Demands for higher pay and a 40-hour workweek ignited the Loray Mill Strike in Gastonia, North Carolina, in 1929. We often like to think that we have come a long way with better working conditions, higher wages, and even a work-life balance, but have we? Despite what is currently taught in our educational systems across…
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 Dorothea Dix Cemetery
The graveyard at Dorothea Dix Park is a cemetery located at 759-777 Dawkins Drive, serves as the final resting place for many patients who were treated at the Dorothea Dix Hospital, North Carolina’s first psychiatric hospital, situated on Dix Hill in Raleigh, North Carolina. The hospital was established sometime around 1856 and cared for thousands…
The Gray Lady at the Mordecai House
The Mordecai House was built around 1785, making it older than Raleigh, North Carolina, by seven years. Five generations of the Mordecai family lived in the home, and in the 1960s, the house was sold to the city. Legend has it that the grounds are home to more than one ghost. A piano from the…
The ghostly legend of the abandoned “High House” Part 2
Sometime around 1822, Jones Left North Carolina and William’s ancestors moved into the High House, where they began having dreams about a hidden treasure. One night, a voice appeared to Leander Williams in a dream, revealing a secret treasure hidden in the fireplace. Reportedly, the same voice also visited William’s mother. During the 1700s and…
The ghostly legend of the abandoned “High House”
Legend has it that a section of Land in Cary, North Carolina, along High House Road is reportedly the home of buried treasure, ghosts, and even haunted woods. This will be a two-part series- Please follow The Lantern website. The tale dates back to the 1800s, and many things have changed in this part of…
The 1987 Carowinds Wave Pool Shooting
On June 7, 1987, a horrible tragedy unfolded at the popular Carowinds amusement park on the North and South Carolina state border when two girls were struck by stray bullets while playing in the wave pool in the Ocean Island section. A 16-year-old from Rock Hill was killed in the incident, while a 6-year-old from…
Henry Gatling and his Flying Contraption
Many believe the Wright Brothers were the first to fly, but that is not entirely true, depending on how one defines flight. James Henry Gatling, also a North Carolina resident born in Hertford County, conducted numerous ground and air trials of his aeroplane in 1873. Gatling was able to achieve a 100-foot flight from a…
Frontier Land in Cherokee, North Carolina
The theme park boom in Western North Carolina during the 1960s helped usher a new generation of vacationers to the area. Overnight, the scenic landscape of the Blue Ridge Mountains transformed many towns like Cherokee into tourist destinations. Frontier Land opened in 1964 on a 140-acre plot of land along U.S. 19. An adult ticket…
The 1955 Cherokee Bridge Collapse
On July 3, 1955, a deadly accident occurred when a 150-foot bridge gave way in Cherokee, North Carolina. The incident happened just before noon when the cables supporting it jerked from the structure, hurling tourists to the rocks and waters below. It was first thought that overcrowding may have played a role in the bridge…