Piedmont Phantoms. Daniel W. Barefoot

      ALAMANCE COUNTY

      Haunted by the Past

      Ghosts must be all over the country, as thick as the sands of the sea.

      Henrik Ibsen

      From the Atlantic coast to the Blue Ridge Mountains, countless ghosts haunt the Tar Heel landscape. Many of these spectres are believed to be the spirits of persons who died tragic, violent deaths as a result of crime, accident, or suicide. Though North Carolina ghosts are found along highways and railroads, on bridges, in cemeteries, and at schools and businesses, their most frequent haunt is the home. Indeed, haunted houses are synonymous with ghosts.

      Traditionally, haunted houses have been depicted as dark, forbidding, dilapidated structures devoid of human occupancy for years. But North Carolina boasts numerous well-maintained, historic residences that are inhabited by both living people and ghosts. One such haunted house is in the small community of Alamance in the county of the same name. Located on Friendship Church Road near the E. M. Holt School, the expansive, three-story nineteenth-century house is picturesquely situated on a high knoll above the road. To protect the privacy of the current and past owners, their names and the name of the house have been changed for the purposes of this story. Nonetheless, the events chronicled herein are true.

      For nearly seventy-five years, strange phenomena have been witnessed in the Carter House–phantom footsteps, mysterious bloodstains, chilling apparitions. Within its walls, numerous hair-raising incidents have taken place.

      Things started during the first half of the twentieth century, when the house was owned by Evan Cane, a member of one of the most respected families in the county. For a number of reasons that will be revealed as this story unfolds, Cane was considered the black sheep of the family. Local gossip was that he operated a moonshine still along the banks of the creek in back of the property.

      When the authorities were tipped off about the still, they began to look for its owner. Before Evan Cane could be questioned, he decided to end his life. While sitting at the kitchen table one day, the troubled man put a loaded pistol to his head and pulled the trigger. That evening, Cane’s son came home from his job to find his father sitting in a chair. When he patted his father on the shoulder, the lifeless corpse fell to the floor, and blood poured out of his wound on to the oak boards. Friends speculated that Evan Cane took his life in order to avoid a prison sentence and to spare his family embarrassment and shame.

      Following his death, the house passed from the ownership of the Cane family. Almost immediately after they moved in, the new owners began to hear inexplicable sounds in various parts of the residence. The stately structure soon acquired a reputation as a haunted house. All of the subsequent owners reported supernatural occurrences.

      One recent set of owners, the Dick Carter family, has documented a number of spooky incidents. Not long after Mr. and Mrs. Carter took up residence in the rambling dwelling, they were intrigued that the kitchen door leading to the back porch would not stay closed. Each time the family sat down for a meal, the closed door would mysteriously spring open. It was as if an unseen entity were making an entrance.

      There was something else about the kitchen that the Carters quickly learned: a dark stain was prominent at the very spot where Evan Cane had killed himself many years before. Although Mrs. Carter could not tell whether the mysterious stain was blood, paint, or some other substance, she discovered that it could not be permanently removed, despite her repeated efforts. When the Carters renovated the house, they decided to cover the sinister spot with tile.

      But there have been other bizarre happenings that the owners were unable to hide. Strange footsteps in the second- and third-floor bedrooms have been heard by occupants of the first-floor den when there was no other person in the house. At other times, family members retiring to their second-floor chambers have heard the ominous sounds of someone or something pacing very lightly without shoes on the third floor. On occasion, family members have been startled from a deep sleep by footsteps in the kitchen. Brave souls have left the safety and comfort of their beds to search for the source of the noise, but nothing has ever been found. For lack of a better explanation, the Carters believe that it could be the spirit of Evan Cane tracing his final steps before the suicide.

      Although Mr. and Mrs. Carter have never seen a ghost in the house, a former resident told them of a terrifying apparition. Mrs. Louise Herbert related the incident when she stopped by her old home to admire the renovations being made to it. When the Carters mentioned their unnerving experiences, Mrs. Herbert acknowledged that the house might be haunted by a second ghost. On one occasion, when Mrs. Herbert’s infant granddaughter and the child’s mother spent the night at the house, the little girl began crying in the wee hours of the morning. After a considerable time, the wailing did not subside, so Mrs. Herbert arose from bed, turned on the light in the hall, and quietly entered the adjacent bedroom, where she supposed her daughter-in-law was still asleep. To her surprise, the child’s mother was lying in her bed wide awake. Mrs. Herbert asked why she had not attended to the needs of the baby. The young woman had a look of terror in her eyes. Her lips quivering with every word, she stammered, “There was a woman with long blond hair standing over there looking at me. When you turned the light on, she vanished.”

      After learning of this frightening incident, Mrs. Carter made further inquiries into the history of the house and its former occupants. From that investigation came information that Evan Cane had been having an affair with a local trollop at the time he took his life. The woman lived nearby with her illegitimate son. As Mrs. Carter delved further into the mystery, she learned that Evan Cane was speculated to have killed himself as a result of the mistaken impression that his mistress was carrying his child. Could it be that the ghost of this loose woman has taken residence here with the ghost of her lover?

      Fortunately, no one has been physically harmed by the weird happenings in the Carter House. Apparently, the resident spirits have no malevolent intent. But the disconcerting sights and sounds will no doubt continue to scare residents and guests.

      There is a moral to this story. Should you be in the market to purchase a house, particularly an old one, be sure to check into its history. Otherwise, you may be forced to share space with the ghostly inhabitants of one of the many haunted houses found throughout North Carolina.