Brian Neal Bollinger

Brian Bollinger is a Parkersburg, West Virginia, native now living in Oakland, Maryland, with nearly thirty years of experience in higher-education financial services, currently helping West Virginia University students and families navigate financial challenges. A 1997 graduate of West Virginia Wesleyan College, he has traveled to all fifty states and U.S. territories, driven legendary highways, and sought out the historic and unusual places that keep America’s stories alive. In 2026, his #BollingerCannonballRun covered approximately 10,800 miles alone in nine days, combining the historic New York-to-Los Angeles Cannonball route, Route 66, and the four geographic extremes of the contiguous United States—a journey featured by WVU Potomac State College, WV News, and The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. His lifelong fascination with the unexplained has taken him to twenty-five of America’s best-known haunted locations, famous movie sites connected with The Shining and other screen legends, and face-to-face encounters with Robert the Doll and Annabelle. Through his writing, photography, and travels, Bollinger explores how history, folklore, popular culture, and personal experience turn ordinary locations into stories that refuse to be forgotten.