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Preface

From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggety beasties And things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us.

Scottish prayer

The Piedmont of North Carolina is a very special place for me: I was born here; I was educated here; I met my wife here; I was married here; our daughter was born here; and I have lived my entire life here. And the Piedmont’s fascinating folklore and supernatural history have intrigued me for as long as I can remember.

As a child growing up in North Carolina in the 1950s and 1960s, I delighted in watching Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone television series and the great science-fiction films of that period. At the same time, I read with great interest the classic ghost stories of North Carolina, as documented by John Harden in The Devil’s Tramping Ground (1949) and Tar Heel Ghosts (1954) and by Nancy Roberts in An Illustrated Guide to Ghosts & Other Mysterious Occurrences in the Old North State (1959) and Ghosts of the Carolinas (1962).

Meanwhile, I was developing an abiding interest in the magnificent history of North Carolina. The history of the state—indeed, the history of British America—began on the soil of North Carolina with Sir Walter Raleigh’s colonization attempts, which resulted in the Lost Colony of Roanoke in the 15 80s. Ironically, our history as Tar Heels began with a haunting mystery that remains unresolved to this day.

When the European traditions of ghosts, witches, demons, and the like were brought to America, they landed on the shores of North Carolina. And it was on our soil that settlers documented some of the first encounters with the supernatural in America. But long before the arrival of European settlers, North Carolina was the domain of various Indian peoples. Theirs is a history replete with tales of the supernatural.

Because North Carolina has been a significant part of the American experience from the very beginning, it has emerged as one of the most historic places in the United States. And where there is history, ghosts and other elements of the supernatural can usually be found. As a longtime student of the Old North State, I can assure readers that North Carolina has a haunted heritage, one rich in the supernatural.

This book and its companion volumes offer a view of that ghostly history in a format never before presented. Here, for the first time, readers are offered a supernatural tale from each of the state’s one hundred counties. But the North Carolina’s Haunted Hundred series is not simply a collection of Tar Heel ghost stories from every county in the state. Rather, it is a sampler of the diverse supernatural history of North Carolina. The three volumes contain accounts of ghosts and apparitions (human, animal, and inanimate), witches, strange creatures, demons, spook lights, haunting mysteries, unidentified flying objects, unexplained phenomena, and more.

Instead of retelling the timeless ghost stories so well chronicled by Harden, Roberts, Fred T. Morgan, F. Roy Johnson, Judge Charles Harry Whedbee, and others, I have chosen to present many tales that have never been widely circulated in print. I include a few of the familiar tales of our ghostly lore in the mix, but with new information or a new twist.

Do you believe in ghosts and creatures of the night? Whether your answer is yes or no, almost everyone enjoys a ghost story or an inexplicable tale of the unusual. And when that narrative has as its basis real people, actual places, and recorded events, it becomes more enjoyable because it hints at credibility and believability.

All of the stories set forth in this three-volume series are based in fact. But over the years, these tales have been told and retold, and the details have in some cases become blurred. As with all folklore, whether you choose to believe any or all of the accounts in these pages is entirely up to you. A caveat that Mark Twain once offered his readers holds true here: “I will set down a tale.… It may be only a legend, a tradition. It may have happened, it may not have happened. But it could have happened.”

Should you develop a desire to visit some of the haunted places detailed in this series, be mindful that most are located on private property. Be sure to obtain permission from the owner before attempting to go upon any site.

Sprawling between the expansive coastal plain and the lofty peaks of the mountains is the populous North Carolina Piedmont. The majority of the state’s eight million-plus citizens call this region home. Lurking among this crowd of humanity is a sizable population of spirits and unknown entities that I have chosen to refer to collectively as Piedmont Phantoms. Their haunted realm now awaits you.