"If you hear your name called in the woods, no you didn't.
If you hear whistling at night, no you didn't."
(It’s an Appalachian superstition that whistling or calling back to someone in the woods attracts the attention of malevolent entities, such as demons, ghosts, or other creatures of the night.)
The spooky season is upon us, and it’s that time of year when we gather around the campfire to impart frightening tales of the supernatural. We tell ghost stories not just for entertainment, but also to imbue warnings and life lessons. Most ghost stories are certainly embellished, but they often have a kernel of truth to them.
The Appalachian Mountains have always been a place of mystery, enchantment, and the unknown. It shouldn’t be a surprise that these mountains are haunted by a myriad of entities. I have gathered some of the most well-known ghost stories and haunted places in Appalachia. Here are the top ten haunted places in Appalachia (in no particular order).
1. OLD STONE CHURCH
The Old Stone Church can be found in Clemson, South Carolina at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. There is a grave in the church’s graveyard where no grass will grow, and has an uncanny ability to attract lightning quite regularly.
The grave belongs to a woman named Eliza Huger, who legend says was from the low country of South Carolina, and was called, “Queen Witch.” She had moved and lived in New Orleans, where she worked as a lady of the night. Her family didn’t take to well to this, and two of her brother’s supposedly traveled to New Orleans to bring her back home, but when they discovered her in a brothel; they shot and killed her.
Due to her unseemly life and death, she was not buried in the family’s burial plot, but at the Old Stone Church. Brick walls were put up around her grave to contain her, “sinful spirit.” Locals say you can toss a coin on her grave for good luck, but don’t you dare take one because you might live to regret it.
2. GRANDFATHER MOUNTAIN
Grandfather Mountain is located in North Carolian. This mountain peak offers breathtaking views, hiking trails, and a swinging bridge. I have been to Grandfather’s Mountain and it is worth the visit for the scenic mountain scenes alone. I have not though, come face to face with the phantom hiker of Grandfather Mountain.
The phantom hiker is said to be an older, rough looking gentleman with a beard, dressed in working man’s clothes from the mid-1900s. He always has a walking stick and canvas pack, and mostly minds his own business as he hikes along the trail. Most people think he is a flesh and blood person, until they realize that that the hiker mysteriously vanishes from their sight with no other place to go.
Who is this phantom hiker? Some people think he’s a hiker who got lost, and died on the mountain; while others feel he’s just the spirit of a man who loved Grandfather’s Mountain in life, and comes back in death to hike the picturesque trails he so treasured in life.
3. Trans-Allegheny Asylum
The famous psychiatric hospital, the Trans-Allegheny Asylum is located in Weston, West Virginia. The asylum was built between 1858 and 1881, and is the largest hand-cut stone masonry building in North America. It was built to house those with impaired mental faculties. It opened in 1864, with the capacity to house 250 patients. What was supposed to be a humane place for those with mental illness, it became an overcrowded (at one more in time it housed more than 2,400 patients), inhumane, and traumatic place instead. The hospital closed down for good in 1994, and now is on the National Register of Historical Places.
Due to the cruel, and brutal treatment of the patients at Trans-Allegheny, it’s no wonder that it became a hot bed of paranormal activity. The lingering spirits of not only former patients, but also former staff have been reported by numerous visitors to the site. Many have related stories of encountering apparitions, unexplainable voices and sounds, physical phenomena like objects moving, and various entities such as shadow figures. The Trans-Allegheny Asylum offers not only historical tours of the hospital, but ghost tours as well for those who want to experience the spookier side of the hospital.
4. BROWN MOUNTAIN
Brown Mountain in North Carolina has had sightings of unexplained, floating lights of various colors that appear low in the sky above Brown Mountain since the 19th century. There have been a variety of theories to explain the phenomena such as: railroad lights, or natural phenomena like atmospheric electricity or static, but no single explanation has been universally accepted, and thus the mystery continues to be a source of interest to this day.
5. WEST VIRGINIA PENITENTIARY
Located in Moundsville, West Virginia, the West Virginia Penitentiary was constructed in 1876, and decommissioned in 1995, but at its peak it once housed some of the region’s most dangerous criminals. Over its 119 years of operation, the penitentiary witnessed over 90 executions, with most of them being either hangings or electrocutions. The infamous prison’s homemade electric chair called, “Old Sparky,” is still on display today.
The executions aren’t the only violent deaths to leave their ghostly mark on the penitentiary. Overcrowding, inmate riots, and brutal violence plagued the prison for years. One of the most well-known haunted locations inside the prison called, “The Sugar Shack,” became notorious for illicit activity and visitors today claim the air shifts when you step inside, and you feel that you are not alone.
