It's a chilly day in a tiny town in West Virginia, in the Appalachian Mountains.

Winter is almost over.

In the middle of town is this little wooden dance hall that was built in 1910.

Inside there are fiddles playing and feet stomping on the floorboards.

And then the sun starts to go down and the doors of the dance hall open.

And all of these characters wearing huge paper mache masks come parading out.

You know, people dress up as frightening things, like whimsical, scary-looking beasts, or it might be something very beautiful.

Like I've seen masks that have like streamers of color coming out and very vibrant colors.

This parade of beasts and aliens and flowers and suns and moons makes its way into a field.

They're holding lanterns. And as the sun gets lower and it gets darker outside, the light from

the lanterns makes everything seem strange and unreal. The way that the sounds echo when you're

in the mask are very fascinating because you're

having a great time. There's music. People want your picture and they want to talk to you and you

can't quite hear them. So it's kind of this lovely, confusing experience. It allows you to be

something else for the day and be an observer and observed.

I'm Kelly McEvers, and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange, incredible, and wondrous places.

This episode is brought to you in partnership with West Virginia tourism.

And today, we're going to Fasnach. It's a day of celebration, revelry, and a little bit of

mischief to celebrate the end of winter. A tradition that has been around for a long time,

but was almost lost in West Virginia,

until two local women saved it. That story after this.

The Fasnacht is the signature event in a town called Helvetia.

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