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    Ghosts of the Yadkin Valley
    Ghosts of the Yadkin Valley
    Ghosts of the Yadkin Valley
    Ebook149 pages1 hour

    Ghosts of the Yadkin Valley

    By R. G. Absher

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    About this ebook

    Ghostly footsteps, mysteriously locked doors, and apparitions from centuries past. The rolling hills and hollers of the Yadkin Valley have been home to many historic events, from Stoneman s raid to the hanging of Tom Dooley. These events have left their imprint on the county s architecture and landscape, and some of them have even
    left a ghostly legacy. Ghosts of the Yadkin Valley is a collection of spine-tingling tales, including ghost stories from many of the area s National Historic Register sites. Join local storyteller R.G. Absher as he relates the history behind the haunts.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThe History Press
    Release dateMay 29, 2009
    ISBN9781625842671
    Ghosts of the Yadkin Valley
    Author

    R. G. Absher

    R. G. Absher is a well know folklorist, storyteller, and musician from Western North Carolina. He has produced a number of musical recordings which relate to historical themes of Western North Carolina and has performed at concerts such as MerleFest and the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games. In addition to his musical background, Absher is well versed in regional history and in many stories and tales of the Yadkin Valley. In 2005, Absher set up (and still leads) the successful Ghost Tours in Downtown Wilkesboro, NC on the properties managed by Wilkes Heritage Museum, as well as many sites on the National Historic Register. Currently, Absher is employed as the Assistant Park Manager at the W. Kerr Scott Dam and Reservoir. He has been the presiding Board Chair of the Wilkes Heritage Museum since 2006 and has served as Vice President of the Overmountain Victory Trail Association since 2003. He is Chairman of the Wilkes Save Our History Committee, a group that raised enough money through donations and sponsors to produce over 200 Oral History interviews on DVD, then distributed these videos to regional school systems and county libraries. Many of these videos have been aired on UNC Public TV. His published works include A Driving Auto Tour of Historic Tom Dooley Sites for the US Army Corps of Engineers (2006). His enthusiasm for the ghosts of Wilkes County led to a series of interviews on Shadows in the Dark Radio, a station devoted to paranormal activity.

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      Book preview

      Ghosts of the Yadkin Valley - R. G. Absher

      Museum

      CHAPTER 1

      CLASSIC HAUNTED HOUSE CHARACTERISTICS

      From England and Ireland to Savannah and Williamsburg, I’ve found that ghost places share historically related themes and have strong ties to their historical past. In addition, these sites have witnessed a range of human emotions. Whether it’s a Civil War battlefield in America or the Tower of London in the United Kingdom, violent events, gruesome tragedies and subsequent ghost legends abound. What I have discovered in my ghost quest of the Yadkin Valley is that the stories here also have a common thread of emotional trauma and other human emotions that connect to their histories. Many of these haunted sites and houses share patterns or characteristics in the stories that emerge from them.

      In order to more fully enjoy the stories that follow, I thought it would be good to address at the beginning of this book what constitutes some of the classic haunted house characteristics and unexplained supernatural ghost experiences. Then, as you read through the stories that follow, hopefully some similarities and patterns of these characteristics will begin to emerge. For example, I’ve found that descriptions of occurrences from English castles often mirror those of American buildings. Paranormal happenings at battlefields in Europe are similar to those reported at American battlefields, and similarities are often found among haunted houses.

      Another thing about ghost encounters is that they may not be limited by boundaries of time and space. Although late-night encounters in spooky settings are the most noticed, most celebrated and offer the paranormal investigators the most distraction-free environment, occurrences can take place in any location or at any time of day. In addition, ghosts don’t discriminate against gender, social status or ethnicity. Virtually anyone can experience the strange and unexplained. Of special interest are the same basic descriptions of ghost encounters told independently by different persons. In the stories that follow, a fair amount of them also involve these independent sightings.

      Ghost experiences are not as rare as one might think. People are often reluctant to admit or report such encounters for obvious reasons. I’ve discovered, however, that it is not unusual to have at least one or more folks on my ghost tours who can tell of an explained or suspected paranormal event in their lives. I’ve been surprised that, when asked, a good percentage of people can tell you about something unexplained that happened to them at some point in their journey. There must be some reason why people are drawn to ghost stories. Before we dive into the stories, let’s examine a few of the things to watch for.

      One of the most common haunted house characteristics that people report are all kinds of sounds. Some common sounds include footsteps on staircases or people walking in adjacent rooms or other floors. Many people are convinced that the sounds could not be caused by anything but another person. People insist that they are not caused by the mouse in the attic or by the bird flying through windows. Some descriptions are very specific, such as running children, men walking in heel taps or people locked in an eternal struggle.

      Yet another type of occurrence is the sound of human voices. Descriptions range from normal talking to moaning, crying and laughter. Again, folks say that the voices are not caused by moving rafters, winds or rain noise but are like real live human voices. Often no environmental conditions exist that could have caused the sounds. The weird variant of the human voice is the description of demonic or chant-like tones. Sometimes these demonic variants include hysterical laughter, moaning, echoing or even wailing siren voices that rise and fall in pitch. The voices may sound distorted, have alien-like qualities or sound like they are in foreign or unknown languages. Imagine just for a moment that you are alone and in a spooky setting and suddenly hear a strange, troubling voice that you only thought possible in a horror

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