Other haunted activity includes disembodied voices, flickering lights, and phantom footsteps have been reported by day time visitors, as well as those brave enough to venture into the prison at night for their ghost tours and paranormal investigations. The penitentiary may no longer house physical criminals anymore, but the residual echoes of its former prisoners’ unrestful spirits still linger and refuse to be forgotten.
6. The Devil's Courthouse
Located in North Carolina along the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Devil’s Courthouse is a rocky outcrop the juts out from the ridgeline. From its summit visitors can see four states: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgie, and Tennessee. Below the ridge is a cave, and according to Appalachian folklore the Devil himself convened court inside and passed judgement on wandering souls.
There’s also a Cherokee legend attached to the rocky outcrop. The legend of Jutaculla, a giant with supernatural powers was said to dwell there. He used arrows of lightning and had a voice like thunder that was both feared and respected by the Cherokee people. There is no doubt when visiting the Devil’s Courthouse that there is something definitely eerie, and mystical about it.
7. Roaring Fork Trail/Cades Cove
Both located in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The Roaring Fork Motor Trail is a 5.5-mile scenic drive through the Smoky mountains. Legend has it that a young woman by the name of Lucy died in a cabin fire in the early 1900s located along the trail. It is said that her ghost has been seen walking barefoot along the road where her cabin burned down looking for a ride. Those who have picked up this hitchhiking ghost, are horrified to discover that their passenger had disappeared into thin air moments after entering the car.
Cades Cove is a historical site located in the Smoky Mountains. Known for its historical Primitive Baptist churches and cabins, its also well-known to be haunted by the spirits of the early settlers. According to legend, the church’s graveyards come to life. People have claimed to have seen various floating orbs over the graves. Are these the restless spirits of early settlers, or something else?
8. Red River Gorge
The Red River Gorge is a canyon system located in Eastern Kentucky within the Daniel Boone National Forest. It is renowned for its rugged natural beauty, and is a prime destination for outdoor activities such as hiking, rock climbing, and kayaking. I used to visit the Red River Gorge a lot as a kid, and little did I know how haunted it was.
There’s a “haunted cabin,” located in the gorge. The owner of the cabin, Bill Stark, has written a book called, “In Shadows Canyon Red, Our Haunted Cabin in the Red River Gorge,” all about his paranormal experiences living in the haunted cabin. The supernatural events that Stark has documented include: strange footprints, moving objects, and angelic orbs.
The famous Nada Tunnel in the Red River Gorge is rumored to be haunted as well. The tunnel was originally built in the early 1900s to haul lumber on steam locomotives for the Dana Lumber Company. Legend has it a worker had died from an explosion during its construction, and his ghost haunts the tunnel. Visitors have reported eerie feelings, ghostly images.
9. The Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian Trail is the world’s longest hiking only footpath, that is 2,1190 miles long through 14 states from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Mount Katahdin, Maine. More than three million people hike sections of the trail annually, and some hike the entire trail, which can take five to seven months to complete.
The Appalachian Trail is associated with numerous ghosts’ stories and haunted locations. Most well-known sites include: Wapiti Shelter in Virginia, rumored to be the site of a murdered hikers’ ghosts, and Bluff Mountain also in Virginia, is considered one of the most haunted sites on the trail. It is the place where a 4-year-old boy named Ottie Cline Powell disappeared and months later was found dead in 1891. Hikers have reported hearing eerie noises, and feeling a strange presence near the little boy’s memorial stone.
Other legends describe phantom hikers, unseen footsteps, unexplained cries in the night, a phantom dog, a faceless girl, and many other paranormal phenomena. One thing is for sure, if you ever do decide to hike the Appalachian Trail, maybe take someone with you, just in case you come face to face with things that go bump in the night.
10. The Devil's Looking Glass
The Devil’s Looking Glass is a high cliff overlooking the Nolichucky River in East Tennessee. The legend surrounding this cliff is the tale of a Cherokee woman who haunts the it and the water below. She was said to have killed herself by jumping off the cliff after her lover died in battle. It is said you can hear her woeful singing for her lover’s return which fades into loud wailful weeping. Other stories tell of a Banshee, which is a similar wailing woman from Irish folklore, but both are of sad and mournful female spirits.
These are but some of the most well-known haunted locations in Appalachia, but there are so many more. Appalachia has always been a very beautiful and evocative place, from its breathtaking, unreal beauty, to the resilient, and hardy people who call Appalachia home. It will forever be a place of haunting beauty that still holds its supernatural secrets even in these modern times.
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