Imagine hiking to the top of a mountaintop and hearing the sweet sound of a ghostly choir serenading you. Roan Mountain, near the North Carolina and Tennessee border, about an hour west of Banner Elk, is said to be home to the Phantom Choir.
The five-mile-long ridgeline, reaching nearly two miles above sea level, is a beautiful place that welcomed European settlers in the early 19th Century. Stories soon began to be told that the wind whipping around the mountain carried the voices of people singing. Some say that Roan Mountain was where the angels gathered to practice singing for Judgment Day, while others claim that the sounds are those of demons and tormented souls crying in pain.
One visitor had a completely different experience of the phantom music. The young man hiked onto the mountain on a gloomy day and soon found himself in a raging thunderstorm. As the wind raged, he heard howls and moans calling to him. He found shelter in a cave, where he found himself confronted with visions of gashed and torn bodies bearing the marks of torture that floated around him. The man passed out from fear, waking to find his clothing torn and as white as if he had been bleached, convincing the man that he had seen a vision of hell.
To this day, people still hear the phantom choir of Roan Mountain singing.
Written By: John G. Clark Jr
