Discover and Celebrate the Ghosts, Legends and Mysteries of the Western North Carolina Mountains

Asheville, and indeed all of Western North Carolina,have historically been the subject of numerous legends and reports of hauntings, ghosts, and unexplained paranormal phenomenal. Numerous books have been written on the subject, and entire festival has been created around one supposed paranormal phenomena: the Brown Mountain Lights.

Asheville Societies for Investigating Paranormal Experiences

Asheville Paranormal Society
"... We are a diverse group of people with a strong interest in the paranormal. We approach each investigation from a scientific point of view. We are open-minded but skeptical. We do spirit rescues and spirit cleansings if needed. We are the only group in Asheville that does this. Our services are free to everyone...." Their site offers brief but comprehensive information on ALL of the various Asheville hauntings and ghost stories. They also have a Meetup Page "...Our group is open to anyone with an interest in the paranormal. I believe in giving members a chance to partcipate in an investigation, no matter their level of experience. But those interested must be serious and professional. We are serious investigators, using scientific methods. our services are free..." Their site also has many "ghost" photos... incluing many "orb" photos (see Joshua Warren's report on Brown Mountain Lights for possible causes).

Haunted Asheville Ghost Tours

Asheville Ghost Tour
"...Step into the world of the unknown with the Ghost Tour of Asheville for a hair-raising ninety-minute tour into the spirit realm of this mountain town. Join us as we take a leisurely stroll and search along the shadowy streets of downtown Asheville, to hear stories of the unexplained and the strange. Hear about haunted buildings in the downtown area, about a brutal murder that occurred here and the young victim that still haunts the building it occurred in. Learn about the old county jail where six legal hangings and several lynchings occurred and how those spirits terrorized the inmates and jailors one night. Listen to a true and bizarre story that started in Asheville and concluded in Florida, and much more. See paranormal pictures taken on the tour of ghost spirits and poltergeist orbs...."

Haunted Ghost Tour
through "shadowy streets of downtown Asheville, to hear stories of the unexplained and strange...."

Virtual Ghost Tours

Haunted Places Along the
Blue Ridge Parkway
".... some ghost stories that originate from locations very near the Blue Ridge Parkway..." Covers an interesting assortment of hauntings in both Virginia and North Carolina.

Haunted Asheville: The Long Halloween
This is a free pictorial Haunted Asheville tour, with photos of the various haunted sites, and a brief description of the activity that caused the haunting. Here are some of the 'hauntings' it covers:

• City Hall "....the city finance manager jumped to his death from the roof, and it's believed that he's the resident ghost of City Hall. He appears in the basement snack bar, wearing an old-fashioned suit and bowler hat, where he waits patiently in line, only to disappear as he approaches the counter..."
• Barley's " ... was built near the epicenter of Asheville's worst mass murder. In November, 1906, an habitual felon named Will Harris became enraged when a woman he was infatuated with refused to have anything to do with him. He shot his way down Eagle Street, then up Broadway, killing five, screaming that he was the devil and didn't care if he got sent back to hell. He was, a few days later during a snowstorm when he was tracked down and cornered near the Biltmore Village train yards, and shot nearly a hundred times. Today, Barley's reports misbehaving elevators, voices, phantom lights, and most bizarre, phantom pedestrians seen strolling past the second floor windows...."
• Basilica of St. Lawrence "... the parish house next door and across a little courtyard, is haunted by a priest who keeled over in 1983 while watching The Thornbirds mini-series...."
• Battery Park Hotel "... in July, 1936... New York socialite Helen Clevenger, visiting the city with her uncle, was found murdered in room 224.... Miss Clevenger, bloody and disoriented, is sometimes seen staggering through the halls on stormy summer nights like the one on which she died....in 1943 and 1972, when two men, Clifton Alheit and Michael Byrnes respectively, jumped from the roof.... There's no telling which one it is, Alheit or Byrnes, but the Asheville Police Department has actually taken calls from horrified witnesses who say they saw a body falling from the roof of the Battery Park and vanish halfway down...."
• Chicken Alley "...a scruffy little lane that runs from Woodfin Street, makes a 90 degree turn, and ends at Carolina Lane. It's always been seedy, and it's haunted by the ghost of Dr. Jamie Smith, who was knifed in a bar fight at a Chicken Alley tavern in 1902...."
• Church Street ".... like many downtown streets, was built over a filled-in ravine. The difference is that the little cemeteries at the churches that give the street its name were not relocated first. Perhaps as a result, the ghosts on Church Street include a woman in old-fashioned clothing who appears to be searching for something and a nun.. . First Presbyterian has its very own ghost -- a woman in a black dress affectionately known as 'Black Abbey.'..."
• City gallows ".... The town gallows of Asheville were located at the spot where Merrimon Avenue intersected with Broadway... On May 29th, 1835, James Sneed and James Henry, convicted of stealing a horse, were hanged. Sneed and Henry went to their deaths proclaiming their innocence. Paranormal phenomena centers around phantom sounds that include the clip-clop of horses' hooves, the sounds of a horse drawn wagon passing by, and the unmistakable sound of a gallows trapdoor slamming open...."
• Jackson Building"... is haunted by a suicide who flung himself from the roof upon losing his fortune in the stock market crash. A man in a 1920's-era suit has been seen in the open air gallery on the top floor, looking forlornly out over the city. He was captured on film once in the early 80's while the building was closed for renovation, when no one at all should have been in the building...."
• Miles Building "... was built in 1901 as a gentlemen's club before conversion into an office building. Among its tenants today is the city's local independent weekly, the Mountain X-Press. It's in the X-Press offices that staffers have heard the sound of someone settling into a squeaky swivel desk chair in an empty office, and where they have seen a man's arm in a white dress sleeve reaching out of the air toward a desk before disappearing...."
• Pritchard Park ".... was used as a staging area for local Civil War soldiers marching off to battle. Ghosts in the park include phantom mists and lights, and a confused-looking Confederate soldier...."
• S&W Cafeteria Building ".... a ghostly little girl has been seen on the interior balcony that overlooks the main dining room, in addition to a waiter in the hallway to the kitchen who will not hesitate to walk through anything or anyone in his way. In the kitchen itself, the cooler doors open and close on their own...."
• Thomas Wolfe House "...is not "officially" haunted. Nevertheless, visitors and employees at this North Carolina State Historic Site have seen the ghost of a woman in the dining room, the ghost of a man rocking in a rocking chair in an upstairs bedroom, and a face peering from an upstairs window at night after the house is closed to tours. In addition, the sounds of a phantom typewriter clacking away have been heard in the house...."

Click on each of the dozens of categories to the left to uncover what makes the Asheville area so vital, so intriguing and so, well, UTTERLY BLISSFUL!