On September 12, 1952, Edward May, Freddie May, Neil Nunley, and Tommy Hyer were playing near Flatwoods Elementary in Braxton County, West Virginia, when they saw a bright light streak across the sky. Curious, the boys hurried home to tell Edward and Freddie’s mother, Kathleen May, who then asked National Guardsman Eugene Lemon to come…
The Ghost of Theodosia Burr Alston
Theodosia Burr Alston, daughter of Aaron Burr, disappeared at sea in early January 1813 at the age of 29. There are many theories about what happened to Theodosia after she left South Carolina on December 30, 1812, aboard the schooner Patriot towards New York. Many believe the vessel sank during a severe storm just off…
The Catastrophic Hurricane Hugo
Hurricane Hugo is a legend in South Carolina. On September 21, 1989, Hurricane Hugo plowed through the Carolinas, leaving nearly 700,000 outages. Hugo remains the last major hurricane to make landfall along the South Carolina coast. It remains the costliest hurricane in U.S. history at the time and one of the costliest disasters overall, with…
The Sad Tale of Ottie Cline Powell
One of the most enduring urban legends of the Appalachian Trail is the story of Ottie Cline Powell, in Lexington, Virginia. Powell was only four years old when, on November 9, 1890, he walked from his one-room school near the Powell farm into the forest near Bluff Mountain to collect fallen branches for kindling for…
The Phantom Hiker of the Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian Mountains harbor countless ghost stories, from the phantom hiker of Grandfather Mountain to mysterious figures glimpsed along misty ridges. But few encounters are as chilling as the one that happened on a foggy May evening in 1972. The Appalachian Trail was proposed in 1921 and constructed throughout the 1920s and the 1930s. In…
The North Carolina Ice Storm for the Ages
In early 2002, on December 4-5th, snow fell across North Carolina, but in the Piedmont, including areas around Raleigh, Greensboro, and Charlotte, it quickly turned to freezing rain, creating an icy mess when an inch of ice blanketed the ground and roadways. In some areas, freezing rain lasted for 12 hours, causing $113 million in…
The Ghostly Lady of Transylvania County
The mountains of western North Carolina can be unforgiving, but more importantly, they can also be a mysterious, ghostly place, where many things may appear out of nowhere, like past residents, who still keep watch over the land. It’s said that many years ago, two men decided to go fishing in Transylvania County, when the…
The Worst Snowstorm Ever Recorded in Western North Carolina
The Worst Snowstorm Ever Recorded in Western North Carolina According to the record books, the worst winter weather we have ever had occurred in February or March in the South. But have you ever wondered when the worst recorded snowstorm of all time occurred? Many of our readers may remember the Blizzard of 1993. Yes,…
The Headless Man of Williamson Creek
Williamson Creek is near Brevard, North Carolina. This area, not far from Cedar Mountain, is very rich in ghost stories. One legend dates back to the Civil War, when a group of Union soldiers was discovered camping there. Nearby Confederate officers were sent to investigate the group and reportedly killed them. One of the soldiers…
The Mysterious Summerville Light
In the 1800s, a railroad track once ran near Summerville, near Charleston, South Carolina. According to local lore, the wife of a train conductor would travel a nearby dirt road every night, carrying a lantern in hand at midnight to greet her husband with a meal as he passed through the area. One night, the…