Melissa Whitis was found deceased in Chester County, South Carolina, on Lizzie Melton Road, near Old Richburg Road, in 2019. Her body had been reportedly set on fire and dumped. Whitis had no known ties to the area, as she was from Kentucky. She was last seen alive on September 17, 2019, near Interstate 40…
The Jackson Building and the Stock Market Crash of 1929
The Jackson Building in Asheville, North Carolina, built in 1924, at 22 South Pack Square, has a reported dark history attached to it. The building held the title of being the tallest building in the city for 41 years, and during the Stock Market Crash of 1929, a reported 17 people jumped to their deaths….
The Other Helen Still Roams the Mountainside
Many are familiar with the paranormal hotspot, Helen’s Bridge in Asheville, North Carolina, but there is another story of “Helen”, near Arden in the Royal Pines section, that you may not know. Both stories are similar, and, yes, people believe the one in Royal Pines was the first ghostly tale, and it was eventually moved…
Was it the “Mothman” or a Mechanical Failure that led to the collapse of the Silver Bridge in 1967
Just before Christmas, on December 15, 1967, tragedy struck Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio, on the Silver Bridge around 5:00 p.m. During the late afternoon rush hour, as dozens of cars were packed onto the bridge, the bridge collapsed. In all, 64 people plunged into the frigid waters, resulting in 46 deaths, nine…
Asheville’s Old Craggy Prison
Old Craggy State Prison in Asheville, North Carolina, was built in 1924 as a medium-security facility. Conditions inside were rough, but most inmates were assigned labor-intensive jobs, such as laundry detail. The air inside was stale, with no air conditioning, and the heat was limited during the harsh winters of Western North Carolina. It wouldn’t…
The Ghostly Broughton Hospital
The Broughton Hospital in Morganton, North Carolina, opened in March 1883, and it was called the Western Carolina Insane Asylum. Around 1890, the name was changed again to the “State Hospital at Morganton”, until it was finally changed again in 1959 to Broughton Hospital. Through the years, horrible things happened behind the walls of this…
The Siren of the French Broad
The French Broad River in Western North Carolina is rich in history and mystery. The beautiful waters that sweep through the mountains are full of not only water, but also legend. The story of the “Siren of the French Broad” dates back to the mid-1850s, when author William Gilmore Simms published a poem about it….
The 1972 Durham family Triple Homicide
On February 3, 1972, on a cold, snowy night in Boone, North Carolina, the Durham family, who owned a nearby automotive dealership named Modern Buick, was murdered. The cause surrounding their mysterious slayings would haunt Western North Carolina for nearly fifty years. Weather conditions on that night were treacherous, with four inches of snow caked…
The 1983 Cold Case of Russell Anthony and Lisa Thompson
Kershaw is a small town nestled in Lancaster County, South Carolina. Life moves at a slower pace, and everyone seems to know each other, like in other small rural towns across the state. So, when this double homicide occurred, it left the 2,000 residents who call Kershaw home and those in Lancaster County speechless. In…
The 1980 Murder of Ronda Blaylock
Ronda Mechelle Blaylock was only 14 years old when she was found murdered on Friday, August 29, 1980, on a rural road in the Pilot Mountain area of Surry County in North Carolina. Blaylock was a ninth-grade student at Atkins High School in Winston-Salem when she disappeared on Tuesday, August 26, 1980, from Rural Hall….