog in courtrooms where he advocates for the most vulnerable and in classrooms where atrisisk kids get a second chance. Ned doesn't just talk about things. Ned shows up and people notice. He's the best pro bono attorney in the nation. Now he's bringing his fight to Washington. >> I'm Ned Pillarsdorf and I approve this message. Are you still stuck with a wireless carrier that just doesn't get [music] you? You know, you call for help, nobody knows your name and they definitely don't know where you're from. Well, maybe it's time to come back home to someone [music] who does. Switching back to Appalachas, it's never been easier. You can keep your number with no awkward breakup and no starting over. Just great savings [music] on an advanced 5G network with local people. Keep your number, keep it local, and keep it connected. So come back home because we are you. We are Appalachin Wireless. Last night, the Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce honored local businesses at their annual awards night. I stopped by to learn more about the celebration. On Thursday, September 17th, the Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce hosted its 2026 annual awards night. Hundreds of local business representatives were in attendance to see who would win categories such as business of the year, service organization of the year, and more. SEKCC President and CEO Tiffany Coleman tells us about the event. >> We had over 400 people in attendance tonight with over 45 businesses that sponsored the event. We gave away business person of the year, business of the year. All of those videos can be found on our YouTube. They they go live at 9:00 tonight. And it's just an amazing thing to see our business community stand and support each other. Those awards to some truly deserving individuals. Seeing them come to life on their videos, seeing their families with them on the red carpet when we're taking those photos, it just makes it all worth it. >> The chamber hosts annual awards night not just to maintain healthy relationships with local businesses and members, but to highlight those who are pushing the region forward. Many also attend to discuss collaborative opportunities and network with one another. >> We host this event because it's important for the region to know what's happening. These individuals, these organizations, these businesses, they're out doing the work every single day. And it's important for our region to see what they're doing and how it impacts their everyday life. And that's why we do it. It's also the best networking opportunity. Like I said, there's over 400 people in this room today. Some people will not see each other again until next year at awards night. So, it's important for them to take advantage of that opportunity to get to see each other, to set a meeting, to just catch up and have a good time. It's a networking event. It's not a stuffy event where we just want people to sit there. We want people to come in and have a great time. I just really appreciate everybody that came out and supported tonight and just showed support for all of our award winners and members. It's just a great time. That will do it for this edition of the Mountaintop Daily. Be sure to check us out at 6 PM every weekday on Mountaintop TV, the Mountaintop TV app, and the Mountaintop News Facebook page. With your Mountaintop Daily, I'm Nick Colum for Mountaintop News.